Free Web NovelChapter 145: Brilliant but Complacent
--
The man looked amused at his question.
"Come on. It’s just the two of us, here. You already know the answer to your question. Why ask?"
Ren didn’t reply right away. He kept looking at the seemingly carefree man with wings, before shrugging.
"Didn’t want to assume. I could wrong...besides, you look...young, too young."
"I am young!" The man confirmed energetically. "I’m barely 2,500 years old when I died. Us, Sky Archons, could live up to 10,000 years at minimum. Based on that, I’m practically a child."
"Well, if you say it like that...I suppose it makes sense." Ren sounded convinced, but inwardly, he was freaking out.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. This wasn’t in the canon.
When the ’Hero’ of this story got the complete inheritance, it just emitted a brighr light for a moment then floted before him as a whole. With the complete inheritance, all that’s left for him was to study it and them improve.
That is what’s supposed to happen. Not this.
The story didn’t mention anything about being transported on top of the sea of clouds, or meeting that man, the myth, and the legend that is the Godly Sky Archon himself.
Nothing in the story he remembered even hinted at the fact that this guy had a ghost somewhere.
"So, what do you think of us, Sky Archons, so far?" The man asked ever so casually.
He either was deliberately ignoring the crisis that Ren felt or he simply wasn’t aware. Either way, Ren felt incredibly uncertain of what he’s supposed to do next, which was highly uncharacteristic of him.
"Come on, don’t be shy. Humor a young ghost and tell me honestly. Don’t be reserved."
Ren paused. He took deep breaths before answering.
"Brilliant creatures that have gotten complacent." freeweɓnovel.cøm
The two stared at each other for a while. Ren saw the eyes of the Godly Sky Archon dulled for a bit, which made him feel like he messed up somehow, but then...
"Pfft! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
The Godly Sky Archon suddenly burst into a belly full of laughter. His knees wobbled and he collapsed to the sea of clouds, almost getting swallowed up by its fluff.
If it weren’t for the puffs of clouds scattered as he rolls over in his laughter and the gusts of strong winds that occured as his wings flapped as he rolled, Ren would probably wouldn’t even notice that he was there.
Maybe that’s how he caught him by surprise in the first place?
The archon’s laughter went on for full five minutes. Yes, Ren was counting. He rolled over and sounded as if he’s teetering in both laughter and tears as he did so.
Eventually, his laughter died down. He shakily stood up, his face drenched in tears that he’s wiping furiously. There was this wide smile on his face, but his eyes looked unbearably sad.
His wings folded obediently behind his back as if calming down with him.
"Ah, shit...I needed that. It’s been a while since I laughed that much. Didn’t it was possible after I turned into a ghost, but damn! I guess even ghosts could be surprised, huh?"
The archon sighed once he’s done wiping his tears. Then, with a flap of his wings, the nearby clouds transformed before him, turning into a hill.
He flew up to it and called out: "Come up, kid. Let’s talk here."
Ren shrugged and hopped into the hill made of clouds, which felt surprisingly sturdy.
Once he arrived at the top, he found the archon sitting there, staring above the skies. His eyes remained sad, but lost now, too. He didn’t speak for a while. It’s as if he had been entrenched in his memories and couldn’t find his way out for a bit.
"Just so you know, I hated your answer." He said with an airy tone. "Tch. ’Complacent’. I’ve grown to hate that word since I died."
"But don’t get me wrong. I hate it not because you’re wrong, but because you’re right."
"We were brilliance creatures that had become complacent. That is true. In fact, that basically sums up the whole tragedy is us, the Sky Archon Race."
It was here that Ren realized that he had been a little careless here.
What was he, a young human cub who barely reached the ceiling of his kind’s potential, supposed to know about the Sky Archons?
There’s no way he could tell that much just by reading through the Sky Archon Arts available! There’s barely any tidbits in there of what happened to their kind.
He uttered such big words that resonated to this person’s heart. The person who was essentially the supreme being of his kind - the Godly Sky Archon.
His appearance might be deceiving, but nobody would dare to impersonate this one. He is who he claims to be, although he hasn’t directly admitted to it yet, Ren was fully convinced that he’s is now talking very casually with a true god-like being.
In his nervousness, he had all but revealed that he knew more about the truth of this world than he’s supposed to. He couldn’t tell if the Godly Sky Archon actually realized it or not, but in Ren’s opinion, he had basically exposed himself.
"Some truths are better left to be discovered rather than told." The archon continued. "So, I’d spare you the full details. You’re not ready go hear it yet. But just know that none of us wanted this."
"If it we could, we would’ve happily stayed as a peaceful and reclusive race for the rest of time. We’ve got everything we need. Our only obsession is the pursuit of Sky Archon Arts, one that we keep to ourselves."
"Alas, it just wasn’t meant to be."
"We have been warned. We have been told about what could happen. They told us multiple times. Yet it was us who repeatedly refused to listen."
"We geniunely thought that we will be just fine. ’I’ thought that everything will be fine because I was there."
"But we’re wrong. I was wrong."
"We fought for our ideals. We thought that we could stand by it and never regret anything, especially me."
"Yet here I am, a residual ghost unable to pass on because of my regrets. For all that’s said and not, I blame myself in the end."
"If there’s an after life, I certainly don’t know how I would face my kind once I see them there. Maybe that’s why I can’t leave even after so long."
Ren didn’t say a word. He didn’t feel the need to, nor does he want to. He didn’t want to expose himself any more than he already did.
But he did feel for the man. The archon might not know this, but Ren understands him better than most. He just couldn’t say that, of course.
"I am most ashamed towards Vordt, though." The archon stated as he continued staring at the starry skies, his eyes searching for patterns or maybe tracing the face of his subordinate through them.
"That man has been with me since we were in the nests. He was the first person who believed in me and my dreams. I definitely couldn’t have made it this far without him. He was basically half of the reason why I became I who I am."
"In the end...I failed him." The archon lowered his head in shame. "But of course he never saw it that way. In his eyes, I could never do wrong."
"I could condemn worlds to death using the most random and stupid reason I could come up with, and he would justify it and obey my orders right away."
"His devotion to me scared me more times that I’d admit. But I won’t lie and say that it didn’t feel good to have him by my side because it does, it certainly does."
"Hell, even his last words were about me, not him, me." The archon smiled sadly. "I didn’t feel the need to leave anything behind. But for the first time in forever, he defied my will and made that trial grounds anyway."
"After I died, a piece of my soul broke off. It wandered the void for a bit and felt attracted towards something that had connection with it."
"When I came to, I was here."
"I know that the real me was long dead. That I’m just a ghost that just refuses to pass on. This place preserved my consciousness indirectly because of my connection to Vordt and the Sky Archons. I basically became the owner of this realm."
"I also learned that some of my people survived, but barely. They only had enough time to leave their inheritance here before they succumb to their end."
"I was powerless to save them. Not even to turn them into zombies by fusing them with the available models that Vordt already made."
"At this point, I don’t even know why I’m still holding on."
"But then, you arrived..."
The archon was now looking at Ren earnestly. It honestly freaked Ren out a bit, but he held that gaze.
"You wanted my inheritance, right?"
"Then come, let me show what it is. I’ll let you witness it in person so pave the way for you."
