Yudonia’s Ranker Association’s President was a busy man. Ever since the dawn of the new era, he had been called into meetings between ministers and unions alike. And that wasn’t just limited to domestic affairs. Government servants from every known country had reached out to the President, including his own Ranker counterparts. Monarchs, Prime Ministers, Presidents… There was no shortage of top-ranking individuals that wanted to have a private meeting with Yudonia’s Elder.

But as busy as the man was, the President always made sure to spend a few hours a day in the most secure region of Yudonia, toiling away with the countless researchers that he’d personally gathered. The clock was ticking. Eventually, Aurum’s existence would be announced to the world and Yudonia had to pull out some benefits from the ancient man.

Already old enough, the President seemed to have aged a decade or two in just a few weeks. His eyes had turned sore red, and his face had lost any semblance of excess fat. One slap away from dripping down drool, the President’s mouth wasn’t in tip-top shape either. He stared blankly at the touch screen monitor, gradually trying to understand the data that had been put forth to him. When he was in the zone, there was nothing that could snap the President awake. Well, there was one thing.

“Aria, you’re here early,” the President glanced up from his monitor as the black-haired beauty entered through the glass door.

“President… It stinks of sweat in here. Were you here overnight?” Aria pinched her nose, sneakily leaving the door open to get some ventilation.

“International meetings had slowed down since the World Congress declared their support to Yudonia, so I’m less busy.”

“If you have time on your hands, go back home! Spend some time with your grandkids!”

“You know that I can’t do that,” the President flashed a reserved smile, his eyes turning bleak as it told a story of a thousand words. So what if the international relations had been resolved? Domestically, the President was under more stress than ever before. If the problem of the ancient man wasn’t solved, how could the President leave to see his grandkids in peace? “Anyhow, what’s with your punctuality? You were never one to make it on time.”

Aria looked down at her watch and scoffed. “Even I would like to be early once or twice.”

“I hardly believe so...” The President folded his arms and squinted his eyes into a stern. “So what’s the matter?”

“... Nothing escapes you,” Aria sighed. “Thing is, I had another dream...” Pulling out a jaded notebook from her handbag, Aria took two steps towards the President’s desk and slammed the book down. “I took your advice and recorded everything I’ve experienced. It’s all jolted down inside. It has everything from estimated montgen levels, to the drastic change in the constellations.”

The President flipped open the notebook, half his mind focused on Aria’s narration, the other half examining every nook and cranny of the book.

“It seems that my consciousness has really been connected to the ancient man’s memories. In the recent dream, I was able to comprehend everything that the Lady of the Lake was saying, even though I don’t understand the language.”

“Really?! What did she say?!”

“Something about a village and her elders not giving the ancient man permission to do something,” Aria shrugged her shoulders. “The information that I’ve extracted was rather vague. They were flirting throughout the memory.” The corners of Aria’s eyes flinched while giving that last statement.

“As much as I hate to admit it… It seems that my connection with the ancient man will only grow stronger with time. You’ll need to get a specialist in mental magic to diagnose this condition, but I believe that the more I interact with the ancient man, the more memories I will unlock, and the more we will learn about his true heritage.”

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“That’s great!” The President’s eyes sparkled like a kid on Christmas day.

“How could that be great?” Aria folded her arms and sneered. “I don’t want to have anything to do with that creepy man, and now I have to spend more time with him to advance our studies? Urgh, just thinking about it makes me sick!”

Silence descended upon the office. One had a face of disgust while the other was at a loss of words. Most researchers would pounce on the opportunity to unravel one of the greatest modern mysteries, and Aria Saciustrum largely felt the same way. There were many times where Aria dived headfirst into a research topic without regard to the experimental subject. Unfortunately, Aria’s revulsion towards the ancient man came from a more personal place.

The moment the ancient man peered into her memories to learn everything that she knew, Aria was unable to detach her feelings of the man from her work. She wanted to be excited to discover the ancient age of magic, but she was ultimately held back from the fact that the ancient man knew everything about her. Every time Aria spent time with the ancient man, she felt like he had eyes that ripped her bare, essentially rendering her naked towards his transcendental eyes. It was both an unpleasant and abhorrent feeling to have.

Basically...

“You’ve got off on the wrong foot with the man,” the President sighed.

“What was that?”

“You treat him as a disgusting animal, and he treats you as a God that’s worth worshipping… What a hilarious dynamic.”

“Excuse me?”

“Hah… Let’s back up a little bit,” the President pulled his shoulders back and lazily glanced at the incensed girl. “Forget that he’d stolen your memories, forget that he professed his love for you, forget that he’s from a different species altogether. Let’s just assume that everything the ancient man has told us was accurate. He had forgotten all of his memories, and the first thing he saw was your beautiful face.”

“...”

“Awakening from a slumber for god knows how long. Waking up to light when you’ve known nothing but darkness.”

“What’s your point?” Irritated, Aria growled.

“Just forget about the disgust that you have for the ancient man. From what we can gather, he has the same emotions as any members of the Greater Humanoid Species. Heck, he’s more alike to us humans since he’d inherited your memories.”

“Use the right words! He stole my memories!”

“There we go again...” The President slapped his forehead, hiding the veins that popped. “Like I said, if you can’t empathise with the ancient man, you’ll never be able to understand him!” His voice nearing a holler, the aged man tried his hardest to keep his temper. “Think of the ancient man as a child, not another adult human being! If he didn’t steal your memories, would we be able to communicate with him?”

“T-That...” For the first time in the conversation, Aria thought with her head, not her heart.

“As an intelligent being, he was unable to converse with us! That’s why he used you as a catalyst to quickly learn our language. I’ve suspected this initially, but the reason why he waited for you in particular instead of stealing the memories from any of our other staff here… Was because he wanted to communicate with you in particular!”

“...”

“You can’t deny that didn’t cross your mind, Aria! I’ve watched the tape of your first interaction with the ancient man multiple times! He was trying to communicate with you but to no avail. It was only after he touched you that he was able to get his thoughts across!”

Aria had no rebuttal. How could she not know that? In the recesses of her mind, Aria knew that the ancient man’s behaviour resembled that of a child rather than a regular adult. It was just… hard to admit.

The hatred of having her everything laid bare before another ‘person’... was a hard hurdle to get across. However, in order for Aria to see things objectively and to continue her research into the ancient man, she had to overcome it.

“Fine… I’ll set aside my prejudices...” Aria spoke begrudgingly.

The President smiled and hung his head down. “Thank you,” the man said. “For now, just calm yourself and prepare your next set of questions. Anything would do. The ancient man seems intent on only speaking to you.”

“I know, I know...” Aria waved her hand, gesturing that she knew the protocol.

With the Archmagus’ problem settled, the President went onto the next barrier before entering the chambers. He buzzed the intercom, connecting his office to the person at the end of the line. “Jessica, are today’s experiments prepared?”

“All done,” the secretary promptly replied. “Reese, Sabrina and Logan are on standby, ready to enter when you give the signal.”

“Mnnn, there’s no need for that. Let’s save time and let them enter with us. They can monitor Aurum while he’s talking to Aria.”

“I’ll relay that message to them,” a business-like voice ended the call with a toneless beep.

“You’ve heard the woman. Are you ready to enter?”

The President’s words reverberated within Aria’s consciousness. Before, Finn said something similar. He’d told her to imagine how it was like to be in the ancient man’s shoes. Locked up in a foreign land with no friends, no family. Not knowing what was going on. Just a lab rat stuck in a cage, fated to live like a prisoner even though he’d done nothing wrong. Then, Aria thought about the President’s words. The ancient man didn’t mean any harm when he took Aria’s memories for his own… All he wanted to do was to communicate with the one that saved his life from eternal darkness.

And finally, Aria recalled the gorgeous golden eyes of the man. An untainted light, one as pure as a baby’s shone through those glorious irises. They weren’t meant to harm Aria… It was more like… they were begging for someone to love them.

That man wasn’t a monster.

He was…

“Hah… Fine, I get it! Lead the way.”