章節 34: Elders past

Far into the north, several days journey from even the village; were the ruins of city. The extraordinary thing about these ruins though, was that they were situated on a floating rock over a valley. If any student of knowledge were to see them, they would surely go into shock. For this was the ancient city of Asdarge, which had been lost over a thousand years ago. If Leo heard about it he might've been reminded of Asgard, the home of the Nordic gods on earth.

In the city, walking calmly even though the snow was deeper there than at the village, was a single woman. The snow was melting around her through as she radiated heat and power from her body. She slowly made her way through the city, looking at her surroundings not with a look of interest, but sadness and loss. Her eyes showed familiarity with the surroundings as if she had grown up there, and tears built up as the memories kept assaulting her, fresh even though over a thousand years had passed. She slowly made her way though the city until arriving at a stone in the middle of the courtyard of the castle. The stone had words carved on it though, and they said,

HERE LIES THE RULER OF THIS CITY,

WHO DEFENDED IT UNTIL HIS LAST BREATH.

Even more emotions assaulted the woman as she looked at the headstone of the city's ruler. Due to the heat she was radiating, the ground had gone from snow covered, to dry and warm. She sat on the ground in front of the stone and said,

"Hello my husband. I came to visit again. I wanted to talk to you again about the girl I raised, the daughter we never had. She found someone recently, a boy the same age as her. And they plan to be married in the spring. He reminds me of you. I don't think she could have found better. But, I'm worried. I think he might go down the same route we did, and it would destroy them both like I did us." As she finished her words, the woman, elder grandma, looked at her arm. Though it was covered with her sleeves, she knew the brand was still there, the brand in the shape of a tiara marking her as a champion of Venus.

She recalled the memory as if it was yesterday, the time when she was happily married and ruled one of the most powerful kingdoms alongside her husband. The city of Asdarge was further south then, and wasn't a ruin but a prosperous place with people, wealth, and knowledge. It was advancing year by year in ways to use magic to simplify life, like the village. It was also home to some of the most powerful users of magic that ever lived, at the peak of which was her, and her husband. The people were happy, she was happy.

But as the years went by, she found that she could not bear a child. Even though her husband said that he was happy with her regardless, she felt as if she had failed him as a wife. Soon the people, started talking, not out of scorn or criticism, but out of worry and pity. She didn't like being seen as a target for pity, so being the vain, young woman she was, she prayed to the gods. She thought that if she became a champion, the gods might reward her for her service and grant her a child. And one answered, Venus the goddess of love and beauty.

Venus's terms were simple, the title of champion was for life. After ten years of service though, then she would grace elder grandma with a child. However, since she was the goddess of love, Venus said that her champions must always prioritize the life of their loved ones. Any who let their loved ones perish prematurely, would be stripped of their blessings and have a curse placed on them. Elder grandma readily accepted and became a champion.

When she told her husband the news he had mixed reactions, though he didn't want her to bear such a burden, he was also excited to finally have a child even though they had to wait ten years. Seeing his reaction at finally being able to have a child, elder grandma believed she had made the right choice.

The next nine years went by in a flash. After becoming a champion, the blessings she received helped her to become even more powerful. And as her power grew, so did her beauty as she didn't seemed to gain any wrinkles or any other signs of aging. Less than a year before the set time however, disaster struck the city of Asdarge. The champion of the sun god Ra, came to attack Asdarge, Arthur. No one knew where Arthur came from, or how he gained his power. Only that he struck, and annihilated all who opposed him.

As he attacked he destroyed, or stole all forms of knowledge he could relating to magic. He stated that only those in power should use magic, and letting the lesser people use it was a waste. None of his words made sense, and they eventually realized that it was nothing but an excuse to keep people from gaining power, and rising against him in the future. He slaughtered all challengers, eventually leaving just elder grandma and her husband. As he and his followers surrounded them, they released a relentless attack to simply bury the two of them and prevent any counter measures.

Though the people who followed him didn't have any strength to be wary of, all of their defenses were destroyed by Arthur himself. After the attack was over, the two of them payed on ground bleeding out. Before taking their last breath, they reached out and took each other's hands. Then before their vision went dark, her last thought was that at least she would be with her husband in the afterlife. However she woke up not in the afterlife, but Venus's divine realm.

"Did you think you escape your curse just like that?" She had said to her. Elder grandma was confused, how could she be cursed if she was dead? As she read her thoughts Venus had a large smile on her face.

"That my dear "champion" is your curse. You will not die. You will live, for years and years to come. Not indefinitely, for I cannot take another champion while you live, but you will age slowly. Prolonging the amount of time before rejoining your husband in the afterlife. And if you think about finding another love, then they would die a gruesome death every time. You will remain alone until you finally die." And true to her words she could not die. She woke in the city after it had been ransacked. And cried out in anguish at her loss. No matter what she tried she would not die. After a few days though, she decided that if she could not rejoin her husband, she would protect his legacy until someone could rebuild it.

She moved Asdarge to the north where no one would dare travel to. She buried her husband and placed the tombstone, and guarded the north for the next thousand years to come. Occasionally she would travel, and seeing the way Arthur controlled the human populations would turn her stomach. Mutants were now treated like garbage, and the nonhuman races, elves, dwarves, and beast men were hunted or enslaved. The people were living in poverty due to not being allowed to use magic to ease their lives.

Growing tired of seeing the injustice, she decided that she would help at least a few people and created the village. And several more years went by, she got a daughter. Though she wasn't a child of her own blood, she grew to love her just the same. And as the years continued, she finally felt her power start to wane as her body aged. And now, sitting in front of her husbands grave she knew, less than a decade and she should be able to join him again.

As she was lost in her thoughts, she suddenly felt a reaction from the barriers she laid down near the village. Someone, or something was moving towards the village and it was big. Feeling fear for the safety of Iris and the other villagers, elder grandma shot out and started to return home.

The return trip took many hours for her, and she felt as if it might be too long even though anyone else would've taken days. Then entire way back she felt the feeling of dread growing larger in her until she finally arrived at the village again. Though she usually tried to hide her capabilities to some extent, this time she didn't care and rushed to see what the commotion was even though it was well after midnight. As the people saw her and made way for her, she arrived at iris's hut. Feeling as if her prediction was true she raced in and what she saw nearly made her tear up. Iris was lying on her bed and her face was swollen and purple, there were bandages on most of her body and she could smell blood in the air.

"What. Happened." Those were the only two word she could get out as she tried to process the situation. Natalie was crying herself, so the one who answered her was Austin.

"A behemoth got into the forest. They were scouting for it when it attacked them. For some reason it focused its attention on Iris, I think it's cause according to Natalie she was the first one it saw. Then after it attacked her, long story short, Leo showed up and killed it. He passed out right after though so he's resting over there." Austin pointed toward the ground over by the stove, and as she looked at him elder grandma was astonished to see he was glowing once more. For the first time, elder grandma lamented the fact she had never learned healing arts. And could only wait with them after Austin told her that Iris wouldn't make it. She decided she wanted to be with her until the last minute.

As the hours went by, she alternated her attention from Iris to Leo. And this is why, an hour or so before the sun came up she saw her worst fear realized. Leo's arm suddenly started glowing as if on fire, and a brand appeared on his arm. Right before his eyes shot open.