Legacy of the Dark Sage

'Had a hand...'

"The past you just told me. Which one is it?"

"Your insight is really something," Stella remarked with a smile. Just as she told Kyran, she had no intentions of hiding what she knew from him. She continued, "As you may have already guessed, the past I told you was the first one. After Caelan's death, I... regretted not doing anything.

"That's why I... reversed the time flow and did everything I could to change his future."

For the first time in a while, Kyran felt real fear. He once considered Stella's Time Magic to be far more powerful than his because of its nature, and hearing 'Stella,' confirm what he believe Time magic could do, he was both in awe and in fear.

As far as he knew, the Fates did not like people trying to defy the predetermined path for everyone. If someone overstepped their authority, the Fates would mete out appropriate punishment. But Stella did not seem to be restricted by the Fates' order. If she did, then the result would not have been 'successful.'

Stella gave a bitter smile as if remembering a painful memory as she went on to say, "In the end, Caelan still chose death. Even though he listened to my advice, he still decided to leave everything up to his successor."

"Caelan's legacy."

Stella nodded, "That's right. He left his legacy for you to fulfill."

Kyran did not respond but his heart had already turned cold. He hated people telling him what to do, but what he hated more was people laying out a predetermined path for him to take.

Yes, each person had their own 'destiny' they had to walk in at some point in their life, but Kyran felt that his destiny was not the predetermined path the Fates were guarding, but one that Stella and Caelan had created for him.

"Zane..." Kyran started. "How much did he know?"

Stella did not answer at once, instead, she replied with a question of her own.

"How much do you think he knew?"

Kyran gritted his teeth. She was basically telling him, Zane knew everything.

Stella took a deep breath after sensing Kyran's declining mood. She already expected his reaction. Frankly, if she was still in control, once she confirmed Kyran's negative reaction, she would revert time and try again.

Unfortunately, she was only a sliver of consciousness and could only watch everything unfold as how it should. If her successor recovers and her consciousness was still intact, maybe she could convince her to revert time to an earlier state. However, she had an inkling her successor would not listen, in fear of getting on Kyran's bad side.

"I know how you feel-."

"Do you?"

"Kyran-."

"I don't want to hear your reasons. I get that you wanted to stop your friend from repeating the same mistake and implicating her successor. To be honest, I don't really care if what I am now is the result of your meddling. I'm also not entirely against what I am now. But I hate how you disregard other people's ability to decide for themselves. Things happen for a reason, but you three..."

Kyran let out an exasperated sigh. To be honest, he felt angry. But he did not know why or who it was directed at. As he said, he understood their reasons. Only by preparing a suitable 'opponent' for the Soul Emperor could they achieve their objective of stopping Layla's successor from becoming a second 'Layla.' However, now that Kyran knew Stella could influence what would happen without receiving any form of punishment from the Fates, it made him wonder if all his decisions had really been his doing or were a result of their intervention.

As if reading Kyran's thoughts, Stella said, "We might have done things that affected the turn of events up to this point, but I assure you, all of your actions and decisions are your own."

Kyran frowned and looked at her. But instead of addressing what she had just said, he actually pointed out something else.

"You said it again, 'at this point in time.'"

Stella smiled bitterly, "That's because starting at this point, what we did in the past and what my successor tried to do, no longer affected the things that will happen. As a matter of fact, it has started for some time now."

Kyran's frown deepened, "What do you mean?"

"Have you already forgotten?" Stella asked somewhat amused at his reaction. "You met Caelan's consciousness ahead of time."

Now that she pointed that out, Caelan did say they met too soon and that Kyran was not yet ready.

"How did you know about that?" Kyran asked feeling somewhat perplexed.

He met Caelan's consciousness around five years ago and he honestly forgot if he told Stella about it. But he recalled refraining from telling anyone about their meeting because it sounded too absurd.

"I can sense Caelan's consciousness within you. But it was already faint that's why he could only observe now. That would not have been the case if you two have not met yet."

Kyran fell silent. He more or less understood what Stella meant about Caelan observing was similar to her and 'Stella's' situation - she felt the things the latter felt and saw what she saw. But Caelan and Kyran were different. Because Stella could affect her successor's emotions, while Caelan could not do the same with Kyran. This was definitely due to Kyran's Void core being sealed for a long time, thus, he was not exposed to Caelan's emotions and memories.

In any case, Kyran could still sense his Void core stirring at times. It was likely Caelan's consciousness reacting to things he could see or experience through Kyran.

"You already know he never really affected me as in the case with you and Stella."

"I suppose. But there really is something different. I can't explain it properly, but it's similar to how similar people could sense each other's presence."

"Whatever," Kyran dismissed the topic at once. He did not want to dwell on it and wanted to get back on the right track. "Is there anything else that happened that was not part of your scenario?"

"You don't have to make it sound as if we planned everything to turn this way."

"No matter what you say, what the three of you did eventually led to this day."

"Fair enough."

"And?"

"Your meeting with Haylee's other half," Stella replied with a reluctant sigh.

Kyran frowned. She was obviously talking about Cyneah and not Haylee's 'partner' or something.

Upon seeing his expression, Stella explained, "I can't tell you whether the girl resting inside the tower's walls is the real one or not. But it is true that she is Haylee's other half. Neither one is complete without the other."

"What happened to her, was it part of your scenario?"

"As I said, you don't have to make it sound as if we planned everything to—."

"Just answer the question."

"No. However, it may have been White Lily's scenario."

"It's not her."

"How can you be sure."

"I just know."

Stella did not respond. She admitted having a prejudice against White Lily because of her relationship with Caelan, thus she refrain from dwelling on it.

"What else is different?"

"Your ability to grasp the nature of both Void magic and Draconic magic to an entirely different level."

"What do you mean? I am able to use them and grasp them because Caelan and Zane's experiences were stored in my magic cores."

"True, but the way you have used them was very different from how they used their magic. An example is how you used the Sigil."

Kyran's face darkened. Indeed, he used Sigil in a different way. For one thing, he had used it on humans, unlike how his family only used it on beasts.

"Giving an example to your Void magic, you actually used it to learn other magic."

"You also know about that?" Kyran had only learned the nature of his magic and was surprised that Stella already knew about it.

"Did you forget?" Stella said with a wry smile. "My successor peeked into the future."

That was right. She did tell him that Stella gave him enough time to deal with Light.

"What else?" Kyran decided not to dwell on the subject and diverted their discussion back on track.

"I suppose, we also did not anticipate the appearance of different Sovereigns. They also appeared to be keen on recruiting you and the Soul Emperor to their side."

Kyran's interest was piqued at once. The way Stella had brought up the subject of the Sovereigns and how they wanted to recruit them sounded to him like she knew something about their reason— the War of the Sovereigns.

"Have you... witnessed what the War of the Sovereigns is like?" Kyran asked Stella.

For the first time, Stella fell silent. As a matter of fact, she also appeared hesitant.

Seeing her reaction, Kyran was convinced that Stella indeed witness the 'war.'

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