Chapter 67

I leaned back against the wall, my eyes still glued on Aaron as I spoke in confusion.

"Then how do I know if it wasn't Maxwell that shot Oboro, and not you. Does this guy just take over when you're feeling an overly emotional response, or does he just take over when he feels like it?"

After hearing my question Aaron sighed, before staring at the ground with a strangely casual expression.

"Maxwell had personal problems with Madame Fitzgerald, so he took over and shot her. I had no intention of killing her, but Maxwell did."

I suddenly narrowed my eyes, a strange feeling emerged in my chest as I asked Aaron another question.

"Was it Maxwell or you that entered Raymond's room and tried to shoot him?"

Aaron's eyes remained glued on the ground, his eyes flickering with a glint of remorse.

"That was me, I didn't actually want to kill him, but we both needed to find the book, and I had to threaten him one way or another, but I guess I took it too far."

After explaining, Aaron suddenly looked back up at me and smiled softly, and gave me a self deprecating laugh. 

"People do stupid things when they're scared. I know why, it's happened a lot."

Aaron and me then turned around and proceeded back to Raymond's bedroom, before walking in and staring at him.

Raymond was sitting at his desk, his face glued into historical documents as if we never entered his house.

"I told you idiots I didn't rewrite anything."

He didn't move a muscle as he spoke, his face remained glued in the documents as he addressed us.

"Talk to me about what you said earlier."

My voice was neutral as I sat onto the bed and looked directly at him.

"What do you mean by the fact that humans are indifferent to you?"

Raymond finally looked up from his papers and turned around in his chair, scoffing with an annoyed expression.

"Why should you pry into my philosophy? Everyone has ways of thinking about others, it defines who we are and why we do things."

Raymond then looked towards the book still sitting in the corner of the room, before flicking his wrist and sending it back into the drawer.

"My parents thought the same thing about people, they wanted to kick my friend out because of his place in society, but why would you adapt this cruel and mundane philosophy?"

Raymond's expression didn't change, Aaron's face had a gaze of determination as he gazed at Raymond up and down, expending him to speak.

"You think I care about your backstory, the only backstories I care about are in the books on my desk, why are you even asking me about this shit anyways?"

I looked at Raymond as he turned back to his desk, he opened a thick and dusty book and started to give the appearance that he was disinterested and didn't want us to be here anymore. I opened my mouth and the words started coming out on their own.

"I had a conversation with Aaron in the hallway, and I learned a lot regarding his struggles and suffering in person. He had a friend who died, and it makes him to stupid stuff."

"Why do you think that humans are indifferent? What made you think this way? Is it your ego, or some outside influence?"

Raymond raised his head and turned back to me, a placid expression laid on his face.

"My parents were wealthy, my other parents were dirt poor, and my other parents were in the middle, then it went back to being rich with Madame Fitzgerald."

"My original parents were people I've never met, and I was stranded on the streets from a young age. I've seen so much hate and despair from humanity, so much of this evil that I lost all sense of pity for them."

"The only reason I study the previous epoch is a way to blind myself of this world, to dwell past and explore a time in the world where there was much more peace and quiet, instead of the dangerous and violent world we live in today."

"Why should I care about humans to begin with? All they've ever done is kill and destroy, I'm no human, I'm just an individual who looks upon them with a solemn face, watching them only destroy themselves in the end."

Suddenly an inscrutable silence filled the air after Raymond was finished with his little speech, I was taken aback by his perspective on society, but I also couldn't help but feel more intrigued.

Aaron took a few towards the door and leaned against the frame, looking at Raymond with serious yet somewhat sympathetic eyes.

"So, you look down on people because of their emotions, not because you think you're better, but because you don't feel like they're human, they're just monsters."

Raymond nodded, a small smile on his face.

"Yes, indeed."

Aaron nodded slowly, staring at the objects on Raymond's desk.

"Anything else you want from me?"

Raymond asked, his voice now slightly annoyed as he rolled his eyes.

Raymond asked, his voice now slightly annoyed as he rolled his eyes.

"We might need your help in this current situation, kid."

"You're still looking for that dried up raisin, shouldn't you have found him by now?"

Aaron rolled his eyes and sighed.

"No, we haven't found him yet."

I suddenly walked a little closer to Raymond, my expression flickering with curiosity as I glared at him.

"With all the information you knew regarding Madame Fitzgerald, Maxwell and Aaron, I believe you'd be a helpful component in our search."

Raymond shook his head and frowned.

"Why should you look for him for a crime so insubstantial as shooting your friend, didn't I say that Aaron and Isaiah had different intentions?"

I tuned back to look at Aaron, a face of remembrance crossed my expression as I looked him in his eyes before sighing.

"This'll be a lot easier if you tell us right now, I don't want to extend this search by a few more weeks because you're too stubborn to speak."

Aaron, along with the entire room began to shake uncontrollably, except they didn't seem to react in the slightest, instead their current expressions remained plastered on their faces.

Suddenly the room began to melt, and everyone's faces began to melt along with it. I felt like my head was spinning as a large amount of black and grayish fog began to swirl around the room, encapsulating my body like a cocoon.

When the fog eventually disappeared, I ended up back inside the place where I died, and the same figure that greeted me stood a few feet away, their body still blanketed by the black cloak.

"It is done."

Their voice was illusory and seemed to ring out in all directions, suddenly he raised his hand and a blood red moon was casted above his body, hanging there as it flashed with crimson light.

"Thanks to the stolen differential properties of the Moon path, I was able to siphon the potion correctly."

Suddenly the moon that hung above his body began to shake and quiver, and a strange red liquid began to secrete from the moon like a leak, before pouring down into the figure's hands.

"What are you doing?"

The figure smiled again, his sharp teeth glistening dimly in the red light that shone above his head.

"You filled the requirements for the Order 8 potion. You were able to expose the despair of people, and were able to siphon the accommodations within the potions manifestation in the Astral Garden."

"What's the Astral Garden?"

The figure looked down at me, their wormhole-like eyes glued onto my curious and intimidated expression.

"The Astral Garden is the place used to harbor accommodations made by the soul following the completed requirements of the next Order."

"It's been eons since the Order accommodations for the Apocalypse Routeway have been utilized or even mentioned in the realm."

Suddenly another individual emerged from behind the figure, they had 2 heads and 4 arms that spiraled out in all 4 directions on either side of its tires, it closely resembled the statue that Aaron used to siphon Ransom from the flesh blob.

Suddenly the figure that clung to their back shrank down and entered the potion, before the illusory liquid began to glow a bright orange color, closely resembling flames. 

Within the potion, I could hear murmurs and callings, which sounded awfully similar to the ones that spirit calling utilized when speaking to me.

"Your Order 9 potion has finished digesting, it's time for you to move on, Apocalypse."

I was immediately taken aback by this comment, why would they call me apocalypse right now? The current power I held was barely enough to destroy a rock.

"D-don't call me that, please."

I slowly scooped up the surprisingly thick liquid from the figure's hand, before bringing it to my lips. The potion was tasteless as I gulped it down, but I felt another surge of power take over my body, similar to the one that I felt upon first digesting the Order 9 potion.

"Maybe I am the cardinal."

The same voices rang out in unison as I fell back onto the ground, my veins turned a bright red color as I looked up at the figure in shock, but all I could see behind the darkness of their cloak was only more inscrutable darkness.

"Maybe I am the cardinal? I've heard that before when I first digested the Order 9 potion, and any previous reference to a cardinal was in the dream that I had regarding that boy killing one."

"Does that refer to when I was killed by Aaronand sent into that black hole, I believe so."

"The murmurs you hear upon digesting potions are calls from your very soul. Everyone's soul is different one way or another, but everyone's destiny is one that they have to control."

The figure suddenly spoke up, their voice ringing the space we were in, it's as if they just read my mind and spoke out my thoughts with an answer.

The moon above their head began to waver and disappear, flicking away with the same crimson light, before it entirely faded from existence.

"Now, go back."

"Wait!"

I held out my hand and the figure froze, as if offended by my sudden outburst.

"Why did the world change after my resurrection, if Raymond didn't rewrite reality, then who did?"

The figure sighed softly, before leaning upwards and gazing into the infinite heights that laid above him.

"I did, wasn't my action one of your first assumptions?"

I nodded, one half of me was completely taken aback by this revelation, while another part of me was unmoved.

"Why though?"

The figure looked down at me before laughing, which was strange for someone of a supposedly infinite power level, or maybe I just wasn't used to powerful people laughing.

"It's inevitable, no one must know of your destruction, no one must know of what happened."

"But Aaron was reverted, did you bring me up here all of the sudden so you could change more shit?"

The figure pondered for a moment before they spoke up.

"But you never told them about the Apocalypse potion, so I had no reason to change anything."

Another thought instantly popped into my head, which made me speak in a more concerned and frantic manner.

"But what if Aaron finds out himself, isn't he testing my blood to find out what path I drank to begin with?"

The figure then spoke again in a solemn tone.

"Don't worry, everythi bff is predetermined, let's just say I made an error in the formula."

What did they mean by an error? If I drank a potion of the Apocalypse Routeway to begin with, then how could he make an error in the potions authority? Does that mean I never drank an Apocalypse potion?

"I'm confused."

"Confusion is natural, don't attempt to pry any further into the works of deities."

This time their voice had a warning edge, and their eyes flared with a brighter shade of red.

"I see."

They lifted their hand and waved their wrist, and the same blinding light scored over my body, and I instantly fell unconscious again.