"Blaze… Blaze… Wake up."
Blaze heard a dreamy and ethereal voice while he wandered in the endless, dark void. The voice, like a guiding light, pulled him out of the void.
Blaze slowly opened his eyes, and Aphrodite's beautiful face entered his vision. She was merely an inch from his face, her blue eyes gazing into his.
The first thing he did was to check his pocket to confirm if the things he put in there were still intact or destroyed during his crash. He exhaled when he found out that they were safe, but a sharp pain in his stomach made him groan.
"Seriously? The first thing you do after waking up from the dead is to check those things in your pocket?" Aphrodite's voice carried a faint hint of annoyance.
Ignoring her remark, Blaze looked around. He noticed that he was in a dark cave. His eyes could barely see five meters around him.
"Where am I?" Blaze asked.
"A cave under the cliff. Start healing your wounds or you might end up dead for real this time around," Aphrodite said and sat in front of him.
Blaze nodded silently, allowing his water mana to flow over his body without concern for the mana expenditure.
"Why didn't you look before jumping?" Aphrodite finally spoke up when Blaze relaxed.
"I found myself caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, leaving me with no choice but to swiftly determine which option was the lesser of two fears," Blaze explained. With a curious tone, Blaze continued, "What about that giant Hawk?"
"It suddenly flew away," Aphrodite mentioned casually, though Blaze detected an underlying unease. Choosing not to dwell on it, Blaze reasoned there was no advantage in lingering on the matter.
Aphrodite, as if remembering something, admonished lightly."Stop trying to change the topic. At least you could have looked before leaping,"
"In certain circumstances, time is of the essence. Sometimes you must surrender to fate without the luxury of observation. Aren't you a General? Surely, you should understand such moments if you're a General," Blaze replied, raising an eyebrow.
"I lost most of my memories. Most of my memories are from Hadar." Aphrodite shared, her voice tinged with melancholy. However, she quickly returned to her usual energetic demeanor. "Let's talk about you. Who is the person you want to get revenge for?" She asked, not expecting an answer as Blaze tends to be secretive about his past.
"Helen," Blaze said the name and adjusted his back on the wall to a more convenient posture while gritting his teeth to absorb the pain from the numerous wounds that threatened to drown his body.
He could talk freely because he let his water mana flow freely without consciously controlling it, although it wastes more mana that way.
"What is she to you?" Aphrodite peered at Blaze's eyes through the darkness, curiosity flashing through her eyes.
Blaze lifted his gaze, fixed upon the obscure ceiling of the dark cave. He felt a sense of bewilderment as he responded, "I... I don't know."
"You don't know?" Aphrodite raised her voice in disbelief.
"Yeah, I know very little about her. All I can gather is that she's a girl I've been living with for a significant amount of time," Blaze shared, his voice tinged with uncertainty. "She always appeared as a submissive wife, obediently following my words without ever questioning or objecting. At times, I even questioned her intelligence or suspected a possible mental condition. However, she shattered those assumptions on the day she defied me. It was the same day she selflessly sacrificed herself to protect me," Blaze spoke, his eyes distant as the memories of that fateful day resurfaced, vividly replaying in his mind.
Aphrodite's voice resonated with increasing disbelief as she exclaimed, "You know nothing about her? Someone you've been living with for a long time? And you didn't ask?"
"Well, knowing useless information is considered foolish to me. So—"
Aphrodite interrupted Blaze, "But you plan on going against an Empire for her? And you know nothing?" She asked in the same tone that had started annoying Blaze.
"l have a code, which is 'repay every favor'. So, I owed her a favor and I'm just trying to repay it," Blaze muttered while shutting his eyes.
"Let's forget about her and talk about your foolishness," Aphrodite rapped, quickly ending the topic. "Why didn't you just start from the academy in Tower Empire before elevating your position? Then you can strike them like a venomous serpent from within. Don't tell me you want to use the Dragon Empire against them?"
Aphrodite started voicing all she had been holding since their meeting as Blaze seemed to be answering her questions today.
"Many people had already used that scope of acting as a spy. Besides, I want to burn the Empire, not some child's game," Blaze said offhandedly.
"Why destroy an Empire when the person who caused it is one foolish Prince?" Aphrodite asked.
Blaze finally locked gaze with Aphrodite before speaking calmly, "Even I don't know."
"Maybe you want to die but you just can't find peace in committing suicide. You're ashamed and guilty of committing suicide. Your ego wants to make you die an epic death. An Empire isn't a mud house or a manor. An Empire isn't even a big village or a town. The power of an Empire runs deep for generations. The chances of you dying are 95%. You get it… you're on the road to your doom," Aphrodite chided seriously, losing her vibrant and playful attitude.
"I'm already doomed. Death isn't scary; It's just sleep without ads. What is scary to me is when I can't keep my promise," Blaze said with a smile that bore an indiscernible feeling.
Aphrodite's eyes gaze into his eyes. It was the first time she had ever seen him display sincere emotion.
Aphrodite's curiosity and concern resonated in her voice as she asked, "You never kept a promise before?" She gently reached out, her hand gliding through Blaze's hair, seeking a connection.
Blaze responded with a cold, stern expression, his voice devoid of warmth, "Get your hands off my hair." His words elicited a hearty laugh from Aphrodite.
As Aphrodite's hands passed through Blaze's face like an ethereal entity, a sensation that would go unnoticed by most, Blaze's heightened sensitivity allowed him to perceive the anomaly. His eyes narrowed, fixating on Aphrodite, searching for an explanation.
"What's happening to you?" he questioned, his voice filled with a mix of curiosity and concern.
Aphrodite maintained her composure, calmly lying, "Oh, it's nothing. I simply didn't align my physical form properly." Despite her nonchalant words, her hand once again phased out of physical existence, further betraying her claim.
"Tell that to the Professors!" Blaze retorted, echoing Aphrodite's previous sarcastic remark. "You know I'm too smart to fall for that, right?"
Aphrodite took a deep breath and fell silent, contemplating her thoughts while Blaze patiently waited for her to come to a decision.
Finally, Aphrodite broke the silence with a solemn tone, "I'm vanishing from existence. My soul is disintegrating." Her words carried a weight of finality, conveying the gravity of the situation.
"When?" Blaze, although didn't understand the concept, knew the meaning of 'vanishing' and 'disintegrating'. He tried not to show any emotion.
"Now. You must be pleased, right? The nuisance is finally gone," Aphrodite said, a faint smile gracing her face.
Her body began to glitch, its form wavering before gradually fading away as if being dissolved into nothingness.