Freedom Jumper-Chapter 103: Apathetic Ego

"Please Elijah... Wake up!"

A soft voice began to travel through Elijah's ears. This voice was slightly distorted, and most definitely came from a child.

"Who are you?" Elijah didn't question his surroundings. The infinite expanse of darkness adjourned with bright and small stars plastered across what felt like a three dimensional painting. Instead, he was focused on a small woman with still and straight white hair. Her eyes were void of anything life-like and there was not a shred of clothing on her. A blank body — a blank canvas. However, Elijah is not someone who is easily tempted by anything of this sort. In fact, the idea of nudity is a natural concept he enjoys. A feeling of freedom.

"I... I thought you... you remember me. I brought you to this world..." Her voice became dull and filled with sadness.

"Oh, so you are the one who dammed me to a life of torture. You could've at least explained a couple of things to me! How the hell was I supposed to know this entire world wants to kill me!!!" Elijah's voice and tone rose with every sentence.

"I did tell you everything! I told you to save me, I told you about the power I gave you, and I told you about the danger of The Void!" The woman started expressing her disbelief and anger.

"You know what. I think you did tell me, but something must have happened and I forgot. Or maybe you did something wrong by bringing me to this shit hole of a world..." Elijah said. "How do I get out of here, I just want to escape the kingdom.

The woman sighed and began talking again. "I'm sorry, I suspected that could happen. After you did live for a very long time. That puny baby brain of yours couldn't handle everything... But hey, now that you are here and alive, how about I explain some things to you?"

"I'm good, I don't want your help. I can tell just by listening to you that you aren't as innocent as you presume I think you are. Send me back, or wake me up. I have things under control."

"You say all that to me after you lost my space affinity? How befitting of a failure..."

"You know, I actually do have some questions. What the hell are you, why did you bring me here, and why is the world the way it is? If you answer those, just maybe I will appease your desire to tell me everything. Although I doubt you were ever going to tell me everything." Elijah thought of an idea and removed his ego. Anger was in his heart and he just wanted to escape, get away from everything related to the Astraea Kingdom.

"Yippee!" The woman jumped and clapped her hands together. To Elijah, they seemed too realistic for the place they were in. "First off, I have a name. Esulith. I am a god, one of many. Although technically I am dead and my soul resides in The Void. Secondly, there was a war between the gods that created a hole that spread from one side of this planet to the other. The Void now inhabits that hole."

The woman being a god wasn't so out of the ordinary considering what Elijah has heard so far. However, the war between the gods was something that bewildered him. "Why did the gods fight?"

"I was just going to get to that since you are interested. The simple answer is that we were bored and wanted to restart this world. The civilization had become too stale and slow, and many of the gods had already shown themselves to the public way too many times. A lot of the gods did not agree, while many of them did."

"So you are saying the gods became worried about their own status, and went to war to restart a civilization?" Elijah asked while his mind was struggling to process the idiocy. "Do you guys not have any brain cells? Nothing is for you to control!"

"Relax! Everything is under our control! Without us gods, none of you would exist!" The woman paused while Elijah looked away. "Something unexpected happened at the end of the war. Our powers... were given to the people of this world. The elements, and our innate abilities. Of all of the worlds I have explored, this has never happened before. But... That is not even the worst part. There is this unnatural element that was created from corruption lingering inside this world. Me, as well as the other gods stuck inside The Void call it, "void magic". It absorbs, decays, and tears anything it touches apart. The elements were never meant to be used for anything combat related. In fact, the only reason why we have our innate abilities are for transportation and protecting ourselves from any god bored enough to start killing everyone..."

Elijah's eyes widened in disbelief from not just the powers of the gods given to the people, but from Esulith's ego that he couldn't help but laugh at. Although, your environment shapes you – so her way of acting would make sense. "Maybe this is a good thing. The time for the fall of the gods and the rise of the people could be exactly what the universe needs."

"No! Without us causing apocalypses every once in a while, you people would become too strong for your own good. Wars across the galaxies would be never ending! And eventually... nothing would exist anymore."

While Esulith's point did make complete sense to Elijah, he felt as though it was unfair. But... Life itself was unfair. The truth was Esulith was right about everything. It was necessary to restart life – restart the cycle as the cycle would only exist with the gods. Although, there was nuance within everything. A chance for the cycle to live on its own was possible, but just barely.

But what if Elijah did not care? There was absolutely nothing attaching himself to this world – even if it was earth, but in the distant past or future.

"So why did you bring me here? What makes me different?" Said Elijah as his eyes twitched. This was the moment of truth, the moment where he would find out why in the hell he was brought to this world filled with ego and lies.

"While it is random, I can choose once I lock onto someone. I saw your entire life you know, from beginning to end. And I decided you would be someone who could be of help." A worried expression was seen on Esulith as if she was waiting for a response of dissatisfaction and anger.

This content is taken from freёnovelkiss.com.

"How depressing. Couldn't you have at least chosen a failure, someone who deserved a second chance. I never wanted a second chance. I was happy with my life!"

"I've been choosing people like that for some time, and it never seemed to work. They all lost themselves in battle. And I fear the same set of emotions is now inside you as well."

"I think this conversation has gone on enough. However, there is one last thing I want to do." Elijah began to walk closer to Esulith with a straight and tearless face. Her body was underdeveloped in a few different ways. She began to back away Elijah gave her a cold stare, and when his hands grabbed onto her neck, she froze.

"What are you doing?!"

"What makes the gods different from us humans?" Elijah asked in a monotone voice.

"We just live forever!"

"So you can still be killed?"

"... Yes."

Elijah let go calmly. He never enacted any suffocating pressure. But wanted to get the cold hard truth through a threat. After all, Esulith had given part of what makes her, "her". This included the ability to fly and the space affinity that is no longer with him. There was also the fact that this god had likely lost her true body, and her soul was the only thing lingering within this void. However, one question still bugged him. Where was this conversation taking place, and how was she able to communicate with him?

The answer was not something he cared about knowing. The only desire of his right now was to reach the Kingdom of Gion, and figure out what the hell he was going to do about his life. Solve the problem with the void, or live on as if it never existed...

"Can you let me go from here?"

"I suppose I can. I thought I would've taken a liking to you... First, I think I should probably warn you about the dangers The Void has caused." Esulith paused while looking at Elijah who had a confused expression on his face. "Actually, I'll let you figure that out on your own. I don't even know why I am still talking to someone like you."

Snap*

In the midst of Elijah nonchalantly accepting her gracious act, his shoulders dropped while his eyesight went black.