Alma 105 The World On His Shoulders

The fact that they had not immediately tried to threaten him with her was a sign of hope for him. He preferred to not fight his way through to her, especially given how many of them there were.

It was doable with the Holy Pope because he'd been alone but he did not want to take any chances this time. Still, he wasn't too worried. As much as it exasperated him, Lu'um was in a class of her own when it came to fighting and manipulating Anima.

She had battle experience and skill in spades — which only served to bolster her prodigious affinity with Anima. Reed had no doubt that if Lu'um wanted to, she could tear the Twilight Children into pieces with her bare hands — even without the assistance of Anima.

He hated how unbalanced they were together in that respect. Indeed, it was incredibly comforting having someone as powerful as her beside him, but sometimes it felt unnerving. He wouldn't be able to stop from doing what she wanted unless he played real dirty.

Thankfully, she wasn't usually a loose cannon — it was extremely rare for her to even care about matters that did not concern the Infestation or the Ancient Mulians.

In a shocking display of diplomacy, Kanosis nodded and said, "If that is what you wish for, brother, then we'll do that. It makes no difference anyway, in regard to her impending future whether or not she is with us, after all…"

Huh?! ...I didn't expect that he'd actually listen to my request! What the hell is going on here…?!

I mean, it wasn't like I was forward to fighting or anything, but still…

Kanosis lifted Astrid with Anima and sent her floating to Reed just as he had promised. It was such a surreal experience that Reed almost couldn't believe that it'd happened in the first place.

He looked at Astrid's tired, sleeping expression and said, "Why?"

"To prove our word. Despite the troubling introduction we've had with one another, we meant no harm to you or our sister. We would never sacrifice one of our own. The matter was out of our hands, you see."

"What we want is for you to hear us out at least once. We ask for nothing more than that…"

Reed was skeptical but they had fulfilled his request. Were he to deny them of what he'd promised them, it'd go against his principles, even if he didn't like them.

"Well, whatever… If it's just that, then fine. Say your piece and then make yourselves scarce. Go live in some isolated corner of the world and never return back here again. Let be the final time we meet…" said Reed.

He wasn't in the mood to fight them since they'd already given him Astrid. It wasn't that he'd forgiven them for what they'd done; he just didn't care enough to carry the grudge now that he'd gotten what he wanted. His hatred for them had cooled down into a bitter indifference…

The only thing Reed wanted now was for them to be gone from his life as quickly as possible. He still had work to do outside.

Kanosis shook his head and said, "If we could have, brother, we would have done that long, long ago. But that is not what fate had in store for us. We are doomed prisoners, forced to do things we do not want to do... much like you in that respect."

"Get to the point. I don't have time to listen to you mope about your past. What are you talking about," said Reed.

"The current dilemma we face is directly tied to our past, brother. It must be explained if you are to understand. Nevertheless, you are indeed correct — we have no time to spare. I will try to make my explanation as brief and simple to understand as possible."

"To preface: Do you know who we are, brother? Or rather, what we are?"

Reed shrugged his shoulders and said, "Nuisances?"

"We are artificially created Mulians. Imperfect copies of someone special from a different time. Created to accomplish a single purpose, forever out of reach. Enslaved, we are forced to obey the will of the same monstrosity who created us, our Father the Ancestor."

"…And she is no different," said Kanosis, pointing at Astrid. "She, too, is a child of the Ancestor and is, therefore, subject to the same doomed fate."

Reed suddenly felt his stomach churn in despair and said, "What are you referring to by a 'doomed fate'?"

"The Ancestor has a hold over our souls, brother. It holds our souls within itself, forcing us to obey it. Unspeakable torment awaits us should we disobey — the type that cannot be assuaged. Even death cannot save us from our imprisonment."

Wait. That sounds a lot like…!

"We cannot die a final death so as long as the Ancestor is in possession of our souls. Aye, we are much like the Infested — forever damned to exist in servitude until we are freed."

Oh, my god. No, no, no, no...

"Even worse, we live in fear the day the Ancestor will have no use for us anymore. We have no doubt in our minds that it will surely take us into the Dark and turn us into something less than human. I'm sure I need not explain myself any further, no?"

Reed stepped backward and said, "You can't be serious… That's impossible! If that were true, you would have turned into Infested the moment it took your souls!"

Kanosis bitterly laughed. "Have you forgotten, brother? We, too, possess an Alma. The power of the Goddess's soul is incredibly potent, even if we're given but a piddling fragment of it when we become Chosen."

"Had it not been for the Alma we'd been bestowed, we would have completely succumbed to the Ancestor's will long ago."

Lu'um grimaced and said, "I see now. The clever little insect found a way to bypass the security measures we'd put in place — it made its own keys."

"Aye, we are faulty, misaligned keys. The Ancestor spent four thousand years trying to fashion a key for itself, one that would open what it desired most — the Divine Furnace."

"Everything has already been prepared, even if it is a little bit lacking. All it requires is the ignition key."

Kanosis sighed. "That is the sum of it all. We are tired, Heiress of the Moon."

"So. Very. Tired. All we want is to be free. We no longer seek to reshape the world in our image or to save the world. We just want to be left in peace."

When Kanosis bowed his head, his siblings followed suit and bowed.

"The final decision falls onto you, dear brother. If you choose to defy the Ancestor, it will punish you. It will make you watch as she slowly turns… and loses herself to the Dark."

"Even we do not know what will occur if you activate the Divine Furnace as it currently is right now. It has never been activated before as far as we know. The Heiress of the Moon is probably the only person who can answer that question."

Lu'um clicked her tongue and said, "I'm sorry, Ka'an. He's right. Even I can't do anything to help her in this sort of situation. Killing the Infested Pupa would free her soul, but who's to say that it won't outright turn her into an Infested the moment it realizes what we're planning?"

Reed stared Astrid with a forlorn expression and said, "What will happen if I do what it wants? What am I giving up? Tell me the truth."

He wasn't a stranger to what was happening. If anything, it felt all too familiar.

He was being presented with a decision… and every decision had a consequence. The question was whether or not he could bear what was to come.

Lu'um shook her head and said, "…I don't know. I mean it — I seriously don't know what will happen if you activate it. I was given… specific instructions to follow and nothing more when it came to the Divine Furnace. After all, I wasn't the one who designed it."

"What do you mean, 'I don't know?'" said Reed in denial. "You know everything there is to know about this kind of stuff. You always have!"

"I. Don't. Know. You're asking the wrong person, Ka'an. All I know is that the Divine Furnace is the culmination of everything that Xibalba had strived to accomplish. It was created to surpass the Infestation and win the Great War."

"A weapon capable of turning the tides against the Grand Swarm that lies Outside. Needless to say, it would be the height of foolishness to turn it on, given what I do know. It is incomplete and is missing components necessary for it to work properly…"

Either way, he would have to make a decision. Whatever path he chose, it would end up leading him to the same fate.

The world would have its answer in the end. It demanded a sacrifice…

Chapter end