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Chapter 409
CHAPTER 409
DANGWE
Lino stood at the edge of a tall cliff with an odd smile on his face; it was merely for a second that he had stopped hiding his presence when a black-hooded man suddenly stepped out of the spacetime and landed a few meters behind him . Though Lino couldnāt discern the manās features, his general bearing had starkly resembled that of the other cultists . He almost entirely blended into the world around him without consciously attempting to do so, and Lino realized quickly even heād have trouble spotting the man easily .
" . . . youāre a hard man to find, Lord Empyrean . " the man commented, suddenly removing his hood; old, worn and wrinkled face seeped out, two eyes bearing cutting scars across them, perpetually closed . White beard, styled into mutton, was rather well-kept, unlike the scarred neck beneath that had a massive, red, oval-shaped wound extending over from the jaw down to the collarbone .
"Iām uniquely flattered," Lino replied with a smile . "As Iām barely finding you right now, despite standing right in front of me . "
"Forgive me," the man said . "It is ingrained in my bones by now . "
"Donāt fret it . How can I help you?"
"Seeing your reaction, you must know who I belong to . " the man said .
"I do . " Lino nodded .
"My name is Yogāson," the man said . "You may call me Y . "
" . . . Iād rather call you son, though . " Lino remarked, grinning .
"I am currently three point nine billion years old," the man replied, grinning as well while tilting his head slightly . "I may be many things to you, but son is not one of them . "
" . . . you know, Iād be shocked had I not met someone even older than you . " Lino replied with strange calmness, shocking the man slightly .
"Oh? May I inquire who?"
"No . "
" . . . very well . "
"What can I do you for, Yogāson?" Lino asked .
"My Master wishes to meet you," the man said . "As to discuss a possible alliance . "
" . . . " Lino remained expressionless for a moment, seemingly contemplating, before replying . "Rumor has it that the Cult has no Master -- that each branch exists independent of one another, only ever united against external threats, each led by a generally-elected Council . "
" . . . for starters, we are not a Cult," Yogāson said, smiling faintly . "We are an organization . "
"Ah . "
"And, while true that thatās how we operate on a daily basis . . . what organization doesnāt have a founder, Mr . Lyonel?"
" . . . I was merely wondering aloud," Lino replied with a smile . "I am most intrigued to meet a man who has an Origin Awakened fella calling him a Master . "
" . . . you have a keen eye, Mr . Lyonel . " Yogāson chuckled . "And I even consciously tried to hide it as to not scare you away . "
" . . . how could you scare me away?" Lino said as the man tore open space next to him, inviting Lino over .
"Indeed . Empyreans are hardly the ilk to run with tails between their legs . " Yogāson took a slight jab with a half-hidden smile, causing Lino to stop and glance at him .
"I was talking about your Will," Lino replied with a somewhat colder voice . "No being with a Broken Will can enter my eyes, be they Mortals or Origin Awakened Cultivators . "
" . . . "
"--go ahead," Lino stopped next to the portal and met Yogāsonās eyes squarely . "Lash out . If I donāt have you kneeling within a second, Iāll gift over my all to you . "
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"Thatās what I thought . " Lino scoffed . "Donāt pour salt on the open wounds, son," he added as he stepped through . "Especially of those who wouldnāt mind snapping your neck off as though you were a chicken . "
Lino found himself inside an eerily dim room, void of any decorations save for two chairs at the center . Rectangular walls were dull, stone-cast, and windowless . He quickly realized there were no traps nor formations anywhere around, and the portal remained open even after Yogāson walked through, still sour-faced .
Sitting on one of the chairs was a young man Lino never saw before in his life; judging by the appearance, Lino would put him in late teens at best . Although not terribly handsome, he was nonetheless pleasing to look at . What shocked Lino the most, however, was that he couldnāt gauge the youthās strength -- nor his Will .
"I apologize on Yās behalf," the youth said with a faint smile, pointing Lino to the chair opposite of his . "He was never very skilled with social situations, Iām afraid . "
" . . . nah, I think heās just a jackass . " Lino shrugged, sitting down .
"Ha ha ha ha ha, true, that may be it, actually . " the youth laughed freely, glancing at the pouting man who drew the hood back over his face once more . "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Lyonel . "
"Iād say the same thing if I knew who the hell you were . " Lino replied, replying to the manās handshake .
"My name . . . ah, Iāve many names, but, seeing as I wish to be your friend, you may as well know my actual name: Dangwe . " the youth said . "Perhaps Dan, if youād like . "
"Very well . . . Dan . " Lino said . "How can I help you?"
"Iād like to think weād be helping each other, Lyonel," the youth said, summoning a wooden table stacked with a variety of drinks that caused Lino to nearly drool -- all of the legendary booze he had long since reconciled with never drinking . . . lay there, before him . "Ah, this--you know-- this wasnāt my offer . Itās not as though Iād just give you alcohol in return for your cooperation . "
" . . . if you pushed hard enough you may have gotten it . "
"Ha ha ha, spoken like a true--khm . . . "
"Alcoholic," Lino grinned . "You can say it . Itās one of the few titles I bear with pride . But, donāt ever tell my wife I said that . "
" . . . ah, wives . Arenāt they a proper treasure?"
"You have a wife?" Lino exclaimed softly, surprised .
"Of course I do," the youth chuckled . "Much like you, Iāve remained faithful to a single woman since the day I met her . Though, you know, Iāve been faithful for billions of years . You only for a few . "
" . . . weird flex, but alright . " Lino shrugged, slowly beginning to indulge himself in the variety of bottles of liquid, ranging from cool crimson to terribly hot twilight . His taste buds had never been as abused as in those few minutes before in his life . "Youāre not what I was expecting when that son over there told me he had a Master . "
" . . . why not?"
"I expected a bearded, embittered, angry and resentful fella tired of the worldās horseshit, ready to wipe it clean . "
" . . . on the contrary," the youth his, his smiling expression turning soft for a moment . "I love this world, Lyonel . Perhaps, I dare say, I love it more than you . "
" . . . "
"However, just like you, I can see it is diseased, rotting from inside out . And, however much it pains me to say, no matter what I tried to do in eons past, Iāve been unable to heal it . "
" . . . " Lino remained silently, carefully inspecting the youthās harrowing expression and pained look in his eyes .
"When I was a little boy, my world wasnāt very big . " he chuckled lightly . "There was our house, the farm, the tall mountains and the lake . That was my life . My father used to tell me that the rest of the world is just fire and harsh winds and that our corner is the only safe place . Of course, I believed him unconditionally . It wasnāt until heād passed that my mother told me he made all those stories up to keep me there . "
" . . . "
"Over my life, Iāve explored nearly every inch of this beautiful, magical place we call our home," the youth added, looking up and meeting Linoās eyes . "And Iāve met so many people Iām sad to admit Iāve begun forgetting many of them . Do you know why I founded what you know as the Void Cult?"
" . . . why?" Lino asked, slowing down on the consumption .
"To prevent all those inhabiting this world from raping it into oblivion," the youth replied . "Back then, I was a meek youth, slightly older than you actually . And I had to watch, year in and year out, skies being pelted away at by scorching fire, and watch mountains cleaved and razed, and watch holes the size of cities dug out from beneath our feet . " Linoās shoulders relaxed slightly; though he still kept his guard up, he could tell, from the bottom of his heart, that the man wasnāt lying .
"That was actually when I met Layla . "
"Layla?"
"My wife . "
"Ah . "
"She was a survivor of the so-called Fiend Uprising," the youth chuckled bitterly . "In wanting to prove themselves to Gaia, Fiends took to arms against the Primes, not caring who they harm in the path of their crusade . They were devastated, of course, nearly beaten into extinction, but, which one of lesser us could care about that? She had to watch her entire village burn out in a matter of a single breath . Iād learn later that this was the reason my father told me that about the outside world . In a way . . . he wasnāt actually lying . It really was lakes of fire and seas of anguish . "
" . . . you are not a human, are you?" Lino asked, frowning .
" . . . not your kind of a human, no," the youth shook his head, chuckling faintly . "But, still a human, nonetheless . "
"Not my kind of a human? I didnāt know there were more types of humans than one . " Lino said, smiling lightly .
" . . . there are four, to be precise," Dan said . "To be fair, one branch has already gone extinct, and one can be considered endangered species, but your kind, despite being most populous, certainly isnāt the only sort of human to exist . Most of your books refer to us as proto-humans, and you as our descendants . Completely fabricated . Your kind existed well before the Skyhaven Era, and Prosperity Era . Origin of Humans, both your and mine, dates back to the Origin Era . "
" . . . your fat ass is five billion years old?!!" Lino exclaimed as he slowly connected the dots .
" . . . pretty much," Dan chuckled, nodding . "Though, I wouldnāt say my ass is fat . If anything, because Layla likes pinching it, I ensure itās always fit . "
" . . . "
"Donāt be so shocked; itās only natural that the world wouldnāt know of it, as we were very much primitive back then . We didnāt have a written script, we didnāt have cultures, we were largely nomads . . . the first Human Civilization indeed came to be during the Skyhaven Era, so thatās something . Until then, we lived largely in obscurity, hiding and trying to survive the world that was very much larger than us . Eventually, our numbers reached quite high, which is why Gaia elected to help us during the Skyhaven Era . "
" . . . even after so many years, if you failed to clean up the world . . . aah, itās kind of discouraging . " Lino chuckled bitterly for a moment .
"I didnāt take you to be a man who gives up . "
" . . . if you hadnāt, how could I?"
" . . . Iāve wanted to . Many times . " Dan said with a somber expression . "Whenever Iād see us falling back to old patterns . . . my heart would crack and bleed . Iād cried in rain and fire, and Iād called out to them, and Iād screamed at them . . . but my words always seemed to fall on deaf ears . "
" . . . "
"Weāll only ever move backward if even Gaia herself sees it as the best choice to murder the innocent on the off-chance it might make the Empyrean go mad . " Linoās heart creaked for a moment, his lips quivering faintly . "Sheās done it many times before . I donāt know why I expected it to be any different this time around . "
" . . . done it many times before?" Lino mumbled .
"Aye," Dan nodded . "Every time the Empyrean in the past was on the cusp of a victory, or at the very least on the cusp of winning the world back over, she would do it . Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didnāt, but each and every time the innocent would end up suffering the most . "
" . . . if youāve known that for so long, why didnāt you ever kill her?" Lino asked .
"Oh, Iāve tried," Dan chuckled . "But, the furthest along Iāve gotten was killing six of her Avatars . I was never able to locate her actual body -- even after billions of years of searching . I am almost certain itās not even located on Noterra . "
"How come Iāve never read about you, then?" Lino asked .
"Because Iāve done it under many different names, titles and appearances, and because millions of things were never written, or were deliberately forgotten . In essence, the world itself is a giant lie . "
" . . . alright, Iāll bite . " Lino said, sighing faintly . "What are your terms for cooperation?"
"I thought youād never ask . . . "