Age of Heroes

The wind blows his long white hair as the man on horseback keep pushing the horse forward.

His eyes show a kind of coldness that is hard to imitate. Bone chilling glare of this man could kill a person and his aura was filled with killing intent.

His heart however beats as calm as the spring breeze. The anger is real. The killing intent was real. Yet, his heart did not even stir.

The man felt this deep in his heart. Has he become more…..distant? Distant from a definition of a human. 

A dragon heart beats in a body of a mortal.

Ancient God that roamed during Ages past sharing a heart with a puny mortal. In all of existence, such fusion is rare, an anomaly in itself. 

In the blood of this man flows the blood of Old Gods and ancient Gods. Every day the man feels it more clearly than anyone else. 

He is transforming.

To something not quite human. And he doesn't know...when will this transformation ends…and what he will become in the end.

But right now none of these future worries is important. 

Because…. a clue has been found. Coming here chasing of the truth, chasing for…. something. A self-appointed quest.

Arial was rushing back on the back of a horse. It was not his horse Firebringer. If this was Firebringer, his most prized horse, he will ride like the wind.

A month ago he was nearby the Vergonian tribe city when he got news that he couldn't believe. Buying a horse he quickly rushed to the city of Ragran.

In the letter in an almost unintelligible writing of the alphabet of the Caelum was a story he couldn't believe.

But with so much facts that makes sense and even obscure knowledge that seems to not escape the writer web, the writer explain to Arial about the identity of his wife killer.

Arial still remember. 

A few nights ago, he was resting in a tent he made from straws and leaves when the Bluebird found him through his scent. 

Each poster of the quest is required to give something to the Adventurer Guild that contains their scent so that the Adventurer Guild could use the Bluebird to track the poster of the quest when their quest is completed.

The Bluebird landed in front of his tent and at its feet was a letter. 

Arial quickly read it and the content of the letter inform Arial that Arial had already met one of the people connected to Titania. 

It was...Ana. 

Ana was the sister of his wife killer. It tells a story about a sister of two separated when they were young. 

It tells a story of hardship of the two sisters. One became a recruit at the walled city of Ragora dubbed the Bastion.

Another had to escape after committing some mistakes in the walled city until she was recruited into an assassin organization. 

It tells the story of how the younger sister sacrificed her innocence, sacrificed her everything just to make her family whole again.

It was a sob story and Arial almost felt like the writer knows the people in this story personally. 

But Arial did not falter or shed a tear. 

How many sob stories in this world he has heard? And how many people who have stories even more tragic than this he cut down?

He burns an entire kingdom just to avenge his wife death. Thousands of Zettelian lives become an offering for her wife.

What is a sob story going to do? 

But then suspicion crept inside his heart. Did Ana know who he was? But then after thinking deeply, it was not possible. 

Because….at the time she found him….she should have killed him. If she knows who he is, his identity and his background, she should have killed him.

But then…maybe he just didn't want to think of the possibility that Ana could plot something like that.

After the death of his wife, his heart never stirred. But in this one year…..his heart was stirred two times. 

First, when he was at the ball. 

Looking at her eyes…he was lost. Lost in those eyes…and when they dance, it was like he was surrounded with warm feelings, embraced by the Sun.

His heart stirred. Beats like it never before. And he almost feels giddy. It was the most human feeling he has ever felt since the death of his wife.

It was like he was grasping into a familiar feeling. Love. Love at first sight. It's the first for him. 

His love for Helia was cultivated. He learns to love her, to repay the love he was given. But the love he felt for Rhyssa….was illogical. 

It has no reason. 

No rhyme or reason. He just…. looks at her….and he falls. And he even enjoys falling no matter how much he pretended he hated it.

But he doesn't have the confidence…have the courage to try it again. Trying to love a person…with all of his heart. 

He becomes that coward again. 

Fearing to give too much of his heart.Fearing….to love too much. Fearing being betrayed and left alone again.

Alone. That word makes him stand still, not doing anything. That word make his time stopped.

The second time….was when he opened his eyes on a sandy beach after fighting a Divine Eagle. 

The more he got to know her, the more he felt that there was something special about her.

She was not as pretty as the Sun Empress the world class beauty, nor does she possessed the regal bearing of his late wife. 

She was pure. 

Unalderated innocence. Like the darkness of the world did not touch her heart yet. Like the burden of existence did not affect her. 

She was…..ordinary.

Ordinary as she can be. But there is a charm he could not explain because his heart constantly wanted to protect her. 

It was not lustful feeling but a kind of feeling that he had to protect her.

And his heart stirs again. Beats again. And he becomes human again. It was like Amara whispering to his ear…..to fall in love. 

To be brave. To move…forward. Move forward and let the frozen time move again. It was like it was telling him…..risk it! 

Risk the pain! Risk the uncertain future! And love! 

Love with all of his heart! Risk the PAIN! Risk it all!! And that is why seeing them make Arial to suffer from heartache. 

Because...he is not brave enough to risk it all again.

And seeing them slowly chipped away the walls he has built around his heart. The voices grow louder. And his heart could not lie. 

But now, like the Gods are playing with him, the woman his heart beats for is the sister of the woman who killed his wife.

He doesn't know what to feel now. The only thing in his mind right now is to go to Ragran and confront Ana. And hear it from her own mouth.

The memory of being crazily in love…..he found Helia in that memory. But now his mind is being invaded by the face of two women. 

One was shining brightly like the sun, like her warmth could melt even the coldest winter. Another was white as snow, her purity soothes the heart

And as all this thoughts formed inside his mind, he rides forwards, his eyes cold as ever, yet his heart….beats…again.

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