The silver engravings of the doors shimred with runic lights, but Arthur sensed no hostility from it. Instead, he sensed the presence of the seer behind the double doors – watching, calculating, and waiting.
One knock and the other, resonating in the hollow interior of the mansion. Arthur sighed at how much things have changed and watched the doors creak open, like a beast unhinging its maw. Inside was the violet mana surrounding a figure, whose back faced Arthur.
"It has been a long ti since we last t," muttered Arthur as he walked into the bedroom, his feet slamming to the marble floor a little too hard. "How has it been, Sier?"
A pebble thrown into the calst pond, causing ripples. His question seed to bring down the peace of the room, causing the violet mana to shift. Arthur stood in the silence as he watched the seer rise and turn, nothing like what Arthur rembered.
Sier looked like a withered ghost that has devoured itself just to survive. Arthur took a glance, and then another. His eyes shifted to the bottles and what remained of herbs on the ground. Then, he understood the cruel reality.
"I don't need your pity," said Sier, reading his mind without even being able to hear his thoughts. Arthur paused and looked at the seer. "What do you think that you are doing, just slithering your way into my ho?"
Arthur was no fool. He could sense the edge in the seer's voice – a warning sign before the imminent battle begins. However, he refused to escalate the situation further as he has done before. In fact, he regrated it.
"I want to apologize."
The phrase caught the seer off-guard. He never expected Arthur to show remorse or even think about apologizing. His surprise, however, was short-lived. A pained expression appeared on his face before he held his head. The seer was in pain.
Arthur did not understand what was happening, but he decided it would be wisest to avoid approaching the seer, lest he sees it as a hostile move. He watched from afar, and saw the flickering violet lights in the seer's eyes.
"Don't let him take over, Sier," said Arthur, causing the pained man to freeze in place. Then, he turned toward Arthur with the sa fury, if not more.
"How dare you command ?"
"You need to free yourself from the hatred that you have for ," said Arthur after a sigh. "I ca here to apologize for not telling you the truth, for not trusting you enough to tell you what happened to ."
"And now you know?" asked the Sier with a smirk. "I thought we could be friends, Arthur. But you never thought of as more of a stepping stone to jump into the world and learn its tricks. When you grew powerful enough, you turned against ."
"I never ant to turn against you, but how could you accept the fact that I am no longer the sa person that you used to know?"
"Then who are you?"
Arthur could see so sort of calculation rather than curiosity. The seer should have already deduced his real identity, which makes it worthless for Arthur to reveal it. However, it was a test of sincerity.
"I am the sa Arthur that you sought at the arcade, the sa one that fought alongside you against Ilios, and the sa Arthur that feels gratitude for everything you have done. However, I am not the sa Arthur that you knew for the past year."
"What happened to the real Arthur?"
"I don't know," said Arthur as he could feel the violet mana stir. Sier did not like that answer. "Do you know the source of epiphanies?"
"…an overlap in the tilines."
"As expected from the greatest seer," said Arthur with a smile. "I caused that overlap, which also ant that my mories of that tiline jumped to this one. However, the mories I had during the past year, which I have not been present, is gone."
"…then everything that we went through together… and everything that we learned about each other…"
"Gone."
The revelation made Sier pause, look at the ground, and then burst out laughing. His laughter echoed through the dark bedroom chamber, through the halls, and the then the entire mansion. Arthur stood in his presence, failing to understand his mindset, but still not threatened.
"The mont I learned about who the outsider is, I knew I had to get him on my team. A powerful enigma that could create whatever the fuck he wished? How could we even defeat such an absurd ability?"
"I can relate to that."
"You cannot, definitely not. I had to choose between two fates, Arthur. I had to either forsake the only power I had or beco the puppet of the Omniscient Seer. And you know what? The outsider was coming for if I chose the seer. I knew we couldn't win against you. No one fucking can."
"So, you chose to be my friend instead."
"I hoped it would change things between us, that we could work sothing out as long as we were friends, but everything I worked for and built was gone the mont your mories disappeared. I…" paused the seer, taking a deep breath. "I'm out of ti."
As the words slipped into the fabrics of his mind, they carried a desperation that he has never heard. Sier furrowed his brows, clenched his fists, and then released them. Then, he turned toward Arthur.
"After what happened in Runera, we are enemies."
"Enemies, friends, allies – nothing but social constructs. I know that I stood against you, as you have stood against . But I am willing to let bygones be bygones."
"For what?"
"For Oriole."
"The alchemist who kidnapped the prince without even telling ?" laughed Sier as he staggered back, his ponytail swaying. "You ca to so we can help him?"
"Since you used the word help, that ans you know he is in trouble," said Arthur as he looked around the room. "You have been using enhancent potions, supplents, and forbidden items. For what?"
"Do you think I would reveal what I have been painstakingly working to uncover?" asked Sier with a grin as he cupped his hands on his belly, letting his violet robes cascade as he walked forward. "You have so nerve."
"I have an offer, nothing else," said Arthur as he looked the Sier in the eye. Before he awakened his kingdom of wrath, the seer was taller than him. However, Arthur grew with each soul that joined his kingdom. Each soul purified his body as it entered his consciousness. "One that would interest you."
"I will refuse that…"
"I can help you overco the guardian."
Sier froze in place, his mouth still chewing on the refusal he was about to utter. As if retracting a knife to his own neck, the seer closed his mouth, studied Arthur, and squinted his eyes in doubt. He could not see through Arthur even if he tried.
"What kind of ga is this?"
"Not a ga. A simple offer. After entering the red tower, I learned to master this new power, the power of wrath. It could erase everything, including the control that the seer has on your mind."
"...and how would I trust you?"
"Am I a man of deceit?" asked Arthur, and the seer could not say that Arthur is. Despite their differences and problems, Arthur was never a man to use underhanded ans. "You know better than that."
"Just to save Oriole?"
"You know about the Yalen Family more than anyone in this world, and Oriole kidnapped their son. I am sure that they would retaliate in ways that only you know."
Sier was silent, and after a few monts, turned around and walked back. He walked toward the library behind him and used his violet mana to bring out so books. Instead of telling Arthur, he was showing him.
"Caleb might be my younger brother, but he is nothing but a vain noble. He was spoiled because of his potentials to see things, which ironically made him never realize that potential. More than once, he almost lost his life, and a single figure prevented that."
As he explained, Sier used his mana to look for information within the books he has picked up. Arthur watched with interest as the information rose to the surface, written in violet mana, detailing several events of the past.
"I wrote these books, surveilling the Yalen Family ever since I left them. And in them, that figure has shown itself more than once. I almost went insane trying to understand his powers, and did go insane after I did."
"Temporal manipulation," muttered Arthur with a frown. "The empyrean of Yalen can send prophecies and visions into the past."
"I see that you ca here with research of your own," said Sier with a smile. "Indeed. He can slip through the constrains of ti and slip visions into the past, use them to reshape the world. This is the only reason that the Yalen Kingdom survived without actual combat powers."
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