/// Regis POV ///
I woke up as I took in a sharp breath, gasping for air desperately. I took the air inside my lungs like a hungry animal as my body started to absorb ambient aether on its own. My head pounded and my whole body ached with an unimaginable pain, like my whole body was stabbed by the flaming talons of a deranged beast.
I looked around to see where I was. Huge trees with intertwined branches forming canopies above my head. I immediately knew where I was. I was currently in the Elshire Forest of Dicathen. How the hell did I even get here?
I stood up, taking support of a nearby tree. My legs wobbled from the fatigue and stress I got as a result of keeping Arthur's healing in tandem with the damage he was receiving from the forbidden aether arts.
"Arthur"
A sudden realisation hit me. I looked around frantically for him. I looked for any trace of him. Cleaving and burning my way through the forest I searched every nook and cranny of the forest but I couldn't find him. It shouldn't be possible. I was bonded with him for his whole life. My life was connected with him. If he dies, so do I. But now he is gone. As much as I didn't want to admit it, it was the truth. Afterall i had seen him myself. Held him in my arms in the last moments, as his clothes overflowed with his own life-blood as they refused to soak anymore. He was dead, gone - for good. Then why was I alive? Wasn't the sole purpose of my existence was to serve him and lay my life for him?
"Damn you, you masachoistic fuck" I exclaimed as i slammed my fists into the ground. I pounded them hard into the soft ground of the forest making the dirt fly. The dirt flew and scattered here and there just like my fading vision as the tears i held back started to flow,
"I was supposed to be your weapon, damn it." I punched the ground once again making a crevice appear in it. I was supposed to protect him and die for him, not the other way around. I lamented at my incompetence as i sat there. The sun was already setting, the horizon turning serene and calm despite the storm that passed by, just a few hours ago.
I stood up from the ground, dusting my back to rid my pants of any dust or soil. Letting out a deep sigh I began my flight. My heart thrummed while my head hurt with all the simulations I ran on to how to face his family. How was I supposed to look them in the eye? How was I supposed to face his father, mother and Ellie? How will I ever look his child in the eye, knowing I should've been the one to die instead of his father?
Unbeknownst to me, as I was submerged in my thoughts I had already arrived at my destination. I looked down to see the same large mansion I had got for the Leywins when Arthur went into seclusion to reincarnate Cecelia. I flew near the house and hovered over it. The house was wrapped in silence, the few lights illuminating the house were the only thing that seemed normal. The whole mansion seemed to be drenched in sorrow and mourning. I flew closer to Arthur's room. The only light in the room was from the candles in the chandelier, dimly illuminating the room. Inside I saw Caera, trembling as she held Sylvie in her embrace, a blanket over both of them.
Letting out a deep breath I knocked on the glass of the window. Caera's eyes looked around as her gaze finally fixed on the window. With a fake smile on my face I waved my hand to her. She quickly got up as she placed Sylvie on the bed, and walked to the window. She brought her hand to the knob and turned it, unlocking the window. I flew inside as I landed softly, without making a noise. Caera kept fidgeting, desperate for me to say something to give her some hope.
"Regis? Why don't you say something? He's coming right? How is he left so far behind?" She asked, her eyes swollen as she continued to look at me, her eyes shining due to the dim light reflecting from the welled up tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry"
"I didn't ask for your apology Regis. I asked. When is he coming home?" She demanded her tone, getting agitated and impatient.
"I'm sorry." What else was I supposed to say? I was at a loss for words. She knew this was bound to happen but she still clung to the false little seed of hope that sprouted in her heart at the sight of me but withered as soon as I said my first words. She broke down at this as she started crying hysterically, her sobs loud enough to make Sylvie wake up. I activated the time halting rune as my surroundings started to slow down almost to a point of standstill.
I placed my fingers between her forehead as I put her to sleep.Turning the time back to its original pace I stopped her from her fall as I placed her softly on the bed. Picking another blanket from the closet, I extended it and covered her with it. She turned twice, seeking comfort in the warmth of the blanket. I walked over to Sylvie's side as I saw her sleeping like a baby, trails of tears on her round cheeks. Some trails were blurry indicating she cried a lot, time and time again.
I patted her head once as I planted my heel into the ledge of the window and jumped out of it. I flew out of there and landed on the roof. I sat at the centre of the roof as I looked up. The sky was filled with millions of stars, as they all shone brilliantly. I reminisced over my time with Arthur as we used to spend some time together here whenever we got free of our ever increasing responsibilities. A slight smile formed on my face as I remembered the nights we used to drink the whole night here, sneaking barrels of ale from the basement unbeknownst to our wives.
I then chuckled audibly, surprised at myself for missing the person I always mocked and made fun of so much. It really was true.
Sometimes you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
Sometimes You never know the value of a person until he's gone.
(E/n: I can say this fax from experiance)
/// Myre Indrath POV ///
(A/n What? Were expecting something else?)
(E/n no u sadist)
My eyes opened as I found myself standing in the familiar place. The sight of the same place I've grown to hate over the centuries came into view as a headache invaded my mind. I looked around to see myself standing in the familiar throne room of my husb—No, Kezzes Indrath. Beside me were multiple other asuras, mostly the respective heads of the clans who planned and instigated the coup with me. With the help of them, we managed to defeat the few clans that had sworn their utmost loyalty to Kezzes.
The once lavish throne room adorned with lavish carpets and silky curtains, which sprawled over the walls carved out of gold now laid in shambles. Pieces of the smooth rocks that made its roof fell to the ground, their small, almost muted thuds was the only sound that echoed throughout the room.
My gaze lingered from the debris to the throne present in front of me. The throne remained fixed in place, as it shone as vibrant as it always did, a contrast to the devastation around it. Looking closer at it my eyes widened. I brought my hands upto my eyes, as I wiped them, not believing what I was seeing. My eyes fogged for a second as I rubbed them too hard but the vision returned soon after only for me to see the same sight again.
The other asuras, following my line of sight, looked in the same direction as audible gasps spread throughout the room. On the throne seat, laid Kezzes' head, 3 streams of blood forming lines across the seat and lower section of the throne. I looked at his severed head, his once shining amethyst eyes carrying an air of indifference, like he was above all had lost all its glory as they were only a dark purple colour now. A sword was stabbed in the ground beside the throne as it shone a radiant amethyst.
"That's the same sword as the one that boy was using."
"Did he really kill him?"
"Impossible..! Fighting on par with a weak asura is a far-fetched dream for those lessers. Let alone defeating the strongest one among us."
"Are you blind? Didn't you saw everything with your own eyes?"
"Yes. Maybe we shouldn't look down on lessers."
"Only that boy was different. We should wipe the people associated with them so they don't plan on rebelling."
Multiple voices, ranging from awe and admiration to those of scorn, disbelief and even absurd suggestions started to fill the room. I let my intent let loose on them as silence enveloped the room, silencing everyone. Everyone's head turned towards me as they started watching me with wary eyes. Two figures appeared as they landed deftly beside me.
"Welcome back, Elder Kordri and Aldir." I greeted as the two figures took a curt bow. They looked around and waved their hand at the familiar asuras, mostly from their own clan. Aldir's single eye traced from me to the throne as he saw Kezzes' head laying there. For a split second all 3 of his eyes felt like they would drop out their sockets, but the look of shock soon disappeared, like he had expected this.
"So the boy did it." Kordri said, excitement evident in his voice. His face soon contorted into an emotionless one, a trait found in the pantheon race of asuras.
"We're here to confirm the death of Arthur Leywin, and to possibly recover his body to be taken back to his family." He said as Aldir tucked his hands behind his back, his two eyes closing as the single eye on his forehead began to shine.
"I don't know what you're talking about? Arthur Leywin, dead? How is that possible? He just finished his fight with Kezzes." I replied, visibly confused as to what they meant by that. How could the boy be dead? He was just fighting... no wait..! How was I inside the castle? Not just me, how is everyone here? How is his head inside here? We were fighting miles away from here.
I felt the thread of mana move around Aldir as a rapier appeared in his hands. The asuras behind me quickly brandished their weapons as they got into stance from the visible hostility from Aldir.
"Where is the boy?" He asked, his single eye shining more and more with every passing second as I felt the mana particles around me getting compact and unstable, ready to break and wreak havoc in a chain reaction of mana particles explosion.
"Stop Aldir. Lady Myre, what did you just say?" Kordri said, his gaze sharpening at me. I looked at him with the same sharp gaze as I replied,
"I said exactly what I meant. We were fighting just a while ago and the next thing I knew was waking up here."
"It might sound strange and I don't know what happened or maybe you're lying, but the fight happened two days ago. What you're saying is either a lie or has something to do with the phenomenon that occurred outside." Kordri said. He then motioned for me to follow him as I started to walk behind him. Aldir got behind me as the other asuras followed shortly after.
We got outside the castle, walking on the bridge. For the first time I felt like I wasn't being watched, looked and followed behind like a criminal on the loose. Once we had crossed the bridge we walked through the plum blossoms, as only a few of them now remained. The whole place was a wreck, only a few trees remaking as craters filled with magma, trees ripped apart, ice and stone spikes littered everywhere. A remnant of the quadra elemental child, who had slayed the king of asuras.
Walking through the forest we reached a certain spot as Kordri looked back,
"Find any odd thing?" He asked as he tucked his hands behind like Aldir. I looked around to find anything off with our environment. Aside from the destruction that had reached here, everything seemed pretty normal. But then again, something felt extremely wrong. Like the whole place was out of order. A thought clawing at the back of my head, clearly indicating something major is wrong.
"It's so quiet." A Titan said he stooped lower and touched the ground. The Titans were adept in earth type mana arts. Once his hand touched the ground I felt a pulse of mana go throughout the land. In fact it seemed to cover over half of Euphotus. His stood up, confusion etched over his face,
"No life. Aside from the extremely strong mana signatures belonging to the clan elders, I can't sense life among other asuras." He said as everyone went into a frenzy. I calmed them down as I looked around. Augmenting my eyes, I spotted a few beasts laying sprawled over the ground, and some flying type mana beasts, stuck in the trees, their wings ripped apart from the spikes in the beaches of some trees.
"Something is indeed off." I muttered under my breath, not wanting others to hear this so as to not spread more panic and confusion than there already was. I took a step forwards, followed by another as I stared to tread towards the supposedly dead mana beasts. I walked over to a guardian bear. It seemed dead, but the same feeling ravaged my brain, screaming at me to use it.
"Realmheart."
The feeling of divine transformation coursed through my body as my vision changed, and runes started to appear throughout my body. I focused on the beast and the intuition I had, was somehow proving to be correct. None of them were dead. In fact everyone was alive. It was Aether. Aether clung to every living and non living thing, like a leech and anyone beneath a certain power level seemed to be heavily affected by it.
As I had spent hundreds of years with Kezzes, I immediately knew what edict it was. It was an Aevum edict, similar to the one my only child, my daughter, Sylvia used to use. The time halting aether arts. But the scale of it was so immense that it had rendered everything to a pause. The effects were wearing off, but it was dependent on the power level of individuals. That was the reason why only the clan elders seemed to be okay. At least that's what seemed to be the case at the surface. In reality everyone was looking over the fact how we all were in a stopped time for the whole 2 days.
The only one I knew in this world to be able to manipulate aether like this was the boy, Arthur Leywin. Or maybe…. Perhaps it was done by the true deities. The ones, whom Kezzes aimed for. I turned around and clapped my hands, gathering everyone's attention towards me. After that I explained everything, leaving the information of true deities out of the equation.
Of course the reaction I got had doubts mixed in with them, but I never expected them to accept it just like that. Once we all caught up and understood the matter at hand, all of us decided to put the cause of this phenomenon to the side for now and start to gather the time-halted bodies of asuras to a single place.
Once everyone flew away to gather their kin, I was left with only Aldir.
"So.. what do you think?" He asked, the tone of respect he used to have still there, although very faint.
"I think he's gone." I replied. It wasn't a complete lie, but I wasn't sure, so I didn't want to give them some false hope.
"I see. I'll be taking my leave and returning to the Leywins." He replied and spun on his heel. Then he stopped as he turned around,
"Farewell, Lady Myre." He said with a small bow as he flew away. I smiled a little as I turned my head away, looking at the afternoon sky, the rays of sun that fell on my face providing a subtle warmth.
"I hope you're okay child. And thank you, for everything." I said silently as I closed my eyes, letting the light of sun illuminate my vision as I stood there for a while. I opened my eyes after a while as I turned too, my battle robe fluttering in the slight breeze as I made my way back to the castle.
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(E/n Hello dumbass child with authority here, everyone has been bamboozled, Tess it's your time to shine save Arthur have a son, live happily ever after)
(A/n Considerable. Arthur being reborn as Tessia's child.🤣)