"Souls?" Freya mumbled.
"I have observed souls for millennia. They are present in every living being. As for what they are? They are the quintessential representation of a person's true self, hidden beneath all masks, illusions, and lies." By now, her voice had recovered its composure.
She looked back at Bell, who sat ahead of her on the table, one leg pulled up onto its edge.
He neither agreed nor disagreed, his eyes simply waiting for her to continue.
"A person with negative emotions possesses a dull and repulsive soul. Meanwhile, a person with genuine kindness possesses a pure and brilliant soul." Her eyes heated up at the last part, her hands unconsciously twitching toward him.
"Then... what about me?" Bell asked, his tone flat as he looked down at her, betraying no emotional fluctuation.
"I can't peer at your soul, Bell. That is why you are the most special of them all. That is why you are the only one worthy to be my Odr." Her breaths came out shallow.
"I don't know... and not knowing makes me ache." She was slightly out of breath, a flush spreading across her neck.
"Is that so?"
He got down from the table and walked toward the very edge of Freya's terrace.
She rose from her chair and followed behind without a second thought.
Bell reached the railing and looked down from above, Freya coming to stand beside him.
The wind blew back his hood, letting it fall to reveal his long white locks. His hair ruffled in the air, acting like a curtain of pure white against the pitch-black night.
The goddess of beauty beside him felt her breath hitch. Those eyes. That hair. That face.
It was all so perfect. If only she could touch it, feel it, possess it.
Bell could sense what was going through her mind, yet his gaze remained locked on the people visible below from Folkvangr.
"Your answer was correct, Freya. But... it was too simple." Freya blinked, the hazy glaze in her eyes instantly shattered by his cold tone.
Bell continued, pointing his hand toward the empty space beside them.
Embers ignited between his palms, escalating into a bright fire that began to mold and shape itself where he pointed.
"No matter what you believe in—facts, gods, or yourself—one thing is common among them all..."
The flames bent and flattened. Edges were pulled out, and lines divided different portions. A shelf, consisting entirely of flames, slowly materialized beside them, with countless books nestled within it.
Freya's eyes widened with each passing second, witnessing such tremendous control. It was both terrifying and beautiful. Terrifyingly beautiful.
"If you exist... it means there was somewhere you came from. Let us call this place the Origin, for convenience." Bell continued without a change in expression.
"This shelf is like the Origin." He spoke, gesturing toward the spectacle beside them.
"And souls? They are like the countless books nestled inside." Bell walked closer. He grasped a single book, entirely condensed from flames, and pulled it out with ease, his skin feeling a slight burn.
An instant later.
Clunk
Even that burn was gone.
He brought the book toward Freya and opened its first page.
It was blank.
"Our beginning is just like this. Blank." His words were followed by countless etchings and pictures beginning to crawl across the page.
Image after image slowly formed and dissolved on the flaming parchment, guided by shifting embers.
A small baby.
A child.
A teenager.
An adult.
An elder.
And finally, it settled, turning blank once again just like the very beginning.
"This is life."
Freya was too immersed in his demonstration now, hanging on his every word with curious focus.
"It has a beginning. It has an end."
"Yet..."
"This is merely a single life. This is merely a single page."
He flipped the page.
It was just as empty.
However... images slowly started to appear within it as well. This time, flames jumped upward from the page, creating a 3D moving image, similar to a hologram.
A man fought against another, their swords blazing against each other.
But the man was struck down, his life extinguished in a single blow. With his death, the holographic image collapsed, the page returning to its blank condition.
Another page was flipped.
An elder died in peace, surrounded by his family.
Another page was flipped.
A woman took her last breath while holding the hand of her husband.
Another page was flipped.
A child was left at an orphanage, not surviving their childhood.
Another page was flipped.
A soldier marched forward even as countless blades pierced him, his smile not wavering for a second.
Flip. Flip. Flip.
Everything went silent.
Pages continued to flip without pause.
Joy. Sorrow. Life. Death. Creation. Destruction. Beginning. End.
Every flavor of life. Every facet of existence. Every imagination turned reality.
Tears had started to fall down Freya's face by now.
But even amidst her blurred tears, she noticed a small detail.
After every death. Every ending. Every destruction.
The person being projected would fear less.
They would walk toward their destined end with...
Unwavering steps and a smile on their faces.
At the start... it was slow, almost imperceptible.
But it increased with each flip of the page.
At the very end.
Every person met their end with a smile.
Oh, how she envied that smile.
Oh, how she envied that freedom to die.
Oh, how she envied those unwavering steps.
Flip.
The book had finally come to an end. Its last page was as blank as its first.
"Now do you see? This book is the soul, these pages are lives, and... it depicts the eternal journey of our souls." Bell's voice was no longer blank. It carried something closer to pity.
He finally closed the book and walked toward the shelf still existing beside them, leaving Freya frozen in place.
His voice rang out one final time.
"And when our journey has come to an end... we go back to where we came from... our origin." His words resounded in her ears just as he slid the book back into its place.
The shelf of flames slowly vanished from their sight.
"Have you understood something from this?" Bell asked, coming to stand beside the still-frozen Freya.
"I... understand. Gods are not born blessed, but cursed. We can never complete our journey and go back to where we came from." Her voice trembled with grief.
"We are forever stuck in this world. Doomed to suffer eternally."
"Our immortality... is our greatest curse."
Freya was shown a wider world today... by an Asura who existed beyond gods and demons.
...
..
.
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
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[Author's Thoughts]
I felt chills while writing this chapter. Do support your boy for more chapters like these.