Immortal Paladin-Chapter 130 – Something called Life [26]

I looked around, hoping to find something—anything—that wasn’t just darkness. But no matter how hard I strained my eyes or where I directed my gaze, everything around me was an oppressive void, a suffocating darkness that swallowed all traces of light and form.

And then there was the cold... a sharp, merciless chill that crept through every inch of my body. It was so intense that if I were still capable of feeling anything, I’d probably be on the verge of madness.

If I had bones, they’d be freezing now—shattering into icy shards with every passing second. I can’t quite explain it, but I felt like voices were coming from the darkness around me. So many. Too many to count—trying would’ve been as pointless as measuring infinity.

It was as if the entire darkness was made up of whispering voices, tangled together in a web of sound. But the strangest part was that they didn’t say anything I could understand—no words. They sounded more like echoes of forgotten feelings, sorrow, and mourning… as if the shadows themselves had memories.

And there, in that endless blackness—so thick it seemed to block even light—something floated gently in front of me. The figure held its hands over its eyes, as if trying to hide from the world, forming a strange cocoon with its arms.

A dark cloak covered most of its body, but the face remained visible: pale and calm, standing out starkly against the shadows. Atop its head, two ram horns curved backward in elegant spirals, like remnants of an ancient ritual lost to time.

Its body shimmered in blended tones of white and purple, creating an ethereal, almost hypnotic contrast. It was wrapped entirely in a flowing purple cloak that moved softly, as if alive, radiating a flickering, flame-like Aether that shimmered in the air around it.

Though I couldn’t see its eyes directly, I instinctively knew—they were exactly like mine, except for the pupils, which glowed a deep violet, like bottomless pits that reflected an unfathomable power.

The reason I knew all this was simple: the person floating in front of me at that very moment was none other than Nekra. At first, I was confused to see her in a place like this—it didn’t seem like the kind of environment where I’d expect to find her. But that confusion didn’t last long.

Nekra had once told me she lived in a place like this. Still, hearing about it is one thing... being here and seeing it with my own eyes is something else entirely.

At one point, I genuinely wondered how anyone could live in a place like this. It felt like the cold grew stronger with every second—even though, deep down, I knew it had already reached its peak. The complete lack of physical sensation, the fact that I couldn’t feel a thing, was, in the end, a hidden blessing. As I drifted in thought, I noticed a subtle movement from Nekra. Her body shivered slightly, like an inner alarm had gone off, breaking the silence around us.

A moment later, she opened her eyes—those beautiful eyes I had seen countless times back at the facility. But this time, something about them caught me off guard. There was a new intensity, a glow that hadn’t been there before... something that made me hold my breath for a second.

Unlike usual, when her eyes would shine so brightly they were almost blinding, this time her gaze was completely dull—void of any emotion. I was so surprised I instinctively took a step back, overwhelmed by sudden doubt: was this really Nekra? It didn’t seem like it. Something was deeply wrong, as if I were standing in front of a stranger wearing a face I knew by heart.

I couldn’t see even a flicker of emotion in Nekra’s eyes. It was like something inside her had died—or maybe it was never there to begin with. For a moment, I wondered if I was hallucinating.

The Nekra I knew was like a playful pup—always seeking attention, always wanting to have fun. And now, faced with this silent, empty figure, my mind just froze. The confusion ran so deep, I didn’t even know where to start unraveling what was making me feel so lost.

While I was lost in thought, in that thick and absolute darkness, something unexpected happened—a sudden warmth, comforting and gentle, began to spread around me, like it was trying to hold me in a silent embrace.

The icy feeling that had made my bones ache began to fade, melting slowly like frost under sunlight. I blinked, confused, trying to make sense of what was happening, and couldn’t help but feel stunned when I looked at Nekra again. She looked… different.

Her once dull, lifeless gaze now held a faint glow. There was still a certain emptiness in her eyes, a silent sorrow, but now there was something else—life.

It was like a tiny spark had ignited deep within a dark, quiet ocean. And then, in the very next instant, a bright light burst out, flooding the space for just a second, like the whole world had taken a breath with her.

When the light faded, I found myself face-to-face with Nekra. I blinked again, still confused. I couldn’t describe what I was seeing or understand what was happening around me. Everything was shrouded in a haze of strangeness, as if logic had been suspended.

And yet, in the middle of all that confusion, one thing remained undeniably clear: this moment—being here with Nekra—and the previous moment, when I was talking with Althea, were happening at the exact same time.

It may sound absurd, but I knew — with the same certainty I know I’m breathing — that the dark place where Nekra was and the radiant space where Althea stood didn’t follow the same timeline. They were overlapping realities, coexisting without touching, each governed by its own set of rules.

In other words, even though my past self-had reached Althea before encountering Nekra, the truth is that I was visiting them both at the same time — even if, paradoxically, I wasn’t physically present in all those places simultaneously.

In the end, it left me confused. But instead of resisting the paradox, I chose to simply watch things unfold. Maybe, that way, I could better understand who I once was... or at least make sense of who I am now.

I watched Nekra, who, despite her blank expression, seemed to radiate an unusual kind of joy. It was as if something inside her — maybe a long-silent heart — had started beating again.

Her eyes shimmered with a new spark as she exclaimed, almost in disbelief: “Zentharys! You came!”

Her reaction was similar to Althea’s when she saw me, but Nekra’s gestures carried something more restrained — a quiet delicacy that set her apart. Still, I could feel the softness of her cheeks against mine, cold like early morning mist. She pressed her face against mine with an affection that felt almost reverent.

And even though it technically wasn’t me receiving that affection, somehow… it still felt like it was. As I lingered on that strange sensation, my lips moved again — on their own, as if simply repeating lines from a long-memorized script.

The words slipped out in an automatic rhythm, without me even forming them consciously: “Sorry I took so long, Nekra... I... I had to talk to σ̴̪͗-̸͕̊ẽ̶͔̚ğ̶͎̋-̷̼͝g̷͚͑∂∆█° about that, so it took me more time than I thought to come see you”

I blinked in surprise as the words left my mouth. Why? Because of one sentence. It sounded like something straight out of a spy movie. Even though I was sure I had said it — and that I had heard it before — I had no idea what it actually meant. It was like reciting a phrase in a foreign language mid-conversation, without understanding a single word of it.

Either way, I turned my attention back to my past self and Nekra. As soon as she heard my words, her chubby cheeks puffed up in a clear sign of protest. Honestly, the only thing I could think was how adorable she looked in that moment.

Without even meaning to, my hand reached up and started gently stroking her head. My past self just followed along, almost like we shared the same impulse. Her face was completely buried in my chest, so I had no idea what expression she was making — which, in a way, made it all the more endearing.

“Do you really have to go?” Nekra whispered, her voice thick with something beyond words — as if every syllable carried an ancient, heavy weight that couldn’t be measured.

I didn’t answer right away. My gaze wandered around us — a place drowned in shadow, barren, stripped of any sign of life or presence. It felt like being inside an absolute void. Even calling it “nothingness” in the most literal sense didn’t do it justice. No description seemed capable of capturing what this place truly was.

Still, I returned to Nekra’s words. She spoke as if I would never come back — as if this was a final goodbye. The strange part was that I didn’t even know where I was going, let alone what I was trying to reach. Even so, despite that uncertainty, my mouth moved again, as if driven by something beyond my control.

“Nekra... you know I have to go. It breaks my heart to leave you here, alone, in this place. I’m really sorry”

My voice came out soft and tender, almost like a whisper laced with affection. But even that gentle tone couldn’t soothe the anguish tightening Nekra’s chest. With teary eyes and a trembling voice, she murmured: “But... if you leave... you won’t remember me anymore. I’ll really be alone... I don’t want that. Please, Zentharys, don’t leave me here by myself”

Her words carried a deep melancholy, like every syllable dripped sadness. I felt something stir in my chest — an unexplainable pressure that caught me off guard.

I didn’t understand why that feeling suddenly overtook me, like a wave crashing in without warning. All I knew, with a near-painful certainty, was that I didn’t want to see Nekra suffer.

My mouth started to move again, driven by something I couldn’t quite grasp, but before I could say a word, something shifted in that pitch-black space. A subtle yet strange motion distorted the surrounding shadows, as if the darkness itself had trembled for a moment.

And in the next instant, two completely white eyes lit up the space as they suddenly emerged. I blinked, stunned, trying to make sense of what I was seeing as my gaze slowly rose.

But no matter how high I looked, the creature those eyes belonged to seemed to have no end — its presence stretched beyond the darkness, as if it reached all the way to the sky itself.

“I hate this place... I hate everything here” Nekra murmured, her voice tight with emotion. A single tear slid silently down her cheek, tracing a path over her pale skin. Her eyes glowed a deep, intense violet — a burning light, vivid and alive, like embers on the verge of bursting into flame.

And before anything else could happen, violet eyes appeared in the void — eyes so intense they looked like silent fire. They were enormous, so absurdly large that the very idea of scale stopped making sense. novelbuddy.cσ๓

And yet, the entity behind those eyes wasn’t physically present. Only the eyes manifested there, watching us as if they had always been part of this place.

It was as if its presence predated everything — as if it had always been here from the very beginning. In other words, whatever was behind those violet eyes was the endless darkness that surrounded us — vast, silent, eternal.

At that moment, I didn't know exactly what to make of the situation. Yet, for some reason that I couldn't explain, I was pretty sure that it wasn't the first time I'd met those purple eyes - there was something about them, a silent familiarity, like a forgotten echo in the depths of my memory.