Book 21, The Peak – Chapter 27, Memories
Linley looked over carefully.
This beautiful, brown-haired Angel, in terms of appearance, did seem rather similar to him.
“Is this Mother?” Linley felt a surge of agitation in his heart.
“Master.”
But the first reaction of this Twelve-Winged Angel, after descending, was to kneel down.
“Hmph.” With but a thought, Linley immediately sent out a surge of Sovereign power to press against the brown-haired Angel, preventing her from kneeling.
Linley couldn’t help but feel a hint of vexation in his heart, and he looked sideways at Augusta, musing to himself, “Augusta must have known that the Angel would kneel upon seeing him, but he didn’t say anything about it at all.” For an ordinary Angel to kneel was one thing, but the woman in front of him was very possibly Linley’s mother!
Linley wouldn’t permit that scene to occur.
Next to him, the Chief Sovereign of Light, Augusta, let out a laugh. “Haha, alright, you can stand over there for now.”
“Yes.” The Twelve-Winged Angel was very obedient. She stood to one side, not saying a single word. Only, every so often, she would turn to look towards Linley with curiosity.
“Is she my mother?” Linley couldn’t help but give her a few glances as well.
When his mother had died, Linley had only been four or five years old. He didn’t have any memories of her at all. However, as Linley looked at this beautiful, pale-skinned woman, he had a certain feeling...as though his soul was shaken slightly. “I’ll still have to rely on Father to make the true determination! Father and mother went through life and death together; he will definitely be able to make a clear determination.” Linley mused.
In the skies of the Divine Light Realm. Linley’s wind-type Sovereign body was hastening this way, bringing his father, Hogg, with him.
“Father, Augusta has already brought out the Angel that seems to be Mother.” Linley said suddenly.
“Already?” A tinge of an excited red blush was on Hogg’s face.
“However, I can’t be completely certain yet.” Linley looked at his father. “Shortly, Father, you will have the chance to take a close look and see if it is Mother or not.”
“I will definitely be able to tell at one glance.” Hogg was completely certain.
At this point in time, a luxurious, dazzling island appeared within Linley and Hogg’s fields of vision. With green light flashing about them, Linley and Hogg entered the island.
Within the water garden.
“Swoosh.” Two figures descended from the skies; it was the green-haired Linley and Hogg. The green-haired Linley walked towards Linley’s original body, and then the two merged into one.
Upon landing...
Hogg seemed to be able to see only a single person; that brown-haired Angel, standing off to the side by herself.
Hogg’s mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything. His eyes instantly turned red.
“Li...Lina!” Hogg finally called out in a trembling voice.
The Twelve-Winged Angel turned her gaze towards Hogg, looking at him with curiosity. Ever so slightly, she frowned.
“Lina, you don’t recognize me?” Hogg immediately charged forward, grabbing the Twelve-Winged Angels hands. The Angel didn’t dare to act without permission, and so with a flash, she hurriedly dodged to one side.
“Father, don’t be impatient.” Linley hurriedly shouted.
“What is going on?” Hogg turned to look at Linley.
“Father, you tell me. Is she my mother?” Linley immediately asked.
“Yes! Absolutely, yes!” Hogg was completely certain. “They look absolutely identical. And her smell...I would never be able to forget it!” Hogg could still remember the scent of his wife, Lina, as she lay against him. Upon seeing the brown-haired Angel, he instantly became certain...
This was his wife!
“Haha, Linley, so you are searching for your mother.” Augusta began to laugh. “No wonder you care so much about this matter, Linley. I told you long ago that this was her; no need to be worried! In addition, according to the intelligence reports that my subordinates provided, in the past ten thousand years, there have only been three Deity-level Angel souls provided by the Yulan Plane; two men, one woman. Only one soul became a Twelve-Winged Angel; the woman’s! It’s actually quite odd. Ten thousand years, the Yulan Plane’s church offered that soul, but since then, they haven’t offered any at all.”
But Linley knew why.
It was because...the Radiant Church had been annihilated. Naturally, it wouldn’t be able to sacrifice any more souls.
“For the two of you, mother and son, to be reunited is a joyous occasion.” Augusta chortled as he spoke.
The Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, chuckled and nodded slightly as well.
“Right. This is my mother.” Linley didn’t hide it at all, and he looked towards Augusta and said solemnly, “Augusta, as I see it, let’s do this quickly. Give my mother her free will back, and I will give you the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts. Right. Of the blood essences, there are only twenty eight drops of Black Tortoise blood essence; two drops are missing. Thus, I added two drops of Vermillion Bird blood essence to make up for it. Is that alright?”
“That’s not too much of an issue.”
Augusta looked towards Linley, then said slowly, “Linley, I have to inform you of something. After you hear what I have to say, you can decide as to whether or not you wish to make this trade.”
Linley’s heart trembled. He sensed that new variables were coming into play.
“Speak.” Linley said.
Augusta explained, “Angels are created from souls that were sacrificed in material planes. Through the Angelic Resurrection Pools, they are reborn as Angels! There is another often-heard expression; that Angels are human-shaped weapons, and that they can no longer be considered true living creatures at all. Do you know the true meaning within these words?”
Linley frowned.
Couldn’t be considered true living creatures? What did this mean?
Augusta continued, “For a mortal soul to be instantly transformed into a Twelve-Winged Angel...how could any living creature possibly instantly increase in power by that much?”
“When they are transformed by the Angelic Resurrection Pool, even their souls are slightly changed. Their souls are now no longer contained within their minds, but within their Angelcore; the Angelcore is the nucleus of their existence!” Augusta explained. “In addition, during the transformation, their soul will be changed as well, and all of their former memories will be wiped away. The only thing left to them will be their absolute loyalty to the Sovereigns of Light!”
Linley’s heart trembled.
“Augusta, are you saying...?” Linley had a rather foreboding feeling.
“Right. The Angelic Resurrection Pools, the places where Angels are created, aren’t something that we are capable of creating. The changes they unleash upon the soul are irreversible! Your mother is currently under my control, but even if I give her freedom, your mother would be nothing more than an emancipated Angel. She still won’t have any of the memories from before she became an Angel!” Augusta looked at Linley.
Linley instantly felt somewhat lost.
He had thought that upon gaining her freedom, his mother would also regain her memories.
But now, it seemed, that was completely impossible.
Augusta’s words were quite reasonable. It was the Angelic Resurrection Pool which had transformed her. The only thing which Augusta could do was to give Linley’s mother free will; he wasn’t able to reverse the changes to her soul.
“Father.” Linley turned to look at Hogg.
The nearby Hogg had heard and understood. He knew that there was no way for his wife, Lina, to regain her memories. His face couldn’t help but turn pale as well, but upon seeing Linley turn to him, Hogg still squeezed out a smile. He sent mentally, “Linley, if there is no way to recover her memories, then there is no way. It will be as though your mother and I are meeting again for the first time.”
“Alright.” Linley nodded slightly.
“Linley, if you aren’t able to accept this, then we can just go ahead and put aside our agreement.” The Chief Sovereign of Light looked at Linley.
“No need. You can let my mother regain her freedom.” Linley looked at the Chief Sovereign of Light.
Augusta nodded, then gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.
“Eh?” Linley, through his fused divine sense, could tell that Augusta had sent out a tendril of his own divine sense into the mind of the Angel. Slowly, Augusta’s face began to turn rather pale.
“Hmph.” Augusta let out a low growl.
Suddenly, Augusta’s face turned bone white, and his entire body swayed uncontrollably. The nearby Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, waved his hand, sending out a surge of Sovereign power to press against Augusta, preventing him from falling.
“Wait a while. I need to rest a moment.” Augusta said, then immediately closed his eyes to focus internally.
“It seems as though Augusta’s soul has been damaged.” Linley watched this all happen. He had no idea at all as to the price which Augusta had paid to let Linley’s mother recover her free will. However, from what the Chief Sovereign of Death and others had said, Linley knew that there was definitely a very, very high price to be paid for allowing an Angel to regain free will.
Augusta didn’t even ask Linley for the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts; he had first immediately begun to work to recover.
And now, Linley looked towards his mother, Lina.
Lina had only been frowning pensively earlier, but now, a look of surprised delight appeared on her face. Lina looked at Hogg. Slightly puzzled, she said, “Based on the conversation you had, you...were my husband, prior to my transformation into an Angel?” Angels were all capable of logic and rational thought.
They were Angels and had no potential for future advancement, but they were absolutely dedicated to the Sovereigns.
“Lina, I’m Hogg. Do you remember anything?” Hogg immediately walked before her, his eyes shining. “Do you still remember that torrential, pouring storm of rain we weathered together on Mt. Wushan? Do you still remember our home, Wushan township? Do you remember that night when you were taken away from me, at that hotel in the city of Fenlai?”
Lina was slightly startled. A lost look appeared in her eyes, and she shook her head slightly. “I, I don’t.”
Hogg’s eyes couldn’t help but darken, but he immediately said, “That’s fine. You’ll know in the future. I’ll take you back to the Yulan Plane.”
“I know that I became a Twelve-Winged Angel less than ten thousand years ago.” Lina then let out a beautiful smile. “And I also have the feeling...that your aura seems so familiar. Even though, in my memories, I can’t find a reason why.”
Despite having had her soul transformed, there was still a hint of blurry recognition in her subconscious, with regards to the person she had loved in her former life.
“Truly?” Hogg couldn’t help but feel wildly overjoyed.
“Yes.” Lina nodded slightly.
Linley, watching this to one side, couldn’t help but feel rather satisfied in his heart. Although his mother had already lost her previous memories after becoming an Angel, perhaps because of what had happened in her previous life, she still had special feelings towards Hogg.
“How terrible.” The ashen-faced Augusta opened his eyes, the light in them slightly dimmer than before. He glanced sideways at Linley. “Although I understood that the price to be paid for allowing an Angel to regain free will would be very high...I have never actually done such a thing in the past. The price was even greater than what I had expected.”
The nearby Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, chuckled. “Augusta, since you’ve already done it, what’s the point of feeling regret?”
“Give me the blood essences of the Four Divine Beasts.” Augusta looked towards Linley.
Linley didn’t play any tricks either. Waving his hand, he made four small bottles appear. “Eleven drops of Azure Dragon blood essence, twenty eight of the Black Tortoise, thirty of the White Tiger, and thirty-two for the Vermillion Bird.”
Augusta swept the bottles with his divine sense, and a hint of a smile finally appeared on his face.
“I hope this doesn’t disappoint me.” Augusta murmured, and he collected the four bottles. The nearby Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, couldn’t help but look at the four bottles, his eyes flashing with light. He very much wanted to be in possession of those four bottles, and given his power, there was no way at all that Linley and Augusta would be able to resist him.
However, giving his pride, the Chief Sovereign of Fate, Orloff, just quietly watched as this all happened.
“Augusta, this matter is concluded. I will leave now.” Linley said.
Augusta didn’t try to keep him for any longer. Immediately afterwards, Linley took his father, ‘Hogg’, and his mother, ‘Lina’, and departed, transforming into a streak of green light which disappeared into the horizons.
In mid-flight.
Linley let out a secret sigh of relief as he watched his mother and his father chat. “It is fortunate that Mother seems to have a slight, faint impression of Father. Otherwise, she probably wouldn’t be willing to leave with us. Her memories...alas, the Angelic Resurrection Pool really is...ugh.”
There was nothing which Linley could do at all.
When ordinary mortals died, they would transform into departed souls. The weaker ones would transform into weak undead, while the strong ones would transform into powerful undead. The soul itself wouldn’t change at all, and upon becoming a Deity, the undead would regain their memories.
But Angels were completely different. His mother had been an ordinary mortal, but after her transformation, she had become a Twelve-Winged Angel, comparable to a Seven Star Fiend. For her to have increased in power by that much without her soul being impacted? Not even Linley would believe that.
“Now, the only option is to rely on time. To let Mother slowly grow accustomed to us and accept us.” Although Linley was slightly disappointed, the smile on his father’s face brought him a hint of satisfaction as well.