As Alex found himself standing on the cracked and deserted land, he knew without testing that this wasn’t an illusion. The dry and hot air he inhaled was something he had done for a while before.

Alex could feel the particles of sand in the air, brushing against his skin, reminding him how barren this land was. He could hear the wind howling as it passed through him, sounding like some wail of a cursed spirit.

‘The desolate,’ he muttered, his eyes still searching for any sign of the mountain the village was situated on, but he couldn’t find it.

[We were teleported.] Sophie answered his unasked question. [Quite far from where we were.]

Hearing her words, Alex massaged his forehead. “So, we are lost now?” He asked, exasperated.

[… so it seems,] replied Sophie in a low voice.

Alex had been traveling from the teleportation artifact in a straight line south, and although he didn’t know the way to the place Lilia would be, he could at least return to Originviel if he couldn’t find anything.

He had a backup plan—one that involved him following Keryu when the guy leaves—in case of failure, but now it was impossible.

Now, Alex would either have to find a mage with teleportation ability, tell them the coordinates of the location where he placed the teleportation artifact, or use the portals to travel—which he wouldn’t do as it would leave traces.

‘Hah…’ Sighed Alex, walking forward with his shoulders a bit low. ‘More work to do now.’

As he trod forward, he didn’t forget about Elyra, but his worries now lessened. He now knew that he didn’t need to worry about her.

[I never expected her to be a reborn hero,] Sophie commented as she guessed what Alex must be thinking.

‘Well, her talent with sword arts makes sense now,’ Alex said, recalling how fast she learned the way of the sword just from looking at his fight.

[Well, heroes have the experience of their past life even if it is dormant,] Sophie stated, making Alex nod.

Heroes are beings who are chosen by gods to be their sword. Their job is to spread their names so that more people would want to follow the god they worship.

The reason why Alex didn’t worry about Elyra, however, was that every god cherished their hero.

‘The one who teleported me was probably a god, right?’ Alex asked Sophie as the majestic voice was still fresh to his ears.

[I… don’t know. Gods are gods; they can do anything, I guess,] Sophie replied. She herself wasn’t sure how to answer this question as there was not much information about gods other than there being evil and good gods.

‘Gods are gods, huh?’ Alex repeated, wondering what these gods were and how they behaved.

He wondered whether they were born as gods or they grew to be gods. If they grew to be gods, would it be possible for him to become one as well? Were gods some sacred beings like they were made out to be? Or were they just like humans—beings who can bleed and die?

[Elyra might soon gain her memories, you know.] Sophie suddenly spoke, wanting to change the topic as she knew how deeply he thought about things.

She was just as curious as Alex was about the existence of gods, and she had theories just like Alex. She also wondered if Alex would become a god or not; after all, Alex didn’t have any limit stopping him.

The system made it possible for him to have infinite growth, so what was stopping him from becoming as strong as these gods?

But that was for later to think about. Right now, Alex wasn’t strong enough to fight against the beings that worshiped those gods, much less the gods themselves.

‘Ah, yeah. The little time we spent together would also be forgotten when she recovers all the memories of her past life—probably more than 500 years’ worth of memories.’ He sighed as he thought of that.

He liked that girl. She was loyal and strong; if possible, he wanted her to be his subordinate, as having more strong people under oneself was never bad.

But now that she was being awakened, she would soon unlock most of her past life memories, making it almost impossible for him to coax her to become her subordinate.

Someone with more than 500 years’ worth of memories won’t just submit to another, especially when they had been a hero, hailed across their land as the greatest.

[Well, we can never be sure…] Sophie spoke as she wondered if Elyra really would forget about Alex.

She recalled the look in Elyra’s eyes before they were teleported; the horror and disbelief in those eyes wasn’t something you would show for just anyone.

‘Yeah… no. I don’t think she’s gonna forget him,’ sighed Sophie on the inside, hoping that things won’t turn worse and Alex’s decisions in the village won’t come hunting him down later.

……………………..

Meanwhile, in the village, Elyra stood still for a second, unmoving. Disbelief was evident on her face as she kept staring at the stop where Alex was supposed to be, her hand outstretched.

“No…” She whispered, taking a step forward, her eyes fixed on the sizzling ground.

“No, no, no…” Her voice cracked as she kneeled on the ground, denying the possibility of losing the first person she felt close to.

From the moment Elyra could remember, everyone she met just treated her the same way. All the villagers around her always smiled at her and stopped her from doing anything straining.

The only exceptions were the travelers that came into the village. They treated her differently. They were all good, and although Elyra enjoyed their company, she knew in the corner of her heart that they wanted something. They always wanted something.

Some would want to know the secret of this village so that they could make it theirs, while others would look at her in ways no one had ever looked at her.

Yes, some travelers became Elyra’s friends, but none could compare to Alex. He was the most unique one. He knew just how to make her smile.

He would joke with her and laugh with her; he would even scold her if needed, but he was the one who broke the cycle of her monotonous life.

“Why?! Just why did you have to take him away from me?!” Elyra bellowed as she clutched the sizzling ground, her nails digging into the ground. “Can’t you just let me be happy, you cursed village?!”

Elyra’s eyes, filled with indignation, glared at the houses surrounding her, her chest heaving in rage as she just couldn’t accept it.

“GIVE HIM BACK!!” She roared, her fist coated with the golden aura smashing the ground. “Why did you have to kill him?!”

Her wrist broke, her fingers cracked, and blood stained the ground below, but she didn’t stop. Everything healed in a second after all; she couldn’t even register her bones and skin breaking.

The image of Alex’s smile, his carefree and relaxed demeanor, and the side-eye he gave her when she said something stupid flashed past her eyes one after another.

Crack-Boom!

It was then that thunder cracked, a thick streak landing right in front of Elyra, exploding with a loud boom followed by a voice that reverberated throughout the village.

“Stop.”

Elyra couldn’t move, as if her body instinctively didn’t want to disobey those words. Her eyes, however, still filled with fury, stared back at the sky.

“Fuck off—!” She growled in anger, but her voice was cut short as the thunder crackled again, the same voice followed by it.

“I said. Stop.”

But this time, it wasn’t just the voice; something came along with it—flashes of images she had never seen filling her head.

‘W-What the hell…?’ Elyra clutched her head, her body quivering as she fell to the ground.

‘Whose… memories are these?!’ She couldn’t understand what was happening.

Elyra was sure that these memories flooding her head weren’t hers, but she felt like they were hers at the same time.

“They are yours,” the voice spoke again as if hearing her thoughts. “But from the life you have lived before. Your past life.”

As Elyra heard those words, her eyes went dim. ‘The god of light,’ she muttered, recalling the name of the god she served—the owner of the voice followed by the thunder—before the light in her eyes disappeared.

Thud

Her eyes shut down as her body fell to the ground. Lifeless. The aura surrounding her shimmered down as if her life force was drained out of her.

Elyra’s body convulsed for a while, the only sound that could be heard around the area being the crackling of the thunder in the sky.

Her body stayed like that, with no movement at all; even the convulsions stopped.

“Did it fail?” The voice echoed, disappointment evident in it.

The clouds that had covered the sky dissipated slowly as if retreating, the thunder nowhere to be seen anymore.

It was as if nature itself had given up before…

CRACK—BOOM!

A thick—thicker than ten people standing in a group—shot down from nowhere, landing right on Elyra, who seemed to have died a second ago.

The air turned heavy, the clouds returning, covering the area again.

“There you are,” the voice sounded again, and from within the thunder appeared Elyra, her golden and silver heterochromatic eyes flashing with blue streaks, an unnatural majesty ever-present in them.

It was Elyra, but she wasn’t at the same time.

A large sword, about two meters long, clenched in her palm as she waved it upward, causing the pillar of thunder that was pressing down on her to part.

“Alex…” That was the only thing that came out of her lips before she fell unconscious, falling to the ground with a heavy thud.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep