The chamber brightened up as the figure regained its liveliness, illuminating the darkness with its warmth and sentiment. After peering into Ocelia's soul, the mysterious person had learnt about her past, knowing everything about her current life as well as finding some clues about the previous ones.

After knowing about this twist, the previous disappointment began to fade as something else emerged within that pair of golden eyes. The sparks of hope and longing combusted into the glowing specks of light, lighting the darkness that loomed over his soul since the first day he had learnt about the truth.

"Although you and she shouldn't meet, it still happened. To think that, in the end, our years of plannings and schemings would get overthrown by this unexpected encounter." The figure made a gripping motion with its hand, creating something out of thin air before pushing it towards the couple.

The spherical mass of light slowly moved, radiating warmth that soothed Forus' soul, cleaning his inner thoughts as well as healing his physical exhaustion. Although its benefits did not outweigh the essence of the Witch, this was merely its side-effect that inadvertently happened because of the high concentration of Elements.

Forus did not struggle and let the sphere moved towards him, sensing its resonance with his soul as he did so. Because of the absolute difference in strength, Forus did not have any choice but to accept it. If he angered the figure, Ocelia would be in danger because of him.

As the distance between Forus and the sphere grew short, the greyish tentacles twisted and turned, seeping out from his realm of consciousness and warped around it, greedily devoured its power.

The sudden emergence of the greyish soul caused a fluctuation in that pair of golden eyes. Although the figure had prepared himself, he still experienced a shocked when he had witnessed this object of an obscure legend.

"Maybe, you might be our only solution." Muttered to himself, the man used his hand to piece Forus' chest, cutting open it in half. However, although one could see the inside, there was no sensation of pain or any leaks of blood, which baffled Forus to no end.

Beneath the figure's feet, a dark mess began to expand outwards, covering the surrounding with its light-devouring substance. Not long after, the black flood twisted as they emerged from the floor, forming a giant dome that enveloped both the couple and the mysterious figure.

"Time is short, and so is my life." Strangely, as Forus heard the words, he felt a warmness travelled through his face, and he instinctively touched the two points that originated those heat.

Forus opened his eyes and saw the complete blackness, expanding towards infinity as not even a single shade of light appear in his sight. Forus once again regained his vision. Although he had already experienced it twice, Forus could not help but smile a little.

Next, he gazed towards the origin of the voice, peering into the only place that did not get occupied by the total darkness. Quietly, the figure appeared before his vision, staring into Forus' soul with his pair of golden eyes. However, the moment Forus laid his attention onto that face, his eyes widened, and he frowned in confusion and disbelief.

The strange distortion of space and time disappeared within this separated dimension. It could conceal the detail of the inner world from the eyes of the outsiders, hiding all trace of all things from even the mysterious World Will. However, to activate this forbidden spell, the mysterious figure had used all he had for this moment.

The man wore a plain, tattered robe that shone in golden light, reflecting the once exalted shadow of its former glory. Although it looked like any other sorcerer's robe, there was a hint of radiance within it, hiding beneath the traditional appearance of the cloth. Although there was no illusionary power involved, Forus still felt as if he was facing a higher being, dragging him into his memory when he first encountered the sorcerers.

He felt powerless and lowly, having a persistent urge to kneel and cower in front of this sovereign of the world. Although the figure was like a fallen emperor, any mortal would still need to respect him. None could disrespect the emperor.

However, Forus had experienced many things, and just the holy-like appearance was not enough to instil shock into him. Instead, it was the pair of golden eyes that stared back at him, enchanting him into locking his attention at it as his mind fell into confusion.

The face that stared into Forus' soul was the same as the face that stared back at it. Not only that but the two also faintly smiled as well, revealing no different in appearance. If the figure and Forus changed clothes, the fainted Ocelia would not be able to spot any difference in their disguise.

"I know that you have a lot to ask, but time won't wait for us. I will only ask you one thing, so listen carefully." Without any chance for Forus to ask, the figure spoke decisively, exerting a part of his power to reveal his determination.

Although it was only a tiny fragment of his power, Forus could still feel the presence of the endless ocean drowning onto him, submerging his miniature will like a raging fire. Nevertheless, because there was no intention to harm him, Forus could barely resist the force.

"Your meeting with her is not meant to be, and fate will not allow it. So, are you willing to let go? Exchange your lives for an uncertain chance to break free of this restain?" With his vague question, the figure waved his hand and pushed Forus away gently, causing a subtle breeze that went through his body and stuck his soul, forcing his conscious out of his body.

In that empty world of nonexistence, many scenes flashed before his eyes, showing him his memory after his resurrection. However, as he watched through it again, Forus began to notice some difference.

Above and below every living thing he saw, there was a faint, transparent glowing orb of many colours hovered around them. The sphere would occasionally flicker as the being experienced something, sorrow or joy, anger or fear.

Other than that, Forus also saw many strings derived from the floating orb of light. When alone, they would turn transparent and fade, quietly waiting for some changes to happen. When the creatures interacted with one another, the strings would also intertwine, forming various relationships, from friends to foes, relatives to strangers.

The strangest of all was none other than himself because when he inspected himself, Forus found that his body did not have the usual glowing orb of light nor the fading strings of relationships. Instead, his body was like a spiral abyss, full of the darkness of the night, filling with the greyish, twisting tendrils that originated from the realm of hell itself.

Although Forus speculated that something about him had changed once he had made a pact with the evil entity, he did not expect that it had replaced his dismal fate with something else. Like a bottomless pit, Forus could not see anything when looking at it.

When the past him met Ocelia, Forus could see the movement of the strings easily. At first, they tried to avoid foreign tendrils, moving away with the fear of getting tainted by them. However, before they would run away, a faint, pinkish string emerged from within Ocelia's orb of light before weakly struggling towards Forus' soul.

That string did not fear the tendrils as it drove into the deepest part of the abyss, attaching with his soul as the first connection established itself. Forus instinctively knew that at that moment, something specific had happened, resulting in the birth of this string, which Forus knew as the String of Fate.

However, as soon as the String of Fate came into being, Ocelia's soul fluctuated as a faint shadow manifested above it, revealing the appearance as a skeleton clock, moving twistedly as it longhand approach the midnight. Along with it, many bloody spikes emerged from its inside and caressed Ocelia's soul with its demonic intent, waiting for the exact moment to snip her flame of life and sucked her soul into the darkest pit of hell.

The moment only appeared within an instant and disappeared without any trace afterwards. Even Forus could not detect anything other than mild discomfort. Nevertheless, he could still guess that something had played a part in the making of the String of Fate, which could be both good and bad for the couple.

Another anomaly was Mabilis, as his orb of light was constantly shifting its shape, flowing from one to another. His strings of relationships also moved weirdly, being able to connect and avoid others smoothly as well as precisely. However, when they successfully intertwined, it would be firm and stubborn, becoming harder to sever the tie.

Before long, a dark hand emerged from the horizon as it approached Forus, gently grabbing at his soul before bringing him back into the Sorcerer World. As time was running out, the figure could not let Forus waste it all in here.

As Forus looked at his memory for one last time, he saw that the scene was right before when he fought with a maiden that had the mentor as the female sorcerer.

Once Forus prepared to depart this imaginary realm, the world started to collapse as there was no need to waste any energy to prolong it. The images of many scenes began to overlap and form a mess of a chaotic memory.

In them, only two pinkish strings remained unyielding from the destruction. One came from the images of Ocelia, while another came from the pictures of Matia, the second-ranked female sorcerer, one of the elders of the Flying Green Garden, and the sole daughter of Forus Ander and Meria Ander.

In that split second, the pinkish strings moved outwards, chasing the disappearing figure of Forus' soul, trying to convey an indispensable message it carried. With its absolute determination, it moved forwards fearlessly, dodging the debris from the collapsing world.

The distance between the two shortened rapidly. As the hand did not accelerate, it allowed the pinkish string to close the gap. However, right at the moment of decision, a reddish light glared out from the darkness below, moving at a faster speed to intercept the pink string.

While the pink one had the warming air surrounded it, the bloody one had the aura of madness exuding from it, deterring others from coming near. With the blazing flame of anger, it shot towards the pinkish string and headed straight towards it.

As it sensed the danger, the pinkish string chose to disintegrate into nothingness, shedding its shell and revealing its original form. With a pair of transparent wings on its back, the pink fairy headed towards Forus once more. This time, it had a layer of shield covering its body.

Not wanting the fairy to succeed, the bloody string also dissolved its shell, turning into a devil with a pair of flaming wings. With its revolving fireballs of hatred and anger, it used its heat of resentment to intercept the fairy.

"Father! Matia misses you..." With her soft voice, the fairy spoke faintly, using Matia's real voice as the model.

"You try to kill my disciple. Now, you must pay." A distorting voice echoed as the devil launched the fireball at the fairy, hitting the shield of filial. However, no matter how hard it tried, it could never break it.

As the struggle continued, the fairy flew closer towards Forus, seeing his silhouette so vividly that emotions began to manifest. The same also applied to the devil, whose eyes turned even more hellish as the figure of Forus appeared closer.

"Enough with your nonsense! Our father is already dead. There is no need to bring him up." The devil screamed as it used its last fireball of despair and threw it at the shield of filial. This time, the protection could not take it and break into pieces.

However, the fairy jumped forwards and became infinitely close to Forus. She could sense his unique scent that submerged Matia in the sense of security as well as the warmness of his skin that used to hug her when she was young and innocent.

"Teacher, it hurt! Please help your unfilial disciple!" A pained voice echoed behind the fairy, causing it to stop in surprise.

Another ray of light moved behind her as it emitted a depressing colour of grey, showing pain and despair of her only disciple.

With that instant of delay, the gateway closed and the negligible distance extended to worlds apart. In the end, everything slowly crumbled as the message was not meant to be.

Alas, the distance hope of filial still lost to the anger and despair of the present.