?The 42nd day since he entered the Spring of Abundant Life ended when his vessel was finally complete. He didn’t know how it was possible or what exactly he had done, but his vessel was complete–and perfect.
Daniel Fang looked down on his fair, unscathed hand, a bright smile on his face. His hand had been covered in scars and calluses from the thousands of hours he’d spent training and fighting. The fairness of his skin surprised him as well. It felt like eons, and he had such fair skin. Danny couldn’t remember the last day he had such fair and smooth skin. It was probably long before he manifested his War Rune.
A wry smile formed on his lips as he looked back to that time. He sighed deeply and looked at the unconscious boy lying next to his feet. The boy’s long hair covered a good portion of his face – a bright, smiling face. The silver strands of his hair stood out, highlighting his already great appearance.
Daniel wasn’t sure how, but Michael’s skin was still fair, and he wasn’t covered in scars or calluses. His healing Soultrait did a fantastic job at keeping his body in perfect condition. If it had been anyone else, Daniel would have been jealous. Then again, even Daniel was sometimes slightly envious of his brother’s power.
It was hard to imagine that his younger brother was several times stronger than he had ever been during his lifetime. Daniel could never be as strong as his brother when he was alive. No. That wasn’t correct anymore. In his last lifetime, Daniel couldn’t be as strong as Michael. Now that his second life was getting started, the situation changed. Maybe…just maybe…he could advance and grow strong enough to stay by his brother’s side.
That thought was enough to make him smile. A bright, shit-eating grin blossomed on his lips.
Michael stirred on the ground. His bright smile distorted in discomfort and his eyes shot open. His lips parted, ready to shoot up and block Selena’s next attack, when an overly familiar face appeared above him.
Black hair, a shit-eating grin, eyes as dark as if they’d swallowed all light that reached them, and a face Michael could never forget stared down at him.
“DANNY!!” Michael shouted, forgetting all the displeasure he’d felt over the last 24 hours – or the previous six weeks.
He jumped up and embraced his brother as tightly as possible, or so he would have done if he didn’t hear his brother groaning in pain a second after they hugged. Michael used too much strength, forgetting that Daniel Fang was nothing more than an Unawakened. He wasn’t even Tierless. Daniel Fang hadn’t even formed his Energy Pillar yet!
But that didn’t matter. His brother was alive. He was actually before him, standing there…grinning from one ear to the other!
Michael could feel Daniel Fang. He could embrace him.
Tears welled up in his eyes. All the effort he’d put into resurrecting his brother was worth it. Daniel Fang was back!
“Yes, yes. Stop hugging me like a bear, though. I don’t want to die second after the Living Soul fused with this body. I’m still getting used to all of this, but I can already tell that you’re hurting me,” Daniel laughed, responding to Michael’s hug by embracing him as well.
“I’m glad to be back,” He murmured.
Michael smiled vibrantly, “Me too. I’m glad that you’re back!”
It felt like a dream, but Michael knew it wasn’t. It was real. His brother was back!
His brother also looked like before, though he had much shorter hair, and his skin wasn’t burned from the searing sunlight of the Sacred Desert. Other than that, his brother was the same. Even his voice sounded just like before.
“You look tired,” Daniel smirked, “Selena beat you up quite a bit in the last, what…few weeks?”
The Nest Leader stepped forward when she heard her name. She didn’t plan to interrupt the boys, but it was necessary to get this over with.
“It’s time to leave,” She urged in a somber tone, “Daniel’s body is currently volatile and prone to the curse power’s influence. He managed to create a flawless vessel and learned how to move right away – which is very impressive, for the records – but it would be unwise to stay in this place or anywhere near a Curse User for a long time.”
Selena turned to Daniel with a smile, “I’m Selena, the leader of the Nest, but I think you know that already. Since you’ve been using Michael’s senses to look, see, and sense everything around you, you must know everything we’ve been talking about the whole time. The curse power of Curse Users is very potent and can influence Lesser Lifeforms a lot. Since you don’t have any impurities in your newly formed body, the curse power might course through you rather than clinging to you – or your non-existent impurities – but I don’t want to experiment.
Selena cleared her throat and smiled wryly.
“My curse power,the curse power in this place, or even Michael’s curse power might influence you more than others. Who knows? A perfect container created from a Living Soul is something new for me as well…and that means much more than the two of you might think.”
Daniel nodded thankfully to Selena, “We can leave at once, but how am I supposed to avoid being close to a Curse User? I’m an Unawakened and I don’t think I can get another territory in the Origin Expanse as well. I don’t even know if it’s possible for me to form a War Rune in the first place.”
“Since you’ve formed a War Rune once, you won’t be able to do it again. It shouldn’t be possible,” She agreed, but lifted her hand to stop the brothers from saying anything, “Fortunately, I have my ways to create an artificial War Rune. It’s like a normal War Rune, but you won’t be given a territory, a Fortune Summoning Scroll, or an Awakening Stone.”
Selena pointed at Michael, “It’s a good thing your sibling can throw a bunch of Soultrait Symbols at you.”
The brothers gazed at each other, both thinking about the talk about being Fateless and Twin Fates. Their minds drifted to the Awakening Stone in Michael’s possession, and they started grinning. Selena didn’t miss their grins, but it didn’t seem weird to her. The brothers reunited just now. Obviously, they were happy, right?
“I don’t need a territory. I would love to stay in Michael’s territory,” Danny stated with a shrug, turning to Selena, “That shouldn’t be a problem, right? As long as I’m not constantly around Michael, exposed to his curse power, there won’t be any major issues.”
Selena gave him a thumbs-up and smiled as well.
“Let’s go then!”
Even before Michael could tell his sibling he would help him regain his Lord Powers, Selena dragged them out of this place. She released her energy and enveloped the brothers before pulling them outside. There was no time for anymore chattering. They had to leave!
They left the rift and returned to the wide-open space, where Daniel feared that he would freeze to death instantaneously. Fortunately, Selena’s energy mantle kept him warm and protected.
Selene retrieved an object and continued smiling.
A moment later, they disappeared from the wide-open space.
They emerged in a massive room with hundreds of pictures of men and women from various races.
“This is my room in the Nest. Don’t bother looking around. It’s perfectly isolated,” Selena stated lightly, cracking her neck and stretching her stiff muscles.
“It’s time to initiate an Awakening!”