As stated, Xiang's house was not too far away from the place he and Hoshi met. It was revealed as a small, wooden hut with a stone chimney ascending from its far wall. Its roof was enveloped by hay in such a manner that resembled a book's cover. It had just a couple windows and a single dark brown door. In addition to the hay, the hut had plenty of shade because of the abundance of trees around it.

"Mother, I am home!" yelled Xiang as he opened the front door.

"Welcome back. Were you successful in your…?" A tall woman with long silver hair, wearing decently tailored white clothes suddenly went quiet after noticing the orange-haired teenager standing behind her son.

"Greetings, my name is Hoshi."

The addressed one bowed.

"He is the kid I told you about earlier. You know the one who got himself captured."

Xiang introduced his friend.

"Don't forget that was all your fault," pointed out Hoshi.

"I see, nice to meet you. Get in the both of you." The woman chuckled.

Just as Hoshi walked past her, Xiang's mother whispered in her son's ear, "Where is the meat? I must prepare food for him at once."

"I kinda lost track of my prey so I don't have any." Xiang rubbed the back of his scalp.

"Seriously?" His mother raised her voice.

Hoshi, who subconsciously overheard the two, reached for some raw meat snuck away in his rucksack and offered the woman.

"Don't worry, take my meat instead."

"(I know I accepted his meat earlier but the way he said that to my mother makes me furious!)" Xiang frowned.

"Oh I can't accept this. You don't have to cover up for Xiang," the woman said, calmly.

"It's quite alright, I am sure you will make use of it much better than I ever could." Hoshi smiled.

"Thank you, Hash… I am sorry I forgot your name." The woman got embarrassed and swiftly ran to the backroom with the furnace after snatching the meat.

"Did I say something wrong again?" Puzzled Hoshi.

"Don't fret about it, she is a little forgetful and clumsy. That's what I like about her, so cute!" Xiang replied, joyously.

"(What an odd family)," wondered Hoshi.

"While she cooks, tell me what brought you here to the mountains?" The two who were left in the living room, sat down and conversed with one another on a wooden dining table on the left side of the room. The interior of the house was very minimalistic with just a few wooden chairs besides a small fireplace which divided two separate rooms on its each side and also had a decently crafted dining furniture set in front of an open kitchen. A few decorative items such as paintings of nature, some wooden and stone ornaments, and a large barrel of water covered by a wooden lid on one of its corners.

"It's kinda a long story," replied Hoshi.

"We have some time, mother's cooking is splendid but she is unbearably slow," Xiang's voice lowered as he spoke.

"Well, just after you ran away from your coronation like a coward, me and sir Hirishima decided to pay a visit to the Grand scholar residing in the Uyeno archives," began Hoshi.

A year back…..

Few days passed by since the king's defeat.

"Sir Hirishima, are you alright?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

A year younger Hoshi and Hirishima, who was in casual brown clothes, conversed on the bench just outside their stone house.

"You said we would train today, but you have just been sitting here for quite some time now," concerned Hoshi.

"What?" Hirishima didn't pay much attention.

"Please tell me, are you still upset about the commander's death?" Hoshi directly asked.

"He did what he thought was best for all of us, including himself. So no, but I am disappointed in myself for being too weak that forced him to make such impulsive decisions," Hirishima answered, looking down.

"I know how that feels. If only I hadn't been this pathetic, my father, my friend Arien and my home wouldn't have been taken away from me that easily," cursed Hoshi.

"I guess we both have to dedicate our hearts to get stronger, so we can protect as many as we can." Hirishima lifted his head.

"You sound just like my father," Hoshi pointed out.

"Can you tell me more about your father?" questioned Hirishima.

"He was.. his personality took a sharp turn in a single day around my childhood. You see, he used to be a very stern man with no elation in his personality whatsoever. He scolded me for the tiniest mistakes and even left me for harsh training for days without elaborating any further, many times. But a day came when he suddenly changed into a caring, kind and gentle father who treasured me. He became more careful in our future training sessions as well. To this day I don't understand why his personality changed completely with the exception of his solemn and straightforward process of thinking," Hoshi stated.

"Can't say I can make up a guess of why he changed, anything specific happened between you two on that day?"

"I disobeyed him, ran away and got lost. But I doubt it was something this simple. One thing I noticed clearly, I used to have this feeling that someone always watched my every move, someone similar to me. That feeling completely faded when my father changed. Oh yeah, I also found an eerie piece of paper with some writing hard to make of," recalled Hoshi.

"That's quite bizarre. What did your father do? What was your planet and your people like?" queried Hirishima.

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"He was the Head of our military organisation, Exilir Ultima, which was kinda like 'The Warriors'. Its purpose was to resolve any disputes inside our settlement and prepare for any foreign attack but nothing much used to happen at all before the demonic invasion. We all didn't possess much strength other than our non aging trait, so most of us were either farmers or light labourers. We lived without interacting much with one other as if there was no point in it. Our planet lacked the variety in landscapes and life unlike yours with mostly hilly terrain. Our people also lacked any motivation to be joyful, basically we were as lifeless as one can be," explained Hoshi.

"I see. You mentioned someone named Arien, was he a close friend of yours?"

"He was my only friend back on Exilir. He was always there when I got depressed or felt like running away. He always lifted my spirits up by his foolish acts even though he was way older than me. Never thought he would be the one sacrificing his life for me at the last moment. Damn it," disheartened Hoshi.

"Do you remember? Before we got in trouble with the king, I mentioned Tatsuki," asked Hirishima.

"That old lady you said was the last scholar of Pandara archives?"

"Yes, let's go pay her a visit. We may learn something about why the demons attacked your planet and the true extent of your strength." Hirishima got up.

"Sounds like a plan! Let's go!" Hoshi got excited.

After traversing through the forest east from their house, both reached a wide building made of dark painted bricks in the middle of a plethora of trees. The building had red stained glass windows with lanterns hanging through metal chains on its many corners. The rooftop also had a large clock tower that was not functioning at all.

Hoshi gazed at the unusual architecture of the building as both entered in through a large metal door. The interior was divided into many halls with one long corridor loaded with huge shelves containing many different books. The rest of the walls were decorated by paintings of three people, one was of an old man with a white beard wearing a grey robe, one was of a beautiful woman wearing a red dress who had long black hair and the last one was of a young girl with white robes and white hair.

"Who are these people? Your house also has the same paintings," asked Hoshi.

"It is necessary for every resting place to have at least one of these paintings in the king's law. These are portraits of three deities that had the power of creation. That young girl was Cora, the creator of all life on Pandara. That woman was Xernia, the mother of the second generation of Deities. While this old man was Haroshuma, a warlord who fought against the demonic army of Xander in the second great war," answered Hirishima.

"Haroshuma! My father mentioned his name! He said me and him were descendents of his or something," alerted Hoshi.

"That's odd, the books I have read never mentioned Exilir or Haroshuma having children." Puzzled Hirishima.

"Let's ask that scholar we came to visit," suggested Hoshi.

Hirishima nodded in approval and both continued past the bookshelves to enter a dark room with no windows through a dusty wooden door. There was not much visible inside but Hoshi could easily hear someone reciting very swiftly.

"Tatsuki! Is that you!?" yelled Hirishima.

"Don't come any closer! I will kill you!" A loud screech came from deeper inside the room.

Hoshi charged up a small amount of aura and concentrated it into his right palms, creating a red ball of flame that immediately ignited the room which was practically brimmed with books and pieces of paper, from lying on the ground to arranged in bookshelves all around. The one who was reciting a large blue book was revealed to be a wrinkly old woman with short stature, she was wearing a loose purple hood with a necklace made up of random pieces of bones from small creatures.

"It's me, Hirishima! Don't you recognise me?" the addressed swiftly spoke.

The old woman didn't say a word as she walked towards the elite warrior only to smack him with her book.

"Do visit me once a while you scoundrel!"

"I am sorry, I was quite busy with work."

Hirishima rubbed his shoulder which was where he took the hit.

"Who is the boy?" Tatsuki pointed at Hoshi who was standing at the back, holding his red orb of fire.

"This is Hoshi, he is an Exil-"

"An Exilirian! I can't believe it! Look at his little ball of fire! I knew they possessed special abilities!" Tatsuki excitedly interrupted and stared at Hoshi.

"Only me and my father were able do this." Hoshi stated before it occurred to him. "Wait a second, you know about us!?

"Of course, a few books here have mentioned your race but all of them lack details. So, I am beyond delighted to see one of them with my own eyes." The old woman moved closer to Hoshi with each word.

"Ummm yeah, so what can you…"

"Go on." She was right up to the uneasy boy.

"I think you are getting too close to him. He is getting quite discomfited," said Hirishima, being rattled himself.

"My apologies, it's just this is a big deal! Can you pinch me to make sure this is not a dream?" Tatsuki moved back and pointed towards her loose cheeks.

"It's not, I have heard that you are one of the wisest persons in Pandara. I want you to tell me more about Exilir's history, about Haroshuma and what connection he had with the demons. Also, I would like to know more about my special abilities and how to hone them." Hoshi suddenly became solemn which also changed the old woman's conduct.

"I can see a resolute shadow in your eyes. Come with, this is no place for us to converse deities." Tatsuki led the two towards one of the large rooms of the archives.

There was a large wooden table and chair set in the middle of the fairly spacious room. The rest of it was brimming with books neatly lined on shelves and cupboards. There was a chandelier made up of stained glass hanging on the roof while the floor was well covered with a thick green carpet. Adequate sunlight pierced through the couple grey stained glass windows and lit the room. All three sat down close to one another as Hoshi finally rested his aura.

"Haroshuma, one of the four heirs of Xordahu and Xernia, was the second to fabricate life on Pandara. First was Xander, his blood brother who created the demonic race. The former diety also originated his own race which possessed some of his power. Their sole purpose was to fight the Xandarian legion, which was created to fulfill Xernia, the vice queen's wish. Unfortunately, after he lost the second great war, he abandoned Pandara and fled to another planet that he named Exilir. There, he created the second generation of life, the Exilirians. Sadly that's all that I know about him," Tatsuki stated.

"I see, who were Xordahu and Xernia?" inquired Hoshi.

"They were the first creations of the Elder Deity, the God and governor of all existence. Both of them fell in love with each other even though their personalities and beliefs were the complete opposite. After giving birth to four children, Xernia snapped and decided to destroy Pandara and kill all of her heirs. This led to the first great war in which Xordahu used up all his energy to seal Xernia away as she was too powerful to defeat otherwise. You know Pandara used to be a spherical planet, the sheer magnitude of the first war reduced this planet to what we know now," explained Tatsuki.

"That's quite insane. You mentioned four heirs, who are the other two?" Hoshi's curiosity spiked.

"Cora, the first daughter in existence, was the creator of all of the current life on Pandara except the demons. After the second war decimated all vegetation and altered the landscape to a desolate wasteland, she gave away her life to rejuvenate this side of Pandara at the lake of solace and give it a natural border as the Grand Murasakino River. As far as the last heir is concerned, his name is unknown and we know little to nothing about him. It's said that he has the ability to predict the future and he went into hiding ever since his birth," concluded Tatsuki.

"Fascinating. I didn't know there was this rich history to Pandara." Hoshi was amazed.

"Even I learned quite a few things today," Hirishima added.

"Oh right! Wait here, there is something you must see!" Tatsuki hurried towards the exit and left without elaborating further.

The puzzled two who were left behind, waited patiently for her return. Once she did, they were even more perplexed to see a rough red book in her possession. She forwarded it just as Hoshi now did towards Xiang.

"This, this is the reason why I am here! This book is the key to the full extent of my strength!" Hoshi dramatically gave the book to Xiang to show him.

Xiang swiftly opened the book and got shocked at what was inside.

"I can't believe my eyes, what is this?"

"It's insane I know!"

"It's blank! There's nothing written in here you idiot!" Xiang loudly conveyed, breaking the intense mood that was built up just then.

End of chapter twenty-nine.