The World After the Fall

"Making himself a Follower? What did that mean? Does he believe in himself?"

Runald and Karavan seemed to be confused while listening. What did it mean to divide itself? Whatever it was, it was nothing like believing himself. The only one who could imagine what it was like was Jaehwan. He looked down at his hands.

'Then the reason why my world power increased is…'

Jaehwan remembered the voices of his clothes. Were they also beings that were pulled apart from him? Were they here somewhere in this world, sending him faith? If that was what happened, it was terrifying. Jaehwan became concerned if he had done something irreversible.

Ra-hamad said,

[Do not worry. You will not turn into one of us.]

It seemed like he was assuring Jaehwan.

[As you might guess, the metamorphosis doesn't divide your spirit. It just exists within you.]

"Then why…"

[The reason why spirits are divided materialistically is because they took off too many clothes to make the 'real' body disappear.]

Ra-hamad continued,

[The number of clothes increases as time passes and you gain more experience. However, Geshtalt took off more than the time he lived. His 'metamorphosis' speed had exceeded his time.]

Ra-hamad then paused and looked around. Many of his people were looking at him.

[Our number decreased as time passed, but we had a lot more before.]

Ra-hamad reminisced about the people who had disappeared. Jaehwan asked, "…Why did Geshtalt take off so many clothes?"

[Because of the war.]

It was expected, but it was hard to imagine. Geshtalt must have been at least hundreds of thousands of years old. Maybe millions. He should have had countless clothes. But if he had to take all of that off to exchange it for his world power, it meant he was that desperate. The enemy was that much stronger that he did not even realize that he himself was disappearing.

Jaehwan became unsure. If Machina was that much more powerful, than he thought he couldn't defeat Myad. He mumbled without realizing, "Machina was that strong…?"

[…What are you saying?]

Karavan interrupted, "Are you saying you became like this by fighting Daeus? You said the war…"

[I don't know what you are saying. The Three God War wasn't a war against the Three Ancient Gods.]

Jaehwan and the others became dumbfounded. What was this? Then who did they fight that resulted in a giant site to be laid in ruins?

[…So, I guess the wrong story is still being considered as the truth. That Nightmare from 900 years ago also had it wrong.]

Nightmare from 900 years ago? Jaehwan quickly asked, "Are you talking about Mulack Armelt?"

Ra-hamad nodded.

[I see, so you do know him.]

It seemed like he expected it.

[I can feel his 'clothes' within you.]

It seemed like he was talking about the [Record of the Depth] that Mulack had left. Jaehwan asked, "Why did he come here? What did he get from here?"

Ra-hamad then became curious.

[That's weird. If you have his clothes, then you must have his memory.]

"The memory is not complete."

Ra-hamad looked at Jaehwan with understanding and spoke.

[That Nightmare was the first to go through that pool. He took [Eye of Geshtalt] from there.]

Jaehwan then became dumbfounded. He expected Mulack to have visited the place, but he never thought the man had gotten something.

"The [Eye of Geshtalt] has already been taken?!"

Runald and Karavan also seemed to be shocked. Runald's expression made it look like all had been lost.

[What is going on?]

Ra-hamad asked, but no one answered. He then smiled, realizing something.

[I see. So, you all were here to get the [Eye of Geshtalt].]

"T-that's…"

Runald shook his head and tried to deny it, concerned that their intention would make Ra-hamad uncomfortable. Jaehwan answered instead.

"Yes."

It was a simple answer. Ra-hamad didn't seem to be mad either.

[Then you have nothing to be worried about.]

"What do you mean?"

[You already have the [Eye of Gehstalt].]

"…I do?"

[You do not know?]

Ra-hamad continued,

[[Eye of Geshtalt] is not a Part that has a physical form like Machina. Everyone who understands Ouroboros can use it.]

Jaehwan then looked down at himself doubtfully. His body did become much lighter and had increased world power, but he didn't feel like he had gotten the [Part]. He then unleashed his world power to look at his unique world. It was still barren and dark. Nothing changed. It looked like Ra-hamad could also see the unique world, and he turned toward Jaehwan's direction and spoke.

[You think nothing has changed. It is natural. Nothing did change.]

"What's all this nonsense?"

[I don't know why, but you already had the [Eye of Geshtalt]. You just didn't know how to use it.]

Ra-hamad then looked up to the sky — to the giant eye at the center of the dark sky. Jaehwan then suddenly felt like everything underneath his waist had disappeared.

[You see the 'eye' there. Do you not?]

Then…

[I'm not sure if you know, but the only one who can see the 'eye' is the 'eye.']

Jaehwan felt as if he was struck with lightning. Something was awakening within him.

[Open your eyes. You can now 'see'.]

Jaehwan's left eye began to shine brightly in white light. In his iris, some weird symbol was spinning there. It was not a circle, however.

A snake biting its tail. Ouroboros.

Ra-hamad then shouted.

[YES! That eye is the eye that allows you to see through every 'clothing'! The destroyer of all laws and illusions! Eye of Geshtalt!]

Jaehwan now realized. His unclothing and questionnaires were preparation for him to understand the [Eye of Geshtalt]. He looked inside him by using the Eye of Geshtalt. He was filled with familiar voices.

-Why? What are you looking at?

-Are you taking off again?

In the next moment, his world power doubled. His clothes provided him world power through faith.

'This was the power of the Eye of Geshtalt…'

Jaehwan now was able to unclothe himself anytime he wanted increase his world power. Until his clothes were no more, he did not have to worry about running out of world power. Ra-hamad smiled satisfyingly.

[I assume you have more questions, but I won't tell you anymore. You won't need any answers.]

Jaehwan did not ask why. He knew why already as he now began to look into the [Record of the Depth] by using his [Eye of Geshtalt], looking into Mulack's 'clothes'. The clothes began to talk of the story of one who began to climb up the Tree of Imagery to stop Cultivation.

It was a long story filled with despair and sadness, but there was faint hope. Jaehwan had heard the story a long, long time ago.