Dancing on the golden ashes

Chapter 228 228: Unraveling Secrets

Time came to a stop, and my vision became more and more vivid. I was sure I knew who this woman was. After all, she had the same face as me; there was no difference at all. We looked like twins, yet she resembled me before I came to this world—completely unchanged. The same sad look in her eyes, the same hatred for everyone and everything, the hatred toward the world. Yet she was crying as she looked down. The world before her was massive; she looked like a speck of dust in front of the planet, so insignificant, so useless in the grand scheme of things. Yet, why did she have this aura around her, this thin layer of ethereal light, as if she was an immortal goddess?

My heart shook when I understood that it was me. But why? And how? I didn't remember that ever happening, so what was this? The past? The present? Or perhaps the future? Any of those possibilities could exist in this world filled with magic around every single corner—I had already learned that much—but it couldn't be the current me. I was still lying somewhere on the ground, half-dead. Who knew, maybe I was already dead…

I traced the movements of the woman; she looked around, as if waiting for someone to come. Soon, the void split around her, and a rift radiating black and violet colors mixing together opened a short distance away. A single person exited—a man. He looked very similar to the creator, but he appeared a few years younger. So is this the past? I wondered. I wasn't sure what even made sense anymore—the fact that the eerie entity was most likely my past life, or the fact that her gaze softened as she looked at the man, as if she was in love with him.

"Gaon, are you alright? Why are you here at this dead world?" His eyes were so soft as he looked at her. It was nowhere close to how the creator looked at me in my timeline. Or perhaps it was the same timeline? Fuck… It was too confusing…

"____ dear, I—" I still couldn't hear his name, but for some reason, I could hear my name this time. Was it because the mystery had been revealed to me? Or were there even higher powers at play?

I watched the hateful creator hug the other me with a gentleness I had never seen from a man before. It was as if that version of me was his greatest treasure, and he gave her a kiss on her forehead while patting her head.

"Everything's going to be okay. We will overcome this together. When the ____ show up, we will show them that we are worthy of ascending. Just you and me, together."

I wanted to puke watching that lovey-dovey bullshit happening in outer space. I couldn't believe I was looking at myself getting all lovely with the creator, kissing in the cosmos for all the stars to witness the passionate love between these two lovebirds. Just what the hell was this? No, no, no. This was fake. This wasn't real. I refused to believe it. What the fuck!?

Then I looked around, not caring to watch this most disturbing truth that would most likely haunt me for the rest of my life. I would rather gouge out my eyes right here, right now, if I could control anything—but it was just an illusion. Yet when I looked at the planet we were standing before again, it really felt familiar. It looked like one of those videos I used to watch on MyTube back in the day, showing how Earth looked from above. I could swear—I thought I was looking at the African continent from above. Yeah, there it was—Europe and part of Asia. You must be kidding me. Why were we in front of Earth?

Suddenly, the entire place shook. Countless white rifts swirling with white and black light opened in the void, one after another. Creatures exited the void; they didn't look human. They were like a mix of human and animal, or at least they looked like animals that could walk on two feet, with slightly human features.

I saw a massive humanoid elephant with around fifty or so arms and a lion with the most dazzling fur—it literally shone in golden light, illuminating the universe with gold. A few of them even looked like humans, but they had long ears, similar to elves from fantasy stories. They were so beautiful and exuded an aura of divinity. There was a human with dog ears as well. What the hell was happening? It was like a circus, but all these creatures were so powerful that cracks started forming in the space around them.

Suddenly, one golden and one crimson portal appeared in the sky. From the golden one, a nearly perfect man emerged, his cream-colored feather wings similar to those of an angel. The one who exited the crimson portal was a woman whose appearance resembled mine right now—she had demonic features, with horns, wings, and a tail similar to mine.

"Disgusting demon, why did you come here?" The angelic man spoke, his expression suddenly turning sour. His face revealed deep hatred, and he looked nothing like a prince charming now.

"Watch what you're saying, you trash, or I will give you another beating. Did you forget our previous battle? Now scram. I have something to say to the two humans here; after all, I want them to join the demonic legion, the only true ruler of this galaxy."

"Hah, very funny, demon. You seem to have forgotten that our Beast Horde is the one who rules the universe," the elephant spoke in a feminine tone. I could have sworn it was a man, but oh well… I doubted I could get more surprised.

"That's true. I support my sister's words—our legion is much stronger," the lion spoke in a deep voice, roaring so loudly that if I had ears, they would probably explode.

The elf and the beast person both revealed disgusted expressions, but they didn't say a word. They stood next to each other and seemed to be from a different faction than the rest. But why were there so many creatures here? Just how vast was this world?