I tried to find other answers to this problem.
The most straightforward answer was time manipulation.
Using [The Hermit] to control time and travel to the past to retrieve their souls would have been the most optimal solution, but even that didn't work.
It turns out I couldn't retrive souls that had ceased to exist, even in the past.
The Root served as a connection to all of space and time within the Nether Realm, and the Nether was the custodian of the souls that existed there.
The souls that were with him, and the souls that were meant to return to him—all of them were gone for good.
I tried using [The Hermit]'s Time Magic, and [The Moon]'s power to travel back in time and duplicate the Souls of those dead in the present, but not even that worked.
The moment I brought those souls to the present, they dissipated.
It was so frustrating.
I tried several other options, but nothing I could think of worked.
I had spent a lot of time thinking and planning what to do. To be honest, this was mostly what occupied me after the Great Nether War.
But nothing worked.
"I know I'm the last person who should be saying this, but… it's impossible to bring them back."
Magic was supposed to make the impossible possible, but Magic also had rules that applied to its function.
There was perhaps one plausible way to bring their families back, but that would involve bringing the Nether back.
I wasn't even sure that would solve the problem, and even if it did, I didn't have enough energy to travel to the point before time to free The Nether.
Perhaps I could try to enlist Karlia's help, but I doubted she would support bringing back the being who perpetrated her eternal suffering in the Nether Root.
I could probably convince her to help me despite all of those factors, but that would be too insensitive and selfish on my part.
Not only would bringing the Nether back endanger a lot more people, but it would hurt Karlia too.
I couldn't afford to do that to her.
'I can't afford to do that to the world.' My thoughts finally settled.
Larry, Aria, and Drake were my friends. However, for the greater good, I couldn't consider bringing the Nether back.
Especially when there were more viable options.
"I can take you to an alternate branch where you versions are dead and the versions of your loved ones are alive."
That was the best I could do for them.
For Larry, he would be dead in that universe, and his wife and child would be alive. He would be able to live a happy life with his family.
Same with Aria and Drake.
"But… they wouldn't be the same, would they?" Drake asked, his fingers interlocking with each other as he stared at me.
"That's right. But even if I did manage to bring them back, they wouldn't be the same either way. Especially your sisters, Aria."
Just the same way I had changed the Elf Queen and all our enemies, I would have had to alter her sisters for Aria's safety and the preservation of this world.
Was that really what they wanted?
Also… I didn't want to tell Larry this, but…
'... No branch exists with his son alive.'
At least, not his first son.
The branches of a realm represented possibilities. Usually, there would be at least one branch where anything was possible.
In that branch, Larry's kid should have at least existed.
But I found nothing.
No trace of his kid in the entire Nether Realm.
"How… how then did you revive everyone in the battlefield? If all dead souls perish, how come you revived them?" Aria's voice trembled as she asked me.
"I already planned for all of that. I stored the Souls of everyone who died in the war. The same way I stored your Souls when you died. If I didn't, you would have ceased to exist."
It was messed up, but in this Nether Realm… death was the end.
There were no second chances.
'I will have to rectify that somewhat. I can't have the people of this world suffer because of the choice Neron made to save our reality.'
For now, however, these three were my primary focus.
"So, what will it be? Larry, Aria, Drake? What will you choose?" I asked them.
Unsurpringly, after I asked this, all eyes instantly went to Larry.
It could have been because he was the leader, or he was the one who had spent the longest on this quest.
They all looked at him for his answers.
Larry, who had been silent for so very long finally leaked out a sad smile and spoke.
"No matter what happens. No matter where I go. No matter what I do… it seems they won't be coming back."
It was the harsh truth, one I wished I could change, but I couldn't.
"No matter what reality exists out there… none of them will ever be like mine. None of those people… will ever be like my family."
I could sense the hurt in his voice as he spoke. He confronted the reality of the situation face-to-face, something most people wouldn't dare to do.
'You're a strong man, Larry.' I nodded gently, smiling internally.
"I will continue to live my life, then." He strained a genuine smile. "It looks like I'll have to live for all three of us. For me, Zaya, and Legris."
… What?
Suddenly a flash appeared in my head. That name resonated deeply within me.
"What did you just say? Legris… Legris Damien?" I found myself blurting out, my widening eyes fixating on Larry.
"Yeah. Legris Damien. That's the name we gave our child." Larry's words carried nostalgia, but to me they held a different meaning.
'Of course! Why didn't I think of this before?!'
It all made sense now.
Why, no matter how long I searched, I couldn't find any trace of Larry's first son.
"It's because he's Legris Damien…"
And that wasn't all.
It all came together, as pieces to a puzzle, an epiphany I couldn't stop.
The visions I had been getting… about the boy who aspired to be a Mage.
The boy who spent his whole life desiring Magic, growing older to becoming obsessed with it.
That boy—no, that man—was Legris Damien all along.
"It's always been him. Legris Damien… it's been him all along!"
In my vision, he was erased from existence due to his experiment. He completely vanished from existence.
However, how could that have affected other realities? How did all of this come together?
'Ahh… I don't fully get it, but it's all connected. It all leads back to Legris.'
And that Legris Damien was in my reality.
'You have to stop him, Jared. No matter what!'
There was no way we could let him have what he wanted.
*
*
*
[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
