In the past, three hundred years ago to be exact, death was seen as the only truth of the universe. One day, the stars would burn out, the trees would wilt, the oceans would run dry, and life would take its final, gasping breath.
To humanity, death was a great many things.
It was a fear, one that many ran from and never dared to embrace. It was a savior, an everlasting peace that some looked at as salvation. It was a promise of eternal bliss, it was a promise of eternal demise, it was the end.
Death, in my own opinion, was a paradox.
It was a concept that was shaped by every mind that walked the earth. It was a concept that changed with every breath and new idea. It was a concept that spoke of a great many things, and never a singular one.
In my dying moments, I felt peace and accepted whatever awaited me.
I didn't care for any afterlife that others spoke of, I didn't bother with begging for another chance, all I had wanted was peace, to rest my body and mind and never wake again.
For a time, I was granted my wish.
Until I wasn't.
But you already know this.
So, where was I going with all of this?
To be entirely transparent, the world has changed a lot in the past three centuries, more than I, or anybody else could have ever imagined. And death, as a concept, too has changed.
Well, that was a slight over-exaggeration on my part. At the very least, it has become heavily altered.
The idea that through death could a new life, or a fresh start be achieved, has existed before I had even breathed my first lungful of air. I was a personal victim of such a thing occurring, after all.
But, in this new day and age, such a thing was taken quite literally.
Be it a mythical creature, animal or a person, death truly did represent a gateway to another life.
Mercuries were slaughtered by the thousands annually, having their hearts, their very essence of life, be destroyed, just to be reborn as Risen.
Babies, fresh from the womb they had spent months growing and living within, just to enter the world as dead husks that couldn't breathe nor scream. At the very least, not until Sacral Essence was injected into them and their own instincts forced their bodies back into the land of the living once again.
And finally, corruption.
A tainted and vile disease that seeped from the very basal of Tartarus. It was an infection, a scourge that festered in the souls of others, until death took them once more.
Then, as the patient thing that it was, it would bring those who died back to life, though calling it life was being generous. At best, it could be described as a mere imitation of life, an act which perverted the natural order of the world.
Whilst I could spend an entire day talking about death and all of the ways it had changed in this new world; I had gotten distracted from my original point.
Which was how my reincarnation had come about, and what the System truly was.
In its own words, the soul of Artorias had passed, and his body had remained. In contrast, the body of Arthur had died and his—my—soul had lived. I'm still unclear how exactly it happened.
Subconsciously, my mind flashed back to my last moments in limbo, where that thing which lurked beyond the darkness had devoured me, before I quickly banished the thought.
In a world where Gods supposedly existed, even thinking of them was a dangerous thing, and I wasn't at all prepared to come face to face with it again.
At least, not yet.
But I was getting side-tracked again.
The reality remained, that as a High Born, Artorias should have been born as a Risen, and as such, he should have had plenty of time to grow accustomed to the System, his own Ethos.
Except…the Ethos was a part of an Axion Core, which itself, was a part of the Omphalos, a literal manifestation of a soul, and now, that soul was gone, it was dead. So, that meant the System wasn't some divine gift from The Fates or some other deity as the stories I had read as a child painted it to be.
But instead, my own Ethos.
Which meant that I too, was a Risen.
And whilst the realization had certainly been startling, it didn't change the fact that something was, simply put, wrong.
From what Aletheia had told me about the Risen, and their Omphalos and Ethos, I was different, in the sense that my Ethos was unlike any before me.
It wasn't some limited ability that would grow as I progressed, and similarly, I didn't have a transparent screen which showed me my growth, or the amount of Sacral Essence I had to consume to grow stronger.
Really, the System broke the concept of what an Ethos truly was.
'So, what are you really?'
I had kept my thoughts open this entire time, letting everything I knew be heard by the System, and now, I waited for its response.
I didn't have to wait for long, as soon, a translucent black screen appeared before me. Within it, was a message I didn't expect myself to see.
[-][===][-]
|| [A grand theory you have created, user. But a theory it shall remain] ||
[-][===][-]
'Oh? And why is that?' I asked, feeling genuinely curious.
[-][===][-]
|| [The answer is, as you like to say, simple] ||
|| [Sacral Essence] ||
|| [Whilst Artorias Regulus may have once been a Risen] ||
|| [You are not] ||
|| [To become a Risen, one must die with Sacral Essence with their body] ||
|| [You have never beheld Sacral Essence] ||
[-][===][-]
I looked at the screen before me with a blank mind. My intelligence may have been enhanced, but I was still human, and humans…they make mistakes all the time. Just as I had in my own excitement.
"Damn it all…" My voice sounded tired even to me, and I felt like screaming in frustration. Unfortunately, Aletheia was sleeping not too far from me, so the best I could do was let out a weary sigh.
'So, what in the name of Tartarus are you?' I asked a few minutes after stewing in my own disappointment.
[-][===][-]
|| [I do not know, or maybe I do] ||
|| [You are not yet ready to behold the truth] ||
|| [As such, allow ignorance to blind you, until you do become ready] ||
[-][===][-]
I wish that I could, but my mind simply didn't work like that. It was hungry to learn, to understand and then to learn some more. Placing a mystery before me was like placing a steak before a starving and caged wolf.
It was torture in a metaphorical sense. Torture that would drive me insane until I could figure it out.
[-][===][-]
|| […For what is it worth. I am sorry user…] ||
[-][===][-]
I sighed again and wordlessly dismissed the screen before me. I was tired, exhausted, and weary and disappointed. I was in desperate need of sleep, or something that I could lash out my frustrated anger towards.
As it always seemed to be with me, the universe decided to give me the harder option.
'Why am I not even surprised.' I stood up as an unnaturally large stag stepped out of the trees before me.
Heat began to pool and build under my skin, burning through my veins with a comforting fire that would leave others blistering. Only for the great stag to open its maw and…speak to me?
"Ah, here you are, Great Dreamer."
'I am not mentally prepared for this.' I decided, coming to an abrupt halt. I wondered if Aletheia's delirium was somehow contagious.