- Hummmm.Hummmm.Hummmm.
A beautiful melody. Gentle. Calm. Loving.
Logan had no memories of before coming to the orphanage. He did not remember his parent's names, their faces. Nothing.
The memories that started surfacing since he met Locus also provided him with no comfort. These were the most hazy.
Were those memories from before coming to the orphanage? No, it couldn't be, his figure was that of an adult in them. He also was the king of a Kingdom.
Were those from another life? He did not know.
But despite all of this, Logan still could not help but recall and feel something when the humming of the melody entered his ears.
It was a difficult sensation. A mix of sorrow and comfort plagued his heart. He felt pained but happy to see the silhouette starting to form in his mind.
It was the silhouette of a woman. Older than he was. She looked at him proudly. She smiled. The first adult to do so after the ritual.
Then a man came into the room. The man pulled him into his embrace. It felt warm for Logan.
- "Are these people my parents?" -thought Logan- "Is this how it feels to have a home to return to? To feel loved? Needed?"
- "I want to stay here forever....."
************
The light of the moon entered a dimly lit room through its windows. It stopped to illuminate the face of a young child.
His hair, raven black, glistening under the light of the moon dropped ever so gently to cover his forehead.
His skin, smooth and flawless like that of a newborn baby.
His face, strong and defined.
His features moulded from the highest quality clay.
His eyelashes, putting those of a girl to shame.
Yet, baby fat could still be seen in that flawless face. He was but a child.
It was past midnight. It had been a couple of hours since Logan was knocked out by Nathan. The light of the moon that fell into his eyes woke him up from his slumber.
- Where am I? - Logan said as he slowly opened his eyes - What am I doing here?
- You feeling alright?
Suddenly, Logan heard a voice that he did not recognise. With this as a trigger, Logan raised his upper body up from the bed to look at the direction of where the voice came from.
With a single glance, Logan knew that he was on one of the beds of an infirmary. Not of the orphanage for he didn't recognise anything. Perhaps of the tournament. He must have had been transported here after being knocked out.
In the direction of his gaze lay a man. He had a pronounced beard and fierce eyes. He did not look from Gand for his muscles screamed that he was not a spirit contractor. A sword could be seen tied on his waist.
- "Is he here to pick me up? How kind of them!" - though Logan with sarcasm.
- Are you alright? You were hit quite badly this morning - repeated the man.
- Senior Cloud.
Cloud was sitting on one of the windows of the room, his hand holding a cigarette. His face showing a genuine concern that did not suit his wild features.
When he saw Logan wake up, he slowly approached his bed and sat in a stool next to it.
When Cloud heard Logan address him as senior, he could not stop a nervous smile appearing from his face.
- "I'm not that old yet.... I'm only 30 this year" - thought Cloud.
- Yes, I'm alright. But my body still hurts quite a bit. Nathan did not pull any punches.
- Is that so... - said Cloud as he looked at Logan with his sharp eyes that seemed to be able to read someone's soul - Anyways, here.
Cloud searched for something in his pocket and handed it to Logan. It was a cloth of some sort.
- What is this for? - asked Logan with the childish face he could come with.
Out of all the smiles Cloud had seen in his life, he felt Logan's was the ugliest one. It wasn't because of his looks, but what he felt it hid behind it.
Cloud pointed to Logan's cheeks - You seem like you just had a bad dream.
Logan touched his cheeks only to feel water in them. The sensation made him recall his dream, and he couldn't stop tears flowing out from his eyes.
- Ara?? What are.... these? Why do my cheeks.... feel so cold? - Logan rapidly accepted the cloth Cloud had handed to him to clean his cheeks and eyes but the tears wouldn't stop falling.
- Ara? Why is it not stopping? What is this feeling? - Logan kept cleaning his cheeks again and again and again only for it to be wet again. Soon, the cloth was soaked. Logan grimly smiled and looked at Cloud - Tell me senior, what is this feeling?
Cloud was speechless. How sad had the dream need to be to make him like this? Seeing him like this, Cloud tried to hug Logan but when his hands were near enough to touch him.
- Do not touch me!! - shouted Logan as he slapped Cloud's hands and quickly retreated to the farthest area from Cloud. His eyes showing hatred and hostility - Do not come near me!! You are all equal.
When he saw his actions, Cloud was reminded that he was not worthy to comfort him. He had allowed him to get bullied, though it was to gain the trust of the other children and the personnel in the orphanage, it still couldn't be denied that he turned a blind eye at all that was happening. It was only normal for him to be not trusted by the child in front of him.
- Logan....
A feeling of familiarity arose inside Cloud. He had seen those eyes before. He did not know where but they were oddly familiar to him.
All of a sudden, Logan felt warmth enveloping him and the hatred and hostility in his eyes disappeared only to be replaced by endless sorrow.
- What you are feeling is sorrow Log - said Locus whilst hugging Logan from behind - It's a feeling all humans and spirits experience. It's only normal.
- This pain is... normal? But I feel so weak....
- Yet it is no sign of weakness. So cry your heart out. Let me bear it all. I am your best friend after all.
- *Sob* *Sob* Waaaaaaaa....
- "His attitude and aura made me forget it but no matter how he acts, how he thinks, Logan is still a child; no matter how childish I may act, I am still older than Logan. Just like the promise we made in the beginning, I need to be his support and he's mine" - thought Locus as he caressed Logan's hair ever so gently.
Logan had met resentment, anger, happiness and sadness but this was his first time feeling this bittersweet.
It was Logan's first time meeting with the feeling of sorrow.
****************
Treat Region. Centre of Riarath. Dawnless City. Nexus of Valhalla
The centre of Riarath, Treat, wasn't monopolised and controlled by any Gods yet it received their combined blessing.
Treat was not a region like this long ago.
In the beginning, Treat was a lawless zone, a zone where life couldn't be born for all fought for their God here; it only got better after the Dark Frontier attacked Riarath. The Gods and their subjects needed a place to strategize together, a place where nobody would have an advantage over one another; Treat was the clear pick.
After, cities started appearing in the once Lawless zone. Its inhabitants receiving a blessing depending in the quality of their soul.
Soon, the Treat region, despite its roots as the most dangerous region in Riarath, turned into the place where humans born with different blessings could coexist together.
In the present era, it wasn't strange to see a blessed by Gaia marry a blessed by Bahan or a blessed by Cinis merrily drinking with a blessed by Yondur. These were all considered taboo once, but now, they weren't a strange sight to see in Treat.
Out of all the cities in the Treat region, Dawnless city is the most prominent; the city is located at the epicentre of Riarath and it contains the main quarters of the 4 churches, each one at and their backs facing the respective regions of the Gods they represent.
At the north of Dawnless city lay the the Bahamuth church, the church that venerated the God of Weapons, facing the Bahan region.
At the south lay the Cinis church, the church that venerated the Goddess of the Eternal Fire, facing the Cindra region.
At the east lay the Yondur church, the church that venerated the Goddess of Technology and Machinery, facing the Yondra region.
At last but not least, at the west lay the Gaia church, the church that venerated the God of all spirits, facing the Gaia region.
The city were they were inside in, surrounded by a massive circular wall with entrances at the North, South, East and West.
All cities in the Treat Region were arranged in such a way, but Dawnless had something extra which made it more special than most.
In every city in Treat, the main gates of each church are facing towards the centre of the city, with pathways leading towards it; with the pathways of each church meeting at the centre of each city.
But Dawnless was different. In Dawnless, an academy lay in the middle of the city.
Nexus of Valhalla or Nexus as an abbreviation was an academy formed after the great disaster to train the most talented individuals of each region to fight against the dark frontier. The academy receives the support of the main quarters of the 4 main churches. It provides with 1st rate instruction, ample combat experience against monsters and humanoids from the Dark Frontier alike and the knowledge to fight them. No other academies in Riarath could compare.
As such, the academy also had a low acceptance rate of less than a hundred people a year.
It was in this same academy that a meeting between the top brass of Riarath was happening. The highest qualified person of each church and the director of Nexus lay inside.
All of them sat around a round table.
- So, for what reason have you called us for today Violet? - asked the Bishop of the Gaia church to the Director of Nexus. - Why was our meeting this urgent?
- I will get to that now Rose.
The director of Nexus stood up and passed a copy of a booklet to everyone.
- The booklet that I have passed to all of you contains information about the recent attempts of the Dark Frontier to infiltrate Riarath as of the beginning of this year. It also contains information about their last year attempts.
- Why are you showing us this Violet? - asked the Bahan bishop - There is nothing to be afraid about, those of the Dark Frontier are not intelligent enough to devise a strategy against us.
- Sure sun? - asked Violet with a serious gaze.
- What are you implying?
- If you would kindly open the booklet to its second page please.
- What!! - everyone looked shocked to see the information presented on front of them.
- Ahemm! Let me explain.