Apotheosis

Hearing this, Zen's expression grew grave as he realized the gravity of the situation.

"Since the whirlpool does not disappear," he pondered aloud, "there must be many other whirlpools in the Sea of Truth, right?"

Dorothy nodded to confirm. "Yes. According to some incomplete statistics, there are about 1, 200 whirlpools in the Sea of Truth."

These whirlpools began to appear around twenty thousand years ago.

They possessed special magic; people would be trapped forever once they were drawn in.

At first, these whirlpools only appeared in the sixth to ninth sections. At that time, a lot of unfortunate creatures were drawn in.

Even if they were extremely talented, once trapped, they could not free themselves from the force of the whirlpool. It was a harsh reality.

Back then, creatures entered the Sea of Truth warily and cautiously eyed the movement of the water at all times.

Sometime later, someone had come up with an intelligent way to spot the whirlpools. The method was basically to pour some special dye into the whirlpools.

Once a whirlpool appeared, its area was completely isolated from the outside. The dye allowed the others to easily spot the light green or yellow spiraling waters in the distance. This gave them ample time to avoid the whirlpool.

As time went by, the whirlpools gradually spread to the periphery of the Sea of Truth. Soon, they had appeared in the fourth and fifth sections, but they were yet to be observed in the first to third sections.

"I didn't expect that the whirlpool would appear in the second section. How incredibly lucky we are!" Dorothy heaved a distressed groan.

Zen looked to the incoming Truth Boats. "It's useless for them to try to retreat, isn't it?"

"Yes," Dorothy sighed. "Since we have been caught in the whirlpool, it means that we are already isolated from the Sea of Truth. No matter how hard we try, we won't be able to get out."

Splash! Splash!

As they spoke, the Truth Boats brushed past them, carried by the force of the swirling water.

"There must be a way to get out of here. Let's go," Zen tried to

e creature's Soul of Light had been cleanly pierced through.

The wolf-like creature stood motionless, as if someone had cast a spell on it. Its Truth Boat then cracked and broke into pieces, and it, along with the remnants of its boat, slowly sank into the Sea of Truth.

In a flash, Dorothy had killed the wolf-like creature.

"Whoa. She is so powerful!"

Upon witnessing this scene, Zen was taken aback.

He was well aware that Dorothy was not an ordinary girl, but it never crossed his mind that her Soul of Light was that strong when she was vexed.

The kin of the wolf-like creature howled in anger. However, as they were intelligent creatures, they knew not to mess with Dorothy, so they didn't dare to come near her.

Dorothy let out a long sigh after having given in to her anger. "It seems I can only choose to be reborn. Zen, if you come to the Source World, I can help you extract your Memory Flame and bring you back to life."

The only way to get out of the whirlpool was to be reborn, because it only trapped souls.

After being reborn, one's Memory Flame could be placed in a new soul. They would have a new body, and consequently, would have to start their life all over again.

Zen knew this was the only known way to escape the whirlpool, but the price was too high. "Don't worry, Dora." He smiled reassuringly. "There's an exception to everything, and we will find it."