LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 286: HOW FAR DID HE SEE!?
James began to look at the painting more carefully as he heard Vladimir's voice churning in his mind, even if he didn't know who the woman in the painting was, just looking at her image was strangely comforting to his soul.
[Impossible...she should have been dead before the war started.
[I can't believe my eyes, ask Victoria, it must be a mistake!]
[I saw it! I saw the moment this woman died with my own eyes! I MADE IT REAL!!!]
[There's no way such a thing is possible, it must be a mistake, she must be a descendant of that woman.]
These messages, one after the other from different people, seemed to make James more and more curious by the second.
"Who is this?" James thought in his mind, he had to find out.
Vladimir stayed where he was, excitedly stepping out of the ring and watching the picture with his own eyes as he managed to materialize in the tangible world and reveal himself to everyone.
Victoria and the other vampires did not seem to expect to see Vladimir.
"I ask you again, Vladimir, who is she?" James repeated himself, not even surprised that Vladimir was able to show himself in the tangible world and focused only on hearing the answer to his question.
Vladimir continued to stare intently at the painting and kept moving closer and closer to it as if refusing to believe what he was seeing.
Almost a minute later, he uttered these words:
"This...this woman is Juliet."
James' eyes widened when he heard these words, he realized that what he had just heard was nonsense, why all these messages were coming one after the other in a way that indicated surprise.
"Are you kidding me?" James couldn't help but ask, but the response was the same:
"This is Juliet, my best friend and Desmond's best friend, the woman who fell first and caused me to lose it."
James instantly fell back against the throne behind him and put his hand to his forehead. Continue your journey at My Virtual Library Empire
"So she was alive? But you saw her die, didn't you? Every one of you, including Hyperion, that's what I was told!" James said, his voice echoing through the throne room, making the atmosphere even more tense.
Vladimir stared at James and shook his head up and down, unable to say anything.
"Two million years, officially the history of war, the war my ancestor fought and the reason why the war started so early, was she alive?" James questioned and with that Victoria took a few steps forward and asked, "Is something wrong, sir?"
James heard Victoria's voice right in front of him, looked at her with a strange expression and then closed his eyes painfully and shook his head as if he had solved the secret of the universe.
"We knew what he was trying to do, he was working for my development. The deal he made with Chaos, trying to erase memories of himself and so much more!!! Juliet had to know about all of it, she knew and she must have come here on her deathbed. After all, the Vampire Empire knew about Juliet and my ancestor. They were your best friends after all," James said suddenly. Indeed, everything was starting to come out like the light of day. It would be normal for even the dumbest creature to be able to figure things out, with just a few thoughts everything was solvable.
"It's...possible, but why didn't she come with me? If Juliet had said she was alive, everything would have been easier. And Drak, why exactly did my brother agree? Especially since this report came from a human," Vladimir questioned.
"My ancestor might not have known Juliet was alive either. And that could suggest why Juliet didn't show herself. Think about it, the war was a long time away, and every single person was ready to support my ancestor, but he couldn't move forward, all he would need was the support of those upstairs," James added, scratching his head with the stress and tension rising with each thought.
"I don't understand..." Vladimir muttered after hearing these words.
"You see the lock between the 74th and 76th floors, the seal on the 75th floor and the treaty. Everything had to happen one after the other since the outcome of the war was to be won or lost. They kept talking about Juliet as one of the cleverest, in which case...Juliet might have wanted to start the war, to set fire to that board where my ancestor might dare to advance. To light the fires of war..." James replied.
Vladimir shook his head and said, "But Juliet could have done it in consultation with me, the only reason I got bored with everything and got greedy was because my two friends were no longer what they used to be. Your ancestor, in his greed for life and eagerness to end the war, agreed to leave everything behind in the fire, while Juliet died outright...."
Vladimir's eyes widened as he said those words and then he muttered, "Fuck off..."
James turned to him curiously and asked, "What happened?"
"Don't you see, the answer is right in front of us," Vladimir muttered and then waited a few seconds before continuing:
"Your ancestor must know everything. The fire was lit to start the war. The white wizards had already betrayed, them the dark magic had taken them over. When the Fallen Gods dominated everything, Juliet must have made a plan with your ancestor to make it look like she sacrificed herself. With that, the upper floors would go mad, and their beloved Juliet would be gone. It drove Hyperion himself mad. I betrayed the ancestor and locked myself in one of the secret floors under Ruby's watch until you found me. So the prophecy would work, the prophecy of my brother Drak wishing and hoping that you would come here."
When Vladimir said these words, James and every single person who had been watching and knew anything about what had happened was once again filled with curiosity:
[How much had Desmond planned?]
"Understand James!!!" Vladimir suddenly shouted and with that, he began to speak:
"Whoever will murder one of our kind will be a member of the highest blood. A human being, his fate will be as he has written it. He will use blood, like breathing. He will control all vampires and be present in the middle of the battlefield when the great destruction reaches the tower's interior from the outside, leading them to the front lines and showing them all the reason for honour, truth and existence. Until he becomes the master of blood, life and destruction."
Vladimir repeated his brother Drak's prophecy of foresight and then continued:
"A man without a destiny will write his destiny, his future will change with every step he takes, and every breath he takes will pull him in another direction. My brother himself must have realized when he saw Juliet that the war would begin and that there would be another in the future. The heart of the war, the way it works, the way the army is structured. Someone who can control all the vampires, who can be like the vampires themselves. Someone who aims to break through the tower. Someone who dares to stand up to the threats in the tower."
Vladimir was silent after these words and remained where he was for a few seconds, neither moving nor closing his eyes.
"Your ancestor....Desmond himself wanted all his life to elevate humans, to make a superior race!!!" Vladimir suddenly shouted.
"We always thought so..." he added calmly.
"But what if everything is different? What if it's all a deception? What if he has another plan, a main goal? Imagine; the creator loves an ordinary human being who manages to kill Fallen Gods, and all his life he keeps showing that he intended to do something." he muttered, the madness in his gaze adding to the depth of the situation.
"We don't know why the Fallen Gods fell to greed, we don't know where they got the black magic, we don't know how they learned to defile mana and the aura itself, which is considered sacred! THINK JAMES!!!" shouted Vladimir and instantly grabbed James by the shoulders.
"REMEMBER WHAT MY BROTHER SAID!!! REMEMBER THE PROPHECY!!! THREATS FROM OUTSIDE THE TOWER!!!" he screamed.
"Even the Creators have fallen...they have become Fallen Gods. Erebus and Nyx and Hades and Zeus and Poseidon and Odin and Thor and Loki and Indra and Ashura and Ra and Osiris and Anubis and Amaterasu and Raijin and Izanagi and Izanami and the creators they destroyed with their own hands?" added Vladimir.
However, he took a few steps backwards and then said, "But what about the creatures created with great harmony by Chaos, the master creator, how did they become so polluted? How were they driven to destruction and war? What exactly are the threats outside the tower?"
After these words, he grabbed his own chest and shouted one last time, literally grasping his own soul:
"DESMOND!!! HOW MUCH HAVE YOU LEARNED?!?!?!?!?! HOW MUCH DID YOU PLAN, OLD FRIEND?!?!?!?!"