Morning; the campfire had burned out. The chilling breeze and the birds singing were present atop of the mountain just as Arius was ready to wake up Saava and Bordor. Aegara lifted her hand and shooed them away them, Arius was shocked and slowly starting looking at Aegara and asked:
"What?"
Aegara stared at him and replied:
"The Origin shock was too much for them and we should let them rest more. Waking them up this early would slow down their recovery and more importantly slow us down by trying to take care of them"
She then got up and started heading back down the mountain without turning her head back. Arius quickly followed behind her as to not be left behind. He then asked:
"Where did you send them to?
A hospital?"
Aegara stayed silent for a moment, looked at Arius with the corner of her eye and then replied:
"I sent them to a dimension I created, the rules on that dimension are going to help them recover faster"
Arius and Aegara continued to make their way down the mountain. The trees were shaking with no animals nearby and even the old trail they were walking on was starting to vanish as they went on. Arius noticed these strange phenomenons that were happening around Aegara, but he didn't bother, he simply kept following her. It wasn't until they made their way off the mountain that Arius tried to speak to Aegara again, but this time he asked a personal question.
Well, I don't care how I sound but I have to get this feeling off my chest:
"General Aegara, do you hate me?"
Aegara continued walking but this time she replied instantly.
"Yes I hate you"
Arius was shocked, what could he have possibly done to get on Aegara's bad side. He just shook his head and asked:
"Have I perhaps offended you in some way General"
Arius wasn't sure what he could have done to make her angry, maybe the way he talked to her in their first encounter?
Dammit, I definitely gave a bad impression when we first met. Fuck I screwed up my new job.
Aegara replied:
"If you're thinking that I started hating you on our first time meeting then you really are even worse than a fool"
Arius started looking at her all scared and thought:
CAN SHE READ MINDS?!
Then Aegara said:
"And if you haven't thought about it then let me tell you why I hate you"
Arius became all serious. He was dying to know what she thought of him and as she started to speak all his thoughts shut down.
"The reason why I hate you is simple. YOU are a weakling, a person like you should never associate themselves with the likes of Bordor and Saava. You are a nuisance to them, they don't have time to waste on you. They are Origin users, we dedicate our lives to the ways of Origin while you don't. We see the cosmos change over and over again and find meaning in nothing. Where you see death we see options, where you see strength we see purity. YOU wouldn't understand this, you are just a soldier who gets payed to do his job and from what I remember I am not paying you to hold back my students"
Arius started feeling down, but Aegara wasn't going to stop at that.
"Listen here soldier, why not make things easier for everyone and slowly cut ties with them, it would be better this way trust me. From my point of view you are holding both of your "friends" from achieving their full potential. They will keep on getting stronger while you will be stuck on the same place you have been on for the last 10 years. What Origin formula takes them 1 try to learn and perfect it will take you 10,000 tries and by the time you have learned it they would have gone much higher. *sigh* Hopefully soon you will understand. It will hurt when the day comes where you reach that wall, and even if you do break through it can you build a bridge made out of strings? This is your fate, blame yourself for it, blame yourself for being born talentless, blame yourself for not being up to standards, blame yourself for trying to compete with the great, but don't blame your friends for their failures. Everytime someone more talented than you fails it is you to blame. You are a parasite that takes advantage of their good character and take away their attention from their life's work."
The words that Aegara threw towards Arius were heavier and more painful than Deathmetal's punches. Arius felt really bad for himself, but that feeling wasn't going to stop what Aegara was about to throw at him next.
"So I will give you a choice, slowly cut ties with them and eventually you will become a good silent soldier that only follows orders, all sides are happy, you keep the job, they become stronger, I don't have to deal with drama."
Then with a sad look, his voice shivering a little, Arius asked:
"The other choice?"
Aegara then stopped walking and replied:
"Then I simply fire you, you don't get to witness what your friends do and just live a normal life of a mercenary, you will not see Saava and Bordor ever again, you will only hear about their legends, that's all."
Arius was contemplating about picking the first choice, but all of the sudden he remembered the words of Deathmetal.
"Boy, become strong."
Then he regained wits, and that sad look on his face was washed up by joyful expressions, his shivering voice before became prideful, and with this voice he told Aegara:
"Well you have a good idea but I have to go with the third choice."
Aegara angrily turned around, now facing Arius, her face and eyes filled with rage.
"THIRD CHOICE?!"
Aegara was getting an Origin sword ready to decapitate Arius, just as she was about to attack Arius mocked her.
"What? Are you scared because a normal grade like me is going to prove you wrong?"
Aegara stopped and just kept on staring at Arius.
Hahahaha got her where I wanted.
"Then if you don't mind, the third choice is me reaching High Grade in 2 years how about that? Nice right?
I mean yeah you can kill me right now and just close this case BUT, how would you sleep at night knowing a normal grade like me just proved you wrong? It would feel like eating shit for the rest of your life right? So do it, kill me, and then you can eat shit all you can knowing that a normal grade proved YOUR ENTIRE EXISTENCE WRONG AND HAVE IT LOOSING MEANING JUST LIKE THAT HAHAHAHA"
Aegara de-spawned the Origin sword, then her face gradually shifted to normal, after a good 20 minutes she then started laughing out loud like never before.
"Hahahahahahahaahah, oh my GOD this has never happened before.
She instantly grabs Arius by the throat and she starts choking him with her right hand.
"And if you fail to reach High Grade in 2 years....well, better find a place to hide from me."
She releases Arius and they start walking again towards Dust Palace.
Dust Palace, only heard it from the rumors and folklore, apparently a mad scientist lives there or some sort, Dust people too. l am honestly going insane over all this information just being thrown at me nonstop.
"Yo Aegara so we definitely on good terms now right? So what do we do at Dust Palace?
Because currently I don't know nothing about what we're supposed to do."
Aegara sighs and makes an annoyed face.
"What we are supposed to do is go there and ask for a person crazy enough to join us on our crazy adventure to try and control the entire cosmos, easy work."
Arius moves forward, passing Aegara and then turns around to say to her:
"What about the other members that Bordor talked about? Where are they?"
Aegara just looks at Arius.
"They are dead..."
Shocked he asks:
"How?? They were supposed to be strong."
Aegara looks down on the ground with a disappointed face.
"They were weak."
A feeling of sadness and anxiety takes over his body.
All of those trained Origin users, gone just like that?
Then.... I understand why she was like that-
Aegara stops.
Huh? Why did she sto-
And just as Arius looks behind he sees a Palace made out of Dust appearing out of nowhere.
"Holy, well this was surprising!"
Aegara starts walking towards the palace.
"The Dust Palace is not in a certain place but on certain places in certain times, it moves around our world, today it just happens that it was close to this mountain, now come before it disappears"
And as Arius & Aegara make their way inside, the dust palace starts to fade again.
•
•
•
•
To be continued