"Your mother... is a goddess?" Razeal’s voice ca out low.. too low for anyone else to catch the full weight of it but there was a sharpness beneath the whisper that hadn’t been there before, a quiet fracture in his tone that betrayed far more than the words themselves, and as he slowly turned his head toward Sofia, his gaze settled on her in a way that was no longer casual, no longer indifferent, but searching... probing... almost as if he was trying to peel sothing away from her, to see past what she had shown him until now and into sothing deeper, sothing hidden.. His eyes usually steady, controlled carried the faintest tremor, subtle but unmistakable, like a ripple beneath still water.
"And you didn’t think that was important enough to tell ? Even when i told you everything?" he added, just as softly, but this ti the question lingered longer, heavier, because it wasn’t just about the fact itself it was about when he learned it, how he learned it, and more importantly, who he learned it from.
There was sothing deeply wrong about that to him, sothing that didn’t sit right no matter how he tried to rationalize it, because the first person who stood by him without doubt, without proof, the one who had believed him simply because he said so while looking into her eyes...? That sa person had kept sothing like this from him, and he didn’t hear it from her he heard it from Riven... of all people? From the one he considered closest to an enemy, and that thought alone twisted sothing inside him, sothing quiet but sharp.
What is this...? the question ford silently in his mind as he stared at her, his expression remaining controlled, but his thoughts spiraling beneath the surface, Is this coincidence... or sothing else? because nothing in his life had ever been simple, nothing had ever just happened without reason, and he knew that better than anyone, Is this so kind of design? he wondered, his gaze tightening ever so slightly, Sothing planned... by them? By the gods? the idea wasn’t absurd to him.. not anymore not after everything he had been through, not after understanding how deeply fate and manipulation ran in his life.
Was she ant to co close to ... just to...? the thought didn’t even finish, because he didn’t want to say it fully, didn’t want to define it completely, but the implication lingered there regardless, heavy and suffocating, and for a mont, sothing almost like pain flickered behind his eyes not dramatic, not overwhelming, but quiet, restrained, like sothing he had learned to suppress over ti, because if there was one thing his life had taught him, it was this.. nothing good cos to him without a cost.
There is saying that.. even the wind blows in favor if it’s written for one.
And he knew what was written for him, he had seen it, understood it, and so of course... there had to be a reason, there had to be a cause behind everything that had seed too easy her presence..
Like.. Why their marriage happened so smoothly?
Why everything aligned so perfectly and easily? That it doesn’t even make sense?
Why she called him her soulmate?
His eyes lingered on her a mont longer, searching, questioning, doubting yet still holding onto sothing that refused to completely break.
Sofia, on the other hand, didn’t need to hear his thoughts to understand what was happening.. she could see it in his eyes, in the way he looked at her now, the doubt, the hurt, the quiet accusation that he wasn’t voicing but was very much present, and her chest tightened slightly as she realized what he must be thinking, I should have told him earlier... the thought ca imdiately, sharp with regret, because she knew she knew how this looked, especially given everything he had gone through, and before he could sink deeper into that spiral, she spoke, her voice soft but firm..
"Sigh.. I should’ve explained that to you before," she admitted, her gaze steady on him, "But believe ... this isn’t what you’re thinking or everything that in going on in your head right now.." she added, shaking her head slightly, trying to anchor him before his thoughts carried him too far.
"Just believe in .. I’ll explain everything to you... later," she continued, but even as she said it, her eyes flicked briefly toward Riven, toward the others, toward the situation they were still in, and she exhaled quietly..
"This isn’t the ti or the place," she finished, her tone calm but laced with urgency, because she could feel it this mont was fragile, and if mishandled, it could break into sothing far worse.
She reached out then, gently, her hand moving toward his arm in an attempt to ground him, to reassure him but the reaction was imdiate, instinctive.. Razeal pulled his arm back slightly, not violently, not aggressively, but enough to stop her from touching him, and the motion itself said more than any words could, because it wasn’t deliberate rejection... it was just reflex, sothing deeper, sothing his body chose before his mind did..
Sofia’s hand lingered in the air for a second before she slowly pulled it back, her gaze dropping briefly to it, a quiet sadness flickering across her expression, before she looked back up at him again.
"Yes, We will," Razeal said after a mont, his voice steady again, controlled, though not entirely unchanged, as he glanced briefly around at the others before returning his gaze to her, "We’ll talk about this," he added, nodding once, "Properly," and then, just slightly, his tone shifted, not harsh, not accusing but carrying weight.
"And.. I hope... you won’t disappoint also.." and with that, the distance between them though small physically felt much larger than before.
Sofia inhaled quietly, her fingers brushing lightly against her own palm as she steadied herself, then lifted her gaze again, "You’re misunderstanding everything," she said, more firmly now, though still controlled, her eyes eting his directly, because she refused to let that doubt grow unchecked, not like this.
"Maybe," Razeal replied, the word simple, almost dismissive, but the way he said it made it clear.. he wasn’t convinced, not yet, and despite the neutrality of his tone, his mind was already leaning elsewhere.
There was a brief pause after that, a mont where neither of them pushed further, where the tension simply existed between them, unresolved, before Sofia exhaled softly and shifted the conversation, her expression tightening slightly as sothing else resurfaced in her thoughts, sothing that had been pushed aside but hadn’t gone away.
"Leave that for now," she said, her tone more serious now, more focused, "First... tell this," her eyes locked onto his again, sharper this ti, "What did he an... when he said you’ve died millions of tis?" and there it was the question that had been hanging over all of them since Riven spoke it, the one none of them could ignore, because it wasn’t just a statent.. it was sothing far beyond normal comprehension.
Sofia regarded him with a seriousness she herself did not fully understand. There was a quiet weight in her gaze, as though she were trying to grasp sothing far beyond ordinary comprehension. Truthfully, she did not even know why she found herself entertaining such an idea in first place. It was not sothing one was ant to understand or even imagine perhaps not even sothing the human mind was capable of imagining? Right?
Like..?
To die once was already an unfathomable threshold. But to die millions of tis? What would that even entail? What kind of suffering would accumulate within a person who had endured death over and over again? Would each end carry its own pain, its own fear, its own different kind of.. imprint of trauma? Or would the repetition dull the experience into sothing hollow, sothing beyond emotion?
And more disturbingly could a human mind survive such a reality?
Sofia struggled to reconcile the thought. Psychologically, it seed impossible. No person could endure that magnitude of repeated endings without fracturing entirely without losing their sense of self, their sanity, their connection to what it ans to be alive. The idea itself was terrifying, not because it was clearly defined, but because it was not. It lingered in the unknown, in a space where pain had no limits and identity had no stability.
She could not picture it. Not truly. And perhaps that was what frightened her most. She was just confused so much that she couldn’t even believe it.. But then again.. She knows the fact that Gods cant die..
And at this mont, the weight of Riven’s words seed to have settle over everyone present like an invisible pressure, suffocating and heavy, as Maria, Nancy, Levy, Aurora, and Yograj all stood there in stunned silence, their expressions shifting between disbelief and total confusion, unable to reconcile what they had just heard with any form of logic they knew.
It wasn’t just shocking.. it was just sounding impossible, and yet it had been spoken with such certainty that none of them could outright dismiss it either, and slowly, almost instinctively, their gazes all drifted back toward one person Razeal.
He, anwhile, wasn’t looking at them at first, his eyes fixed instead on Sofia, studying her face in a way that felt unusually quiet, almost fragile beneath the surface, as if he was searching for sothing specific within her expression, sothing that would confirm or deny the storm forming in his mind, and what he saw there... it didn’t help him, not at all, because her eyes.. those sa eyes that had once looked at him with unwavering trust? Were now filled with too many emotions at once concern, unmistakable and genuine fear? subtle but present.
Worry? deep and unhidden and beneath all of it, sothing softer... sadness?
And seeing that alone made his gaze tremble slightly, because he didn’t want to see that, didn’t want to interpret it, didn’t want to acknowledge what it might an, so he didn’t look deeper, didn’t try to read beyond the surface, as if doing so would only confirm sothing he wasn’t ready to face.
"Is this true?" Maria’s voice cut through the silence, steady but heavy, and when Razeal shifted his gaze toward her also he found a similar expressions if not only more intense, more direct, her blue eyes locked onto him as if demanding an answer not just with words, but with everything she was.
Razeal said nothing, and the silence stretched again, longer this ti, as his gaze moved on, passing over Levy, Aurora, and Yograj, and though their reactions weren’t as intense, weren’t as openly emotional, there was still sothing there in their eyes sothing quieter, sothing more restrained, but just as present... a kind of implicit judgnt, or perhaps worse, pity?
And that was the one thing that made his just close his eyes slightly.. because he could recognize it instantly, even if it was faint, even if it was subtle, and he hated it.
Slowly he opened his eyes.
Then finally, his gaze returned to Sofia again, and for a brief second, sothing unreadable flickered through his expression before he spoke, shaking his head slightly, "No... it isn’t," he said, his voice calm, controlled, almost dismissive as if brushing the entire thing aside.
"He’s lying," and he nodded once, as if confirming it not just to them, but to himself as well.
But Sofia didn’t accept it not even for a second "Gods can’t lie... and you know that," she responded imdiately, her voice sharper now, not aggressive, but firm, grounded in what she believed to be an undeniable truth, her eyes fixed on him as if trying to pull him back from whatever path he was starting to walk down.
Razeal’s expression didn’t change much, but his gaze hardened just slightly as he replied, "I said he is," his tone carrying more weight this ti, not loud, not forceful, but resolute, "So now... Who are you going to believe?" he asked, looking directly at her, "A god... or ?"
And that question simple as it sounded.. It wasn’t.. it cut deeper than it should have, because it wasn’t just about truth anymore, it was about trust, and Sofia felt it instantly, the sting of it, the implication behind it, her expression faltering for just a fraction of a second before she spoke again, softer now but no less serious.
"I know you’re hurt," she said, her voice steady but carrying genuine concern, "I can see it... because I didn’t tell you about my mother," she admitted, not avoiding it, not denying it, "but believe ... there’s nothing like what you’re thinking," she continued, shaking her head slightly, her eyes not leaving his, "I didn’t even know about your fate... or your problems with the gods... until just a few hours ago," she added, her tone earnest, almost pleading now.
"There was no plan... no involvent from anyone above," and she took a small breath before continuing, "I didn’t tell you because... it wasn’t the right ti," she said honestly, "but I was going to," and then, her voice tightened slightly, "You can’t actually think... that I married you because my mother told to... just to keep an eye on you... can you?" and there it was the question she hadn’t wanted to ask, but had to, because she could see where his thoughts were heading, and she needed to stop it
Razeal looked at her for a mont after that, his expression unreadable, before he exhaled lightly and said.. "You know what? I don’t care," his tone returning to sothing almost indifferent, almost dismissive, as if he had already decided sothing internally.
"It’s fine... even if you had other intentions," he added, nodding slightly to himself as if closing that matter entirely, not because it was resolved, but because he chose to set it aside for now.
Then his gaze shifted again, this ti toward Riven, and his expression sharpened just a little, "And as for him... spouting this nonsense," he continued, his voice carrying a faint edge now, "you can’t seriously believe it," he said, glancing briefly back at Sofia.
"Soone dying millions of tis? Thats total nonsense.." he scoffed lightly, "That’s just him trying to get back at ," his eyes flickering toward Riven again, "because he can’t accept what I did," he added, "That it was deserved... that those were just the consequences of their actions," and then, after a brief pause, he continued more quietly.
"And actually even if..." he began, his voice lowering slightly, "Even if.. Lets say it were true," and here, his tone shifted not defensive, not aggressive, but sothing more distant, more detached, "What’s the point of asking about it?" he said, his gaze drifting slightly away, not focusing on anyone in particular, "What’s be done... be done," and there was a strange calmness in that statent, sothing almost unsettling.
"If anything... it just proves I was strong enough," he continued, "that I had reasons strong enough... to walk through that kind of hell hole," his lips curved faintly, not quite a smile, "And still stand here," and then, finally, he looked back at them all of them.. his expression composed once more.
"So whatever you’re seeing right now... whatever with those looks and eyes," he said, his voice steady, "don’t," and there was sothing firm in that single word.
"I’m not soone to be pitied," he added, "Not for what I’ve been through... and not for what I’ve done,"
"I am not.. NO matter which version of the story you choose to believe."
——
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