32 Number Six (1)

"Aurum..." Aria weakly mumbled out as she clenched her petite fists together. Although he was unresponsive before, the ancient man was now in peak jubilation. "I've missed you so much!" Aurum continued. "Why did you leave me alone for the past few days?"

"I was busy," Aria didn't want to elaborate, and thus, she didn't. Instead, the Archmagus instantly got to the crux of the issue. "I have good news for you… You wanted me, you've got me. From this day forth, I will pay you visits periodically."

"So you've finally seen my allure!" Aurum chuckled while leaning his back forward. Aria was just a few metres away from him, and they were almost close enough to smell one another. "Honestly, I would love to spend more time with you on the outside. Being trapped here after coming out from an eternal cell seems rather evil, don't you think?"

Aria snorted: "Try being a little more cooperative then. Talk to someone other than me, and your treatment would drastically change!"

"But if I talk… Wouldn't I see you less often?" Aurum pondered out loud.

"That..." Aria tilted her chin to the side, averting her gaze from the eyes of pure desire that Aurum possessed. Like a chick that had just been hatched from the egg, Aurum was emotionally tied to the first person he'd seen since awakening from the S-Class Dungeon. Unfortunately, that person was Aria.

"See? I can read you like a book!" Aurum declared with his chest puffed out.

"That's because you read my memories! Fucking bastard!" Aria held her hand down, as it was ready to imprint a mark on the man's cheek.

"Is that bad?" Genuinely confused, Aurum bent his neck down to meet Aria's eyes. Aria, not amused by the ancient man's gesture, quickly took three steps back and held the President's hand.

"Don't make sudden movements. Else, I'll make this guy pummel your head to the ground." Aria warned.

"Pummel my head? Why would he do that?"

"To fucking kill you!"

"... Why?"

Aria's face flushed red and steam was now shooting out from her inner ears. All she wanted to do was to break the ancient man's neck and force him into a sleep that would last a thousand years. And she was tempted to. If not for the President's arms holding her, Aria would have unquestionably launched her most powerful spell against Aurum. Sighing, the President scratched his temples and gently pushed Aria behind his back.

"Now, now… The two of you are missing each other. Let me be the mediator."

"I don't want to talk to you. I only need Aria in the room." Aurum protested without a single shred of fear in his voice.

"Well, if you want to talk to Aria, you'll have to talk to me as well." The President scoffed. He waved to the assistants at the back, and they brought over the two comfortable wooden chairs at the corner of the room. "We have all the time in the world, Aurum. Answer our questions, and there's a chance that we'll let you spend more time with Aria."

"... Aria, is that true?"

"Why do you think I'm here now?" The Archmagus folded her arms and placed her bums on one of the vacant chairs. "However, you'd better answer everything truthfully! One falsehood and I'll be the first one to leave the room!"

With her word, Aurum flashed his pearly teeth and oddly pink gums. "Okay! I trust you!"

The President was amused by the pair's interactions. He'd seen Aria grow from a budding talent to a dominant Archmagus in her field. He knew how Aria normally behaved around men. Other than the ones that she'd already known, Aria treated all men coldly, as if they didn't exist in her immediate vicinity. Aria's icy demeanour didn't help either. All of her prospective suitors didn't dare to approach the Ice Princess and would unconsciously keep her at arm's length.

So, it was quite a sight to see Aria bickering with a man, even though he may not even be human.

"Aria, ask away." The President rested his back on the second chair and gave Aria the floor. Aurum didn't want to talk to him anyway. It was best to observe his reactions to Aria.

"Right… You-..."

"Aurum! Call me Aurum!" The ancient man interrupted with a childlike vigour. "It's the name you've given me! I want to be known as that!"

"Right…. Aurum." Aria bit her bottom lip, regretting that she acquiesced to naming the ancient man. "Aurum, can you tell me what you are? You look human, but your DNA doesn't match any of the Greater Humanoid Species. So… what are you?"

"What am I?" Aurum put his right index finger under his chin and tilted it naturally. It was the first question that Aria had asked since arriving, and Aurum didn't want to disappoint her. He could answer with the 'I don't know,' but that may just repulse Aria even more. Like a child that was so desperate to please his parents, Aurum continued on thinking and thinking. Until he finally worded out a vague answer.

"If I had to guess… Maybe I am part of an ancient race?���

"We know that much," Aria's eyes sparkled. The flaming hatred was slowly being extinguished as her researcher's inquisitiveness was spiking. "Please be more specific. Do you remember anything… Anything at all from your time period? Since you've seen my memories, you should know what dragons are. Were there dragons in your time? Or perhaps… Are you a dragon?"

"Dragon? I don't think that I look like a dragon..." Aurum frowned and raised his very-human hands up. Seeing as they matched Aria's own, Aurum declared with absolute certainty. "See, I have hands just like you! How could I be a dragon? Dragons have claws, not hands!"

"That's beside the point..." Aria caught her head as it fell to her knees. 'It's like talking to a toddler!' She thought.

"Okay… If you're not a Dragon… Are you perhaps an Angel or a Demon?"

"Angel? Demon?" Aurum threw his head back. The other spectators did the same as well. Of all the possibilities… none of them had ever considered that the ancient man could be one of the two progenitors of the Greater Humanoid Species.

There were no written accounts about Angels and Demons. Neither was there any tangible evidence that those two great entities ever existed. However, tales of the two highest species to ever walk the planet had been circulating ever since humans could talk. They were legends, myths, children's bedtime stories… The tales of Angels and Demons continued to enthral the minds of any who heard about them, and many wondered… were they indeed the origin of all life on Earth?

"Aria… Do you really think that he's an Angel or Demon?" The President whispered softly, careful not to agitate Aurum as he was thinking of a response.

Aria didn't flinch as she replied: "Just think about it. He was protected by two Stone Guardians that were clearly far more powerful than anything the Greater Humanoid Species were capable of producing. Even the Dragons who were said to be the strongest race on record all perished under the twin Guardians' hands. Logically speaking, the ancient man must be a being that precedes the Dragons! And given that he was protected by an Angel and Demon Guardian..."

"He might be one of them!" The President connected the dots. "I see, I see… But he doesn't have any wings growing from his back or any Demonic features!"

"He was sealed in an S-Class Dungeon by means that are far beyond our comprehension. Who's to say that he's not in a sealed state now?" Aria theorised. "If he's sealed… everything adds up! The forgotten memories and the lack of awareness… Also, his childlike innocence and pure eyes. A normal being that was just awakened from a long slumber wouldn't behave the way he does."

"Ah… Makes sense." The President agreed with Aria's conjecture. As much as he would have loved to further his questioning, Aurum seemed ready to give a response as he started glaring at the two with burning eyes.

"So? What are you?" Aria pushed on with her questioning. "Angel or Demon?"

"I… can't be certain." Aurum struggled to give a straight answer. "I looked through your memories to understand what an Angel or a Demon was and... as much as I believe that I am not one of them, I can't say I'm neither of them."

"Because of your memories?"

"Yeah… Because of my memories." Aurum dropped his shoulders and his lips, puckered. He loathed not satisfying Aria with his answer and was having an internal struggle with his choice of words. "I can't remember anything other than darkness. I really can't! It's frustrating!"

Aurum flailed his arms in the air like a baby throwing a tantrum. The crisp sounds of metal clanking together echoed out from the chains binding his wrists and the deafening chill of annoyance beamed out from the ancient man's golden eyes. Knowing that his play for attention was fruitless, Aurum slowly calmed down, taking deep breaths to put two and two together. And then… he asked Aria with the purest face he could put on.

"If I told you that I'm one of them… would you believe me?"

"... Probably not."

"So why are you asking?"

"To satisfy my curiosity, I guess?" Aria sighed. "I just needed to put all the options out there. So that we could slowly narrow in on the truth of your existence." The Archmagus reached into her robes and took out a folded piece of paper. It was crudely made, and there were bits of colouring dye sprinkled all throughout the paper.

"I have a few more questions… When you read all of my memories to learn our tongue… Did you do anything else to me?"

Aurum blinked thrice. It was a different question than the ones he'd been given entirely. Still, he gave the most honest answer that he could muster: "No, I didn't."

"Oh, I doubt that's the case." Aria shook her head ferociously. "See… After I returned home, I started having dreams. Dreams that I had never had before. Dreams of a land before modern times. Dreams about a different life. Dreams… that could only be described as your memories."

"My memories?"

"That's right," Aria's nails dug into the final fold of the paper, unravelling the entire picture that she had instructed Yvette to draw earlier that morning. "The dream was so vivid that I could remember it clearly, even after I woke up." Aria turned the paper over, allowing Aurum to have an in-depth and closer look.

A hand sketch of a black-haired woman with vivid detail was on full display. Yvette was a natural artist, and her drawing of the woman in Aria's dream was about seventy to eighty percent accurate. However, that percentage was more than enough to wow the eyes of a master sketch artist. The woman's face was so lifelike that one might think she would leap out of the portrait at any given time.

The moment Aria whipped out the picture, her attention was solely focused on the ancient man's face. Aurum's eyes, his face, his lips, his nose, his ears… Everything was laid bare before Aria. In her memory, the person she was 'possessing' had a tremendous affection for the woman in the drawing. If that person really was Aurum, there was no way that he would remain calm.

"Do you recognise her?"