Eternal Promise: Fragments Of Us

ROARK

THE last thing I remembered was giving a random reading for a guy’s money and love luck. It was just another ordinary day for me. Then I was transported to Mount Madja-as, where I discovered the necklace that I had given to Leon.

Leon was one of my customers, or rather, a rare one. I’d spent my entire life pretending to be a cliché fortune teller who duped people by giving them false readings. When I made contact with Leon, my true ability was reawakened. He was the only human I met who lacked a soul. He was nothing more than a shell. But meeting him in that alley wasn’t a coincidence. I was destined to find him and he was destined to know me.

Right before I saw Leon in person, the necklace that I found on Mount Madja-as gave me a premonition of the beginning and the end of someone. It was unclear to me who was being introduced to me in that vision I saw. It scared the hell out of me. It was far way more terrifying than all of those things I saw from when I was still a kid. At the same time, I was able to feel the emotions of that someone. They were overwhelming, heavy, and deep-seated. Whoever it was, even death couldn’t put its soul in peace. And it was already dead for a very long time!

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“WHAT are you doing here?” Leon asked me in disbelief when I popped out of nowhere.

A wave of unfamiliar energy brought me all the way here-at the very mountain where I found the necklace that changed my life forever!

“I would like to ask you the same thing, Le-Who are you?” I abruptly halted, and asked in horror when I realized that the man before me was not the same Leon that I met a few weeks ago. He sounded like Leon and looked exactly like him, but his presence was very alien to me. He didn’t answer me back. Instead, he looked dazed and confused at the same time.

I averted my attention to my surroundings. Even though my eyes couldn’t see anything, I was very aware that I was taken back to Mount Madja-as without doubt.

To outsiders, Mount Madja-as was nothing but a peaceful land surrounded by a huge forest. To locals, it was cursed and a tragedy happened in this very place thousands of years ago. They wouldn’t tell me the exact details, but according to some elders that I was able to talk with, a lot of lives perished when the tragedy happened, wiping almost everything out. And me being dragged down here once again would only mean one thing-it definitely had something to do with that tragedy!

[This is odd. Apart from Leon, I can see three people present here, but why do they look like this? Two of them are almost the same as Leon. They have souls, but too weak for me to sense them in one glance. And the other one… He’s human, but why is he shaped like that black entity that followed Leon around?] I deeply thought to myself, disturbed by the eerie presence of the people that were with me right now, including Leon himself.

“It was you, wasn’t it? You were the one who transported me-No. You transported everyone here, didn’t you?” I said to the man that was standing next to an old tree. He was half beaten to death, but he didn’t seem like he was hurting at all. And then I realized something. “Why can I see all of you now all of a sudden?” I asked, shocked.

“And who the hell are you?” One of them asked. When I looked at his direction, I felt this massive aura around him. It was so powerful. I could tell that he was no human.

“I should be the one asking everyone, you know?” I retorted. “Just who are you guys?” I inquired once again. Everything was happening so fast, it was actually freaking me out.

“I am sorry for dragging you in this situation, Roark,” I heard Leon say. It was him, but it was not him that talked to me. It was as if it was someone from the vision that I saw. “I got back my memories, and I just found out who I really was,” he revealed. Then he faced the man that was still standing next to the old tree. “You don’t have to involve him in this mess, Sidapa. This is not about them.”

“Is that what you really think, Libulan?” the man Leon called Sidapa said in a rather upset voice.

[Sidapa? Libulan? Those were the names of the ancients Gods that the elders told me about!] I exclaimed in my mind.

If these two were really the infamous Gods that committed a serious crime a long time ago, was I seeing their real forms or did they reincarnate?

“I beg you, Sidapa, please stop this fight. Also you, Likabutan, this is no time to pick a fight with Sidapa just because you were upset,” the woman intervened. She looked so exhausted.

“Heh! I can’t stand still and do nothing here when the opportunity is already at my feet. I must make that selfish God pay for putting Libulan’s life at risk!” The man called Likabutan defended.

[Likabutan? Now who exactly is Likabutan, another God?] I thought to myself. The shock of seeing everything around me still didn’t sink in, but each and everyone kept talking about things that I knew nothing of. It was starting to piss me off. I ended up being the outsider in this messed up situation.

“Likabutan?” Leon exclaimed with a confused look on his face. “What are you saying, Alynna?” he asked the woman.

The one he addressed as Alynna answered him. “Leon, do you fully remember your past life as Libulan, the Moon Deity who fell in love with the God of Death, Sidapa?” she confirmed. Leon was at a loss of words so she continued clarifying things. “I am your sister. The mortals know me as Lisuga, the Goddess of the Stars. And Derrick is our eldest brother, the God of the Earth. You fell in love with Sidapa and the both of you committed a serious crime that was punishable by death. You died trying to fight Kaptan, the God who ruled us all. Likabutan and I also died when we tried to fight for you too. These bodies are our incarnations. You and Sidapa were supposed to be sent to the underworld and wander the void of eternal nothingness, but Sidapa performed a forbidden act and reincarnated the both of you multiple times,” she explained.

Leon felt as if his entire life had been a game. He couldn’t think of anything to say and couldn’t decide what to feel. He just felt the need to lash out at everyone he trusted the most because they all betrayed him in some way.

“I remember that Sidapa and I shared vows of love to each other,” Leon stated while looking dumbfounded. “But…” he paused and went pale. “I don’t remember a single thing about such incidents.” He looked at the man named Sidapa who went silent for a while now. Despair was imprinted on Leon’s face. “Did you erase those memories of mine on purpose, Sidapa?” he asked in horror. Leon hoped the man would deny it, but he rather waited for reality to dawn at Leon.

“Libulan…” Lisuga tried to butt in, but Leon spoke again.