The sky wept bloody rain, bodies strewn across the black, barren, scorched land. Spears, swords, and various weapons lay impaled and broken on the ground.
The air reeked of rotting flesh, crows feasting on the corpses of men and monsters alike. Amidst the desolation stood a man and a woman.
He, a man of majestic beauty, and she, a woman with a visage akin to that of a goddess. However, this moment was far from joyous.
The woman lay in the man's arms, dying, gasping for each breath to convey her final message to her beloved. Her cold, pale hand rested on the warm cheek of the weeping man, tenderly stroking it with a love that seemed to cherish it as the most precious thing in the world. This only intensified the man's despair.
"Theo, if we should meet again in another life, I promise you with all my heart and the essence of my soul, I vow to love you once again."
Theo gripped Selene's stroking hand with desperation, his eyes pleading and filled with tears. Though his touch was gentle, he treated her as if she were as fragile as glass.
"Selene..."
Theo cried harder, a rare occurrence for him. Usually stoic, Selene was the one shedding tears most of the time. The only instances he had wept before were when he lost his family, friends, or, once, his one and only servant, who was akin to family.
"I have no more reason to live on, Selene. With you and everyone gone... What's left for me to protect? What's left for me to love when you, my other half, disappear? I... I... Thi-"
******
"!? Hah... Hah.... What.... was that?"
Theo gasped for air as his upper body stood up from the bed, placing his hand on his chest to pace his breathing well.
Nightmare? No, that was too vivid for something like that....
Knock* Knock* Knock*
"I'm coming in, Young master"
Bennet?
Theo just noticed that he was sitting inside a large room similar to the one he had in Neutrum or back home in Ignatius. From the looks of it, it looked to be a luxurious guest room prepared for someone like him, because of the lack of personal items and decor the room had.
The door of the room opened and revealed Bennet, his personal servant and butler.
The servant he picked up when he was just at the age of four, when he first roamed the streets of Ignatius. He was a beggar and orphan of the war and it was easy to say that their first meeting wasn't exactly as friendly as one would imagine it to be.
Bennet saw the risen Theo and smiled gleefully.
"Young master! You're finally awake!"
Bennet threw his hands in the air with joy and approached the half naked young man, which Theo just noticed that he was undressed from the top.
Bennet approached Theo and asked him some questions about how he was feeling and if he felt anything uncomfortable.
Theo merely shook his head on most of the questions that Bennet posed, showing him that he felt completely fine and refreshed.
"But, I'm fine now, Bennet. Thank you for looking out for me. You can finally rest."
"What do you mean Young mas....ter"
Bennet's voice slowly faded as he talked, he fell face forward towards Theo, luckily Theo caught him before he completely crashed on him.
"Oops... Sigh.... Thank you once again, Bennet" Theo smiled at the sleeping Bennet.
Theo got up from his bed and placed Bennet there instead, who clearly had the biggest dark eyebags Theo had ever seen.
Theo tiredly sighed in resignation.
"I'm forever thankful to you Bennet." Theo smiled as he tucked Bennet in.
"How lucky of a servant to have such a kind Young master to serve"
A new voice echoed from the entrance of the room, it was a familiar face, one that he had seen a fair amount of times throughout his life.
"Hey uncle John" Theo smiled wryly at the appearance of Duke Windsor.
"Kekeke, you still call me by the same name huh? Way to talk to a Duke, Theo"
The Duke leaned on the side of the door frame with the usual soft smile on his face. People always underestimate the Duke because of this, his soft and diligent demeanor hides a power that rivals most beings under the sky of Alethea.
Theo even remembered how John Windsor handled three Duke level demons by himself in the game, he was just that strong of a character, luckily he was one of the characters that survived and one of the greatest allies the main characters had until the end.
John was dubbed as the Arbiter of Thunder, almost no one was as better than him in the art of Lighting and Thunder, because of his Lightning Judge class. That's until he discovered Sky.
"Uncle, what happened to the orphanages and the children." Theo spoke with a grave expression.
"Most, but I do have a few things to say, but that's for later. Go get dressed, feed yourself and then you can meet me in my office when you're done" The Duke said with his eyes closed.
Now that he mentioned it, I am famished....
"How long was I asleep?"
Gotta be at least a week.....
"Three weeks, you were asleep for three weeks"
Theo gaped his mouth in shock
Hearing Dawn's explanation made Theo lower his head in distraught.
Dawn
Only Twenty years? Any human who hears that twenty years of lifespan disappearing for a mere few seconds of using an ability would easily piss their pants and despair, hearing you.
Theo actually would have lost more if not for Dawn and twenty was essentially negligible in the future when he ascends to higher tiers and he revives his sleeping bloodline
Another reward for clearing the extra content that the sword trial threw Theo was Dawn being able to enhance skills Theo had and regulate them at their maximum performance, hence why the result of him not having only a few years left to live.
However, using the skill once or even twice more in the future would really make him wound up dead. He wanted to avoid using the skill as much as possible and just grow stronger up the tiers instead of forcing his body to pay the price.
In the end it's because I'm weak. It's always been the same rule. Survival of the fittest. It has not changed since my last life.....
Duke Windsor frowned at the sight of Theo. Duke could easily guess what the kid was feeling, he felt it many times throughout his life too. People always think that the only reason why he was as powerful as he was now, was because he was born in a prestigious and supporting family, which was partly True.
Though, they never accounted how much I actually had to go through just to get to where I am right now...
The Duke suffered greatly to get this strong. He also went through the last war between Vitoten and Virtus, where he lost his father, where he was forced to grow up faster than others to become worthy of the title of Duke.
He never even had the chance to love because of it, because of how busy and important his role was for the Empire.
Now he was in his forties with the only remaining family he had was his mother and his little sister who had a daughter who he declared as his sole heir to the title of Duke.
He was happy, but he knew there was a hole in his heart that could be filled if given the chance.
Duke shook his head and spoke in a more gentler tone than before
"I'll go now. You're free to rest or come to my office anytime. Take your time, I already relayed everything to your father and he said to let you do anything you want because of your good job, but your not allowed to do anything that even gives the slightest bit of danger for the next few months"
Theo weakly nodded
I'll go eat for now.
The Duke called out the maid to attend to him for his needs and left to do more work back to his office.
Duke took one last glance at the door.
Hang in there Theodore, life will only get worse from here on, but it can also only get better.