Chapter 421: The future.
"That’s..." Aristoria muttered as she leaned back and rubbed her lower lip with her index finger and middle finger. She tried to process everything that Aris had told her about Demons, Prime Lords, The Devil, Satan, Angels, Hell, Heaven, and God. "You’re telling me that my child, Rasmus is making friends with the Devil? When the Devil is fighting against his own kind? The demons, the so-called Prime Lords, and their master Satan?" She furrowed her brows with a confused look.
Aris told only half of the full story, and Aristoria knew that as well but chose to not pry on it. The two of them were trying to get each other in their palms with the information that they both had.
"It seems the world is in chaos, more than ever..." Aristoria hummed, her eyes narrowed as she stared blankly at the distance. "There were events similar to this that caused the extinction of civilizations. Of course, you already know about that since you’re an Aristoria. However, this time, it seems different, more devastating, and seems... immediate..." she muttered.
"Are you thinking that this would be the last event? The final Chapter of the book?" Aris asked with her brows raised.
"Listening to what you said, and the fact it’s revealed that we are merely... toys to be played with by the omnipotent being. Not only that, the fact that the Devil, Satan, and all those powerful beings being sent down here, it does look like this might be the final Chapter of the book," Aristoria nodded and hummed.
There was only silence between them, even the True Dragon breathed quietly almost like the strong wind on the summit. Aris could see in Aristoria’s eyes, trying to connect the dots and finding the connection to something that she already knew.
"The plan, Aristoria. You promised me to tell me the plan on how to prevent the past from happening. Now you know the threat is real, and the possibility of these names I mentioned. They’re powerful enough to kill a True Dragon without batting an eye, so what was the plan you have prepared for us, the three of us?" Aris asked with a stoic expression, still staring right into Aristoria’s eyes.
Aristoria was still deep in thoughts until she finally glanced at Aris, who was waiting for an answer.
"The plan..." Aristoria paused as she shook her head. "The plan is gone now," she answered with a serious expression.
"Gone? What do you mean by that?" Aris furrowed her brows with a confused look.
"It means the plan has gone astray, and I knew this when both of you came to this void realm. Or to be exact... it’s when my child awakened his Orthias blood," Aristoria answered, crossing his legs and arms. "It’s something that only I can see it. I can see the future, not mine, not his, not anyone, but the Dragon’s Blood in Rasmus’s body, it connects to me. It allows me to see what kind of man he is in the future by looking at him from the present," she explained.
Aris narrowed her eyes, couldn’t understand what Aristoria was talking about or what she meant by that.
"You don’t understand? Let me put it simply. If someone is hungry, you can see it in their faces being grumpy, pale, and lifeless, especially in their eyes. Then after they ate something they loved until they were satiated, you could see how happy they were. You read their faces and eyes, and that was how I saw him. I saw his future self while he saw still a small and powerless baby. The way he stared at me, the way he reacted to my words with his expressions were unlike how a baby should. I knew at that moment he was from the future," Aristoria explained with a distant gaze.
Aris hummed and nodded, understanding what Aristoria meant by that. It was basically that Rasmus possessed his own body in the past, and Rasmus had already told her about that when he awakened his Orthias blood.
"But what do you mean when you say the plan was ruined the moment Rasmus awakened his Orthias blood? Isn’t that exactly what you want?" Aris asked with her brows furrowed and head tilted slightly.
"Yes, you’re right, but something about him has changed as if he has become a completely different person. The child that I gave birth, it was no longer him," Aristoria stared into Aris’ eyes. "As a mother, I could feel it in my guts that my child had died, and someone else took over his body," she pointed out.
Aris narrowed her eyes and remembered when Rasmus told his story of when he was brought to hell by Videl. She wondered if that was the trigger when Rasmus lost his old self and became someone knew. She hadn’t told Aristoria about that part, and planned to hide it from her, however, it seemed that Aristoria had decided to open up and she knew she should feed Aristoria with information that could satisfy her so Aristoria would open up more.
"Rasmus was brought to hell by the Devil. I didn’t know the details, but that was when the Devil offered him a deal," Aris said, staring into the True Dragon’s eyes that seemed to be judging her. "The Devil brought him to hell when he was on the brink of death in his bed. Long story short, the Devil helped him get back to his feet, but I don’t know what exactly happened back then, especially the conversation that those two had in Hell. I know for sure that was when Rasmus became someone knew, someone different, and I believe that’s why you believed that he wasn’t your child anymore," she explained.
"No mortals can handle such scenery in hell, Aristoria, nobody, not even me, not even Rullein. None of us could withstand that even though it was just a memory, but he could, he was there in hell in person, not through memory like how Rullein and I did it. After all that, he’s still sane and capable of thinking, capable of reasoning, and capable of helping others when they deserve it. That’s why, I believe that he’s changed and not because someone else took your child’s body," Aris added.
"How can you be so sure about that?" Aristoria narrowed her eyes, still not convinced even after Aris told her the story.
"Because when he read Ergalde’s journal, he was deeply affected by the content. He looked saddened, disturbed, and he looked like someone who was grieving. I’m sure because he’s still the same person as the one you gave birth," Aris answered with a serious expression.
Aristoria hummed and nodded, this time she was convinced from that reasoning alone.
"I see, so he’s still the same," Aristoria faintly smiled as she looked away. She looked relieved when she found out that she was wrong about that. "But still, I didn’t expect him to change like this. The plan is in ruin because I can’t control him at all because I know that he doesn’t trust me at all," she added.
"Yes, you are right. Rasmus doesn’t believe you at all because he knew that you’re hiding something from him, from us," Aris answered with a serious expression.
"He has grown so much that he doesn’t believe in anyone, doesn’t he? He had gone through a lot of hardship, and I don’t blame him that he doesn’t believe in me. After all, I was never there in his life, and he didn’t know much about me," Aristoria said with a weak smile on her face.
There was a silence between them once again, but then Aris cleared her throat and fixed her sitting.
"You said that you could see his future because he could possess his own body from the past. When was the last time you saw him? The future him from his young body," Aris asked with her brows raised.
"The last time I saw him was when he could walk for the first time, but he didn’t speak to me at all. I could see it in his eyes, and I know something had happened to him because the way he looked at me, he looked at me with resentment," Aristoria answered with a bitter face. "I don’t know what happened, and why he looked at me like that, but I knew that something had happened in the future, your future with him," she added.
"He resented you? Why?" Aris asked with her brows furrowed.
Aristoria smiled and slowly looked away, enjoying the scenery for a moment before she glanced at Aris with a cold expression.
"Who knows, perhaps something happened to you because of me," Aristoria answered with a serious expression. "Maybe that was when I took over your body, but who knows. Maybe it could be because of something else," she added.
Aris was disturbed by that and didn’t know what to say about that.
"If I could prevent it... do you think that’s possible to change the future since I know now?" Aris asked in a soft voice.
"Or perhaps it’s because you know now that it’s the reason that Rasmus resented me in the future, Aris. It’s not that you can change the future or not, but whatever you choose here and later, it will lead to there eventually. Maybe the future is predetermined after all," Aristoria answered with a mocking chuckle, not toward her or Aris, but toward the future that she had seen.
Aris took a deep breath and exhaled deeply as she stared at the True Dragon’s eyes, thinking about Aristoria’s and Lilith’s words about destiny.