Chapter 254
The light in her eyes had dimmed into nothing more than flickering embers.
Yet within them still burned a hard resolve, a tension that refused to be fully extinguished.
The woman who had once been a Supreme Angel looked at him.
Her gaze was no longer laced with hostility as before, but filled instead with profound exhaustion and a lingering suspicion.
The voice that escaped her pale lips sounded flat, almost devoid of emotion.
Yet her words carried a veiled challenge, as if asking whether her savior had finished his internal affairs while she herself clung to breaths that were growing thinner by the second.
There was a provocative undertone beneath that coldness.
A remnant of Silvia's personality, or perhaps of the Monstrous One, trying to protect itself through confrontation, even as her face remained like a cracked porcelain mask.
Hearing the question laden with such weight, Theo merely let out a soft chuckle.
His laughter was brief, not mocking, but more like an acknowledgment of the ironic complexity of the situation.
He then nodded, a movement filled with certainty.
That nod was both an answer and an affirmation.
Without unnecessary words, he conveyed that approval had been obtained.
The greatest conceptual barrier had fallen.
The four pillars within him—Resolve, Will, Intent, and Ambition—had now opened themselves and were ready to receive the core essence of Aldraya's existence, to merge and become part of a greater and more stable foundation.
Now, there was no more delay.
All mental and conceptual preparations were complete.
It was time for true action, time to unite these two fragile poles of existence before one of them vanished, swallowed by the cruel wind of time.
"Before we begin, there is one condition."
"My condition is worsening, Theo. Every second you delay—"
"Listen to me carefully.
Whatever you may see during this merging process, do not think about it too deeply.
Do not try to interpret it, and do not search for its meaning."
Hhhh!
"See it and pass through it.
Because if you violate this advice—if you try to understand what you should not touch—I will not be able to help you at that moment."
"Confusing. But fine, I agree."
Yet before that final step was taken, Theo created another pause.
He gently raised his hand, a signal to stop for a moment, even as time continued to shrink for Aldraya.
Deep confusion, mixed with nearly unbearable frustration, shone in Aldraya's ever-dimming eyes.
She could hardly believe that at the brink of salvation, her savior was adding yet another condition.
Each wasted second felt like a cold blade scraping away what remained of her existence.
And the question of what occupied Theo's mind at that moment became an added burden that almost shattered her already fragile resolve.
Theo felt that turmoil.
His previously relaxed expression dissolved, replaced entirely by an intense gaze heavy with gravity.
He focused all of his attention on Aldraya, staring without blinking for eight minutes that felt like eternity.
In that tense silence, it was as if an inner dialogue occurred, a transfer of understanding without words.
Only then, in a low voice that resonated from profound depths, did Theo finally speak.
His message was simple, yet laden with mystery and a terrifying warning.
Whatever Aldraya might see, feel, or experience during the deep merging process, he pleaded that she never think about it further.
Do not analyze it.
Do not interpret it.
Do not contemplate it.
It was an absolute prohibition.
His warning did not end there.
In a tone heavier, grave as a tombstone, Theo added the consequence.
If this prohibition were violated, if Aldraya attempted to pierce the veil of reality that would be revealed, then at that very moment, Theo would lose the ability to help her.
Not out of unwillingness, but because the consequence of that violation itself would be immediately fatal and unstoppable.
There was something behind this process.
A truth, or an existential panorama, which—if directly witnessed by Aldraya's consciousness in her current condition—would become a poison that shattered her soul instantly.
Although the warning sounded strange and only deepened the confusion within her inner depths, Aldraya, still violently trembling, had no other choice.
She also had no time to argue.
The desire to live, even under such mysterious conditions, overcame all curiosity and doubt.
With her final effort, she nodded faintly, granting her consent despite the immense uncertainty it carried.
That was enough for Theo.
Without waiting any longer, he reached for Aldraya's left hand, extended forward, cold and nearly translucent.
Theo's warm right hand gently covered her palm and fingers.
It was not merely a grip, but a seal, a contact that would serve as the conduit for the union about to begin.
Between warmth and cold, between certainty and mystery, the final process of salvation began.
'The current accepts.'
The merging process began without fanfare or blinding light.
The four pillars within Theo—Resolve, Will, Intent, and Ambition—did not open like ordinary doors.
They resembled moving divine architecture, monumental blocks of conceptual reality shifting with absolute precision.
Each shift of a layer occurred without sound, yet generated an oppressive atmospheric pressure throughout Theo's entire consciousness.
The world did not tremble.
Meaning itself distorted.
Aldraya had no chance to step inside willingly.
She was pulled in, drawn by a metaphysical gravitational current born from RWIA's obedience to the will of their Creator.
That current was undeniable, offering no choice, yet strangely painless.
It felt like sinking into a vast, deep ocean, where pressure from every side paradoxically held her together, preventing her from being torn apart.
Each element of RWIA worked in its own unique and irreplaceable way.
Resolve, as the unshakable foundation, locked direction and purpose in place.
It ensured that Aldraya's fragile core essence was not flung into chaos, straightening its path toward the heart of integration with cold, uncompromising clarity.
Will, acting as a dynamic vessel, immediately enveloped Aldraya's essence.
It did not crush, but held with immense strength, preventing her from dissolving and losing her identity within the far greater ocean of Theo's consciousness.
Intent, the sculptor of form, then intervened.
With the precision of a master carver, it worked to preserve the very shape of "Aldraya" herself—memories as a Supreme Angel, wounds as the Monstrous One, potential as the bearer of the Administrator's seed—ensuring that she continued to be, rather than dissolving into raw material.
And finally, Ambition.
The cruelest, yet the most honest.
It applied constant pressure, an unceasing push, not to destroy, but to force Aldraya to choose existence.
To exist not as who she once was, but as part of something far greater, more complex, and more dangerous.
As a component within the system of an Author who was searching for Meaning.
The process, which objectively lasted less than a minute, felt to Aldraya like an eternity squeezed to its final drop.
Every layer of her being was peeled away, touched, and repositioned.
Yet at the end of the process, something miraculous occurred.
The existential pain that had been gnawing at her—the pain of being a paradox that hated its own source—was abruptly severed.
Not because the wound had magically healed.
But because the frame of reference had suddenly changed.
To be continued…