Caliste imdiately frowned as he heard that voice in his mind.
"Liana? Is that you?"
He tried to look around himself, but he couldn’t see anything. He almost thought that he had hallucinated hearing the voice; however, when it entered his mind once more, he knew that she was sowhere he couldn’t see.
"Yes, I’m right here."
Caliste looked around again.
"Where are you?"
"Here!"
Caliste sighed. "Show yourself!"
She clicked her tongue. "Stupid, I’m inside you."
"Inside ? What are you talking about?!"
"When you use my thod to absorb the energy from the Molten Core, I made it so that you would also absorb my being. The reason I did that was that it was the only way for to leave this godforsaken place behind. Because of the Demon King who trapped here, I could never leave; the only way for to leave was for sothing like this to happen."
Caliste found that sowhat strange, but he trusted Liana. If she had gone that far to leave, then she had to be right. She wasn’t the type to make many mistakes when it ca to things that could impact her life forever.
"Can you talk to about the deal you made with the Demon King now that you’re in this form?"
Then, before he heard her answer, a miniature version of Liana appeared before him. She looked much, much smaller than the library version. She was about the size of an apple, and she was... flying?
"No, but I’ll be able to talk with you at any given ti! And as you grow stronger, I will slowly be able to recuperate my strength from the past, and one day, I will regain my true size."
Caliste’s eyes widened. "Does that an that you will be staying with until then?!"
"Why?" Liana started laughing. "You don’t want to see you naked?"
Caliste didn’t say anything, as he already imagined how awkward it would be if he were to have intimate monts with her inside his mind, watching everything like a hawk.
"Let cut you right there; I’ve already seen you naked. So, it doesn’t really matter."
Liana giggled from within his mind. "Well... now that I’m in here, I have access to your mories of this very body. I have to say that you were definitely active since your return. You even had so fun with your new mother and sister—how unusual of you."
Caliste couldn’t help but beco extrely embarrassed by this whole situation.
He had no idea that by absorbing so of the Molten Core energy, Liana would have access to his mories. She could literally see everything that had happened before reaching this place. She would also be able to see him lose his mind in the darkness before being saved by the light.
But Liana didn’t say anything else; she simply giggled once in a while, definitely having so fun watching through his mories.
"So, how do I get out of here?"
"You already managed to mix all three affinities?"
"Yes?"
Liana shook her head in shock. "You really were the most talented back then. If only they hadn’t betrayed you, we would have probably managed to beat the Demon King."
"Then, head in this direction. We should find the exit if we go this way. We need to go back to the four statues. They will be the ones guiding us outside."
Caliste nodded and imdiately got to work. However, on the way there, he used this opportunity to talk with Liana about the past and everything that happened after his death. Caliste had managed to learn so things, but there were still many things that he wanted to know.
"What happened after I died? What did they all do?"
Liana raised her eyebrows and took a deep breath. "Well, the first thing that happened was spreading rumors that you were a traitor and no longer a hero. Not everyone believed it at first, but when everyone present in the fight says that it’s the truth, it’s hard to deny."
"After that, Alek built his own kingdom and beca a king. Luther went to the Elven Kingdom and beca the King of all elves. Thorin beca the King of the Dwarves, and I disappeared and researched for many years."
"Life was quite peaceful for a while. The world really was at peace for many years after your death. The Demons were peaceful; they didn’t mix with society... not yet. However, once they did, that’s when everything took a turn for the worse."
"The Demon King hadn’t said anything to anyone back then, but his plan was obvious. He wanted Demons everywhere—in the Elven Kingdom, in the Dwarven Kingdom, the Human one... he wanted them to be everywhere and essential. He wanted them to have high positions in those places so that he could control the world from afar."
She shook her head. "That’s also why he built the biggest and best academy in the world. He wanted everyone with talent to join his academy."
Caliste listened and didn’t learn anything quite new about all this. Most of the knowledge that she had just shared was basic knowledge by now.
"What about society? Were there not rebellions opposing the Demon King?"
Liana shook her head. "Not really. The opposition mainly ca from the demons—the heretics. But you’ve t them already. As for most people, they were just happy that the war ended. The Demon King was no longer present in their lives as a threat, and everyone was happy. But... if only they knew what I knew."
Caliste could tell that most of what he wanted to know was behind the deal they had made one hundred years ago. He could clearly tell that Liana would never tell him since she would die as a result.
Still, it was frustrating to have no answers when soone who knew was right before him.
’I should have asked Thorin on his deathbed. He would have told without a doubt... after all, he was about to die.’
Caliste frowned as he had been far too absorbed in his emotions to do sothing like that.
Caliste wasn’t sure what would be waiting for him in the outside world or how much ti had passed, but for him, the better part of 180 days had passed in here. He could only imagine what it felt like for Liana, who had spent more than 20 years stuck in here.
"Last thing... how did you know when I would reincarnate?"
"The heavens. They told ."
Caliste nodded, not too surprised that the strange entity had once more intervened.
"Do you know of any way to contact them?"
Liana shook her head.
After all, no one knew. It wasn’t like the demons who were actually inside the world. The heavens simply watched from above and gave so help when truly necessary.
Caliste’s system had probably been essential for the survival of this world. Caliste wasn’t quite sure yet why that would be the case, but he had a feeling that he would learn of it quite quickly.
"What about Alek? Do you think he died by now?"
Liana shrugged. "I’m not too sure; any normal human would have died by now. But Alek seed to have made a deal with the Demon King. After all, he was the one who initiated the whole betrayal against you; the others simply followed behind."
Caliste’s eyes widened as he had been almost sure that it had been Luther who had betrayed him.
"You an... Alek was the one who betrayed first?" Caliste asked as he could already feel the anger within him bubbling.
He wouldn’t be attacking him just yet. However, Caliste smiled at the information, welcoming it with open arms. He had tried to figure it out for many years, and he had finally figured it out.
"Yes... he was. He was also the one who gained the most from the Demon King."
"What do you an?"
She shook her head, not a single word coming out of her mouth. "He received sothing from the Demon King back then. Not a single one of us knew what it was, but it was probably the one thing that had made him betray you."
Caliste frowned as he tried to think of what a human could potentially want in exchange for betraying their closest ally.
There were many things humans aspired for, wished for with their entire being.
It could be summarized in three categories:
Overwhelming power.
Eternal life.
Money.
Those were the three things everyone truly wished to obtain in their lives, and Caliste had a feeling that whatever Alek received was one of those three things, especially the first and second.
And all of that could be answered very easily. He needed to find out if Alek was on the verge of dying or not. That would answer if he had obtained eternal life through the Demon King.
’Let’s see if you’re still alive...’
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