Shades of the New World

Chapter 160: Her Past Life

The word explained everything to Evin. Now that she thought about it, it was weird for the other dragons, aside from Perdrakar and the Sage Dragon to let the Princess of Denial do as she wanted. Evin didn't know if the dragons didn't care, or if the army hadn't encountered a dragon who was staying in one of the cities yet. And somehow, Evin just happened to be in the city that housed a dragon.

But a more immediately problem caught Evin's attention.

'If that dragon decides to fight the army, I will most like end up dead,' she realized.

The army and Lan was strong, but probably not strong enough to slay a dragon. And since Evin had explicitly sided with the enemies, she would most likely be killed by the same dragon as well.

"Don't worry," Lan said after noticing that Evin seemed to be worried and created what seemed to be a rip in space in front of himself. Evin guessed that it was one of those legendary teleportation gates that Lan was famous for. She looked at the town, and found that a similar one had appeared in front of the silver-haired woman as well. The army of undead had stopped their movements for a brief moment in respect of her. The townspeople and the mages had also stopped to see what she would do.

The dragon looked warily, before ignoring the portal and just flying towards Lan. She landed on the ground elegantly, creating a slight gust of air in the process. 

"Good day to you, dragon. How should I address you?" Lan asked politely after dispelling his portal.

Evin looked at the dragon closely, and found that she looked very similar to the Veidrakar she just saw in her visions. Evin really wanted to ask her if she knew of someone named similarly hoping it might rouse something in the Dragon, but unfortunately, she just couldn't get her mouth to move the way she wanted to. She guessed that this was one of those moments when she couldn't control her own actions and movements.

"Take your army of abominations and leave this town," the dragon ordered with a threatening tone.

"I'm afraid we can't do that. And before you start threatening my life, know that even if you kill me and the rest, this town will die from the next wave of the Princess' army, one which would be more suited to deal with a dragon," Lan said with a dead smile.

"Hmph, and I'm just supposed to lay over and die for you?" the dragon snorted coldly.

"The Princess expressed that she has no designs towards your ancient race and has instructed us to send any of the dragons we chance upon towards her, to the Capital of Von. You can bring up to five people who you consider your family, but any more than that Well, my condolences"

"And if I don't wish to meet this princess of yours?"

"Please, don't worry about that. The Princess of Denial herself shall personally come to meet you if she finds it necessary. There will not be a place in this world which will be free from her grasp," Lan said in an almost reverent way. It was the first time Evin detected any sort of emotion in his voice. 

"Why does she do this?" the dragon showed signs of complying, which was great for Evin.

"Ah, I'm not quite sure. But she did tell us to show this to any of the dragons I meet, even though I don't quite understand it myself," Lan said and brought out a paper scroll.

Evin was curious of the contents, but knew that such things weren't meant for her to see.

The dragon took the scroll in her hands and briefly glanced through the contents. Her face did not change at all in any noticeable way, but Evin could tell that she took on the scroll's contents very seriously.

"I suppose it was time" she muttered in the end.

'Time for what?' Evin thought curiously.

"Can I understand that you've made your decision?" Lan asked with a smile to which the dragon nodded gravely.

"I don't have anyone I want to bring with me"

"Absolutely fantastic. Though, could you tell us if there are any mages that can use soul-based magic in that town over there?"

"Not that I know of," the dragon shook her head.

"You know, I shall take your word for it. And since there is no more need for you to stay here, please take the portal towards Von I have made for you," Lan smiled and beckoned Evin over as well: "You as well... There should be a guide for you back there"

Evin looked at the portal with some wariness, but with Lan watching her from the side and a dragon waiting for her, she had to walk through it. 

After she stepped inside the swirling golden tear in space, Evin found herself inside a completely different environment. A huge hall decorated with various botanical rarities appeared in her eyes. She also noticed that the air had become hotter and more humid, with the slight smell of seawater tickling her nose. Some people dressed in Von's traditional light purple clothing were coming towards them as well.

'If I remember correctly, these purple-clothed people should be called the servants of the Princess,' Evin thought almost idly, surprised by her calmness. 

"It is true A thousand day journey in a single step" Evin said in a tone of voice, not similar to her thoughts. Evin was a bit surprised, but guessed that this was also part of her automated speeches.

What happened next wasn't anything special. The dragon was taken away somewhere, while Evin was asked to wait for the Princess' summons, while waiting inside a rather common house that was prepared for her.

Two months had passed since then, and Evin was lying on her bed, her hair almost gray now, with two huge dark spots under her eyes. A pile of papers with random drawings, strings of words, and messy descriptions were scattered all around her. She had one of these papers in her hand, trying again and again to read the contents. Unfortunately, her head just wasn't able to concentrate on the damn thing.

Evin didn't know if the army of undead were able to conquer the World yet, since no one seemed willing to tell her any news. The servants around didn't mind conversing with her, even for hours without end sometimes, but they were abnormally tight-lipped on certain matters.

Although she did feel like prisoner at times, she understood that her fate was in the hands of the Princess at this point. Evin was just glad that she wasn't killed at the hands of the undead But at this point... Evin really didn't mind dying, as long as the death was painless and swift.

A huge problem kept nagging her mind. The visions of the two Worlds began to appear much more frequently inside her head. At this point, the visions became a daily thing and all of them continued on for almost an hour at least. The scariest part was, she realized that she could function in society without problems even as she's absorbed inside a vision. 

Once she finished an almost hour long vision and found herself talking to a servant. She didn't know how she ended up talking to a servant, but she did know that the servants never initiated a conversation themselves. This should mean that it was Evin herself who sparked the conversation.

"This is seriously fucked up Can I even live on like this?" Evin cursed.

She had learned so many things about the two Worlds, she was convinced it was her past life at this point. She always made sure to write down everything she saw in these dreams in a piece of paper just in case, and reading through the pile she had made over the years, she was able to see the brief summary of her two lives. 

This had put her mind in a state of constant depression, as she spent the sleepless nights thinking of the two Worlds and the meaning of life unceasingly. 

But after a while, she felt like she became used to the pressure. Her personality became more and more similar to the boy from the second World, but without the constant humor and satire, as there was no one around who could understand her suicidal jokes.

Anyway, her first life was about a World without magic named Earth, where she lived as some author of a book, but then died and became a mad and lonely spirit. Unfortunately, this was the only concrete thing she could conclude at this time. The visions about this place were very scattered and random, so she only knew some parts of her life when she was still alive, and some of the random things she did when she was a spirit (mostly following behind someone in one way or another). 

As for the other World, she was a young magi boy, who had a talking cat, a red-haired boy, bunch of weird things, like shapeshifting metal and a dark floating fox-head as his friends. She didn't do much in these visions aside from training to become stronger. 

But the more important part was, from what Evin could understand, the world she was living in was Alvox. Due to one vision, where she was trying to work with mana, she was able to see that it was the exact same thing as Divine essence.