Chapter 412

“Xyn? Is that you?” Professor Atkinson asked, while trying to sense his body - his torso, his hands and legs, his pulses and his heart, but somehow, he had no feeling of their presence at all, yet he could still see, hear and feel everything around them: “How are we here?”

“Professor, I don’t think we’re physically here.” Dolores had her eyes on Professor Atkinson, and all she could see Professor Atkinson’s figure - it was not Professor Atkinson himself at all, but that of a body made of mist and fog, and barely looking like Professor Atkinson: “I think - I think only our minds are transported here, but our bodies should still be in our rooms.”

Professor Atkinson turned around, and he could see that Dolores was behind him - and all he saw was a body made of mist and fog that sort of looked like Dolores, yet he knew in his heart that it was her.

“I … I … I have something to tell you.” though Xyn looked like he was still in his weakened, but still incredibly powerful state, his voice sounded much weaker than he looked, and even with a little emotion of … sadness and devastation.

Dolores, assuming she knew what Xyn was going to tell them, immediately waved her hands: “No - no need, we already knew about it, from the outskirts of the temples.”

“No - nonono, it’s not … you don’t understand.” Xyn sounded eager and in a hurry: “You have to listen - when I forged the scythe, it was a part of me, and had all of my blessings on it. So whatever situation this scythe finds itself in, my mind, my eyes and ears will be there as well.”

“So what happened in the Spring of Knowledge, that was you?” Dolores asked.

“Partially.” Xyn answered, his four eyes all showed a painful look: “Am I correct in assuming that you have already known about the rupture, and what has caused it?”

“You caused it.” both Professor Atkinson and Dolores said.

Xyn’s four eyes narrowed at the same time, and both Professor Atkinson and Dolores felt in an instant an invisible force had locked on them and grabbed them up like two giant hands - and even though their bodies were not present in this place, they had no doubt if Xyn wanted he could have caused them real physical harm.

“How did you know?” Xyn asked with a stern and suspicious voice: “Who told you?”

“Nobody told us - we just kinda figured it out.” Professor Atkinson said: “The preserved and rebuilt temples, the overall structure of their rebuilt ‘holy land’, and the fact that you told us you built this place, and you were the first one of the voidborns to have ascended to Godhood. It’s an educated guess at first, by connecting the dots - but the more we think about it, the more likely this guess becomes. And eventually, when we were struck by the effect of true knowledge, we just knew this had to be true.”

Two streams of tears rolled down from the corners of Xyn’s eyes: “I don’t know - I didn’t even know - how could this be? Why?” His tears were dense and heated, and when they dripped onto the floor both Professor Atkinson and Dolores could sense the whole temple shakin, and the temperature in the air rising.

“Tell me what you saw, when you reached the bottom of the pool.” it took a while for Xyn to collect himself: I was so overcome with greed and hunger when that scythe sank deep inside the Spring of Knowledge and even into the core of the entire pool, that I was not prepared for the weight of the knowledge and memories. And thus, even though I am the builder of the pool and the one who collected the first spoon of spring in the pool, all I could do was to seal the knowledge in the scythe and resist the temptation of peaking in.”

“Okay.” Professor Atkinson and Dolores exchanged looks, then proceeded to share with Xyn the visions they had. And only through the retelling of their visions did they also realize that their visions had some subtle differences: for instance, the hand that caught the dripping liquid, inside Dolores’ vision the hand was grey and with a shade of dark red, while inside Professor Atkinson’s vision it was grey with a shade of dark green; another example was that the stalactite in Professor Atkinson’s vision was rough on the surface and solid in color, but in Dolores’ vision it was smooth on the surface and had a noticeable transparent membrane on the outside like it was coated with a thin layer of glass or crystal.

“I understand now.” Xyn’s voice was initially calm, but the he fell back and sat on a broken throne made of grey stone and high density fog energy: “I understand now … hahahahahaha…” he started laughing, but neither Dolores nor Professor Atkinson could sense any joy or relief in his laughter.

A small portal appeared in the air, and the next instant, the black scythe Xyn gave to Professor Atkinson and Dolores fell out of it and floated in front of Xyn’s face.

“I will hold this with me for now - for I have many questions.” Xyn said: “Thank you for all you’ve done. Come to me before you embark on your next journey to what once was my realm under my dominion. My descendant is still out there.”

“Wait… I have a question!” Dolores raised her arm, but a strong wind blew a wall of fog through her and Professor Atkinson, and she found out the arm she raised was the one attached to her actual body in her personal living quarters inside of the Grant Academy: “... what is that liquid you collected?!”

“You already know.” Xyn’s voice seemed to have traveled from a distant time and space and resounded inside of her head.