Tiamat's situation was obvious.
The Dark God never had children, so it was simply impossible for her to be his kin. However, while her relation to those involved was curious and vague, it was still true that she and that being had some sort of similarity pulling them together.
As such, when his energy, when his Nonexistence pushed into the True Void World, she felt its residual effects more clearly than anyone else.
The more curious case was somewhere else. Far, far away from the Sacred Abyss Universe.
Actually, it was in the Sanctuary with a very familiar person.
Or was it two?
Zara and Alea had faded into the background ever since Damien and the rest came to the Heavenly World.
Actually, it had been a decent amount of time since they'd even talked to Damien or his associates.
It was…only partially by choice.
Zara's feelings for her adoptive brother were clear. She cared for him more than anyone else, and would never give up their relationship for the world.
As for Alea, while she didn't hold Damien in the same regard, she was Zara's other half, and because of that, she'd inherited some of her sister's emotions.
Zara obviously wanted to accompany Damien and the rest of her friends in their adventures in the Heavenly World, and Alea had no plans to stop her.
However, they hadn't been able to.
Their first concern was none other than themselves.
Back then, they didn't know how exactly their fusion worked. It was chaotic and dangerous, and if they lost control of their power, they would put the lives of their comrades at risk.
During the war in Grand Heavens Boundary, they contributed greatly.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Slaughter had become the norm.
And when they were in that place of slaughter, their power bloomed into something magnificent.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the same anywhere else.
As the war came to an end, they found that they were losing control over their mana. The closer they got to Divinity, the more it felt like they were going to lose everything.
Despite their individual wishes, ambitions, and desires, they secluded themselves away from the world.
They trained in seclusion to understand their power together, went on adventures throughout the Sanctuary, fully making use of its various chances and opportunities, and fought with the new evils rising in that world to gain more experience.
Still, they could not overcome that barrier. Divinity escaped them.
Without it, they didn't want to go to the Heavenly World even if they had the opportunity, and that sentiment only became stronger as they came to an abrupt realization.
One day, as they sat with their two minds in sync, they sensed it.
"The instant we reach Divinity…" Zara said.
"...one of us will be swallowed," Alea finished.
That was the emptiness they'd been experiencing, the main reason why they stayed in the Sanctuary when everyone else was welcoming new horizons.
They wanted to grow stronger, but they didn't want to risk each other's lives for that purpose.
What were they meant to do…?
Naturally, they could have asked Damien or anyone else. Everyone they knew could give valuable advice using their varied experiences.
But the path to strength was not one that could be assisted. If they wanted to get everything they could out of the scenario, they needed to solve their problems by themselves.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})That was how their search through the Sanctuary began. Just like Tiamat, they scoured every end of the earth for answers.
But unlike their Divine counterpart, they found clues.
There was a path, a trail that seemed to be left by some ancient Godbeast. As they followed it, they encountered many things they didn't even know were possible, and more importantly…
They stood in a temple that looked far too clean for its old age. There was a statue of a chimera on an altar in front of them, and to their sides, various stone beasts clad in armor.
This temple was the end of the trail they'd been following. After going through so many twists and turns, they'd expected there to be answers here.
However, what they found were more questions.
A black shadow and a white shadow stood to each side of the alter. The two of them looked at Zara and Alea with oddly warm expressions.
They beckoned forth, calling the two to bask in the alter's light and accept its blessings.
'They're…'
'...our mothers.'
Zara and Alea were on the same page. They weren't conscious to see those figures that healed them when they saved Beast Emperor Star, but those two were still embedded in their memories.
These shadows…
Were they the same as the ones from before?
Could they possibly be…?
The duo originally planned to take a second and think it over before making rash decisions, but, just like Tiamat, they sensed a disturbance in the atmosphere.
It was far more subtle in the Sanctuary than anywhere else. After all, this place was floating in the Void somewhere far, far away from both of the two main connected cosmos.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})The Sanctuary didn't get influenced by its proximity to the Sacred Abyss like the True Void Universe did.
Rather…
'Damien?'
Zara's first thought when she sensed the energy.
It didn't feel anything like him, but its entry was unmistakably made through his bond with the Sanctuary.
It filled the Universal Core before pulsating outward and slightly changing the laws and intrinsic functions of this semi-cosmos.
'That's not Damien. That is…something dangerous.'
Alea corrected her sister. She felt an ominous premonition as that energy continued to flow over them and the altar.
They didn't have an immediately reaction. Their minds didn't fill with strange things, nor did they get some sort of power boost.
The shadows in front of them disappeared as the temple's illusions were shattered.
For Zara and Alea, it felt like their minds and cleared and somewhat merged into one, though their individual thought processes remained.
The energy was dangerous, but it also signified opportunity.
Their bodies seemed to accept it well, and more than anything, it calmed their Nox lineage, turning it submissive and docile.
'This power…we need it.'
Alea was usually the more cautious one, but she couldn't help but agree with Zara.
A power like that could be the solution to their problems. It could be the path that led out of their miserable rut.
"Keep pushing forward?" Alea asked with a smile.
"Yeah, but the goal is different," Zara responded in kind.
For these two who had been isolated from the people they cared about for so long, relief couldn't come soon enough.
But for them to reach that point, there was a lot more work to do.
BOOM!
Their hand shot out, and two winding snakes of whiteness and blackness cut through the air, striking the statue on the altar and destroying it entirely.
"Wasn't that supposed to be the ancestor of all Godbeasts or something?" Alea asked, raising their brow.
"Doesn't matter," Zara responded with a shrug.
"The stuff here is ours now anyway. What's the use in keeping around a statue for someone whose been pulling dirty tricks for as long as we've been following this trail!?"
"I wouldn't say he's been pulling anything, since he's…you know…dead and everything."
"You get what I mean."
The duo bantered like they always did, completely calm in the face of the twelve stone beasts that were now radiating auras like Divinities.
They had a huge fight in front of them, and they'd have many more as they continued to tread this difficult road. However, they didn't fret.
With their goals in mind, both new and old, they'd succeed in everything they wanted to do and finally reunite with their people.
They were optimistic in their thinking, and they had every right to be, but…
There was no way they realized just how pivotal that random wave of energy would be on their lives.
They had no idea that because they had perceived that energy and even gone as far as to try and take it for themselves, they'd opened up a path that only a few had ever tread before.
Zara and Alea had faded into the background as their allies went to the Heavenly World.
But as long as they stayed strong and persevered…
It was practically guaranteed that it wouldn't stay that way for much longer.
