Chapter 01 - Life or Death in the Afterlife
Darkness was the only thing to be seen and no matter which way you looked, darkness was everywhere.
John tried to raise his hands, but to his surprise, he didn't have any. If that wasn't enough to make him panic, he discovered that he didn't even have a body. He tried to scream in despair, however, without a body there was no mouth for the sound to echo from, only thoughts would occasionally emerge.
After a long time — and no one knows for sure how long — his memories returned and the most vivid memory in his chaotic mind was that of a very beautiful young woman, with black eyes as bright as the starry night.
She looked like a model, with her graceful and impressive figure. John, however, was terrified, so he paid no attention to her beautiful appearance. He focused on the feelings that the memories of the woman aroused, they were warm feelings of sisterhood.
In his memories, it was the only sense of peace in the vast darkness.
It seemed like the only family he had left in his life, that is, if John was still alive.
His situation was unknown even to himself.
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Venhorst Castle
In an ancient castle, reminiscent of medieval European castles, hidden magic circles and arrays were all over the castle, demonstrating the ostentatious display of a nobleman's abundant wealth. Although the castle showed a majestic appearance, a gloomy air fell over it, because Mrs. Van Horst had encountered a misfortune never seen before.
It had been months since Mrs. Van Horst had contracted an unknown illness. The peculiar thing was that her base power of a respectable magician could do nothing, high-level spells were completely useless.
In the most protected room, a woman lay on the bed, aging. The pace of her cellular decay made it seem as if each hour was one or more years for her. There was barely any vitality in her withered body. If someone had said that the woman lying on the bed was only 28 years old, no one would have believed their words, they would have even mocked them, because she looked more than 100 years old.
A man sat beside her, seemingly worried. With just one look, anyone could tell that he had very strong feelings for the woman lying on the bed. This was evident just by looking at his eyes, love and concern, a scene rarely seen, considering his reputation, position, and prestige.
Helpless, the man had tried everything in his power, but the only thing he could do was keep her between life and death.
A high-grade magic array covered the entire room, the array rotating, imbuing vitality into the woman's withered body. The life energy generated by the array was quickly consumed by the fetus in the woman's body, the other half was absorbed by a crystal egg in the woman's soul. Although the egg drained vitality, it was the only connection between the soul and the body. Only the soul of a higher being could withstand so much soul energy depletion, only life energy could suppress the depletion in their soul that was reflected in their body. The five golden cores and one Paragon core were powering the array. Just two golden cores would be enough for someone to live their entire life without worry for the rest of their life, and here was a man wasting five of them and a Paragon core . If anyone knew, they would undoubtedly do everything they could to steal them, even at the cost of their own life.
In the room, white sheets and curtains gave the room a sacred air, the freshly picked flowers gave a pleasant spring scent. In the room were two maids with the man, they were adept at some healing magic targeting the life force, and of course the average warrior butler was also behind his lord, to attend to any need.
— My lord, you could go and get some rest. It's been three days since you've slept or eaten anything — the butler said with a worried look.
The man looked away from the woman and with a pale complexion asked.
— I'm fine. When will the envoy from the capital arrive?
The butler wasted no time in responding.
— My lord, the envoy will arrive in three days, four at most.
"I'm relieved to hear that," the man said with a heavy sigh on his face. He had spent almost all of his fortune, as well as the favors he had accumulated, in order to buy the matrix of life in the royal family. A light of hope shone in his eyes.
— You can leave for now — the man said to the butler and the maids, who were in the room with him.
— Thank you for your hard work. Let's rest for now.
One after another they bowed and left the room, until only the woman and the man remained. The man kissed his wife's forehead and said softly,
— Darling, I will save you and our child, or my name will not be Fernando Van Horst.
After spending a few more hours with his wife, Fernando Van Horst left the room and went to take a shower and attend to his duties as lord castellan of the Northern border.
Three days later
After three days, a flying ark arrived at Venhorst Castle . A man stepped out of the flying ark, accompanied by two others and a woman. The three seemed quite respectful, because the men were all average beings for those who had evolved to this level of having their own pride.
They were escorted by the butler and walked unhindered towards the castle. Ferdinand himself came out to welcome them personally, which demonstrated the importance of the representatives of the royal family.
— Greetings Mr. Jeremia, welcome to the northern lands — Fernando greeted, demonstrating the courtesies of a noble, neither arrogant nor servile, just appropriate. Fernando smiled slightly.
— Mr. Fernando, courteous as always. I am glad to see you again — Mr. Jeremiah also greeted Fernando with the same courtesy. Then, Mr. Jeremiah's sonar scanned Fernando's body. Although it was rude, it was undoubtedly a custom of old friends to probe each other's progress, and of course, Fernando did the same, achieving the expected results. However, the same could not be said for Mr. Jeremiah. After probing Fernando, Mr. Jeremiah's face turned red and his jaw dropped.
—Wh...wh... How? Is that possible? — Mr. Jeremia stammered.
— This evolution came at a very high price — Fernando spoke with a bitter smile on his face. He hid his sadness and invited Mr. Jeremia inside, along with his subordinates, and so they entered the castle side by side, while talking after updating each other, Fernando led Mr. Jeremia and his men into the room where his wife was.
When Mr. Jeremiah and his men saw the figure on the bed, they could not believe their eyes, because the woman in their eyes was just skin and bones, it almost seemed like a corpse in front of them.
—How is that possible? Wasn't she just pregnant? How is she like this? — Mr. Jeremia bombarded a series of questions.
—What the hell did you find in the tomb of the primordial sin? How could someone of your caliber let this happen? — Mr. Jeremiah was shocked.
— It's a long story, I'll tell you later. We'd better start implementing the matrix as soon as possible — Fernando said impatiently. Clearly, this was a topic that Fernando didn't want to address at the moment.
— Haim. Yes, of course — Mr. Jeremiah could not believe that the woman who had once coveted his beauty had turned into a dried-up corpse. When he spread his sonar throughout the woman's body, what he discovered shocked him even more. All the vitality was rushing toward the fetus, Mr. Jeremiah wondered if it was a monster, not a child, forming inside there, it was a rare case.
When Mr. Jeremia tried to probe the soul, a barrier prevented his sonar from proceeding any further.
— Just because of this unusual pregnancy. Mr. Jeremia came out of his thoughts and ordered his men.
— Carlos, prepare the materials. Sandro and Felicia, prepare your spiritual powers and we can't make any mistakes. Fernando, I'm counting on you to extract the Paragon cores .
After the words were spoken, Mr. Jeremiah began his work, after all, he was a master of arrays and magic circles. After Fernando provided the cores, they headed to the basement of the castle.
It didn't take long for everyone to reach the castle's basement.
— Fernando, you are the one with the strongest evolutionary base, so you will be the one to balance the cores with your own. Luckily, you have a golden core, which will be very useful — Mr. Jeremia said, demonstrating his experience. He drew a complex diagram with a high-grade mulatto stone. The matrix quickly took shape, with the help of his subordinates and Fernando. The matrix encompassed all the fundamental elements, and everyone quickly went to their position, each one representing a different element in the diagram. Fernando took the center, under Mr. Jeremia's instructions.
— Water, earth, wind, fire, wood, metal.
— Life comes from the goddess, elements created by the goddess, death fears the goddess.
Everyone followed the steps indicated by Mr. Jeremia, at the same time that an incantation in the Baboan language echoed through the basement.
"Fernando, now!" Mr. Jeremiah shouted, sweat running down his face. Fernando didn't delay. In his hand, the cores flew toward the ends of the array, each core representing a corresponding element in the array. And his golden core in his dantin region rotated rapidly, producing the corresponding elements. After a few hours of hard work, a plant grew in the middle of the array, right in front of Fernando, overflowing with life force. After another half hour, a daisy flower bloomed from the plant and five sighs echoed at the same time.
— Fernando, our work here is done. For now, the rest depends on the goddess, as well as your efforts — Mr. Jeremia said.
After that, Fernando moved his wife into the daisy flower, which was brimming with vitality. At a rate visible to the eyes, the woman who had previously looked like a corpse began to rejuvenate, revealing a beautiful and young woman. After stabilizing the matrix, Mr. Jeremia explained to Fernando how to manage the life matrix.
Time flew by, and several days passed in which the envoys from the capital were well accompanied in the castle and the gloomy air in the castle gradually disappeared.
The following month, the envoys from the capital said goodbye and returned to their flying ark, back to the capital.
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In the Limitless Darkness
After John had lived in darkness for an unknown amount of time, he gradually became aware of it. Then, John began to make assumptions about his current situation. He could not see or feel anything around him. At first, he thought he had died and was therefore in some kind of hell or something.
John had never heard of his situation in his life. One day, John felt something that he could not explain, because what he felt was not coming from his senses, but from his soul. It was like being naked in public, and suddenly you find something to wear, it is a great relief after a while.
Changes occurred one after another, until one day, he could feel a body. Although his senses were not developed, John could somehow feel it. A great current of vitality rushed toward the newly formed body, as if he had seen water after walking in the desert for a long time. John's body frantically absorbed the current of vitality.
Suddenly, a miracle really happened. John could no longer see the surrounding darkness; instead, he was in a completely different place. Now, he was in a boundless sea. There was crystal clear water reflecting the blue sky, the waters were calm, without any ripples. The sea was calm, there was no land and no sense of direction, a sea with no south, north, east or west.
John was happy that he was no longer in boundless darkness. Then he tried to look at his own body. To his surprise, John was now a ghost baby, which was the word he found most appropriate to describe his own current body .
John was an adorable baby, just a few inches tall. Black hair, black eyes, and smooth, clear skin. The most striking thing was the little tail sticking out from the back of his waist. John was surprised, as he looked like a little devil, but that didn't take long. He began to analyze his surroundings. A boundless sea, with no land in sight, no direction at all, even looking down into the crystal clear water, there was no sign of land, which contrasted with his knowledge of the sea.
As John looked closer at his surroundings, he discovered something shocking. There was a translucent egg, about 1.75 centimeters tall. Inside the egg was another ghost baby, the baby looked even more ghostly than John himself, it seemed like the baby in the egg would disappear at any moment.
John tried to communicate with the baby in the egg, but there was no form of communication available at the time. This was the first time he was in a pure soul state; he somehow knew that it was a battle between life and death in the afterlife.
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In the Castle Basement
It had been 6 months since the envoys from the capital had left, and 3 months since Fernando's wife had conceived. She had been pregnant for almost 9 months, and the day of delivery was getting closer day by day. The womb had done its job well. Four months after the womb was implanted, the woman finally regained consciousness.
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