Chapter 563 The Garden
When Astaroth's vision came back, he was standing in a garden, with lovely trees filled with purple leaves. The stonework of the garden was a pristine milky white, the black earth in the garden boxes looking rich in nutrients and life.
Looking around, he noticed the blackness surrounding the edges of the garden. He could see stars in the distance, as well as above.
Curiosity took hold of him as he walked to the edge of the path behind him, reaching an abrupt end a few hundred meters away. And in front of him, the great nothing.
Space, wherever his eyes landed, filled with stars and distant flying rocks.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" a voice asked from behind him.
Astaroth almost had a heart attack, spinning on a dime, ready to fight. But that was when he noticed.
His arms, which were previously covered in dark brown leather armour, were now covered by a light fabric shirt, which he could almost see through. Where his weapon should have been, only a golden chord hung, holding the tunic on him tight.
A crystalline-sounding giggle brought his attention off himself, and he saw who had spoken to him.
"Nemus?!" he exclaimed.
The person before him, or goddess, to be exact, looked at him curiously.
"I do not know this Nemus you speak of, child. My name is Psyche. I don't know how a mortal got into my domain, but you are welcome to stay here if you wish. What can this humble goddess do for you?"
Astaroth frowned.
'Psyche? Isn't that the name Nemus used to go by? Why does she use it so brazenly?'
Psyche looked at Astaroth, observing his internal musings silently. This was her domain, and she could hear his thoughts clear as day.
She peered slightly further into his thoughts, curious about what he was thinking, and glanced at his memories.
What she saw there shocked her. She saw him, looking at her, with a slightly different appearance, and using a new name, Nemus. She listened to herself, recounting things that had never happened, and should never happen.
But Astaroth suddenly asked her a question that brought her attention to him.
"Do you not remember me?"
Psyche looked at him with a slightly tilted head.
"I have never met you, child of flesh. How could I remember you?" she asked.
She couldn't tell him she had peered into his memories. So she lied.
"What the heck is happening?" Astaroth said, confused.
"Maybe I can help you figure it out, young one. Tell me what you remember, and we will figure out together how you reached my domain."
Astaroth looked at her weirdly. But he could still feel the familiarity coming from her essence and knew he could trust her.
While he explained everything he remembered of the last few minutes, Psyche looked into his body, observing his soul. She saw the identical soul to hers, if much weaker, and wondered what had led her to do this.
She remembered creating every soul in the universe, but she couldn't remember having ever created a doppelg?nger of her own. She peered into more of his memories, listening to Astaroth with split attention.
Astaroth did not notice the intrusion and kept talking until he was done.
"Hmm," Psyche hummed.
"Yeah. Hmm indeed. How do I get back to my friends now? They need me, and I'm in the middle of a battle…" Astaroth said, dejected.
Psyche smiled at him.
"Well, I can get you back to where you need to be, now that I know where that is. If that is what you want."
Astaroth looked at her with a hopeful smile.
"You can?"
Psyche nodded her head slowly.
Floating closer to him, she gently tapped his chest, grabbing something Astaroth couldn't see, and whispered into it.
"I will need your help for this, Tyr, God of time. Send this child back to his destined place."
A surge of Aether erupted in Astaroth's chest, making him feel like he was burning up before everything went white again.
Watching him disappear, Psyche's smile slipped away, making way for a fearful frown.
"Gaius… What have you become? I cannot let this go on unchanged. I will send this child the help he needs, to bring you back on the rightful path…"
Psyche started pulling energy from the surrounding stars, moulding a ball of Aether that pulsed with power. She then reached into herself, making a magical imprint of her soul, and finishing her creation.
A copy of herself manifested, with more manly traits, darker skin, and large white wings.
The copy looked at Psyche, wordless, its eyes almost worshipping.
"I'm sorry I have to lock you away in time. If Gaius ever finds you, I would have wasted this power. Make sure the boy stands a chance.."
The doppelg?nger nodded its head before curling on itself.
With a wave of her hand, Psyche conjured a cage of divine energy around the newly born soul. She made it so it looked like Gaius had done this, so it didn't tip off her future self.
Once the cage was done, she snapped her fingers, and it disappeared among the stars, bound for its next vessel.
"Now, my turn…"
Psyche sighed heavily. She dreaded altering souls once they were done, but she had no choice.
She reached into her body, delicately picking up her soul, and pulled it out of her body. She started sliding her fingers across it, making a magical formula on it.
She hesitated before her last stroke, knowing what came next.
"I can't keep this knowledge. If Gaius ever peers into my soul after locking me away, he will know. I need to ensure the soul reaches its vessel."
Sliding her finger across her soul, it snapped back into place. The memories of her encounter with Astaroth, and her finding out about Gaius' ploys, vanished from her mind, and then from her very soul.
Pain traversed her, lasting for a few minutes, before subsiding.
Psyche looked around herself, frowning.
"What was I doing again? Ahh, yes. Pruning the trees. But why am I so far from them?"
Turning around, she saw the trees fifty meters away from her.
"Hmm. I rarely lose focus. Oh well."
And she happily proceeded to her pruning, completely oblivious of what she had just done, or whom she had met.
A golden portal opened at the edge of her garden.
"Lady Psyche! Lady Psyche! I finally did it!"
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