Death... and me

Of course, Romario was nowhere to be seen, and the old woman quickly remembered where she was. "Ah!" She then struggled to get up while taking a few steps away from Rean. "Is... is it really... not a dream? Then you must be a ghost!"

Rean sighed in response. "Well, in a certain way, you aren't completely wrong, Mom."

Kentucky was still curious. "Lady, you still haven't told your name."

The old woman looked at the young man with scales and feathers over his body. It was hard for her to accept she was talking to it. "I'm... I'm Juliana Faran..."

Kentucky nodded. "Great! I'm Kentucky! I'm Rean's boss."

Rean's mouth twitched. "Who the hell is my boss? Mom, don't listen to the idiot bird. He is just a friend."

"Hahaha!" Kentucky laughed and then began to walk outside. "Anyway, Rean, you probably have a lot of things to talk about, so I'll explore this place for a while. Besides... it should be full of you know what."

*Zush!*

As soon as Kentucky finished saying those words, another being appeared on Kentucky's side, alarming Juliana once again. It was Celis, who knew exactly what Kentucky was talking about. "Since they still have a lot of the robots who are working with Divine Origin Energy, this place is bound to have some extra stock of Divine Origin Energy Cores. Let's go, Kentucky! We need to find them all!"

"Great! I'll go check the east side; you check the west," Kentucky nodded.

The two of them quickly disappeared from the room after that.

Juliana was still at a loss. There was a young man with scales and feathers, and then, out of nowhere, another man who looked a lot older appeared. This one looked more like a mix of tree and bark with humans. How could she not believe she was in a dream? "I... I guess I'll just lie down and try to sleep again."

Rean approached and patted his mother's shoulder, who was still trembling while looking at him. "It's not a dream, Mom. It's just... well, a lot, really a lot of things happened. Can you look at my face? In truth, this isn't even my real appearance at the moment. I'm only using it because I needed you to recognize me."

Rean could see how his mother was truly nothing but a mortal. Not a single iota of cultivation could be found in her. Just like they talked with Kafan, she didn't have a body made for cultivation either. A true body evolved to live in a world without cultivation energies, just like all the other humans above this place.

"Not... your real appearance?" Juliana asked back, finding it hard to believe when she touched Rean's face. The feeling was very real. She then looked around once more and tried to calm down. "Rean... what is this place? No, first... you were dead. I went to the morgue... I saw your body, and I was there when we buried you. Are you truly my Rean?"

Rean nodded. "It's truly me. However, the one you buried was also me. You were not wrong when you said you saw it happening because it really did. If we were to check the place where I was buried, my old body should still be there. Oh, but don't worry. I'm not lying; I'm not a ghost at all. There are some circumstances behind this actual me at the moment."

Juliana then had an idea. "If you are truly my Rean, then you can definitely answer a few questions of mine. Questions that only Rean could answer. Don't get me wrong, but the emotions you are showing... my Rean had never been the type to show any emotions at all."

"Oh... right, there was that too..." Rean sighed as he remembered all the trouble the Soul Gem System gave him during his previous life, priving himself from emotions. With his actions while Kentucky was here, it truly made it even harder to believe he was really the same Rean. "No problem, Mom. Ask anything, and I'll answer. Also, the problem with my emotions that you and Dad could never solve, I already got it fixed."

Juliana tried to ignore the things around her and thought about a few moments of Rean's past life. She then began to ask them, knowing that no one other than herself and the real Rean could give the correct answer. Even if 'this' Rean gave a correct answer by coincidence, he couldn't do it several times nonstop.

Around thirty minutes later, Rean finished answering another of his mother's questions. Naturally, he got all of them right. "And that's how you ended up finding me at the back of the room. Alright, ask the next question, Mom."

Yet, Juliana shook her head. "There is no need. Only the real Rean would know all these things. I can't believe it is really you, but it seems like I'm forced to."

*Tud!*

Then, all of a sudden, Juliana hugged Rean as tears began to fall from her face. "It's really, really you. How much I wished I could do this again. How you got yourself to revive or whatever matters not. Just promise me you won't die somewhere I can't see again."

Rean smiled and hugged the old woman back. "Sure, I'll do it. Don't worry."

Juliana calmed herself again a few minutes later, finally releasing Rean. "Son... what is happening here? If this really isn't a dream, then how did I end up in this place? No, what is this place to start with?"

Rean sighed, seeing that his father was definitely the one to have done it. "So... father has never told you anything?"

"Told me?" Juliana was puzzled. "Told me what?"

Rean pondered a bit before asking. "If I told you Dad is an Angel, not only an Angel but an Archangel... would you believe me?"

"Hahahaha!" Juliana couldn't help but laugh. "That clumsy old geezer? An Angel? What nonsense are you spitting out? Although he isn't a bad person, he isn't a saint either. How could he be an angel?"

Rean sighed. "It seems like we truly have a lot more to talk about than I initially thought."