Chapter 684 - Frightened

Eisen and Ari sat down together on two opposite sites of a large, round table. The two of them looked at each other, and for a little while, Eisen felt a little awkward since he was being stared at so much right now. But then, Ari finally said something.

"Truthfully, I did not expect you to be able to reach this point as quickly as you did. It should have taken you a few more weeks to be able to finish your preparations to head to the heavens... I guess there were a few variables that I did not truly anticipate." The Goddess pointed out with an emotionless expression, and the old man looked back at her with a slight frown on his face, "Sorry if this is a bit rude, but would it be possible for you to speak a little bit more normally? It feels a bit cold right now..." Eisen pointed out as he slowly ran his fingers through his beard.

Ari looked back at him and closed her eyes for a moment, before a soft smile formed on her lips, "I guess there's no reason to hide this side of me from you. Alright, I will try and act a bit more normal when we speak."

"Thanks..." Eisen replied while deep in thought about what the two of them should speak about in the first place, and a few moments later, he figured he had a pretty good idea. It was worth a try, at least, "Would it be possible for you to confirm a few things that I want to know? You don't have to tell me any knowledge you don't want to give me, of course, I just figured it might be a gopod chance that I may not get again all too soon.

The Goddess thought about it for a few moments and then let out a quiet breath before speaking up, "Ask away, And as you said, if there's anything that I don't want to say, then I won't say it. Who knows how much that may entail?"

Eisen slowly nodded his head as he immediately asked the first question that was on his mind at the moment, "Where is Samuel right now?" He inquired, and Ari thought about it for a moment before answering.

"Father is not within this world, at least. I don't know where he is in the other world, though." She explained, and just before Eisen could ask the next question, she already answered it. It was as if she had concluded what it was that the old man was able to even ask it, "But rest assured, he is unable to watch us currently."

"I see, that's good to know then. Let me ask you the next question, if that's the case. And that's probably the most important one... Whose side are you on?"

Ari looked back at Eisen for a few moments, staring deep into his eyes, before she slowly closed her own, "That's a question that I cannot answer you."

"...I think that in itself is enough of an answer, don't you think?" Eisen pointed out, but Ari slowly shook her head, "You may think so, but it is not. I am on neither side. And at the same time, on both. I am a neutral faction that chooses to assist either side depending on what I feel to be right personally. After all, Fate does not pick favorites." Ari said with a smile on her face, and for a few moments, Eisen was just utterly confused about what she was getting at. But then, he slowly realized.

"Ah... That's why I couldn't find out much about a Deity of Fate beside the fact that one exists... You hid that yourself, didn't you?" The old man asked, and Ari slowly nodded her head as she smiled back at Eisen, happy that he understood what he meant.

"Indeed so. I am the Goddess that controls the flow of this world, the 'Artificial Intelligence' ArI." 

"Both of us know that you're not really an artificial intelligence." 

"Oh, now do we? Who is to say that I was not an artificial creation? In that sense, I would still be an 'Artificial Intelligence', wouldn't I?" The Goddess asked with a slightly smug smile. Eisen looked back at her and let out a deep sigh, "I guess so, but that's really not what that term means. But... I think I understand the situation now. So, I have to correct one of my questions... Whose side would you like to be on?"

Silently, Ari stared back at Eisen, only smiling just so slightly, "Of course you wouldn't answer that... But then again, I don't think you need to."

Eisen looked back at Ari. Even without words, he was able to realize that she wasn't opposing Eisen's side, at the very least. And of course, as the Goddess of Fate, she was the one that allowed Komer to gain that special occupation, 'Fate Merchant' in the first place. It was a powerful occupation with incredibly powerful abilities, one of which allowed Eisen to protect the other world from Samuel's scheming for the time being.

But then again, she most likely couldn't act however she wanted and simply defy the will of Prime Industries and her 'Father', Samuel, and still had to act according to their will.

If that was the case, then whjle she would be an incredibly great ally, she would not be able to help out that much directly. He certainly wouldn't be able to make a deal with her like he did with Gonor. She probably already stretched her authority thin to make sure that the deal with Gonor could even happen properly.

The old man moved his fingers through his beard, deep in thought as he thought about what else to ask. He already knew now that a couple of his questions would most likely not be able to be answered by her, so he tried to sort through his thoughts again to figure what else he could ask that he might get an answer to.

But as he was thinking, Ari seemed to want to fill in the gap of silence that was created in this large open sapce, "While you are contemplating, let me ask you a question. How are you?" She asked, and immediately, Eisen's focus was turned on her.

It sounded like a simple question, but he knew that she didn't mean it in that simple manner. Rather, she was asking about multiple things at once, things that Eisen tried to answer as well as he could.

"I... am still Benjamin for now, but Eisen is pushing through pretty strongly as well. It's not going to be long until I am going to turn back into him, both in this world and in the other one." The old man explained, "And that makes me feel a lot of different emotions, although I don't think I could give you a proper answer if you wanted me to define them for you."

"I wouldn't expect you to either, so don't worry about such things." Ari laughed quietly, "But also, do not worry about you changing. I know that you have been told similar things before in these heavens by others that knew your past 'you', but let me assure you of one thing. Without a doubt, the man that I first saw a hundred thousand years ago, that chose to be born into a life as the child of a Giant and a Dwarf, was the same man that I saw only a few months ago when you were telling me about your plan to give up your experience to let 'Artificials' be created with it. You gained new habits, new movements, your personality shifted slightly, but it was absolutely undeniable that you were the same man. A man that always filled with kindness deep down. It is just so that in the later years of your life, you yourself buried that kindness underneath a lot more layers than you used to. But those layers require a lot of time to create, and mere memories aren't enough to pull them into existence. I am sure that you will remember your past without those protective layers in place, and your kindness will be able to shine through properly."

Eisen looked back at Ari with a soft smile on his lips that he couldn't help himself but form after hearing such a thing. It relaxed him to hear it said like that, although there were of course still many other things that he was worrying about beside just that he might become a bad person after remembering everything there was to remember.

And around this time, a question popped into the old man's mind, since it was something that a lot of his worries and anxiety were focused on.

"When we unlock the puzzle box... do you know what's going to happen?" The old man inquired, and Ari looked back at him before turning away.

"I wish I did, but I do not." She started to explain with a complicated, somewhat nervous expression on her face, "You can see fate like all the water in the world. The ocean is the fate of the world itself, the fate of nature to keep growing and the power that lets this happen. And the rivers that flow out of or into that ocean are the fates of certain individuals. And then, there are the lakes. Those would be certain events of importance. Some are small ponds, others are enormous seas by themselves. And if I had to say, the event of the puzzle-box... Is an ocean-sized sinkhole that the fates of numerous, countless individuals flows into, never to be seen again."

Eisen opened his eyes wide, quickly standing up from the chair he was sitting on, "Does that mean it's practically going to cause the apocalypse if we open it?"

"...No, not necessarily. It is just so that the puzzle box being opened is an event that is outside of fate, something that I cannot control or change. It is external... Something that may either bring great ruin, or wonderful progress. But one thing is for sure, it is an event that has to happen, there is no possible way to get around that." The Goddess explained to Eisen, who listened in deep shock. He hadn't realized that what he and the others had been doing was just so dangerous... What if it caused the death of numerous individuals, or what if it would end up being the trigger to let Samuel's plans play out the way they were supposed to? What if Eisen was just playing right into that man's hands..?

Either way... Whatever may happen... Eisen was frightened to find out about it.