After the Bifrost brought me back to Midgard, I opened the map that Richard had previously given me. There, there was only one mark left, indicating that all the pieces were collected except for one.
There was a big problem, though. The mark was all over the seas of planet Earth, with no specific point on it.
"Well that sure complicates things..." I said. "Richard?"
"What?" he replied through our link.
"How am I supposed to know where the last piece is?"
"Find the Heart of The Sea, and the piece will show itself to you eventually. Bye bye!"
"The Heart of The Sea, huh?" To be honest, I had no idea what that was, but I guess that is the test.
Suddenly, an idea came to my mind and I left the Tyr's Temple and entered the Lake of Nine. Once I was in the waters, the Water element rune glowed and my body started to fade.
"Show me the Heart of The Sea, show me the Heart of The Sea..." I kept saying this sentence time and time again until my body disappeared completely.
When I reappeared, I was outside of the ruins of a sunken city. From the looks of it, it was a great one when it was at its prime, but alas, here it is destroyed for God knows how many years.
I entered and searched the houses one by one. They were all ordinary, with nothing exceptional at all, well, except for one house.
It was at the northern corner, and it was no different than the others in shape. But when I got close to it, something like a call came from it.
"It is calling to me, if you wanted to ask," said Pangu.
"How do you know that?" I said calmly.
"This place is not strange to me, I was once here."
"There is a part of your soul here, buddy, of course you were here."
"No, you don't understand. I came here in my original form, in a body. In fact, I have the feeling I even died here, in this city. But I can't grasp everything, it seems that something is preventing me from doing that."
"We'll find out soon enough," I said, though Pangu's words kept ringing in my ears.
I opened the door of the normal looking house and went inside to check it out. There was no water in there, as if there was a barrier preventing it from entering.
Actually, the room had nothing in it except for a small ball of light floating in the middle of the room. The call came from it, and I answered that call.
My vision blurred, and the scene in front of me changed.
It was in the city, but when it were still intact on an island. In the middle of the city was the Imperial palace, where in a certain room, a woman was given birth.
In addition to her, there was a man that resembles my features a lot and another woman who was the one that helped the former to give birth.
Screams filled the room but it soon died down. A baby girl came to this life, but her mother showed signs of dying immediately after that.
The man beside her knelt and stroked her hair with his left hand whereas his right one formed countless signs that landed on her.
"Stay with me," he said while doing anything possible to save her life.
"I-I'm sorry!" she replied with a cut breath, "Take care of-f-f h-h-h-heer!"
Those were here last words and she closed her eyes. The man cried and the scene changed.
The baby became a child. She was playing in a hall with some hand-maids. The door of the hall opened and the lord of the city entered.
Her father had gained a bit of white hair on his head, but other than that, he looked exactly like before.
"Daddy!" cried the child as she raced to her father's embrace.
The scene changed again, and now the child became a young woman. She was kneeling besides a bed where an old woman was laying on.
This old woman was the one that took care of her when her father was busy since the day she was born. Today, she was breathing her last breathes.
"Don't leave me," said the young woman as she cried.
"I am sorry," said the old woman to her. Then she shifted her gaze to the city lord, "Take care of her!"
The city lord, who was standing behind his daughter, sighed as he watched her die then left the hall.
The scene shifted again several times until it settled on the last one.
In this scene, the city lord summoned his daughter, who was fifty years old now but kept the appearance of a young woman, to the throne room.
There was no one else except for the two. The lord set his gaze on his daughter while he stroked the blades of his double-bladed axe and said, "Kendra, there is something you need to know."
"What is it, Father?" replied Kendra.
"I have been working on a technique lately, and I managed to get it to our bloodline when I put the basics. But, I can't complete it in time..."
"I don't understand. There is plenty of time to do anything. You are a cultivator, Father, don't forget that."
"No, there isn't. There is something that no one knows. When I created this world, I sustained a heavy injury and my soul is splitting apart. I only have a few minutes left."
"What?!"
"The technique is not completed, and it is a curse to our bloodline. Anyone who chooses to cultivate will have it, whether they like it or not."
"So let me get this straight. I am the only one from your bloodline, so I am the only one who has that technique, right?"
"No, my dear child. I am not just the lord of this city, I am the lord of the whole world. There have been many entities that have been born out of my essence. Including the people of the city. In other ways, all the people here are your siblings."
"Oh my God, what have you done?!"
"What has been done cannot be changed. I want you to forgive me. And I am passing the title of the ruler of the universe to you, my daughter. I hope that you can forgive me."
With that, he disappeared into thin air and his axe exploded into ten pieces. The pieces scattered around the world, with one landing in front of Kendra.
The young woman wept, as this was the last time she ever had a real relative in this phase of her life.
The death of the city lord caused an eternal rain on the city, causing its people to leave it and scatter to the vast universe. Before leaving, Kendra chose a commoner's house and cast a water repulsion spell on it. Inside, she formed a small globe of light which contained the most important moments of her life in the city and then left.
Soon, the sea level raised and the city drowned, and in the future, only the luckiest would be able to find it.