Somewhere extremely far away, in an unknown, far deep from the surface level of the continent, passing through an unimaginable length of deep underground pathways. A place so deep inside the earth that it could almost be considered a subterranean level or world under the gigantic continent.
At that place, it was filled with a highly dense and sinister wave of demonic energy. It was an ancient and unholy ruin, filled with dead bodies and bones of countless past demons. The place gave such a sense of wrongness that if there were a place that could be called hell, this would be it.
In that very ancient ruin were gigantic red colored rune symbols, heralded with mystery and mighty power far beyond the comprehension of what should even be possible. A figure donning in blackish clothes was hovering far above in the air, as if trying to see the complete picture of those red runes. To identify and understand the meaning of those demon-powered rune symbols.
There was an almost 500 meter long rune engravement tool on his hand, made explicitly for this situation, He was not only observing, but also trying to add more writings or curvatures, to see if he could cause some minor change or how the demon written runes were reacting, but alas even after almost more than 5 years of experimentation, he barely understood anything of it, while there were some minor progress. But too minuscule for the liking of that being.
Each of the gigantic rune symbols was a combination of perhaps almost a million individual compound rune symbols, forming a network of effects too complex even for him, the best runecaster in all of the Eldarion continent. Each of the large runes was almost 1 kilometer in length and width. As for how many of those such symbols were written all over that subterranean world, it was simply uncountable; of course, if he wanted, he could try to count them.
But that was a task too long and without any rewards. So, he had focused on the easiest part first, analyzing one gigantic rune first and understanding it. His runic eyes shimmered brightly, radiating a sense of boundless power, as well as majestic authority that was far above and different from what Axel Nomrad’s runic eyes expressed.
The golden pattern in the figure’s eyes appears to change in real time as he continued analyzing the runic patterns. But suddenly, the ever-changing pattern of his eyes stopped abruptly, and an obvious pain spread from his eyes to his brain. The 500-meter-long rune engraving tool dropped from his hand, with a resounding boom, but obviously failed to make even the most minor mark in the red runes.
But that rarely mattered to the figure floating in the air. The hood covering his face was removed, revealing his face. A regal man with black hair and a beard, he looked 30 years old at best. The look in his blue eyes reflected countless years of experience traveling through the continent. Donned in incomparably powerful rune-engraved attire, after numerous years, for the first time, he showed a genuine smile.
The man muttered to himself, "So, you have finally decided to use it, little one. Good, good. Show the world whose grandson you truly are, crush anyone that defies you, show them the true might of the runic eyes. And if any old dog dares to oppress you, I Damian Nomrad shall put them in their place when the time comes."
After the lengthy lecture by the homeroom professor Darwin, Axel headed straight to his apartment, his mind reeling with thoughts, much like the clouds hovering high in the sky; you could see the doubts, but not touch them.
The theory of soul fragmentation is that you need to fragment a soul into many parts for it to be able to travel to another world. This was something never revealed or even discussed in the original story, or maybe he didn’t remember. There have been too many events at this point that have made him doubt his memories of himself.
Well, yes, it actually made sense in a way, since the demon phantom in his soul had already revealed that each of the demon phantoms is a fragment of his original self. But that also begs another question. Then what about the numerous phantoms of his primary aspect chamber? Each of the rune phantoms that he needed to fight to optimize the pseudo runes. Whose fragments are those?
Ashborn, most likely. Axel was truly suffering from an identity crisis. If the fragments of both Tyler and Ashborn were being assimilated into him slowly, then right after the end of the trial, when he came back? Who was he then? Was he the real Axel Nomrad, or what was left of that existence, perhaps?
He felt like his mind was on the verge of a silent breakdown, so he went to the only place, the only thing that could provide answers about himself; he went inside his second aspect chamber. Ran through the unending stretch of the land filled with countless fresh corpses, blood flowing out of them.
As he stood just a bit far away from the demon phantom, the scarlet radiance again started encroaching on his mind. But he wholly ignored it. The demon was, as usual, looking towards the scarlet radiance with an obsessed look. Axel did not ask anything of it; it knew very well why he was here.
With a deep sigh after an unknown amount of time, the demon phantom stood up and came right in front of Axel. It looked at him straight in the eye. The disappointment and absolute disgust that the phantom previously held towards him had somewhat lessened. But it was still there, quite evidently.
The phantom spoke, "It is not your past that matters or the fact whether you are Tyler, Axel, or Ash, those are simply names. The true identity of an existence is far more than just one or two words. It is actions, your choices, and your will that define you."
"The true definition of oneself does not come from the perspective that others hold for you; rather, it is you who defines it, and that definition does not change in any way from any change of the outside world."
"Just like the professor stated, the purpose of Seekers is not to adapt to the world around you, but rather to make the world around you adapt to yourself. So, anchor your identity or find it out through actions rather than seeking answers that do not matter, answers related to the unimportant past."