Dragonlord

Ep 3. What Even Was That?! (3)

Patrick watched in befuddlement at the scene unfolding before him.

Karas. A renowned mage said to be proficient in any and all elements of contemporary magic, and a respected professor at the largest school of mages…

“Hmm.”

…Was currently performing what seemed like a voodoo ritual on the kid he raised like a little brother for years.

“Hmmm…”

“…”

“Hmmmmmm…”

“…Is that noise a part of the procedure?”

No. No it isn’t, Zion.

The prof always makes that noise when he sees well-written papers.

Although, ‘see’ may be the incorrect choice of words here, as the professor had both his eyes closed. Instead, he was hovering his glowing hands over the little boy’s back, waving them in opposing circles as if muddling through a pile of unsorted wares.

“My apologies.”

The glow soon faded as the professor withdrew his hands.

“It’s an old habit of mine when I embark on an interesting discovery.”

“Seriously? I thought you make that sound when you look at good papers.”

“Explains why I never made it when I saw any of yours, hmm, Patrick?”

“…”

It’d been years since Patrick’s graduation, and yet here he was, still being schooled just like before.

“Ahem. Anyhow…this is a very interesting case. Allow me to elaborate.”

“Very well. Go on.”

If Patrick didn’t know any better, he’d think the little boy was the professor, and Karas was the student.

“Right now, your soul is neither possessed, nor an amalgamation of multiple souls. It’s a perfect whole. Simply put, no abnormality ails you.”

Before Karas could continue, Patrick couldn’t help himself from interrupting.

“Souls can be in multiples?”

Both the professor and the little boy turned towards Patrick with a disappointed gaze.

“Yes.”

“Of course.”

“…”

‘Zion…you used to be so cute when you looked to me for help…’

“It seems that an explanation is in order for my dear student. Patrick, have you ever heard stories of those who possess multiple personalities within themselves?”

“Of course. The maddened.”

“I explicitly told you not to use that street term in class.”

“You did?”

“Yes.”

“…Sorry, I must’ve been absent.”

“No, I’m positive you were sleeping. Anyhow, they are individuals who are simply born with multiple souls within their body. In most cases, only one soul remains on the surface level, with all others lying dormant throughout their lives. But rarely, exceptions occur. Such individuals exhibit extraordinary conditions of seemingly possessing multiple persons within one body.”

“And that’s Zion’s state right now? The other soul woke up?”

“I told you, that’s not my name.”

“And I told you, that’s precisely NOT what’s going on.”

“…Sorry. Continue.”

Karas shook his head, and Serenis’ sigh followed.

Just this morning, Patrick was not expecting such a miserable day. Life had different things in store for him.

“Serenis – or Zion, as you keep referring to – possesses a perfectly complete, singular soul. In other words, Serenis is still the same person you knew yesterday, or ten years ago.”

“Then how do you explain the sudden change? He couldn’t even remember my name.”

“And that’s why it’s interesting.”

Karas rubbed his beak, scanning the boy from head to toe like an interesting specimen.

And for some reason, the little child was acting like this was perfectly normal, as if being gazed at in dismay and awe happened on a regular basis.

“The only explanation I can think of is a mistake in the cleansing process.”

“A mistake in wha?”

“This knowledge treads into divine studies, but…I suppose I could impart you some.”

Karas snapped his fingers as a levitating chalkboard appeared alongside a piece of chalk. The professor began drawing a triangular diagram, each drawing representing a person, tree, and a dog.

“Let’s take you as an example. As of this moment, you are Patrick Parma, an enforcer of the Mage Association. That’s the body your soul currently resides in.”

“…Right.”

The professor drew an arrow, leading from person to tree.

“When your body dies, the soul returns to the deity of life, and undergoes a process called cleansing. Your identity is essentially erased, resetting your soul back to a state of emptiness.”

A noticeable frown appeared on Serenis’ forehead, although no interruption occurred.

Once again the professor drew another line, this time from tree to dog.

“After the cleansing process, your soul is reborn into a new lifeform. In this case, a dog.”

“Why a dog?”

“I just thought you’d be much happier as one.”

“…”

Patrick could feel his eyes tearing up.

“In the case we have with Serenis, however, there was an error in the cleansing process, and this reset didn’t fully happen; Serenis’ memories weren’t erased, but simply suppressed. And when they resurfaced, her memories likely drowned out what little memory ‘Zion’ possessed in comparison.”

This time, it was Serenis who interrupted with a rather unrelated question.

“Remind me, what star are we on?”

“The name of our star? Nerion.”

“And since when did our…lives…work like this?”

“This cycle, you mean? As far as I’m aware, since time immemorial.”

“This ‘deity of life’ was around since time immemorial?”

“Interesting question. The year is only 1030, and our historical records only go that far back. Only the divine would know what was in the distant past before our contemporary times.”

‘1030?’

The number was nonsensical. Humans of her era did keep track of the passing of seasons, but even they never bothered to count the passing time by a literal tally of years. She could only think that it was some new tradition they came up with.

“A thousand years then. It’s been this way for a thousand years, at least…”

The frown deepened as Serenis struggled to accept the passage of time. This was all news to her.

Deities? There were nothing of the sort when she was alive.

In other words, it’d been at least an entire millennium since her battle ended, and these ‘deities’ came to light.

‘All that struggle to free ourselves from a godly being, and we’re still…’

After an uncomfortable silence, Serenis raised her head to ask another question.

“How many are there?”

“Hm?”

Serenis shot a glare towards the professor before her, her eyes suddenly exuding a murderous menace. Even though the child couldn’t possibly be of any significant threat, Karas reflexively took a step back.

“You said there’s a deity of life. That must mean there’re other deities. How many of these wretches are there?”

“Zion!”

Patrick hurriedly clasped his hands over the little boy’s mouth, stammering in panic.

“You can’t speak like that, they’re divine beings! Your life is a blessing from them too!”

Serenis slowly turned her head. Only then could Patrick see the seething hatred within the dragon’s eyes.

His clasping hand was tossed away.

“My life is a divine blessing?”

Patrick froze in place. He couldn’t dare talk back, and his body instinctively froze before the deathly gaze of a higher being.

“Says who?”