When Aeon looked at the crowd, he saw a few familiar faces in the mix. Though most of the people there were strangers to Aeon.
This was only natural. Even though all of the people in the refugee site were mages, it didn't mean that only those who are part of the military and the academy were there. There were a lot of mages who chose to be in the industry, using their abilities to become successful.
And these people were the ones gossiping right in front of him.
Aeon didn't mind being the topic of gossip. He and his dad had been one for a long time when they just moved to the Florentine Empire. Unwelcoming stares were also common. What he couldn't understand, however, was the fear in the people's eyes. Why would he look at him like that? He didn't do anything wrong.
Aeon was still lost in thought when Korona suddenly yanked on his shirt. Then, he found himself being dragged farther away from the refugee site.
"Hey, where are we going?" Aeon asked as he stumbled on a rock.
"Since you're here, you should be meeting someone," Korona said as she walked.
"Why are we moving away from the area though?"
"Too crowded!"
Korona walked ahead, while Aeon followed her.
For a few minutes, the only thing that they could hear was the sound of their own footsteps. Even the chirping of birds and the whistling of the wind were non-existent.
It was just the two of them.
The two realized that the atmosphere was quite awkward.
A couple of times, Aeon wanted to speak but stopped himself midway. The case was similar with Korona.
They haven't seen each other for eight whole months and didn't really know what to talk about. Is there even anything the two could talk about? Were they even the same people eight months ago?
For Aeon, he thought that it would be rude to ask Korona how she was. She was definitely not fine! She was in a foreign land, driven away from her own home. Asking her that would only remind her of bad experiences. Should he share his experiences then? No! He didn't have a great time either. The last eight months of his life were only filled with bloodshed. Aeon racked his brains thinking about a topic, but everything seemed taboo.
Korona was similarly speechless. For a long time, they thought that Aeon had been dead. And they have already accepted this fact too. Now that they found out that he was still alive, what was she supposed to talk about? She had already let out all her frustrations… was there any more to say?
The two were lost in their own thoughts when Aeon suddenly found himself being distracted.
"Animals!" Aeon exclaimed as he pointed at a herd of deer frolicking atop a distant hill.
Korona looked at the direction where Aeon was pointing at and indeed saw a lot of animals. Though it appeared that she wasn't as surprised Aeon. She slowly nodded her head and said, "Unlike people living in cities, people who live in towns see more wild animals. The population in towns is a lot smaller, so the animals around the area aren't driven away by their activity."
Hearing this fun fact, Aeon felt rather challenged. "Oh-hoh, this is a battle of wits, eh?"
Korona was still smiling, thinking about how happy Aeon was about seeing animals. But when she heard his next sentence, all the cogs in her brain suddenly stopped turning.
Wha… What? Battle of wits?
"Eh?"
The smile on her face turned rather crooked and she felt like sweating. "T-That's not really my…"
Aeon didn't care about how dumbstruck Korona was though. He immediately started his own fun fact, "Did you know?! Lions have..."
Aeon explained a bunch of things, making the atmosphere a lot livelier. He used gestures to emphasize his words, but because he was wearing colorful clothes, to Korona, he looked much like a clown. The latter failed to hold back her laughter a couple of times.
It was basically just Aeon blabbering non-stop after that. He said that it was a battle of wits, but he didn't actually let Korona speak afterward anymore.
Korona didn't really care if she couldn't speak though. She just kept on nodding and nodding as Aeon spat out more did-you-knows.
She realized that she really did miss Aeon. His stupid nature and how he was often so carefree.
Sometimes she wished that she could be just like him.
….
Aeon and Korona arrived outside a tent that was unusually taller than the others. The fact that it was fairly isolated from a few other tents only made it more distinct and eye-catching.
Truth be told, Aeon already had a hunch about who he was about to meet. It was Korona who was dragging him to see someone. To who else would she bring him to?
But he couldn't help feeling jittery.
"Suri, are you there?" Korona called out softly.
Suri… how much did he change in the past eight months? Aeon was rather curious.
"Korona?" a voice asked from inside the tent.
Korona looked at Aeon who was staring at the opening of the tent with a huge smile on his face.
She was truly happy for her friend. For Suri too. But at the same time, she couldn't help feeling sad as well. Aside from letting the two meet, Korona had a different purpose for reuniting the two as soon as she saw Aeon. She wanted Aeon to find out about something.
A tall, burly young man slowly exited the tent. He was about to look up towards Korona when he realized that something was stuck on his leg. As he struggled to shake the thing off, Aeon approached the young man and patted his shoulder.
"You grew a bit taller," Aeon said.
Hearing a different voice, Suri quickly turned towards the person who spoke. The voice, to him, although it was a bit hoarse, was still recognizable. But that voice… how come he was able to hear it?
Aeon stared at Suri. The latter stared back, visibly shocked.
A good five seconds passed by with just the two looking at each other's eyes, acknowledging the company's presence.
Then, Suri burst into tears and started sobbing. He placed both of his hands on Aeon's shoulders as he slowly knelt down on the ground.
Aeon didn't mind and just laughed awkwardly instead. He pulled Suri's head towards his chest in an embrace.
"Long time no see, bro! Sorry, I worried you," Aeon said with a smile. He was teary-eyed, but he didn't let himself cry like the baby in front of him. He was way tougher than that!
"Sorry… sorry… sorry… Aeon! I'm really sorry!" Suri apologized as he sobbed.
Aeon's smile finally turned awkward. Wasn't this supposed to be a warm and happy reunion?
"Come on man, why do you need to apologize? I'm the one who died," Aeon joked.
No matter what Aeon said, Suri wouldn't let up. He just kept on apologizing and apologizing, without telling him why. When Aeon turned towards Korona, the latter just stared at him helplessly.
Suri looked at Aeon in the eyes as he spoke in a hoarse voice, "Aeon, I'm really sorry."
"I get it. I ge—"
"Your dad," Suri cut off Aeon, "I couldn't protect him."
Dad?
Aeon's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why was Suri suddenly bringing up his father?
"My dad?" Aeon laughed awkwardly. "Protect? What are you saying? He should be back in the capital by now. You're not making any sense."
"Back in Florentine… he…"
…
Suri didn't finish his words. He couldn't.
Aeon turned towards Korona once more. He was starting to get frustrated. "Korona, what is he saying?"
Korona was about to open her mouth when a deep voice suddenly chimed in, "Your father is gone."
Surprised, Aeon directed his gaze towards the person inside the tent. The flaps of the tent folded outward as a tall, bulky man went out.
Aeon knew who the person was. He was Solare Samo, the General of Sera City and Suri's father.
Deep in the man's eyes, Aeon could see regret and sadness. He immediately realized that something was quite off.
"Gone?" Aeon asked, confused. "What do you mean?"
Solare sighed. "Your dad isn't in Meredith. The last time we saw him was in Sera City. Eight months ago, after your success in retrieving Dr. Hugh, the Academy was about to keep their end of the bargain. Everything was set for your dad to leave, including a cover-up story that they would be spreading around about his escape. However, he refused to leave."
Why would he…
"He provided no particular reason as to why. When asked, he always dodged the question by saying that he'll leave once he's had enough of Florentine," Solare continued.
"Of course, we didn't agree. The cover-up story would be useless by then. But your dad was too stubborn.
A few days later, a ceremony to pay our respects to those who died was held. It was a sad day.
Who would've known that it could still get worse?
We were suddenly attacked by an unknown enemy.
Another battle ensued.
None of us were prepared, but we were able to hold our ground.
Well, at least for the first wave.
In the second wave, a single person went up against our entire forces.
With his first attack, he was able to break through our formation. He killed dozens of our men afterward without even batting an eye.
We tried to subdue him, and we almost did. Unfortunately, even Toran Fiore's S-ranked sealing magic failed to do so. He broke out of it. That point alone would've been enough for me to know that he wasn't someone we could fight against. But things happened way too fast.
Toran Fiore collapsed, and I was gravely injured.
Hope would've been lost by that time.
But your father came.
I passed out afterward, but according to my men, he was able to fight toe to toe with the invader. And… he bought enough time for everyone to escape.
We evacuated all the way to the border city of Cora, bringing people from the towns along the way.
Then, when we were attacked once more, this time by the man's henchmen, probably, we were able to reach a stalemate.
After that, when we found an opening, we decided to evacuate further. All the way to another empire.
Here we are now."
Solare Samo concluded his story.
After that, there was a long period of silence.
Even Aeon did not know how to respond.
So his father wasn't really in the capital… and no one has seen him ever since.
Aeon was naturally devastated by the revelation. It felt like there was a weight bearing down on his chest. And no matter how hard he tried to push back, it only got heavier.
Then, out of the blue, Aeon started laughing. Laughing out of helplessness.
Helplessness against the truth.
He realized that this wasn't a joke. It was reality.
A part of him still wanted to believe in Jax and Thrain, that his father was still alive and enjoying himself somewhere in the capital. But a part of him also knew that his father would behave just as General Samo had described.
Stubborn.
Would willingly put himself in danger for the sake of others.
Aeon continued laughing. But as the weight on his chest grew heavier, he failed to stop his tears from flowing.
The others could only look at Aeon. They didn't have the words to comfort him.
"Did you at least help him as he fought?" Aeon suddenly asked out of nowhere. A gentle smile was painted on his face.
Solare did not answer. It was Suri who replied to Aeon.
"Everyone did their best. I saw it for myself," Suri said, staring at the ground, "the other mages only left when Sir Devon called for everyone to retreat."
Aeon thought for a second before nodding.
"That should be enough," Aeon wiped his tears, "Huuu… I shouldn't be crying like this, haha."
None of them knew what Aeon meant when he said that that should be enough. They could only hope that he would slowly accept the truth.
The atmosphere that had been quite dark earlier slowly began to ease up. The tension was finally fading as well.
Aeon helped Suri up, and the two hugged. Korona soon joined the two.
Solare didn't want to stick around. He was about to go back inside the tent when he started hearing some footsteps. No, those are hooves.
The kids started hearing the sound too. It was coming from the heart of the refugee site.
Solare found it strange though. He knew that they didn't have horses. So that could only mean that there were people from the town visiting them. Were they coming for Aeon?
He was still wondering when a strong gust of wind suddenly blew…
Solare was keen. He immediately thought that the gust was quite out of place. Like it appeared out of nowhere without building up. He looked towards the left.
In his periphery, he saw that Aeon was looking in the same direction as him as well.
A shadow came into view, his figure blurred by his speed. None of them could recognize who the person was.
They only found out who the person was when he finally stopped right in front of Aeon.
On his back, the man carried a silver scythe with an enormous blade. He had a fair skin tone and green eyes. His nose was pointy, and his eyebrows were rather thin. Overall, he had handsome features.
He looked like a knight in shining armor.
The truth is, he was better than that.
Aeon stared dumbly at the person who was smiling from ear to ear right in front of him. Even his eyes were filled with mirth.
Aeon didn't know that he had the exact same reaction as anyone else.
At the same time, everyone snapped back into reality.
"Emperor!" Solare, Suri, and Korona greeted.
"Old man?!" Aeon exclaimed.
People immediately started gathering around them.
….