Chapter 43: An unfathomable existence
Arora froze, her expression reluctant, as she realized she'd blabbed too much and ended up mentioning the Primordial.
"Umm, I'm not sure," she muttered nervously.
She wasn't certain if she was supposed to talk about the Primordial, even if her identity had already been discovered. She didn't want to accidentally betray him, since he'd never told her what to do in this situation.
Arbus frowned slightly.
"C'mon, I thought we just started being completely honest with each other. Nothing but the truth, remember?" He leaned forward. "There's no point in hiding anything now. It'll only make it harder for us to trust each other in the future."
Arora remained silent for a moment, then responded hesitantly.
"Alright then. I'll tell you what I know about him." She took a breath. "After my death, I woke up in an empty white void, unsure of how I got there. I was as pale as a ghost, but didn't think about it at the time. I simply thought I was dreaming."
She paused, gathering her thoughts. "After wandering around for a while, I found a... figure, in the form of a child. His clothing was just as white as the void itself. He had a single arm, and a pitch black.... hole, I guess? In his chest." She said, remembering how apprehensive she had felt when she noticed that.
"I couldn't really see his face. Apparently my mind wasn't powerful enough to process it. After a while, he spoke to me, directly into my mind."
Arbus's eyes narrowed as he listened intently.
"He told me that I was dead, that he'd taken my soul from its journey to the afterlife and brought it to his domain." Arora's voice grew quieter. "I didn't believe him at first, naturally, but eventually he convinced me. He told me he felt sorry for me because of how I died. That's why he decided to reincarnate me in the first place."
"So this Primordial guy is the one who reincarnates humans into this world?" Arbus asked, finally interjecting.
Arora nodded. "Yeah, he is. He told me he was older than the multiverse itself.,", She hesitated. "Then he... showed me scenes from this universe, scenes of am organisation executing a uhh, blue Mornan, I think. From what I could tell, He had helped a Reincarnator child hide from them."
Arbus's eyes narrowed.
"That was probably the Renegades you saw. They're the protectors of this universe. An organisation that has been fighting the Reincarnators in an endless war for thousands of years."
Arora's eyes widened.
"A war!? Over thousands of years...." She muttered in disbelief.
She had underestimated just how bad the situation between humans and Reincarnators were. Now that she thought about it, it made sense. Especially if the primordial had been transporting people to this world all this time .
"I didn't think it was that bad. But now I understand a bit more." She said somberly.
Arbus observed her expression and sighed.
"Yeah, it's unfortunately how things work here. I wish I could change it too. If not for the emperor, I'm not sure what would happen to me, or those who befriended my father."
He paused hesitantly, then continued.
"So what else did the primordial tell you?"
Arora tried her best to recall before continuing.
"After that, he told me that I wouldn't have the same mission as the other reincarnators, since he wanted me to live a normal life."
She said, deciding not to mention the Primordial's request since she was trying to convince Arbus that he wasn't truly a bad guy.
Arbus's brow furrowed, his mind racing with this new information. Beyond their universe was a being capable of freely reincarnating souls from a parallel universe into their own.
That same being was also entirely capable of looking into their universe, observing them as if he was watching a movie.
'could he be watching me right now!?' Arbus thought as his hands trembled slightly.
Arbus realised that was a possibility, since he was currently sitting right next to one of his Reincarnators.
This being, for the humans, was basically what the Emperor was to them — an untouchable and unfathomable existence.
Arbus wasn't sure how to feel about that. He wondered why his father had never told him about this. Was it because he didn't see the point? Was it to avoid Arbus overthinking? He wasn't sure.
But now that he knew, it put a lot of things into perspective. It basically meant this war would never end. At least not for the humans. Not until there were no more of them to reincarnate.
Unless... the Primordial himself was killed.
Arora placed a hand on his shoulder, her expression filled with worry.
Arbus looked over at her and smiled brightly. "Don't worry, I'm fine." He was at least happy to hear that Arora was different from the other reincarnators, and that she wouldn't have to go on whatever mission the other reincarnators across the universe were apparently on. He wondered if his father was exempt too, or if he'd actually gone along with the others in the past.
"Okay then. Well, after that he sent me through a portal, and I woke up here. With you being the first person I laid eyes on."
Arbus nodded finally. "Interesting. That's certainly a lot. Thank you for telling me the truth. I'd never thought reincarnation would be something like that. From the stories we were told, I always thought it was more like you guys tearing through the void between universes or something and making your way here. Which is why I wondered why you were so weak-willed, and well, weak in general. I wasn't sure if it was an act within an act."
Arora puffed her cheeks in indignation. "What's with you and this weak-willed stuff? I already told you my will is perfectly fine. I just don't like doing some things, that's all."
Arbus chuckled. "Sure, sure."
Arora rolled her eyes before sighing. "It's your turn again. You haven't told me much about how your life was before I got here. Or what happened to your parents. I'd also like to know more about this universe, if possible."
Arbus remained silent for a while, his expression somber.
"...I'm sure you heard those guys from earlier. I'm half-human. That means I have both human and Tarokian bloodline." He muttered, his tone distant.
"My mom, Angel, is a Tarokian. In fact, she's the princess of the Tarokians, since my grandfather is their chief." A hint of pride crept into his tone.
Arora gasped in amazement. "Really? Doesn't that make you prince of like, the entire planet? Does that mean I have to start calling you Prince Arbus now?" she said teasingly.
Arbus held his chin in contemplation. "Well, I won't stop you if you insist," he said with a smirk before continuing.
"Anyway, according to my mom, she had met my father one day, in a distant galaxy, far away. She'd been on a secret mission for the Renegades at the time."
His expression hardened.
"She was abandoned on the battlefield by her worthless comrades, left to die."
"She had given up hope, when she suddenly noticed a figure approaching her. A man with flawless skin, hair that flowed freely like the ocean, and emerald eyes that she seemed to find herself lost in. He was human, so naturally she thought her death was imminent. To her surprise, the man saved her that day, and nursed her back to health. It was during that time that she fell madly in love with him."
Arora couldn't help but blush slightly as she listened. It was like reading one of her romance novels. She thought back to her first encounter with Arbus and remembered how she seemed to have found herself lost in those emerald eyes, as well.
She scoffed, halting the direction her thoughts were heading.
'They must just have really mesmerizing eyes,' she thought with a nod, ignoring her elevated heartbeat.
"Anyway, after that they returned to Tarok, where my mom made him a bracelet like this to hide his identity as a human." He gestured to his wrist. "He was still discriminated against by Tarokians, since they took him for a red Mornan, the weakest members of the Mornan species. And Tarokians hated weakness."
"My father didn't seem to mind it too much, though. That is, until they had me. She had to give birth to me with only my father's help, to avoid anyone seeing me. She made me a bracelet as well, placing it on me the moment I was born.
"As I grew up, I experienced a similar but more subtle prejudice, like my father. Naturally they couldn't do too much or be too obvious with me since I was still the Tarokian prince, unlike my Dad. Still though, I could always tell they hated me, despite how much they tried to hide it, sucking up to me."
"My mom was a high commander at the time, just like my grandfather, so she didn't get to spend too much time with us due to her work. Since my father didn't want me to experience any more of that, he decided to move us out here and build this treehouse over time, with my mom helping out.
"She didn't really agree at first, insisting that she'd deal with anyone who even looked at me or my dad wrongly, but my dad eventually convinced her, saying he wanted to respect their culture." He said wistfully.
He paused, his expression turning distant.
"Everything was great for a while. We were happy. That is, until last year, when a Reincarnator had come looking for my father."
"He had threatened to wipe out the village and the surrounding cities, if my father didn't show himself. Unfortunately both My grandfather and my mom were on a mission at the time."
"My dad was forced to reveal himself to save everyone. He took down the Reincarnator with ease, which surprised me, since I've never seen him use that level of power before.
"After that, he simply waited to get captured as various commanders appeared one by one, including my grandfather and my mom."
Arbus gritted his teeth. "The Emperor appeared as well, shortly after, from thousands of galaxies away. I couldn't believe I was seeing him in person. My awe was short-lived though, when he took my father away, had my mom detained, and essentially destroyed my life. He gave the commanders orders to keep me safe and protected. I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing he took pity on me because of my circumstances, after he had a private conversation with my dad."
"After that, well, things naturally got worse for me. My grandfather began to despise me. He stopped visiting the village nearby, leaving me all on my own."
Arora could feel the pain behind Arbus's words as he spoke. She couldn't help but feel terrible for him. She wondered if she was wrong. If having family and losing them was worse than never having them at all.
Arbus couldn't help but shed a tear as the memories kept flooding back. He wiped it away, as he continued.