"Minos, you need to go, not only for yourself, but also for me, so that I can finally escape this prison through you…" Tinka finished, having poured her true feelings out.
If there was anything Tinka was envious about, it was the fact that Minos could go where he pleased, whereas she was stuck here.
In a way, Minos's journey's were the closest she'd likely ever get to truly experiencing this world, but far more than that, she didn't want Minos to be trapped like she was.
Her love for Minos was so strong that she would rather push him away towards what was good for him, then just keep him shackled here.
As the saying goes, if you love someone, set them free, and if they love you, they'll come back.
Minos always came back, so it was her job to set him free, despite how painful it was to do so every time.
"Let's stop talking about that, and just enjoy the rest of the day." Tinka said, wiping the tears from her eyes.
Despite her strong exterior, Minos could see everything through his Heart Path abilities, knowing just how devastating it was for Tinka to say those words.
But he didn't say anything, just listening to Tinka's words and taking her by the arm, deciding to make good use of this last day.
…
Waking up early the next morning, Minos turned over, looking at Tinka's peaceful sleeping face.
Gently kissing her on the forehead, he quietly got off the bed, making sure to not wake her up.
It was always hard to say goodbye, so Minos thought it was better to just avoid the pain, hence he threw his robe on in silence.
Fully dressed, Minos took one more long look at Tinka, as if to burn her appearance into his mind, before letting out a sigh and leaving.
With the cabin door closing, Tinka suddenly got up, having been awake the whole time. Looking towards the door, she couldn't help but begin weeping, wishing that she could just run out and follow him on his journey.
But she knew that was impossible, so she would remain confined here, only praying that destiny was always on Minos's side.
Minos could hear her cries from beyond the walls, his heart pained, like a knife had just stabbed through it, but still, he grit his teeth, and kept walking.
As much as he wanted to turn around and comfort her, more than anything, he wanted to cure Tinka and her tribe of their curse, and give her the life she truly deserved.
And for that, he needed to leave, to keep fighting, and to get stronger, so until then, Minos would never stop.
…
Rather than heading straight home, Minos headed directly towards the Ancient Desert Kingdom.
Since he already left once, there was no point putting the kids through that pain again, so it was better to just avoid it this time.
Compared to his previous journeys, this one was destined to be the longest, the Ancient Desert Kingdom being at the far southern end of the Alephora Continent.
He was currently at the western side, and to make the entire trip would take a few months time, nearly a year.
Just the trip alone would take around a year and half, not to mention the time actually spent exploring the temple and what it had to offer.
It was likely he wouldn't be back for about two years, which was long even by his own standards, but he didn't have the talent to just sit around and wait for breakthroughs.
In fact, pretty much all cultivators were like him, taking advantage of any opportunity that came their way, after all, even geniuses needed resources.
The cultivation world was like a small pond, where the food was limited, but the fish were plentiful.
This is why it's said that any powerful cultivator is built off countless skeletons, because even if you don't kill someone, taking their resources is no different.
If you didn't want to be devoured, you could either devour others, or just not take part in the fight, but that was akin to giving up, which wasn't a choice he could make.
Given how long the journey would take, Minos had no time to waste, afraid that if he came too late, the secrets of the Ancient Desert Kingdom would be revealed and he'd have made the journey for nothing.
Pulling out his map, Minos began going through countless different paths, quickly coming up with one that worked best.
He needed to stop every once in a while to feed and rest his horse, so he made a path with that in mind.
With the next destination confirmed, Minos tucked his map away back in his spatial ring and got to riding.
…
The next few months passed by in a flash, most days just being a boring march through the terrains of the Alephora Continent on horseback.
Occasionally some bandits would try and rob Minos, which weirdly enough, made the journey a little bit more entertaining.
After dealing with the bandits and robbing them clean, he would continue the journey, spending all his free time on horseback playing the flute Tinka had gifted him.
His skills had rapidly evolved under the nonstop playing, and Minos actually became quite fond of playing his flute, giving him a similar sense of relief as to when he painted.
He'd even created a couple tunes of his own, creating three songs in particular which he was very fond of.
He named the first song 'Tinka's Tune,' the second one 'March Through Alephora,' and the final one simply being 'Blue Skies.'
'Tinka's Tune' was a love song, but more than that, it was a song of longing, his heart's desire to go back and embrace her once more.
'March Through Alephora' on the other hand, was much more atmospheric, a song of adventure and discovery.
Finally, 'Blue Skies' was just like the blue skies above, peaceful and tranquil, a calming melody that Minos liked to play when the sun was setting as a sort of lullaby for his horse, which worked every time.
He had a few other songs he was working on, but they weren't quite complete yet, so he didn't think they were deserving of a name.
With another day starting, Minos jumped on his horse's back and began playing 'March Through Alephora,' which not only was a good way to start the day, but also one that helped motivate his horse.
While animals weren't as smart as humans, they had emotions as well, and Minos had long since noticed that his music affected his horse in a similar way it would affect a human.
So he didn't only play for himself, but even for his horse, which actually made the journey much faster since the horse seemed to always be in good morale.
When Minos initially began his journey, the roads were mostly empty, but by now, they were pretty congested.
It seemed the closer he got to the Ancient Desert Kingdom, the more people there were, making it clear that news had already spread all over, causing people from all across the continent to gather.
While this made the journey a bit slower, it also indirectly made the paths far safer, since it was incredibly hard for bandits to hit such large groups of travelers.
Of course Minos didn't really care about that kind of protection, but it was still nice to have other human's around, to at least make the scenery less monotonous.
Other people had also long since noticed Minos, who they had begun referring to as Flute Man, because he was always playing his flute.
His music made their journeys much more enjoyable, so a small group had unconsciously formed around Minos, enjoying his tunes as they kept marching.
"Hey Flute Man, can you play that one sad song?" One big-bellied man asked as he pulled his horse up next to Minos's.
"It's called Tinka's Tune, and sure." Minos replied.
"Hey, no way, that song is so depressing, play something more upbeat!" Another person rebutted, not wanting to cry like he did the first time he heard that song.
"Play that peaceful one!"
"No, the other one."
Quickly, the crowd devolved into a large shouting fest as people constantly made their demands, wanting their song of choice to be played.
"How about this, I've just finished up a new song, so how about you guys give it a listen and give me a review." Minos said with a soft laugh.
"Hmm, sounds good, let's give it a listen!" Someone said, the other's nodding in agreement.
"I call this 'Swords Regret.'" Minos said, as he put the flute to his lips and began playing.
This song was inspired by the Nine Sword Divinites life story, mostly the regret that seemed to be a constant theme in his life.
As the low melancholic sound spread through the woods, everyone couldn't help but be transported to another world.
The world was blurry and confusing, but they could feel everything clearly, and they could experience it all first hand.
In this world they were a young man, playing with a young girl whose face was indistinct, like it was covered in mist.