The Great White Lion

Chapter 16: Forgive the Dead That Is Alive

Noble sat on the edge, but not too close to falling. He crossed his legs and finally pushed that breath he didn't notice he was holding this whole time. He imagined himself in what warm weather felt like when he closed his eyes. Would the birds squeak freely? Were the trees and flowers around him exotic and colorful? Vibrant even? Noble smiled to himself as his muscles began to relax by themselves.

All of it was zipped away in a flash of light, and Noble found himself unable to lift his eyes. They were too heavy. He began to panic inside his head before realizing that everything had turned into darkness and only one thing illuminated any sort of light.

It was a small wisp. It bore no shape or form. It was closest to a ball of light, Noble determined. It just floated there while Noble stood there in a quiet panicked mode, unable to blurt anything from his mouth. After a few seconds of the ball of light showing no true intentions of either harming or helping, the beast tamer finally found the courage to speak.

"W-What are you?" Noble's voice cracked, and he sounded like a scared little boy facing the face of danger.

"I am what you want me to be." It replied, no identification to what gender it may be.

"That did not answer my question." Noble sounded more confident the second time, and he went on, "Why am I not able to open my eyes again?"

"Because I am only able to contact you when you are alone with only yourself. It requires full concentration with no distractions." It explained with no emotion, "I am what you call 'a part of yourself'."

This threw Noble off by a landslide, "How is my soul able to talk to me? Aren't I just talking to myself?"

"I am you, and you are me." It said, "But I suppose it would make you more comfortable being in a form you are not frightened by." The light flashed before Noble's eyes, and soon, Noble was staring a reflection of himself but in much different clothing.

Then, it clicked.

It was himself, the "soul" in front of him. This time though, it was himself from the vision Noble had during his ritual. The memory of the dagger in his stomach in a much older version of Noble was etched into his brain. His red scarf was wrapped around his arm like his vision, but this Noble looked much younger. His light blonde hair filled in curls above his head, and unknown types of clothing wrapped around his body.

"Y-You're from that vision! When in the ritual, I saw you with a dagger in your stomach!"

"I remember my death." He said, "It was forty years ago, and way too early for me to die just yet. It screwed up a lot of things, I might say."

"Why do you bare my face? Why were you stabbed?" Noble was growing dreadfully curious, but he stayed on alert knowing that this could all be a ruse to throw him off.

"I was fighting with our brothers against the king of Hellu. They had declared war on Lunis once word got out that many Helluians were accidentally slaughtered on the Midnight Sea. Luna had whispered to me in a dream that there was a traitor among us, and it would lead to the death of one brother. I was stabbed a week before, and it was the most painful thing I had ever felt. What we had ever felt. Cedar had come too late to warn me of such betrayal." His face bore a depressing smile.

"What we felt?"

"I thought you would catch on by now, Fallen Tamer." He said, "I am you, and you are me. It is simply too easy to see that I was you in your past life. Sadly, I am the only one able to talk to you since I am the most recent life, and the others have already combined for me in the past . . ."