Meanwhile, in the Consciousness Realm—or rather, the realm between life and death—Lyka and Chen Cheng appeared in a strange space.
"Hello. In this life, I suppose I should call you my ancestor."
Chen Cheng greeted Lyka first.
Lyka looked down at the body he had in this world and felt the power still within it. Then he turned to Chen Cheng and cupped his hands.
"I never thought you were actually a living person, rather than the voice of Divine Revelation I believed you to be."
"It is rather unbelievable. And I really am from a thousand years after your time—the person you spoke of, in the right place at the right time. Unfortunately, you've already used the right script."
Chen Cheng spread his hands.
"Yes, that is unfortunate. It's just..."
Weariness and desolation filled Lyka's face. All his supposed effort and success had amounted to following a script someone else had designed long ago.
"You don't need to be upset. You truly broke free of that scripted fate, and I inherited a great deal from you."
Lyka gave a faint smile.
"And a great deal of trouble too, I imagine."
"There's always trouble. At least this is trouble I can handle, and that's good enough."
Chen Cheng shrugged.
"Well, I suppose I'm dead now. I don't know whether what I did was right, but I've done enough.
"If you still want something from me, I'm afraid I can't do anything in this state.
"Perhaps we can exchange information. If you don't need that, I think it's time for me to sleep forever."
Lyka gave a bitter smile.
Chen Cheng waved a hand.
"No. You can keep fighting. I've discovered that you've separated from my memories. You might be able to be reborn in another form in my era, just