The Eternal Family

Verma blinked as she looked at Harry, ohh he looked so cool...and said, "Eh, Harry you look like a monster, I say you remove it right away?"

"It looks that bad?" Harry muttered and thought, a bit reluctant to remove it, "Can I even remove it?" He asked.

"Yes, you can Harry, it is very easy to do, you just have to reach Stage 5 of your ability, it will be easily removable with a thought then," She replied with a barely hidden smile tugging at her lips.

"Eh? It's that hard?" Harry asked, confused, seemingly missing the sarcasm.

Verma frowned before replying, "Of course, it's hard. Your [Lustful Absorption] is too overpowered to lack issues, and this is one of them, you dared to absorb an Ethereal type Gift, sure you will receive a mutation."

"Ethereal type?" that was a new word, Harry asked while standing up and walking to Verma's side, taking her hands into his as he walked out of the room, their forms shrinking as they walked.

"Ethereal Type is just one of the classifications for the endless amounts of Gifts, for example, one other class is Offensive type gifts," Verma said, even though frustrated, she didn't mind giving lessons. As long as he learns seriously.

"How many types are there in total?" Harry asked as they reached outside the room and into a hallway, he wouldn't say it, but he was quite nervous; after all, he was about to see the outside world for the first time...

"Five types, Offensive, defensive, transformative, Manipulative, and ethereal."

Harry nodded while taking note,

He didn't even know much about what this world was like, was it full of dystopian horrors? Filled with strong Gifted throwing grenade level destruction here and there?

Harry's first life memories were mostly things that happened in the royal family, and as much as he was ashamed to say it, he was a shut-in, even though he knew some basics of the world outside,

In simple words, he could be called a rich country bumpkin who only knew how to please woman and how to make them fall for him, and even that, he was skeptical of his superiority compared to others.

So he was all around nervous, but he was capable enough to not show it infront of his woman, his face wouldn't reveal such secrets.

He was a Man.

"Are you nervous Harry?" Verma asked.

Harry choked on his breath, "Why do you ask?" he questioned, with a stoic manly tone.

"Nah my man, don't put on such a show infront of me," Verma smilingly said, he was so hilarious at times. Seeing his face slightly darken, she stopped and then said, somewhat irked by his unhumorous attitude,

"Harry you..." She said and paused, she wanted to beat some sense into this guy, how dare he ignore her sarcasm, Bastard.

"Me what?" He asked irritated

"You look hilarious with that..."

"Third Eye?" He asked nonchalantly

"No..." She said, barely holding back her laugh.

"Then?" he questioned

"Face...pfft," Verma chuckled weirdly, trying to hold back but incapable,

And Harry, startled, also smiled involuntarily,

"Are you trying to cheer me up?" he asked.

ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm Stopping her weird smile, Verma nodded, "Yes, you must be pretty pissed after realizing your dickiness for the past few decisions right? You were so dumb after all...You didn't even try your abilities and stuff, not even your pleasuring touches on the bed..."

"Are you saying I'm bad in bed?" Harry clenched his teeth, fuck, so embarrassing.

Verma's hold over his hands tightened, they were standing just meters away from a broken window, their surroundings were clean and silent, bereft of any living creature.

"Harry, really, you don't have to put up a show in front of me," with a tone of absolute sincerity and resolve, she continued, "I know the principle of a Man never whines is important in a relationship...to keep a woman's respect, as you once said." She stopped and looked at his face, her eyes showing her mesmerization and love for the first time as she declared, the words taken right out of her beating heart, "But, in front of me, Harry, you don't have to act tough to gain it, all I have, from the bottom of my heart is respect for you. And from my core, at its deepest of deepest part, I don't believe something can change this fact."

Harry's heart skipped a beat. They both stood, standing on a window sill, the wind buffetting their clothes as it fluttered past, their long black hair flowing in the air,

Their faces alit with the light of a sun hidden behind storm clouds, only streaming past them that sliver of light which directly shined on Verma's beautiful face,

A distant Rumble of thunder echoed, like a soothing melody as Harry looked at the stormy clouds, he gulped, for the first time, finally coming in touch with his most deep-seated fear and inner demon voluntarily, as he asked her a question,

Similar to her, right from the bottom of his heart, "Am I even worthy of you Verma?"

Startled, Verma looked at his face, his eyes were moist, but his face was hardened and stoic, "Verma, do you know? As Ace, I was one of the most successful people alive on my planet."

She nodded. Silently moving to hug him and not looking at his face, her face buried in the soft pajamas Harry wore, in his manly chest.

"I was so capable, so talented, people sent me many gifts, I had a bunch of fans, yet all the while, when everything was happening, there was always something that gnawed at my heart."

It was subtle but his shoulders trembled, "I never cared much about anything Ver, I never did, my mind was an indifferent mess, I was a ruthless man, and now I even think I had mental issues due to my broken soul...

Yet, this indifferent me and this heartless me always had one emotion that always haunted him, eating away at my indifferent peace to add a cruel cut to me,

Inferioriority.

I never could get rid of it Ver, never could.

My attempt at making money, which I did, didn't work...I was still that man who felt inferior to his own woman.

My attempt at love did not work either...

A tear streaked down his face and fell on Verma's cheeks

"Then, I could not touch good women anymore,

My conscious which only worked when inferiority hit made me tremble when I was infront of them, I moved away, moved away from the crowd.

Fucked the worst kinds of women that came to me out of mere greed because I felt I was superior infront of them. His voice choked up.

And guess what? It didn't help me either, I only felt more and more insecure, inferior.

I see kind humans, cruel humans, and all the other people as I look all around me.

The bakery girl who gave me cookies, the school girl who told me she loved me,

The one boxer girl who was ready to die for me.

And this one girl, who truly died for me.

Yet, they never entered my eyes Ver, they never did. I didn't even care about them when I watched the Time Recap, they were just background images to me...

I could never love someone, my mind only worked when I had Inferiority.

That was the case as Ace, and that was how it had been until some time ago as Harry too...I never thought of others much more than as a tool, except maybe some people.

The wind got stronger, he could see the trees a long distance away, struggling against the buffeting wind as it arched sideways, just like him, struggling against the waves of life.

"My emotions have always been messy Verma, to the level, at a point, I gave up on them.

My heart stopped beating at some juncture, only excitement could give me some value anymore.

I tried some drugs, but they were not much of a thing for me, so I did deadly games then,

Started conquering things, it was pretty nice

I felt a bit less inferior.

But then again, as I see these emotional people, my soul cries out, why do I lack these normal things?

"And then I decided to just..." clenching his teeth, he continued, "just die...but my mind, it was just too against it, it won't listen to me anymore."

Rain started to pour, gently at the start, and heavily at the end as it continued; like a deepening sense of loneliness, it kept adding on, It made both of them wet, and their clothes started to cling to their bodies, but they didn't care, Verma hugged her one and only man tighter.

Harry looked at the clouds, the water it rained seemed more comforting and helpful than anything else he had ever seen,

It wetted his face, the cold sense of water falling from his face and clinging to his long hair with his beautiful lover in his embrace, he finally accepted the fact, he wanted to grow out of that horror.

"Verma, I am a man who reeks inferiority, a man who ended his own life and still put on a show to say he tried, a man who was so afraid of death, he had to act before he killed himself."

"Do you abhor me now?" he asked.

Verma didn't reply.

His heart clenched, maybe...it was too much, no woman would want such a worthless man after all. But he had to say it, he would rather make her his now than regret it later,

If it doesn't work, they weren't meant to be.

he didn't speak, she didn't speak.

Harry dazedly looked at the sky, Heavens, they were so partial, he wondered.

Verma loosened out of his embrace, her mind a jumbled mess as she looked at Harry's face, she couldn't take it anymore...

She shook her head and muttered something,

But the wind was too loud,

Harry leaned closer to listen,

"You are not h..." She said, her voice and face trembling in disbelief.

He couldn't hear clearly, he moved closer, She repeated what she said, her heart bleeding, "You are not...Harry."

Ace closed his eyes, this was destined.

"You..." Verma said, her heart beating like a drum in its untold anguish, it was not much of a deep-seated revelation, but her rejection of reality that kept the thought barred deep in her mind.

Her tears started rolling down, it trickled down her cheek as she asked with a tone of utter anguish..."You always knew right?"

"You always knew that long since, Harry as a person was no more, you are his true self but never him. You are a diff...different person, you are just, just a person who has a similar body,

No similar emotion, no feelings, not even the Thought Process!" She yelled with her whole body shivering against the cold water, Why?!

So HER Harry was long dead?

"Yes, Yes, Harry, Awakening, Once you reach Awakening all memories should join together!" She then said, her heart having found the sole destination for salvation.

Ace shook his head, "No, Verma, the moment my soul split and Harry lived a different life as Ace, I was a different person from my future self, I am not Harry as you once said, nor am I Ace. I...am just a different person."

Verma didn't have anything to speak, she stood there on the wide windowsill, her short draconic-transformed body trembling,

She felt dizzy

Why?

Why was this happening?

Everything was so good just minutes ago...

"Why Harry? Why are you doing this to me..." Verma sobbingly asked. the rainwater hid the emotions underneath her broken self, but it did not matter, her beloved was dead.

"I tried Verma, In fact, I tried too much. I tried to become Harry, But the more I see the influence he left in this timeline, the more I see him, the more I realize, the future me... He was different.

I wouldn't have done the things he did.

I wouldn't have been intelligent enough at times.

Or maybe confident enough at times.

I'm an inferior copy of him Verma, I...I am not him. And I will never be him.

I Am neither Ace nor Harry, Yet neither do I have a name...but Verma, I'm not the one who you are looking for.

Verma calmed down slightly, the rain seemed to be transforming into a storm, thunder was constantly ringing aloud from the distance,

"I...Is your inferiority complex affec..affecting your thoughts?" She asked, she did not know what to do, but she wanted him back, no matter the sacrifice.

Harry shook his head, "My mind is clear Verma, clearer than ever, and now, I only want to be myself, nothing more, I can't stand to be another person anymore. I...want to be myself.

I want to find who I am instead of becoming someone else Verma, You are a great woman, one of the greatest I've seen...

But you...are not mine."

Verma closed her eyes, her tears leaked through, her body started crumbling into fine ash, her lips turned slightly in a smile,

A tyrannical smile.

A devious chuckle escaped her lips, barely hidden excitement and an absolutely tyrannical expression cast on her once innocent lackadaisical face, "Keke, good work kiddo."

She vanished, lingering ash her bare remnant,

Harry looked at it, his heart trembling, turning abruptly, he looked towards the heavens,

Standing there majestically, An Eye looked at him, the third eye vanished out of his forehead,

The vertical eyes, massive with a size of a huge building from Earth with Dark black and deep pupils, stared at him and marked its prey,

Under its supremely heavy gaze, he felt like a tiny ant pitted against a massive giant. He couldn't breathe, he was suffocating.

The eye closed, its lingering slit got hidden under the stormy clouds,

And then vanished.

Verma's chuckle echoed like a distant whisper.

The world started crumbling to pieces, akin to a mirror broken from its insides.

Reality, started warping.

Breaking.