As the runic lines danced around the lab like orbits around a moon, Arthur stared at the center of it all, where Ori was sitting in his chair with an overgrown messy hair, his hand dancing around a beating heart.

"The first step to creating life is to replicate it," muttered Oriole as he sensed Arthur's existence. "I've done it, Art. I created a functioning heart using runes only. This can save her at last."

Arthur stared at the lab, which had lines of light moving around it like snakes, as he realized that Oriole knew his real name. His eyes turned toward the heart, and he saw it beating with life. It filled him with nostalgia.

"I see that you are pursuing artificial life even in this timeline."

The words fell in the lab like meteors destroying the fabric of peace. As the runic lines began to shake, Oriole turned toward Arthur with shock.

"You have met Gaia," muttered his friend as tears pooled in his eyes. "I finally brought you back," he said with shaking hands that made the runic lines shake as well. 

"I have to thank my dearest friend for that, it seems," muttered Arthur as he walked toward the alchemist, tapping his fingers on the shaking runic lines. "You have grown past your previous limits."

As his fingers touched the runes, they stabilized even without Oriole controlling them. The alchemist turned back toward the heart and stared at it with amazement before retracting his hand. Even without his control, the heart was beating.

"And you have regained the knowledge you obtained from Gaia," smiled Ori as he raised his head toward the ceiling, eyes closed. "I missed you, Arthur."

"I missed you too, Ori," replied Arthur as he stood next to him, staring at the heart. "And it seems I am not the only person you have missed."

"...it was true, then. Ark was there."

"He was there, and I'm so sorry for taking him away from you, Ori."

"I know what you sacrificed as well," said Oriole as he rose, his long hair falling behind him. "I tried to find a way to meet Diana, but the difference in the timeline is..."

"Diana might be dead," replied Arthur as he turned to the alchemist. "I... have no evidence of that. However, I might have missed the leap in the timeline."

"You can change it again."

"The reason that the calamities waited for me to meet Gaia is that they wanted my awakened power, not anything before that. Of course, I can find a way to go back into the past and save her, but that would simply offer the calamities a way back into the original timeline."

"A timeline where they obtained your powers," sighed Oriole as he closed his eyes. "You sacrificed the one person you loved..."

Arthur was shocked to see Oriole start to sob over his misfortune, and it brought his heart a sense of relief that he had a friend in this world.

"I have not given up, Oriole," he said as he grabbed his friend's shoulder. "I asked a spirit to help me reincarnate Diana after her death, the same way that I did it once before."

"Are you talking about Gala?"

"Rexus, the Spirits Sovereign, will tie the loose ends. However, I made sure that even if I were not there to help them, the two of them would be helped, and they should remember me."

"However, none of them know anything about our original lives," Oriole wiped away his tears with his sleeve. "How are we going to find them?"

"We will find each other, and once we do, the world has to witness the recreation of Runera," grinned Arthur. "That makes me wonder..."

"There is Runera in this world."

"...how?"

"I am unsure of the details, but it seems that the epiphany pushed forward the advancement of runic knowledge of this world."

"I thought that it happened a year ago."

"That is for the general public because the two timelines deviated the most after the point when Ellen sent us to Alka. However, your merging changed a hundred years of history, and this world is more prepared now as a result."

"Prepared," sighed Arthur. "I need to know what changed in our lives. I know that it has not been easy for you, but I need your help still."

"You saved my life, Arthur. I avoided Tyrin and made sure to get into Jerano with you and Ellen so that I would never fall for the darkness again, and never would I be a dying man. I will help you until the day I die."

As he said so, Oriole held his arm. Arthur nodded with a smile before the runic lines disappeared, and the heart fell into the metallic plate.

"Let us talk in a better spot," Oriole laughed before he led Arthur to a different room, which looked like a one-room apartment with a study inside. "You should get a shower before anything."

"A polite way to tell me I stink," joked Arthur as he walked toward the bath. "I came here running from Julia's room, so do excuse me."

"...that slay fox," grumbled Oriole, and Arthur turned toward him with confusion. "It is nothing. You should go and take a bath, and I will prepare a meal for you."

Arthur watched his friend go to the kitchen, and he did not know how to tell Oriole that he couldn't feel hungry anymore. However, it did not serve well to alienate himself from the rest, so he could fake eating.

As he undressed, Arthur noticed that his scars were gone, the same as last time. However, after meeting Gaia, the reconstruction of his body made his body optimal, and if he had willed it, Arthur could have recreated himself in a different appearance.

However, as he stared at the mirror, he was glad that he did not. This was the face that Diana loved, and all of his friends knew, so somehow, it became dear to him.

The words he told Oriole were not a lie, as he indeed feared going into the past again and tempering with things because this was the only timeline that all of them stood a chance against Nameless.

As his clothes fell to the sides, Arthur got into the shower and allowed the water to wash over him. The warm feeling somehow made him relax a bit and feel as if this was a fresh start, despite knowing that it was simply an illusion.

There is no such a thing as a first start, and the illusions of the past will come to haunt you. Arthur opened his eyes, and the golden sheen in them betrayed his sadness.

"Am I going to find you?"

His heart wavered, for he did not know the future as much as he knew the past.  Arthur stared at the water running before he twirled his fingers, and the water curved as well before freezing.

The knowledge he gained from Gaia did not make him omnipotent, but it gave him a lot more flexibility in using runes. There were runes that he did not know and could do now, but the only thing limiting him would be how much mana he could contain.

The legacy was important to him even now because it served as a dam. Arthur would explode if his body flooded with the same mana of creation he once wielded.

Gaia did not give him any runes. It only taught him how to read them, speak them, and control them. Arthur could manipulate anything around him now using the Chains of Order, but the degree of manipulation depended on the mana of creation he could wield.

For example, he could not make this water an immortality elixir, but he could make it a healing potion. The degree of reality manipulation he can wield scared him because his ability to create runes all morphed into one.

"Creation," he sighed.

Arthur turned off the water and walked out of the shower. As he wore some light clothes he found in his subspace, Arthur found that they were tight. His finger moved, and his clothes grew bigger to fit him well as it proved his body grew taller and bigger than before.

The aroma of the meal drifted to his nose as he opened the door. Oriole was placing down the meals while humming, making Arthur take another look at his friend.

Arthur was not the only one to grow taller and more robust, as Oriole himself was not so bad. However, Arthur noticed that there were tattoos engraved on his friend's arm as he placed down the plates.

"Ah, these are..." Oriole noticed his gaze. "It seems you do not remember how you helped me," smiled his friend. "You created them."

"The Strengthening Runes," nodded Arthur as he pulled a chair and sat down. "However, it seems we took it a notch further."

"You are indeed a different person," sighed Oriole. "I am sorry, but it just feels weird that you forgot everything that happened in the past year."

"I can find ways to recover the memories," said Arthur as he forked a piece of meat into his mouth. Then, he paused before starting to chew.

"How does it taste?"

"It tastes delicious," smiled Arthur, but it was a bitter smile because he was lying to his friend for the first time after his return. It seems he can no longer enjoy food, as he could not taste it.. This was another curse of his powers.

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