"You wouldn't mind if I asked you some questions right?"
"About?"
"Your Father... Sir Margareth."
Xilo froze for a brief moment.
"What do you want to know about my Dad? and I don't know you well enough to tell you something like that."
I sighed. "Before Eimira found me. The Dragon of Nymirel, Nyseria, showed me the past. The fall of Ardor."
Xilo scoffed. "So, my sister's involved with a mad man now."
She stood up and was about to leave.
"Your Father has a curse right?"
Xilo stopped and turned, slowly.
"No one knows that, they only know him as a survivor of Ardor." I added. "And there's no way I'd know that if I'm just a stranger."
Xilo suddenly subdued me using Terra. "How'd you know about that? You a spy sent by those veils?"
I struggled. "I-I told y-you already... I-I was shown the past by Nyseria."
"It's Cel'Nyseria." She squeezed harder.
I choked.
She let go of me.
"Follow me." She signaled.
We left the classrooms and walked down the hallway. We arrived at a room which wasn't far from the class. That was Xilo's office. Her office wasn't too flashy for someone of her status. Just a table and two chairs with her weapon rack and medals.
She pulled out a chair. "Take a seat."
Then served me water.
"T-Thanks."
I took a sip.
She took her seat beside me.
"Sorry about earlier. I got a beat worked up haha."
"It's fine. My approach was a little bit desperate." I dropped the cup of water on the table.
"So, yes. My dad did get cursed by a Higher Veil called Malgrith. He will never forget his name. And he also hoped to meet him again so he could pay him back for the curse."
"When I first heard that he was still alive... I found it hard to believe." I said.
Xilo leaned in. "You said the Primordial Dragon Cel'Nyseria showed you the past... how? What connection does a mortal have with the Dragon of a nation?"
I took a deep breath.
"I woke up under a tree. A really large tree, bigger than the trees at the entrance of the Dark Forest. And when I woke up there was a woman there. Till today, I still don't know why she showed me her memories of the past. I do believe I'm meant to figure things out."
"This is hard to believe. How many times have you met her?" Xilo asked.
I answered. "I never counted, most times I get knocked out and find myself in the soul realm, and when I was at the Wisterian County, I connected to her through their sacred tree."
"I see. I guess I trust you a bit more now."
"Thanks."
"The fall of Ardor happened around seventy years ago. Aethon was the king then. His family was heavily favoured by Bur'Ignisia. Apart from that there was something else which made them stronger but people never got to know what it was, even Aethon himself doesn't know. My father had a heated rivalry with Aethon because of the war between nations back then. But it was only because of Aethon the war ended."
"What was the war about?" I asked.
"One of the royal family of Terraka was murdered by someone from Ardor, but Ardor refused to produce the culprit and offered to compensate for the loss. That angered the old king of Terraka at the time and he went to war with the young King Aethon. My father, Margareth was the commanding general but his army and he himself fell to the oppressive powers of the Ardorians."
She smiled. "One thing my dad said he'd never forget is how Aethon spared the life of him and his army. They had the power to wipe us out, but they didn't, instead they continually apologised. Even when we killed them, they apologised before closing their eyes forever."
"It was strange." She added.
"Aethon must have been a very good king." I said.
Xilo stood to pour herself a drink.
"He was, to the point my Father left Terraka to serve under him. That angered everyone so much." She said. "My father actually lost his nobility after that, but he didn't care. That's how we became Aevorah."
"That's… impressive." I said.
Xilo chuckled. "Oh please."
Her expression changed.
"Though, my dad hasn't been the same after those seventy years." She said. "Believe it or not, he's nearly a century old now and he still regretted not being able to save the second twin."
"Yeah... In the memories Nyseria showed me, I saw that he was able to save only one twin." I muttered.
She jolted. "You saw that?"
I replied. "Yes I did, he was pretty injured. He faced three or four higher veils on his own. It was an honour seeing him fight."
"Yeah he never stopped talking about that. He said it took everything he had plus the power of Theron to weaken the three to buy time for him to regroup with Aethon."
I asked. "So, what did your dad do after the whole thing?"
She chuckled. "Hmm. It took my Father five years before he returned to Terraka from Ardor. When he got back to Terraka he married my mom. She was young when he married her. Everyone avoided him because because of the curse, until he met my mother. She was still young, but she didn't care, she loved the kind heart my father had. And then they had me."
She paused.
"When my mother was pregnant, people thought that she'd give birth to a cursed baby."
She gestured to herself.
"Look at me now."
"That's really awesome."
"You know, my father never aged." She said.
"What?" I blinked.
"That's the curse—"
"I don't understand."
Xilo exhaled.
"The curse is called Te'Mar Yruh, Hollowed Youth."
"Hollowed Youth…" I whispered.
"My father is nearly a century old but his body is still the same as it was seventy years ago. Just… decayed."
Xilo's smile faded.
"It got so bad that he wore a mask…"
She turned to me.
"Can you guess why?"
"Why?"
She chuckled dryly. "He wore it because he thought I'd be scared of him…"
I didn't respond.
"It's kind of sad, don't you think?" She said. "I love my father the way he his, but he thinks I don't because of how he looks. Funny old man."
I remained silent, letting her do most of the talking.
"He left suddenly one day to defend Nymirel twelve years ago. And that's where he found Eimira. A young child as lost as he was. He didn't want the same fate he had for her, so he brought her home."
"Eimira only knew him with a mask." She chuckled. "Thank goodness."
She turned to me.
"Now, Eimira is a lovely little sister." She said.
"My father became the Supreme Commander after the Nymirel invasion. So he usually isn't home. But we never fail to remind him that he has two loving daughters and a beautiful wife always waiting for him, haha."
I smiled. "That's sweet."
She chuckled. "I'm your teacher, remember that."
I laughed. "Yeah, sorry."
"That's all I can say now." She said. "Hope you got what you needed."
I nodded.
"Yes. I now know the type of person Sir Mar'gareth means." I replied.
Xilo shuddered. "It feels so weird with the "Sir"."
"Oh yeah, what does Mar mean? I saw his name written and it wa—"
"Mar means the soul." Xilo answered. "A gentle soul. That's the meaning of my father's name."
"A gentle soul…" I smiled. "It fits him so well."
Xilo chuckled. "So you heading out now?"
"Yeah…"
I paused.
"One more thing."
"What's that?" She blinked.
"Do you have anything that could help me learn about the Dark Forest?"
-----
I stepped outside the lecture area and saw that Wryo and Zahir had been waiting for me the whole time. They saw me and made their way towards me.
"No way you got the professor too." Zahir murmured.
Wryo laughed. "What's wrong with a teacher calling you in private."
"Everything's wrong," Zahir snapped. "That's every male student's dream, to be invited to Xilohe's office."
Wryo chuckled. "Perverts."
Zahir turned to me."So what did you guys do. And how was it?"
I ignored him.
"Hey Wryo, where's the library?" I asked.
He laughed. "Oh, it's actually not too far from here, wanna head there now?"
"Yes. Let's go"
"Alright."
We left Zahir.
"You bastards. I'll show you!!!"
A pause.
"W-wait up."
He ran after us.
We made our way down to the library, chatting along the way. I told Zahir and Wryo about my discussion with Xilo. Well, I lied. I told them that it was about the Arcstone I received from her.
The library came into view.
A massive spiral building which stood tall. It reached high into the cloud with the Academy's crest at the top.
"The buildings in this school will never cease to amaze me." I said.
Wryo and Zahir both laughed.
Inside, the library opened up into a vast spiral chamber. The entire structure curved inward, floor after floor twisting around a central shaft of light. Shelves lined the walls without a single break, forming an unbroken helix of books that wrapped upwards towards the ceiling.
Golden orbs floated along the spiral path. They drifted slowly, lighting each level as they moved, and behind them were students on floating stone slabs following the golden orbs.
Balconies circled the chamber at intervals. Each balcony connected on a narrow walkway that followed the spiral.
From the ground level, the ceiling looked distant. A single circular window sat at the top, letting a bean of light fall straight through the centre of the spiral. The library felt ancient, ordered, and built for those who valued knowledge enough to climb it's path.
Everywhere I turned were books.
"Books, books, books, Aurivelle?" I blinked.
She was sitting in a corner reading, a pile of books by her left and another by her right. We made our way to her.
"Hey, Aurivelle." I called her from a distance.
She looked up, and her face instantly lit up with smile.
She waved. "Zandren, Zahir, and ... Wryo?"
"Wait she knows Wryo?" Zahir asked.
Wryo smacked him slightly. "Yeah, I told you that my family was acquainted with the Terrakan royal family. Did you already forget?"
"Ohh."
I sat down beside her. "What you reading?
"Oh these? These are fighting style manuals Eimira recommended to me." She answered.
She leaned closer.
"She's actually here too, we were gonna head to the training grounds after this." She whispered.
"Where is she?" I whispered back.
"She's at the Dark Forest section, two floors above this"
"Great. That was what brought me here anyways." I said.
"What are you guys whispering about"
Zahir squeezed his round face in-between ours.
"Go away." I pushed him.
"Meanie." He murmured.
I clapped.
"Anyways you guys I'm heading off to go do what I came here to do... Don't follow me"
Wryo spoke.
"I also have something I gotta do. Bye"
We both left.
It was just Aurivelle and Zahir now.
He nodded."Sup.."
"Sup." Aurivelle nodded back and invited him to join her in reading.
I made my way to the floor Aurivelle said Eimira was at.
"Where is she?" I scanned around. "She shouldn't be hard to miss— ah, there she is."
I sneaked up to her and covered her eyes.
"Guess who?"
"Zandren. I know it's you." She laughed.
"Awwn. What a killjoy."
I turned her around in one quick motion.
"I felt your presence the moment you got to this floor haha." She hugged me.
I pushed her away, slightly.
"Hey... What if someone sees."
She hugged me again. "I doubt, people barely come here since most don't even want to venture into the Forest."
"Wait, don't y'all explore there?" I asked.
"No, no, no. Only my Squad does. The rest defend the borders from an invasion. It happens more often than you think, but they don't let it get past the first wall so we don't notice." She explained
"So what did you come here for?" She asked.
"I came to learn about the Dark Forest, since you know... that's where you found me."
I answered her scanning through the paper Xilo gave me.
"Oh. So what's that in your hand?" She asked.
"Xilo gave me a list of books I should read to help me start."
She moved closer. "Let me see."
I gave her the paper and she went through the list, then snapped her finger. A floating slab and a golden orb appeared. She went off with them and came back with the books.
"Come let's sit." She walked up to a table nearby and placed the books on there.
"So these are the books uhn..." I grabbed one. "The Void Of Giants?"
"Yeah, one of the most dangerous Voids. It has barely been documented since explorers don't last up to an hour there. The weakest monster there is as strong as a sacred blessing bearer which is my current level." She said.
"Woah. The weakest is as strong as you?" I blinked.
She nodded. "Yep."
We both laughed. I picked up another book. The title—The DarkForest— read boldly on it.
I opened up a page to read it.
"The DarkForest is just a name used to generalise the vast amount of Voids in it.
It was originally called **** ****"
"Why is this place blanked out?"
She closed her book. "Oh. It got blanked out during the mass killing of Writers. The Kings of those days didn't want certain information out but the writers wouldn't just shut up, so they started a nationwide killing and imprisonment of writers. In all four nations. Writers are very rare now, those alive now are either slaves or locked in Academies for the rest of their lives."
"Oh. That's… sad." I muttered.
"I'll ask Xilohe about this later." I thought.
I continued reading. Moments later I looked up and I saw Eimira staring at me.
She smiled. "You look super cute when you are reading."
My face flushed.
"Oh stop."
She leaned in closer. "Our children will be cute."
My face instantly turned red.
"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" I asked.
She giggled. "Jeez. I can't joke around anymore?"
I turned to continue reading but she placed her hands on my cheeks and brought my face closer for a kiss.
"I don't know why... I... I just can't stop myself from missing you." She said.
"Why don't you want us to be seen again?"
She replied."You'd be interrogated by a lot of people, and you know most times it's better not to let people know about your personal life. And because of my status, it will make your life somewhat harder."
"Oh... I don't mind." I tried to lighten the mood.
"I know you don't, but... I do." She said. "Keep on reading. Don't let me hold you for to long."
"Actually can I borrow this? So I can read when I get back to my room?" I asked.
"Yes, should we go now? I'm done here. And I also gotta get back to Auri." She started packing her things.
"Oh yeah, she was the one who told me where to find you haha."
"That little girl. She knows a lot of things for her age."
-----
Zahir and Aurivelle studied a bit together with Zahir helping her with some certain topics.
They were joined by Wryo who came in looking panicked.
"Hey, hey, you guys. Did you see the public post?" He showed them a post made by an anonymous student on his arcstone.
"Captain Eimira in a relationship?"
A writing describing how Eimira kissed a male student.
"Wha—" Zahir froze. "My Goddess... who's that?"
I arrived. "Hey guys.... What's up?"
Wryo showed me the post on his arcstone. "This. Captain Eimira was seen with someone."
I coughed. "W-what?"
"We also saw that before getting here. So Eimira went separate ways."
Zahir started crying. "It should have been meeeee."
"Oh shut up, like Eimira would want your round ass." Wryo joked.
Zahir and Wryo began a back and forth arguement, with Zahir trying to explain how he's just chubby but Wryo wasn't having any of it.
In that moment Aurivelle came closer to me?
"Where's Eimira?" She asked.
"She decided to stay up a bit after we both saw the post. I told her that I came with those two."
"Oh. How is she?"
"She wasn't moved by it. But I could tell that she was a bit shocked."
"This is bad..."
"How so?"
Auri leaned in closer. "Remember when my big brother claimed Ei was promised to him?"
"Yeah..."
She whispered. "Well. It's not publicly known that it was all just a childhood thing."
"They'd think she's cheating."
Aurivelle nodded. "Yes…"
"Ah. That's bad."