R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 43 (Patreon)

R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 43 - (Next Chapter release on or before March 4th.) (In-editing v1)

Micheal blinked as he fully processed what the Dark Wraith in front of him had just said.

‘...2 timelines? He knows about the timeline reset.’ Micheal’s biggest secret was the first thing the Soul King had casually revealed.

In the next moment, Micheal relaxed, his tensed body assuming an unhurried, neutral stance.

‘Panic will solve nothing. Calm down.’ Self-control built up over more than a decade let him brute force his way through his shock.

“You said you’ve been waiting for me?” Micheal walked forward until he reached the table that the Tallanoran was sitting at. He sat down on the opposite side of the Dark Wraith, his every movement conveying a sense of steady confidence.

“I find that hard to believe. How do you know me?” Micheal frowned, speaking frankly.

In his first life, it wasn’t as if he had been an extraordinarily notable human. He had managed to survive through the 7 Layers long enough to join Humanity’s Last Army, a feat few humans could achieve, but there was still quite a distance between him and the absolute strongest humans.

Tallanoran’s eyes twinkled as he studied Micheal, emanating faint particles of gray light.

“Well, perhaps I should clarify.” The Soul King nodded after a moment.

“I wasn’t waiting for you specifically… but rather…” Tallanoran waved his hand off to the side, spawning a flurry of blue energy particles that gradually morphed into a floating river.

“I was waiting for someone like you.”

Micheal studied the Soul King for a moment before shaking his head.

“I don’t understand.”

Tallanoran nodded to himself at Micheal’s response, smiling merrily.

“Let me explain.”

The Soul King pointed to the glowing river that floated in the air in front of him.

“Time is a wondrous thing. It meanders forward endlessly, spawning countless possibilities and endless moments of both wonder and horror alike.” As Tallanoran spoke, he raised his hand and lightly tapped on the river of particles.

Instantly, the river split off into tens of thousands of individual strands of energy. Some of these lines went up, some went down. Some twisted and turned, while others flowed straight and true.

“The present is ever-changing, and the future almost beyond understanding.” Slowly, the Soul King traced a finger along one of those strands.

The farther along the strand he went, the more turbid and erratic it became, until eventually it fizzled out into tens of thousands of smaller strands, going in countless directions.

“But one thing always remains the same.” With a snap of his fingers, the small strands of energy flowed together again, forming a majestic floating river.

“The past.” Tallanoran dragged a finger backwards, towards the origin of the river.

In this part, the river was calm and steady. There were no churning rapids, no boiling strands shooting off in thousands of directions, but rather, just calm and placid water.

“This is what we, who dabble in the powers of Time, call the River of Time. It is the bedrock of our reality, a dimension unto itself which no mortal being can conquer. I may be known as a Master of Time, but that description could not be further from the truth.” The Soul King continued.

“While I cannot truly conquer Time, that doesn’t mean I am blind to it.” Tallanoran tapped on a random spot in the calm river representing the past. His light movement caused a small ripple to spread out, disturbing the water.

“The past is always the past… except for when it’s not.”

Tallanoran tapped on the river again, this time causing a larger ripple. This particular wave created a larger disturbance in the placid water, sending small currents tumbling off in random directions.

“This is what we call a Divergence.” The Soul King said, pointing at the spreading waves.

“An occurrence that upsets the flow of the River of Time and causes the very fabric of our existence to… divert. To change.” Tallanoran’s eyes glowed, his voice deepening.

“And those changes can be sensed.” The Soul King turned his gaze back towards Micheal.

Micheal’s eyes widened as he heard this, his heart missing a beat as he grasped the ramifications of what Tallanoran was stating.

“You mean to say… whenever someone does something that affects the past, it’s detectable?” Micheal made the conscious decision to speak vaguely, opting to err on the side of caution.

The Soul King Tallanoran, Master of Time, was a relatively famous figure in Micheal’s first life, renowned for his honor and benevolence. His Inheritance here proved to be of enormous use for Humanity, providing training space, Artifacts, and more, without any malicious traps or intent.

‘Still… at the end of the day, the Soul King is motivated by his unending hatred for the Torens. I cannot consider him a rational actor.’ Micheal thought to himself, thoroughly weighing the risks.

‘He’s similar to the Six Lords in that regard. Especially the First Lord.’ In the Great War Between Races during Micheal’s first life, Orion Thunderfist’s disdain for the Deities was well known.

It was because of that hatred, in fact, that Orion viciously targeted Humanity. Per the records Micheal had read, the Purgatory Church concluded this was because Orion believed ‘The Shop’ that humans could access was dangerously similar to the illogical powers possessed by Deities.

“You can sense those changes, even now?” Micheal questioned.

“Theoretically, any change made to the River of Time is something those who dabble in Time can sense.” Tallanoran returned.

“It all depends on the scale of changes and on the location. For example, if someone were to rewind time by just a fraction of a second, the ripples in spacetime such a movement would create would be marginal.” The Soul King tapped lightly on the still part of the river.

This time, a tiny, minuscule ripple spread out, so small it was barely perceptible, even to Micheal’s keen eyes. The ripple also promptly vanished within a fraction of a second.

“I could sense such a change if it happened right in front of me.” The Soul King pointed to the ground just a few inches away.

“However, if it took place in an entirely different, distant world, or in another dimension, I would feel nothing.”

“But with that said…” Tallanoran focused back on Micheal.

“If a ripple created was absurdly immense, to an unthinkable degree, it could spread upstream hundreds of years into the past, sending out immense undulations that could be detected worlds away.” The Soul King continued on without hesitation,

“A Divergence unheard of… on a scale never-before-seen… spanning multiple years.”

Micheal froze as he processed this, his heart dropping.

‘It makes sense when I think about it… I went back in time an entire decade. Such a massive, shifting change in the timeline would be impossible to hide entirely.’

“And you think I’m related to that?” Micheal queried, donning an impassive face to conceal his boiling emotions.

“At the least, you must be indirectly related to that Divergence.” Tallanoran replied with a small smile on his face.

“The heart may lie, but the Soul cannot.” Tallanoran’s eyes flashed blue for a split second, glossing over.

“I am not known as the Soul King without reason. I can see that your Soul is heavily scarred by Time. These scars themselves have healed over, but they are impossible to fully remove… hmm…” Tallanoran paused, tilting his head to the side.

“I can see now that you’ve made efforts to hide these scars. And… is this…?” The Soul King refocused his gaze back on Micheal, his voice trailing off.

“That’s… the Brand of Janus… how the…” Tallanoran stuttered to a halt, genuine shock appearing on his face.

“Yvvtal..? No, you aren’t him. Where did you get this?!” The Soul King’s entire demeanor shifted as he leaned forward, his eyes abruptly boring into Micheal.

Micheal paused, taken aback.

“You… know who Yvvtal the Destroyer is?” Micheal asked.

“Know of him? Hah!” The Soul King let out a grand laugh, a wide smile appearing on his face,

“That old bastard is the only Toren I’ll ever respect! I can’t say I agreed with his methods, he was a bit too murder-happy for my sake, but at least he had the wherewithal to recognize that his people were becoming monsters.”

“I see.” Micheal nodded, once again reminding himself how old the being before him was. The Soul King was a Dark Wraith that had lived throughout an immense period of time, more than 1,000 years, the same time period Yvvtal would’ve been active in.

“This Brand is something I received as a reward from his Inheritance.” Micheal offered up an explanation.

“Ah, his Inheritance? Hmm… well, I won’t pry any further. The realm of the living is for those that are alive, not an old remnant like myself.” Tallanoran chucked, shaking his head.

The levity on his face quickly faded as he returned to studying Micheal’s Soul.

“Your Soul is unusually resilient to outside energies.” Tallanoran continued, his voice steady,

“However, the scars left upon it by the Divergence you experienced can never fully heal. You will only be able to do so much to hide them... On the bright side, few beings possess my level of expertise when it comes to matters of both the Soul and of Time.” The Soul King’s mouth twitched slightly in a half grin as he complimented himself.

“But I dare say you are bound to be discovered eventually.” Tallanoran finished.

“I know.” Micheal replied.

“It’s a problem I’ll deal with when the time comes… but it sounds like you have something to say about it?” Otherwise, Micheal didn’t see a reason for the Soul King to bring it up.

“I like you, Micheal. Straight to the point. None of that inane dilly-dallying that just wastes time.” Tallanoran’s grin widened.

“I want to make a deal with you.”

Micheal folded his hands together, his eyebrows creasing as he stared back at Tallarnoran.

“A deal? Why?”

‘Nothing comes free in this world.’

“Because… you and I now have a common enemy. A group of beings that will never tolerate the existence of someone that has traveled backwards in time.”

Micheal’s gaze hardened as he listened to the Soul King’s final words, already knowing what he was going to say.

“Monsters that proclaim themselves to be Gods.”

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