"No... Should I call you 'Davey Lionheart' instead?"
"Well, not that it matters. But I was hoping to see you in a different light. Although it seems you've walked the same path as before in this life as well." The voice stopped abruptly, as the atmosphere grew darker in an instant.
All the lights that were visible before diminished under the growing darkness, yet my existence remained as visible as it would be in broad Daylight.
Soon, the darkness began to converge at a single point—mere steps away from his head—forming a sphere of nothing but swirling darkness.
With the light extinct and the darkness declaring its reign, the compressed dark sphere spun uncontrollably, a crimson light slowly surfacing from its core.
In a blink, the sphere expanded—stretching to the height equivalent to mine and a body that looked oddly similar to me as well.
It was a silhouette, Akin to the shadow of my past. A past that I, myself chose to forget.
Long and majestic unbridled hair flowing down his back like a monarch's mane, a physique comparable to the bloodline of gods, each muscle chiseled deeply as though crafted by the greatest sculptor known to even the gods for all his life.
Draped in silken clothes and a robe that fluttered through the air before reaching the ground, such was the aura of the man that even gods coveted.
The greatest in the history of the knights, who reached the true pinnacle with nothing but his own talent and hunger.
The youngest to have ever dominated the world with a mere glance and exerting his strength over those called the strongest under the heavens, becoming the heavens itself for them.
Davey Lionheart, the last of the bloodline of Lionhearts and the strongest of them all.
Me.
Slowly, as he opened his eyes, threads of a strangely familiar crimson energy began to flow outside in a wave-like pattern.
His eyes shimmered in an even brighter crimson hue as though containing an immense rage that, if unleashed, might cause havoc to the world or perhaps the heavens.
His facial features, body, and clothes—nothing was truly visible, hidden behind the curtains of darkness that I myself had put on to live a peaceful life.
He extended his hand slightly forward before the voice reappeared once again.
"Taixuan, I still hold onto my words. Call for me. Accept me. And I shall help you regain what you lost."
Words. Those words were enough to stir the depths of my mind, letting the memories I had buried deep inside over the course of decades surface easily.
One after another, fragments surfaced and joined together with others. Within what seemed like a split second, I relived an entire life that I had denied till the very end but proved to be my own.
The life of a child scorned by his father, his friends whom he trusted his back to, his love—whom he dreamt of spending his life with, the world—he gave everything for, and the goddess whom he lovingly offered his life for.
That child's life... My life...
I felt it all, lived through it all, and yet, not a single change in my body.
It was true that I faced all those emotions; however, it only made me feel more pathetic.
I was used in the past life, and I was used in the current. What more could be the reason for my shame, my grief?
Even after willfully forgetting about my past, I had once again walked on the same path, eventually reducing myself to this current state.
I wanted to cry.
I wanted to let it all go.
But at the same time, I wanted answers.
Answer from the world for a question as simple as to...
"Why?"
My mind and beliefs had completely shattered long ago, but now even my soul had dampened itself into the never-ending pool of sorrow.
At some point, the sorrow and grief that I bore unknowingly turned towards the world itself, becoming something more than just feelings.
Hunger. That was a more suitable word.
A hunger for revenge. Revenge against the world that had used me not once, but twice.
My hands, which once freely floated on the surface of the water body, despite his injured body, slowly clenched into fists.
Without a doubt, I wanted to give them all the sorrow I had gotten from them. However, I had no means to do so.
My strength was gone, and I had lost my trust in the world.
That's when something struck my mind.
***
"Taixuan, I still hold onto my words. Call for me. Accept me. And I shall help you regain what you lost."
***
These were words that I had heard not too long ago. With no choices left, I gritted my teeth before finally asking—
"How... Can... I... Trust... You..." My voice trembled in pain, and words barely made any sense.
Although, despite being spoken from inside a water-like body, my words could be heard clearly.
The shadow that stood in front seemed to have curled his lips into a smile.
"I do not wish for you to trust me."
Then, for a brief moment, silence spread into the seemingly infinite void.
"I do not have much time left, Taixuan. Choose quickly. Either you can accept my help and slowly rise from the bottom, or you will die once again, and this cruel cycle of fate will repeat itself, making you live such a life infinitely."
Hearing this, my blood boiled.
'This cycle will repeat itself again?'
Without an ounce of hesitation in my heart, I decided to speak my choice.
"I... accept..."