The World within the mask (4)

"What a sad, sad scene. A brother giving up his life for his most beloved friend."

A beautiful, but mocking, angelic voice startled Aleks. The black mass being devoured by the void froze and when his consciousness observed the frozen image below, something strange happened. The previous scene of Ishmael kneeling before the angelic being once more returned but the frozen image of the female angel below began to ripple like the surface of a lake and a dark gaseous aura poured forth from her body. Aleks felt no danger from it, but it was eerie and unexpected.

The strange dark gaseous aura appeared like ink, oozing across the surface of the angel's golden wings turning them as black as night. The wings became engulfed in the darkness and even the clothing of the angel became black and sinister. Her hair which was once golden had become jet black and her eyes burned crimson instead of their former bright magnificence.

If she had once been a majestic and holy being of magnificent beauty, she had now become a cool, demonic and deadly alluring beauty.

"Do you feel sorrow? Loneliness? Why so quiet? Do you feel nothing at all?"

Her words continued without waiting for Aleks to respond as she stared directly at Aleks's consciousness.

"This is not a mere illusion is it? But you are not as I remember you."

"That is because I am no longer the same, isn't it obvious? I failed and for that I was punished, cursed. I am but a fallen angel now, a being despised by my brethren. But, I don't blame you. I even admire you. So ruthlessly killing your own best friend and closest loved one. No hesitation, truly magnificent."

"Your attempts to mock me are wasted. I do not regret what I did but that doesn't mean I feel nothing at all. It was the only choice available to me at the time that didn't end in submitting to your god's tyranny. Although my brother begged and surrendered in order to save my life, in the end what qualifications did such powerless beings like us have to negotiate? I am no fool. In the end you would have gained everything and we still would have gained nothing."

The fallen angel laughed, pleasantly surprised by his response.

"You are wiser than I gave you credit for. Your brother was a fool to think that the gods would negotiate fairly with him and your swift thinking was in fact correct. By killing him and yourself, you denied the gods what they most sought although in the end they still assimilated your world and gained the entirety of the souls within it. That in and of itself was a benefit, but you deprived them of the origin of your world which was what they desired most. In truth, I admire your stalwart will."

Even though she was complimenting Aleks, her words provided no comfort for him. She remained an enigma.

"Enough talk, what do you want and why did you leave a strand of your consciousness here? Was it just to flatter me? Or perhaps you are merely bored."

"Haha. It was meant to be my merit, finding your world, acquiring the origin. But instead, I failed and was cursed like this. I am trapped in that place, you can feel it can't you? It has been calling out to you. I have been abandoned and imprisoned there for a very long time. I am waiting for you. I have always been waiting for you. Come to me."

As she spoke, her body began to fade and her words began to fade with her. The world within the mask began to collapse like a puzzle falling to pieces and Aleks felt his consciousness once again becoming a blur.

Aleks opened his eyes and was met with the face of a very concerned Lenia who was practically close enough to kiss him. She became startled and quickly distanced herself from him while blushing.

"What were you doing Lenia?"

"Um, master I was watching you."

"How long were you watching me for?"

Lenia bit her lip and felt embarrassed. She replied awkwardly, "For a couple hours?"

Aleks was unsure how to react to that and so he just leaned back in his seat and Lenia began to explain nervously, "It's just, you almost never take off your mask. I didn't know when I could see your face again."

Aleks sighed and closed his eyes. The memory of what he had just experienced was still fresh in his mind but he also felt a slight smile creeping up his face. He found Lenia's actions to be humorous.

"Forget it, it's fine."

"Master, what happened to you? You kept mumbling things I didn't understand and you were shaking. It even looked as if you might cry at any moment."

Lenia had been very worried and was quite shocked by what she had seen. She had begun to believe that her master was incapable of tears or sorrow of any kind but she realized she didn't truly understand him well. He must have experienced great pain that she couldn't fully understand.

"It's nothing. I can see you have finished consolidating your power, good. I have also gained quite the harvest this time."

Leaning forward, Aleks grasped the golden mask and a faint hint of sorrow crossed his eyes once more.

"Goodbye brother." He mumbled under his breath.

'It seems I've broken through and become a Legendary being. Although I still need time to absorb the power of the Origin which I gained here, I have successfully advanced.'

"Tower of Babel, show status."

'Showing status…'

Aleks's status was displayed within his retina but also on the surface of the mask as he grasped it in his hands. He had never obtained classes before in any of his past lives because of his cursed status and so seeing the progression of his abilities was a surprise. His original abilities had all become more powerful with even more uses while he had gained some new abilities which opened up a variety of possibilities for him. His path of progression was not the normal path so he didn't fully know what to expect but from this experience he realized that he was a unique being whose path to power was cumulative while expanding upon his repertoire of soul related abilities.

Lenia who was close was also able to see her master's status. A hint of shock and disappointment was visible on her face as his status was revealed.

"Master! Your status!"

Aleks chuckled, "I can see you are disappointed. Did you think my status was too low? That I appear weak?"

Lenia didn't want to say so as she had believed her master to be very powerful and couldn't understand his low level and status.

"While it is true that for most, level and status appear to be the defining characteristics of a person's power but this is not necessarily the case. My level and overall status is much lower than normal because I began as a master class being without ever progressing through the lower classes. Because of this, my status appears weak. However, I am a true Legendary being and my strength resides with my abilities. My abilities are extremely powerful and in fact, no being below Legendary could ever pose a threat to me."

Lenia considered his words and thought they made sense but she wasn't fully convinced.

"Lenia, you are also a part of my power. I have the ability to create life just like you. As a matter of fact, the ability to create life is my greatest power. As long as I have enough 'Soul Potential' I can now create beings of enormous power up to master class. But it doesn't just end there, my other abilities are not weak. I can now even create advanced class puppets and turn intermediate class beings into my undying soldiers. As long as I have enough Soul Potential, I can even destroy a person's soul with ease with my 'Soul Tendrils' ability. I am truly invincible below Legendary and even beings of the same level as me should be wary. This brings me to my next goal, Jerrick enter."

After hearing her master's explanation, she no longer felt any disappointment in her master's power because at the end of the day, even someone like her was no match for him based on his abilities.

The door opened and Jerrick stepped in after hearing his master's command.

"Master, you need something?"

"Indeed, it is time to acquire more 'Soul Potential'. There were many who died last night in the chaos and the bodies should have already been gathered. Go and collect those souls for me. Even though those that died most likely possess very little 'Soul Potential' the number of people who died is definitely not just a few. It will be enough to welcome the guests we should be receiving tonight. We also need to get you properly equipped Lenia."

Aleks who had yet to put the mask back on his face, smiled wickedly in anticipation.