The Hero’s Ordeal

The war had ended. Arakzan had won the war. Among the Arak saints, only Araksha had died but before his death, he could pass his bracelet down to his brother, Arion. So, the total number of Arak saints didn't change. Even though there were a lot of casualties, no loss of bracelets could already be considered a great achievement. On the other hand, Larakt had lost one of its saints by the hands of Arion. And on top of it, that saint couldn't even pass his bracelet down to anyone, so the bracelet ended up in who knows whose possession. Now Larakt only had two saints instead of three. However, all three saints killed by Kraos were able to pass their bracelets down to someone worthy in their own families before their deaths. So, only Larakt was in the losing department in terms of the number of saints they had! This gave the Araks more reason to celebrate. However, the citizens of Arakzan couldn't celebrate. The whole country was devastated, even if they hadn't lost any bracelet, the damage was still too great! Their main concern right now was to rebuild their country. But even in this period of mourning, no one could ignore the contribution of Kraos in this war. It could undoubtedly be said that Kraos was the prime reason why they could win this war! Kraos had become their war hero and rightfully so.

Kraos woke up in the hospital four days after the war had ended. Kraos was surprised to see himself there. His first thought after waking up was if the war was still going on. But by the calm atmosphere and the sound of people's random chattering outside, Kraos could tell that the war was over and they had won. That gave him a feeling of relief. But that relief didn't last much longer when a certain fact dawned inside him. He realized that if the war was over, then even if he was injured, he should have been in his home, in the Ragnar household. But right now, he was in the hospital and for the past few minutes, the room had been completely empty. At the very least, he expected to see his wife, but his expectation was not answered. Kraos started to get a bad feeling about what was happening.

Kraos tried to move his body but he felt pain whenever he tried to move. His entire body was wrapped in bandages here and there. Kraos exhaled.

A few minutes later, with a creaking noise, the door of his room opened. For a split moment, Kraos thought that the female figure who walked in through the door was his wife but he was disheartened once more. It was a nurse. Kraos longed to see the face of his beloved so much that it was painful.

"Lord Kraos! You're awake!"

Kraos looked at her and nodded silently. His face distorted in pain. Even a little move like nodding hurt. He felt pain all over his body. Kraos could tell how severely he was wounded. Apparently, his desperate last move didn't only damage his opponents.

"How do you feel right now?" The nurse asked while checking his pulse.

"My whole body is aching. It's good otherwise." He tried to force a smile on his face.

The nurse checked him for a little longer and Kraos helped her in any way he could. "Alright." The nurse said after the checkup was done.

"Excuse me." Kraos called the nurse as she was preparing to leave. "Is Cassandra here?" Cassandra was the name of Kraos' wife.

The nurse's face turned pale. She was hesitating to reply.

Kraos could see her nervousness. "Has something happened to her?" He said in a louder voice. He was getting anxious seeing the nurse so tensed up. Kraos knew that anything could happen in a war situation. He just hoped that the worst didn't happen. "Where is father?" He asked strongly.

"Lord Kraos." The nurse finally spoke with a shaky voice. "I-I can't."

"You can't WHAT?" Kraos said in a loud voice. He was getting angry.

Irin flinched.

"The war is over. I should have woken up in my home, in my bed but instead I'm in the hospital and my family members aren't here. And now that I ask you where they are, you say that you can't?" Kraos spoke coldly. He was convinced that something was wrong. Something had to be wrong. Kraos tried to sense the presence of his father and his wife but he failed to find them. This was bad. Something bad must have happened to his family. He hurried up from his bed without a moment's delay and screamed out in pain.

"Lord Kraos!" The nurse panicked. "Your wounds will open if you move right now. You should stay in bed. Or else it'll be bad for your body!"

"I can't." Kraos hurried towards the door despite the pain and stopped in front of the nurse before heading out. Looking closer at the girl, Kraos saw that she was around the age of Cassandra. "What's your name?"

"Irin." She replied with a gloomy face.

"Irin, I'm sorry for shouting at you." Kraos apologized with a sad smile on his face. "Don't worry about me. You know that saints heal much better than normal human beings because of their infinite core, don't you?"

Kraos was right. The infinite core did indeed heal the body, but not when it was damaged itself! Irin knew that Kraos' infinite core would take at least four more days to regenerate completely. "But-" She started to speak but got interrupted by Kraos.

"Tell me one last thing. How long has it been since I passed out?"

"S-six days."

Kraos was about to say something in reply but a sharp voice from outside the door startled both Kraos and Irin, interrupting the conversation. "Why are you out of bed?"

"Brother Arion!" Exclaimed Kraos.

"I-I'm sorry, Lord Arion. I couldn't stop him." Irin apologized.

"It'd be quite exceptional if you could." Arion said gently to Irin. "Please, wait outside."

"Y-yes, Lord Arion." Irin hurriedly left the room and breathed a sigh of relief. The atmosphere had become so tense in the room that it was almost nauseating for her. She was feeling nervous ever since Kraos wanted to know about his family. It was a tragedy that everyone knew about except for Kraos himself. The king, worried about how Kraos would react to the news, had taken the responsibility of being the news bearer upon himself and had ordered everyone else to keep their mouths shut. It was a troublesome situation.

"What are you doing, Lord Kraos?" Arion spoke after Irin had left.

"Going home." Kraos replied with a straight face.

"No. You'll be staying here until you recover completely."

"I can recover in my home."

"You can't."

"Why? I'm sure father has already made all the arrangements."

"No, Kraos. He didn't. He-" Arion stopped abruptly. "Look, Kraos. Why don't you just lie down on the bed and focus on your recovery?"

"Why don't you just tell me what happened to my father?" Kraos asked in return.

"Kraos, I can't."

"Then let me go."

Kraos tried to leave but Arion stopped him and exhaled. He put his hands on Kraos' shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Look, it's the king's order, okay? No one is allowed to tell you anything. After you make a complete recovery, his majesty will tell you everything himself. Just wait patiently till then."

It indeed was the king's order to not inform Kraos about the condition of his family. Because if Kraos knew what happened to them, he wouldn't stay put. Kraos was the strongest of the saints in Arakzan, he was the strongest weapon, a weapon that the country could not lose. So, this matter had to be dealt with carefully.

"Let me go to the king." Kraos said with determination in his voice.

"Didn't you hear what I said? He'll meet you after you've made a complete recovery! You need to rest."

"I will rest after I know what has happened to my father and Cassandra." Kraos looked Arion in the eye.

Arion noticed the determination in Kraos' voice. "You won't be able to rest if you knew." Arion wanted to say this but he couldn't.

"Calm down, Kraos."

"Were they killed?" Kraos said. It took him a great deal of mental fortitude to speak these words out loud. Tears welled up in his eyes. He clenched his jaws tightly to control himself.

"Kraos…" Arion didn't know what to say.

Kraos looked at Arion with tears in his eyes and moved away. "IT'S MY FAMILY DAMMIT!" Kraos punched the wall in frustration. It cracked where he punched in the wall. "Brother, please. I need to know what happened to my father and Cassandra. If you can't say it to me, just let me go. Or else I will have to force my way through."

Arion found himself in a tough situation. Kraos was like a little brother to him. "Listen to me, young man." He put his hands on Kraos' shoulders. "I'm not the only saint here. All the other saints are also stationed here to keep you from doing anything rash. You can sense it, don't you? And look at yourself. You are not in a good enough condition to even force your way through me. Let alone the rests." Arion sighed. "Alright. I'll try to convince his majesty and bring him here as soon as possible. You lie down until then. I believe you are smart enough to know that doing anything reckless right now won't help." He said with a faint smile.

Arion left after putting Kraos down on the bed. Some of his wounds had reopened after all these movements. The pain resurfaced as the adrenaline rush finally came to an end. A doctor was called to restitch the opened wounds. Kraos couldn't stop his tears. He covered his eyes with the forearm of his right hand and screamed in pain and frustration.

"Master. What now?" Ven communicated with Kraos in his conscious plane.

Kraos found himself sitting on a magnificent throne while Ven was standing next to him. "I don't know, Ven." Kraos looked around. "Why is it so dark in here?" The conscious plane that looked like a throne room had always fascinated Kraos. The decorations were so exquisite and the room was always so bright! But this time, Kraos found the room to be devoid of light. He could barely see anything.

"It's because you are sad, master. This is your conscious plane. It changes with your emotions."

"Oh right. You did tell me that before. Was I that happy until now?" Kraos wondered.

Ven smiled sadly. "Master, what will you do if Arion can't convince the king?"

"I told you, Ven. I don't know." Kraos exhaled.

"Will you wait?"

Kraos remained silent.