Chapter 40: Odysseus
Arora gazed out over the lush, vibrant blue forest as her legs swayed over the treehouse's edge. Three days had passed since she'd been reincarnated into this world, and so far, she was loving every second of it.
Every day, Arbus would take her to explore different sections of the forest, as if touring her around her new neighbourhood. He'd also bring her along when he went hunting, so she could watch and learn from him. He'd explain what various plants did and which ones she should stay away from. It was as if he knew this forest like the back of his hand. Once, she had asked about the southern side of the forest. Arbus's expression had turned serious as he warned her to never go in that direction, and how dangerous it would be for her.
Apparently, Arbus had lived around here for most of his life. She'd asked him about any nearby civilisations or villages, but he'd simply wave her off, telling her that there was nothing for miles. That had raised a lot of questions for her, but she didn't feel like he would answer them.
Naturally, Arbus had questioned her intently about her past. She'd managed to play off his suspicions with what she considered brilliant acting, at least in her opinion. Whenever he pressed her to remember, she'd clutch her head in feigned pain, despite having no visible injuries from her supposed fall. He'd mentioned searching for her ship, that could have supposedly crashed landed in the area, though something in his tone suggested he hadn't actually looked very hard.
Using her convenient amnesia as an excuse, she'd questioned Arbus about this world's common knowledge. For some reason, he'd decided to share the entire known history of their universe — stories his grandfather had told him. She had no objections to this impromptu education.
She had found everything he told her simply fascinating. He talked in length about how Space travel had been invented thousands of years ago by the Aurnex, the first sentient species to journey across the cosmos.
They'd aided multiple civilizations in their development, until those races built their own space travel technology.
Eventually, overpopulation had driven various species to spread across the universe, settling on uninhabited planets and creating their own societies. The Mornans had emerged as the dominant species, with their vast numbers and the overwhelming strength of their elite.
Hearing about all this made Arora truly ecstatic. She couldn't wait to explore this planet and eventually travel beyond to experience this universe firsthand.
Then, Arbus had told her about the darkest era in their universe's history — the Lost Era. Not much was known about it, naturally, but it was around that point, 21,000 years ago, that reincarnated humans began appearing in the Rendes universe.
Arora had tensed when he brought up reincarnators, but he didn't seem to suspect her of anything, so she gradually relaxed as she listened.
At first, it was just a few humans at a time. Most seemed friendly enough, so the universe welcomed them with open arms. Everyone in the universe was beyond excited to discover a new species from beyond their reality. It had opened a new road of countless possibilities, that the Aurnex had never even dreamt of before.
There were a few human rogues that didn't align with their collective species ideology, and had tried attacking the natives of this universe, but they were stopped by their own people each time. The humans apologized profusely every time something like that happened, so things remained peaceful for a while.
Eventually, after a hundred years or so, humans began reincarnating in droves until their numbers were large enough to form a small country.
Arbus had hesitated when he reached the next part. One day, the leader of the humans, a man called "Odysseus", had suddenly declared war on the entire universe.
This action had left every other species in the universe shocked and confused. It was essentially an entire race asking for suicide.
That confusion had been short-lived, as they had quickly learnt why the humans were so confident.
It turned out that each and every reincarnator possessed terrifying, unimaginable powers. They were essentially one-man armies capable of wiping out planets with ease. They had hidden this terrible secret well while gathering their forces and biding their time.
The citizens of the Rendes universe had been utterly defeated by the Human race. It was essentially a one-sided massacre. The Humans had eventually enslaved the entire universe for an unknown purpose.
Arbus had told her that information about what happened after the war had either been lost or kept secret, but it was around that time that the Renegades, an alliance opposing the humans, had been formed. It had also been the era where Heart shards had been first discovered.
After a long, harrowing and undoubtedly gruelling battle, the citizens of the Rendes universe had reclaimed their freedom as the Renegades naturally became the ruling force.
Arora's expression became somber as she recalled the history of this vast and resilient universe. It had truly shocked her. From all of that, it was quite easy to tell that the humans were the villains in this story.
She thought back to the Mornan she'd seen executed in the vision the Primordial had shown her, realizing how deeply this history had shaped them.
Her goal of one day establishing peace between the two sides, almost seemed like a fever dream now.
Despite everything, she still couldn't bring herself to believe that the Primordial was at fault. After everything he'd done for her, she truly believed his words about miscommunication with his reincarnators.
""How frustrating," she sighed. Eventually, she decided to focus on something else.
According to Arbus, every reincarnator had been blessed with mysterious powers that defied comprehension. The Primordial had never mentioned granting her such abilities. She thought it was possible he simply didn't give her one, since he wanted her to live a normal life. But she also remembered his words about how dangerous this universe was, and how he'd wanted her to kill someone for him.
She didn't believe he would ask her to do that if she wasn't capable of it.
She adjusted her glasses — which she still wore out of habit, as she stood up.
"I wonder..." she muttered, glancing around to make sure Arbus wasn't nearby.
She extended her hand and closed her eyes, thinking about the various abilities she'd read about in the few fantasy books that had been donated to the orphanage, and the ones Santa had gotten her.
She imagined fire slowly emerging from thin air above her palm, urging herself to feel power surging through her. She decided to use a quote from her favorite character in one of those novels.
"Slow and steady... feel the fire... let it burn."
Several moments passed in silence as nothing happened.
She slowly peeked at her hand expectantly and saw zero changes.
"Hmm, okay, maybe it's something differ—"
"What are you doing exactly?" Arbus asked from behind her, watching with a faint smile.
Arora immediately straightened up, nearly falling off the treehouse in shock.
"Nothing! I'm not doing anything. I was just trying my best to remember, and yeah, doesn't seem like anything's coming to me." She laughed awkwardly.
Arbus stared at her incredulously for several moments before simply turning away.
"Sure, sure. Anyway, I'm about to head out, go get ready." he said as he walked inside.
Arora couldn't tell why, but she felt like he was teasing her.
She sighed once more before heading into the treehouse.