The Kind of Evil

‎Rasmus was being held by his mother, who was sitting in a chair on the balcony. They both stared at the peaceful night. The breeze was too cold for Rasmus's small and fragile body, but Aris held him tightly, giving him her body's warmth.

‎Rasmus still couldn't believe that he had relived the past, and how his mother could tell he came from the future. His mind couldn't comprehend what was going on and how it was possible. However, he believed that his awakening made him remember every detail of his past, or at least Rasmus's past.

‎"My child..." Aris carefully caressed Rasmus's forehead with her thumb. "Where should I start?" She muttered as she looked down at him.

‎Rasmus could only stare into her mother's eyes, realizing that there were a few details of her face that were similar to Aris's. They both had the same gaze, and their voices were almost identical, which was unnerving.

‎"To relive the past, you must be so confused right now," Aris said as she stared at the vast sky. "However, it's not something that you can't understand. Humans relive their past through dreams. However, for us, reliving the past isn't a dream. We are present in this moment, living the moment," she continued, her eyes were gentle, similar to when Aris stared at the vast sea before Rasmus relived the past.

‎"Now you must be wondering how you can relive the past with your mind from the future," Aris looked down at Rasmus. The answer is because I'm the one who forced you to come back to my present, right now," she explained.

‎For the first time, Rasmus couldn't comprehend someone's words and explanation. There were too many missing pieces to conclude what was going on. He wanted to ask a lot of things, however, he couldn't form a single word with his tiny and toothless mouth.

"Look at your expression, trying to understand it," Aris chuckled as she looked down at Rasmus with a sweet smile on her face.

Rasmus was shocked when he heard the chuckle of an Orthias, especially his mother. All he remembered about his mother was nothing but a cold woman who could be said to be a stranger to him. He didn't remember anything about her since he had never met or remembered her during his childhood. He didn't expect that his mother was gentle, nothing like Aris, which made him curious how an Orthias would be so caring.

"I'll explain it to you in the simplest way..." Aris opened her left hand as a light blue energy came out of her palm. She then reshaped the energy into a string of light. "This string is my life from the moment I got personified to the moment before you were born..." she explained.

Rasmus watched the string expand until suddenly it had a branch that expanded right below the original string. He furrowed his brows, confused about what that branch was, and why suddenly her life had been split into two ways.

"That new string that appears from mine is yours, my child," Aris explained as she pointed at the new string. "Orthias aren't like humans or any other animals. We don't breed, we get personified. However, you're different, and that's why you don't have your own string; you're using mine to exist," she continued.

Rasmus tried to understand it, and thought perhaps the reason he could relive the past was because Aris pulled him back to the past, because his life was also hers to begin with. He wondered if that was the case or not, but when he slowly lifted his heavy head to look at Aris, and when his eyes met Aris's, she smiled gently at him, nodding her head.

"Somehow I can understand your thoughts through your eyes," Aris smiled and caressed Rasmus's cheek.

Rasmus turned his head to look at his string, and he tried to reach it with his tiny hand, hoping that Aris would understand his intention and question. Aris realized his way of communicating when she saw him trying to reach his string.

"You're wondering how you were born and how I could get pregnant like humans do?" Aris asked as she looked down at Rasmus.

Rasmus looked up at Aris and tried to nod, but his neck was still too weak to move.

"I don't," Aris smiled as she shook her head. "I sacrificed half of my power and life to give birth to you," she answered. "Why do you think I will die in the future at the hands of humans? It's because I have given half of my life and power to you, my child," she continued as she caressed Rasmus's hair.

At that moment, Rasmus realized that Orthias, or perhaps an Aristoria, could see the distant future to the point of their deaths. However, that also raised questions as to how she couldn't prevent that from happening, and how she could see his future, which didn't make any sense at all. That also made him realize how powerful Orthias was to be able to predict the future.

"Look at you, dumbfounded by the revelation," Aris chuckled as she nuzzled her nose against Rasmus's nose. "I don't predict the future or that it is predetermined, it's the path I have chosen, child. Your future is yours to carve, but I can see yours as well, and they're rapidly changing, which is quite intriguing to look at. The world where I'm living right now is a lot more complicated than you think if you're wondering how I choose death over living. It would take days to explain everything to you, which I don't want to waste our limited time together here," she answered.

Rasmus found the answer to two of his questions, which were how she accepted her fate and how she could see his future because he was a part of her rather than a separate individual. Another question popped into his mind, and that was how she could see his future, which meant that she knew the hardships that he had to bear after his parents died.

"Do you see my string there?" Aris pointed at her string that kept expanding beyond her time. "You must have heard that every Aristoria came from the same origin as their predecessor," she said as she kept staring at her string.

Rasmus remembered that Aris from his time said something similar, that once an Aristoria died, they turned into Mana again, and that Mana would become the next Aristoria. He found that revelation to be fascinating, and with that being said, he had been wondering if Aris from his time was actually his mother from the past.

"That's right, the one that you met and stayed by your side, she was me, but she wasn't me at the same time. Just like you," Aris looked down at Rasmus with a smile. "You're not my child anymore, aren't you?" She asked as she stared into Rasmus's eyes.

Rasmus's heart skipped a beat when Aris confronted him so suddenly, and how she could tell that her son, Rasmus Blackheart, was both him and not at the same time. Videl did say that he was Rasmus Blackheart in this world and not Kyros, but it wasn't that simple since it was similar to Serena, who was both her and another soul that possessed her body.

"It's okay, that doesn't change the fact that you're respecting my child's memories and making them yours," Aris smiled gently at Rasmus. "You're still my son and will always be my son. Do what you must, and live for your own sake, and I'm always in there, deep within you," she continued and kissed Rasmus on the forehead.

For the first time in his life in the new world, he was speechless, unable to think of anything at that moment. He never thought there was someone who could see through him, to be understood. That feeling was foreign to him, and he felt both comfortable and uncomfortable. He was an orphan in his past life as Kyros, and he never knew how jarring it was to live in the new world to have parents.

"You can't change the past, but you can relive it..." Aris muttered as she closed her eyes and leaned back against the backrest of the chair, holding Rasmus tightly. "The future isn't determined, but many things determine your future, and one of them is the deeds and actions you do. Humans tend to forget that their actions in the past, the actions they have long forgotten, lead them to the future they didn't expect. Blaming fate and destiny while they were the ones who caused their future," she continued.

"No one is destined to suffer in life, they're either the ones who put themselves in their situations or someone else did," Aris fluttered her eyes open and looked down at Rasmus. "What you had experienced they were caused by me and those humans. However, it wasn't your fate, it was the fate of my child. Your fate begins once you take my child's body," she continued.

Rasmus was confused about where the conversation was going with those words Aris said. He could only stare and wait for her to show him what was the purpose behind those words.

"You're my son, Rasmus Blackheart. You feel the pain, the nightmare, and the suffering you had to endure. You have awakened your bloodline as Orthias now, and you do what you have to do. What I want to say to you is, bring down those who are trying to make you suffer because you're no longer a human nor weak," Aris said with a cold gaze staring into Rasmus's eyes.

At that moment, Rasmus saw the same coldness and heartlessness as Aris in his timeline. His mother showed that she was indeed the same person as Aris, only with different memories and experiences. However, his mother's gentleness was quite shocking to him.

"It's time to sleep, my baby," Aris smiled as she stood up and held Rasmus in her arms.

The moment Aris began to hum a lullaby, Rasmus couldn't resist the sleepiness because he was in the body of a baby. His consciousness was fading, and slowly he fell asleep as Aris's humming echoed and faded away.