Chapter 243
Up to this point, he had never believed that there were two separate personalities within that woman.
To him, there was only one Aldraya, a single entity with two vastly different traits or aspects, like two sides of a coin that had yet to find a way to merge into one complete piece.
Those two traits—one as a proud and powerful former Supreme Angel, and the other as the bearer of a dormant Administrator seed—rubbed against each other within a single consciousness, struggling to fuse yet often failing, creating a complex internal dynamic.
From that foundation of thought, a rough yet unavoidable conclusion began to forcibly take shape in Theo's mind.
Aldraya Kansh Que had arrived at an enlightenment that was dangerous for beings of her kind.
She had realized Theo's true nature, or more precisely, realized that the man before her was not Erusha Birtash as she had known him.
More than that, there was a deeply unsettling possibility that Aldraya had also understood—if perhaps not yet completely—Theo's role as the concealed inspirator behind this world.
She might have grasped the connecting thread that Flo Viva Mythology was inspired by Theo's horror novel, Last Prayer, making Theo not merely a player, but a kind of narrative architect trapped within his own creation.
However, what troubled Theo most at this moment was not the exposure of his own identity.
The darkest point of uncertainty lay instead in Aldraya herself.
Theo still could not determine what had truly happened to the woman who embodied these two opposing natures.
Did this enlightenment arise from her intuitive and sacred Supreme Angel aspect, or from the Administrator seed within her that had begun to sprout and read the surrounding code of reality?
"You're not wrong.
Erusha Birtash is indeed not singular—there are two souls within him, and they stand in opposition to each other.
And yes, you are also right about one other thing.
I am weighing my response. Not hesitating, but being careful."
Fhuuuuuh!
"There are moments when one chooses silence and thought, so that the next step does not become a mistake that cannot be undone."
The silence that followed Aldraya's admission lingered for a long while, until it was broken by Aldraya herself, who spoke again, this time in a gentler tone that still retained traces of her analytical sharpness.
She asked whether Theo, in that prolonged silence, was considering the merits and consequences of an answer, contemplating the impact of every word he might offer in response to the shocking claim of two souls within a single body.
The question was not a demand, but a keen observation, showing that Aldraya remained capable of reading the situation and its dynamics despite her nearly collapsing physical state.
Theo, hearing the question, did not deny it.
He acknowledged it.
That admission applied to two things at once.
First, he accepted the truth of Aldraya's observation that within Erusha Birtash there were indeed two souls or consciousnesses of starkly opposing natures, a complex reality he had long concealed or perhaps was still trying to understand himself.
Second, he also admitted that he was indeed in the midst of an internal deliberation, carefully weighing every possible response and the ripple effects it might cause.
Then, with a measured and fully aware voice, Theo delivered his answer.
He stated that there are indeed times when one must think, when one must pause at the crossroads of words before moving forward.
The reason was simple yet profound.
So as not to misstep later.
This statement was more than a justification for silence.
It was a philosophy of action, an acknowledgment that in a world where every word and confession could become a weapon or a snare, caution was not a sign of weakness, but the wisest form of strength.
"If there truly are two souls residing in one body, then which of you deserves to be called Erusha?
And the other—are they merely a passenger who should not exist, or something that from the very beginning never had the right to inhabit that body?"
Hearing Theo's unreserved admission regarding the existence of two souls within Erusha Birtash, an acceptance even of her wildest claim, Aldraya's expression did not change.
Her pale, tranquil face resembled a delicate porcelain mask, revealing no relief, no triumph, nor any other emotion.
From the moment she arrived in this cave grievously wounded, to now sitting face to face with Theo amid the ruins of violence, Aldraya consistently emanated an almost inhuman calm, an emotional stability that only deepened her mystery.
Then, from her slightly parted lips, came a further question—more philosophical, more cutting.
Her voice, though weak, was clear and heavy with meaning.
She no longer questioned factual truth, but ventured into the realm of judgment and legitimacy.
If indeed there were two conscious entities inhabiting the single physical vessel known as Erusha Birtash, then which of them had the rightful claim to that identity?
Who could truly be considered the "real" Erusha?
And conversely, who should be declared the intruder, the disturbance, the soul that had no right to dwell within that body?
Shuraaaasshh!!
Silence surged again with even greater intensity, filling every crevice of stone and every dark corner of the cave.
No sound dared to surface, as though even breath itself was being held.
Theo chose to freeze completely, halting the flow of air into his lungs while his calm gaze remained fixed on Aldraya's face.
His silence was not empty stillness, but a deep ocean where currents of consideration and possibility churned violently beneath the surface.
Aldraya, meanwhile, simply waited with an equally chilling patience, as though time itself no longer held meaning before the existential question she had cast forth.
Approximately fifteen minutes passed in that total silence, a duration that felt like eternity within the enclosed, tension-filled space.
Only then did Theo open his mouth.
The sound that emerged was almost a sigh, beginning with two words that felt like the opening of a confession or an awakening.
"You know," he said, his eyes blinking rapidly twice, a small motion that felt like a switch being flipped before a major transformation.
After speaking those opening words, he closed his eyes for longer than a normal blink, for more than two seconds, as if drawing something from within himself or allowing a change to take hold.
When his eyelids opened again, a shocking and unnatural sight was revealed.
Both of his eyes now radiated sharply contrasting colors, a phenomenon impossible for an ordinary human.
The pupil of his left eye burned with an intense blue, like a pure gas flame.
Meanwhile, the pupil of his right eye glowed with a vivid pink, soft yet bright, like neon light in the dark.
This dramatic physical change coincided with a call, a name spoken in a flat yet weighted tone.
"Aldraya?"
Those two elements—the opening and the call—were in truth a single complete sentence, separated only by the moment of transformation.
"You know, Aldraya?"
To be continued…