As the octopus suddenly vanished after five hours of battle, Rael managed to break free with swift consecutive punches to the sheet of ice.
Rael crawled out of the hole he made with the punches and rested on the ice, shivering from the cold and battered from his recent encounter with the octopus. His heart pounded in his chest as he gathered his bearings, the pain from his broken body still lingering.
"Teacher… I…" Taking heavy breaths, he was about to speak something but the sight captured by his eyes turned his face paler in an instant.
Selene, arguably the second most powerful demigod in Freyles, who had been training him, was encased in a block of ice, her body frozen solid. Her once formidable aura was now gone, leaving only a cold, lifeless shell. Rael's breath caught in his throat. "She…"
He rose to his feet and dragged himself to her corpse.
Standing before the frozen figure of Selene, Rael's anger flared, but he contained it. He steadied himself and took a deep breath, knowing that it was something predestined. He couldn't help but clench his fist and look down. Had it occured two days ago, he wouldn't feel anything. But now that he acknowledged her methods, he felt guilt, rage, helplessness, and various other emotions.
A voice suddenly broke the silence. "I killed her," the figure said, his voice cold and indifferent.
Rael turned his head and found a towering figure, a being that radiated immense power and a chilling presence. The man was massive, his stature imposing. It was Ymir.
Rael's eyes narrowed as he stared at the being. "Did you kill her?" he asked, his voice steady but carrying a quiet rage.
Ymir, unfazed, nodded. "Yes, but you need not worry," he replied. "I will not harm the innocent, much less a child. You may return and pass the message to your elders what happened here."
Before Rael could respond, something unexpected happened. The air above them shifted, and a booming voice rang out from the heavens, echoing through the frozen lake. "But, you will not leave this place, Ymir."
Ymir furrowed his brows, looking around. "Who is it?" He asked aloud.
The invisible domain of his was shattered all of a sudden and the voice spoke, "Ymir, as somoene who entered the god realm, you have tampered with the affairs of the mortals. You will face consequences."
Ymir froze, his expression darkening. "Guardian," he muttered under his breath, the word laced with a mixture of respect and apprehension.
The voice spoke again, its tone full of authority. "You are a powerful being, Ymir, but that doesn't give you the right to ignore the laws that govern the realms. One who enters the god realm will cease to be a mortal. Unless you have a temple with devotees, you aren't allowed to meddle in the affairs of any mortal."
"Wha… No one told me that…" Ymir was taken aback.
He tried to make a break for it, his massive form shifting to move away, but before he could act, a figure appeared in front of him, swift and precise. The figure was dressed in flowing robes, his presence commanding the very air around him. With a single gesture, the guardian god struck out at Ymir with a giant energy sword, severing the giant's arm in a single, fluid motion.
Ymir staggered back, his eyes narrowing, yet he didn't retaliate. He bowed his head slightly, acknowledging his fate. "Thank you for your mercy," he said quietly, before turning to leave.
As Ymir vanished into the distance, the guardian god turned to face Rael. The divine being's eyes softened with curiosity. "You are far too young to understand the gravity of what has happened here," he said, his voice gentle yet filled with timeless wisdom. "But there is something about you, boy."
Rael met the guardian god's gaze, his expression calm, though his heart still carried the weight of Selene's death and the brief encounter with that ice giant. "I knew she would die," he said, his voice contained firmness. "I was cursed since birth. I can see the auras of death on people. The stronger their auras were, the near they come to death. I tried warning many times but no one takes the word of a child seriously and when it happens, people around would either start avoiding me like a curse or blame me for the deaths of their loved ones." He explained, his eyes were fixed on his teacher's corpse. "So, I stopped warning. And this is the result." He murmured in the end, almost barely audible.
The guardian god studied him closely, his eyes searching Rael's soul. "Hmm, it looks like you are indeed blessed by Death," the god murmured.
Rael then raised his head to look at him with his glowing eyes and said, "However, I cannot see the aura of death on you. My father, my siblings, Elders, and Grand Elder, even that monster had a faint aura of death, but you... you don't have it. Your presence feels like fate."
The guardian god was certainly caught off guard by his statement. He couldn't help but smile, the corners of his lips curving ever so slightly. "You are a curious child," he said, amusement dancing in his gaze. "If it was fate that binds us, then we shall meet again. When we do, I will give you the chance to prove yourself. If you succeed, I will take you as my disciple."
Rael's heart raced as the god's words echoed in his mind. He doesn't know who this is, but this is someone who doesn't have the aura of death, someone who could punish that icy giant who by the way killed Selene, one of the strongest in his family.
The promise of an opportunity, the chance to learn from this powerful being, was too much to ignore. He nodded resolutely. "I will prove myself."
The guardian god raised his hand, and with a simple gesture, Rael's consciousness was overwhelmed. His vision blurred, and before he knew it, he was falling into darkness, unable to hold onto the world around him.
When Rael's vision returned, he found himself lying in a bed once more. The cold that had gripped him earlier had vanished, and his body was no longer broken from his training. But as he sat up, something felt off. He tilted his head in confusion, "How come I don't remember his face?"
Meanwhile, on the frozen lake, the severed arm of Ymir, which had been left behind when the guardian god had cut it off, started twisting, shifting, and pulsating with strange energy. It began to grow, expanding in size, and soon, it transformed into a female human teenager, although with bluish icy skin like a Jotunn.
The teenager was alone on the frozen lake. She looked at her arms and then the surroundings, eventually scratching her head in a confused look, "who am I?"
*
The same day at dusk, relatives and friends gathered at Garcia House cemetery.
The mood at the cemetery was quite heavy, the air thick with sorrow as the funeral procession moved solemnly through the grounds. Rael stood among the gathered family members and servants, his eyes fixed on the grave of Selene, his former teacher. The one who was supposed to shape him into a stronger person, the one who had given him harsh training to unlock his potential, was now gone.
As the whispers around him grew louder, Rael couldn't escape the accusations being thrown in his direction. "First, his mother dies. Then his servants, and then personal guards. And now, even a demigod dies protecting him. He brings nothing but death to those around him," some muttered in hushed voices. Rael clenched his fists, the words stinging, but he held his composure. It wasn't the first time he heard those words. So, he got used to it. Eon, who was standing next to him, grabbed his arms tightly, offering consolation.
Aurelius, the Duke of Freyles, stood nearby, his face expressionless. But Rael could feel his father's gaze on him, piercing and full of unspoken thoughts. It was the same gaze Aurelius had given him ever since Selene's death. Rael knew his father blamed him, just as many others did.
In reality, Aurelius was actually recalling that ominous statement Rael had made—three days. Aurelius had dismissed it, thinking that his son was merely challenging the grandmaster at the time, but now… now it seemed more like a prophecy, an eerie prediction that had come true. He couldn't help but wonder whether his son is a natural born diviner.
Since that day, Rael always felt gazes from the servants and family elders. Before, they don't engage in personal conversations with him as they do with Raphael but now, they avoid him altogether. The Duke had to offer triple payments to the servants to serve him. As for the relatives, they don't even let their kids near Rael at all, terming him as a walking disaster.
With no one training him and Aurelius keeping Eon busy with her training, Rael seeked solace in the one place that could bring him peace: the library.
When he was alone, the library became a refuge for him, a place where he could drown out the noise of the world and focus on the pursuit of knowledge. He had spent hours, days, even weeks buried in books, learning everything he could about magic, history, the arcane, and the universe's mysteries. In the quiet, away from judgmental eyes, he found a kind of freedom.
As Rael read, he was not alone in his pursuit of knowledge. Through the memory-sharing technique that he and Eon had developed at a very young age, she was able to absorb everything Rael learned with ease. Their bond had always been something special—something beyond just sibling affection. It was as though they could speak to each other through their minds, without the need for words. It's like they were two parts of the same soul.
While Rael immersed himself in the books and became thirst for knowledge, Eon sought out fighting techniques, pure combat oriented.
Eon's request for a better combat teacher did not go unheard. Aurelius, seeing her determination, sought out the best warrior he could find, a grand elder of Supreme realm (9-star). The elder was reluctant at first, but after seeing Eon's fierce resolve, he agreed to take her on as his disciple. Eon quickly immersed herself in training, sharpening her body and mind with each passing day.
She would often return from her lessons, eager to share the techniques and skills she had acquired with him. In return, Rael would transfer her what he had learned from the books, his knowledge of magic, history, geography, Arcana spirits, monsters, clans, kingdoms, and war strategies, fueling her desire to be as well-rounded as possible.
It became a symbiotic relationship. Through their memory sharing technique, Rael would gain the knowledge of fighting techniques from Eon's practical training as if he trained under the elder, while Eon would absorb the vast wealth of knowledge Rael had amassed.
As the days passed, Rael continued to study, his thirst for knowledge unquenched. But in his heart, he still wanted to go out there and practice all the techniques he had in his mind. He was merely waiting for the time, when he awaken his Arcana spirit.
And so three months passed away in the blink of an eye; the year changed to a new one.