Meanwhile, Levi’s body might be in a coma... but his soul and mind were no longer in the physical plane.
As his consciousness returned, Levi stood up with hazy memories and the tingling pain of his soul being burned still fresh in his mind. But, when his spiritual vision cleared out, Levi forgot everything and was left gazing at the surrounding environment with a dazed expression.
’Am I dead?’ He murmured inwardly as he watched the boundless expanse’s void being dominated in green shades only.
The dirt was dark green, the air looked like fog made out of glowing pistachio particles, and even the distant void around him was mixed in beautiful ethereal green hues.
The house, the surrounding trees, even his own physical body lying unconscious... all of them glowed differently depending on how alive they felt. His body had a strong light, while the house was dull and the trees were weak and thin.
’Aether energy... there is so much of it.’
Levi was left stunned. He could feel the immense richness of Aether energy around him like nothing before... it was so concentrated, the aetheric essence appeared as clouds and a liquid paint on the ground.
Then, he looked down and saw his own body underneath him. Ash’Kral was sitting next to the bed, his paws tucked underneath him like a cat, awaiting patiently for him to awaken. Even Ash’Kral was painted in different green hues.
"Ash’Kral? Ash’Kral! What’s going on? What is this place?"
Levi shouted next to Ash’Kral’s ears, and yet... nothing. It was like he existed in a different dimension that was layered on the physical plane so thinly, there was literally no difference between them besides the color and the peculiar green wisps floating in the void.
"Is this the fabled Aetheric Realm Ash’Kral told me about, or am I in the Unburdened Realm, where souls rest for eternity?"
Levi tried to stand up from the bed, and found himself floating like a ghost...
"Shit, am I really dead? Did I fail the evolution and was sent to the Aetheric Realm to cross over to the other side?"
Levi felt his soul shiver in dread at the thought... but, he didn’t believe it yet... he could tell that something was off about the whole situation.
So, he floated toward the front door of the house... the moment he touched the handle, it dissolved into wisps of green flames, scaring the shit out of him.
He swiftly retracted his palm in dread, not forgetting for a second the hellish agony these flames had done to him... he was utterly traumatized.
But then, he found out that the flames didn’t burn him again... instead, they simply drifted aside like smoke, clearing a path.
Confused more than ever, Levi stepped outside... immediately, his spiritual eyes widened in awe and fear.
Not far from the house stood a massive shape. A flower... but not a normal one. Its giant stem looked like a leech fused with a Venus Flytrap. It had huge petals hanging open like jaws, and a long tongue, thick as a serpent, waving slowly from the center.
It was haunting and beautiful all at once... leaving Levi confused whether to be afraid or admire its beauty amidst this sea of green hues in the background.
However, his decision was made at the next sight.
Green souls shaped like dim silhouettes and small floating green flame wisps drifted toward it... the moment they got close, the tongue snatched them and dragged them into its maw.
Levi stared, speechless... he didn’t know why, but he felt like some souls even looked relieved to be eaten.
Before he could ponder deeply, he heard a voice echo across the realm... the voice was feminine, deep, and sounded like an elderly woman who had seen, heard, and felt everything.
"Heir of the Equilibrium of Chaos... what makes you so special that the Ancestral Nine Senses Tree requested a favor from me?"
She spoke in ancient IIthorien with a native-like fluency... Levi understood every word she said, and yet... he failed to respond.
He couldn’t... her question was too packed, he failed to analyze it thoroughly. Instead of wasting his time on finding out on his own, Levi asked in return, "Before I respond... who are you, Elder?"
The giant leech-like flower moved as if reacting to him... the petals widened slightly, showing more rows of dreadful inward-facing teeth, making Levi feel like he had just made a grave mistake asking her that.
But then.
"I am the Soulleech Monarch..." She replied calmly, "Owner of the Aetheric Realm... Arbiter of the Lost... souls that neither the physical plane accepts nor the Unburdened Plane claims arrive here, stuck to wander in my realm for eternity... I decide who remains and fades... and who crosses the bridge to the other side."
Hearing this, Levi was left stunned for a moment... Ash’Kral did tell him about the existence of the Aether realm, but he also told him that no one had access to it, not even the Ancestral or Primordial Trees... it was like the Boundless Expanse, but no one could enter it besides the wandering souls stuck at the passage.
Now... he was told that he met the creator and owner of the Aetheric realm? Ash’Kral didn’t even tell him about her existence.
After absorbing the information, Levi asked... his curiosity getting the best of him again.
"So you’re like Nocturn and other beings with personal authority of entire realms?"
"Yes..."
"Does that mean you’re considered an Ancestral Tree as well?" Levi raised a brow in surprise.
"Do I look like an Ancestral Tree?"
"...No." Levi shook his head, "But, I know that only Ancestral Trees and above had ownership of realms."
"What is your source?"
"Dimensional Network." Levi coughed.
"Figures..." Soulleech Monarch added, "Child, what do you think a Realm is?"
"A natural dimensional space controlled by powerful beings?" Levi replied, slightly confused.
"It seems like little Ash hasn’t taught you much... and it’s not my job to educate you," Soulleech Monarch added, "I brought you here to let you know that you are caring for a child of mine... a newborn. I no longer give birth to my kind anymore, but I can’t say no to the Ancestral Nine Senses Tree."
Before Levi could ask her what she was talking about, Levi suddenly felt a strange sensation on his palm... a tingling, then a slight pressure. He looked at his hand, and his spiritual eyes widened.
A tiny mouth, shaped like a flower with small teeth, had grown from his palm... its slim tongue slid out and moved excitedly in the direction of the Monarch, waving it left and right like it was saying hi to its mother.
The moment Levi saw it, memories of what went down in the last seconds of the ritual returned at last... he remembered how the pain had weakened immensely because of something related to his palm.
At the time, he was deaf, blind, and in pain... failing to understand what went down.
"It was you... you helped me..." Levi glanced at the toothed flower in his palm, and then he switched his focus to the Monarch, "Thank you... I was truly on my limits."