"Mas..ter?" Aria was baffled at the thoughts of her master appearing in front of her once again.
She was cognizant of the fact that everything was a dream. Yet, her desire to interact and regain her closure with the master overpowered it all.
She made small steps towards the man, whose brows were creased from the excessive worry he had at how Aria was acting.
Aria couldn't process her current body. Her natural reflexes were used to being applied to her adult form's arm length.
When this arm length was shortened, she couldn't adjust very well.
As such, Aria stretched her arm towards the man and grabbed.
Of course, she grasped nothing but thin air.
Along with it, she thought that she would've attached herself to her master and set him as a point of balance.
However, since this didn't happen, her balance began to crumble. She stumbled upon her steps and cried out in shock.
Her petite body fell on the rock solid ground. Thankfully, the robe she wore covered her entire physique. She was able to get off without any scratches.
Even so, it was still painful.
"Ouch.. owie," Without her realizing, her voice had also reverted back to a child's. Moaning in pain, Aria struggled to get back up.
She used her elbow as a support. Through doing so, she was able to flick her head up and direct her line of sight back to her master once more.
Her master was taken aback by Aria's sudden mishap and the gestures that soon followed it.
If one had to describe Aria with a single world, it would be 'calm'.
Aria had the capability to keep her calm in the most arduous and tense situations without breaking a sweat.
Even as a child, she was already developing this sort of tendency.
Her master hurried to gather her up and help her stand.
He took her into a warm embrace, patting her body to remove any specks of dust and dirt that got on her after the fall.
Aria clenched her fists. The touch felt too real.
Her fists balled up as she gripped a part of his external robe.
Her master was nad Zehell. Zehell Rivkins.
The man had involved himself deep within the research of sothing unknown to mankind.
Sothing that revolved around a concept that couldn't be seen, heard, nor touched.
The concept of Unity.
It was hard to research such an ambiguous and vague concept.
You didn't know where to start, where to search for clues, and where to direct your efforts at.
You had to blindly search. Search for revelations and theories. Test them, and find the truth slowly.
Zehell Rivkins was a man who delved himself into trial and errors without stopping for his entire life.
Even after becoming his student, Aria was never told why Zehell wanted to seek this 'Unity'. Nor did he tell her how he found out about it.
However, he was able to tell her sothing.
"Unity will be unlocked one day, even without a human's influence. However, the ones who can enter True Unity has to give a part of them to obtain the privilege,"
If you overheard Zehell's words without any context, you would think that he was just making things up and did not know what he was talking about.
But that was not the case.
Zehell was always sure of himself.
Never straying from the path of Unity.
However, there was one thing that he didn't take into account.
His death.
His demise prevented the continuation of his research.
Zehell was not that renowned. He had trusted acquaintances and great achievents tied down to his na, but these weren't explicitly shown to the public.
Zehell liked to stay lowkey, as his true purpose wasn't to achieve fa or wealth, but rather just to satiate his curiosity and wish to fulfill the True Unity.
When Aria's na grew and soared up high, Aria didn't forget about this master of hers.
She ntioned the figure countless tis, referring to him as a role model and idol.
People thought that her master must've been soone wise with years of experience. Unparalleled below the heavens.
People tried to look for elderly masters who had the highest chance of being Aria's master, because they believed that in order to cultivate a monster like Aria, one had to have a large amount of experience and knowledge.
Experience that could only be obtained through ti.
However, what they didn't know was that Zehell, the infamous master, was young.
When Zehell adopted the infant Aria, he was only in his teenage years.
Naturally, when Aria grew up, he was only about to step into his thirties.
One might say that the thirties was a decent age, but in Aria's ti, people could live up to hundreds of years if their power sufficed.
But Zehell's life had to be ended in such an early stage compared to the power he held.
Aria's eyes misted.
She refused to detach herself from Zehell's warm embrace.
Tears started pooling around her eyes.
She could no longer look at him. Look at her master.
After all, she was the reason for the man's death. The talented man whose life had to be taken way earlier than what it was supposed to be.
Looking at the man was painful. It was like a thorn had ford inside her throat, making her shed tears without being able to say a thing.
Zehell was sensitive.
He felt Aria's tears as the liquid stream fell and wetted his clothes.
He didn't know how to react. Aria had never been like this before.
His acquaintances had once comnted on how it must be quite hard to raise a child, as the process was supposed to be taxing and hellish to those who couldn't bear it.
However, Zehell always refuted those claims.
Aria was mature for her age, and knew how to compose herself.
It was just that, the sa disciple he took in was now crying and sobbing uncontrollably.
"Why.. are you crying?"
"I'm not the Aria you know. I will do a very bad thing in the future. I'll fail in achieving the Unity. I'll.. I'll be betrayed by soone... But I'll live on. I'll live on and co back. My life won't end, but the next ti I open my eyes, everyone will be gone. I'll be alone. But.. but,"
"I'll gain people. I'll et new groups.. Experience new things.. And adapt,"
Aria choked as she summarized her situation into short sentences.
She was only able to say this because she knew this was a dream. She couldn't bother holding her emotions in.
Zehell used to be her everything. Her parent figure, her friend, her teacher, her world.
That sa world was taken away from her, but she never faltered.
She grieved, but she kept it to herself.
Because she didn't want to express the grief to anyone else. She wanted to direct it at Zehell himself.
"I'm not Aria... I'm not. That's why, that's why-" Aria raised her voice, anxious.
"Aria is always Aria. I've said it so many tis, I didn't adopt you to continue my legacy. I wanted to ntor you because you are Aria. You don't have to chase after my dreams, child," Zehell cut the child's words off, patting the child's head while sighing.
He gave the child a hug before wiping her tears using a spare cloth.
"Aria, I've told you about the True Unity, have I not? Do you still rember my words?" Zehell asked.
"Your words..?" Aria's mories were in shambles. She struggled to recall which statent Zehell ant.
"True Unity isn't conjoining with your peers. True Unity is found within yourself,"
Zehell spoke. As he spoke, the world trembled. The grounds began to shake.
With it, Zehell clicked his tongue. He wasn't fazed at all by the developnt, like he was expecting it.
He grabbed Aria's shoulders and looked at her straight in the eyes.
"Listen up. Don't lose track of yourself. You are enough, you are powerful. True Unity isn't anything special. It is found within yourself,"
"I once made a mistake. I sought for the Unity in the wrong places. The Gates lead to acceptance, but that doesn't necessarily an the True Unity. I was stupid,"
"True Unity is ------- yourself. Accepting yourself. Not your ------ self, but your -------... The ------------ future hold Unity too. The current you.. the ---------------- will. As long as you -----------, it will be fine. You co from the ---------, but the sa laws apply. Good luck, my beloved ------"
Zehell was saying sothing, but parts of it were unclear and couldn't be heard.
Aria was in a daze. She felt like sothing wasn't right. She desperately tried to locate the abnormality.
Then, it clicked.
"Wait, how do you know that-" Aria asked. Those words did not make sense. Zehell talked in past tense, and they implied that he had already opened the 'Gates'.
Furthermore, if Aria's mories served her correct, Zehell shouldn't have found out about the 'Gate', otherwise known as the Door to Unity this early in his life.
Aria was only slightly older than five years old. Zehell should've discovered the part about the Unity Door three years from this tiline.
However, before she was able to obtain an answer, her voice and body was already shifting and turning back into her adult form.
The dream was ending. The world constricted and relaxed, as the image of Zehell faded.
The last thing Aria saw was Zehell's pained smile. He disintegrated into golden fragnts that flew in the air after being blown by the wind.
After that, it was pitch black.
She was inside this pitch black space for a few minutes.
Her mind throbbed, and she felt uncomfortable at how this strange dream had elapsed.
Within the dark space, she gained the ability to hear a voice.
A faint voice that did not seem to co from the space she was in.
"Aria! Aria! God damnit, wake up already!" A familiar voice was shouting. The voice had an angry tone, but care and worry laced it.
Aria slowly opened her eyes. She repeatedly squinted to gradually allow bits of light into her eyes without harming it.
"You.. Sung-ha?" Aria weakly called out.
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