Chapter 20: The Ascendants

“From what Mr Val guessed, he should be the one who inherited ‘that’ fragment. The eye of illusions, the fragment of the god known for his brilliant disguises and deceptions who can look into other people's true nature or even their destinies, the god of smoking mirrors, Tezcatlipoca”

“Illusions and deceptions huh, cool” Lyra nodded, her eyes glinting in amazement.

“Wow, that's so amazing to have at your disposal” Kael also shared the same sentiments. Compared to him, his powers were a bit lame. But in his defense he hasn't even explored the full extent of his eyes.

“Yeah that's good and all, but we don't know what kind of person he is. So, don't let your guard down” Mathew warned the twins in a sharp tone.

Jayden, seemingly unbothered, removed the blade that was inserted in Alhera’s heart and wiped the blood from it. It was her own blood which she just took out of the coat.

“Not bad” Jayden nodded as he cleaned the blade.

Mathew and the twins started to move towards Arthur. On the whole way, they kept an eye on Jayden to make sure he didn't make any sudden moves.

“Arthur, are you okay? Did something happen to you?” the twins asked in concern.

“I'm alright guys. How did you even end up here?” Arthur asked, his voice tinged with confusion. He had so many questions in his head.

“That’s our line. How did you end up here?” Lyra looked at him weirdly.

“I don't know. I was talking to the manager, and the next thing I know, I'm here” Arthur shook his head.

“Also, what did I even witness?” he asked as he looked at the people present with helplessness. He guessed they knew something.

“Arthur, you deserve the truth. At least this time” Mathew replied with a sigh.

“At least this time? What that's supposed to-” as Arthur was asking, Jayden cut in.

“Hey Arthur, are these friends of yours?” Jayden asked with a smile as he looked at Mathew and the twins curiously.

“Yeah, these are the ones that I mentioned earlier” Arthur replied. He was still looking at Mathew for answers.

“Seems like you made a new friend Arthur” Kael said with a smirk.

“Yeah, I guess. Brother Jayden, let me introduce you to my friends, these are Kael and Lyra, they are twins and this is Mr Mathew, our manager” Arthur gestured to the group. He continued

“And guys, this is brother Jayden. He’s been stuck in this strange place for nearly 5 years” he introduced both parties to each other.

“Nice to meet you all, I'm Jaydenl. Arthur spoke very highly of every single one of you” Jayden introduced himself without any reservation.

“Hello, Mr-” before Kael could finish, Jayden intervened.

“No honorifics, please. If you want, call me brother Jayden”

“Oh, hello Jayden bro. Thank you for looking after Arthur” Kael said seriously.

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“No problem” Jayden waved his hand with a smile.

“Jayden was it?” Mathew asked as he looked at Jayden seriously. He still had reservations about him.

“Yes, it is. And you must be Mathew” Jayden replied.

“I have a question for you” Mathew asked straightforwardly.

“Ask away” Jayden replied with a laugh.

“Do you know what kind of power you wield?” Mathew asked. Jayden looked at him for a while. There was some tension in the air.

“I'm not sure. I'm able to deceive people and create all kinds of illusions. When I do that, my eyes feel funny” Jayden replied with a sigh. In the 5 years he was stuck here, he experimented a lot with his abilities. But he still didn't know what he was.

“So, you're not aware” Mathew said.

“Not aware of what?” Jayden asked with a frown.

“Manager, it’d be better if you just explain it to him” Kael said.

“Yeah” Lyra nodded.

“Arthur, come closer. You might need to hear this” Mathew sighed as he looked at Arthur.

“What is it, manager?” Arthur asked in anticipation.

“Hmm, I think it would be better if you hear it from the man himself” Mathew said with a smile.

“You mean Uncle Val?” Lyra asked curiously.

“Yeah” Mathew nodded with a smile.

“But how can we reach him?” Lyra asked in confusion.

“We don't have to, I have something” Mathew smirked as he closed his eyes. When he opened it again, there was an ‘x’ mark in his pupils and a golden yellow Nova started to form on his hands.

“Woah…woah, what's happening to Manager?” Arthur stepped back in panic.

“Wait, you can see that Arthur?” Lyra asked in shock.

‘Just what is he?’ Lyra thought to herself as she looked at Arthur.

“Yeah, there’s something that’s coming out of him” Arthur replied as he looked at Mathew curiously.

“You’ll get the context in a few minutes” Kael patted Arthur’s back with a frown.

As the group was talking a fist-sized light ball formed in Mathew’s hands.

“Why don't we take it inside?” Jayden suggested as he looked at the light orb curiously.

Soon, everyone reached inside the bar and took a seat.

“This is a memory of mine when Mr Val was telling the tale to me and the twins. Now, Jayden and Arthur are gonna experience the same” Mathew explained as he looked at Jayden and Arthur.

Slowly, the orb split into 2 smaller orbs and moved toward Arthur and Jayden. It entered their head. Since it wasn't anything harmful, they also didn't reject it.

All of a sudden, Arthur and Jayden found themselves in the training facility. They were standing next to each other and saw the twins, Mathew and Valerio in the training facility.

“What’s this place? Kael” Arthur shouted.

“We’re inside Mathew's memories. We can only see but can't interact with them” Jayden explained calmly as they experienced the scene.

They could see everything Mathew saw, from Mathew asking Valerio about the tale, to Valerio narrating it.

Jayden and Arthur listened to everything that Valerio said patiently. Throughout the explanation, Arthur’s expression varied greatly. Jayden was relatively calm.

Even though Arthur understood what he was saying, his mind couldn't just comprehend it.

Gods? Are humans inheriting their power? Eyes?

All of Arthur's previous worldview crumbled slowly. He just stood there in shock without any expression.

Soon everything around him faded as they were back in the bar.

“That was some experience. So that's what it was” Jayden nodded in understanding.

“Kael, Lyra could also…you could also do those?” Arthur asked after he recovered from the shock a bit.

“Yeah, we can” Lyra nodded.

Kael shaped the Nova into the same monkey he made earlier.

“Are you able to see this Arthur?” Kael asked curiously while looking at Arthur.

“It’s the same monkey decor. So, I wasn't seeing this after all” Arthur replied with a sigh. All of his previous bizarre experiences started to make some sense.

“Maybe because of your exposure to this mirror world and contact with several Nova users, you can see Nova. But that’ll go away in a while” Mathew explained as he looked at Arthur.

Arthur had a look of unwillingness in his eyes.

‘I also want to use Nova. I also want to get powerful and not be helpless” Arthur thought. But there was nothing he could do.

“That's convincing” Lyra nodded after listening to Mathew’s explanation.

“So Mathew, from the memory that you’ve shown me, do I possess one of the eyes that he mentioned? Also, was that silver-haired man Valerio?” Jayden asked in confusion. He heard about Valerio from Arthur.

“Yeah, Jayden. You have one of the 12 divine fragments. You inherited the fragment of God of Smoking Mirror. You may have not even heard of him but he is known for his deceptions and disguises, he’s called Lord Tezcatlipoca. Yours is called the eye of illusions and the ones who possess the eyes of the 12 divine fragments are called the Ascendants” Mathew explained.