Chapter 214: Repercussion of killing a primordial god

Ari is dead.

Her true name is gone from the universe. 

Adira feels an emptiness in his chest. No matter how long he holds her, he can't feel anything. Her existence is gone. Even if Abyss wakes up, it will never be the same. 

She left him forever. 

His cries pervade the air. The world is pandemonium. Darkness fills every corner of the world. Adira's sorrow and pain are adding to the chaos, making people weigh down with an emptiness that doesn't belong to them. 

"Lord, can't you give her a true name to her?" Ai grabs Adira's arms. He doesn't care what happens to the world but his mother has to be saved.

Mortals die again and again. However, that kind of death is nothing. As long as the true name is intact, the person can come back. There are times when the true name gets erased. Ai has lost his true name once. But he was given another true name by Ari. He's sure that Ari can be saved. 

"Gods' true names can't be recreated. Even if Ari's name is gone, Abyss hasn't disappeared," Adira utters, looking down at Ari's face. "This is a repercussion of killing a primordial god."

"Then, is there no way to save her?" Ai looks at him with teary eyes. "Give my name to her if it's possible."

"It doesn't work like that," Adira murmurs. The light in his eyes becomes dim. "I have to fulfil her last wishes."

Ari would never want a world to get destroyed because of her. A forsaken goddess' body can't remain in the world of mortals for long. Adira carries her in his arms as he opens the portal to the world that she made for the forsaken ones. He knows that she had given him only a one time access. He won't be able to return to Haven if he leaves. 

He steps into Haven with Ai trailing behind him. The world has no longer an empty space. Though the sky is still white, the land has changed. There are buildings in the midst of trees with large foliages. The world is a strange copy of all the worlds where Ari has been. It seems that she had taken something from each world: the mountains at the end of the lower realms, the lake from the dark realm, the cityscapes from T City where she was born. She had tried to create a copy and then, she filled them with what belonged to the forsaken ones. 

The forsaken creatures gather around him. Aren comes forward when he sees the lifeless body of Ari in Adira's arms. "What happened to her?"

Adira doesn't answer him. He can't say the words. A part of him is still expecting to wake up as Ari. Nobody else but Ari. 

It's a punishment for hurting her so many times. 

A boy runs to him and grabs Ari's hand. Scias blinks his eyes when he feels the chill in Ari's skin. "She's sleeping."

"Sleeping?" Aren looks at Ai for answers. But his younger brother has his head lowered. Ai is crying silently while biting his lower lip. "Ai, is she unconscious?"

The forsaken creatures don't do anything. They bend down on their knees with a grave expression on their faces. They close their eyes and put their head on the ground. Scias copies their actions. After a few moments, he raises his head and says to Adira, "Did Lady Ari meet Misaki?"

The child still doesn't understand.

"She did," Adira tells him. Unlike before, he's not jealous of Scias' attachment to Ari. She had always been kind to kids. It's the same reason why she was good to me at the beginning. Ari's heart was capable of pure love. She had always loved people with everything that she had. 

But he loves her the most.

In the east of the Haven, there's a large forest. Adira lays her down in the meadow with violet flowers. The forsaken ones sing a song together. A silent song that can't be heard by Adira, Aren, or Ai. Adira watches her body melting into the ground. He clenches his fists. Haven will nourish her body and keep her safe. Even if Ari is gone…

And then, he realizes that she's really gone. The ground is filled with flowers again. He stares hard at it for a long moment. 

Abyss will come back with Chaos.

Ari will never come back.

The memories, feelings, their past… only he has them. 

What makes a person? Ari's soul was broken once. It was recreated by Mirinae. Her true name was still whole.

Ari fell into the river of death. She was broken again. But she still did her everything in order to come back. 

The moments that he spent with her couldn't be replaced by anything else in the world. What does he regret most in the world? He should have supported her decision back then.

Instead of trying to force her to succumb to his will for her sake, he should have supported her decision back then.

He shouldn't have forgotten her name. 

A tear glides down on his cheek. 

It doesn't matter how long he stares at that place. Ari won't come back. 

He stays there for a long time. Her last words keep ringing in his head. Even if he doesn't want to leave, he knows that there's no other way. Misaki, Misumi, and Ai… he has to leave this place for their sake. 

"Even if she won't be you anymore, I will still wait for you." 

Even if a god is reset, the true essence can never be changed. There should be something that belongs to Ari inside Abyss. Maybe there won't be. He still wants to believe that Abyss will wake up as Ari again. 

If the supreme one wills it, anything is possible. The supreme one is above any death and life. He hopes that the supreme one would be merciful to him and Ari.