Unable to grasp the meaning behind Edavia’s words, Roel stared at her with a skeptical frown. Edavia sensed his gaze and paused her laughter.
“Don’t look at me like that. I am serious about this, though my interpretation might differ from yours. What I am referring to is a soul split.”
“Soul split?”
“To put it in another way, her soul had reached its limit.” Having finally calmed down from her laughter, Edavia leaped down onto her chair and looked at Roel. “Have you ever wondered why Sia is the Mother of All Life?”
“…Isn’t it because She is the creator and root of all Origin Attributes?”
“That’s part of the reason, but it isn’t an accurate interpretation. Life comes in all forms, and there are plenty of beings who are incapable of harnessing an Origin Attribute. How would you reconcile that?”
“Well…”
Roel fell into deep thought. Putting aside the demonic beasts, there were plenty of animals and humans who weren’t able to step into transcendence and harness an Origin Attribute.
“The answer is simpler than you think. Sia is, as Her title suggests, the Creator. If I have to draw an analogy, you can think of the world as an existence manifested by Sia’s spell.”
“I see… Hold on; a spell?”
“It looks like you have already connected the dots. Fufufu. Your mind churns fast.” Edavia clapped her hands as a compliment.
Roel slowly widened his eyes as a thought came to his mind.
“The ironclad rule of the world: all spells come at a price. The price Sia had to pay for the creation of the world was Her soul.”
“Her soul?”
“The burden of sustaining the world is borne by Sia’s soul. I know this better than anyone else, being a Spiriteer myself. She might have restricted my freedom, but I have to admit that She is a noble existence worthy of being titled ‘the Mother of All Life’.”
As Edavia recalled the past, the sinister smile on her face slowly receded to reveal a more tender expression. On the other hand, Roel’s heart jolted.
He couldn’t even imagine just how difficult it was for a single entity to shoulder the burden of an entire world. If Sia wasn’t worthy of being titled ‘the Mother of All Life’, no one was. However, he suddenly recalled Edavia’s conclusion and frowned.
“You mentioned earlier that Sia’s soul has split. That means that…”
“Mmhm. Her foolish love got the better of Her,” Edavia said with a deep sigh before unraveling the mystery.
Sia’s soul was the foundation of the cosmic spell that created this world. As an almighty being, Sia had no trouble bearing the burden of the world’s creation. However, just like how seedlings blossomed under careful nurturing, the world slowly came to prosper.
“The rapid population growth of the races exponentially increased the burden Sia had to bear. She was forced to descend upon the world and impart the Origin Attributes to the races so as to lessen Her burden in sustaining the world. She also eliminated the monsters that had gotten bloated from disproportionately consuming the world’s resources.”
“You are referring to the demonic beasts?”
“That’s right. The war between the saint beasts and the demonic beasts greatly reduced the burden of sustaining the world, while creating the conditions for the ancient races to rise to prominence. Ironically, that was also what eventually destroyed Sia,” Edavia lamented.
“!”
Roel frowned at those words.
The destruction of the greedy demonic beasts and the dissemination of the Origin Attributes were both beneficial to the world’s allocation of resources. Yet, Edavia asserted that this was what resulted in Sia’s downfall.
“Perplexed? Fufu. I would be too, because the answer is more foolish than you can imagine… Kingmaker, under what circumstances can a person make the most logical decisions?”
“I’d say it’s when a person is being rational.”
“Yes, I agree with that. What a pity that Sia was unable to do the same.”
Edavia sighed yet again as her smile finally vanished. Under her explanation, Roel finally learned the true reason behind Sia’s departure.
Assuming that rationality was the key to making logical decisions, the next question to ask was what could potentially undermine one’s rationality. There were many answers to this question, but most of them could be traced back to one thing: emotions.
Before Her descent, Sia had been an outsider watching the world, similar to a gamer engaging in a simulation. She would have been willing to do anything to ensure the smooth operation of Her created world.
But everything changed the moment she descended upon the world.
All of a sudden, the NPCs in the simulation transformed into vibrant living beings. In the war against the demonic beasts, She had found loyal subordinates, trusted aides, and close friends. Unknowingly, She had borne feelings for Her creations.
The problem was that history always repeated itself.
While the threat of the demonic beasts had disappeared, the races that had acquired the Origin Attributes swiftly developed and grew in numbers, resulting in an increased burden on Sia’s soul yet again. She began to approach Her limit, but despite being faced with the same problem as before, She couldn’t make the same decision anymore.
“War would have been an easy solution to the problem, but She couldn’t do it, not as a mother. She loved all of the races, even Spiriteers who frightened Her. Fufu. What foolishness this is! Yet, that’s also the reason I can never bring myself to hate Her,” Edavia muttered as she looked into the darkness.
“…”
Roel fell silent. It was a long time later that Edavia finally snapped out of it again.
“A mother who slowly withered because of Her maternal love. That’s probably the ending that befell Sia. You should have an inkling of the answers to your other questions now.”
“Are the Mother Goddess and the Savior the results of Sia’s soul split?”
“You can think of it that way. An existence like Sia wouldn’t just disappear into thin air. A soul split is the most likely outcome I can think of. However, that is all the more reason you need to be exceptionally careful.”
“Why?”
Roel was perplexed by Edavia’s remark. Before he could hear an answer, his body started to flicker once more like the garbled image on an old television box.
“Looks like we don’t have much time left. Fufu. I shall get straight to the point, then.”
Looking at the anxious look on Roel’s face, Edavia did away with the suspense and revealed her conjecture with a sinister smile.
“Assuming that a soul split did occur, why do you think the Savior and the Mother Goddess are antagonistic toward each other? Two entities split from the same origin don’t necessarily share the same nature. Do you think there is a distinction between good and evil between them?”
“!”
Roel’s eyes widened in wariness. Edavia smiled at that sight.
“Carefully think it through. Your life is at stake here. See you, my Kingmaker.”
Their meeting finally concluded amidst the evil god’s chuckles. Roel’s body vanished with a flicker, and his consciousness submerged into darkness.
…
“!”
It was already the following morning by the time Roel awoke from his sleep. The sun was as brilliant as ever, and a faint floral fragrance lingered in the room. He stared at the ceiling with dazed eyes for a moment before slowly getting up.
Edavia’s parting words were still drifting in his mind.
Should a soul be split into two, there was no way for both parts to be similar. If anything, they were likely to have polarized tendencies. This realization introduced quite a few thoughts into Roel’s mind.
However, he was so occupied with his thoughts that he didn’t notice a pair of eyes staring at him from the shadows.