Kana POV:
I didn't think I'd be back here, 7 years ago I mean. After the events of that day, my future and my psyche took severe damage and the sheltered world that I was kept in was broken down. But through perseverance and will that I held through my promise, it has led me back to the beginning. The town of Hagg. More specifically, the Adventurer's Guild.
I carefully sipped on a steaming cup of coffee laid out in front of me, generously by the host and one of the staff of the Adventurers Guild, Rowlin Mardredwood. The host himself, sat opposing me on the couch in the backroom that he had led us to after I asked to have a private conversation. Rowlin seemed confused by who I was and it was clear in his behaviour that amounted to a nervous wreck. He was unsure of my identity.
Did he not pick up on who I was after my first words? So much for the entrance I was going for. Ughhhhh. Let's recompose our self and start over.
Rowlin slightly finally breaths for the first time since we entered this room seeming to let go of the anxiety that tied a noose round his neck. "H-have we met before, sir?"
My eyes surprisingly shot open, even though I had already realised he didn't recognise me, it still struck some kind of discomforting emotion inside of me. Netherless, I concealed it beneath the surface of my facade and stared straight back at Rowlin.
"Of course we have, Rowlin Mardredwood. But I understand your confusion, as I previously used to refer to you as mister." I gave another slight hint, not revealing who I was explicitly, but giving him enough of a clue to determine my identity.
"This might sound...strange, but by any chance.... could you be... Kana?"
My eyes examine his jittering teeth, the Goosebumps on his skin, his watering eyes. I slowly but firmly nod my head once.
He breaths in twice, seemingly forgetting about breathing out, and covers his mouth in shock. Tears welling in his eyes that soon streamed down his face in an apologetic tone.
Sniffle! Sniffle!
He whimpers, wiping his runny nose and leaking eyes with his sleeve. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He clenches his fist tightly and tries to recompose himself, before he began asking any more questions. It took him only another minute to calm down his tears.
"What happened to you? W-where were you?" He asks in a rhythm similar to if he had hiccups.
"It's a long story, if I'm being honest. But the short story is, I went out on the mission with that party and in the monsters lair, they betrayed and abandoned me. I tried to fight of the monster, but everything I did would only slow down the beast. Eventually, at death's door, a miracle happened. A shining cyan portal, with a rune engraved on top of it appeared behind me. I jumped in and was saved."
"Then what about the rest of the 7 years? You told me about the expedition, but the party returned five days later, so where have you and what have you been doing?" His voice searched for answers that would calm his uneasy mind. I could tell that with each bad thing that I relayed to him that happened to me, his face turned sour and was filled with guilt and self hatred.
"If I'm being completely honest Rowlin, this will be a draining conversation and I'm already quite worn out."
Immediately he jumps to his feet on high alert and says, "You can wash up here at the guild. We have a shower over there. Take as long as you wish." He pointed with his finger out the door and to the left.
I turn away and head for the door, opening it halfway before I stopped. "Thank you, Rowlin. Sorry I've left you to feel like this for the past 7 years."
I didn't bring attention to this before, but the more I looked the more bottles of alcohol I found scattered around his room. It was clear he took a lot of mental strain from my disappearance, and due to the lack of a closer person that could comfort him, he turned to alcohol and wallowing in his guilt and pain.
I'm really sorry, Rowlin.
After another thirty minutes, I came back from the shower. Unfortunately I had no spare clothes, so I simply put on my pants and nothing else. I then returned to the room and sat back down in front of him. "I can tell one thing you've been doing these past 7 years, but what else have you been up to after the betray and your entry through the portal?"
"Before that, what do you mean you can tell one of the things I've been doing?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"Huh? Do you not get what I'm implying?"
Sigh...
"I was referring to your physique. Your body in general actually."
"Oh." I said realising his implication. After these 7 years, I have changed a lot. For one, I was now very tall. I noticed that when I was walking through the village, but most men were still below my shoulders. I had certainly grown and not just in height. In the time I was in the portals world, I had a lot of time to train and therefore my muscle mass had increased substantially. Also, the fact that I only had access and knowledge to prepare healthy food, meant that all the muscle I gained was very lean and all my veins were very visible, with the feathering in my muscles very clear and reflected.
"Anyway, as I told you previously, I was betrayed and almost died. Fortunately, I was rescued through a portal. The portal that I had jumped through was not connected to this world. To any parts of this world. The only thing that came to my mind was that this was a separate dimension that lived independently and did not rely on this world to sustain itself."
"How did you figure it wasn't part of the outside world?" He asked. Rightfully so, as I skipped over the abnormality that brought me to this conclusion.
"Believe it or not, the world through the portal also had green grass. It had animals, tree's, water, resources."
"So why did you think it wasn't apart of the outside world?"
"Simple. The sky was white. Completely white with no clouds. There was no sun or moon in the sky. There was wind, rain, snow, heat, but no indication of the weather changing in the sky. It remained constantly white. There was no people, no matter how long I looked for. And lastly, the concentration of mana and source strength this place exuded was abnormal."
"W-what? How is that possible. I've heard of certain places containing abundant amounts of mana, but never in my life source strength." His voice cracked slightly, shaken from my information.
"Are you sure you weren't just imagining it? That has to be it! The last time I say you, you didn't even have a trace of source strength around you, so how could you feel it if you don't have any?"
I decided not to use words since he would ask me for proof either way, so I stood up and began pulsing source Ki through my body. A burning mercury aura entangled me in the shape of a lion's mane and oppressed it's colour and strength proudly.
"Wow. It's incredible! Is that really your source KI? When did you learn this and why is it such a colour?" His eyes glistened like a child's at the phenomenon laid in front of him.
"It first activated when I was fighting the monster after I was betrayed, but back then, it was a different colour. A fierce red, rather than this calm and pristine mercury." I explained as my fingers traced down my chin, scratching it as I thought back.
"My turn now." I said as the trace of source KI faded away like the water departing from the land. "Have there been any news of their party in the last 7 years?"
"No. There hasn't been. It has been rumoured, for now 2 years, that their party split up after their mission with you. The party members whereabouts are currently unknown. All apart from one that is, Skull face has reportedly settled down in the countryside of the Human Kingdom."
"I see." Without me releasing, I seeped killing intent at the sound of his name as Rowlin flinched backwards. "Ugh. Sorry about that." I said scratching the back of my head.
He then hesitantly asked me. "Kana. What are your goals now?"
"My goals, huh? Well I guess they'd be..."