Atop the vegetated mountain, a tall dark-haired figure was brooding, a violet sphere floating a few feet from his head. "Big bro can I ask you something along the way?". Achelous simply started walking, his heavy steps from his boots crunching the twigs and moving rocks beneath him as he started making his way down and across the mountains.

"'What's up little bro? You were in that cave with dad for so long, I have to wonder how you even came to. What question do you have? Or questions rather." he mused to himself while trying to decipher how to answer whatever questions his 5-year-old brother could have. Not privy to the conversation and information dump from the Ark angel.

The ethereal Terran that only Achelous could see, started flying about as he rattled the questions off, "How old are you now? Why are you so Strong? What happened to our home? What'd you D-" He was cut off by his older brother.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH ONE AT A TIME KID" he gestured, he wasn't the type to go into grave detail, but for his little brother, he wanted to make sure he explained things carefully.

"I'm about 330 years old, it's hard to keep track of at this point since it's been so long. I stopped aging at around 32 after I got my 3rd soul shard with my friend you met earlier. Why I am so strong? How would you know how strong I am? I didn't even show anything to you in the cave?"

His little brother backed into a corner, trying to come up with an excuse quickly to avoid betraying the man he met, "uh uhhhh, uhm, It's the rings around your soul right? only we souls can see them, and you and your friend weren't the first people to try to come into the cave."

Achelous could tell his brother wasn't being completely truthful to him, but he didn't want to jeopardize his new relationship with his younger brother, so he didn't press. The reality was, everyone who found their first soul shard could see the layers of souls around their hearts, like rings around the planets. Once a soul shard was earned, you either got incredible strength or your soul itself empowered. Senses were sharpened, be it other people's soul strength, ethereal spirits that were chained to the earth, aura of others around them and the path they took, it was all made clear. For Achelous, His rings were not only Brighter than others, but had a vibrant strength that could be sensed, as if his soul was truly unbreakable.

Playing along with Terrans antics, "Your halfway there little brother, as to why I am so strong, I am not sure, in regard to home, I left to find my soul shards" he proceeded to explain in detail how the souls and finding them worked, that everyone's path was all but pre-determined based on their history. And new souls brought into this world after the enlightenment, were put into a path of cultivation. becoming either extreme athletes or genius scholars.

"So, you have to find the soul shards based on a hunch?". This mildly irritated Achelous, But his little brother was only 5 years old in his heart and that was a good question that he didn't exactly have the answer to.

"Well, it's a bit more than just, A HUNCH" he glared at his ethereal brother. "Once I got my 6th soul shard, these aura tendrils appeared guiding me straight to this one and the others, and Its basically up to me which one I get first. Other people I know have experienced similar things with this aura, but most people at the 6th level just stop since they essentially live forever without many risks. But, Kokuen got it down to a science and pointed out to me that our soul shards are generally acquired in the order of events that happened to us. "

Stolen story; please report.

His little brother just stared at him with curious eyes, as if he didn't fully understand the rant, "Oh my god yes fine, A HUNCH is a decent way to explain it. to a five your old at least.." he teased under his breath. "HEEEYYY!!" they started chasing each other down the mountain and around the brush of the forest they came a crossed at the base of the mountain. The two of them shared some memories of the last few hundred years while playing.

***

After about a month of traveling without haste, they saw the village. "What happened here big bro?" His voice was weak as he asked, in front of them stood nothing more than burnt rubble, some bones buried half deep, a brief but strong scent of death invaded the nose of Achelous. "Nothing good, This happened recently.. At least within the last 5 years or so. Thats when I left. I met a girl here and enjoyed life for a time, or as much as I could until I got bored. When I left, I was asked to be a guard of sorts and I turned it down to find you." Sorrow had entered Achelous. He truly cared for this little town, away from all the crap that was going on everywhere else. It was like his own getaway, the feeling of moving on was the strongest here when he left.

"This is probably why my aura tendril pulled me here, I guess we should look around a bit."

Achelous was walking through the leveled town he once cherished not long ago. Rain had started to spit, slowly the dirt from his hair started to drip down under his armored clothing washing some of his scars. It was a relief to him; it was also one of the things he missed most about this town. Right off the mountain so it regularly showered or was overcast at the very least. He found the trickle on the wooden structures, often putting him in a trance like state.

Looking around, he started to realize that some of the burn marks around the town were not washing away.

"Hey little bro, can you fly up for a second and see if there is some sort of art picture around me?" Knowing his little brother knew nothing about formations, he figured a picture was the best way to put it. "Big brother its huge! It's a big circle with a bunch of triangles.

Achelous heart dropped into the floor. Two steady streams started to roll down his cheeks as he told his brother, "This.. This town, it was sacrificed." Terran was confused, "why was it sacrificed?! Who would do such a thing!?" Achelous wasn't sure what to say, he simply replied, "Bad people exist as they always have, they just have more power now little bro. I am sorry you had to see this." He consoled his brother attempting to hold his ethereal body.

He thought to himself, maybe someone else was trying to help a friend find their soul shard? But even then, this was sick, twisted, downright cruel with no regard to human life. He made a short vow," Whoever destroyed this place, once I am strong enough, will not die. But will be engaged in suffering for as long as I am able."

"Help!" this cry was soft, but Achelous heard it louder than his little brothers cry when he was an infant. He quickly glanced around, noticing a feeble shack like shape amidst the other leveled buildings. quickly running over to find them, he quickly discovered a little girl.

"It's okay, your safe now". He consoled her gently. As he slowly approached, he realized that not only was this girl not crying, but her eyes were as dark as an abyss, and he felt an immense pressure that shot him 50 feet back from the shack.