Elias had already finished merging with eleven soul beasts. He could feel his body changing. But unlike before, his body didn’t grow larger or stronger. Instead, for some reason, he became younger.
With the bones of the beast of decay transforming into the essence of a fable and moving to his heart, his physique began returning to its state before the merger.
From looking like someone in his teens, Elias returned to the appearance he had when he first entered the academy, matching the physique of a twelve-year-old.
His clothes had become loose again, but he didn’t even register it. He shifted his attention to the last fable, which was also different from the other eleven shadows.
At first, all twelve fables looked nothing more than shadows to him. But after accepting eleven fables, when he looked at the last fable’s essence, he saw something that wasn’t a shadow.
He could see the complete physique of the fable, as if it was truly living existence. He could see her face as well, which made him remember her. She was one of the last few people that were sent by Zesten.
It was also the person that he had killed at absolute priority since she was stronger than the rest of the fables that he had seen until that point, especially her long range ability.
The last fable approached Elias, as if she couldn’t control herself either. She was being controlled by an unknown force that it couldn’t resist, being pulled towards the merger. She didn’t try to resist either, as she was certain that she had already died.
The woman stopped before Elias, looking at him with her snake-like pupils. Her gaze fell on the object that had long since fallen out of Elias’s pocket after his clothes became looser. It was an emblem, with a symbol of a snake devouring its own tail.
"Are you..." She uttered a few words, as her hands moved on her own towards Elias’s hands.
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Elias looked in the direction that she was looking at, and saw the emblem of his family.
"Even in death, you people don’t leave us alone." She gave a self-deprecating smile, as her fingers touched Elias’s fingers. She could feel her remnants being absorbed, with her existence being erased completely, with no chance of returning to life ever.
"If there is any justice in this world, then I curse you... You will suffer a fate worse than death in the future. All the sins of yours and your family, will return to you a hundredfold to you. You will pray for death, but death will not be merciful enough to come for you..."
Elias looked at the woman with lifeless eyes, hearing her curse. His eyes looked tired, and in pain, all his tears having dried off. But he didn’t take his eyes off her, watching her fade into business.
"I accept your curse." He opened his lips, as his hands gently closed to hold her hands. However, before he could grab her hand properly, she disappeared, turning into a lifeless essence of a fable.
The twelve soul beast’s essence was also taken by his body, and moved straight to his heart. The fourteen essences, each coming from a different soul beasts, had gathered at the same place, each having a different characteristics and past associated with it.
Many of them even countered each other like fire and water. But strangely enough, all of them remained in Elias’s heart silently, being held together by something that was strong enough to counter their resistance.
The storm around Elias became more fierce than ever, as if it was a wild beast that was trying to devour heaven itself.
Lightning started fiercely flickering across the storm. Spatial cracks also appeared all around it, as the merger within the storm had reached the last step. Just like the person within the storm, the storm also seemed to have multiple characteristics to itself.
Sometimes, it was a lightning storm, but the next second, it was like a whirlpool made of water. Other times, it was a tornado of flames, and some times, it was even worse.
Within the storm, Elias felt the emotions becoming unbearable. At times, he even felt like putting an end to everything, and just letting everything go and sleep in peace forever.
"Even if I want to die, death won’t be merciful..." He mumbled the worst of the curse that he had heard from the last fable. He reached out his hand towards the emblem of the Asbborn Family.
He gazed at the carving on the emblem, depicting an ouroboros. Somehow, he felt extreme familiarity with the mythical beast that was on the emblem of the Ashborn Family.
Just like the Beast was devouring its own tail, he was devouring his own existence to become something that he was never meant to be.
"If death isn’t merciful to me, then let it be... I will accept all the sins..." He closed his hands, holding the emblem gently before standing up.
....
"What is this strange feeling? Why do I feel like something really bad is going to happen?" Still underground, the old man had not noticed the storm that was visible across the entire land of fables.
He was still working on completing his life’s work, but suddenly, he was starting to feel something strange. He didn’t know if it was his instincts, or just the unease of getting close to completion.
Meanwhile, there was another person right above, who was peacefully sleeping in the hut, even during such a chaotic time.
It was only when the windows were swung open with thud due to winds that her eyes suddenly opened. She also sat up, wondering why the weather was suddenly so bad.
She tried to leave the hut to check, but as soon as she got off the bed, she noticed something lying on the ground next to the beg’s leg.
"What is this?" She reached out her hand, picking a small bead-like object that seemed to have a faint trace of dried up blood on the surface.