Chapter 28: Reveal

Warning to you all. There are spoilers in this chapter.

Scenes of each game, past and possibly future will be shown to Roselia.

Don't forget to drop those power stones!

*

"Welcome, Roselia.", A deeper voice echoed inside of this multicolored tunnel Roselia found herself emerged in. This tunnel lead directly into my subconscious. Roselia was now in her Astral Form, which any witch of the Hexen Clan could accomplish given enough training. And with Roselia being the head of the Hexen Clan for centuries, this was a simple feat for her.

"This voice...", Roselia uttered softly. She found herself in this rainbow tunnel. Further inside was an endless abyss of darkness.

After she uttered that, Roselia soon saw a pure ball of golden light emerge from within the darkness.

"...Is that a soul? Impossible. Humans shouldn't have the power to control such an aspect...", Roselia uttered to herself again. And yet her voice was crystal clear to my ears. Well my soul now, seeing myself as a pure golden sphere of light now.

"I know. I was as surprised as you are, Roselia. I did not know I looked like this before we entered this place. It never showed what I truly looked like.", I explained to Roselia.

"Is that so? This form is new to you?", Roselia asked with interest.

"Yes. Either way, welcome to my mindscape. My subconscious. Whatever name you would like to call it.", I said, welcoming Roselia.

After I said that, Roselia raised her eyebrows at me. Despite being in her Astral Form now, it still showed Roselia as a whole while in my mind. It was still easy to see her expressions.

"It sounds like you've been here before.", Roselia asked.

"I wouldn't call it 'here' exactly. It was due to a unique interface I was given the moment my transference happened, or as it is called, reincarnation.", I explained to Roselia. As I explained the situation of my Gamer System a bit without revealing what it is entirely, I used this time to approach her. Roselia saw my soul come within arm's reach. Once she saw that, her eyes turned wide.

My soul soon twisted into my normal figure, a violet haired little kid with golden eyes. Very reminiscent of how Kloe looked when she was a child, but I was a boy. And yet, that wasn't the only thing that appeared. Over my new identity as Naoto Osborne, a taller figure flickered into existence, covering my child self. This figure appeared to be that of a Japanese adult with scruffy black hair, very reminiscent of how Joker looked from the Persona series.

Seeing two figures in front of her with the taller figure overlapping the smaller figure, Roselia's eyes remained wide.

"This...is that you, boy?", Roselia asked, unsure.

"That's right. This is me, and that is I. One of the same. Like I said earlier, you will become disappointed after seeing me like this.", I answered Roselia.

"...Is this what you looked like before you reincarnated?", Roselia uttered, taking a good look at my taller self. In the end, she ended up shaking her head.

"You really aren't him...The one Lianne was looking for...", Roselia uttered with a hint of disappointment.

"Sorry to burst your bubble there, Roselia.", I smiled back at her while I shrugged my shoulders. After that, I continued to speak.

"But regardless of that, my earlier welcome to you was improper of me. Allow me to formally welcome you.", I spoke out to Roselia, which caused a bit of confusion to appear in her eyes.

"Formally welcome me, boy? I am not one for such formalities.", Roselia retorted back at me.

"But I insist, Roselia. For a being as prominent as you are. The Crimson Roselia. No...Allow me to welcome you as the Burning Sphinx, the Holy Beast of one the lost Sept-Terrions, the Arc Rouge!", I said, formally welcoming Roselia with a bow.

Dropping that bomb on her, Roselia's expression suddenly turned cold. Her eyes changed rapidly, revealing two slit-like eyes. In the next moment, despite being in her Astral Form, she quickly drew out her staff, and took aim at me with her staff.

"You knowing who I was without being 'Him', I knew it. I knew you letting me come in here this easily wasn't by chance. Was this your plan all this long?", Roselia yelled out at me, anger rising in her voice.

"Plan? What plan?", I grinned back at her as I said that, not revealing what I wanted to do. I mean really, all I really want to show Roselia were my memories that could influence her. The same memories that came from the games.

I tried to trick Roselia coming into my own mindscape, trying to draw her interest toward me...Even I was surprised that she wanted to initiate this spell, "Mare Spiritus", one of the Hexen Clan's forbidden spells that could cause injury to one's own soul if they weren't careful...

"Don't be coy with me boy. Tell me one reason why I shouldn't wipe your soul away here and now? You aren't the one I have been searching for.", Roselia said, trying to threaten me. Even her staff started to glow a bright red.

"Aren't you curious?".

"Curious? You keep mentioning that. I should have stopped caring after the first time you brought that up.", Roselia retorted back at me, still angry.

Should I say it? Hell, screw it. if she finds out through my memories, she finds out.

"...Even if you find the one you are searching for?", I decided to ask Roselia, which caused her to halt momentarily.

I know I said to Roselia earlier that she would probably end up disappointed after coming inside here, that she would not likely find who she was searching for. But it is true I do contain those memories. The person she was looking for was revealed in the games after all...

"After that earlier debacle, you really think I should expect for you to know that?", Roselia asked.

"I guess I take after my father in this regard. Like him, I do not like to lie, whether it be back then or now, regardless of the circumstances that led to this point.", I responded back to Roselia. Hearing that she did calm a tiny bit, with her staff no longer letting out a red glow.

"...It is true. I could not hear any faults in the words you have spoken thus far. What exactly is it that are you wanting to show me? You even dare accuse me of being one of Aidios's Holy Beasts.", Roselia asked.

"Is it not true you are the Burning Sphinx?", I tilted my head a bit, questioning Roselia.

Hearing me ask that, Roselia let out a small sigh.

" 'Tis true, long ago I did go by that name, before I became the Crimson Roselia. But even then, that wasn't me.", Roselia explained a bit, drawing my interest.

"Your other half, right?", I decided to ask, which had Roselia caused her eyes to turn wide again. All of a sudden, she took aim at my soul again, letting her crimson staff flare up.

"You know too much, boy.", Roselia said, ready to fire her staff again.

"W-Wait just a moment, Roselia! Besides that, if I would have wanted to cause harm to you, I would have done so long ago!", I quickly answered back at her, which caused Roselia to stare at me. It is true, our power difference was too great at the current moment, it wouldn't be hard for her to destroy my soul. Letting her come in here did come at a price I was willing to take.

"Fine. Show me what you want to show me, before I go back on my words.", Roselia concluded, pulling back her staff to her side again. Seeing this, I let out an inward sigh of relief

"Right...", I retorted back. Guess she was willing now, wasn't she? Yet before I started, I spoke out to Roselia once more.

"Before I start showing you what I want to show, do note you may feel a rise in heat the further in we go.", I explained to Roselia, which caused her to raise her eyebrows a bit.

"Heat? How can you feel heat inside of a subconscious?", Roselia asked, unsure.

"I would like to know the answer to that myself.", I said, shrugging my shoulders. Seeing this, Roselia calmed down, and had her Astral Form fly down next to my position. She glanced at me as I watched her before she spoke.

"Umu, I'll have my eye on you for now, boy.", Roselia said.

"Let us go then.", I spoke to her.

We then started to fly down deeper into the rainbow tunnel, toward the endless darkness to where the heat was being released from. It didn't take long for holographic-like panels to resurface inside my mind, coming in one panel at a time. Seeing these panels that detailed my memories, appear, Roselia's eyes quickly shifted toward them...

=========== I'm a separating wall. How are you guys today? =================

In the first of the many memories that came to us as we flew inside my subconscious.

It revealed a little auburn haired girl around five to seven years of age welcoming home her father, only to draw interest of the package he had brought home. Once her father settled in, he revealed the contents of the thing that was wrapped in cloth to the little girl, which turned out to be a black haired amber-eyed child that was in the middle of recovery from a heavy injury...

The second panel showed a pair of siblings trying to earn a living within a city mixed with culture, as it was the spearhead against several neighboring nations. The older brother seemed to work as a cop, eventually finding his fiancé while the two lived with his little brother, both being brown haired. And yet one could see sadness in the siblings' eyes as days went by...

The third panel changed scenes, switching to that of an old eastern style dojo located deep in a secluded mountainous region. It was run by a heartfelt old man who had several disciples in learning the way of his sword techniques. The most recent of his disciples were a silver haired young lady and a black haired small boy. The boy looked akin to the small child that had just slept in my bed the night before, but here, he was a few years older. Every so often the old man's older disciples would come to teach the small boy a thing or two, should they be fated to meet...

After these first three panels came several more.

In them it showed the auburn haired little girl and black haired amber eyed boy growing up together under the care of the girl's father. There was a lack of a motherly figure, which caused the girl to mature more quickly. Eventually the two entered the adventuring business in Zemuria, which were called Bracers...

As for the brown haired sibling pair, the older one had a sudden passing, which left his fiancé in sorrow while the little brother tried to cope with their loss. In the end he ended up moving back in with his grandparents in Calvard, and entered the police academy to which he aspired to become a cop in his brother's footsteps. Eventually, he made it back to the city that same cultural city they wanted to reside in...

In regards to the small black haired boy, he eventually parted with the silver haired girl, becoming an adopted son of a noble in the northern region. He continued to study many forms of his teacher's way of the sword while getting adjusted to his new family. Eventually, he found himself enrolled in his country's top military academy, entering a class with others that dealt with secret special operations...

All the while besides these few main figures, the panels showed a fourth green-white haired boy trying to adapt to a church's lifestyle as a priest with a couple of other sisters after ditching the life of a street rat...

Eventually, Roselia saw all of these figures become adults, which continued to draw her interest. Operating as Bracers, a Detective, a Military Student, and a Priest varied greatly in the land we currently live in, showing her different aspects.

Eventually, no matter what group was shown here, they clashed with mercenaries, militarists, you name it. One special group these people clashed against operated in the shadows, to which the name Ouroboros was revealed to Roselia. She knew what Ouroboros was already, but the moment she saw who was in it, her eyes turned wide once more. The same armored knight that came to my house a couple years ago could be seen amongst the group of people she worked with.

"Lianne...so this is where you ended up?", Roselia uttered herself as she watched a couple of Ouroboros's scenes.

In the end, I decided to show her the last few scenes of each games after showing how these people lived, according to the games.

========================== I'm another separating wall. Did you enjoy the reveals so far? Watch out, there's still more!===========================================

The phenomenon that caused all things related to orbal energy to run out of power, the orbal shutdown...

The rise of an ancient floating city, the Liber Ark...

The clash to stop the activation of the Aureole...

The spread of hand-made demonic medicine which caused twisted transformations...

The rise of the giant azure tree...

The activation of the divine knights...

The spreading of an ancient curse which almost drowned the entire continent into war they couldn't back out of...

The rise of a floating fortress and the creation of a tower-like construct, a weapon of mass destruction...

The introduction of special orbments created by the leading figure of the orbal revolution himself...

I also didn't forget to show Roselia how my father, Giliath Osborne, played into all of this. He was mostly prominent during the later half of these events. But one key event I showed Roselia was his past, how he would often reflect the personality of the of the person she was looking for, the fallen Emperor Dreichels.

Eventually, I revealed to her the scene of which Giliath himself revealed that he was none other than the reincarnation of Emperor Dreichels, to which left Roselia stunned for words once again.

"The person Lianne was looking for...He was this close this whole time?", Roselia explained in shock. "And he is actually your father?", Roselia asked, looking back at me.

"That does seem to be the case. I do not know if he is aware of this matter at this present point in time.", I explained, not knowing. With me being born into this, I know my existence will probably alter a lot of things. What I showed Roselia just now was just through what I saw in the games. I didn't even play Kuro before getting reincarnated into Zemuria, but I still knew the gist of its story.

=============================End================================

"Now the main question is, where did these memories come from, how on earth do you know all of this, with even me being a Holy Beast?", Roselia asked, pondering over my memories.

"We'll have to go in deeper for that. But it is getting quite hot now since we reached the end of what I wanted to show you. Even though I couldn't sweat in here, I wanted to. We were approaching the depths of my conscious, and it was quite blazing now.

"Serenus.", Roselia suddenly chanted. Her staffed glowed a bit, before a calming aura swept us both. Before we realized it, I was feeling cool again, which caused me to smile.

"Thank you."

"It is only proper for what you have revealed to me. I couldn't help but notice one thing though."

"Hmm? What would that be?"

"I could not see yourself in any of the scenes you have showed me so far. It's like you didn't even exist here.", Roselia explained to me.

Hearing Roselia say that, I revealed a playful smile.

That's a perk of being reincarnated I guess. What I showed her was from my world, but I stayed quiet on that point until I would show her the memories that were from my previous life. I still wanted to try reaching the depths of my soul too...

Little did we know we would end up finding something chained up, preventing us from going down any further. The moment we saw this gigantic figure, even I became surprised.

"So that's how it all this ties in...", Roselia also uttered to herself, quickly realizing what lied in front of us.

As for me, I could only think of one thing, the title I was originally given when I crossed over.

[Inheritor of the Vermillion Knight]

*

If I said Leanne last chapter it was probably an auto correct. It's Lianne.