Chapter 460 – How Poetic
"I am the master of this Echo of Warren." The Naless Host said with a calm smile, then looked intensely at Kaden’s expression.
There was nothing to see except confusion, proving that the young man was completely unaware of anything related to the aspects of Warren.
’It’s not strange. In fact, it’s perfectly normal for anyone below the Ascendant rank to not only know but even hear about Warren.’
But then, the creature wondered with a slowly disappearing smile, ’Why did I expect him to know? Ah, I expected it, now I am disappointed he doesn’t know. A being with so many unique powers in him should know more, for knowing more ans more chance to survive.’
Even if it was also true that knowing more ant more burden. However, that was how things worked since the very dawn of ti.
Good and Bad. Light and Darkness. Life and Death.
Anything, everything has its opposite.
For any goodness that ca to you, there was equally sothing bad that was either hidden in that goodness or would co later in another form.
Those forms could be seeds of nightmares. Most of them were.
’A sha.’ The creature thought before shaking his head lightly, looking at Kaden who finally regained his bearings.
"Am I supposed to know what a Warren is?" Kaden asked imdiately, eyebrows peaking as he looked around him.
His danger sense was prickling.
Never did he expect that this being would be the master of this horrific realm. How could that be? And why was this place — Warren, as it called it — holding such an unending and nightmarish war within it?
"You were supposed to know, indeed." Naless said. "But you don’t, and I can do nothing about it."
Kaden frowned. "You can tell , instead."
"I will not." Naless shook its head as if dancing. "I will not impose that burden on . You will know when the ti cos, and for your sake, I hope it will not be too late."
"You are refusing to answer my question, yet you expect to give you what you want." Kaden growled, his body subtly shifting, going closer to Rea. "That’s not how things work, dear host."
The creature chuckled without humor.
"I am giving you back sothing you need more at this mont than that knowledge." Naless said. "I am giving you the opportunity to exit this place, safe and sound. Believe , Kaden Warborn, you wouldn’t wish to stay here for the next round of war. It’s not a war you can understand or survive, no matter how special you are. You will die, and you will be part of them."
’Them?’ Kaden mused restlessly.
Naless, anwhile, shifted its head, looking at the stitch around Rea’s neck. "Next ti will be much, much worse, and you have soone to protect. Will you thrive? Let answer that question for you: you won’t."
It raised its two hands, palms facing its strange face.
"So here is the thing, you accept my offer. I get the na I want," it let its right palm down, "and you get your freedom, then go along your lovely heroic journey to save the cursed princess." The left hand went down.
It grinned, then plastered its two palms as if in prayer.
"Now that’s a tale worthy of a night discussion around a fire with ale. I wish I could witness all of it."
Kaden answered with silence. In all accounts, this Naless Host was right. He didn’t think he could survive long enough in that war while protecting Rea at the sa ti.
He would surely die, but that was not the main issue. The issue was he didn’t think he had enough coins to allow himself to die in such a place so many tis.
The last ti he was killed by Forbidden, the price he had paid was so much he still couldn’t believe it. But that showed the level of Forbidden, and that made him even more certain of the bastard who put him in this bloody situation.
His face twisted in cold rage. "Who put — us — here?"
"Oh?" Naless exclaid. The question of Kaden summoned a set of mories from the horrific library in its head.
Its eyes clouded, as if going back to a distant past...a past where a young man stumbled upon its remains and succeeded in what many others had failed before him — making it fully conscious again.
The young man had asked its na then, making it finally aware that it no longer had a na. It was no longer a He or a She. It had beco an It. And that until a na was bestowed upon it.
It asked that young man for a na, finding in him a talent and an ambition few in history ever held — He was a Prodigy of the Highest degree. And coming from it...it ant sothing few would ever understand.
His answer to its demand had been disappointing.
"A na you ask?" He chuckled, playing with his grey locks as the sun glowed on his bare back skin. "I wouldn’t mind giving you one, you see. But no, naless one. I am not the one."
"The one?"
"Your na will be given by another."
"But when? Who?"
"That’s two interesting questions!" The man laughed freely, clapping his hands joyfully. "And the answer is I don’t know. It could take years or even months or even centuries. The fact remains, you will receive your na one day. And by soone who is ant to give you a na."
"How can you know it?" It had asked back then, wishing desperately to have a na. "Are you a Seer? Who is the god of your Warren?"
"I am neither a Seer nor do I have a god I worship." The man said, crouching down to look deeper at it. "Ah well, I did have one, but I escaped his corrupted clutch. But the point is, before I escaped I had a little discussion with our lovely Divine Seer."
He barked a laugh, pointing with his index finger at his eyes — shifting and glowing like living runes. "And I made sure to give myself a well deserved gift. My runic eyes are now one of a kind."
"You disobeyed your god?" Naless had asked with dismay.
"Oh yes, of course I did." The man laughed.
"How dare you?" It asked incredulously. "There is a severe punishnt for such a thing. Did your—!"
"I received my punishnt." He cut its words. "I have been stripped of my Original Epithet and given the one of Forbidden Alchemist. Ah, that god is a fool, isn’t he? I am most pleased with this title. How could I not be? I am alive because of my disobedience. I am thriving because I did sothing that no one dared. And do you know what I realized after that event?"
"...what?" It asked, unsure of how to act in front of this dangerous man.
"That life only begins with that one Forbidden act." He grinned. "So I have now a taste of it, and I cannot get enough of it. So today, I shall do another forbidden thing."
"What do you—!"
"Listen well, Naless One, tell that to whoever will give you a na." Forbidden Alchemist had lifted then his hand and put it softly yet strongly on the head of Naless.
And at that feeling, in the current mont, the Naless Host opened its lips, its eyes still blurred and stuck in the past, as it uttered the words Forbidden Alchemist commanded to the sitting Kaden.
The voices of Forbidden and Naless overlapped sinisterly.
"A Warren belongs to the domain of gods. What would happen if a mortal obtained it? What would happen if a mortal controlled it? What would happen, I wonder, oh but I wonder!!! And aren’t you wondering, too?"
Kaden imdiately sat straight, recognizing the irritating tone of the Forbidden in the words of Naless.
"Wonder no more, Chosen One. An Echo of Warren is presented to you inside your lap. Take it, do the one Forbidden thing and..."
His breath caught.
"...start your life, taken within your own hands without any interference."
A curt but heavy pause.
"So here I present to you, Chosen One, the Echo Warren of the dead God of Death."
"Ah~ How poetic!!!"
—End of Chapter 460—
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