Chương 403: Start of Something

Vale's body remained where it had been, half-sunken into the soft grass beside the lake. At first, nothing seemed different. He still sat in the same place, with his body loose and his breathing calm. The stars still filled the sky. The lake was still. The forest was quiet. To anyone watching, it would have looked like nothing had happened at all. But something had changed. Vale simply had not been consumed. He had no idea what would have happened if he had been. Maybe his body would have vanished.

Maybe his soul would have been eaten. Maybe something much worse would have happened. He could not know for sure, and he did not care much. There were already too many questions filling his head. Even Zellion remained silent. Vale slowly looked down at his mechanical arm. Zellion saved me from my first death. That much was certain. Without him, Vale would not be alive now. But how had he done it? What had Zellion actually saved him from?

Vale knew that the Eidolon had given up a huge part of his power to keep him alive. Kealix had confirmed that much. But the reason was still unknown. Why? Why would a god give up so much power for someone like him? Vale slowly opened his eyes. He no longer felt scared. If anything, he felt strangely calm. He had finally done what he had wanted for so long. After all the searching and all the time that had passed, he had finally found Kealix again. Yet somehow, meeting him had only given him more questions.

One question stood above all the others. What was that darkness? Kealix himself had said that it was stronger than him. That alone made little sense. Kealix was the same being who had sealed away the Founders while still holding back most of his true power. The Founders were some of the strongest gods to ever exist. So how could something be stronger than Kealix? Was the darkness an old god? No. That made even less sense. The Old Gods had already been sealed away.

More importantly, the darkness had not simply been sitting there. It had been searching for something. It had been hunting. And its target was Vale. Why? Why would something stronger than Kealix want him? Why had Zellion given up so much power to protect him? What did Kealix want from him? What did Zellion want? And, most importantly...

'What do all of them have to do with me?' The questions kept going around in his head. No matter how much he thought about them, he could not find a clear answer. Then Kealix's final warning came back to him.'' Never trust an Unwritten.'' Vale frowned. What exactly is an Unwritten? And why should he not trust one? Were they like angels? False beings that promised to help people while secretly leading them toward ruin? Maybe they were messengers from some higher world. Maybe they were something completely different.

Vale had no idea. He had never met one. At least, he did not think he had. Then one name came to mind. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Ali. Vale's expression changed. When he had once asked Ali if he was a god, the man's answer had been strange. He never gave a straight answer when he could avoid it. His words were often unclear, and some of his explanations had only raised more questions.

'Could Ali be an Unwritten?' Vale quickly shook his head.

"No." That did not feel right. Ali had given him information that had helped him before. More importantly, that information had been correct. If Ali could not be trusted, then why had he helped Vale at all? Vale frowned. Then he sighed.

"That doesn't prove anything." He turned his attention back to Zellion. The mechanical arm reflected the moonlight. Its metal surface shone faintly beneath the stars. It gave no answer. There was no voice and no sign that Zellion was even listening. Only inside Kealix's domain had Vale been able to see Zellion's true form. There, the Eidolon had appeared as something more than a simple mechanical arm. That created another problem. Kealix was Zellion's master. That meant Kealix had created the Eidolons.

And the Eidolons were gods. As far as Vale knew, only one other being had ever created gods. The Creator. Then what does that make Kealix? Was he as strong as the Creator? Was he weaker? Or was he even stronger? The thought alone felt peculiar. If Kealix truly stood anywhere near the Creator's level, then the darkness became even harder to understand. There should not be anything stronger than the Creator. The Creator had made all of reality.

So if even Kealix had been forced to defend himself against that darkness... What the hell was it? Vale went quiet. He began to go over everything that had happened. He tried to place each piece in the right order. Zellion had saved him from the darkness. Kealix had said so himself. Maybe Zellion had felt the danger. Perhaps their connection had allowed him to reach Vale and pull him away. That could explain what happened this time. But what about the first time? How had Zellion saved Vale when he originally died?

Had he brought him back to life? No. That could not be right. If someone had restored Vale afterward, it had been Kealix. Zellion had done something else. But what? Vale stared at his arm for a long moment. Nothing came to him. The night wind moved through the trees and brushed against his skin. The lake remained calm as Vale sat there, lost in thought. Eventually, he let out a long sigh.'' Why is it that every time I find one answer, I get five more questions?'' A quiet laugh escaped him.

Still, that was not completely true. He had learned something. One day, he would remember why he was alive. Kealix had promised him that much. That knowledge alone was worth something. It was like a gift. Still, it was hard to feel satisfied. Vale had finally stood face to face with Kealix after who knew how long. His reward had been getting killed, thrown out of Kealix's domain, and left with even more questions than before. Then again, Vale could not complain too much. Kealix had saved his life.

If he had not appeared, the darkness would have taken Vale completely. It might have killed him for good. Vale's smile slowly faded. His thoughts returned to the darkness. Something about it had felt wrong. Vale remembered that feeling clearly. The cold. The pressure. The horrible weight pressing against his soul. Even now, thinking about it made his body tense. Then another thought came to him. Why did it feel familiar? A chill moved down his spine. This was not the first time he had felt something like that.

At least, that was what his instincts told him. But how could that be possible? That being had been so powerful that it could crush Vale's soul simply by being near him. It did not need to touch him. It did not even need to attack. Its presence alone had been enough. Vale could barely sense his own existence. Even Nirvana had trouble finding him. Yet that thing had seen him. It had found him. It had followed him. Somehow, it could sense something that even Vale himself struggled to understand.

That should have been impossible. So why could it do it? What kind of power did it have? What rule allowed it to ignore the limits of Vale's existence? More importantly, why had it been searching for him in the first place? Vale sighed again. He finally stopped sitting and let himself fall onto his back. The grass was soft beneath him as he stared at the night sky. Countless stars filled his view, scattered across the darkness like pieces of some distant world.

"I might never figure this out at this rate." Strangely, the thought did not upset him. If anything, Vale felt a little relieved. Everything that had happened had still given him something. He had information now. He had a direction. More importantly, he finally had a place to start. He knew Kealix was alive. He knew Zellion had sacrificed his power to protect him. He knew something was hunting him. And most importantly, he knew that thing was not all-powerful. It had limits. It had rules.

Something was stopping it from simply reaching into the physical world and taking Vale. If it could do that freely, Vale would already be dead. But it could not. At least, not yet. That meant there was a limit between them. A boundary. A rule that even the darkness had to follow. Vale thought about it. And if there was a rule, then there had to be a way around it. A faint smile slowly appeared on his face.

"Whatever you are... I'll figure you out." The wind moved through the trees once more. The grass shifted around Vale, while the lake continued to reflect the stars above. Everything seemed peaceful. But somewhere beyond Vale's understanding, something was still there. It was waiting. Watching him from somewhere he could not reach. Waiting for the day when the limits holding it back finally disappeared. For now, however, it could do nothing. It could not reach Vale. Not yet.