Steel and Mana

Chapter 546 – Meeting A God

Sasha stood beside me like a warden, arms crossed, looking without blinking, afraid I would escape. I mean, fearful that Sa'Ith would do something to me and I would not say no... And if not for Sa'Ith insisting that we need absolute clarity, calmness, and as few possible distractions as possible, Yuri, Luna, and Mikan would also be here. Well, I do hope things will go well because today she will... inspect my soul, or something, which apparently meant entering my mind like how Zah'Ratil tried to contact my kids before.

Speaking of Sa’Ith, she looked as if she had shown up for a date... And more than that, she looked like we were done with the formalities, wearing a robe, pretty loosely, her red hair cascading down to her chest and shoulders... Khm... I'm not looking. Not at the showing of thighs with her red scales like some sexy lingerie... nor at the cleavage she put on display. I am not suicidal...

“Sit,” She said gently, looking at me, gesturing to the center of the room that was now completely emptied out, darkened, and only the light from some candles illuminated the chamber aboard the Camelot. “One for you,” she continued, handing me a candle, too, “One for me." Then she looked at Sasha, still smiling, "One for your female.”

“Wife,” Sasha echoed in a warning growl as she took it.

“She is, indeed,” Sa’Ith nodded, "But as a spectator, we can't let you distract him. I have to make sure his thoughts are simple, without control, so their true form can materialize. The spell I will cast will mimic it, resonate with it, and then we can make a record of his mind for later contact."

"Oh boy,” I muttered, rubbing my forehead. “Can we begin before Sasha murders someone, and I have to write a eulogy? Probably yours? Or mine?”

“You wouldn’t need to,” Sasha hissed, "She would be gone from everyone's memory, too."

“Okay, okay, relax, both of you,” I moaned, sitting down at my post, watching as Sa’Ith knelt opposite me, while Sasha took her place behind me, one hand on my shoulders, as if she was bracing for an impact or pulling me away if Sa'Ith became frisky.

Which, in hindsight, was foreshadowing, but not because of what Sasha thought of. When Sa’Ith inhaled, rings of runes appeared below us, as a complex magical formation took shape, and I could tell, by just looking at it, that I sat at one of its focal points.

"Don't look at it," Sa'Ith spoke up, but her mouth remained sealed, and I could hear her in my head instead, "Your mind has already begun dissecting it... Stop that. You must not make it work so hard, or I will fail at drawing your true self out. I need you to drop your defenses... and trust me."

"It's automatic..." I grumbled in my thoughts, "I can't control it."

"Then learn meditation." Sa’Ith extended a finger towards my forehead, “Let yourself loose,” she whispered in my mind, "Don't try to fight me..."

Then she touched my skin, and I could feel a slight shiver go over me as the chamber dissolved around us all... It was like sitting in a roller coaster's front car, seeing the drop coming, then starting to speed down into the abyss, before reaching the bottom and racing back to the top...

And then...

Ethereal stars... Thousands of them... They began appearing before my eyes, as if I had left everything behind and stepped into a whole new world. Every color was alive and humming with power, and, as if reaching the top of the roller coaster's ride and stopping there, I was... free... It was then that I realized that I had felt and seen this place before. This was the same view I had when all those years ago I almost died, when Mikan brought me back from the brink of death. Yet... this time around, I wasn't alone. Turning to my right, Sasha was suddenly beside me, naked, barefoot, her red hair drifting in the wind or... as if she was underwater.

“What the hell…” she breathed, her voice echoing around us all.

"I don't know what this is," I answered her, "But it looks like a pretty cosmic scenery."

"This is what you... saw?" She asked, quickly drifting towards me, holding my hand as she looked around.

"Yep." I nodded, taking a deep breath, and it felt like standing atop a mountain, inhaling the crisp, cold air. "This is different from the last time we connected, though."

"It is." She smiled, squeezing my hand, which I could feel as clear as day. "I think... that was mine. This is yours, and yours are much prettier."

Then, about a few seconds later, Sa’Ith appeared next, her outline flickering with red light, also just as naked, showing me that she indeed had red scales around her curves, her sides, and waist... Like a one-piece swimsuit, just designed in a reverse fashion... leaving the important parts naked.

“This...” she whispered, awe-stricken, “...is not my doing.”

"What do you mean?!" Sasha yelped, becoming frightened.

"I mean," She said, looking around, amazed, "That I simply opened Leon's mind, and when I did so, his soul expanded from it, enveloping both of us, taking control of my flow... I... can't explain it, but this is not my doing, this is... yours." She pointed at me, furrowing her brows. "Who... What are you?"

"Leon," I answered, shrugging, watching the swirling, purple clouds in the distance, the millions of stars, or the things that looked like stars... Suddenly, I felt pretty insignificant. "I am just Leon," I repeated, not really knowing what to do next.

“Leon…” Sa’Ith whispered, “You... You..." She suddenly inhaled, some kind of recognition appearing in her eyes, "You are not of this world.”

Sasha instinctively stepped between us, even in this phantom form, looking at Sa'Ith with anticipation of some weird outburst.

“So what?” she snapped at her.

"Of course you knew..." Sa’Ith shook her head violently, “You had already connected to him like this... But... You don’t understand. But this is more than you think! You... You have memories, do you not?" She looked through Sasha, directly at me.

"Yeah." I nodded, "I have more than memories."

"It explains a lot..." She muttered, watching me, "And I can see it clearly now..." Then she reached out with a hand, but Sasha tried to stop her... Yet Sa'Ith's fingers just went through her like she wasn't there, touching my face, caressing it before letting it go.

"You are not from our world... Your soul isn't." She continued, "No wonder you aren't feeling the pressure of Ignis, not even a little bit!"

"I need a time-out and explanation here!" I grunted, feeling lost.

"Me too." She answered at once, and I had to agree... that was... A fair request.

"Long story short," I shrugged, "I died, got onto a rainbow road of reincarnation or something, got pushed off, and got... to be here. That's all."

“We have the teachings of the Gods,” she whispered, hearing my summary of how I came to be, thinking for just a brief second, “It tells us that every Realm has its own, natural way of handling its souls. You see, all soul that are born in one realm remain a part of it, until they shake off all of their shackles and become free to roam the Cosmos. Ignis is no different in this regard... She is just at the same precipice that we were at in our prime. Ready to be free... But you? You were never part of it, you were born free... No wonder when I unbuckled your mind from your body, to take a look, you brought us with you, up here! Into the realm of the Gods themselves!” She almost squealed in the end, looking around, misty-eyed, acting like a little girl, "I stand where they come from... I stand in the Heavens... If I die, I can at least die knowing we were right... We were right..."

"Ugh..." I groaned, pinching the ridge of my nose, “Not this again.”

"I won't share your secret with anyone," She looked back at me, "Don't worry about it. I simply thought at first that you were like your friend, Merlin."

"You know of Merlin's secret?" Sasha asked, taken aback.

"I sensed it the first time I met him." She answered with a smile, "We talked, and it's not a big mystery, especially because what he did was based on our research into souls. Even then, he is still playing with the rules of our birthplace... You?" She looked at me again, "You aren't. You are like a visitor instead... And I can't tell what will happen to your soul when you die."

"He won't die!" Sasha snapped at her, but Sa'Ith remained unbothered and simply formed a calming, neutral smile.

"Everyone dies..." She whispered, "We aren't Gods to live forever. Not yet..."

Then, just as she spoke, the stars around us dimmed all of a sudden. It wasn't an abrupt or violent change, but like... as if someone had found the knob to control the light in the room, slowly dimming it until everything turned a shade darker, the stars becoming tiny pinpricks.

"Sa'Ith?!" Sasha asked, hugging my arm, looking around, feeling... terrified.

"That's not me either..." She answered, floating close to me, holding my other arm, and this time, Sasha didn't argue about it. "Something's... here."

"What is here?" I whispered, trying to feel or find it, but I felt... nothing.

"I don't... know." She sniffed the air like a dog, searching, and then her head snapped upwards, gasping, “What... What is that?!”

Of course, we also looked up... and I wish we hadn't. I remember when I first got here, I didn't believe in Gods. Honestly, I never did before, and I don't believe in them now either. But I do accept entities with greater powers akin to what we call godlike. And I think one of those was now looking at us... I could tell, by just watching those two, massive, purple-colored eyes, scanning us three, almost like it was... studying us.

“That is not Ignis,” Sa’Ith whispered, making me nod.

"No shit, Sherlock..." I thought, and as I did, it came out as words. Oops...

"Huh..." A new voice echoed in our ears, sounding... female. "Weird. There is an anomaly with one of them."

"Indeed," a second voice joined, as another pair of eyes appeared in the now-black sky, "We should send them back; they came out accidentally."

"Um, excuse us?" I spoke up, "We can hear you, you know."

"We know." The first voice chuckled, "But you shouldn't be out here, it's... dangerous. Go back..." She added, and I felt a push that began sending us down to... home... "We will talk later. Now I am even more curious... We will be there soon, be patient."

"What's your name?!" I asked just as the pair of eyes started disappearing.

"Let's leave the introduction when we meet in person."

It was the last thing I heard before I literally slammed into the floor of the chamber, groaning to myself, feeling a splitting headache ravaging my head. Squinting, blinking my eyes, seeing two of everything, I pushed myself up as best as I could, noticing that the candle I had was already out, shrunk to a tiny length of its original form, signaling that we were about two to three hours in... or maybe more, because who knows when it went out...

"My head..." Sasha moaned as she also struggled to sit up, and before I could ask, Sa'Ith also moaned, regaining herself at the same time.

"Well... what does... that mean?" I asked, not really knowing what to make of it all.

"It means that the Gods are returning!" Sa'Ith gasped, looking at us, and even in the dark room, her eyes were burning, "It means that they are coming down!"

"..." Is it related to the weirdness that happened to the Gods' Formation? Most likely... Is this some... Stargate-like shenanigan? Is it all that it is?! Are they calling home or what?! Ugh... damn... "Before you go and get a champaign, tell everyone, preparing some grand holiday, let me stop you there, Sa'Ith."

"What... do you mean?" She asked, sobering up at once.

"Even if they return, do they care?" I shrugged, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves! We still have Ignis and the issue at hand... Let's deal with that first. We examined the Gods' Formation, and we are still well away from the end of its countdown. If that dragon comes and kills us before that happens, it means nothing!"

"Yes... Yes... You are right..." She muttered, taking deep breaths, and then, before Sasha could say or do anything, Sa'Ith reached out, her hands resting on my thighs as she leaned close, making me stiffen, in more ways than one. "The Gods had chosen you..."

"Stop. Right there!" I moaned, trying to push her off me, because the way she looked at me was scary as fuck, "If you dare call me a prophet, I am going to switch sides and help Ignis deal with you all!"