Way of the Knights

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All Raven could do was sigh and smile wryly. 

It was at this point that he already realized that there's no escaping this at all. His tracks had been exposed, and this old man is the Plane's Consciousness itself. 

There was no point in hiding or lying. And even if he could, he wouldn't do so. 

For the first time ever since his Soul Rebirth, he considered just telling someone about the truth. The truth that he kept to himself and never told anyone, not even the closest people beside him. 

Raven released yet another exasperated sigh and laughed softly, he then said:

"Well, you got me old man." He admitted, "Yes, those were all me."

He wanted to say that he had the help of some friends but he was worried about what's going to happen next, so he didn't say it. He didn't know the true intentions of the old man so he still have to be careful. 

If things really goes south, he didn't want his friends to be dragged with this mess. Even if it kills him, he will face this problem alone since he's the root cause of it. 

"I figured that such was the case too." The old man said while smiling at Raven.

"Then?" Raven asked, "What does the Plane's Consciousness want from me?"

The old man just stared at Raven with his eyes closed. He didn't say anything for a while so there was an awkward silent between them. Raven then heard the old man sigh and say:

"I have a feeling that you have an idea of what I want to happen." The old man smiled kindly, "Needless to say, I'm still going to say this."

The old man paused before saying: "I want you to replace me, Young Raven."

A sigh escaped from Raven's mouth as he heard that. 

The old man was right, Raven did have an idea of what he wanted to ask of him. And it was precisely the same thing he was thinking. 

Raven's not ignorant. Other than the Plane's Consciousness itself, no one understands the state of the Grand Ancestral Plane better than Raven himself. 

Hearing the Old Man's request told Raven many things. 

For starters, the Plane's Consciousness is born a few moments after the birth of the Plane itself. The consciousness can take on many form and also change it depending on how it sees fit. And just like all creations, the consciousness and the plane itself are not exempted from the erosion of Time. 

Everything gets old - eroded by time. Since the consciousness of the plane can take on a physical form, those forms could reflect the age of the plane itself. And while the Plane is destined to live for a very long time, it will still face death at a certain point. 

And judging from the appearance of the consciousness, the time of the Plane is nearly over. 

Of course, this is something that Raven didn't want to hear nor see. 

The request of the old man is not a simple one. It isn't as easy as undergoing some kind of a ritual and passing all of the old man's responsibilities to him. The truth is far from that. 

Like what was established before, the consciousness is born a few moments after the birth of the plane itself. Replacing the consciousness means that the plane will enter a very delicate period. 

The process of replacing the Plane's Consciousness is done by having the old consciousness pass everything it has and knows to the descendant, this includes the remaining lifespan it has. All life forms residing at the plane will feel the rapid decline of the old consciousness' lifespan. To them, this process will somewhat feel like doomsday is coming or the world is ending, which will cause everything to descend in mass panic and hysteria. 

In addition to that, during the process of replacement, both the old consciousness and the replacement will be busy, which means that they cannot interfere with anything that's going on in the plane. 

To top this all of, since the old consciousness needs to concentrate everything it has on this ritual, it won't be able to defend itself from outside sources. There is a reason why only those who were born from this plane could come back once they ascended to the Divine Realm, however that functionality will be removed once the replacement ritual begins, so if there's anyone who happened to be nearby and saw this happen, there's no telling on what will happen. 

This is why it is extremely difficult for the old consciousness to make this decision. The replacement ritual has too many risk that can cause the plane's destruction. At the same time, it couldn't just allow the plane to end just like that. There's also the matter of finding a suitable candidate for the ritual too. 

But honestly, Raven was truly the best candidate that this old man could ever find. And because of who he is, the problems earlier are nothing but small issues that he could settle should he put his mind onto it. 

If there's really something that's preventing Raven from accepting this proposal, it would be one thing. 

"How much time do you still have?" Raven asked the old man after a period of silence. 

The old man looked at him and sighed, he then replied: "My initial estimate is about 10,000 years. But there is a pest that's sapping my lifespan, and if it's left alone, I'll have less than 5,000 years."

Raven's face crumpled as he heard that. The situation was worse that he was expecting. He didn't know that he had that little of time left. 

"This pest you mentioned…" Raven said, "Is it a hateful hybrid?"

"Yes." The old man nodded with a defeated expression, "It's that Pale Being that shouldn't have been born here. I had no idea how it found me but it did, it also formed a bloodline pact to me without my consent and now it is siphoning my lifespan for it's own use."

"I had been doing all I could to prevent it from doing any damage, but the bloodline pact binds me. If it weren't for you summoning Her Majesty Jubileus, I am afraid that the plane would die sooner."

"Damn that Pale Lizard." Raven gnashed his teeth as he finally understood how that hateful creature managed to live this long despite the lack of nutrition. "Is it still in slumber?"

"Fortunately, yes." The old man replied which caused Raven to sigh in relief, but that relief was short lived. "From my estimations, it's slumber will last for no more than two more years. Probably less."

"Huh?" Raven was shocked, "How can that be? Jubileus said herself that Vit'hum's slumber will last for at least a decade. It hasn't even been close to that yet."

"The bloodline pact remember?" The old man said, making Raven rub his face aggressively in irritation. "It's using my lifespan to offset Her Majesty's punishment."

"Damn! So I'm running out of time huh." Raven suddenly felt a headache knowing all of this. 

He was lost in thought for a moment, he had thought about many things and how his original plan has to he revised once again due to this new information. It was then that he remembered that he still hasn't say whether he accepts the old man's proposal or not, so he figured that he should give his answer. 

"I'm sorry old man. I'm afraid that I can't be the one to replace you."

Hearing his reply made the old man smile in defeat, but before he could say anything, Raven continued:

"I would've loved to do so, but unfortunately I have to ascend - no." Raven paused and continued: "I MUST ascend. I have to form my Divinity."

The old man's face was laced with shock as he heard Raven's words. He could hear the urgency, need and resolution behind Raven's voice. But most importantly, he was shocked upon hearing the word 'Divinity' from his mouth. 

"How in the world did you know about that!?" The old consciousness' voice was laced with surprise. 

This reaction was understandable for him. Not to mention people from the lower realms, a great majority of the Divine Realm's population didn't even know about the concept of Divinity in terms of cultivation. So imagine his surprise when he heard from the mouth of kid who hasn't even stepped into the Divine Realm even once. 

"You said it yourself didn't you?" Raven said, "That I am a strange man?"

"Do you want to know what makes me strange?" He asked the surprised old man. "If you can form an oath of secrecy, and if you can promise me that you will stay calm throughout the whole revelation. Then I will tell you."

There was something on Raven's voice that captivated the attention of the old man. It would be a lie if he didn't say that he's not curious. After all, all of Raven's exploits are something that someone of his age could never do, yet he did and something tell him that what he showed wasn't even half of the things he could do. 

With his curiosity piqued, the old man made formed an oath of secrecy and said:

"I promise."