In the kingdom of Noras, the skies are filled with golden rays of Eshyal. Darkness never arrives and the light is never gone. Not far from the palace of the God of light, Ilucia is seen near the lake. The three moons are shining in the morning sky, smiling at the citizens of light.
The chosen one, the last of Starfire bloodline gave up on everything and became a wanderer. Adira hasn't seen him since the day Ari decided to sacrifice herself. It's better if he doesn't see him again. He waits for Noras in the sitting room, staring at Ilucia from the window. His beloved wants to go there. How does he explain to her? Ilucia is situated in Noras' lands.
"Adira, I could never imagine that you would come here."
He looks at the goddess of the wind. The woman is tall and willowy, dressed in a long navy silk dress. Her dark hair is tied loosely. She plays with the strands of her wavy hair with her finger. She gazes at him playfully.
More than ten thousand years of sleep hasn't changed any god.
"Why can't I come here?" Adira raises his brow sharply. "Where's Noras?"
"He will come." Ea stops near the window and glances in the direction of Ilucia. "There were some disturbances in Ilucia."
"What kind of disturbances?" He asks her.
"Something tried to break into Ilucia." She tilts her head and frowns. "It's strange because that creature could surpass all the barriers. Even I didn't feel anything. It didn't leave any imprint behind, but we know that it had been there. A creature like that can go anywhere easily."
She turns to him and smiles. "Maybe it can also go to the abodes of gods without any hindrance."
Adira sighs. "Stop making baseless assumptions. Is there any creature in this world who can surpass the laws of gods?" Except for powerful universal gods and Ari because she's not from this world. Noras is a paranoid one. It's one of the reasons why he doesn't want Ari to come to Ilucia. Since she is unlikely to change her mind, he will come here with her after she turns into an immortal.
Ea shrugs. "Have we not learned anything from our mistakes? Some idiotic mortal always finds a way to break the rules and create troubles. As their gods, we must always try to fix their mistakes."
"There was a mortal who fixed the god's mistakes." A heavy voice cuts through the air. Adira and Ea look back at the man with light hair and vivid silver eyes. He steps toward them. "We can't always blame the mortals. We have made several mistakes in the past. If Adira's harbinger wasn't wise enough to find the right way to save the world, none of us would be here."
He's talking about Ari. Other than Mirinae and her three daughters, Aeis, and Ari's friends, nobody else knows that Ari is back. He wants to keep it that way until the wedding is done. Adira grits his teeth. It has become like this because of those two useless gods. If she hadn't married that mortal, it wouldn't be complicated. Adira had to shed his mortal body from that world after he came here. All the relationships were severed since his mortal body is dead. Now, he has to have a wedding again. After she belongs to his law, she would be able to wield the ehr of this world. It wouldn't be difficult to make her immortal then.
However, his mouth turns bitter whenever he recalls the scene that he saw when he found her in that world. Those two gods! He should have destroyed that man's soul.
"Adira?" Noras frowns at him. "Are you thinking about destroying the world again?"
"I am not." Adira clicks his tongue. "Just destroying some gods from another world."
"Oh, really? That's interesting." Noras raises his brow. "You did leave for a time. Why did you go to another world?"
"I wanted to take a trip," Adira replies with a casual tone. "I am here for a different business, Noras."
Noras studies him. After he woke up from a long sleep, he has noticed that Adira has changed. In the past, they didn't have a good relation. It wasn't exactly bad either. He and the dark god might stand at the opposite end of the spectrum, but both gods know that they are only a form of the higher will that pervades all. There's no need for a fight.
They do show off a little in front of the mortals sometimes. "What is it?"
"I need to find a soul." Adira says to him, "She used to be my harbinger. She might have committed some sins before she died. I can't find her in the reincarnation cycle. Her dues are not paid. I don't understand how she escaped the reincarnation cycle."
Escaping the reincarnation cycle without paying the debts? Noras hasn't heard of this case before. The gods of this world might miss it; however, the universal god who keeps the account of dues won't miss it at all. If the soul owes someone from a certain world, it has to return to that world to pay back what is owed. "Are you sure that she's not present in our world?"
"I am certain." Adira has looked for Kresi Mirin everywhere. He can't find any trace of her. He doesn't want anything to happen to Ari since Ari was transmigrated in Kresi's body. Maybe he's overreacting. Transmigration to someone's body doesn't mean that Ari would carry Kresi's sins.
"Just use the debt-link." Noras scoffs at him. "Why are you here to bother me over such a small thing?"
"I am not the owner of the debt." That's why Adira can't find her either. He's sure that Cina isn't the owner of the debt since Cina came to see him first. That God would have brought Kresi to him if he could find Kresi through the debt-link. Then, who owes whom? Cina would do anything to find Kresi. Adira furrows his brows, worried. "She might be the reason why Belan died. Cina is looking for her. She was my harbinger once. I would decide her punishment, but I am afraid that Cina might harm the girl's soul."
"Belan… I heard about her." Noras nods. "Cina is quite angry. Belan has completely disappeared. Even the land is gone. It seems like a deed of someone with an extreme grudge. But she should have been reborn here, especially because she was your harbinger."
Adira releases his breath. If Cina hadn't told him about Belan, he wouldn't have realized that it was his harbinger who did this. She didn't have to harm a god's child. Were all of his harbingers like this? Only Ari was smart enough to take a different route. Then, she didn't suffer as much as his other harbingers did.
"It could be the transfer of the debt." Ea chimes in. "If her debts were transferred to someone else, she would be released from the reincarnation cycle. I am curious who is foolish enough to take someone else's debts."
There's some silence. The dreadful feeling in Adira's chest becomes stronger. Why does Ari's face come to his head? She isn't that much of a fool, is she? No, his Ari won't do something like that. He goes through his memories to remember everything that happened since he met her. His earliest memories are a little hazy.
"I don't think that there's anyone like that," Noras says to his wife and laughs. "It's the debt of a harbinger. It has to be someone equal. There was only the Renasir. I heard that the last Renasir and the last harbinger were the same. Then, it shouldn't be possible."
"..." Adira is speechless when he hears Noras' words. Kresi and Ari are different. It was Ari who became both the harbinger and the Renasir. Kresi was only a harbinger. Did Ari take Kresi's sins? When did she do that? Did she do it accidentally? "If the sins are transferred to another soul, what happens to that soul?"
"That soul would receive the same punishments that the original sinner was meant for." Noras knits his brows. "Is it the transfer of the debt? If it is like that, who did she transfer her debt to?"
"But what if she saved the world?" Adira fists his hands. "All the gods of this world owe her."
"Your harbinger?" Noras wrinkles his brows, confused by Adira's words. "Are you saying that your other harbinger transferred her sins to your last harbinger who saved the world?"
"Yes," Adira utters, breathing rapidly. "They were different people. My last harbinger was also chosen as the Renasir. If she carried sins of someone else, what would her punishment be?"
Noras watches him quietly, contemplating. The last harbinger died. Her soul dissipated into nothing. The sins should have been transferred to the world. If that happened, the entire world would be paying for it. The gods would also bear the burden. "If she is alive, she has to pay back the person whom she owes. The world would be indebted to her while she's indebted to that one person. In the end, it depends on the debtor."