Leon was close to dead ends of the market. The Miho festival was picking its pace. But… something was askew in the neighborhood. A strange sensation set within him. The unsheathed energy was calling out for him. It was luring Leon to its very core.
He followed it…
The eerie alley was reciprocated with the same allure.
"Leon" the energy got the voice "here…"
A slight dizziness comprehended by blurred vision masked him. He stumbled a few steps, taking support from the adjacent wall. His senses were heightened as he could hear the flow of water through pipes submerged in walls, he could hear a child cry miles away, he could hear his family discussing their next pick.
Finally the call stopped, and the energy revealed its form. Leon swiftly turned around to see himself…
But something was different…
The clothes he wore weren't from Ascension, the way he looked was forlorn.
"Who…" he stuttered "who are you?"
"Don't you remember me? I'm you" the voice replied
"When did I look this pathetic?" Leon swung his hand in refusal
"Don't you remember anything about your past?" The voice was angry
"I do… a vivid insight of a god giving me a chance" he replied "a chance to write a story that will flech me destiny my mother desired"
"What about your mother" the voice sighed
"I remember her face, happy and prosperous" Leon smudged in
"Prosperous" the voice laughed. "if you remember absolute details, do you remember killing her?"
"What"
"Wasn't I clear before?"
"Why would I do that" the tempo switched
"Your mother died of your negligence, Leon. You are her murderer" the voice shouted.
"That's not true"
The image closed few steps in "trust me when I say this, you were the reason she died"
Leon was disrupted and shaken. His breath felt heavy and viscous. He couldn't rite anything as his mind kept getting heavy.
He remembered the nebulous look on the upper god. He still remembered the way his mother looked, when the vanguard camouflaged himself. She was helpless and sad.
"So is it true" he thought
["Don't let those thoughts sink in, Leon" The Path of Eternal Deity sets in]
"I am her killer" he shouted
["Shut it, don't let them affect you" the consoling continued]
"You don't remember her" the voice criticised "you might remember her face, but not the tears that flooded it"
It paused and snored "I wouldn't dare live after any of that. Maybe that was the wisest choice you made- jumping off that building"
It laughed with a smirk that taunts
"You don't deserve this chance. She deserves it… but god knows where she is beading the weeds"
Leon held his head tight. The tears and the pain set in with tremendous steaks. His hands were trembling, trying to grasp his forehead. His heart was beating strokes, pumping thick blood that made it heavy.
A stringed dart flew straight towards Leon, which he dodged away.
"Such a pathetic trap" it was Silas who understood the state Leon was in "and still you dodge it" he smiled.
"What are you doing here" Leon's voice low
"I felt a strange presence" Silas claimed "turns out to be it was your last self, trying to scavenge your new soul"
"You know what it is" Leon asked
"Of course" he smouldered his hands through Leon's hair "it's not rare among reincarnation like us"
The two sat at the pinnacle of a wooden house, spectating over the town. The moon was resplendent by the light it borrowed. Leon was still crushed by what he heard and thus, Silas initiated the conversation
"So tell me" Silas whispered "what do you remember?"
"I knew about the contract I made. Create a story that would please the upper god himself, and get my life back" he answered "not only I will get my life back, the story thus created will help me become a revolutionary writer"
"Do you remember why you were so fixated on becoming one?"
"My mother… she always wished for me to be one"
"Do you remember her?"
"I had a vague idea… but the face was reflected back when I saw her"
"How?" Silas was interested
"A vanguard once camouflaged as her, during the battle of Light of Canals" Leon smiled "her smiling along me… we were happy I guess"
"I understand" Silas looked at the beautiful night sky "but how did the vanguard know about her? I mean these are two different dimensions we are taking about"
"I guess… he didn't show anything voluntarily. His powers simply reflected something I had hidden in my conscience" Leon was glad he could share it
"Then that might be your negative transfigured as you" Silas explained
"Maybe" Leon sighed "but maybe that was true"
He paused as he revealed something drastic
"Maybe that's why I committed suicide"
And Silas was stunned. His pupils dilated as he could feel the grudge rising. That was sad but deteriorating- hearing those words from a man of mental fortitude.
"What was your story, Silas" Leon whispered
"My story… it isn't that amusing" Silas replied
"The moment I saw you" Leon waited "I could see a man trying his best to hold the people together. What must have happened I amazed"
"If you insist… let me tell you the story of Silas Fosterhem" he glared his arms across the sky. He knew the tale would comfort the Revenant… cause sometimes all they need is someone to trust and someone who would trust them…
"Maybe my story will give him hope- that not always life goes our way" Silas thought
He thought of Liora in the dazzling night star cast. He thought of his village, beautiful and caverelling.
"I don't know why… but I feel this boy has something none of us have. It isn't determination, it isn't hard work, it isn't his absurdness… but something surely nags me constantly"
He paused as he thought again
"Maybe you are the true hero meant to bring forth the revolution everyone pleads"