Separation

After all the wedding guests had departed, it took nearly a year to sort and secure all the gifts received by the couple. Milal jokingly accused both their fathers for trying too hard to show off—their gifts alone required a palace as big as a mountain to store them. In the end, Milal had to build a colossal palace somewhere north of Karyan's domain for him and Agnos. This house was so huge it took a full week to walk around it.

The couple were so happy together. Milal could not bear to separate himself from Agnos, and everything was fine as long as he felt that way. Agnos was pleased by this attitude of her husband.

Then, years passed like those cooling breeze of summer. Milal grew restless, and those long walks by the river the couple used to take before sunset could not seem to ease his restlessness. Seeing the change in her husband's demeanor, Agnos decided that they should take regular trips and visit relatives and friends. This worked for a while. Until Milal had grown weary of all the traveling and the empty, pointless chatter that fill in for what could otherwise be awkward silence but did not quite fill up the void in their hearts.

One morning, while taking a leisurely stroll during a visit to one of his cousins in a faraway island, Milal happened to hear the tinkling of a piece of iron striking against something hard. When he went to take a look, he found a broad-shouldered muscular man hammering away at an iron stake against a rock. The man was making a sculpture of a lion's head. It was not yet done, but it was already a sight to behold.

Milal wondered who this man was who could create such beauty with a hammer and a stake.

As Milal was mulling this over, the man turned around. He recognized Milal and smiled at him. Milal had never been more shocked in his life. It was Qat'l Banwar!

Based on the quality of his sculpture, Qat'l Banwar had been sculpting for a very long time. Qat'l Banwar revealed that he had been sculpting from a very young age. This left Milal stomped as he could not understand why such a legendary warrior with unparalleled skills for battle still felt the need to engage another occupation, more so one as tedious and uncompromising as sculpture. Qat'l Banwar explained that shaping objects into a thing of beauty had always been his passion and that he just happened to be very good at wielding a sword or a spear in combat.

Milal sat down to observe Qat'l Banwar when the latter resumed his work on the stone lion sculpture. Milal asked several questions about sculpture and Qat'l Banwar happily indulged him.

However, it was during dinner a few days later that Qat'l Banwar did two things that became an eye-opener to Milal.

After everyone had eaten, their host, Milal's cousin, had asked the great hero to sing a few verses for them. Qat'l Banwar happily obliged and sang to them the story of his pursuit of the Borsine, a boar-like monster that ravaged three kingdoms. Milal was stunned by the magnificent resonance of Qat'l Banwar's voice but was even more so by the beauty of his poetry.

Then, before the night was over, Qat'l Banwar told their host to get in shape as he intended to bring him along when he would climb to the peak of Mt. Anganto, the tallest mountain in their world. Their host complained that Qat'l Banwar was to be married before the end of that year. Qat'l Banwar replied that climbing Mt. Anganto had been one of his lifelong goals. It's what he said afterwards, however, which had awakened in Milal a realization that had been trying to break free from the clouds in his mind since he had felt a restlessness he couldn't quite explain.

Qat'l Banwar said, "I'd still marry her and love her with all my heart, but it does not mean I must stop living my life."

Qat'l Banwar jarred awake a lot of slumbering thoughts in Milal's mind. He kept thinking of Qat'l Banwar's passion for sculpture as well as his interest in poetry and mountain climbing. But the words Qat'l Banwar spoke had the most profound effect on him. These thoughts persisted in Milal's mind, like a toothache he could not ignore, until he and Agnos finally returned home.

Milal tried to think back of the things he had wanted to do before marrying Agnos became the most pressing desire of his heart. At the time, the desire had been so overwhelming such that it left no room for any other. In that moment of pensive recollection, all his past ambitions, his most cherished goals, the passions of his youth—all of that came flooding back. Most, he came to realize, were not really as important as he once thought they were. At least they were not so important for him to have to exchange for time away from his young, vibrant and beautiful wife. But there were some which were impossible for him to let go. Except for his most treasured lifelong goal, Milal figured that he could accomplish the rest together with Agnos. That lifelong goal was to rid the two continents lying around his father's domain of all demons and vicious monsters.

After waiting for a few days to pass, Milal sat down with his young wife and told her of his plan to go out and hunt demons and monsters. Having wanted nothing else all her life besides being with Milal for the rest of her life, Agnos could not understand why Milal would think anything could be more important than being with her. She thereby accused Milal of not truly loving her as much as she loved him. Milal assured Agnos of his undying love for her even as he tried to explain that life would be empty of any fulfilment without a grand aspiration to give meaning to his existence. However, Agnos became unreasonable and accused Milal of having grown tired of her. She went on to dare Milal to just say he wanted out of their marriage instead of coming up with a lame excuse just to be away from her.

Realizing the futility of his situation, Milal backed off and just asked Agnos to give his words some thoughts for a few days. He decided to go over to a friend's house for a few days.

Left on her own, Agnos sorted out the events that led to their first fight as a couple. She came to realize that she had been jealous and insecure. She was jealous of Milal's great aspiration and his quest to find meaning in his life. She also admitted that she felt insecure of Milal's feelings for her. Looking at it that way, she blamed herself for not being more broad-minded for the sake of her husband. Of course it must be her fault. In her mind, Milal could only be right.

Yet, another more sinister thought sneaked into her mind. She never had any aspirations in life, great or small. Her whole life was built around a little girl's fancy of someday being married to the boy of her dreams. There was no other meaning or source of fulfilment except the realization of her little girl's dream. Surely, there was something wrong with her, or so she thought.

Agnos decided that she needed to go away and sort herself out. Thus, Agnos set out of her house one morning and journeyed east. Without a sense of direction or purpose, she travelled a meandering path like one so unsure of her destination. She could not make up her mind whether to head east or go west, or even just go home.

Milal got back after three days and walked inside their house with sad, heavy steps. He had decided that he would forget about his great aspiration and never leave Agnos.

When he couldn't find Agnos, he went mad from worry and chased after her. However, he travelled westward, which is the opposite direction of where she went. He chanced upon a demon lord and his minions, so he decided to vent his fury upon the hapless demons.

Later on, the clearing along the western branch and the fissures among the huge rocks thereat were explained as the result of that great battle. The town that sprang up in the area was even called Milal Unteg, or Milal's Wrath.

Meanwhile, Agnos was wailing and sobbing in self-pity. Despite pleas from her maidservants, who decided to follow after her, her pride kept her from doing what was sensible. She imperiously declared that she would only go home if Milal personally came to fetch her and make up for making her feel bad about herself.

The headmistress of the servants dispatched a few of the maidens to go and search for Milal and direct him towards Agnos' location. However, when they found him and Milal had learned Agnos' reason for leaving, the young god suddenly turned cold and became difficult to speak with. Two of the servants had to return and tell the headmistress the bad news.

Upon hearing of Milal's reaction, Agnos became upset. Having concluded that she was right after all about Milal no longer loving her, she ordered the two servants to go back and deliver to Milal a few hurtful words from her. Agnos regretted her actions almost right after the servants had left. However, a few days later, the servants came back with even more hurtful words from Milal.

The couple went on that way for weeks. The two maidservants who acted as the couple's couriers of hate were already crying from having to absorb all that anger from the warring couple. They pleaded for their fellow maidservants to take their place, but nobody wanted anything to do with their burden.

The mountain god Tukruk decided he could no longer tolerate the couple's childishness and stepped in to stop their dramatic antics. He threw down his helmet and raised a mountain range from it while offering a sacrifice to Lantig. Next, he asked Samaya for help and the forest goddess sprung a very thick forest near the mountains to funnel Milal towards the mountain range.

When Milal and Agnos arrived at the Horns' Juncture, their parents and godparents were already there, looking totally unhappy and even somewhat angry. They hardly noticed their facial expressions. They could only be aware of the hard thumping of their hearts as they looked at each other. All the mean things they had imagined saying to the other in their minds were all forgotten. Only the inexplicable joy of seeing each other again after months of separation could remain in their hearts. They wanted so much to rush into each other's arms.