NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1733: Banter Between Spirits
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After their initial panic and fight, Khepri and Tethys calmed down, the two had panicked a lot and had overreacted a lot as well, although mostly on Tethys' side.
"So what…? What do you want from me? Why are you here, trying to stir further confusion about my own identity inside of my mind?" Tethys asked angrily, crossing her arms. "And who exactly are you?! You say you know me; you make me suddenly remember things I never experienced, and you haven't even introduced yourself properly! And you say you're of the same level as me?"
"Ugh I swear, you're exactly the same as before, huh? From what I can recall you were always like this… Having that cute and innocent appearance, but you're an annoying bitch inside." Khepri sighed.
"A-Annoying bitch?!" Tethys gasped in disbelief. "Y-You…! Just introduce yourself already, you bug!"
"Ugh fine! My name is Khepri, and I am an Ancient Spirit, just like you! I used to live in a nearby Oasis, usually possessing monsters to stay alive because of my high requirements of Mana to live…" Khepri explained.
As she explained, Tethys glanced at her with surprise, she was very expressive, constantly changing her face expressions as she heard Khepri's sad backstory.
But not without any pity in her expressions, more of an expression of disgust, than anything else.
"And I am Silvia's contracted spirit, who is the friend of your priestess, Agualinda! And I am their friend, and ally! And I've come here to talk with you about the challenge you gave to Agualinda, and the threat… of those giant ants. Do you get it now?!" Khepri asked angrily. "Or do you want me to explain things to you even slower? Has living for so long without your memories made you into an even worse old hag now or something?"
"W-Who are you calling old hag?! A-And I do, I understand now, so stop yelling to me, y-you disrespectful insect!" Tethys said angrily. "Ugh, do you have to be so unsavory all the time?"
"I am just being myself, instead of hiding who I truly am behind some façade or a self-made personality, I just am myself!" Khepri said. "Maybe you think that's gross or disgusting, but I couldn't give more of a damn, Tethys! We've lived for thousands of years; do you think any of these things matter?"
"T-That's…" Tethys fell silent.
She had lived tens of thousands of years as a Great Oasis Spirit, worshiped and beloved as a goddess, she was never treated with disrespect, and although she faked her true appearance to look more appealing and motherlike to her subjects, she still felt like a goddess.
Khepri's level of disrespect was off the charts, and for someone that grew up believing all the things that they said about her, she was bound to find it weird, disgusting, and unsavory.
But… at the same time, within her heart, she couldn't help but resonate a little with Khepri's words, as if there was another her hidden there, which had just woken up, stirring further confusion inside her mind.
"Yeah you agree at the end right?" Khepri said confidently. "It doesn't really matter however you talk!"
"Ugh, whatever!" Sighed Tethys. "So you want to talk about Agua… And the ants?"
"Don't act dumb, I know you've been watching over us," Khepri said. "Those ants… you saw them and how weirdly powerful and big they were. And also, you felt that thing right? The thing that trapped their minds?"
"…" Tethys fell into silence for a bit. "I do remember feeling something, a powerful spiritual presence- no, two of them. But both dissipated rather quickly. You saw them?"
"One must be that boy, Quetzalcoatl, he's a survivor of the Wind Tribe, Avian Anima people that once lived in the cliffs over there long, long ago, before you showed up in here," Khepri explained. "Somehow his soul is the same as the Great Spirit of the Cliff Winds, another member of our group. It seems that, through the transformation he couldn't control, which maintained him alive for thousands of years, he fought and somehow ate or absorbed this Great Spirit, his soul mutated as such, giving him an even greater lifespan and power. It took the effort of our entire team to knock him down so he could return to his senses and back to his original form…"
"W-Wha…?!" Tethys was left perplexed; she had not heard all of that at all. "Is that even possible? Such a thing… And there was even another Great Spirit before me…! I cannot believe it… I always imagined I was the only one."
"Nope, and even now, you aren't the only one, Tethys," Khepri said. "The leader of those giant fire ants you want out of here is most likely also another like us, a Great Spirit of Fire. It makes sense from what I can recall, we were four after all. I was there as your leader, you were there as support, the green bird was surveyance and long-ranged archer, and lastly, the fire… I can't recall them too much though, it's the only one I need more time to remember."
"S-So we were all connected? All of what's happening right now is because we came here…?" Tethys gasped. "But that's… everything is connected… from my arrival to the ancient wind tribe, their guardian that protected them, then the monster that remained alive after everyone died, and lastly, the invasion of the giant fire ants, which we've been fighting for a couple of years now… I-I can't… believe this, this sounds way too much like… like…"
"Like bullshit? Maybe, but it's all real, that you could recall memories of us being a big team is already a big proof that what I'm saying is the truth," explained Khepri. "Tethys, we need to act together, you need to help us. Tomorrow we're going to go confront this thing, this monster that was once our companion… Unlike the two of us, they never managed to either keep their sanity or remember anything of their past. Probably like me, they possessed a fire ant queen and ultimately assimilated their mind, personality, and instincts due to lacking any of their own… creating something too dangerous to be left alone."
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