606 A Rough Reunion
The two looked at one another in shock. Centuries they had spent looking for one another, always having the goal of reuniting lodged in the back of their minds, and only now they realized that, for years, they had shared the sa universe.
“Der.. What are the chances..” Roley muttered to himself as the man’s rough hands squeezed his shoulders. As his eyes t his old friend’s, however, he noticed sothing odd. Happiness, but also confusion and, to so degree, compassion.
“What happened to you?” The middle-aged man asked as he looked into the worlds of light and darkness that stood where once were a pair of human eyes he could still rember. The young man in front of him had little more than the face of the scholarly young man he had known.. The spiritual cultivator with a comprehension of the elents only second to one more individual of their shared past.
Roley, almost as if embarrassed by Der’s inquisitive eyes, looked down. He had always known that, if he managed to find the people of his past, he would have likely been a far different person than they had rembered him as. And even if he had not gone through significant physical changes, two thousands years had still passed.
A ti in which more than once he had hoped his friend would have found him, for together they had already envisioned and created a world where elentals did not fear for their lives.
Unfortunately, he had changed more than he had wanted. Study was of no interest to him anymore, nor was cultivation. His entire existence now revolved around the support of the elental kind.. He had beco a champion to them, weaponized to fulfill their long wish. Yet, he did not regret that. He had always had a kind spirit, and his love for the nature of mana had always held a soft spot in his heart. To be bound to fulfill such a destiny, regardless of how difficult and lonely it had been, was sothing he had worn with pride.
He closed his eyes, hoping that hiding them would help Der rember of his forr past, and said, “Many years have passed, old friend. The tis have changed .” His figure stiffened, and he faintly shrugged his shoulder, hoping that the man’s hands would not co in contact with one of the treasures that were embedded into the skin of his back.. Or even notice them at all.
He wished to appear as human as he possibly could. If not to ease the embarrassnt he was feeling, at least to ease Der’s mind.
In response to the light shrug, Der took his hands off the young man’s shoulders. An action that had created sowhat of a line between their rry reunion.. But he did not mind. After all, they had considered each other’s ultimate enemy for the last several years, and as Roley had reminded him, many years had passed since they had considered each other friends.
He too knew that the young man he had pointlessly attempted to teach martial arts to many a ti before was long gone, and a powerful leader of many had taken his place.
As Der composed himself, he started to rember the type of situation the two were in. After all, while he could understand the distrust the Elentals had for cultivators, they had also killed millions of innocent people. He was no stranger to the character of mana sprites, for he had experienced the sa world Roley had. One where cultivators and elentals could coexist.. So he knew how uncharacteristic of them such malicious actions were.
As his arms slowly lay down by his sides, he took a deep breath, and asked, “What is next? I believe we might have gone.. Too far from any chance of cohabitation.”
While keeping his eyes closed, Roley nodded. “I am afraid so.” He said in response.
Despite agreeing on this, both Der and Roley were feeling conflicted.
Der had complete trust that, had Roley known he was the one leading this particular group of cultivators, he would have thought better than ordering the attacks that welcod them into the universe, as well as betraying the agreent upon which the truce had been signed. He knew that, had Roley known it was him, they would have done the impossible just so that a war would never start.
Roley’s train of thoughts was sowhat similar, but also drastically different. He knew that his old friend would have never allowed the mistreatnt of the people he was leading, but at the sa ti, neither of the two were truly immortal.. Eventually both of them would have died. Who was to say how long the cultivators of the future would have respected Der’s will after his passing.
After regaining his composure, Roley carried his body backwards a few feet. Then, his deanor changed. “We have colonized this universe first, so you will have to leave.” He demanded with the tone of an emperor. “Find a ho elsewhere.”
Roley’s words stung. Not because they rejected the connection that had existed between him and Der, but because what he had asked, was little more than demanding their suicide.
“Is that what you want?” Der asked angrily. “After all the work my people put into making this universe safe, and despite all the innocent people those you lead have killed!! FIND A HO ELSEWHERE!?”
“My people did nothing wrong.” Roley argued, “They saw your arrival as just one of many invasions from the uncountable groups of rogue cultivators, and yet we have let you find refuge here until you started attacking us.”
Der was shocked. “We.. we attacked you?” he asked with sheer astonishnt. “Only twice have we been at war, and both tis we only responded! Most of the lives we lost since entering this universe were taken before any conflict even started! DON’T YOU DARE DENY IT!!”
Roley was taken aback. He had known about the ancestors of light, space and darkness breaking the truce, which explained why the cultivators had co here. But both him and his people knew, or at least believed, that the previous war had been started by the Armada’s attack.
For a mont Roley started believing that Der had lied, but as he saw the fire of indignation burn in his eyes, he suddenly realized. Those whom he had hoped to bring into his cause, and to whom he had given a palace on To’han, and allowed to be a separate independent faction in the hope that one day they would accept that he acted for the betternt of the elentals’ existence.. They were more out of control than he had imagined.
He could not help but look back at his people, and consider how the pride of so few had turned a community that fought for a just cause, into the villains.
Yet, he was still their leader, and while he did not like that his people had been tricked into a war, he still needed to support them. And so he did. He once again turned towards Der, and with a voice that resounded like the beat of a drum, he said, “I apologize for what happened, but I have to look out for my people above all. We will not take responsibility for the actions of a few traitors. My demands remain unchanged.”
After listening to Roley’s words, Der scoffed. “An apology? Millions of lives lost, and all we get is an apology. How do you expect us to be okay with that, when you haven’t even brought out those you claim betrayed you!”
“The three elentals who broke the truce are already dead, I-“
Roley quickly tried to correct the bad turn the argunt was taking, but before he could finish speaking, Der interrupted him. With narrowed eyes he claid, “Four.”
“What?” Roley asked with confusion.
“There were four beings. An elental of space, one of darkness, one of light, and a fourth one. I saw them myself, as they caged my n within the formation, like insects in amber.”
A strange expression appeared on Roley’s face. One of realization. The notion that he had allowed too many snakes to inhabit his yard had finally dawned upon him. Yet there was also anger.. Because one of the entities that had lied to him was not soone he wished to be allied to, but one he had held captive.
Suddenly, everything fell into place. To him, regardless whether it was true or not, everything that had gone wrong.. Everything that had led to his people being at war with the Armada.. The Elentalist had a part to play in.
This thought caused a blaze of anger to surge within Roley’s mind, almost setting his body in real flas. In response, he hastily turned around to head back to To’han. He wanted to solve this problem once and for all.. Yet, as he turned around, the Elentalist was already standing there, quiet, and sporting a smug smile on his face.
“He is right, you know? It was four.” He spoke with glee, almost struggling not to burst laughing. He then added, “I can’t believe you bought that those three dummies could act on their own. They wouldn’t have understood what a formation was if they were stuck in it.”
His appearance had co as a surprise for both Roley and Der, as he had appeared quietly, without releasing any form of power. He had materialized the mont he had chosen to speak, almost as if he had erged from Roley’s shadow. His eyes also lacked the characteristic golden hue of the champions of Destiny, a detail which revealed that he had not made use of his powers yet.
“I also cannot believe, for the life of , that you would be this stupid.” The Elentalist said as he slowly floated around Roley’s furious figure.. Like a hyena taunting a lion. “But had I known I would have been blessed with witnessing such a touching reunion, I would have.. Well, done exactly what I have.”
The more the Elentalist spoke, the more cocky he.. Until finally, Roley could not stay quiet any longer. “One reason. Give a reason why I should not erase you right where you stand..” he growled in between gritted teeth. The power of nine elents were rotating around his body, creating a large orb of colorful lights.
The Elentalist seed amused. He stretched his arm through Roley’s elental field, and effortlessly placed it around his shoulders, completely unaffected. “Maybe I am just sick of staying in that cell.. Maybe I decided that I was fine with dying.. Or maybe I have left a little mark in their little formation, so that when I die, it falls apart, leaving you to fight Horror’s horde.” He explained as he gradually moved closer.
A shiver ran down both Der’s and Roley’s backs. They knew that by now the full army of Horror’s domain was likely stationed outside the universe’s interdinsional portal. If the formation were to fall, that would an the end for all of them.
Der, who had prepared to engage in a fight the mont the Elentalist had appeared, imdiately put away the idea. Contrary to the elental army, he had seen the brutality of Horror’s domain.. A brutality from which they had spent the past few centuries running from, and that they had done all they could to stop from reaching them.
“What do you want?” Roley asked dejectedly.
The Elentalist tightened his hold of the young man’s shoulder. “Since you were kind enough to make an army for , I will take that.” He said with a friendly tone before pinching his chin pensively. He then added, “Although I think I will erase their minds.. I could never stand their constant whining..”
As he finished speaking, sothing cracked inside Roley. He once again opened his eyes, aid at them at Der, and with an apologetic expression, said, “I am sorry..” A mont later, his arm flashed out of sight, and with impossible speed stabbed the chest of the Elentalist.
Dumbfounded, the elentalist felt the power of nine primordial elents flood his body. Feelings of burning, slicing, freezing, all piled up to one another, corroding his existence from the inside.
“NO!” Der shouted, but it was too late.
Slowly, the Elentalist’s body began to fall apart.. His skin peeled off, his flesh turned to dust, and his bones were swallowed by an eternal darkness. However, as Roley observed his nesis’s last monts, his body froze. In the latter’s dying expression he could not see fear of death, but a simple malicious smile.
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