-Chapter Thirty-Seven-
An End to the Chaotic Beginning
Aelius left Fedaul’s violently ravaged body behind, still feeling unsatisfied. But it was better than nothing. Raising his hand, he summoned Hydro magic and Anemo magic to cleanse himself, before returning to the corridor where Aria awaited him. Aria, oh Aria. What can I ever do for you to forgive me? Is it too late? You can hate me if you want. I was supposed to save you, yet all I did was give you a miserable death at the end of your miserable life. How can I save this world, if I couldn’t even save you? What sort of emissary am I? Why did the Goddess choose me? Why was I drawn into this war? Wouldn’t someone else have been much better? He thought with woe as he returned to her. Surprisingly, as soon as he saw her face, he recalled all the memories they shared in the last month’s worth of traveling, and he felt his heart begin to lighten. He recalled how they bickered, but how she was still caring for him. How she sat on him, and how she fought the other girls to share a room with him, and he suddenly found himself chuckling. Their childhood memories together also surfaced, all of a sudden. Sharing a tree house, taking walks along the coastal beach, discussing their marriage excitedly when they were still too young and naive to understand th weight of their duties. Yeah, it was this world that fucked us up from the very start. What was most important was that she is safe, and that he will make sure of. What else, would be the use of this second life he was given? This world can die, so long as his loved ones are safe. Aelius noticed the Aerianne Archduke kneeling beside the corpse of his dead wife, and sighed as the man turned around and stood up to face him.
“Firstly, thank you for saving Aria’s life.” The man bowed his head deeply to Aelius, who refused to look at him. “But I must ask. Why did you kill her mother?”
“You still call that vixen Aria’s mother?” Aelius answered with disgust. “You’re nothing but a puppet in her control.” The man frowned and bit his lip at the provacative response.
“What does that mean?” he asked in a low tone.
“You know nothing at all, to the point you not only harmed Aria, but put my family in danger as well.” Aelius pointed an accusing finger at the dead Archduchess. “Aria was subjected to emotional abuse for all her childhood. If I didn’t step in to intervene, she would’ve been anchored down by that witch for all her life.”
“That was no good reason to kill her!” the Archduke answered fiercy and Aelius scoffed.
“I have no obligation to explain myself to you” Aelius answered with contempt, startling the Archduke yet again.
Just what made him this hateful? The Archduke asked himself, but he simply did not know, falling silent. At the confused look the man returned to Aelius, he clearly felt anger well up within him again, his face scrunching and twisting up into scorn.
“You’re not innocent either! You fucking knew! You knew how her mother treated her. You lived in the same fucking house, for fucks sake! But what did you do? You looked away. ” His shoulders began to shake uncontrollably, in what was an overwhelming wave of rage but also a sudden bout of self loathing. “You knew how bitter of a hag she was! You knew how much she hated me! Did you really think she wouldn’t ever try to make a move on my life? Did you ever think, with how much she hated my mother, that she wouldn’t try to destroy us!? We treated you like our friends, you bastard! We let you into our lives, we let you into our fucking house! But what did you do?”As he continued to speak again, his voice fell quiet, after taking a deep, calming breath. Immediately, the Aerianne Archduke felt the pressure in the air melt away and the hairs standing up on the back of his neck relax. “If you really cared about Aria, you would’ve at least looked into what was really going on.” Aelius’ fists clenched up in frustration. But I wasn’t any better. I made the exact same mistake, which led to Aria dying in such a way. I’m no different to her ignorant father, who knew nothing of the horrors that were taking place under his nose. “If you really want to look for answers, I suggest you start with her study,” he finally, softly told the Archduke before he reached down and pulled Aria up into a bridal-style carry. The hostility in his voice disappeared, leaving only what was a husk of deadened and indifferent emotion. “You can rest assured Aria is safe with me. I will never abandon her in a toxic and harmful place like this ever again.” Before the Archduke could say more, Aelius disappeared out the manor with a short range teleport, stunning the man at how fast he escaped, and leaving him alone with the disastrous mess on his hands.
The last thing Aria recalled was falling into a deep sleep in Aelius’ arms. To her surprise, she found herself drowsily waking up again. Her eyes slowly opened to the rhythmic up-and-down bobbing of someone’s stride, and she felt a familiar warmth enveloping her. Her arms were gathered on her chest as she leaned up against a torso, and she could feel one arm under her legs and another around her back. Looking up, Aria found Aelius trudging through the trees. He suddenly looked down, noticing she was awake, and came to a stop. For a moment, she was unsure of how he’d react, as he gently lowered her legs to the ground, and she wobbled for a moment while she regained her balance on her feet. As she rose to her full height, before she could speak, she was suddenly pulled into a tight hug by him. She was ready for any form of beratement, any attack on her, yet instead, as he parted from her in the hug, he pressed his forehead up against her’s, giving her a teary-eyed gaze.
“How much do you remember?” he asked her, a hint of grief in his voice, and Aria stopped to think about it for a moment.
“I don’t really know.” Suddenly, she felt a tear drop from her eye, and she reached up to catch it. “I remember up to a certain point. I remember up to when we were twenty-two years old, and then you killed my mother like you always intended to. And I can’t remember much beyond that, but… I think I… died happily. That’s all I can really recall.” Before her, Aelius pursed his lips, before he finally rested his head on her shoulder.
“Goddamn, you’re helpless. You’re so helpless,” he chuckled, and Aria felt her shoulder turn cold from wetness. “You’re helpless, but I’m an idiot.” Reaching up, she hugged him back tightly.
“I know that I’m helpless. I knew from the first day, many years ago. And I also knew you were a big idiot this whole time. But even though you’re an idiot, I’m helpless.” As he pulled away, she gave him a heartfelt smile and a nervous giggle.
“Aria…” he reached up to cup her cheek in his hand. “I’m so sorry I was blind to how you felt all this time. I always doubted you. I can’t imagine how I would’ve felt if I was on the receiving end of such treatment. I…” his shoulders dropped as his eyes fell to the ground. “I really don’t deserve so much dedication from you. But, I know I can’t convince you to give up on me. And to be honest, I’ve already made up my mind.” He looked back up again with a firm look. “From now on, even if you want to run away, I won’t let you go. You’re finally getting what you want, so don’t suddenly regret this.” Aria burst out into laughter, stepping forward to rest her head on his chest.
“That’s good.” For a moment, the two of them fell silent as they softly swang in each other’s embrace. “I’m just… so happy right now. I promise, I’ll be the best woman I can be for you.” Reaching up, she gave him a small peck on the cheek and pulled away, gleefully beaming. “Come on, let’s return to the girls. I don’t want to stay in Aerianne for a second longer.” Aelius sighed with a smile, as she grabbed onto his hand and pulled him down the path through the trees. Hand in hand, the couple disappeared off into the shadows, leaning into each other’s heartfelt embrace.
When Saki heard the door open and looked up to see Aelius and Aria returning, she immediately could sense something different about the both of them. Particularly Aria, who now was shrouded in a similarly perplexing aura as Aelius. If she were to put a finger on it, she would think something along the lines of that the causality behind Aria’s existence and identity had been tangled up. But was it possible for something like that to happen within the course of a night? Saki put a finger to her chin, frowning strongly at the couple as they stepped back into the room. While the Awakening Arts that Saki mastered were far above anything she had seen thus far in this world, there appeared to be a power at play interfering with their lives from a higher place. Even higher than the realm Saki had arrived from. She pursed her lips, unsure of what to make of the information, and whether to tell it to Aelius or not. But what use would it be, even if she did? Saki tried to peer even further into their threads, but suddenly felt a sharp pain attack her mind. “Kuh!” she winced as her entire body complained and protested in pain. It is it something that I can’t even peek into? She thought with bewilderment. In a lower, mortal realm like this, it seemed like things were not as simple as they appeared.
The two of them had some sort of new found intimacy between them, both Lia and Saki very quickly noticed. Though the two had always looked out for each other, what they were now witnessing was like something intangible between them had finally blossomed. Even though the atmosphere, when they left, seemed to be very heavy, they returned incredibly light-heartedly.
“So… is everything all finished?” Lia asked hesitantly as Aelius firstly grabbed a change of clothes. Upon taking a closer look, Saki found residual blood all over his body, and mud all underneath the soles of his shoes.
“It is!” Aria gleefully answered her. “And we can finally withdraw from this Goddess-forsaken place. Aelius and I are going to go bathe, we’ve had a phenomenally taxing night.” Saki and Lia watched as the two disappeared out the door again, before they exchanged glances.
“Do you want to try and follow them?” Lia asked and Saki sighed, rising to her feet.
“Don’t give us away,” she answered to her companion.
Aelius and Aria stepped into the bathing hut in the inn, where there was a single large basin of hot water readied for them. Aelius was the first to lose his clothes and jump in, sinking into the hot water with a sigh of tension relief, comfort and relaxation. Aria gave him an admiring smile as she took off her torn and dirty clothes. He returned to her a calm one as she smoothly slipped into the bath to join him, sitting herself down in between his legs with her back to him, grabbing his arms and pulling it around her waist before leaning back into his chest. In his warm embrace, she gave a deep exhalation.
“I was really confused how you changed in a single day,” she first began to say. “That day at the Academy. It turns out, it wasn’t a single day, but a lifetime.”
“Well… I can’t fathom it either,” Aelius answered, leaning forward onto her shoulder idly. “It turns out there’s a lot of energies and mysteries in this world that I wasn’t aware of, like Saki’s Awakening Arts.”
“That’s a whole power from another entire realm. Speaking of which, it appears there are other realms,” she responded with a chuckle.
“Yeah… might have to go explore someday, after we kill all the Devils,” Aelius said.
“So, what’s next, now that the Aerianne Archduchy is in ruins. Oh, speaking of which, what became of my father?” Aria asked.
“Nothing. I told him he should look in your mother’s study, and then took you and ran before he could try to stop me.”
“Ah…” Aria hesitantly hummed.
“If you had died there, we both would have been devastated,” Aelius continued.
“Well, that’s consoling. At least there’s two people out there who would cry at my funeral,” Aria light heartedly joked but felt Aelius’ clutch around her tighten.
“…” He sat there in a brooding silence, and Aria felt a small tinge of awkwardness.
“Where did my confident and valiant, self-centered, hot-blooded warrior disappear to?” she teasingly asked him as she glanced over her shoulder, finding him giving wearing a dejected gaze.
“I was so fucking stupid - I still am. Just last week, look at how we childishly quarreled.” Aelius reached up and buried his face in his hand. “In the face of revenge, everything suddenly feels so insignificant. I still tried to hold onto my own morals and values but… the urge to let go gets too strong.” He didn’t know how to explain it, but all these dramatic and headache-inducing events make him simply want to live as a tyrant.
“Why overthink it so much? Love is love,” Aria simply responded, turning around and taking his hand into her’s. “You only have one life. Oh, well, maybe not. But if this is your final chance, why not simply make the most of it? Who cares about the world, Aelius? Just care about yourself.” Aria put a sharp finger on his chest. “Kill who you want to kill, be it a King or an Emperor. Love who you want to love. I won’t judge you if you, say for example, bride Lia after taking her in like you did. No one has any right to judge you. What’s there to lose, from indulging in your desires? You can live for yourself.” At her words, Aelius began to chuckle, putting his forehead up against her’s.
“Alea said I should learn to live with forgiveness and love. You tell me I should learn to live with my desires. I guess I should just really do as I please, huh?” Aria gave him an encouraging smile and silent nod.
“Aria, honestly… I’ve wronged you far too much to deserve someone as smart and well-put-together as you by my side. I-I’m… I’m grateful you’re in my life,” he said and she put a finger to his lips.
“Shhh. You don’t need to say it. I know you don’t like saying things like this. I already know it all, honey.” Her golden eyes seductively glowed as they gazed at each other and Aelius suddenly found her breathtaking, even more so than before. It was like the years of temptation and desire she had teased him with, that he had suppressed, was now all coming out at once. Her presence itself soothed him. It felt like he could do anything in the world, because an intelligent woman like her would be by his side to face any obstacle with him. His eyes fell shut as he leaned forward and she also leaned in close, his arms wrapping themselves around her torso, and he felt her clutch on his shoulders tighten as their lips gently but passionately met together. It electrified him, the softness and equal emotion of devotion from her. As the two pulled away, he gave her a beaming smile.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“I might have bad news though,” he quickly added.
“What???”
“Do you know the true name to your eyes?” Aelius asked as he sat behind Aria, helping dry her hair with a towel as she absently played with her nails. The couple had now moved out of the basin and onto some stools nearby, sitting in front of the mirror together.
“Dragon Eyes?” Aria asked with a raised brow, feeling Aelius gently stroke her hair. “I think. Something in my memories just…”
“Close. They are certaintly the eyes of a dragon,” Aelius nodded. “That’s what the Devils call your eyes, but in reality, you possess the Eyes of Truth.”
Dragons were beats that existed only in myths. The fact that Aria even met one, let alone was taught by one, was utterly unbelievable. They were the apex creature of Vertex, by far. Dragons were said to be the beings from which magic originated from. All wisdom that humanity possessed was bequeathed to them by dragons, as the legends go. Other than the fact that they were creators of magic, dragons also had other distinct traits allowing them to govern the entire planet. Aside from complete Mana-immunity, the Dragonic Authority, a type of rune magic utilising Dragon Tongue, lastly, they also possessed golden eyes said to be able to discern lies from truth.
“Eyes of truth…” Aria repeated, reaching up to gently rest a finger below her eye.
“Do you remember the dragon you met when you were young?” he asked and Aria slowly shook her head.
“That’s quite a strange series of words you just spoke to me. I met a dragon when I was young?” she asked.
“Yes. It was one of the years you were on your yearly trip down to our Archduchy, you were attacked by bandits in your carriage. We found all of your knights dead and you went missing for a month. I didn’t know until now, but during that whole month, you were looked after by a random dragon living in the Great Southern Forest,” he explained and Aria frowned, trying to recall any memories.
“I really can’t remember such a thing.”
“You don’t remember how you awakened your eyes?” Aelius asked with a raised brow.
“Hmmm…” Aria tried to rack her brain. “My memories clearly must be unreliable. I just remember you visited once and I had these eyes since then. It was when you got into a fight with my mother, or something.”
“Well, since you don’t remember, it might be all the more better for my idea,” he said and Aria looked up at him with curiosity.
“What idea?” she asked.
“My plan is to travel into the middle of the Death Desert, where a ‘treasure’ awaits that will be very beneficial to both Lia and I, but not you, unfortunately,” Aelius told her. “I’ve also made sure to leave teleport circles everywhere we’ve visited so far, including Farrien Capital and Dawnbreak, for convenient travel in the future.”
“Oh, wow. Smart. As expected, you’re well prepared, Aelius,” Aria answered with genuine impression.
“So…” Aelius hesitated. “There’s no point for you to come with us. So… why not go back to the dragon and see what further magic you can learn?” He finally suggested, and Aria was silent, not answering straight away, when he spun her around and clasped her on the shoulders.
“Listen Aria, I just want you to be strong enough to protect yourself. You’ve got a big target on your back from the Devils, so the dragon can protect you from them as you grow stronger. And you not only need to resist them, but your fellow man as well. That’s why, it’d be best for both you and I, if you reach the Ninth Tier under the guidance of the dragon.” He could see she was unconvinced from his words and he gave her a bitter look.
“I’m not strong enough to protect you from them yet. And even in the future, I won’t always be around to protect you. You have to be strong enough to protect yourself. Look at what just happened last night. I can’t bear to witness something like that happen a second time. Please, Aria.” Finally, she sighed.
“Very well, very well. The Ninth Tier.” Aria crossed her arms. “It’ll take me at least five years to reach it, and that’s assuming I do at all, and that I’m a genius with unimaginable growth rate. Regardless of how mythical a dragon’s methods may be, assuming it’s even willing to help me in the first place, the human body still cannot escape its limits.” Aelius pursed his lips at her response.
“Yeah… we might be seperated for a while, though I can visit regularly whenever, and I promise I will,” he assured her with a wry smile and she gave him a helpless beam.
“Yes. I’ll do it, on one condition,” she coyly offered him, giving him an ominous feeling.
“What is it…?” he hesitantly asked as she playfully stuck her face up to his, wearing a mischievous grin.
“You must…” she leaned into his ear and whispered her request, causing his cheeks to slightly flush by the time she pulled away.
“Goddess…” he sighed, running his hands down his face and massaging his aching brow. “Alright. Of course, of course. I accept. It’s the least we can do, seeing as you’ll be working hard for five years.”
Lia and Saki peeked through the creek in the door to see the two converse with each other light heartedly. After only a few minutes, Saki pulled Lia away, her face heated up red as the two returned to the room. Lia glanced over her shoulder and then back to Saki, wearing a neutral expression.
“Those two…” Saki murmured as she closed the door to their room behind her, turning around to face Lia. “We’re going to have to… step up our game,” she said with her face heating up at her imagination.
“…” Lia looked down at her scrawning body and then back up to Saki, before sighing. She didn’t know what to think, instead staying quiet as she jumped onto her bed and pulled her legs into a cradle, wistfully closing her eyes and resting her head down.
Aelius returned to the room with Aria, now cleaned and dressed in fresh clothes. Aria was the same, her robe having been torn, she wore a jacket instead. Aelius went to sleep straight away on the ground, leaving Aria, Saki and Lia to share the two beds between them. Aria surprisingly, didn’t object much, instead peacefully heading off to sleep in one of the beds with Lia. When morning came and the four were grabbing breakfast down in the inn’s restaurant area, Aelius informed his three companions of their next move. The atmosphere was heavy as he began to speak, the content of the news surprising Lia and Saki.
“Aria won’t be traveling with us any longer,” he began to say, causing both of them to widen their eyes.
“Why?” Lia asked. “Didn’t you two work things out?”
“Oh, yeah we did,” Aelius answered, leaning back into his chair and scratching the back of his head. “It’s because there’s somewhere she has to be, instead of here.”
“Mmm…” Lia looked dissatisfied, when Aria reached across the table and took hold of her hand, giving her a warm smile.
“We’ll meet again. But until then, please look after Aelius in my stead.” Despite receiving an encouraging smile, Lia still grimly nodded.
“Okay. I will,” she assured her friend, and Aria looked to Saki, giving her a smile as well.
“I ask the same to you.”
“O-Of course,” Saki responded. “But you should’ve told me earlier! I could’ve written a book of how to cultivate your Awakening Arts,” she said but received a doubtful look from Aria and Aelius.
“Saki, I’m really touched you’re willing to go that far,” Aria told her in an endearing tone.
“But, there’s no way we can have you leave a written record of such a thing. It’ll plunge the world into chaos,” Aelius finished her sentence for her, causing Saki to dejectedly look down at her fingers.
“Oh… of course…” As Aria took in the sight of the saddened girl, she gave a chuckle and leaned into Aelius’ ear.
“She’s precious, you should take good care of her too.”
“Yeah yeah,” he dismissed her, rising to his feet.
“Now that you’ve exchanged your goodbyes, the sooner we get a move on, the better. I’ll be back in no time, just don’t get into any trouble,” Aelius asked the two girls opposite him and they gave him a confident nod. As Aelius left the first floor of the inn, the three girls took a few minutes longer to hug and talk, until Aria finally joined him outside.
“Alright, let’s get going,” Aelius nodded to her, taking her hand into his.
+Intimacy Points
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Source: Aria
User has cast the skill Return to Marked Location
A magic circle appeared at their feet and Mana gathered around them until swiftly, light flashed up and they felt their feet leave the ground. For those watching, in the city of Sepha, they were blinded and heard the sound of wind blowing and when their sight returned, there would’ve been no sign at all of the two people once standing there.
Aelius felt his feet hit the ground, Aria’s hand still in his grasp, and when his vision returned, he found himself smugly gazing into familiar trees around him. The weather was far colder and the sky was nostalgic. The teleport spell had worked perfectly.
“This place is…” Aria looked around her, beside him. “The Great Southern Forest,” she remarked as he took a step forward.
“Command, disable concealment mode,” he said and the earth began to shift. Aria watched on with surprise and fascination as the Saint Bunker opened up from out of the ground, revealing a staircase before them. Without wasting time, Aelius took Aria by the hand and pulled her down into the new world she had never seen before.
“Where is this?” she asked in wonder, looking at the lights powered by electricity.
“It’s one of my bases, you could say. I’m here to fulfil your condition.” At his response, Aria’s face turned red.
“…I’m looking forward to it.”
What was it that Aria had requested of Aelius, when she leaned into his ear and whispered her condition to him? After hours passed when they arrived at the bunker, Aelius was busy working at the development workbench and Aria silently watched on from a chair near the wall. Finally, he finished, raising into the light a small, gleaming, circular object. Turning around, he approached her with a warm smile and dropped to one knee before her.
“You must make me your woman properly. Give me a ring, or deflower me. Make it so that I can announce to the world at the the top of my lungs, whose man I belong to.” That was what she had asked of him, and with a condition like that, he had no reason to refuse. Kneeling before her, Aelius gave her a warm smile as he slotted the ring onto her wedding-ring finger. It was of a sleek design, though also somewhat plain. Made from smelted ore and coloured gold, it lacked a central gem but had internal electrical circuitry.
“Aria…” Aelius began to say as he made still eye contact with her, wearing a beaming smile that she returned to him. “This ring will activate when your life signs are in danger. I’ve imbued a teleport spell into it. If you’re ever at death’s door, I will be summoned straight away to you. But not only that, it’s also my vow to you. My vow that I will do whatever I can to make you happy.” As he let her hand go, she looked down at her ring with glee.
“Thank you, Aelius.” His eyes widened as she gave him an incredibly loving gaze. “I’ll cherish this ring forever.” At her words, he felt his heart skip a beat. What was this… happiness? This fulfillment? This sudden colour in his vision? Aria was always beautiful with her cold and distant glare. But she was even more beautiful, in this moment, as she smiled lovingly at him. He suddenly felt he could defeat the whole world, if not just to protect the sanctity of this moment.
Hand in hand, the couple returned to the forest trail where Aria’s carriage was attacked. As they drew closer and closer to the scene of the incident, Aria’s gaze was solely focused before her. Aelius observed as she walked forward with an expression of wonder. Curiously, her golden eyes shifted from spot to spot in the trees.
“I’m… starting to remember,” she softly spoke, her left hand holding onto his right hand. “It was this spot where the carriage stopped,” she said as she came to a stop at a random spot on the carriage trail. And then, she turned around to face the trees and stepped into the greenery. Aelius silently followed along behind her. “It was this spot Knight Joseph turned around to fight off the thieves chasing me.” Aelius nodded as Aria continued into the trees and then turned to the South, before she started trudging down through the soil.
“And it was in this direction that I ran off.”
With Mana enhancement, the couple made four days worth of walking distance in a matter of hours, until Aria finally came to a stop at a familiar tree trunk.
“I’m not seeing any signs of the dragon though,” Aelius sighed and Aria looked over shoulder at him.
“You have to go back to the girls, right?” she asked.
“It’s okay. It’s just… that trip through Hamadia took so long, now I’m feeling pressed for time to reach my next destination,” he answered with a helpless sigh.
“You can just go, then.” She gave him a small smile. “I can find the dragon on my own, so don’t worry and just return to them.”
“What? No. How can I do that-” he was silenced as Aria sprung forward and gave him a kiss, before backing away again, putting her fingers to her lips.
“My eyes are linked to the dragon, and I can already see where to go from here. You should go back. I’ll be fine.” For a moment, Aelius was stunned as his cheeks slowly heated up, before his clarity returned and he gave her a pouting look.
“I don’t mind sticking around, honestly,” he insisted.
“Ahhh…” Aria gave a fake sigh. “I feel so sorry for Saki and Lia,” she spun around. “I know where to go, but I’m actually intentionally misleading Aelius and monopolising him to myself in order to stay with him longer. Oh dear, if he won’t leave, I’ll just lead us in circles for days and days,” she said to the sky dramatically and gave him a coy smile.
“Oh, alright!” Aelius huffed. “I’ll head back, so you stop messing around.” He crossed his arms and looked away from her. “What ever will I do with you?” She gave him a giggle as she backed away.
“I’ll take that just now as my goodbye kiss,” she said, referring to the kiss she had just stolen from him. “You must come visit me sooner rather than later though, okay? Now, be on your way.” She waved her hand at him, as if to shoo him away, and he returned a helpless, wry smile.
“Stay safe. I’ll be back within six months,” he promised her, his tone turning serious as another magic circle formed at his feet. Light began to glow and grow brighter, and through the serene sparkles, the two smiled at each other as the wind picked up. Just as Aelius felt his vision leave him and his feet leave the ground, he heard Aria’s voice one final time.
“I love you!” she called in the final second without giving him a chance to answer, and he felt his feet hit the ground again, now returned to Sepha.