A talk beyond believe

What Marcus saw caused him to open his eyes with open while saying "Wow". In front of him was an opened garden. Tall trees were standing in rows, their main log was at least 3 meters in diameter, and they were at least 10 meters height. Dozens of branches spread around giving shade across the garden.

In the middle of the rows, a stone path stood guiding into a lake. Alongside of the path, roses were flowering. He also saw tulips, anemones, geums and hundreds of other types. The water of the lake was clear and there were kois, turtles and swans. What surprised him was that everything was balanced and gave the feeling of harmony.

Over the middle of the lake stood an opened Chinese pagoda. All the structure was made of red wood. The tiles were made of fine ceramic and their blue color was like the ocean. At the center of the pagoda was a table with a teapot, a couple of cups and some small snacks like cookies, pastries, sweets.

Everything was in harmony and one could be in peace at this sanctuary.

"How can such place exist" Marcus exclaimed as he sat down.

"This whole place is an independent space that I have access to. However, there are some areas that are on decay or have already shattered" Zia answered.

"Wow. I can´t stop looking and enjoying it"

"On ancient times, divine and devil beast would wander in this garden. However, all of them have disappear and the garden had lost almost of it´s splendor and size. This small area is what the independent space can sustain by itself.

The only areas of the castle that still stands up is the throne room, the corridors we walked through, this garden and some rooms.

A pity that time and oblivion had fallen upon it"

"And what or how it happened" Marcus asked.

"I don´t remember, a long time has passed, and my mind has wandered a lot. And what I know is not enough to explain it"

"And what you know is….?"

"Agh" she sighed.

"What I know is faint and somethings you wouldn´t be able to sustain the amount of information. I can tell you that I always worshiped my family and in a special way my father. That´s all."

"And about me? You were going to explain those doors, chains, seals and dark color from my heart?"

"Mnn… from where I start"

"Why don´t from why awaken inside me?"

"True enough. Well the last thing I remember was losing my conscious and after it I don´t know how much time passed before regaining it. However, the moment that I tried to open my eyes I couldn´t. Soon I realize that my body and powers had disappeared. All I could know was that I was alive but, I didn´t know how or which was my state. After losing the track of time I fell into darkness and I entered hibernation.

When I woke up the first time I was inside a body. However, I wasn´t the owner but I was bound to a host. The years went and nothing happened. But, one day my host suffered a lot pain from torture he was being submit to. This changed everything because as he was suffering pain, I started to regain a clear mind and my powers were slowly increasing. Yet my host died at the hands of his enemies and I hibernated again.

Soon again, I regained my conscious, but I was still unable to do anything. For my surprise, my host has lost her beloved husband at the hands of a friend. She began feeling hate and despair, which for my disbelief, were helping my powers to recover. Although it was a fit faster this time in comparison of my first host, it was still a gain. Then in that moment I realized the means to recover my power.

When I changed into my third host, I began trying to find a way to communicate or influence on my host´s actions. The first tries were tiresome and resulted in failure. However, one day my host fall into a scheme that ended in the lost of his family. He started to hate, to have the desire of kill and this mind was clouded by those feelings. This allowed me to take control over his body but the power to uphold it was enormous. In his rage he was killed, and I fall into hibernation once again.

When I arrived at the next host, I decided to give him for a moment some of my power and in return he will do things that caused fear and despair in other people in order to recover my powers quickly. I arrived at this conclusion, that the pain, fear and despair of the victims of my host would help on at least 4 times to regain my powers.

After going through thousands of hosts, my powers arrived at a decent level. I decided to name this cultivation technique as "Darkness through the heart" the reason for it was due to the cruel ways I needed to recover my power but also, because of the heart of the host would turn black. Also, I started to perfect this technique" she explained to Marcus.

Marcus couldn´t say anything. For some reason he didn´t believe. As guessing his thoughts, Zia pointed a finger to Marcus and a gray light entered his mind. Soon, he saw some of the experiences that Zia went with the other hosts. His mind broke down, he stood still while seeing the memories trying to understand a bit more of Zia.

When he finished looking through her memories, Marcus for some reason felt pain and sadness for her. He didn´t know why but, he wanted to protect her. Without a warn he stood up, walked behind Zia and hugged her gently, trying to give her some comfort. On the other side, Zia was shocked. She didn´t move and allowed him to embrace her. What she failed to notice was that a tear had been formed in her eye an it was falling down her cheek.

After half an hour, Zia separated from him, but allowed Marcus to seat by her side. As luck would have it, she felt an ambiguous aura from him. It will feel like familiar but at the same time it was distant and unfriendly.

She took gently a zip from her cup of tea and enjoyed a creamy pastry. In the meanwhile, Marcus started to devour the cookies.

Seeing his actions, Zia started to laugh. Her voice was different this time: it was melodious.

"Hahaha what a brute you are. Didn´t your parent´s show you how to eat properly?" she said while enjoying the sight of Marcus mouth full.

"Theym didmn´t. I grewm up withm my sisterm alonem" he said while still eating.

"Now finish first the food before talking again. I don´t want my mood to be ruined by your savagery" Zia said while still feeling happy.

It had been a long time before she talked this long and enjoyed the company of a male.

"As I have told you, once my host dies, I would enter hibernation. So, when your predecessor died, I hibernated for a long time. Because the date of his death was 1645 and when I regained conscious it was 2004 and at that year, you were 8 years old. He was from this world" she continued explaining.

"Are there other worlds???" Marcus asked.

"Yes. thousand´s of worlds. But that is all I can tell you now" she aswered.

"As I was saying, for some reason I couldn´t influence on your actions or establish a link with you. However, I had always been watching you. It was when your sister sacrificed herself for you, that you entered deep despair and pain. This allowed my powers to increase so rapid that I was able to lend you some energy and cast a spell when you had hit that girl on her head"

As for the rest of the events you know what happened. With the ending for that girl that I showed you and plus your feelings of hate, vengeance, pain and despair I was able to prolong your dead and save your soul after your death" she told him.

"I understand why my heart has turned black but, you haven´t told me about those gates, chains, seals and why my heart emanates that gray aura" Marcus told her.

"Patience. Agh why are you so prompt to know. I told I will tell you. I have just told you some of my past and the things I recall. However, what are you asking is a bit complicated to answer as I don't have the full grasp of the situation" Zia replied a bit angry.

"Sorry" he muttered ashamed.

"It´s fine If you know. I also went through the same situation. Now follow me back to the throne room, there I will continue answering your questions and doubts as much as I can" Zia said.

We finished the tea and began returning to the throne room.