Xav looked down at the ground, no longer meeting her gaze. Sarah could see his expression changing to a look of sorrow.
"I understand. I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you." Xav said, as he turned to leave. It was almost like everyone forgot he slandered her, and wanted to kill her close to half a year ago.
Two loud bangs sounded, as a cold and thin hand reached to tug on Xav's Brawler's Harness. Xav stopped in mid step, as he turned to look at the pained expression of Sarah.
"It does hurt, but it hurts so good." She spoke, as she smiled widely, as her deep dark blood trickled at the corners of her mouth.
Again, Xav was at a loss for words looking at the beautifully wretched smile.
"I know... I know I'm not pretty. I know I'm ugly, and I know my smile is ugly... It hurts. It hurts to know that my art will cause me to turn fulling skeletal one day, and the face you like will no longer be here. It hurts to think about when I return my family will fight with me for the time I've spent with you... But it hurts so good."
Xav wasn't a really smart undead. He was slowly processing what he was hearing, but he didn't agree with any of it that he understood!
Sarah continued, "I never wanted you to really see this smile. It hurts to know that you will not want to see me now. I won't fault you for turning and leaving now. Who wants to battle my family for an ugly girl? I only know how to fight. I don't know how to be anything but a warrior. So, I'm not fit to be w-"
"Stop!" Xav couldn't take this anymore, as he turned and scooped up the Warmarshal into a princess carry, as he looked down at her face. She was so cold to the touch, but the looming figure he always seen looked so small in his arms.
Sarah bit her tongue, and remained silent. She hadn't expected to be picked up like this. She had never been picked up in her life. Her parents, or otherwise. She could only stare into the concerned face of Xav.
"No more of this. You are not ugly! I am a stupid man. I sometimes get smart ideas, but I am very stupid! But even then! I know what looks nice and what looks ugly, and you're not ugly. Alright? Tell me. Tell me that you're pretty." Xav urged
"I... I can't, because I'm not." Sarah had deep scares on her heart from childhood. She had practiced the Cultivation of the Frostgard since before she became an adult. From her childhood body, she knew the ravages of the advance stages of Frostgard cultivation tolled on a body.
"Says who? I say you are pretty, so you are pretty! Who else are you trying to impress??? Should I find other suitors, and destroy them?"
Sarah slightly chuckled.
"Tell your little gold ear, you're pretty. Can you do that for me?" Xav asked with a soothing voice.
"...Are you really sure about this?" She could only ask.
"I don't care what anyone says. If your family has a problem with me, I will just figure out how to double berserk. See if your elders can stand before the legendary double berserker!"
"You're such a nerd." Sarah reached out to pull on Xav's head into a kiss, but he didn't move his head. She opened her eyes in puzzlement.
"You didn't say you were pretty." Xav was many things, and one was stubborn.
"Fine... If you really think so, then I'm pretty." Sarah whispered. If Xav couldn't read her lips, he would have thought she didn't say anything at all. She then spoke louder, "Strong, combative, and stubborn... This is the kind of man I like." She smiled widely, as blood trickled down again.
They both closed their eyes, and so they shared their feelings with their lips sealed with the taste of blood. Xav thought this was the sweetest taste. Maybe the Vampires had it right?
*******
Xav and Sarah walked over the hill holding hands, until they got closer to the base. They ceased their actions, not because of being shy, but because she didn't want to deal with her family yet. She only managed here, because she was the superior of the Frost Knights she led.
The communications officer seen them in the distance, and ran over to meet them before they arrived at camp.
The Frost Knight preformed a Deagoth Salute, "Warmarshal Frostgard! Urgent message from the Saigunrai."
"Hmmm?"
"In the name of the... God-King, we are to return to Saigunrai, with the Grimnight prisoners, and the Doomcry should provide further protection."
"Understood." She waved the Officer, and shouted, "Alright Knights! Wrap it up. We need to be packed in less than two hours. We need the Grimnight's ready to be brought to the Capital in five hours. We will be leaving in six hours from this mark."
A pause and then she shouted, "MARK!"
All the Frost Knights scrambled from their lounge, and practice. The camp stirred with the clanking of the armor of the Frostgard.
"Xav, you need to get your people as well."
"We can roll right now. You have to remember that until Deagoth was founded, the Doomcry clan was nomadic."
"MMmmm." Sarah nodded her head.
*******
A month and a half had passed by in the blink of eye. Jack's soul shuddered, as it became thicker in consistency, like a think fluid as it circled around inside his soul space. He had broken through to High-level Knight Rank! This was Jack's first time breaking through the conventional way.
[I thought this would feel amazing but it just feels.... Lacking.] Jack shrugged as the flames in his eyes burst into life.
He stood up to look around. The room was exactly as he left it. He made his way to the laptop to check on the status of project Helios.
[Fuck! Four days and twenty-one minutes to go...] Jack didn't expect it to still be processing. Just want kind of friggin throne was this penguin making!
Jack started to look at some of the tomes he had scanned in a large pile, and decided to read through some, instead of absorbing them. He found he learned quickly when absorbing, but didn't understand everything absorbed. It was like speed reading. He could only retain so much, when it was advance concept.
Jack read many tomes while he waited, but one caught his eye the most. He re-read the tome many many times. This tome was called, "Beyond the Light."
This tome had a similar tone to his cultivation tome, "The Heretical Side of the Light," but it didn't have any cultivation methods. It only explained theory. That theory was... What was beyond the Light, and its intended purpose.
[This sounds so much like the Big Bang Theory...] Jack commented as he read it again.
[...So, the Light is just the remaining power of creation... So, what is everything else... Wouldn't that mean that Light is the first power of the Creation?]
Jack read more, and tried to understand the concepts. [So, beyond the Light is Void. Hmmmmm.... Void, Void, Void... When I think Void I think darkness cultivation, but this tome clearly states that the Void is not darkness, it's nothing. So, the Void is the flip side of the Light. The Light is something, and the Void isn't?]
Jack closed the tome, and mulled over his thoughts.
[Then... What is the relationship between the two? Everything is Void, until the Light arrives? But that sounds like the obvious answer... I remember from school that Light is a wave and a particle. So, Light has mass, as well. Unless What if the Light can make Void and the Void can make like... Are the really one and the same.]
Jack tried hard to make this theory work. When he got to the end of the tome, it could only tell him that this was purposed and not confirmed.
Then two words flashed in his mind briefly, [...Black Hole...] Before the laptop sounded, distracting Jack from his thoughts.
Tux spoke, "Creator! Project Helios is ready for your review!"
"About damn time!" Jack left behind his thoughts, as he shoved them out of his mind. What he needed now was power, not theory.
"Tux, please pull up the schematics." Jack said while he carried the laptop to a table to sit down.
Jack say down, and looked over the picture on the screen. It was a massive throne.
[Damn this is huge! No wonder it took little Tux forever to compile it.] Jack thought to himself, as he went through each part.
"Tux, please provide a list of all material."
The Laptop showed basic materials. Nothing on the list was actually hard to get! The only requirement was a large amount of Glow Stone.
Jack looked around the room. There was still a huge pill of Glow Stone, even after he "Spent" 1.3 million Glow Stone... Jack was indeed the Holy Witch King, and the wealth of Deagoth was apparent in the amount of Glow Stone within his private Library.
[Why did the last guy need so much Glow Stone??? Was he a duck that liked to swim in money???] Jack could only think too his childhood.
"Tux, how does one shape Glow Stone?"
"Replying to Creator! Glow Stone is a mysterious metal. It is soft metal like gold, that emits Light continuously, until it expires. Once Glow Stone expires it will turn into its dormant form, that is indistinguishable to ordinary stone except that it retains its malleable consistency. Glow Stone can be shaped in the same way that Gold and other precious metals can without harm. This requires heat and forge." Tux replied dutifully.
"Wait... Can I reuse Glow Stone that has been depleted?"
"Replying to Creator! Yes! It is only necessary for Glow Stone to absorb the naturally occurring magic power of the world. This can be absorbed from any element, including Light itself."
"So... I just supply Light, and it can come back to be an active Glow Stone?"
"Replying to Creator! Yes!"
Jack thought for a moment, before he walked over and picked up one of the Cubiks from the floor.
Jack held it and poured magic power into it. He continued to pour magic into it... And still on. It felt as if he was dropping his power into the ocean... No impact."
Jack was determined, and after pouring his power until he was almost tapped out, the Glow Stone sparkled into a brilliance, as it illuminated!
"FUCK!" Jack cursed aloud. Jack had never curse so much in one place in his whole life, or unlife, then his time inside this library. This would not be the end.
"Almost all of my power... That's crazy! This thing didn't even show signs it was going to come back to life, until it suddenly sparked! Just what is this stuff?"
"Replying to Creator! It is theorized that Glow Stone is the first material created when Creation began. Others believe that it is the blood of the Creator himself."
"So... I'm holding a piece of the Big Bang? Pfft!" Jack tossed the Glow Stone Cubik onto the table next to the Laptop.
"It would take too much time to recharge this ridiculous mess... I'm just going to use the crap ton I have other there, Jack looked at another pile of Glow Stone."