28 Golden Eyes (4)

"G-Give you a name?" Aria stuttered. Previously, she had a tonne of grievances and pent-up emotions. With an eruption, Aria could likely give the ancient man a strong retort. Unfortunately, his golden eyes had unleashed a radiant holy light, one that could melt her strong emotions like a hot knife through butter. The sacred light was like a melodious tune of the cherubs, easing off any tension that Aria might have had. Thus, without any of her previous emotions, Aria was at a loss of how to answer the ancient man.

"That's right," the brown-skinned man smiled. "You asked me who I am? To be completely honest, I'm just as unclear of it as you are. However, I do have some fragmented memories of my past… My previous life was so… convoluted. I don't remember, I can't remember, and likely… I might never want to remember..."

The ancient man raised both his hands and carefully examined both palms. Yudonia wanted to know what the hell was this man. What secrets were he hiding? What was his origin? However, the same could be said about the ancient man himself. He was confused, anxious and most importantly… afraid. The ancient man didn't know why he couldn't remember his past life. He also lacked the answers that Yudonia and Aria sorely wanted. However, there was one thing the ancient man could infer…

He was better off not knowing…

"Aria, I've been sleeping for a long, long time… I was surrounded by darkness for what you people call… Aeons. Any and all relationships that I had back then… Would likely be severed by time. So what if I remembered my entire past? So what if I knew my origin and what my real name was? Would I truly be happy? Right now, as I stand here today… I'm all alone." The ancient man wondered out loud, causing the spectators to be rooted.

They hadn't considered it from his perspective. Yudonia had been worried about the information that the ancient man could provide, and rightfully so. They would place their own national interest ahead of the ancient relic, who was neither human or animal, that came out of a dungeon. However, as a consequence, they'd been neglecting how the man truly felt.

It was questionable if human rights applied to the ancient man and that was a question for the Supreme Courts of the World. However, on a moral level, what Yudonia had done to the man was nothing short of torture. The man was right. He was all alone. So why should Yudonia force him to remember things that he clearly didn't want to?

Aria hesitated. Her lips were quivering, and her eyelashes trembling. As a researcher, she shouldn't be caring about the ancient man's feelings. In the pursuit of truth, Aria should kill all emotions that she had for the man and continue to press on. However, as a human being… Aria couldn't bring herself to torture another poor soul. The man wasn't lying. He was… all alone.

"Aria, you ask me why I'm only interested in you, and truth be told… The answer is quite simple." The ancient man smiled. "I've been in darkness for far too long. Everything was so cold… So dark… Bit by bit, my consciousness continued to rise and fall, eroding any memory I might have. I'd thought that I would remain that way forever… Until the end of time... But, Aria you… Brought light back to my life."

"I-I… Only opened a door..."

"Still," the ancient man shook his head. "For you, you were only pushing a door. But to me, you've breathed new life into me. Life that I've given up on having. What happened in my past matters nought now… I'm starting on a fresh new page, one that's unwritten and pristine. So, Aria… I want you to write the first word. I want you… to name me."

It was the ancient man's hope. If he couldn't remember the past, so be it! At least, from here on out, he could write new pages in his book called life. But to do so, he needed the first word; and who better to write it than the woman who had brought light back into his darkened life?

"You..." Aria didn't know what to say. She came to the chambers in a fit of rage, hoping to demand answers from the ancient man. However, evidently, that wasn't going to happen. The man was unsure of his own memories, let alone give any answers that Aria might have. In the end, Aria could only acquiesce to the man's request… On one condition though.

"I can name you, but you have to answer whatever questions I have! Anything that you might know could prove useful to our research, after all. We can't just leave you be."

Hearing Aria's acceptance, the ancient man beamed: "I promise! I will answer whatever questions you might have, given that I remember it!"

"That's good then..." Aria sighed.

In the end, Aria was still a researcher at heart. She wanted to understand the origins of magic and to delve deep into the mysteries that stumped modern scientists. Aria had once thought that she would have the answers once she joined the S-Class Dungeon Dive, or at the very least, gain some clues to the ancient age. Now, there was a living relic of that golden age. How could Aria just let this opportunity slip by?

"Before I give you your name, do you know anything about the Blessings field that have appeared? I'm certain that Minerva and the rest had asked you about it before." Aria asked curiously. Although the improved stats were worrying, it could at least be explained with the world becoming stronger, and its denizens were adapting to the changes. It was the new Blessings field that stumped everyone in the world.

"Blessings… From what I understand, it's the power granted by one's bloodline." The ancient man thought for a while before giving a simple answer.

"What does that mean?"

"I'm sorry, I don't exactly remember the details." An apologetic reply came out from the man's mouth. "All I can tell you is that Blessings will only empower a being. It'll never outright harm you. My memory is fuzzy, but I believe that all living creatures back before I was sealed all had Blessings at birth. Oddly, your era didn't have any Blessings until now."

"W-What?" Aria fearfully muttered out. If that were true, then it meant that Blessings were sealed from all living creatures until the S-Rank Dungeon was conquered. If Yudonia hadn't defeated the Angel and Demon Guardians, would the world still be in a sealed state?

'Then why is my Blessing a bunch of question marks? What's the correlation between the man and the changes that the world is undergoing? What exactly do Blessings do?'

The more Aria uncovered the more questions she had. She would love to continue on with her questioning, but at that moment, Aria felt a thousand eyes piercing through her flesh. Minerva and the A-Class Paladins stood quietly with queer expressions. Outside, the sleep-deprived team of researchers were also eyeing down Aria, curious of what move she was going to employ next. However, the one pair of eyes that really got Aria's bowels churning were the two golden ones behind the reinforced glass walls.

The ancient man happily waited, with perhaps the biggest smile that Aria had ever seen. If he had a pair of ears and a fluffy tail, Aria was confident that the man would be wagging them both in excitement.

'There's no helping it...' The Archmagus instantly got to thinking. She had an entire encyclopedia of knowledge within her brain… Surely coming up with a random name wouldn't be that difficult? Furrowing her brows and puckering her lips, Aria reflected silently for about a minute or two.

"Hah… Fine… Since your eyes are gold in colour… How about Aurum?" Aria thoughtlessly answered.

"Aurum… Aurum..." The ancient man glanced down at the floor, thinking about the new name that Aria had given him.

Sensing his confusion, Aria decided to give a little explanation: "Aurum means..."

"... Gold in Latin." The ancient man interrupted Aria. "Latin is the origin of English, which reflects with my ancient age… Right?"

"You're using my memories, aren't you?" Annoyance bubbled up in Aria's mind. The ancient man had absorbed all of Aria's memories without her permission. All of her secrets, her train of thoughts… Everything was known by the ancient man.

Alas, the man couldn't hear Aria's protest. His sincere thinking expression quickly brightened up into a beautiful smile. "Aurum… Aurum! Haha, what a wonderful name! From now on, my name is Aurum!"

"You..." Aria scowled. The man might have read all of her memories, but he didn't understand the Archmagus' emotions. Ignoring Aria's frustration, the ancient man… No, Aurum, celebrated with the most disgusting smile that Aria had ever seen.

"Aria, thank you for giving me this wonderful name!" Aurum declared. He wanted to embrace the woman in accordance with her culture's method of showing affection, but Aurum refrained. Mainly because there was a gigantic glass wall holding him back.

"Tsk, whatever..." Aria clicked her tongue, suppressing the anger that had been boiling up for a while now. "In exchange, you're going to answer every single question that I have!"

Aurum didn't feel threatened. Instead, that radiant face of his just became even more dazzling: "With pleasure!"

And thus, Aria asked all the questions she had. While Aurum was able to answer some of them, most of the questions remained unanswered. Aurum just wasn't able to recall many things about his past, and neither did he have the intention to do just that. Though he was shocked that Aria's Blessing was unknown, Aurum didn't think anything about it. In the end, there were just too many gaps in Aurum's memory.

In due time, Aria's time was up, and she couldn't stay any longer. With regrets, the Archmagus unwillingly left the premise, leaving the pouting Aurum behind for another day of loneliness.