Level Up Legacy

1155  My Dearest

"You want me to believe that you have been guarding these ruins for my sake?" asked Arthur with a frown, lightning crackling around his body. Jasmine looked at him with deep, emotionless eyes as the tension rose between them.

"Many people received epiphanies that allowed them to grow stronger, wiser, or just miserable. I received nothing like that even as the Princess of the Yozia Empire. One day, my grandfather said these were our memories from a different life, and a spiritual awakening would retrieve them."

As she narrated the distant past, Jasmine took off her cloak and threw it to the ground. Her dreadlocked ginger hair reached her waist while the falling cloak revealed a set of knuckledusters on her hands.

"Are we going to fight?" asked Arthur as his lightning crackled. "I know that you are working with Seref. You used the powers of the Holy Crown to disable my wrath once before."

"A good guard of mine was called Yosef, and he helped me awaken the memories of a different life. However, I did not gain what I need. I failed to learn who my father was, but I saw hope in a distant city built by ice and fire."

"You met Diana?" asked Arthur with a frown, as his lightning grew more stable. The moment he learned that Jasmine has met Diana once before, his suspicion of her reached a momentary halt.

"I met her indeed, and she was the person whose epiphanies made miserable. She pursued a man that is neither from our world nor our timeline. However, she was the sole person capable who knew the most about my father and where to find him."

"Our goals were different," continued Jasmine as she looked at her hands. "Diana wanted to outsmart Seref at every turn, and she managed to succeed by stealing the Isotox. He waged war against her for it, but he failed. In that war, I met him, but do you know what he told me?"

Arthur watched his half-sister laughing as she asked the question. Although her face was laughing, her soul was weeping. She did not need to tell him, because he already knew what she wanted to say.

"I blamed him for abandoning me and my mother, and his response was that we were no longer a part of his story. He decided that, choosing those exact words to crush a longing of twenty-four years. This is when I decided to become a part of his story, one which he does not like."

Jasmine then took off the knuckledusters and threw them on the ground. Arthur was confused as he could sense some strange energy coming from within them. As he walked forward and picked them up, his eyes changed.

"There is a shard in this."

"It belongs to the crown that Seref used against us at that time. I stole it mid-battle before fleeing, and then I used it to protect the Isotox from him. He never managed to enter the ruins because of this."

"Is this your true purpose, Jasmine?" asked Arthur with confusion. "You wanted to protect Diana and the Isotox?"

"My purpose is to sabotage his plans, dear brother," said Jasmine with a smile. "We are quite alike in that aspect, are we not? We have been cursed with the shittiest father in existence."

"Maybe," said Arthur with a smile as he looked at the knuckledusters. "How did you stop him from entering the ruins all this time? Did he come here before?"

"He tried to enter the ruins, but he always found me," said Jasmine with a smile. "I had a shard of the crown, so it was useless against me. In the end, he had to retreat. I became the sorest thumb in his story, and I felt satisfied. Now that you are here, I have no more reason to be."

"I remember Julia telling me that you were the person who invited outsiders to explore the ruins," said Arthur with a frown as he studied his sister. "What were your reasons?"

"I wanted to improve the encryptions that protected the ruins," said Jasmine with a smile. "I would use runemasters as my bugs-finders and would strengthen the ruins afterward. Someone had to run things while Diana was sealed with the Isotox."

As she said that, Jasmine took out another item. It was a small golden necklace containing the powers of creation. She offered it to him, and Arthur received it with amazement.

"Diana was the one to create this artifact and turned it to be the key controlling Runera," said the woman before she looked at him for a few seconds, and then began to walk away. "I told you everything that you need to know, and as for the rest, I will leave it to the person awaiting you inside."

Jasmine began to walk away after giving Arthur two artifacts that could control and protect Runera. As he stood there for a few moments staring at them, he turned toward his departing sister.

"We no longer have a father, but we still have each other," he heard himself say, making Jasmine freeze in place. "I never thought I would have a sister. If you would like to, we can have a meal after this."

His sister stood in her spot, frozen like a statue. In the end, she turned toward him with a rare smile as tears of tiredness gathered in her eyes.

"I know a good restaurant around here."

Arthur was surprised and he laughed. Then, his sister left with a smile on her face, leaving him to face the final challenge of these ruins. The giant gate was the true perfection of runic encryption. This gate alone contained over a million runic lines, making it impossible for a human to decipher.

Arthur would need at least ten days to break through it using orthodox means, but instead of wasting any more time, he decided to erase the runes. His lightning erupted from his body before turning into a giant python that rushed toward the gate.

Boom!

The entire city of Runera shook as the lightning exploded on the gate. Arthur walked toward the gate as it lost its protection, with two new items in his arsenal. One of them belonged to the Holy Crown, and the other belonged to the woman he loved.

Arthur placed a hand on the gate and pushed, letting it roar while opening a path for him. Inside was nothing but darkness, but Arthur began to see a distant light awaiting him. Thus, he walked into the gate and closed it behind him, encrypting it with a lock that no one would be able to open.

The darkness was a hallway that led him somewhere, and it did not take long for Arthur to reach its end. As he entered the light, he realized that these were the roots of Rega that extended beneath the surface.

Light reached every corner of this place, allowing no darkness to remain. The ground was made of soft soil that absorbed the light and rechanneled it to the roots above.

Arthur looked at the roots that shone with brilliant color. As soon as he entered this field, a voice appeared in his head. This child-like voice belonged to none other than his favorite spirit, a child of the world's tree, Rega.

"Welcome back, master," said the voice with joy. Arthur could not help but smile as he walked beneath its roots inside the world of lights. Its warmth reached his skin, letting him feel like he was home.

It was at this moment that Arthur realized the reason he loved Rega. The reason was not his connection to the spirit, but their similar natures. He was a creator, and she was a giver of life.

"I am home, Rega," said Arthur as he opened his eyes. "Where have you been?"

"I had to nurture this place," said Rega in a distant voice. "After all, the person that master loves is here, and I cannot let them die."

"Is Diana here?" asked Arthur with excitement, his heart beating so loud in his chest that air buzzed around him. Instead of answering him, the light focused on a single spot beneath the roots. It was a small hill covered in golden flowers.

Arthur walked toward the hill, his mind a mess. It has been so long since he last saw her, almost too long to bear. In just a few more moments, he would see her in person again.

Life bloomed on the hill that Rega worked so hard to nurture. Arthur began climbing it one step at a time and felt the chilly wind blowing from its summit. He soon began to see what rested atop it.

A giant iceberg rested atop the hill of life, freezing the nearby field. Arthur stood a few steps away from it as his eyes looked at the person trapped within the ice. As his golden eyes looked at her again, happiness filled them for the first time.

"I found you again, my dearest."