Chapter 614: Attachment.
Rasmus pressed his hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat begin to race, thinking he was having a heart attack. He knew he couldn’t have a heart attack because his body was no longer that of a human being. However, what he felt was similar to having one, and it was unpleasant because he had a few heart attacks back when he was Kyros during his old age.
"What’s wrong?" Aris asked, noticing the sudden change in Rasmus’ energy around him.
"Nothing, it must be Rullein’s doing," Rasmus shook his head as he felt his strong thump of his heartbeat on his palm.
"Stop the carriage," Aris’ voice passed through the solid wall and right into the coachman’s ears. "Let’s take some fresh air," she looked at Rasmus with a serious expression.
Anastasha raised her brows and then looked at Serena who sat beside her. The moment Serena’s eyes met hers, she shrugged and tilted her head to the side. Serena shook her head, signaling to Anastasha to let those two have some privacy.
As soon as Rasmus and Aris walked far enough from the carriage and sat on the boulder of rock. Aris put her hand on Rasmus’ back and she felt warmth on his body, which wasn’t possible since he no longer had blood running through his body. For Orthias beings and spirits, warmth indicated the same thing as a human’s body when they grew cold. It meant that their life force was thinning out and the reason why Orthias and Spirits grew warm was because they could no longer resist the laws of nature and would succumb to them just like humans.
"There’s something that I wanted to tell you but never had the chance to because Rullein might have heard this. Now that she’s too focused, she won’t know," Aris pointed out as she used her energy to fill the hollowness inside Rasmus’ body. "You and her are like the polar opposite. If one decides to use the Overlord’s power, the other will get consumed without them knowing. You must have realized it when we sparred that night, so the stronger you get the weaker she becomes and vice versa. There’s no in between," she explained and stared into Rasmus’ eyes.
Rasmus narrowed his eyes as he hummed and nodded with understanding.
"Was that Aristoria’s plan all along?" Rasmus asked.
Aris didn’t answer immediately because Aristoria had become one with her. Her own predecessor and at the same was Rasmus’ mother would know what she said or thought.
"She has many, but each for different progressions and outcomes," Aris answered as she nodded.
Rasmus sighed as he relaxed his shoulders and leaned forward, staring at the dried land under his feet. He was sweating, something he had forgotten how it felt, and somehow it relieved him. He slowly closed his eyes, using the silence to focus solely on his thoughts and mind. Aris sat there beside him and kept transferring her energy into Rasmus’ body to fill in what Rullein took from him.
Rasmus didn’t force himself to think or dwell on his situation, he let the mind empty until glimpses of possibilities moved through his thoughts. Those flashes of thoughts about Aristoria, Rullein, himself in the future, the plans, the upcoming wars, angels, Satan, Videl, and even Aris. It was his way to let the noise seep in and at the same time be released from the back of his head.
Aris wanted to speak but she knew when Rasmus needed silence since she was the one who had stood beside him the longest and observed him every second of it.
"And?" Rasmus asked.
"There’s a way to prevent that future. You have to separate her from your body, but the problem is that Spirits are attached to the ones that they have grown comfortable with," Aris pointed out but her expression showed uncertainty. "To sever the connection..." She paused.
"To sever the connection also means that the spirit will lose their meaning of living," Yur landed on Aris’ lap, still in an owl form. They will exhaust their power and that will end up destroying things around them until they finally cease to exist," Yur added.
"In Rullein’s case, if she has to exhaust all of her energy, that means she will kill every humans which also means she will refill her energy over and over until there’s no living beings to feed," Aris pointed out with a serious expression. "In short, severing your connection with her means turning the whole Neva upside-down," she added.
Rasmus stared at the sky, directly at the sun without even squinting his eyes. It was quite eerie that Spirits could act like the sun, like the stars that died because they exhausted themselves.
"Rullein is a spirit comes from the resentment of True Dragons, she’s not meant to exist. Aristoria knew something like this could happen, about Rullein ended up being attached to one of us and unfortunately, this outcome is the worst one because she’s attached to you," Aris revealed, although her expression was impassive, her eyes showed concern and a hint of guilt. "But it’s not guaranteed that Rullein would self-destruct when you sever the connection. However, the chance is just that high," she added.
"But severing the connection doesn’t mean I’m going to leave her behind, at least not now," Rasmus furrowed his brows as he looked at Aris and Yur.
"It’s similar to why a person decides to kill themselves or make themselves suffer when their partner leaves them. Spirits are child-like, an abandonment is too much for them to bear. They’re influenced too easily, and that’s why she probed into your past because she has finally attached to you," Aris pointed out as she looked down at Yur on her lap. "Not a lot of them know that, and that’s one of the many reasons why Spirits never get involved with humans," she added as she brushed Yur’s feathers lightly.
"You want me to speak with her about severing the connection?" Rasmus asked and glanced at Aris.
"Yes, whether she can accept it or not, that depends solely on her. Even then, she might still destroy herself if she can’t endure the consequences," Aris nodded.
Rasmus was deep in thought when suddenly the bright and clear sky turned dark in an instant. Rasmus and Aris looked at the sky and watched lightning spread across the sky, something unnatural. Then suddenly rays of light pierced through the dark clouds, making it even weirder.
"Look over there..." Aris pointed to the northeast.
Rasmus used his draconic eyes to see further and saw dozens of black tornadoes charged with lightning circling around the island. That direction was where the Land of Great Spirits was, and he wondered what was going on for something like that to appear.
"(What’s going on over there?)" Rasmus asked Rullein.
Rullein on the other hand was grinning so widely from ear to ear when she saw two Chinese dragons flying above the island, they were large and long enough that both of them could circle the whole island with their bodies. One dragon was gold with golden clouds emitting lights surrounding his body and the other was black with black clouds producing lightning that were surrounding his body.
"(You won’t believe this. There are two giant dragons, chinese dragons like I saw from your memories. You need to see this)" Rullein answered as she slowly enhanced her ice armor and coated herself, her wings, tail, and horns with ice once again. "(I’m having fun right now, thank you for this)" She added before she completely turned into black smoke.
"(Take your time)" Rasmus responded.
