New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

*Astaroth (Currently melded to #&%?!@ / 1:54)

Level: 50 (44,260,313/98,209,950)

Grade: Special (???) .𝘯𝘵

Stats:

HP: ???

MP: ???

**

Even when looking down in his status window, everything that usually showed numbers was currently riddled with question marks. He couldn’t even see his own stats!

Strangely enough, he didn’t feel like he wasn’t in control. He felt fine, aside from the fact he suddenly felt like he could rend a planet in two.

Arborea was looking at him strangely. But he didn’t have time to appease her.

The timer next to whatever name that was rapidly ticking down.

Snapping his head toward Teraria, Astaroth could feel the guardian’s soul, as clearly as if he was looking through a window. And he felt its anguish and pain.

He stepped forward, intrigued by this new development, and without realizing it, this single step blinked him in front of Teraria.

Kloud and Aberon both panicked, seeing the young man facing the guardian so brazenly like this, and just as Kloud was about to dash in and pull Astaroth away, Aberon appeared next to him and held him by the shoulder.

“Let me go, old fool! Can’t you see him? The beast will crush him!”

Aberon slapped across Kloud’s face, pointing at Astaroth immediately after.

“That is not Astaroth. I don’t know how, or why it happened, but Astaroth is in a state of godly bestowal! If you touch him, you’ll disintegrate!”

In Aberon’s eyes, Astaroth, who normally had an enormous amount of mana, by any standards, when melded with his soul companions, was right now way past that point. Aberon couldn’t see where Astaroth’s mana aura stopped.

It was as amazing, as it was terrifying, to see the young man radiating power equal to Lady Anulo’s. That was how he knew Astaroth was not in danger.

But this wasn’t Alantha Anulo’s essence radiating from him, and this brought Aberon a serious question. Which god suddenly decided to meddle in mortal affairs?

Meanwhile, Teraria, who had been thrashing about, attacking his two assailants relentlessly, was suddenly rooted in place. Ingrained fear of a higher power locking every limb, paralyzing it.

Astaroth floated up to Teraria’s chest, where he could sense the soul, and looked at it with intrigued eyes. His movements were almost automatic, like he knew what to do, even though he had no idea what he was doing.

He pressed his right hand to Teraria’s torso, and the stag vaporized instantly, revealing the soul inside, shining a dull white, with a shroud of black and red encapsulating it. As Astaroth grabbed the soul, he gently blew on it, the shroud of demonic mana disappearing.

He turned his head, almost on autopilot, and looked at Arborea, whose eyes were locked in an expression of fear at seeing her twin brother vanish so quickly. She could already sense her essence fading as well.

But in the blink of an eye, Astaroth was next to her again, his hand raised toward her side.

“Don’t worry. I can save you, too. Do you trust me?”

Astaroth unconsciously imprinted Aether into his words, as easily as breathing it out, and Arborea felt herself relax, like Astaroth’s voice was a balm on a burn, soothing her deeply. She instantly calmed down, before nodding her head once.

Astaroth smiled softly and touched her side, Arborea’s body slowly dissipating, revealing the soul inside, which was glowing in a more vivid white than Teraria’s but rapidly fading.

As he grabbed the soul with his left hand, he suddenly brought them together, and they melted into one, almost like they had always been two parts of a whole. But as Astaroth thought it was over, he heard a soft crystalline voice in his mind.

‘There are two more elements to add to this. Let me guide you.’

He could feel the good intent in the voice, and assumed whatever gave him this power in the first place was the one speaking with him. So he let it guide his actions.

His now free right hand slowly brushed against his chest, as he felt Luna’s soul fragment be pulled out delicately from his body, along with a small sliver of his own soul. The process, which he expected to be painful, was far from so.

As the two new ingredients mixed into the forming amalgam, blending seamlessly into each other, before a body started forming around it.

Astaroth watched on in awe, as well as Kloud and Aberon, further away, as a new being was birthing right before their eyes, made from the very essence of life. The body shone in a bright pearly white before dimming down.

As the light receded, it revealed a svelte woman, slightly shorter than Astaroth himself, with smooth curves, in a fashion that could only be described as godly. Her hair of silver was adorned with a crown of antlers that extended slightly out the side of her head.

Soft, fragile-looking wings fluttered behind her back, looking like the wings of a fairy from children’s books. Her eyes, glowing like a bright full moon, in a soft white and blue glow, seemed to contain all the wisdom in the universe.

Her presence was neither overbearing nor erased, but inviting and soothing, like a parent’s loving embrace. She smiled at Astaroth, and he felt his heart skip a beat.

He felt smitten, of not love, but absolute reverence. He opened his mouth to speak.

“Who are you?”

“My real name should not be spoken, but you can call me Nemus. I will be the new guardian of this forest, in replacement to the two stags, Teraria and Arborea.”

Aberon flew in next to him, slamming his forehead to the ground, soon followed by Kloud. Astaroth looked at them incredulously.

Aberon didn’t raise his head, knowing the young man hadn’t bowed, before saying, “Bow down. Can’t you tell you are before divinity?!”

Astaroth’s eyes widened as he turned his head back to Nemus. But as he was about to bow down, he felt her hands on his shoulders as she held him upright.

“There is no need for such formalities,” she said, before looking at the two kowtowing men and said, “Please, rise to your feet. I need no such prostration. Let us be like old friends, and speak face to face.”

Aberon had never met a divinity before, but he knew someone who had. And the portrayal he had painted of it was nothing as soft and welcoming as this woman.

But he was not going to offend her. He would try to keep her happy for as long as they graced their presence with hers.

Getting back to his feet, He helped Kloud up, and they looked at the woman with a tinge of attraction.

“Now. Astaroth. I believe you are about to lose the power I bestowed on you. So we shall talk when you come back to consciousness.”

Astaroth was about to say he felt fine, but as soon as the melding came undone, he immediately felt weak and dizzy and collapsed on himself.

His last thought as he did was, ‘Who was that woman? And why did she feel so familiar?’