“Now — I am you.”
Adam threw a bomb the moment he opened his mouth.
For a short moment, Sol’s mind completely blew up as he repeated those words in his head. However, it didn’t take long for him to calm down as he coldly analyzed the situation.
“What do you mean?”
Some sort of super entity that just devoured a goddess was now saying that they were one of the same.
Who wouldn’t be shocked?
But being shocked wouldn’t change the situation. He had to obtain as much information as possible.
“Oh? I thought you would be more surprised. Then again, I like the look in your eyes.”
Adam was surprised, when Sol heard this news, while he did panic for a brief instant, he immediately entered a thoughtful mode.
It was clear that rather than entering an outburst, he was more prone to calmly analyzing an unexpected situation.
“Ahaha. Do not worry. Even though I am you, at the same time, you are not really me. The two of us may have the same source but we are two different entities.”
Adam was glad to see that. This meant that this one wouldn’t die too fast this time.
Who knew perhaps this time it would succeed?
Adam chortled silently.
Unfortunately, He couldn’t see the future.
Though, he had very high expectations this time. After all, this current body was the closest to his original self.
It was such a great fit that he couldn’t help but wonder who arranged the birth of this boy.
It was impossible for it to be an accident.
He searched through the memory sea before understanding dawned on him.
‘I see. So this is the work of that little girl.’
It was quite surprising. He honestly thought that they would all try to bury him rather than bring him back.
“If you wonder what I mean, it’s exactly as you must have summarized. I am your past life, rather the first of them all.”
“That's…not impossible.”
Sol narrowed his eyes as his mind went into overdrive.
“It wasn’t a coincidence that I was reincarnated into this world.”
Adam shrugged, “I cannot tell you. My knowledge is limited by your current situation.”
Sol continued, “Then if you are the so-called Origin, are you at the same level as the 14 goddesses or the two Mother goddesses?”
“Hahaha! Mother goddesses, heh. I guess Eve really got completely crazy after my death.”
“....What do you mean?”
Sol tensed. He felt like he was about to hear something extremely big.
Adam meanwhile fell silent as a stream of memories filled his mind, in the end, he simply released a sigh.
“From Nothingness was born the Origin of the universe. Then there was Chaos and after Chaos came Order.”
“???”
Sol was confused by what seemed like the ramblings of a madman.
“From Origin and Chaos came the Day and the Night which gave birth to Light and Darkness. From then on, Space, Time, and Matter appeared. Then Nature appeared which gave birth to the Sky, the Earth, and the Sea.”
But the more Adam spoke —
“If there is Creation, then there must be Destruction. If there is Life then there must be Death. Only after Life and Death came into existence did emotions appear.”
— The more Sol seemed to see a magnificent picture being drawn in front of him.
“Good breeds Evil, and Evil breeds Good. Good cannot be purely Good, and Evil cannot be purely Evil. Therefore, Good is Evil, and Evil is Good.”
This was an era totally different from the current one.
“It’s neither Good nor Evil, but both Evil and Good. From them came the concept of Sins and Virtues.”
Sol inhaled deeply.
“You seem to have understood. I have skipped many steps, and did not bother to consider what came after the Seven sins or Virtues.”
Sol understood one thing.
It was fake. Everything about the goddesses, everything he knew about the world was fake.
He did not doubt Adam. Even though there was absolutely no proof of what he was saying, Sol could not bring himself to doubt him.
No wonder Ymir was so much more powerful than Luxuria and the others. After all, she represented Destruction.
He swallowed with difficulty
“Then…Why…?”
“Why do only a few of the gods remain?”
Adam grinned.
A large toothy grin stretched on his featureless face.
“I killed most of them. Of course, I would have killed them all if Eve did not stop me back then.”
Adam continued, no remorse in his voice, “From Nothingness came Everything. Then to Nothingness, Everything must return to.”
“That is the inevitable cycle of the universe. Eternity could not exist for the simple result that nothing is truly Eternal — not even the gods. If there is a Beginning. Then there must be an End.”
“I represent the Origin in the world. But a part of me wished for the end — so came the Twilight of the Gods. Unfortunately, I could not truly obtain the power to End everything. Thus I failed.”
‘At least…That was until now.’
Adam thought in silence.
Sol looked down as he remembered the picture that flashed in his mind when he opened the gate.
The woman had said, “Adam, is it time for the Twilight of…?”
Back then he did not hear the last part. But now everything was clear.
Still, there was something tugging at his mind,
“Then…What am I?”
Adam was clearly startled before he exploded in laughter for a short while.
But Sol was not laughing. Not at all.
He thought he would get answers, but now there were even more questions that were swimming in his mind.
Furthermore, he was sure that Adam did not tell him everything.
It was like an author writing a very important and exciting chapter, drawing an awesome picture in the mind of the readers, and just as the picture was about to be completed, the chapter stopped abruptly.
“Well, if you want to know… You are…”
“Wait!”
Adam stopped mid-sentence.
“What I am does not matter in the end.”
Sol closed his eyes. He could already somehow guess. But for the first time he did not wish to hear the truth from someone else's mouth.
What was he?
It did not matter.
All that mattered was who he was.
He was Sol Dragona Luxuria.
The past did not matter. Only the present.
Adam tilted his head before nodding,
“I guess that is alright. Either way, as you are now, knowing the truth will only hurt you. After all, if the goddesses were to learn everything from your mind then you would die.”
“If you want to know more about the truth and what happened before or during the Twilight of the Gods, then become stronger and open the gate once again. For now, though, I leave you with gifts. A temporary and a permanent one. Do as you please.”
Sol looked down on himself and realized that his ‘body’ was slowly dissipating. He then remembered that this was nothing more than a mental projection of his own self and that he was still going through the transformation as a Duke.
So many crazy things had happened one after another that he had completely forgotten this.
“When you wake up, you will see the world from a totally different perspective and forget everything that had happened here up until my appearance. Only when you are strong enough to shield your thoughts from the gods will those memories come back.”
“You…”
“Talking with you has been a pleasure. I do not know if this is the last time we will have the pleasure to discuss but I await the time you will be strong enough to once again open the gate of truth.”
Those were the last words Sol heard as he completely vanished from the bottom of his consciousness and rose up above the sea.
Now alone, Adam walked back toward the door and gently caressed the insignia of the Tree of Knowledge drawn on it.
“What came first, the chicken or the egg?”
He laughed as he asked himself a rather mundane question that had stumped many philosophers.
Thinking back to Sol, he laughed lightly.
So young yet so full of potential.
He really wondered what was the goal of the little girl in trying to bring him back to life.
Then again, the little girl now was only half of the one he once knew. The same went for the others and Eve was no exception. Not even he could escape this.
Gods, as they may call themselves, but in the face of the rules, they were helpless.
No story lasts forever.
If there was a Beginning, there must be an End.
The boy should have already guessed it.
After all, from what that Titan said, he already ended this world once.
Then, he would usher in a new beginning.
And the cycle would go on.
Again and again.
At least…That should be the case.
But…
Since Eternity did not exist…
Then why would the cycle exist eternally?
Everything had an End.
Absolutely everything.
—-
After what felt like a very long dream, Sol finally woke up, and with his awakening, the gear of Fate began to accelerate.
(AN: I am discussing with my contractors about Amazon publication. I don't know when it will happen or if it will happens anytime soon but join me on twitter before then, I want to increase my social media Like Twit and Insta in preparation for publication. I will also post illustrations of characters and so on Insta and Twitter when I am ready. Twitter : https://twitter.com/REDLAW20)
