Heaven's Greatest Professor

The world shifted as he found himself in a different plane of existence. Various shades of colours swirled around him while his sight wavered.

Soon, he found himself in a towering building which was nothing like the habitats he had seen in the last couple of months. Similar tall skyscrapers surrounded the one he was in. A few flying vehicles flew by as he stared at them from the other side of the clear glass.

However, his attention soon shifted from the highly technological vehicles to the inside of the room. Ariha—the adult one—was already in the room, standing on the other side. He moved over to find she was staring at a boy, laid on his chest on a couch, drawing something on a tablet... Holding a stylus which was very different from a rune engraving stylus.

Why does all this feel familiar? he thought as soon as his eyes landed on the sketch the boy was drawing...

It was a picture of a woman, barely half done, but through the strokes and simple frame of the shape, he could tell it was someone very close to him... Someone...

"It is my mother," he mumbled, drawing closer to clutch the boy... however, before he succeeded, the vision shifted as all the colours whirled around him.

Only the figure of the celestial woman was present, standing in her spot.

"What is this?" he glared up at her without even trying. "Illusions, I swear if—"

"We will find out soon," she said, and soon they were in a new environment.

Nothing futuristic like the skyscrapers before, but a darker place. The vibe suggested it was some underground place, with dimming light. The smell of sulphur was in the air, along with other substances mingling together to create an obnoxious vibe of the place.

And then there, he found himself. The boy was merely ten years old, but the one he was seeing now was about a decade older, standing close to six feet tall, but not as tall as he was right now. His hair wasn't white or grey either but dirty black with grime and dirt infested in it. But he made no mistake in recognising himself. Discover stories at m,v l'e|m-p y r

I guess inheriting the celestial inheritance tells a lot about myself, he thought as he saw the younger version of him digging a pickaxe into the mining field to harvest crystallised fire essence. He certainly wasn't great at it, evident by the barely any speck of superior strength in his body... not to mention how sick he seemed.

"These were from the slavery days," he mumbled, feeling lost. He had found that out about himself some time ago, but just a moment ago, he learned he was from a well-off family... how did it turn out like this?

Before he could ask any questions or jump to the next string of his past, the scene changed. He turned towards Ariha...

The surroundings changed, but they were still in the underground mining facility, albeit in a different compartment. It was a small quarter carved into the stones, and within sat two people—his younger self and a woman who was instructing him. Both of them were very lively in whatever they were teaching or learning.

He recognised the woman too, and looked up at her more emotionless version.

"Is that what you wanted to see?" he asked, drawing in a frigid breath.

She finally lifted her head to shoot him a gaze. Her lips curled up. "It is what you wanted to see," she said, turning her gaze back to the memories unfolding before their eyes. "I'm but a ghost of the past... I have no wants..."

Before he could ask her more questions, they moved from the memory once again. This time it was outside, on a battlefield, where two opposing forces charged at one another in a demolishing clash. Thousands of warriors died in a matter of moments after the battle began.

They found him leading one legion of the soldiers on one side, his hair still dirty black with grime and blood, though a few inches taller than before. The naivety of youth could no longer be found in his expression as he charged into the battle, screaming commands at the top of his lungs.

"So..." he said to her as they appeared in the sky above the battle. "What about our battle... I mean the five-minute challenge."

Ariha said nothing for a moment, her eyes glued to the younger him on the battlefield.

"The challenge is over," she announced. "You have passed."

"But it's only been four minutes and..."

She shot him a smile, which seemed to lighten the mood a little. "Do you still want to go for another minute?"

He swallowed back his words. He wanted to say yes, but he didn't think his chances were all that good, leaving him with only one more trump card which only lasted for six seconds. Unless he made a huge improvement, like full mastery of the Void Vanquishing Physique, he didn't see himself surviving.

"Don't lose heart, dear disciple," said another voice, "you simply pushed me to bring out more of my power a minute earlier. Be proud you withstood a thousandth fraction of my power for a fraction of a moment without perishing."

The younger avatar of Ariha, whom he had spent most of his recent time with, came to stand behind him.

"What? How are you here?" he blurted without thinking.

"What, am I not welcome in your mind?" she said, blowing air from her mouth.

The battle progressed fast below as the scene moved on...

"[Mandate of Renewal] is a peculiar domain ability which lets me interact with spirit records, and the origin of all things," she continued. "But in my—" she turned to shoot the other her a look "—our incomplete state, it is impossible to fulfil your wish."

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Is it not your wish to regain your memories?" the elder one asked.

"Did I read wrong?" the younger Ariha said, smiling softly.

"It's not, but—" They—Ariha had already given him too much for him to ask for anything more. Then again, he really would have asked for a way to recover his memory.

"We don't have much time," the elder one said as the scene continued. "The faux Elysian will collapse at any moment..."

The younger one came to face him. "Looks like we have to give you the parting gift quickly," she said. "There's still so much stuff you did not know, so much we could teach you... I guess I wouldn't be too worried about leaving it in your hands."

With that, she drew her palm on his chest and began transferring her essence into his radiant heart.

"You asked about learning healing spells, no?" she said, smiling. "This will help you greatly."

Radiant silver essence flooded his heart as the script formation shifted to make space for the silver essence.

"But what about you?" he couldn't help but ask.

"What about me? Didn't you hear her? We are but ghosts of the past, echoes made out of our records..."

"But you have distinct consciousness. I am sure you can figure out..."

She shushed him, putting a finger on his lips. "I know you don't want to part with me..." she said. "You want something to latch onto, all the revelations you have discovered in this trial. But our existence isn't meant to be anything more than we stretched so far..."

"Find the real us who knows you truly," said the older Ariha. Her eyes had turned vacant.

"But until then, keep us in your mind. You have a job to finish."