Ivan's facial structure had changed and so did his height. He was much stronger than the day of his arrival and his hair had grown much longer.
He walked over to the sleeping Aria after dropping the beast body. Resting his left hand on her head, he began to check her temperature.
Even as the endless flame both heated and lit up the room she was as cold as ice.
Ivan rests his head on her torso while whispering a prayer. He got up and entered a neutral size section within the cave. Along the walls were crystals spread out evenly that illuminated the room and plastered directly on the walls were tally marks with the human word for "Days" above it.
The tally marks added up to around 365 days/a singular year but his physical features did not match this. At the time of his arrival Ivan had just turned five but now he looked a little over eight.
According to Aria, time functioned differently and concepts that once existed in the outside world were null and void. A week may seem like a day in this prison and your body reacts faster than your mind can process, the ultimate punishment to weaken the bodies and minds of immortal beings.
Through the time he was there he refined his mana core until eventually awakening as an Astros mage with an element affinity for terra/ earth magic.
When a mage awakens they also awaken an elemental affinity whether their an astros mage or palios. In the past it was unsure of how to identify your affinity but was later deciphered that when one awakens a symbol identifying their affinity appears engraved on the terrain, later appearing on the top of their hand.
He practiced both sword combat and hand to hand with the goddess while still learning magic.
She taught him how to hunt and how to identify edible things along with what sources to drink from. A list of rules were also given to him including places to always avoid.
Ivan rested his forehead upon the wall containing the tally marks, eyes shut. His mind drifted to his parents in this state of calmness.
It had been so long since he saw them and slowly he thought… maybe he may never see them again.
This moment of doubt and calmness within the air was cut off by the aggressive coughing and groans coming from outside. His attention shifted to that and he hurriedly rushed out to see Aria sweating profusely and coughing up blood.
Her body, bending downwards as if she was praying, her head touching the ground. The state of Aria concerned Ivan and he ran to her side.
``Aria, are you ok?``; he asked, woe making itself present on his face.
Tilting her head to Ivan, she dismissed his concerns before wiping the blood on her mouth.
She attempted to get up but her body gave in and she went down once more. Before she completely fell Ivan assisted her, using his own body to support hers.
With her left hand wrapped around his neck and pressing on his shoulder she began to get up.
``It's getting worse``; Ivan commented as she suddenly coughed again.
``It seems that this place has finally broken this weak, mortal body``; Aria said, covering her mouth.
Ivan walked closer towards the campfire and rested her down there.
``Let me get the herbs``; Ivan said, hurriedly running to where she was resting.
There laid an empty bed of leaves, a dried red pigment resting on them.
``Crap``
Turning around, Ivan proceeded to inform Aria they were no more before leaving the cave to hopefully retrieve some more of this ``herb``.
Ivan knew where these herbs resided, having been taken there before, so that's where went.
No time was wasted and within a couple of minutes he arrived at a secluded spot, void of mana crystals but still had enough ambient mana to sprout life.
In the middle of it stood a tree, its bark transparent which allowed it to show the constant flow of mana within it that sparkled similar to that of Aria's magic. Around it stood hedges with leaves that also had the same transparent look as the tree.
Connecting clusters of leaves were these small fruits that were transparent as well and showed a large visible pool/bundle of mana within them that lit up a 20m radius.
Ivan picked around 10 of these "mana fruits" and rushed back cradling them in his palm.
His stamina was almost gone by the time he arrived back, his breathing much more harsh, sweat dripping down his face.
He walked towards the bright light eminated from the endless flame of the campfire, a smile appearing as he made it.
``I've got the…``
But that swiftly came to an end.
His gaze landed upon Aria on her knees, a strong gale spiraling around her. The ground shook and the aura that always emanated from her body when using magic was active.
Beside her laid the blindfold she always wore, most likely taken off in the chaos surrounding her.
``Aria``; Ivan called out.
Instinctively she looked back showing her eyes.
Her gaze clashing with his.
Scaleras, completely void of color like a blank canvas. Her iris contained stars that exploded creating new stars, an endless loop that orbited the infinite numbers of universe trapped within her pupils.
Each universe trapped within them was different from the last, moments in time that had not occured yet or was not to happen marveled within them.
I guess that was the burden and power of a goddess of time and space itself.
Once both their eyes met Ivan found himself bare in the middle of a void surrounded by strands of woven light connecting what looked like images together. Most of these images looked bleak and blurred but all seemed to be important nevertheless.
The ends of each strand connected these images to a source, a sphere that had spectral rings surrounding it.
It inhaled the strands connected to it but had not completely absorbed or disintegrated, it merely rooted them.
He looked down upon his hands and found that they were completely translucent.
Before he could even partially comprehend this, images flooded his mind.
They were no simple images but broken bits of memories that were not completely his own.
From an image of a woman whose face was not visible as she stood before a silhouette of what seemed to be a man to images of war, agony and bloodshed.
They were overwhelming to the point they caused severe pain to both his head and mind.
He proceeded to see images of that cruel day where he lost his parents.
The moment his house was invaded, the fight between the men in ironclad armor and the moment he ran all stormed in before a cluster unseen made itself clear.
A collage of images showing his teleportation appeared before sliding to a moment where in a fit of rage from her several centuries stuck in this dimension that labeled itself as a prison Aria had released an immense amount of power.
Divine light spiraled around her body, condensing into hard astral light that shot into the air. It tore chunks of the ground and turned it into dust, doing the same for stalactites blocking the roof of the prison dimension.
The astral light collided with the roof and spread to every inch of the dimension, trying to break through it. Slowly it began to crack but even that did not last.
It regenerated within the moment it cracked, causing Aria to use more power. This time the roof itself did not crack but the entire dimension itself .
Astral pockets resembling shattered glass panes formed with the air that illuminated a beautiful light. More pockets formed beside them and a constant chain began.
It seemed to be working until Aria felt a blood curdling grip on her core forcing her stop.
The pockets were absorbed into the main attack that ricocheted off the roof and unto the ground. Debris flew into the air and settled as a cloud.
Aria shouted out frustrated and angry before noticing the settling cloud of dust that broke apart slowly, revealing a boy laying in its center.
The collage of memories ended there and Ivan left this state, their gaze parting.
The boy was on his knees, his hands covering his head. Tears, snot and saliva leaking from his pores, his breathing harsh.
Disbelief, the most prominent emotion that embraced Ivan's heart.
How could all this be?
How could the only person keeping him going in this… Purgatory be the reason he was even there in the first place?
``You`` Ivan uttered.
``Your the reason i'm here``
After placing her blindfold back on she turned to him, her hands shaking.
``I didn't mean to…``; she stuttered
``YOU DIDN'T MEAN TO``
``You trapped me here when my parents could be out there searching for me, why?``
``Because you were lonely, because you were angry``
Aria tried to speak but she was cut off by Ivan.
``Well I'm angry now!!``
``Im angry``
``The fact you lied about it too, for so long``
He got up on both feet, the tears still running down his face.
``I hate you, you hear me``
``I hate YOU`` Ivan shouted out his saliva and tears fell as he did so.
His bottom lip shivered before he turned and ran, just like when the men came after him and just like when he first met Aria.
Once again Ivan was running from the world that always wanted to harm him.
The moment he bolted off Aria extended her hand and called for him. She attempted to get up but was pulled back down.
She looked at her left leg and saw cracks seeping astral light similar to the cracks she had formed in the sky.
Her gaze went back to before her and an unpleasant sense of guilt washed her body.
This was all too familiar to the imprisoned goddess.