Chapter 44: The Final boss
Arora froze, her expression reluctant, as she realized she'd blabbed too much and ended up mentioning the Primordial.
"Umm, I'm not sure," she muttered nervously.
She wasn't certain if she was supposed to talk about the Primordial, even if her identity had already been discovered. She didn't want to accidentally betray him, since he'd never told her what to do in this situation.
Arbus frowned slightly.
"C'mon, I thought we just started being completely honest with each other. Nothing but the truth, remember?" He leaned forward. "There's no point in hiding anything now. It'll only make it harder for us to trust each other in the future."
Arora remained silent for a moment, then responded hesitantly.
"Alright then. I'll tell you about him." She took a breath. "After my death, I woke up in an empty white void, unsure of how I got there. I was as pale as a ghost, but didn't think about it at the time. I simply thought I was dreaming."
She paused, gathering her thoughts. "After wandering around for a while, I found a... figure. His form was almost entirely obscured by the void itself. I couldn't see his face. Apparently my mind wasn't powerful enough to process it. After a while, he spoke to me, directly into my mind."
Arbus's eyes narrowed as he listened intently.
"He told me that I was dead, that he'd taken my soul from its journey to the afterlife and brought it to his domain." Arora's voice grew quieter. "I didn't believe him at first, naturally, but eventually he convinced me. He told me he felt sorry for me because of how I died. That's why he decided to reincarnate me in the first place."
"So this Primordial guy is the one who reincarnates humans into this world?" Arbus asked, finally interjecting.
Arora nodded. "Yeah, he is. He told me he was a being older than the multiverse itself, although he wasn't the one who created it." She hesitated. "Then he... showed me scenes from this universe, then told me that I wouldn't have the same mission as the other reincarnators, since he wanted me to live a normal life."
She decided not to mention the Primordial's request, since she was trying to convince Arbus that he wasn't a bad guy.
Arbus's brow furrowed, his mind racing with this new information. Beyond their universe was a being capable of freely reincarnating souls from a parallel universe into their own.
His hand trembled slightly at the thought of that entity watching him right now. Reading his thoughts like am open book.
According to Arora, that was entirely possible.
This being, for the humans, was basically what the Emperor was to them — an untouchable and unfathomable existence.
Arbus wasn't sure how to feel about that. He wondered why his father had never told him about this. Was it because he didn't see the point? Was it to avoid Arbus overthinking? He wasn't sure.
But now that he knew, it put a lot of things into perspective. It basically meant this war would never end. At least not for the humans. Not until there were no more of them to reincarnate.
Unless... the Primordial itself was defeated.
Arora placed a hand on his shoulder, her expression filled with worry.
Arbus looked over at her and smiled brightly. "Don't worry, I'm fine." He was at least happy to hear that Arora was different from the other reincarnators, and that she wouldn't have to go on whatever mission the other reincarnators across the universe were apparently on. He wondered if his father was exempt too, or if he'd actually gone along with the others in the past.
"Okay then. Well, after that he sent me through a portal, and I woke up here. With you being the first person I laid eyes on."
Arbus nodded finally. "Interesting. That's certainly a lot. Thank you for telling me the truth. I'd never thought reincarnation would be something like that. From the stories we were told, I always thought it was more like you guys tearing through the void between universes or something and making your way here. Which is why I wondered why you were so weak-willed, and well, weak in general. I wasn't sure if it was an act within an act."
Arora puffed her cheeks in indignation. "What's with you and this weak-willed stuff? I already told you my will is perfectly fine. I just don't like doing some things, that's all."
Arbus chuckled. "Sure, sure."
Arora rolled her eyes before sighing. "It's your turn again. You haven't told me much about how your life was before I got here. Or what happened to your parents."
Arbus's expression darkened instantly.
"...I'm sure you heard those guys from earlier. I'm half-human. That means I have both human and Tarokian bloodline." He muttered, his tone distant.
"My mom, Angel, is a Tarokian. In fact, she's the princess of the Tarokians, since my grandfather is their chief." A hint of pride crept into his tone.
Arora gasped in amazement. "Really? Doesn't that make you a prince? Does that mean I have to start calling you Prince Arbus now?" she said teasingly.
Arbus held his chin in contemplation. "Well, I won't stop you if you insist," he said with a smirk before continuing.
"Anyway, according to my mom, she had met my father one day, in a distant galaxy, far away. She'd been on a secret mission for the Renegades at the time."
His expression hardened.
"She was abandoned on the battlefield by her worthless comrades, left to die."
"She had given up hope, when she suddenly noticed a figure approaching her. A man with flawless skin, hair that flowed freely like the ocean, and emerald eyes that she seemed to find herself lost in. He was human, so naturally she thought her death was imminent. To her surprise, the man saved her that day, and nursed her back to health. It was during that time that she fell madly in love with him."
Arora couldn't help but blush slightly as she listened. It was like reading one of her romance novels. She thought back to her first encounter with Arbus and remembered how she seemed to have found herself lost in those emerald eyes, as well.
She scoffed, halting the direction her thoughts were heading.
'They must just have really mesmerizing eyes,' she thought with a nod, ignoring her elevated heartbeat.
"Anyway, after that they returned to Tarok, where my mom made him a bracelet like this to hide his identity as a human." He gestured to his wrist. "He was still discriminated against by Tarokians, since they took him for a red Mornan, the weakest members of the Mornan species. And Tarokians hated weakness."
"My father didn't seem to mind it too much, though. That is, until they had me. She had to give birth to me with only father's help, to avoid anyone seeing me. She made me a bracelet as well, placing it on me the moment I was born.
"As I grew up, I experienced the same prejudice as my father, although on a lesser scale since I was still the Tarokian prince, unlike him."
"My mom was a high commander at the time, just like my grandfather, so she didn't get to spend too much time with us due to her work. Since my father didn't want me to experience any more prejudice, he decided to move us out here and built this treehouse over time, with my mom helping out.
"She didn't really agree at first, insisting that she'd deal with anyone who even looked at me or my dad wrongly, but my dad eventually convinced her, saying he wanted to respect for their culture." He said wistfully.
He paused, his expression turning somber.
"Everything was great for a while. We were happy. That is, until last year, when a Reincarnator had come looking for my father."
"He had threatened to wipe out the village and the surrounding cities, if my father didn't show himself. Unfortunately both My grandfather and my mom were on a mission at the time."
"My dad was forced to reveal himself to save everyone. He took down the Reincarnator with ease, which surprised me, since I've never seen him use that level of power before.
"After that, he simply waited to get captured as various commanders appeared one by one, including my grandfather and my mom."
Arbus gritted his teeth. "The Emperor appeared as well, shortly after, from thousands of galaxies away. I couldn't believe I was seeing him in person. My awe was short-lived though, when he took my father away, had my mom detained, and essentially destroyed my life. He gave the commanders orders to keep me safe and protected. I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing he took pity on me because of my circumstances, after he had a private conversation with my dad."
"After that, well, things got worse for me naturally. My grandfather began to despise me. He stopped visiting the village nearby, leaving me all on my own."
Arora could feel the pain behind Arbus's words as he spoke. She couldn't help but feel terrible for him. She wondered if she was wrong. If having family and losing them was worse than never having them at all.
Arbus couldn't help but shed a tear as the memories kept flooding back. He wiped it away, as he continued.
"Still, I've managed to survive on my own, despite everything. Although..." He muttered, looking up. "There's a commander stationed above Tarok at all times, just in case I do anything. Well, I can't see them or anything, so I guess I can't exactly complain."
He turned to Arora.
"Still, you should be careful when you're trying to master your special ability. I don't want them coming here and taking you because of that."
Arora blinked, then blushed slightly. "...so you did see me do that."
Arbus chuckled. "Like I said, you didn't do a good job at hiding anything."
He stood up, stretching slightly. "Now we know everything about each other. Let's keep it that way, Arora."
Arora smiled back as she stood up. "Understood, Arbus."