"Exact revenge on your killer, huh…" Hearing the words An'xhur spoke to him, Valyr faintly nodded in response, thinking that a request like An'xhur's would naturally warrant a level of privacy in a meeting like the one they were holding right now.
Though, as he thought about it a bit further, it was only then did the man's words truly sink into Valyr's mind, causing him to look at the half-orc with eyes slightly widened in disbelief as he asked, "You're dead?"
As these words left his mouth, Valyr felt that the man before him being dead would be the greatest irony in existence. After all, judging from the aura that the man was passively emanating while they were talking, Valyr was more than certain that the power the man held was indeed more than enough to create the parchments he had been collecting in those three subsequent dungeon runs.
Even looking at the man made him instinctively shrink back a bit in fear, giving him further evidence as to believe that An'xhur was at least a Legend, if not a Myth.
Yet, against all odds, An'xhur responded to Valyr's two word question with a bitter smile, letting out a long sigh before nodding. "Indeed. I may have done a lot of exemplary things throughout my life to cause a great revolution to happen to the masses, but in the end, I was still felled before I could even react."
"Before you could even react? Surely you would have been able to deal at least a bit of damage against your assailant, no?" Slightly tilting his head in confusion at a certain phrase in An'xhur's statement, Valyr continued to look at the man with a look of disbelief. After all, in a world like Veldanyr, Legends and Myths were considered invincible, able to live the entirety of their potential lives without a problem.
"I was able to retaliate, yes." Noticing the disbelief in both the young man's expression and tone, An'xhur continued to adopt a bitter smile on his face as he replied. "However, would what I did even be considered retaliation? Is it truly considered retaliation if your killer still remains living to this very day?"
Whoosh!
Just as Valyr felt inclined to tell An'xhur that the latter's current show of strength made him feel like the killer would have already been long dead under the latter's presence, An'xhur's aura underwent a swift change, with the tyranny and oppression that came along with a high class rank Valyr felt from the man gradually disappearing.
Instead, what replaced it was an aura he was incredibly familiar with, an aura that only served to make Valyr realize that An'xhur was not lying when the latter said that he was killed.
"The aura of death…" With a slight frown adorning his face, Valyr watched as the aura of death gradually took over the feeling of tyranny and oppression he felt while interacting with An'xhur, eventually reaching a point where the aura of death emanating from the man saturated every nook and cranny of the white space they were currently in.
"Apologies if my earlier appearance caused you to doubt my words." Taking in a deep breath after everything was done, An'xhur looked at Valyr with a slightly apologetic expression. "It was not my intention to deceive you into thinking that I was still alive and was about to give you an impossible task."
"If anything, the task I wish to ask upon you is as true as my demand for it to become a reality," said An'xhur, causing Valyr's expression to become solemn. "In fact, even this meeting with you was incredibly difficult for me to pull off, considering that only a small wisp of my original soul remains in this world, which is what you're interacting with at the moment, as well as the only thing connecting me to this world before I truly disappear."
"If anything, you could say that I am entirely betting on the fact that you would accept my task during this meeting, even if there is the possibility that you may reject my proposition at the end of it all."
At these words, Valyr went silent, his eyebrows furrowed as he went ahead and processed all of the information he had just obtained from An'xhur. Seeing that the young man was thinking over everything before continuing their conversation, An'xhur decided to remain silent, giving Valyr the time to think as the aura of death surrounding him subtly yet gradually grew more dense the more time passed.
Eventually, Valyr scratched the back of his head as he let out a slightly exasperated sigh, returning his gaze back to An'xhur as he continued where their conversation left off. "At this point, I've more or less accepted everything you've told me so far. The fact that you've created this trial around a decade ago, as well as the fact that I'm currently talking to someone dead."
"If you could humor me for a moment, how strong were you before you died?" Though Valyr felt like laughing at the absurdity of the situation, his expression still remained as solemn as ever, prompting An'xhur to nod back as he opened his mouth.
"At my strongest, I was a being that had transcended the level of mortality. If my memory still continues to serve me correctly, I had a Rank 6 class before my death, my progress in it being halfway to ascending to the next class rank." At these words, Valyr swiftly extrapolated the man's strength before his death, which unsurprisingly made him feel that the current situation was all the more absurd.
Nevertheless, he kept those thoughts to himself as he merely nodded in response, instead moving onto a different topic that would allow him to gain more information regarding the matter. "Would it be possible to hear from you as to how everything had gotten to this point?"
"Of course, now that I've heard more from you, I feel somewhat more inclined to accept your task. However, my efforts would prove useless if I were to go in blindly in proceeding through it, no?"
"That is true." Listening to Valyr's words, a slight apologetic smile appeared on An'xhur's face as he nodded. "I have been focused on persuading you to aid my cause all this time that I even forgot to tell the one that would accept my task the most important thing for them to know."
After that, An'xhur took in a deep breath as he sorted out his thoughts in silence.
"Now, where should I begin my narration…?"
