================================

Chapter 297: Blessing and Irony

================================

It is said that the Sun of Earth’s Solar System is a few hundred trillions of years old, probably 400.

Take 999 Trillion of that same sun inside a bowl of oats then add their ages together, multiply that by 999 octillion —an integer with 27 zeroes……

….before adding 999 trillion more milk years to it; you now get the approximate age of Siva. It may not be much but compared to Gabriel, he was literally the old guy between them.

Eon Cycles?

In Terroa, a Terran’s life is the same as any other human being who came from Earth.

Living for 100 years is a legendary feat.

More than that is already an epic existence, but if a person were to live under 100 years old then it is considered as perfectly normal.

And so inserting a “Cycle” in the picture that lasts a thousand years… how do we begin to measure what is an Eon Cycle?

Gabriel lived in the later years of “The Founding” era where empires, kingdoms, and dynasties had erected themselves on their most brilliant lusters.

Today is “The Historical” era, where new legends are being born, and new heroes are created…

It is the 25th Cycle since “The Beginning” era, as it was told in the earliest pages of The Book of Legends. Gabriel had existed from the end of the 4th Cycle until today, and finally became a Quasi-Immortal, one single half-step away from what the Terrans call True Immortality.

He was technically around 20 to 21-Cycles old but compared to how he pictured the existence of an Eon Cycle………Gabriel’s age was but a speck on how old Siva truly is.

Siva was truly dumbstruck trying to picture just the scale of the years it was in the past.

An eternity’s worth of Eon Cycles…?

……an eternity?

AN ETERNITY?!!

To measure an eternity in Eon Cycles… it may not be possible in the real world to imagine it but then again, all of these here are just products of the human imagination so perhaps an eternity can be measured by Terrans in a much more imaginable scale…… like, for example, this Eon Cycle.

Still, that doesn’t mean that Siva won’t be short on breaths trying to imagine it. After all, what they’re talking about here is his actual age.

“When you appeared, that’s when Mefisto started to take form as well……” Gabriel went on when he detected Siva’s confusion. “…since he was Lucifer’s ultimate creation… the shadow of his own ambitions. He may have been under the urge of The One to topple Terra, but his very being in itself had been centered in his ambition to be one that is as powerful as The One. It was his Divinity. It was his soul. And along with his inception into consciousness, Mefisto’s Generals that embodies what was opposite of the virtues of all of what the Primordial Gods represents, began to appear from the Immortals that was born in the vast expanse of the universe as well. From there, the chaos of war spread even further and further that it became enough to encompass and devour the universe in its destructive fangs.”

Gabriel paused to here as if he was recalling what other details he wanted to divulge.

Siva waited with bathed breaths as watched the Immortal Emperor’s shoulders trembled a little as if recalling how Janus had felt when he shared this story to him.

“The Generals took root in the darkest and most desolate side of the Universe; millions of years of envy that formed into jealousy and hate, they all took their time to corrupt as much as they can before they finally revealed themselves as the so called LAGRAM Alliance.”

Gabriel looked up and sighed, “By the time the Primordial Gods noticed their threatening existence, it was already too late. Although they aren’t that strong at first, they have the ability to corrupt anything and thus, the more Immortals’ essences they absorbed, the stronger they had become through those millions of quiet years. In the end, sigh, in the end… everything burned in the fires of that Great War. The Primordial Gods all died and majority of the Immortals perished; some of them survived and then eventually, it all led to what had happened to Terra and Janus, both of them sacrificing their [Authority] in order to survive and preserve their Divinity.”

“….”

“Your appearance was abrupt and none of them anticipated you. You started out as a mortal at first and ascended to Immortality. Then, in the millions of years that the war had been going on in the far skies; you watched it all happen in indifference as if you were not part of it at all.”

“I did?”

“Would I lie to you?”

“It’s definitely a lie. Why would I just watch as all of it happens in front of me?”

“Because at that time, you….”

Again, Gabriel paused, seemingly not wanting to divulge more about it. It infuriated Siva and he felt that now that he had already told him about these things, why not continue with it? Why keep him in suspense? It was unfair.

Gabriel sighed and waved his right hand, looking beside him, as the three pillars appear with a flash of light beside Siva.

“I suggest you make your priorities straight. I am aware that you are saving your brother from being hurt and although I am strong enough to help you, there are certain decrees of The One that I, as his creation, are not even allowed to violate despite the defiance of our primordial ancestors. Do you understand the reason why I chose not to tell you the things you wanted to know?

“To tell you honestly, I don’t.”

“Heh. How stupid. After all the things that I said, you still don’t get the large picture? Very well, let me spell it to you then; we, the original citizens of this world, are bound by his [Authority].”

Gabriel turned around and laughed in his mask of sarcasm and disdain, his hate apparent as he bid a finger that’s seemingly pointed at Siva’s being. “You, on the other hand, and everyone else who had the same souls as The One…. people who came from the other side of this universe, are not bound by these limitations. You can even tap, alter, defy, and change these decrees that The One’s [Authority] had set, permanently. The citizens of this world cannot defy The One but you people who had a different soul, can. And it’s really unfair for us to be put in this way and so, despite having the ability to tell you and divulge things I know to you, I chose not to, just so I could give myself a little justice to how unfair our existences are compared to yours.”

The hate and injustice in his voice was apparent and Gabriel did not hide a speck of it, choosing to frighten Siva with a BIG revelation to his reality.

“Yes, Siva, after ascension, many things will be visible to an Immortal. And these things allow us to choose a life for ourselves. This awareness is both a curse and a blessing, allowing us a little respite to the unfairness of our fragile existence compared to yours…..”

Gabriel’s voice contained mockery, disdain, and a lot of hate towards Siva. It’s like Siva was the very culmination of these negative feelings that all of the citizens of this world had against the likes of his existence: the players.

Siva ain’t stupid. Gabriel’s indirect words directly told Siva that after ascension, an NPC becomes aware that he or she is just an NPC… and that the injustice in their existence becomes apparent and totally visible, because they are being bound by The One’s [Authority]… that they are all part of this game.

So does that mean that this [Authority] thingy… is the chains that binds NPCs to remain as NPCs as they are despite ascension?

Or to put it bluntly, ascending into Immortality only gives an NPC the right to know about his or her existence; give him/her an undying lifespan after letting them know that they are a fragile existence that depends on how the players will decide about their world’s future through their quests.

And as Immortals, they have no choice but to play the role and not defy it, and continue on being used as an object because The One’s decree that his [Authority] had dictated?

By the Gods…. if Siva was an NPC because of all his [memories], then that is indeed a totally unfair treatment to them.

In fact, what is the point of ascension?

To know about their existence and still not able to do something about it is cruel.

And so, just now, Siva understood why Gabriel is stubbornly choosing not to divulge things he knows at him.

Because him, meeting Gabriel right now, was not part of any quest that’s why Gabriel had a choice to not tell him things that he wanted to know.

For some reason, Siva was somehow realizing the limits of this so called [Authority] of The One on the NPCs of this world.

Immortals may be unique existences in this world but they are still technically NPCs, with a bit more freedom and knowledge of the truth of this world than the ones in the cities.

Siva now understood Gabriel’s meaning when he said ‘ascending to immortality is both a blessing and a curse; allowing them a bit of respite to the unfairness of their fragile existence compared to the players’.

“And yet,” Gabriel continued, sensing the stunned Siva who stood in front of him. “no matter how we say it, we are still bound by this [Authority]. And in the course of these years of unfairness, Master still chose to sacrifice his life for the sake of yours and nothing else. Do you understand now?”

“….”

“TELL ME?!!!”

“…”

Siva’s silence was a cruel reply.

Yes, Siva understood but he also doesn’t. Is it just pure irony? He understood the level of sacrifice but he doesn’t know the specific so he can’t pull himself to empathize and sympathize…. that right now, Siva was doubting his self because he doesn’t know where to put himself in between the things he heard from Gabriel.

Gabriel may not have chosen to tell him the things he wanted to know: about who he was and who is Terra, who is Janus, and who is Mefisto…

But he still found out WHAT they are and this was an answer he did not expect.

[The truth of this world.]

Like a lightning that struck his mind, booming with a noise that echoes in his consciousness, this one single line, or a phrase, or a greeting, or plainly what this is all about… ‘the truth of this world’ that was connected to him one way or another, the [key] which he now knows lay in the southeast horizon, in Chronos… is the one thing that could give him all the answers he wanted.

…..or needed…

…or just require in order to lubricate the stiff and painful jagged rotations of the gears that made up his entire being…….

…or in simple words, just plainly the answer to the reason why his life ended up this way.

The answer to his basic question: why did his life had to be shattered because of Terroa?

Gabriel looked at Siva and knew that he had told him too much and yet, also too little. Gabriel knew that he gave Siva the ‘direction’ to look for his own answers, and not the ‘clues’ on how to find those answers on his own.

He really just wanted to let him know, to let him be aware of the injustice of their existence… on the reason why his existence is important to them, to the citizens of this world, despite the fact that he was also the trigger to their destruction.

With these complicated emotions, Gabriel had no way to vent his frustration to the injustice that his Teacher had suffered.

Gabriel had only had a handful of people he cared about in his long life, and now, they were all dead.

Even his Teacher was dead.

What is the point of Immortality if you’re alone?

In fact, Gabriel had stubbornly insisted to battle that abomination alongside Janus, but Janus had insisted him to complete his ascension instead… telling him that these were just all part of his trials and tribulations, that they were all part of his tests.

Gabriel rarely cries or shed tears on that regard, but right now, he was tearing up. Siva could not utter a word in because this proud and arrogant being, the only surviving one of the two of his ‘kind’, is crying tears of injustice in front of him, a mere mortal, right now.

All of his pain, the suffering of his people, all of the sorrow, grief, and misery of the Immortals, and the innocent lives across the Terran Universe in all the eras and eons past that suffered a cruel end because of the selfishness of The One… all of it was now being pointed at Siva.

He was being blamed for everything because he was there at the time and he just watched.

Because their deaths and the future of the last bastion of resistance against the LAGRAM, was put on the shoulder of someone who doesn’t care a bit about them….

So why would Gabriel not feel aggrieved?

“Go.” Gabriel said. He didn’t sniff or hid his tears and only waved his hand to dismiss Siva. He had already laid out his piece. He was contented now that he had made Siva aware of his grievances.

“Just go… and never come back. Do your job. Do a fucking good job with it… or else, my Teacher’s death and Terra’s sacrifices would all have been in complete vain….”

While he was dismissing Siva, Gabriel was full of sorrow and pain.

He didn’t want to look at Siva further because it only reminds him of his anger and pain, of all the unfairness he couldn’t change nor affect and be put to a better light, which centered on him.

*****

Siva hesitated then looked at the ‘bracelet’ in his hand. When prompted to go, Gabriel turned his back against him and faced the edge of the cliff of the temple, again, to look at the city.

He equipped the item in his right arm. And heard a CLANK~!! sound that confirmed something.

It was supposed to be a bare-looking bracelet of golden luster despite having a silvery white skin.

Two inches wide and as thin as a strand of hair, it was shockingly sturdy, and albeit being a physical object in his fingers, it doesn’t cast any shadow when struck by light of day.

When he wore the bracelet, it locked securely in his forearm with a locking noise then emitting a brilliant flash of light before vanishing into his black smoke skin without a trace.

“Where is it?” Siva was shocked.

He pulled out his player panel and, to his surprise; he saw there the changes on his Inventory.

There was no prompt, no time limit of usage, no other kind of thing that appeared in his vision, but his Inventory and Weight Limits stats upgraded.

In his “Accessories” window, he saw there the item, placed at his right forearm accessory slot.

He felt ecstatic but as much as this was a happy occasion, Siva couldn’t find himself to thank Gabriel because of the things that they spoke of to each other.

Right now, he even felt that he owed him.

Siva pointed at the three huge pillars beside him and even though they were 5m away from him, because of their size, they were still ‘beside’ him.

SHOOOFF~!!

The pile of pillars vanished and appeared next on his inventory. Siva didn’t waste time and pointed at the pile of crates and boxes 10 meters away.

And with the same sound-FX of vanishing, they were transported to his Inventory.

“Ten meters…”

Previously, his inventory could only summon and retrieve items 2m away from him. Now, it was also improved up to 10m away…. or maybe further.

He tested it out and calculated an area 20m away.

SHOOOF~!!

“Oh.” The pile of pillars was bundled as three separate items with their names having numbers of one, two, and three in them, and one of them appeared 20m away. “I see. So is 30m possible?”

He tested it out but it didn’t work. 25m also didn’t work. It was then confirmed, 20m.

He can retrieve items 20m away!

Siva wanted to ask Gabriel something but he did not do so and just accepted the role of the one who received a help, even though he didn’t say any word of thanks since this was his ‘payment’.

He had done what he came here for. It was now time to leave.

“Above your main panel.” A voice flowed on his ears when he was about to enter the Temple. It was Gabriel’s voice. “If you’re thinking about the exp meter, it’s hidden above your main panel. It only appears as soon as an individual get an item with a complete Divinity Blessing. As to how you gather and accumulate ‘exp points’, you can just find that out yourself.”

Gabriel didn’t turn his back but it would seem that he still watched Siva’s silly experiment just now, even knowing the problem that’s been bugging him for quite a while ever since he got his hands on the Sword of Triune.

“Above my main panel?” Siva murmured and then pulled out his player panel. As it hung there at the tip of his fingers, he dragged his index above his player panel, above his name.

There… as soon as he pressed the empty space above his name, he saw there an exp gauge, or more like, just a small pop up window… not even that different from a pop up window showing up when one received a call or a notification.

If there is something, it floated there like a priority notification pop-up window, hovering a bit slightly higher than the main player panel.

It was a number.

[1613]

“What is this?” Siva wanted to voice out his question but there was already the awkwardness between him and Gabriel so he brushed off the idea and decided to think about it later.

As soon as he removed his finger on the window, the exp gauge also disappeared.

It was a hidden feature.

.

.

================================

Upgrade and Update…..

Siva heads out for Jeremiah!!!

================================