A stroll of secrets

*****

Alan moved away from the group with a somber expression.

It wasn't that he was feeling sorry for the adventurers, in fact, it was quite the contrary, he still believed them to be backstabbers.

How could he not? When wasn't it always the case? Always. His same espadan teammates with whom he spent his life, were the first ones to expose his plot of overthrowing the churches. Resulting in a series of immaculate events, that finally ended when he left everything altogether.

…It was all in the past for now. But, it still taught him some valuable life lessons. 

The world was a cruel, cruel place. To its credit, Alan was also a major contributor to the subject. Killing hundreds if not thousands of innocents just for his selfish reasons.

Even though Arsh was still a kid and hadn't seen the true side of the world. He needed to be aware of them too. It was far better than being stabbed in the back by someone you trust. To not go through the things that Alan had to.

'....Was I too harsh on him? '

The wording might have been better. But, he still considered what he said to be completely true.

Alan moved inside the dark forest alone. The monsters in the forest were running away in every direction, just from sensing his presence. 

Alan clicked his tongue, looking at one of the trees on his right, voicing in a tired tone. He was too tired of them by now.

"You can come out now."

A little cat appeared from behind the tree slowly. Her eyes were fairly amused. Alan looked at Gelina with an unreadable expression and moved away.

Gelina followed him from behind, asking in a curious tone. Her eyes were plastered over Alan's back.

"How do you know I was there? I hid my presence perfectly."

"I was an assassin before all of this."

Alan responded with an uninterested face, without looking back at her.

Miss Gelina followed Alan to the very end of the forest. Until there was nothing left to walk on, just a big ocean ahead. They stood at the shore in the night, together. Silence ensued between them.

"You are close to him and he appreciates you for that." 

Miss Gelina said in a low voice. Trying to break the tension between them.

"....Maybe, Yes. But, I didn't intend to do that from the start. "

"Perhaps, I have become too brittle with time. Living all alone here on the edge of the world, for the last four years. Just living with the guilt and pain of losing my family, training every day in search of strength. Strong enough to destroy everything that comes in the path of my revenge."

"But as time passed, my drive for blood nearly ended. It all felt pointless to me. What could a human do to real gods anyway?.... But looking back. I think I took him in because I was intrigued by him at the start. Mostly in his flaring drive for killing those unprecedented beings. To see how long it is going to last. But..." 

Alan smiled to himself, looking at the tides going up and down in front of him. 

"With every fleeting moment, we spent together. His goal became my goal as he became close to me, something akin to a family I might say. A little brother that I never had…"

".... Maybe I really was too lonely living on this cursed land."

Alan's expression was completely vacant now. As though, he himself didn't know what he was talking about right now. His eyes looked far ahead of the ocean, to the horizon. Expectant of something. 

He suddenly turned toward Gelina, removing his sword from the black scabbard. His eyes gleamed dangerously.

"Now…. Leaving my sob story aside. Tell me, Who the hell are you? And what are your motives? The kid might be dumb enough to believe you, but I am not. You know something about him, don't you?"

"Leaving that also aside. There are only dwarves and humans are allowed on this planet, anyway. Explain! Why is there a Griffin present here in the northern continent of Reza? Aren't you breaking the non-aggression pact between species?"

Gelina looked Alan deep in the eye, matching his fierce stare. She then went on to sigh and turned back to her giant Griffin form.

She looked at Alan with fleeting eyes, before starting with a sigh. Her side of the story.

"....One morning, suddenly out of nowhere, my planet was attacked by the Monarch of desire. A being that can only be heard throughout the legends."

"We didn't know what we did to earn his wrath. Neither do I think that being was wrathful at us at all. After all, they are divinities. How can a mere mortal like me can tell what they wanted from us?"

She let out a humorless laugh. Her eyes flared with unbound hate.

"We might be the strongest lesser species. But, we still were helpless against an onslaught of a true Monarch. We lost the war brutally in just a few days. My people were massacred brutally, some were captured too. Spared only at the condition of absolute slavery of demons for a lifetime."

She looked at Alan with guilt dripping from her giant, monstrous eyes.

"I saw my people dying in front of me. And you know what I did after everything was said and done?…. I deserted them, alone, in that scorching hell."

She huffed a heavy breath, trying to regain her composure again.

"Due to my status as a princess. I was able to secure a pathway to run away from my planet with my little sister. But…."

Gelina stopped and looked over at Alan. Who in turn completed the sentence for her.

"So, they are hunting for you now. That's why you ran away to Death god's domain. To hide away from them?"

She nodded strongly, standing on her four legs.

"Yes, this is the only place in the whole cosmos. Where not even gods can take a step, even if they want to. Due to the veil made by the creator of the end itself."

Alan looked over at her for a few moments, reciting in a dark voice. His expressions were devoid of any empathy.

"...Sadly, You are wrong. The treaty is broken already, a long time ago if I may add. The other gods have already infiltrated the northern continent of planet Reza….. Their followers were the ones who murdered Arsh's family in the first place."

Alan sighed, peering directly into her eyes. She was still dangling away from the main topic. He had no idea why she was avoiding talking. But, he wasn't ready to leave without an answer.

"Miss runaway princess, you haven't answered me yet. What do you know about the kid? His bloodline and lineage are completely messed up, and his soul tomb is completely empty. Why the hell is he so different from the rest? Why isn't he normal?"

Alan looked at the giant Griffin with contempt on his face. Leaving her with no choice but to answer. 

Gelina was silent for some moment, only looking at the starry sky in silence.

"....Arsh bears the mark of the unknown at his very soul. You are not on a higher plane yet in terms of magic. Otherwise, you will be able to see it clearly too."

Gelina said ominously and continued-

"The mark of the unknown signifies a being that is loathed and abandoned by every other being. Hated by mother nature. Opposite of magic….A being that shouldn't be allowed to exist in the living world."

She looked down at the ground, completing in a somber tone.

"The mark bearer shouldn't be left alone. It is the will of every living being…. including me and you….I know you don't trust me. But if I wanted to kill the kid. I already had done it..... You don't have to be wary of me."

".....However much terrifying the mark of endless is. I wasn't ready to kill a kid because of it."

"When I first felt his presence near me, he felt like a beacon of hope for me. Suddenly, falling down the valley to interconnect our fates and save me, like those in cliche romance movies. There also was the fact I was intrigued by his enigmatic constitution."

Alan raised his brow, making a disgusted expression. He was now aware of a stupid fact too. The Griffins watched movies too.

"...You like the kid or what? He is half your age." 

Miss Gelina shook her head gently. Her head leans sideways.

"...No. It was just a metaphor. I am not a pedophile by any standard."

Alan threw her a suspicious glance, stretching his arms out in the air.

"Oh! Incidentally, I don't remember giving my consent to what you said earlier. I didn't like it either. So, I am going to beat you half to death and make you explain. What exactly did you mean by that?"

Gelina looked at him wide-eyed, before chuckling at his absurd declaration.

"...What? Are you insane? I am a whole phase ahead of you"

|Shadow Armor|

Alan chanted the spell and his body started getting wrapped around shadows. He called for black flames next as his sword got engulfed in the black fire, raging in the air.

"Don't worry. It will be a light spar... Probably."