Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"Well more than assessing your worthiness, I believe the fragment was testing your heart, your willpower per se. Since you broke through that reality on your own, you aced it. As for why did the fragment choose you, isn't it because it deemed you worthy?"

"Ah! Before you start asking some more complex questions, let me tell you this. There are many things in this vast universe that you don't understand but it doesn't mean that they didn't occur".

"Everything that exists or occurs in this universe are an intrinsic part of it. One thing leads to another and connects to everything, so there is so no definite end. Once you understand its meaning, you will realise why the fragment showed you that reality".

"All I want to tell you is that, you still have a chance to correct things, nothing is over yet. You can still overcome your regrets from both past and present lives".

The demon smiled, there was a weird ancientness and depth to the words he spoke.

"Are you really me?" the impression he got from the demon was so different than his own that Simon couldn't help but ask.

"Haha, you will understand everything once you possess all the Fragments of Pride. It is time for me to leave, but before I go let me answer your last question. My motive is very simple, it is the same as you... to redo my wrongs".

"Anyways, let me give you a warning, the more fragments that you possess, the more the effect the fragments will have on you. Be careful, don't get consumed by it. You can treat it as my useless dribble if you want to."

The demon suddenly bid him goodbye, leaving behind those worrying words.

"Wait a minute, I still have a lot of questions…" Simon tried to speak up but the demon had already disappeared.

In this vast white space, he had once again become the only presence around.

Taking a deep breath, Simon took some time to comprehend the words left behind by the demon him before proceeding forward.

Counting the number of times, this was his third time coming to this place. Hence he knew where he had to go.

Simon started walking towards the thing that was beckoning him and before long he was in front of the thing that pulsed with a brilliant golden light just like the core of a sun.

Usually, whenever he came here he would feel a tremendous amount of heat assaulting him, making it impossible for him to approach closer to the object. However, this time he bizarrely did not feel any heat or any restriction holding him back from approaching the object.

On the contrary, he felt like the object was beckoning him to come closer. As Simon stood near it, he could hear its thoughts transmitting directly inside his head.

"As I thought, you were the voice that was speaking to me that time right?".

The time Simon was referring to was during his battle with Davis Hall. An egotistical voice filled with mystery, spoke to him at that moment.

[That's right, it was I who spoke to you at that time and it is also I that showed you that dream. You did well by breaking that reality and passing the test]…

"Wait a minute are you telling me, you are the fragment of pride?" Simon asked pointing at the glowing orb.

[That's right! More exactly, I'm the second fragment. It looks like your head is no longer chaotic, you must have met him huh?]…

He did indeed meet someone who looked like him, Simon nodded his head before asking the question that was bothering him the most.

"You said you are the second fragment of pride but how can you talk?".

He had the first fragment of pride for a while now but never once did it talk or initiated any conversation with him. Heck if not for the second fragment, he wouldn't even know that the fragments can communicate.

[Of course I can talk, what do you think we are? The fragments of pride are a part of the greater constellation filled with divinity and spirituality. Forget about just talking, we can perform far more than that. How can you forget that? Ah! That right, that happened…]

The second fragment explained, then it trailed off in between his sentence.

Simon opened his mouth but before he could say anything, the second fragment of pride transmitted its voice into his head once again.

[I know what you want to ask me. Why did I show you that dream? The reason is simple, it is to test whether you are ready for what is to come. Possessing the Fragments of Pride is not as simple as you think].

[There will be many tribulations and disasters coming your way in the future, and an unbending and strong willpower is needed to overcome them. But that is enough from me, you have been holed up here for a long time. Are you sure you want to stay here any longer?].

Now that the second fragment of pride pointed it out, Simon suddenly remembered that he had been here for far too long. Although he couldn't tell how much time had passed while he was experiencing that dream, the people close to him must have been worried sick over him by now.

He needed to wake up and tell them that he was fine; however, how should he do that?

[You don't have to worry about that. Just reach out to me, the second fragment of pride and your consciousness will return back to your body].

Simon did as he was told, he extended his hand and reached out towards the golden ball of light.

The instant he touched it, everything around him turned black. It was as if he had arrived onto a vast space of nothingness. There was only the light from the golden object around him; however, the thing that he thought was the size of a ball, turned out to be a huge star, illuminating and radiating its brilliant golden light across the vast expanse of space.

"So this the second fragment of pride" he did not know why but Simon just instinctively knew it.

As he stared at the star, its vast starlight started entering his body. It rushed in from the numerous tiny pores in his body and quickly entered his veins and nerves before mixing in with his blood cell, transforming it and entering his organs.

The process didn't take much time and before Simon knew it, his consciousness entered a peculiar realm.

He was looking at a vast starry sky, in the middle of countless stars was a constellation in the shape of Cygnus. Out of the six biggest stars that made this constellation, only two stars that were located at the tail end of the formation were glowing, spreading their brilliant light.

The rest of the stars of this constellation were dark and weren't emitting any light. As Simon marvelled at this incredible sight, he realised that he had seen the very same formation in the [Constellation] feature of his [Main Menu].

Previously, since he only had the first fragment of pride, only one of the biggest stars of the formation was glowing. Now that he got the second fragment, another star lit up.

If the fragments of the pride represented the stars of the constellation, wouldn't it mean that once he possesses all the fragments, the dead stars in this constellation would light up too?

While Simon was having such thoughts, his consciousness was suddenly pulled and everything blacked out once again.

-----

'Ugh.. what's going on?!!'

Pain, intense pain, assaulted his body. Every nerve, every cell of his body was screaming in agony and he felt as if a mountain was weighing down on him.

Intense exhaustion and drowsiness surrounded him and he felt like he could sleep on for eternity. However, Simon's instincts were telling him otherwise, it was urging him to struggle and not fall asleep.

Simon instinctively complied and after an intense struggle, finally some light appeared in this bleak darkness.

At first, the images were blurry but after he adjusted to that light, he could finally see. It was difficult for him to move his head but looking at the familiar ceiling of the room, he could tell that he was inside his White Palace on his Main floor.

Simon tried to move his body, but the surge of extreme pain that assaulted every nerve of his body made him unable to even twitch a muscle.

As such, Simon simply lay there staring at the ceiling. He was on top of a bed and a powerful smell of medicine was wafting from his body. Although his senses were dull to the point of numb, he could still tell that he was wrapped in bandages from head to toe.

The extreme pain running across his body was telling him that it was not a dream, he had finally returned. No matter how much he wanted to stay in that dream, this right here, was his reality.

Althaea was his home and also where he belonged to.

'Dammit, my body is in a worse condition than I thought'.

While Simon made some groaning noises from his dry throat, the door to the room was opened and the beautiful figure of Irene walked in.

She carried a bowl and towel in her hand. After keeping the things on top of the nightstand, she inched closer to bed and was just about to help the body quietly laying there as usual, when suddenly her eyes widened in surprise.

Although very slightly, she saw his half-closed eyelids move ever so faintly. That was not all, his body that had stayed immobile up until, twitched every now and then.