The Glorious Evolution

Chapter 617: Ozha.

Levi kept screaming, struggling to comprehend what he was seeing.

He knew he was looking at the Warden’s face... yet every attempt to grasp its appearance left his thoughts faltering, as though he lacked something essential to understand it.

It was as if he tried to imagine a color beyond every color he had ever known.

Only in this case... what conquered his sight was an infinite dark hollow.

He quickly covered his face and turned away, but the darkness followed... widening until he no longer felt his palms against his cheeks.

Then, Levi found himself falling.

He desperately reached out, searching for the lantern’s walls, its floor... anything to stop his descent.

Alas... his fingers closed around nothing.

Meanwhile, the Witch’s screams faded somewhere above him.

He tumbled deeper into the hollow, unable to tell whether his spiritual eyes were open or shut... There was nothing around him, yet he felt horribly exposed.

As he kept on falling, Levi felt that something waited below... something that left him wanting nothing more than to turn around and keep himself from seeing it.

But he couldn’t...

His vision remained fixed on the darkness at the bottom of that endless hollow, until it split open... revealing a single eye so vast that its edges disappeared beyond his vision.

Levi lost consciousness the instant he saw it.

He didn’t know what he had seen, and his mind chose to shut down everything rather than spend a single moment attempting to comprehend it.

His reaction was shared by the Witch as she collapsed right next to him almost at the same time... her strength and spiritual prowess meant nothing before it.

Seeing them collapse, the Warden let out a faint sigh and lowered Levi’s lantern... his other hand pulling the straw hat farther over his face, hiding it again.

"Ozha... what’s going on?"

His soft voice had barely faded when the inscriptions along the lantern’s wooden frame began to shimmer.

Soon, countless tiny stars gathered above Levi, forming the familiar figure of the Omnithar Genie.

Yet, instead of answering, his attention immediately landed on Levi’s unconscious soul.

He lowered himself beside him and reached toward his forehead, causing the Soulleech Maw to extend its tongue and lash at him, akin to a viper trying to protect its master.

"Easy... little glutton, I am only checking on him."

Ozha reassured it gently, waiting for its petals to part before placing his hand against Levi’s forehead.

Only after confirming that his soul remained intact did he sigh in relief.

He carefully settled Levi’s head, then stroked the Maw’s trembling petals... allowing it to remain curled against him.

Throughout this, the Warden waited without urging him, keeping the lantern steady despite the mule’s swaying steps.

"It has been a long time, old friend."

Ozha finally raised his head and greeted him.

"Indeed... though I never expected our reunion to take place in a lantern."

"Neither did I." Ozha glanced at the space around him. "But I assure you... I have lived in worse places."

A small chuckle escaped the Warden.

Hearing it, Ozha felt a trace of familiarity return... even after so long, his old acquaintance still sounded the same.

His gaze drifted toward the line of souls disappearing into the haze.

"After all this time... does walking the same road never tire you?"

"It is only the same road to me..." the Warden replied gently, as he looked behind him. "Every soul behind us is walking it for the first time."

The Omnithar Genie remained quiet for a moment... not expecting his old friend to share the same gentle sentiment still, even after eons had passed.

Unlike everyone else, the Omnithar Genie knew the Unburdened Wardens weren’t forced to fulfill this duty... guiding lost souls to the Final Resting Place was voluntary; in the eyes of the universe’s order, only the fortunate earned their rest.

The others were bound to wander and roam the spiritual planes for eternity... discarded and forgotten by all.

"You have guided them for eons... no one would blame you for returning to the Unburdened Realm to rest."

The Warden slowly shook his head.

"Whatever was hoped for when their lives began... it was never a promise they chose to make."

Ozha’s stars lined up on his face to show a bitter smile... he knew exactly what the Warden meant...

"They have already spent their lives becoming something that was never theirs to claim..." the Warden continued gently. "At least, when it is over... let them find someone who asks nothing more of them."

He lowered his own shabby lantern toward a hesitant soul wandering near the mule.

It instinctively drifted toward the pale flame, its trembling easing as a tiny wisp slipped from its chest into the lantern.

With a gentle sway of his hand, the Warden guided it toward the procession... until its aimless steps found the rhythm of those ahead.

"Someone who is only there to help them... rest."

Hearing this, the Omnithar Genie’s gaze drifted toward Levi’s unconscious form and the Soulleech Maw, which was licking his face to help him wake up.

For a brief moment, he wondered whether it would be kinder to let him follow the Warden.

He knew that existence in the Unburdened Realm was as gentle as a spring breeze... a paradise where Levi would finally be free of the burdens that had followed him throughout his life.

Here, even surviving this ordeal would only return him to the struggles awaiting him... some of which he had yet to discover.

Ozha’s gaze lingered on his master before he slowly shook his head.

That was not his decision to make.

Levi had given him the chance to choose his own future... he owed his master the same.

With that thought, Ozha raised his head and explained what had happened... the universe’s punishment, Levi’s displaced soul, the conflict between his Seeds, and how his life was hanging in the balance as they spoke.

"His journey is still unfinished, old friend..." Ozha said quietly. "And I would like him to decide where it ends."

He paused before making his request.

"Will you help me return my master to his body?"

"Your master?"

The Warden was more taken aback by the title than the request itself... he knew that the Genies refused to even call the Primordial Trees masters after they chained and abused them for millions of years.

Yet, an Omnithar Genie calling a mere mortal master... voluntarily?

The Warden turned the Lost Keeper’s lantern slightly, examining the fine inscriptions.

"You merged with the technique itself..." A hint of interest entered his voice. "An unusual place to hide from your chains."

His attention returned to Ozha.

"Is that why you call him your master... because he freed you from them?"

"Initially... yes."

The Warden offered without a change in tone, "I can do you one better, old friend... severing the lantern’s connection to the Nine Senses isn’t difficult now that I have its replica."

The Omnithar Genie didn’t question his ability to do so one bit... he knew that the Unburdened Warden was the original owner of the Lantern as it was part of his entity, not a mere piece of ’equipment’.

The Nine Senses Tree was the one to copy it and hand it over to Levi as a technique... in other words, the Warden had the proper authority to sever the connection and keep it as his personal item.

"Just say the word, and you can accompany me..."