Eternal Promise: Fragments Of Us

ROARK

“RING a bell?” The man smirked at me with full confidence.

I stared at him for seconds and tried my hardest not to ruin his mood, but nothing would come to mind. “Are you a psychic like-”

“Ah, damn! I’m Agui!” he growled angrily and threw childish tantrums, making the fire on the fireballs hotter and larger. “How can you not tell?! I thought you were way better than Leon, who couldn’t even remember the tiniest bit about his past life, but you’re far more worse!” he grumbled.

“How would I even know?!” I snapped at him.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

“But you’re a psychic, right?!” he retorted.

“That’s not how my psychic ability works, jerk!” I retaliated.

“Jerk?!” His eyes widened, and he was suddenly covered in fire but he didn’t look like he was hurting. “You dare call a God like me a jerk?!”

“God?!” I exclaimed, baffled. “Don’t tell me… You are that kind of God?”

“I just told you my name!” he yelled. “I am Agui, the God of Fire!”

“What?!” I gaped in disbelief. “That’s impossible! What do you want from me?”

“Nothing in particular. I just need you to accept my existence,” he said.

“Accept? In what way?” I asked, confused and still dumbfounded.

Agui clicked his tongue. “I am you.”

“… what?”

“You heard me. I hate repeating myself,” he said.

“That’s absurd.” I refused to believe him. I just couldn’t.

“You being here and talking to me is proof enough. Normal mortals can’t do this. When Gods reincarnate as humans and retain their past memories, they usually take over the body of that human, making it entirely their own. Yours is a different story. You have the power to communicate to me in this state and still have control over your body and the life that you have lived until now,” Agui explained.

“Then… that means that you have been inside me ever since I was born?” I asked in a low voice before clenching my fists.

“Yes,” he simply replied.

“You remained dormant for years. Why appear now?” I half whispered to myself and lowered my head, feeling a little disappointed at the man in front of me who casually appeared out of nowhere and suddenly told he was some kind of God.

“The disturbance that Sidapa is causing right now will likely kill all of you if you don’t do something, mortal,” Agui stated.

“You knew?” I asked in awe, and looked up again.

“Of course. I witnessed everything. I just can’t communicate and warn you because you chose to disclose me years ago,” he confirmed.

“I don’t remember doing such a thing,” I denied. I was not lying. I barely remembered any supernatural encounters during my childhood. When people drove me out because of my ability, I tried to ignore some of the frightful events that happened to me while I thrived to survive on my own. Living was hell to me. There was no way I would be able to remember everything vividly!

“When you became aware of your ability…” Agui started, “you were supposed to awaken as me, but you denied my existence and chose to pretend that we never encountered each other before,” he revealed.

My hands trembled in fear as I asked him. “When exactly did it happen?”

Agui gave me a dumbfounded look before scoffing in disbelief. “Just how much of me did you try to get rid of? Did you hate me that much?”

I felt chills running down my spine. This man was stating the truth! In an instant, I could feel his heavy presence. He gave off a supernatural energy around him, but it was a lot different from those spiritual energies that I have dealt with. He was brimming with immense power!

“Agui, was it?” I reaffirmed, and he became less hostile towards me.

“You said it,” he agreed, and turned his back to me. “So what now? Feel like accepting me? I am aching to punch that bastard Sidapa for suspecting me of selling out Libulan to Kaptan before,” he said.

“Is that the reason why you wanted me to acknowledge you?” I raised an eyebrow at him. I didn’t know there were childish Gods like him. And what was even jaw dropping was that he cussed a lot.

Agui faced me and defended himself. “What?! No! You still have no choice, anyway! Don’t get ahead of yourself, mortal!” he exclaimed while flailing his arms like a kid. “Now, say it and let’s get this over with! I hate dramatic fights!” he demanded, and pointed a finger at me.

“I don’t even know what to do! You appeared and dragged me here, so you do it!” I yelled at him.

“Ah, damn!” he cussed again and stomped his right foot. “Look, mortal-”

“It’s ‘Roark’,” I corrected him.

Agui clicked his tongue. “Whatever. Look… time in this dimension is different from the physical world. The more we stay here, the lower the chances of stopping that humongous God from repeating his mistake from that time. We must also save Libulan.”

“Are you saying that Sidapa doesn’t care if Libulan gets caught up in this mess?” I asked. Agui didn’t respond right away and just gave me a look of disbelief.

“You…” his facial expression became annoyed. “Do you even know Sidapa’s true form and power?”

“Honestly, no,” I admitted. I didn’t get that fascinated by Gods from ancient times. I knew some people still believed that they existed, but there was little information about them. I didn’t even know that Sidapa and Libulan had a forbidden affair until this day came.

Agui sighed in dismay before talking. “Sidapa’s real form is the very epitome of death. He stands 12 foot tall with a nightmarish appearance. For thousands of years, he lived on this mountain alone. His task was to judge a passing soul before sending them in the afterlife,” Agui revealed. “I don’t know the whole story about his love affair with Libulan, but they were both punished for falling in love. Relationships between the same gender was forbidden for Gods. They were bound to be sent to Magwayen’s Realm and let their souls wander the eternal void of nothingness. There, they were supposed to atone for their sins forever without having the chance to see each other again. In short, they were not allowed to reincarnate. And Sidapa did the impossible. To fulfill his desire to be with Libulan, he sealed away his lover’s memories to prevent him from hurting. Those two already reincarnated multiple times. Sidapa remembered everything up to this day and would stop at nothing to keep meeting his lover no matter what age and generation.”

“That’s…” I couldn’t say anything. Why did they have to suffer like this? So Sidapa only wanted to be with his beloved Libulan, but ended up being the bad guy?

“Only Libulan can end their suffering,” Agui said. “If we don’t do it now, things could get ugly. Sidapa might subconsciously kill innocent lives just to get his lover back into his arms.”

I saw how Leon suffered from his dreams. I saw images inside his head that probably had something to do with all the unusual events that happened to him. And I vividly had a close look at the black entity that had followed him around. Was it Sidapa’s doing? If he loved Libulan this much, why would he drain his life away?

“Help me stop them, Agui,” I pleaded to the God of Fire, and he smirked at my brave decision.

“Now we’re talking,” Agui exclaimed. “Ah, but before anything else…”

After that, he told me the consequences of finally accepting him and the fate that awaits Sidapa and Libulan.

I listened silently without interrupting Agui. I got goosebumps as he kept going. It made me realize that being born to this world was both a blessing and a curse.

[to be continued]