As we walked through the colossal expanse of 'clouds' beneath my feet and clear blue skies above me, I could not help but be reminded of the many elaborately designed bases that various guilds used back in YGGDRASIL.
There was one guild called Olympus that had many players of human, demi-human, and even heteromorphic players.
Truthfully, I had originally intended to join that guild long ago, when I first started playing, but after I talked to one of the original founders of the guild, Surshana, I found out that our way of doing things simply did not fit, so I never entertained such thoughts ever again.
Olympus had occupied a colossal mountain in Midgard and had claimed it as its guild base. One that I had the privilege to see the interiors of while I was considering joining them.
By the time that YGGDRASIL was being shut down, there were only six of their members left active, who were also the original founders of that guild. In fact, I had even run into them before the game shut down, along with Drakovahn.
There was also that guild of PKers called Underworld that specifically hunted humanoid and Heteromorph players. Those guys occupied a special dungeon in Asgard, and that was a sight to behold as well. There were rumors that the seven guys and the lone girl who made up that guild of PKers were in a strange relationship, but I did not dig too deep into that, so I am not too sure about that.
And then there was Ainz Ooal Gown, that legendary guild that conquered the equally legendary dungeon, The Great Tomb of Nazarick. A guild whose interior I once caught a glimpse of after I was hired by them for a Raid on a World Disaster boss.
I had seen many a guild base that was far more ridiculous and glamorous than what I am seeing now. From realms worthy of being the abodes of divine beings to the deepest pits that not even demons would dare call home.
But, for some reason, there is a weight to what I am experiencing right now. An unexplained feeling. As if all of this just feels right.
Maybe it is the difference between a virtual world and a real world that is making me feel this way?
A possible theory.
As we walked through the Sixth Heaven, the personal domain of the Archangels, we soon arrived at an area that had many buildings made of beautiful marble and pearly white metals.
Yet, my gaze was drawn to the biggest building of them all, which was shaped exactly like a church.
Michael and Gabriel did not even stop to admire the view and simply headed in, making me follow them inside.
What we found inside made me feel really bad for the angels, even though I did not know them for long.
Memorials.
The entire building was dedicated to thousands upon thousands of memorials, each one holding a beautifully made painting depicting the angel that said memorial belonged to.
And the centerpiece of all of this was a painting that depicted a humanoid being of pure light.
He had no definitive features, no way to tell exactly what he looked like, with the words YHWH etched into the painting in ancient script that I should not be able to read, yet I was able to do so anyway because of a certain spell that I have been using a lot these days.
And yet, even with all of this missing information, I knew exactly who this was. How could I not when I had seen this figure repeatedly in Gabriel's memories?
The God of the Bible.
One of the many casualties of the Great War. A conflict that was fought between the Angels, the Devils, and the Fallen Angels, which systematically weakened all three factions into a mere shadow of themselves, with the Angels taking the brunt of the damage.
Then, just below the portrait of God, there were portraits of three other angels that I also recognized from Gabriel's memories.
Helel, the Morningstar. The angel's portrait was from before he fell out with god and betrayed him, becoming Lucifer.
Samael, the serpent. The angel who was driven mad by his duties and, in his madness, tempted Adam and Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. A crime that turned the beautiful angel into an amalgamation of a Fallen Angel and a Dragon.
And finally, Arael. The Lion of Heaven. The angel who was lost in the war alongside his unit.
The uncanny similarities between his appearance and mine were not lost on me. But I knew that this had to be a coincidence (no matter how much these angels insist otherwise) because the appearance of my avatar was made in remembrance of my dead brother, not on my own face.
Michael and Gabriel did not say anything and just dropped down to their knees with their hands clasped, clearly praying to the memorials, making me feel rather awkward.
Even if I wanted to join them in prayer, I do not know how to do so since religions of all kinds were banned in my old world, and as a result, many had forgotten the old ways of religion.
Hell, even during the small funeral for my brother that I was able to scrounge together the money for, the priest that I hired was nothing more than an AI-driven drone that spoke all sorts of stupid stuff that was a mish-mash from many different religions.
So, I just stood there without saying anything.
But, within my soul, I felt the tug of Heaven's System repeatedly pulling me toward a certain direction. As if it were trying to gain my attention. Something that I suppressed for now, since it is not the time to think about those things. Especially when my heart feels like it will leap out of my throat.
Honestly, I am a little scared about what is about to happen.
I am very much sure that I am not Arael the angel. Yet, my life experiences have always taught me that there is no such thing as absolute certainty, and anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
So, I cannot help but dread the small chance that these two angels are telling the truth and I am some kind of incarnation or clone of the angel Arael. Or maybe even my world's counterpart of said angel.
Because if that turns out to be true, what the hell am I supposed to deal with these emotional 'siblings' that I would gain in such a case?
Granted, I could simply deny everything and disappear somewhere, but wouldn't that be very cowardly and make me a hypocrite?
On the other hand, if I accept the identity that they desperately want me to assume, wouldn't that mean that I will be tying myself to their faction and lose my neutrality? Making me part of their conflict with the Devils and Fallen and the other factions across the world?
Worse yet, what if this new identity I would assume leads to some kind of OP entity to pop out of the wookworks and gunning for my head because of Arael of the past?
So many problems with no solution in sight.
Not to mention that I haven't even gotten around to going to the Underworld and trying to investigate that cell where I first woke up.
Soon, Michael and Gabriel got up from their positions and turned to me with small smiles on their faces.
"Come, brother. Let us show you the proof that you require to prove your true identity."
Warily, I walked forward and took Gabriel's outstretched hand, and instantly felt my vision shift.
Similar to how my Karmic Sight worked, I now saw strange orbs of energies in every single one of the memorials, including God's portrait, which had extremely dense energies within it, which felt completely different from the other orbs of energies.
Startled, I turned to look at Gabriel and Michael, and saw that I could see those orbs of energy within them as well, making me remove my hand from Gabriel in shock, which immediately made my vision shift back to normal.
I never saw this in her memories!! What the hell was that!?
"What you just saw, brother, is how I see the world. How I see the souls of everyone."
"But, I did not see this kind of vision in your memories."
"Because these memories are stored within my very soul instead of my mind. Father once said that it was the consequence of having inherited his sight. That I would never forget the souls of those that I have seen even once. Although I don't understand what he meant when he said that this was more of a curse than a blessing."
I remained silent as she smiled happily at me and continued speaking.
"What you saw through my eyes was the souls of Brother Michael and I. As for the portraits and memorials, what you saw there were the remnant soul energies of those that we have already lost."
Michael smiled with melancholy as he continued staring at the portraits and started speaking.
"When an Angel was created by God, he would take a small amount of the soul's energies and put them within a specialized container. It was a method of insurance so that he could bring back any angel that was killed in battle."
He turned to give me a wry smile as he motioned towards God's own portrait.
"Unfortunately, Father never got the chance to make good on that intention, and all we were left with were the soul remnants of our fallen kin, along with Father's own remnant energies that we found on the last battlefield of the war."
"Ever since then, it has become tradition to store the soul remnants of our fallen kin in these memorials."
Gabriel silently wiped her tears before she gave me her hand again, which I hesitantly took.
"Now, look at your own portrait, Brother. Then, look at yourself. and tell me what you see."
I did as she asked, and first looked at my own body, and caught sight of the wisps of energy radiating from my body. Then, I looked at the portrait of Arael and felt a pit form in my stomach.
The remnant energies within Arael's memorial were exactly the same as my own. Which should be impossible.
From what I gathered based on Gabriel's memories and knowledge, every soul has a distinct signature, and no two souls are alike.
So, the implications of this fact that Arael's soul remnants are exactly like my own are quite clear.
'So, this is the irrefutable proof that you wanted to show me? Damnit! I did not think that you would have this kind of a bomb in your back pocket!'
Taking a deep breath, I let go of Gabriel's hand and looked at the two angels.
"....You have shown some solid evidence. But I still cannot accept all of this. I....I will need some time to conduct my own research and see if you two are wrong."
Gabriel simply smiled and hugged me tightly, an action that even Michael repeated, much to my surprise.
Unlike before, I could not bring myself to push them away since what I just saw was still weighing on my mind.
Damnit! This revelation has thrown all of my plans out of whack. Now, I definitely need to get to the Underworld and start investigating things over there.
'Although I can say that this trip was not just full of bombshells since I did gain some good insight into the magic system of this world, thanks to my proximity with the System, which has been constantly pouring in knowledge into my mind.'
Gabriel smiled happily at my words before letting me go.
"Of course, brother. Take as much time as you want. Until then, you are welcome to stay here."
I shook my head at her request, much to her disappointment.
"I already have a base of operations, and, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't trust anyone at this moment, not even you two. At least, not yet."
I did not miss the flash of disappointment and sadness in both of their expression before Michael simply nodded while placing his hand on Gabriel's head.
"It is all right, brother. We will wait for you. As long as you are alive and well, we do not care where you stay. I just ask that you keep in touch with us, please?"
"....Very well. I will give you my number."
The way Gabriel brightened up made me feel some level of guilt, but I crushed that emotion ruthlessly.
It is unfortunate, but I cannot afford to trust anyone blindly without some ironclad proof backing it up. My world has taught me that much at least.
That being said, I still have something else that I think I should do while I am still here.
"So, do you guys mind if I take a look at Heaven's system? That thing has been pulling on me for some time now, and right now, that insistence is bordering on annoying."
The way their faces paled before flushing with color would have been very funny if not for the dread that filled my heart at their reaction.
'That is not a good reaction!'
....Maybe I should cut the connection right here and now?
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Ruijard1