Shadowheart was currently in the Grand Library of the List Divine Empire, seriously perusing through some books with a pair of glasses over his nose. His expressions was focused and his eyes sparkled as he relished in the acquisition of more knowledge.
Specifically, magical knowledge.
Shadowheart had always possessed a passion for magic which was why, pre-awakening as a God Serpent, he had focused on a magic class. The primary reason he had entered Boundless was in fact to check its lore and learn the intricacies of how its magic system worked, yet he had ended up dragged into a torrent of events beyond his control.
Now that he had a bit of free time with the Rank 7 Pub waiting on the Evil Trio, he could finally get down to clearing out his list of research.
As of now, he was currently reading some writings about the use of magic in daily life by a Rank 7 Mage called Richmond who used to be the most powerful mage of this Divine Empire before heading into seclusion elsewhere hundreds of years ago.
Whilst Shadowheart happily reading his book, he eventually noticed the world around him having gone dark, and he was in the midst of a cloudy area with an orange hue. He stood on the clouds, the world below blocked form his sight, while above him, was the beloved color of dawn.
In that color, a giant snake of a size that would cause any normal mind to break down from the sheer size was coiled on itself, continually spinning like a disk as its mouth bit its tail.
The serpent was purple colored and had flecks of gold in stripes, his mouth full of jagged and menacing teeth that caused his tail to bleed, while his eyes were full of wisdom and sharpness.
The moment Shadowheart appeared, he calmly looked up and smiled. “Long time no see, Ouroboros. What makes you call me down so suddenly?”
Ouroboros’ sharp eyes landed on Shadowheart, and there was a hint of disapproval in them. Without moving its mouth, a voice filled with maturity and vicissitudes seemed to reverberate in the area, causing the air itself to shake.
“Connor Baines, my inheritor and partner, why do you disdain me so?”
Shadowheart’s calm expression shifted to surprise and dismay. “What have I done to make you feel so? I have never ever regarded you with disdain at all, Ouroboros.”
“It’s true, Connor, your heart is clear and your thoughts are benevolent, yet it is through your actions and omission that you disdain me without even realizing it.” Ouroboros explained calmly.
Shadowheart’s expression became serious. “Enlighten me, dear Ouroboros, so that I may fix the issue from the root.”
Ouroboros couldn’t move its mouth, but one could sense a hint of a amiable smile. “It’s my luck to have an inheritor like you.”
Shadowheart also smiled. “Likewise, to have a God Serpent as you.”
Ouroboros continued. “The reason for your disdain lies in your pursuit of magic and the truth behind it.”
Shadowheart’s face changed greatly and an expression of conflict appeared on his features that caused Ouroboros to pause. With a deep breath, Shadowheart made a decision and spoke.
“My passion towards magic is something that I have carried all my life and have chased through many different mediums. I do not know how exactly it offends you, but it may be a bit difficult for me to give it up so easily. However, if there really is no way around it, we can discuss and I can consider staving off my passions on your behalf.”
Ouroboros was speechless for a bit, the laughed softly. “You misunderstand, Connor Baines, you do not need to end your passion. I am simply offended because you are going about it the wrong way.”
Shadowheart was confused by this and did not stop Ouroboros from elaborating, wondering what exactly the Eternal Serpent meant by this.
“I have watched you from a young age and have been more than satisfied with your progress and character. Your drive to succeed and acquire knowledge puts you above many others and lands you on the path of success.”
“However, this same drive also limits you in that you often work alone and work hard without using shortcuts or alternate paths of easier difficulty.” Ouroboros pointed out with an amused tone.
“Like now, here you are reading obscure magic texts when you know as well as I do that the Neo-Progenitor Draco has something called Subjective Magic that seems to answer all your questions. Alternatively, you might go and find that Richmond fellow who was the one to grant him that power in the first place.”
Shadowheart rolled his eyes. Ouroboros of all people should know that he did make an attempt, but Draco swore that Subjective Magic was like the Dark Side of the Force, there could only be two, a Master and an Apprentice.
He also wanted to get to know this Richmond, but when Draco had put in the request, the Mage God had refused and demanded reparations from Draco for challenging his dignity as a master by trying to abuse his kindness to feed others.
Seeing as that wasn’t going to work, Shadowheart did not push forward and make himself an annoyance, rather opting to track Richmond’s writing and past notes to see if he could glean anything from them.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up all the way over here, now would he?
This made Shadowheart sure that Ouroboros was teasing him, which made him slightly annoyed since he had thought this issue to be something truly serious. However, he still waited for Ouroboros to finish.
“But I digress. I see that you research magic, but have you ever though of where magic came from, or what magic is? And other ways to reach the core of magic?” Ouroboros asked.
“Is that not the point of my magic research? Are you saying studying magic is the wrong path?” Shadowheart replied to the question with one of his own.
“The path of your research is alright, but you do not take advantage of your strongest asset, which is our control and affiliation to Eternity. Rather than make it the center focus, you have pushed it aside as a tool to grant you enough lifespan to do all your book reading!” Ouroboros huffed slightly.
Hearing this, Shadowheart was first speechless then he smiled. “Ouroboros, it couldn’t be that you’re jealous, can it?”
“Hmph, I will admit that there is some small part of that, but that’s not all. The main part is that you do not understand your own power, and neither did Lord Lucifer nor Lord Draco. Otherwise, they would only use it and ditch everything else.” Ouroboros answered seriously.<.com>
“You know about the truth behind the bloodlines and now that the Neo-Progenitor Draco has explained what beyond 100% is like, have you ever wondered where the bloodline of the Eternal Dragon, myself, came from? Which species challenged the Gerdo Galaxy Humans and died in their ship, leavings it genes behind?”
Ouroboros seemed to lean forward despite not moving, apart from – of course – its eternal spinning.
“And more importantly, if my attribute it Eternity, then how did my source body die in combat with humanity and then appear here?”
Shadowheart’s thumping chest showed that his cardio was currently agitated. The questions Ouroboros asked left him stumped, but the possible answer behind them obviously hinted at a big secret.
He looked up to Ouroboros with shining eyes, unable to hide the curiosity and desire to know in them. Ouroboros saw this and coughed.
“Unfortunately, I cannot tell you at this time.”
Crack!
Shadowheart’s cardiovascular area seemed to crack at this time, a mouthful of blood almost spurting out from anger. Did Ouroboros call him down to troll him like this or what?
Ouroboros seemed to realize that Shadowheart was on the brink of explosion, so he hurriedly spoke to calm him.
“Of course, the reason why is relevant to your current situation. I control Eternity and I am the source of Eternity, but what is Eternity?”
“Is it Immortality? The ability for all things to last forever? The control of Time? The control of life energy?”
“It is none of these. All of these things are misconceptions towards True Eternity, which I represent.”
“Fundamentally, Eternity is the existence of all things, whether as a concept, a law or a being, or matter, or energy!”
Ouroboros paused here as if Shadowheart should understand what it was saying, but the fellow glanced at the spinning serpent with a strange expression.
“Everyone knows this. I only use Eternity to control Time, and life as an offensive subset of your power. But I always knew Eternity was about existence.”
Ouroboros sighed and spoke once more. “Yes, but if Eternity is the existence of all things… then doesn’t that mean you control, or at least, have access to all things?”
Shadowheart’s brows furrowed. “But what does that have to do with… wait… wait!!!”
Shadowheart felt like his head was about to explode as he finally linked everything and pieced together the realization as well as conclusion that Ouroboros was trying to lead him to.
Ouroboros was satisfied that Shadowheart finally got it and spoke his thoughts in an amused voice. “Exactly. They say that Knowledge is Eternal and Truth is Eternal. Then don’t you have access to all Knowledge and all Truth since you control Eternity?”
Ouroboros flicked the books Shadowheart was still reading in the real world with its power in a playful way. “So why waste time and energy reading these things when you have the source of it all at your fingertips? Do you understand now why I felt offended?”
Shadowheart could only laugh bitterly. Of course Ouroboros would be furious and hurt, because it was like having a woman beside you who was capable of everything you wanted and willing to do everything you wanted, but declaring that you wanted to research the female body and so went to find other women to experiment on and study.
How would the woman beside you feel?
Is it that she is dirty or you don’t see her as a woman or what? Or are you deliberately trying to isolate or insult her?
It was somewhat similar to the situation here. Why seek bits and pieces of knowledge here and there when the very concept of Knowledge was linked to your power?
With Ouroboros, it would be like going to a theme park like Universal Studios or Disneyland with an Express/VIP ticket. You could skip all the lines and get to the rides directly, while what Shadowheart was doing before was similar to queuing outside for a normal ticket, and then having to queue again for each ride.
Or no, it was even worse that that. It was like Ouroboros was the bloody CEO of the theme park or at least some top upper echelon, and instead of contacting him to let you in for free to enjoy everything as you wanted, you chose the hard way by using a normal ticket.
Shadowheart could only blush when he thought of his previous actions and looked through the lens of hindsight with his current knowledge and understanding. As they say, no matter how old and wise you get, you will always be embarrassed by your past self.
“Right, I understand what you mean. But how exactly do I go about that? So far, all I’ve ever received from you is raw energy of all types.” Shadowheart realized a problem and asked.
“That is because that is all you’ve ever asked for. With my power, you’ve been forced to use to offensively ever since you awoke by various factors, so you’ve never had time to check out the other features.”
“Knowing this, I did not bother you with this matter until now, but seeing as you are finally free and also in happen to be in a quiet place where you are unlikely to be disturbed, I’ve decided to pull you here.”
Ouroboros did something that stunned Shadowheart and made his heart shake. For the first time since he met the God Serpent, he opened his mouth and released his tail, turning his head towards Shadowheart with a strange serpentine smile.
“Now that’s better. We can finally explore our power this way.” Ouroboros spoke in a deep voice, right from his mouth this time!
