Chapter 57 - A Revelation

Arthur Leywin

As I entered into my room and pulled the door close to me, I saw Virion sitting in the corner. The room was dark, a single streak of flickering evening light intruding through the transparent window that shuddered as a strong gale passed and clashed against it. Virion's features were shrouded --- leaving nothing but a nebulous and indistinct silhouette, his mood left to be discerned by one's imagination.

Closing the door behind myself, I entered inside, pulling the string that turned the LPD --- the sole source of illumination in the room, on.

The room was quite spacious, almost 6 times the size of the dorm room I had in ANHS and 3 times the size of the room in Helstea Manor. The room was lightly decorated with only the essentials in it. A big bed, a couch and a study table. There was a beautifully carved glass table in front of the couch over the furry carpet --- the iridescence of the glass itself seemed to shimmer in the light, casting prismatic hues onto the surrounding plush carpet.

Virion was reclined upon the plush couch, his face beaming with a sense of tranquility and serenity. His eyes were gently closed, as if in a state of peaceful meditation, and his arms were loosely crossed, his chest rising and falling in harmony with the rhythm of his peacefully beating heart. The tense, severe expression that had previously graced his features was nowhere to be seen. Instead, his features were now slackened, and his features were soft and relaxed --- almost serene. His long silver-white hair that were usually tightly held behind back had been now released from their restraints, cascading in loose waves down his face and chest like a cascading waterfall.

Walking over to him, I took out the jacket I had on me and tossed it on the bed. Extending my hands on the either side, I let myself fall freely on the bed. The sheets rustled as I fell on it, my body bouncing off it once before submerging into it. The mattress was springy as well as velvety soft making me feel like my body would melt away and become one with it. The soreness in my body from Realmheart seemed to have been extinguished for the most part as I turned into my bed. I snuggled my face into the sheets, not wanting to do anything else, the laziness inside me threatening to lull me into the deep embrace of sleep. "How long are you trying to act like you're asleep?" I asked, peeling my face away and looking at the roof that had a design of night sky over it.

Virion's eyes opened as he looked at me, his gaze blunt and lighthearted indicating he wasn't here to discuss anything about war or duties but something personal. Jerking my body, I raised up and sat on the bed, my eyes blinking rapidly as I tried to shrug off the stinging sensation from them. Although I didn't use Aether or the space warping ability that I used against Uto that was obtained from the Keystone from the Djinns, the fight with Cecelia --- the Legacy of Mana still exhausted me.

It could've ended sooner if I used Aether but there were many reasons for not doing so. The main reason was Kezzes' obsession with it. If I used aether better than most dragons he would've done something, and I realize the power disparity between us. The second was because what the Djinns said all those years ago --- about the two legacies of Mana and Aether, I needed to get more insight into aether before actually using it in combat. Cecelia's mana control was leagues better than mind and the only was she was losing because I was secretely creating opportunities for Arisu to attack and injure Nico. Since their love for each other was quite strong, they were the weakest opponents to face while together since the relationship of love could be easily exploited.

I need to unlock the other two keystones as soon as I can. For my own benefit. Also, despite having this thing of ensuring my own survival and making it the ONLY priority... I don't want my family to die because of my mistakes.

"Nothing ever leaves your eyes, do they?" Virion asked with amusement, his expressions half-veiled behind his loose hair. I couldn't make much of them but it seems like he had cried, evident from the swelling that seemed to have been almost hidden behind huge sacs under his eyes. Looking to his right, I could see a small metallic container.

"Were you drinking in my room?"

"I can't."

"I didn't said you can't. I asked were you drinking in my room."

"I was." He replied as he placed his arms on his knees, his long hair hiding his face completely. Suddenly, he rubbed the corner of his sleeve against his eyes and looked up, "Congrats on beating the retainer, brat!"

"That was Arisu. Not me." I replied and shrugged my shoulders, pulling the chair from the study table and placing it in front of the glass table.

"Nope *hic* That was you."

Ignoring him, I let my body sink into the chair before initiating the conversation again, "What happened?" I asked, taking the bottle from his hands and examining it closely.

"I-" He paused for a while and I could feel him sniff air in and out rapidly, a veil of uncertainty and indecisiveness looming over him, "I miss her."

I looked up from the bottle as I saw him biting his lip. Raising up from my chair, I walked towards him and placed my hand on his head. He looked up and I held him by his collar, letting out some of my King's Force as my eyes brightened in an azure shade, being reflected in his eyes, "Get a hold of yourself, Virion. This was not what I want you to be." I said and I could feel my voice distort under the almost palpable veil of King's Force. His jaw tightened and he jerked his head sideways, slapping his face with both hands.

"Sorry, I lost myself for a while." He said as I saw the look of rationality come back in his eyes. Sighing, I lifted my intent and sat back into the chair.

"I've always wanted to ask... how do you do it? Do you really not feel anything?" Virion asked.

"Do you really think it's possible for any human being to not feel anything? Emotions are an integral part of our nature as social and sentient beings. While some people may be better at controlling or hiding their emotions than others, it is impossible to completely suppress or eliminate them." I replied as he narrowed his eyes --- unconvinced.

"I need a proper answer."

"Do I really not feel anything? Well, let me ask you this: have you ever considered that sometimes it's not a matter of not feeling anything, but rather of feeling so much that you have to keep it all locked away? Sometimes it's easier to appear as if you don't care, rather than risk exposing the vulnerability and complexity of your emotions."

"You and your rhetorical answers. You are always so vague. I've known you for 16 years now. A decade and a half plus one," Virion said in a gibberish tone, poking his 6 fingers in the air. "And you are still a mystery to me. You are the same as the day you arrived in Elenoir. I thought you went through a horrible accident to make you seem like a calculative person and have next to no emotions." He paused and took a sip from his wine, "But lately, I've been seeing. You've changed a little."

"How so?"

"Mehh, How would I know? Can be anything. But I feel some warmth coming out of that chest of yours, Arthur."

I looked down at my own interlinked hands and feet. Was it so obvious?

"The thing you asked us so many years prior," Virion continued as I looked up.

"When we asked you that you can ask us for anything as reward and you asked for something that was so bizarre that we all thought that you had lost your mind."

"So, you remember them?" I asked.

"I do. The two wishes of yours had been on my mind for so long. And it became more and more etched into my memory as the future events unfolded and everything seemed to be in correlation to what you had demanded." He said as he looked up at the ceiling.

"So, the reason you're here is that you want to confess something."

"Yes," Virion said looking at me with a primal intensity in his eyes, "I am sorry but I can't fulfill the first wish you made. It is too hard for me. I can't do it."

"Understandable." I replied and looked outside the window into the dark endless space.

"And as much as I teased you two in the childhood... can you..."

"I will try to stay away from her." I replied as he sighed in relief.

"She means a lot to me. And I have nothing against you. But I don't think there lies happiness with you. You are the smartest person I've met and no doubt you'll be the strongest. But I don't see a future where Tessia could be happier with you."

"Smart choice." I replied.

He looked up at me, dead in the eye, "Did that not make your heart flutter? Not even little?"

I looked down at his hunched form, "Why would it?"

He smiled, "I guess I made the right choice."

"About time."

Virion placed a hand on my shoulder and barely squeezed it and left the room right after. "He is getting unfit to rule Dicathen," I spoke to myself under my breath, "A replacement might be due soon." I said, looking outside the winas dow.

(***)

Agrona Vritra

Sitting on a chair beside the bed, I kept my eyes on a book written by a lesser, its contents mildly amusing to help me get through for the time being. Nico stood in the corner of the room, a worried yet apologetic expression on his face as he nervously fidgeted with his hands. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he kept his eyes on the sleeping figure of Cecelia. Meanwhile Grey stood with a straight back, lacking any hint of visible emotion over his visage. However, he still seemed trouble by something --- a certain thought that he seemed to have buried in the back of his head --- somewhere I didn't had access to.

"So? What happened?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the book as Atsuomi pulled a book from Cecelia's shelf and started to read it.

"They got caught in battle with a lance," Grey replied, his piercing scarlet eyes on me, "With the reincarnate --- Arisu Watsken."

Atsuomi's ears seemed to perk up at the mention of her name as he looked back, "She's certainly smart but it is nigh impossible for her to do this to both of them." He said as a matter-of-factly.

"I am not finished, yet," Grey looked at him with a mildly intimidating glare but he didn't bother to look his way, indulging himself in reading the book.

"However, there was someone else there."

"His name was Arthur Leywin." Nico spoke this time, his voice seething through his gritted teeth, "I am sorry, but we couldn't do anything once he transformed."

I closed the book and looked up at Grey while ignoring Nico, "Transformed?"

"Sylvia's essence. Her will. He is the one who inherited it." Grey spoke as I could feel by brows crease. Even when she was dying, she made sure to create a hurdle in my path. Oh, my love, how more would you torment me? It was heart wrenching. A veil of silence fell over the room. Everyone's neck was bent, their eyes on the white marble but I could feel their peripheral vision eying me, as if waiting to see what kind of reaction I would give.

"Grey," Atsuomi came forward towards him, his hands trembling and his eyes carrying an ecstatic glint, "Did you see it?"

"See what?"

"Inside his heart."

I was now looking at both of them with keen interest, the route their talk was taking a refreshing change for me. Grey looked at me and then at him, "Yes, I did."

"What did you see?" Atsuomi asked, his words carrying a desperation that I had never heard before and his words hung in the air like a static mist.

"Nothing," Grey paused before speaking again, "and everything."

Atusomi's brows creased and knitted together as he looked at Grey dead in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"As I peered deep into his haert, I was met with a boundless darkness that seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Yet, amidst this inky blackness, I could see flickers of emotions, like little sparks of light --- bright and warm in the midst of a blizzard. It was as though there was a warm fireplace in the middle of this desolate land, a tiny glimmer of hope amidst the darkness." Grey explained and I could see Atsuomi's lips curve up into a smirk, "Despite the little warmth that had taken birth in that desolate land that is his heart," Grey said, his voice dripping with uncertainty, "it seemed artificial, like he had self-hypnotized himself into believing that there was hope where there was none."

A sense of dread washed over everyone as they realized what he was saying. This wasn't just some abstract concept or intellectual exercise; it was a real, tangible threat that they had to deal with. Atsuomi looked back at me with an excited look, "He is here."

Tessia Eralith

The hallways were dyed in a citrus shade as I walked through them in the morning. After Arthur returned back from Euphotus, I stayed inside the camps for a few days before returning back to the Council's Floating Castle. I had to return to my camp this evening, so I woke up early in the morning. As I gazed out of the window at the early morning scene before me, a sense of peace and serenity washed over me. The sky was awash with the soft, gentle hues of dawn, a delicate pink and orange gradient stretching out as far as the eye could see. The stillness of the morning was only punctuated by the occasional chirping of birds and the distant hum of early morning traffic.

It has been so many years since I had last met and talked with Arthur in silence and peace. When I first saw him, I was excited but the feeling of pain inside my heart that I used to feel was no longer there but instead replaced by a genuine happiness upon seeing him. His eyes, that always used to look distant, seemed to sparkle subtly with a glint that was foreign to me --- lacking the stone-cold intensity that had always captivated me.

Did I like him like that? If so, then I wonder why.

Grandpa was being weird yesterday too. When I told him I would be meeting Arthur tomorrow, he seemed to be against it, prompting me to return to base as quickly as I could. Jerking my head sideways, I got rid of those thoughts, focusing only on my meeting with Arthur.

As I reached closer to the room, my hand reached out for the door as I tried to knock on it.

"Hey, be gentle. You have to put it in slowly and turn it."

"I can't be bothered. I will put it all in."

"HEY! I told you not like that. You got it all over my face."

My whole body froze, like a petrified statue placed in those old museums. What was going on inside? Not being able to hold myself back, I blasted through the door as I saw what was goin on.

"Huh?"

(*****)

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