Chapter 44: Fate (Part 2)

Ozyllus: "It was as if, no, you really were … hollow. You were hollow inside."

It's true. Ethan knows it's true. And as someone who had made it a habit to face facts for facts without trying to ever run away from reality, he has nothing to say.

Ozyllus: "Your life looked to me like an empty vessel, so I thought you would be the perfect person to be given this responsibility, since it could fill that vessel."

He turns his head to Ethan. Ethan doesn't meet his gaze as he looks away but Ozyllus smiles as he sees that.

Ozyllus: "I made up a lie about your eyes being capable of saving the world and asked for them. I thought it would work. Because you didn't seem to have any motivation to live, I had thought you wouldn't have any attachment to your eyes either."

Ozyllus turns to look at the sky again.

Ozyllus: "But in the end, there was something inside you. You weren't completely hollow inside after all. You didn't want to experience pain and so you refused me. Furthermore, you felt fear too."

His lips keep moving.

Ozyllus: "But by then, I had already decided. I had already chosen you and I just could not bear to have memories of making another victim for no good reason. So I stuck with the one I had already involved in the war and had already made a victim, you."

He said. His hair covers his eyes so Ethan Kales wouldn't know, but there are tears forming in them.

Ozyllus: "I ended up forcibly taking your eyes and giving you the eyes of my former friend, Sagax."

Ethan is left with emotions so complicated he can't even try to explain.

Ozyllus: "That is why I chose you. I made an error in my judgment of you and ended up choosing you. But alas, it doesn't matter anymore."

He says as his face darkens.

Ozyllus: "Now that brings me to your question – Why am I here?"

He says as if just remembering it.

Ozyllus: "I am here because Kais stepped foot in that tomb."

Ethan wants to ask to explain further but the words just don't come out.

Ozyllus: "I was in his subconscious when he sealed it using his psychic abilities of mind-controlling on himself. But when he stepped in this tomb, in the tomb where my dead body lays, I regained all the power that I otherwise lacked to force my way out of there. And hence, I am able to be here at this moment."

Ozyllus finishes explaining.

Ethan: "HA! HA! HA!"

To distract himself from everything that the so-called god had said before, Ethan laughs like a madman.

Ethan: "A god – sneaked away like that? What a joke! How pathetic … of a god are you!"

He tried to act as if he didn't care about the things that were said a moment ago. Seeing that, Ozyllus smiled.

Ozyllus: "Are you sure you want to ignore the reality of your emotions and try to act tough?"

Ozyllus words hit their mark and Ethan is left unable to continue mocking him. He had made a vow to himself that he would never try to ignore the reality yet when it came down to it, he did it anyway.

Ozyllus: "In case you are wondering why I told you about all that before answering your question, it was because I wanted you to understand what your position is."

Ozyllus turned to look straight at Ethan.

Ozyllus: "You are the man who will see history unfold in front of your eyes. At least, that's what anyone in your position tries to do."

He starts walking towards Ethan.

Ozyllus: "Everyone like you who is alive at a time of war like this tries to observe it as a third-party and create its legend. There was one exception though. It was Sagax, whose eyes you have right now."

He continues walking and Ethan starts stepping back.

Ozyllus: "He could have easily stayed out of the war and just observed it too but he tried to stop it. He was one of the people who really wanted the war to end. And in the end, that cost him a lot."

Ozyllus keeps walking towards him and Ethan tries to step backwards.

Ozyllus: "If he had stayed out of the war and just observed, it would have been so much better for him, but that's not what he did. Some might say he was a fool and some might say he was brave, but none of it matters."

Ozyllus stops few steps away from Ethan.

Ozyllus: "In the end, he lost more than he gained and died regretting ever involving himself in the war. That is all that matters."

He looks at Ethan straight in his eyes.

Ozyllus: "So tell me, knowing all this, knowing the fate of the man who tried to involve himself in the war like you are, would you still try to change things?"

The answer to this question would mean everything to Ozyllus.

Ozyllus: "I know you want to destroy me. I know that's what you have desired. I now also know that you had been trying to destroy my plans from the start. I know the reason you let him, the Vampire Kingdom's strategist, spread true legends about vampires was so my efforts at making them seem more dangerous than they are were sabotaged. I know the reason you sought out Sneha's help was because it would have been easy for you to manipulate her into going against me since I am the reason all her teachers and fellow students at the shrine died."

Ethan understands how important to Ozyllus the answer to this question is.

Ozyllus: "So, knowing the fate that awaits you on this path, would you still continue doing what you have been doing?"

Ethan can clearly see the darkness on Ozyllus' face as he asks this question, as he begs for an answer. So, Ethan replies,

Ethan: "Like I care about a bunch of fatalistic nonsense. I only care about my goal."

Ozyllus: "The goal that you were told to accomplish by another?"

Ethan: "The goal that I felt the strongest urge to follow when that another told me about it."

Ethan's reply makes his intentions as clear as they could be.

Ozyllus: "I see."

Ozyllus closes his eyes as he hears that,

Ozyllus: "If that's the case,"

Then opens them.

Ozyllus: "Then go try your hand at it as well."

Ozyllus says as he raises his right hand and touches Ethan's forehead.

Ozyllus: "Who knows, maybe you really could change the fate."

He says as he taps Ethan on his forehead making him step back; and having not realized that he was just one step away from the tomb, Ethan steps right into it.

As soon as he steps in the tomb, Ethan sees the darkness in the tomb disappearing by fires that continue to ignite on both sides of the walls.

Ethan: "What!?"

As he looks back at where Ozyllus was standing, he finds there to be no one. The so-called god had left him without giving him a chance to find out what he thought of his decision to go against fate.

*******************************