"This garden. It’s beautiful, is it not? I apologise for dressing you myself. I didn’t think you would appreciate waking up in nakedness, especially while lying in the dirt."
Jason said nothing in response to that, but he put his hand to his head and grunted as he heard a voice.
’Bow to the Queen, you fool!’
It was the Changeling inside of Jason that spoke, and Jason wondered why the Changling wasn’t trying to take over this body right now. Jason pressed his knuckle to his temple in irritation, and he heard Gillian speak with a knowing gaze.
"Do not worry about him, I told him to give us a moment to ourselves. I believe I owe you more than a simple explanation for the things I had put you through."
Jason immediately lashed out and grabbed Gillian by the collar before sneering in her face!
"You really think a simple explanation is going to change anything! You almost made me kill my baby! I almost killed my wife because of you! After everything I did to make sure you were safe! I sacrificed months of my life for you! I fought through wars just to reach you, and this is how you repay me!?"
Gillian’s expression was calm in the face of Jason’s anger, and she could understand why Jason was so furious! After everything that Jason did for her, she knew that Jason would have seen what she did as a betrayal, but Gillian truly had no choice but to take him as her Changeling. If she did not do that, then there was no way she would be able to defeat the Machina on her own. And there was no way she could truly repay him for the things he had done for her.
"I know that no amount of apology will make up for my actions, but I am not regretful for what I did. The Machina were a stain that I needed to erase as soon as possible, and in order to do that, I needed your power. I needed the Necrotic army within you to aid me."
Jason’s frown deepened, and he pushed Gillian away from him before turning away and going into his mind to try to speak to Gina! Jason knew why Gillian had been so desperate to kill all the Machina. When he became her Changeling, the two of them had also seen flashbacks of each other’s lives. Gillian had seen Jason’s journey as well as the family he had, and Jason had seen Gillian’s battles and how she ended up imprisoned in Aquinas. But even though he had seen all that, Jason just wasn’t interested in forgiving Gillian. Gillian’s suffering was not enough reason for her to do what she did to him.
’Gina, can you hear me?’
Jason called out to Gina through his mental link, and Jason heard Gina’s voice ring in his head!
’Jason! Where are you? Are you okay!? What happened? Are you back to normal now!?’
Gina sounded more worried than Jason had ever heard her before, but he felt a sudden sense of relief go through him the moment he heard her voice! Just the mere fact that she was safe made him calm, and Jason let out a calm breath before he finally asked.
’Gina, is Stella....?’
Jason dreaded saying the word itself. Even though he knew that it wasn’t really his fault that Stella had been killed, Jason knew that he would be weighed down by the guilt of Stella’s death for the rest of his life! But Jason was surprised when Gina suddenly spoke up!
’Stella’s fine, Jason! I managed to keep her stable for a while, and she had a skill that allowed her body to heal it’s injuries! You don’t have to worry about that! Just stay where you are, I’m coming there right now!’
Jason’s eyes widened when he heard Gina say that Stella was fine, and he didn’t even know when he let out a sigh of relief before he began to chuckle calmly! Of course, she was fine! That woman had skills for everything that could possibly happen to her! Jason could almost feel his relief threatening to drown him with how intense it was, and he finally let out a sigh as he said.
’I’m glad Stella’s fine. But you don’t need to come –’
’Don’t try to stop me. I can’t rest until I know you’re fine. We know where you are already, so just wait there for us.’
Gina suddenly went away from the conversation, and Jason huffed at his girlfriend’s stubbornness. Once Gina makes up her mind about something, there was no way you could change it. But why was Gina talking like she was coming to see him along with other people? Stella just recovered from a life-threatening injury, so there was no way that she was coming to see Jason, so then, who was Gina talking about?
Gillian responded to Jason’s thoughts calmly.
"You don’t need to worry about your betrothed. My followers are taking care of her as we speak."
"What?"
Jason turned to Gillian with narrowed eyes, and Gillian smiled sadly as she explained that her followers had discovered her resurrection, and they had gone to Atlantis a while ago.
"I knew nobody in your group would die because my followers were there to help them. They are all high-level mages, and there is a healer amongst them who can bring people back from the brink of death. There was never any chance of someone dying under their watch."
Jason was still a little sceptical about Gillian and her motives, but he couldn’t sense any lies from Gillian, and he just hummed before he turned away again. Jason knew that it was only a matter of time before his body was taken over by the Changeling once more. He could feel that bastard lurking somewhere in his mind, and the moment Jason lets down his guard, he knew that the Changeling would take control. Jason turned to Gillian and finally asked.
"Why did you betray me, Gillian? Was it just because of revenge? Did you really do this to me just because you wanted to gain revenge on the Machina? I wouldn’t have refused you if you had only asked for my help. I also had a score to settle with them, so there was no reason for me to say no –"
"I don’t have much longer to live."
Gillian’s words suddenly cut Jason off, and Jason stared at Gillian in surprise. There was a small frown on Gillian’s face as she looked out on the field of flowers in front of her, and for the first time, Jason felt like he was seeing Gillian’s true self. Gillian let out a small sigh before she reached for the left strap of her gown, and she pulled it down to expose her pale, soft skin. Gillian exposed her breasts to Jason completely, and Jason looked down and frowned as he saw the large black rune that had been drawn over Gillian’s chest. It was a rune that Jason had never seen before, but Jason could recognize some of the elements in the rune sequence, and he could tell that there was a mana-draining function in the rune. Jason asked Gillian what the hell that was.
Gillian smiled softly.
"It’s my greatest regret, and the penance for all the lives I had taken during the war. Two hundred years ago, before I was trapped within the [Cage of Eternity], I was in a battle against Overlord Rubik. He sought my destruction, and I wanted to kill him to take control of his world, but things didn’t turn out the way either of us hoped they would."