THE GLIMPSE OF HIM

Leaning against the cold wall, fenced in like an animal, one could only think of evading. Megara sat in the corner of the prison, her wrists still chained but this time there was no seal on her mouth.

With her hazy gaze, she absentmindedly stared at the lantern hanging in the corner of the dungeon. Her white robe was completely torn off by him from the back, and with nothing proper to cover herself, she had to grab the dirty blanket laying in the dungeon to cover herself.

Her right shoulder was throbbing in pain and so was her neck.

Why did he bite her?

Whatever it was, he looked like a wild animal chewing on his prey.

With a painful grimace, she closed her eyes and recalled his past self. His past self...what was he like? What did they have in between? All of those memories and that happiness and pure intentions between them, everything was destroyed by her.

She chewed on her lower lip to stop her cry. The lump forming in her throat felt exceedingly unbearable, she felt suffocated so she parted her lips, gasping.

Too guilty to even recall the history.

Only she knows what those mistakes led her to. This wound will always bleed no matter how much you sew it together, you will find it bleeding at every corner of your life....her story was known everywhere. As long as that tongue runs wild these wounds will never stop bleeding.

Just what was he like? Just what were they like?

Eight years ago*

Start of the spring.

End of the winter.

It was eight in the morning. The cross-squad sect was bustling with pupils from different Sects. In markets, the main Manor, and classes, there were disciples everywhere.

This year the cross squad sect was holding a free pass learning for disciples from various sects. By the end of the next winter, an exam will be held. Both physical and mental and those who win will be heavily granted gifts and gold, not only that, the one who wins, his name will be on top of the martial arts world for a whole year. Nobody cared about gifts or gold, the real deal was having their name at the top of the martial arts world for a whole year which means you will be the strongest disciple in the martial arts world and your sect will benefit from it as well...even some Clans participated in the progress.

No one wanted to miss such an opportunity, so every sect with their best disciples and clans with a strong bloodline grabbed their capable disciples and came to the cross-squad sect for contests.

"Say, you are the next heir of the Cross Squad Sect. Why did your father throw you into another sect?" Agnes asked Marco while walking beside him. Megara and Evenor walked in front of both of them while their master led them to the manor of the sect.

They were walking through the bustling market.

"Ahh because he thought I would slack off and become arrogant if I studied in my sect, so he threw me away...he is so cruel." He said dramatically, making Agnes roll her eyes. Megara side-eyed him while shaking her head. "He was not wrong. He did the right thing." Blossom said and Evenor quickly nodded. "Yes, plus you are meeting your family after so many days...be a little happy about it," Evenor said and Marco passed them an offended look.

"Do I not look happy?" Marco asked while putting both of his hands on his chest. "You look like a depressed crow," Megara said teasingly and Marco passed her a glare. "You da--"

"Stop bullying him."

A gentle voice invaded all four of their ears and they went silent. Staring at the man in a white robe walking in front of them. He was tall with broad shoulders and a slender waist. A white sword hung around his waist and the odd thing about him was his silver hair. These silver hair of his only indicated one thing...

His spiritual core was broken.

When the master was a teen, he came against a strong enemy, and his spiritual core was destroyed but that still did not become a hindrance in his dreams. So what if his spiritual core was destroyed he still was one of the strongest men in the martial arts world. One must think how much stronger he would have been if his spiritual core wasn't destroyed. He was known as the Silver Blade.

He was a great influence on those who possessed magic but had low spiritual energy.

Even after being on such high levels, even after having a soulmate mark on his arm, he did not possess many disciples. All four of them were faulty. Marco was always degraded, saying he was from the Linya bloodline so he naturally possessed a great talent but they did not see his struggles. They did not see him breaking up.

Agnes and Evenor.

Water and fire.

This was something very common and with this common magic, it was hard to be on top. Rarely anyone with these two magics ever made it to the top but...they still did not give up.

All four of them believed that they shouldn't be this great master's disciple, that they shouldn't be here. They would be a disgrace to their Master and their Sect.

Megara inherited her mother's chain technique and her father's bloodline sword but she was too weak to wield any of it. Her magic was also considered very useless. This kind of magic can only defend you for a while no matter how strong your spiritual core is. In short, she was weak and vulnerable.

But these things...never held any four of them back. That didn't hinder their dreams or affected their personalities. They found themselves more mature than any other here...why? Because their master also never gave up even though he had the worst case possible.

Their master was their power.

Being like him was their goal.

"Yeah...master, are we going to meet my father?" Marco asked. "Yes, we must see him first," Rowan said, their master's name was Rowan. All five of them headed to the main hall of the cross-squad sect.

Cross squad sect was another branch of the Linya Clan. Not long ago there were two Linya brothers and both of them were capable enough to attain the throne. None of them wanted to step back so their father divided the huge Linya Clan into two. Those who wanted to come under the older brother remained under the older brother as the Linya Clan while the younger brother with his followers traveled to another corner of the world as the cross squad sect, known as the other branch of Linya.

Marco is the grandson of that younger brother.

The huge door of the hall was opened by the guards, paying their kind respect to the guards just like their master. All of them proceeded inside the hall where Marco's father Theodore Linya sat on the throne. Marco poked the inside of his tongue when his eyes landed on his father, trying his best to surpass his smile but the other three were already gawking at him, making him swallow as he passed them a glare.

"We want to see you smiling. Don't be like that and just act how you feel." Rowan said although he was not looking behind somehow he knew what was going on behind his back. As soon as he said this, Marco saw the other three nodding in agreement.

So he stepped forward and stood beside Rowan.

Bowing down to his father respectfully as all the other four did the same.

Marco's mother immediately got up from the buffer once she saw her dear son. "Marco." His mother called out for him and he quickly ran toward her with a huge smile on his face. First, he respectfully bowed to his mother before both the mother and son duo crushed each other into a hug.

Everyone smiled while looking at them until Rowan turned towards Theodore. "Having you here is one of the greatest achievements the cross-squad sect ever had," Theodore said while standing up from the throne as he walked downstairs and stopped in front of Rowan. Rowan shook his head with a gentle smile on his face.

"Please, you're regarding me too much," Rowan said and Theodore chuckled. His gaze darted toward the three kids standing behind him. Each had features that represented their clan. "Your disciples...look like your kids more than your disciples." He said jokingly and chuckled soon after. Rowan chuckled as well and side-glanced at his students before nodding.

"They are my children." Rowan said and all three of them shared a gaze of 'Yes, we are on cloud nine, are you as well?' Theodore smiled and extended his hand towards the left side.

"Meet the Lord of Linya, my dear Cousin, Ezekiel Linya."

All four heads turned towards the right side. They saw a handsome man with pale skin sitting on the buffer. He looked tall even when he was sitting. He had long black hair and blade-like sharp eyebrows with black void eyes. He was extremely handsome and seemed a little cold but once he looked at the four of them he passed them a gentle smile. As he slowly stood up and bowed at them, all four of them bowed at him as well out of respect. Having such a man from such a strong bloodline bowing at you first was a big deal and it also showed that this man might look cold like ice but by the time he smiled and bowed at them, all that icy personality they had pictured in their mind about him washed away like a flood.

A person stood up beside him as well. She was beautiful and looked extremely small beside him. She looked fragile and timid yet she looked like she wasn't weak. In simple words, she truly looked like his wife.

"This is Mrs. Linya, Jasmine." Theodore introduced her as she bowed at them. All four of them bowed at her as well, Marco uniting with them.

All of them stood up straight.

"I've heard a lot about Master Rowan, today when I see him...I can see those people weren't lying about him." Ezekiel said and Rowan gently smiled as he bowed at him once again as thanks.

"I've heard a lot about Lord Linya as well. Seeing him truly explains his title as the war God." Rowan said and Ezekiel smiled. While the older ones were talking, the four students had their gaze fixated on the boy sitting beside Jasemin. He looked like a small copy of Ezekiel explaining that he was his son.

"And this little one is...Evandros Linya. Ezekiel and Jasemin Linya's child." Theodore said, pointing towards Evandros who silently sat on the buffer with his head low. He looked like he was smaller than them in age. All of them were sixteen while he looked smaller than them, maybe a year. Evandros slowly stood up and bowed at them.

"I'm E-Evandros Linya." He stuttered and slowly raised his head. Megara's pupils were slightly dilated when she saw his pale cheeks tinted red. "Oh, this little one is always so shy...unlike his loafer father," Theodore said, mocking Ezekiel. Ezekiel passed Theodore a smirk before looking at his son.

"His fragile attitude is truly a disgrace sometimes," Ezekiel said while looking at his son with quite an expression someone like Megara cannot comprehend at that time. The hall fell into an awkward silence as Jasemin passed everyone a nervous smile as she rubbed her hands together and glanced down at her son, who slightly scooted towards her to avoid his father's gaze.

"Not really, a shy child is better than a mannerless one. His shyness explains his purity and kind heart." Rowan said while eyeing the little one who wasn't really little but looked like he was little. Was he fifteen years old?

"You're right but in war, this kind of behavior will get you killed," Ezekiel said and Rowan almost looked at him like he was crazy because he was. "Meeting someone new and being in a war are two completely different things. Sometimes a gentle face bears sharp hands as well." Rowan said and Theodore nodded in agreement.

Ezekiel understood nobody would understand him so he just nodded and went silent. While Megara on the other hand kept staring at the boy. He was a hand smaller than her in height. His cheeks were puffy and he still had some baby fat on his cheeks. His skin was pale so his red cheeks stood out. His eyes were big and they were shining as he stared at Rowan.

This boy looks already so inspired by her master is it because he took his side?

The more she stared at him the more she found him cute. His hair was long and slightly messed up, it looked like he didn't know how to handle his long hair but was forced to keep them long.

Evan's gaze darted toward the four students and met Megara's green eyes.

This was the first time they made eye contact.

His eyes slightly widened and his grip tightened on his mother's robe as he quickly looked away, looking everywhere but not at her. This time even his ears were red. Megara could not help but chuckle. The urge to squeeze his cheeks was too great.

Only if she knew what she would end up making of him...she would have never even glimpsed at him.