Clarice looked toward the three of them with interest, consumed by a curiosity to learn more about her fiancé's past, and asked, "Did Aryos transform into what you are talking about in the past as well?"
Arlin replied, recalling that solemn memory, "Yes, Aryos transformed into it once, but it was only for a few moments. Back then, his opponent was clearly superior to him in strength, but Aryos turned the tables on him and defeated him in a way that stunned us all. At that moment, we all thought Aryos was 'Methrin,' but his transformation this time seemed completely different from the previous one; it was deeper and more mysterious."
Clarice furrowed her brows in surprise and asked, "Methrin? And who is that?"
Wang intervened to clarify, saying, "In truth, he was an ancient ruler who rejected the idea of order and hierarchy between rulers and mortals. For a moment, we thought Aryos was an incarnation of him, but it remained just a hypothesis. Later, I reviewed some ancient information and realized it was impossible for Aryos to be Methrin."
Arlin turned toward Wang quickly, with clear signs of objection on her face: "What are you saying, Wang? We all saw what happened at that moment; he looked exactly like him in every way!"
Wang looked at her calmly and said in a serious tone, "In truth, my lady, I do not like to crush your hopes, but after careful investigation into the books concerning Methrin's biography in King Karma's library, it turned out that Methrin was not of the Celestin race at all, but was one of the 'Ice Demons.' But what was stranger than his race, and what truly caught my attention, was how Lord Karma and my father described him... they mentioned that he looked as if he were a 'pawn.'"
Arlin jumped up, saying sharply, "Not true! Methrin was a free ruler; I saw him myself many times!"
Wang replied, trying to calm her: "My lady, what you saw might have been just illusions or an incomplete image. During Methrin's era and the War of the Rulers, you were still a small child living with your grandmother. It is clear that history has been manipulated repeatedly to suit a certain purpose, and this mystery of Methrin has been completely closed since the moment he withdrew from that ancient war."
Arlin shouted in anger, "A pawn? What nonsense is this!" She then stood up suddenly and left the hall, heading toward another room, feeling deeply distressed by Wang's words.
Rhaemus commented as he watched her leave: "It seems you upset her greatly with these words, Wang."
Wang sighed and said, "I know, but I began investigating since the Championship period, and I realized this is the bitter truth that must be faced."
Meanwhile, Clarice was listening to every word carefully, and she said to herself, "Strange... it seems this place is full of secrets and chaotic events. It seems my dear Aryos went through many difficulties and mysteries before we met."
Clarice rose from her seat slowly and brushed the dust remaining on the edge of her purple dress, then drew a faint smile that did not hide the anxiety lurking in her eyes and said, "I will go up to check on Aryos for a while... I feel the silence in his room has lasted longer than it should, and a long time has passed while he is asleep now."
Upstairs, grief had consumed Lena until it threw her into the depths of a sleep burdened with nightmares. Her friend Akani left the room quietly and closed the door behind her with extreme caution so as not to wake her. As she walked down the long wooden hallway, she stopped suddenly in front of Aryos's door. Curiosity mixed with pity took hold of her; she had not seen Aryos for a long time, and the image of him holding his mother's corpse with coldness had not left her imagination.
She knocked on the door with light, barely audible taps, and when no response came, she pushed the door slowly and asked in a low voice, "Lord Aryos? Are you awake?" She entered the room to find Aryos sunk in a deep sleep, as if he were a cold corpse. He looked strangely calm, as if his sharp features had finally relaxed from the toil of wars. She approached the bed, contemplated his pale face with sorrow, and whispered, "Poor Lord Aryos... the matter must have been beyond your human capacity."
Akani noticed that the blanket had slipped off his body due to his movement during sleep, so she spontaneously reached out to cover him well to protect him from the room's chill. At that exact moment, the door burst open violently... Clarice was standing on the threshold.
The scene froze; Clarice's eyes widened madly, and flames of jealousy and hatred ignited within them. She glared so hard that her pupils looked as if they would explode, and in the blink of an eye, she had clamped her hand onto Akani's shoulder. Akani turned in horror, only to find behind her a face that did not resemble a human, but a monster wearing a mask of beauty. Akani tried to explain; she opened her mouth to say something, but Clarice clamped her other hand over the girl's mouth cruelly and whispered in a voice that hissed like a snake: "Follow me... now!"
She pulled her violently outside into the dark hallway and closed the door behind her so Aryos would not wake up. There, she shoved Akani into a corner of the hallway and clamped her hand onto her neck with such force that the veins in the girl's face bulged, and she said in a deadly tone: "How dare you enter? And what were you doing in my fiancé's room, you thief? Did you think he was an easy catch in this condition?"
Akani spoke with great difficulty, tears streaming from her eyes: "I... I was just fixing the blanket... I didn't know it was his room... I swear to you!"
Clarice increased the pressure of her fingers on her neck and said in a voice trembling with rage: "Give me one reason that prevents me from tearing your guts out right now and scattering them in this hallway!" Akani let out a muffled scream of fear and pain, a scream that reached the ears of those downstairs.
Rhaemus rushed from the ground floor with the speed of lightning, to be surprised by the horrific scene. He immediately attacked, trying to pry Clarice's hand off Akani's neck while shouting: "That's enough! Stop, Miss! You are almost killing the girl! What has gotten into you?!"
Clarice turned to him with a black look of hatred, her energy aura starting to leak from her to the point that the hallway walls began to shake, and she said: "Do you know the crime this wretched girl committed? I found her in my husband's room! Trying to get close to him while he is in his worst condition, thinking his weakness is an opportunity for her!"
Rhaemus stepped back, terrified by her gaze, which did not resemble the gaze of mortals, and said, trying to calm her: "Okay... okay, let her go now and we will talk; she is Lena's friend and would not do that."
Clarice glared at Akani one last time full of threats, then released her cruelly and said: "I will leave you now... but, if I see your face here again, this will be the last day of your life... I promise you that!"
Akani did not wait a single second; she ran, stumbling over the hem of her dress, went down the stairs like a madwoman, and went out the house door to disappear into the heart of the blizzard, crying hysterically from the intensity of the terror.
Rhaemus looked at Clarice in astonishment and said in a tone full of disapproval: "What is your problem? She is just a normal girl; she did not commit a sin that deserves this savagery!"
Clarice replied with icy coldness: "That is exactly her problem... that she is 'normal' and dared to approach him." Then she turned and entered Aryos's room and locked the door behind her with force, leaving Rhaemus in the hallway wringing his hands and muttering: "What is this new disaster now... wasn't what we are in enough?"
Rhaemus walked with heavy steps toward Lena's room, pushing the door with exaggerated quietness for fear of disturbing her fragile tranquility. He entered the room to find her sunk in a troubled sleep, with tears still cutting their path on her pale cheeks even while she was unconscious. He sat at her head, watching her eyelids tremble, and whispered in a low voice full of sorrow: "I feel you, Lena... exactly as you feel now. I lost my mother and lived that bitterness, and I found no escape then but to cry alone in the darkness of the nights... we are companions of this pain now."
On the ground floor, Arlin came out of the room she had sought refuge in and looked calmer. She looked at Wang, who was waiting for her with reverence, and said in a remorseful tone: "I apologize for what happened a little while ago, Wang... my outburst was out of place."
Wang replied with a wise smile: "Think nothing of it, my lady; I also exaggerated in reciting the facts, and I should not have brought the matter up so dryly at a difficult time like this."
Arlin asked, looking around her cautiously: "What about the sound of screaming that filled the hallway a little while ago? I felt a disturbance in the place's energy."
Wang sighed and answered her: "It seems Princess Clarice lost her temper toward Lena's friend and kicked her out of the house in this storm."
Arlin exhaled with annoyance: "Ugh... childish problems that never end. Anyway, let us return to our planet, for this day has drained us enough, and there is no more patience left in our quiver."
Wang nodded in agreement, saying: "You are right; it is better to leave them alone to sort out their own wreckage." Then he moved his hand in the air to draw a glowing golden energy portal and said: "After you, my lady."
Arlin looked at the portal and then at him out of the corner of her eye and said sarcastically: "You always make me fly from here to the planet with my own effort, and now you open a portal for me? Has generosity suddenly descended upon you?"
Wang laughed lightly as he stepped into the portal: "I apologize; you never asked for that before, and I thought you preferred flying in open space." And they left the place, leaving silence to descend once again on the Aryos family home.
Hours passed, and the storm clouds cleared to bring an early morning, its sun cold, reflecting on the snow that covered everything. Aryos woke from his sleep, his blue eyes still retaining their coldness that resembled the frost outside. He found Clarice sleeping beside him, clinging to his arm tightly as if she feared losing him.
He shook her shoulder gently to wake her. She opened her eyes slowly, and as soon as she saw his face, a bright smile formed on her lips and she said: "Good morning, my dear... Did you sleep well? Has your soul rested a little?"
Aryos looked at her with rigid features and replied briefly: "Yes." Then he got out of bed quietly.
Clarice asked him as she watched him contemplate the corners of the room: "Did you enjoy sleeping in your old room again? Did you regain some of your memories?"
Aryos looked at his desk and the metal box for a long time, then said in a low voice: "A lot... very much."
They went down together to the ground floor, and Clarice inhaled the air and said in amazement: "Amazing! What is this delicious smell? Who, I wonder, is making breakfast at this time?"
They entered the kitchen to be surprised by Rhaemus standing in front of the stove with unaccustomed skill. Rhaemus was confused and startled a little when he saw Aryos behind him suddenly. Aryos stared at the dishes and asked in a dry tone: "Since when do you know how to cook?"
Rhaemus wiped his hands with a napkin and said, trying to break the ice: "For a while... Lena taught me some of the basics, and it seems I have finally mastered them."
Aryos commented as he sat at the table: "That is good."
Clarice approached Aryos and said with affection mixed with annoyance: "Dear, I don't like this coldness of yours at all... smile a little, or give a reaction that makes us feel you are alive!"
Aryos did not reply, but only looked at the delicious food his friend had prepared. Rhaemus said as he placed the dishes in front of them: "Go ahead, Aryos, for it is clear you haven't tasted real food since that fierce battle."
Clarice intervened sharply and jealously: "What is this nonsense? I am the one who feeds Aryos every day and takes care of him, young man!"
Rhaemus turned to her coldly and said: "And did I even speak to you so you could reply to me? My words are directed to my friend."
Clarice's features changed immediately, and a terrifying purple aura emitted from her that made the kitchen utensils tremble, and she said with a deadly hiss: "Are you talking to me rudely? Did you forget who you are speaking to?"
Before things escalated, Aryos grabbed her hand with his strong grip. She looked at him and saw in his eyes a silent sign to calm down. Clarice sighed, extinguished her aura immediately, and said to Rhaemus sharply: "You survived, young man, thanks to my dear... and were it not for his intervention, I would have made you just scattered parts around this kitchen."
Aryos took the fork in his hand, which still bore some traces of scars from past battles, cut a piece of food, and put it in his mouth, chewing slowly and silently as if he were trying to taste the flavor of life amidst this wreckage of death. He broke the barrier of silence with a deep, cold voice: "Thank you for the food... Rhaemus."
Rhaemus nodded his head, with relief tingeing his anxious features: "You're welcome... the important thing is that you eat something that strengthens your body."
But Clarice did not let the moment pass without asserting her presence; she tilted her head toward Aryos and said with affection mixed with jealousy: "Tell me, my dear... whose cooking did you find better? Mine or this boy's?"
Aryos looked at her with emotionless eyes and said with hurtful honesty: "His, of course."
Clarice's features flipped in a second, and she began to act like a child, furrowing her brows and pursing her lips to express her dissatisfaction and small anger. Aryos sighed a light sigh and said: "Okay... you are the best." And as soon as she heard that word, her anger turned into immense joy, and she looked as if she owned the whole world.
Aryos ignored her gaiety and asked in a more serious tone: "How is Lena now?"
Rhaemus's smile faded and was replaced by sadness: "She is still asleep since yesterday... or rather, tears overwhelmed her until she lost consciousness. She kept crying all night, and the sound of her sobbing was tearing my heart apart."
Aryos straightened up in his seat and said: "Very well then... I will handle it." He rose and left the kitchen; the sound of his footsteps on the wood was as heavy as the sound of his fate. He went up the stairs and stopped in front of Lena's room. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but froze in his place... he felt a void inside him preventing him from facing her. He retreated and headed toward the bathroom, closed the door behind him and locked it, then stood in front of the mirror, staring at his expressionless face, the face of Aryos who had been robbed of the most precious thing he possessed by the transformation: the ability to feel.
He opened and closed his sharp blue eyes, whispering to himself with disgust: "How will I face her with this face of mine? How will I console her while I look like a dull machine?"
Aryos finally came out, returned to stand in front of the door, and armed himself with courage he didn't even need in his fight against the Rulers. He knocked on the door, but no one answered. He pushed the door slowly to find the room completely empty; her bed was neatly made but cold. He sighed as he contemplated her scattered memories, then raised his gaze upward... the attic.
He climbed the narrow wooden stairs leading to the dark attic, and as soon as he entered, he saw her shadow huddled in front of the window. Lena was sitting with the cold surrounding her, and in her hands was a large picture from the past; a shot gathering the entire family, their father, their mother Yona, her, and Aryos... the day everyone was laughing from the heart.
Aryos approached with slow steps and called out in a low voice: "Sister..."
Lena turned to him; her face was flushed, and her eyes were swollen from excessive crying. She shouted in a collapsed voice that tore the silence of the attic: "Why is this happening to us?! What did we do to deserve this torment?!"
Aryos knelt beside her, extended his trembling hand, placed it on her hair, and said in a tone weighed down by guilt: "I understand... I am the main reason for all this. I am the one who should have died at that moment and not our mother... If only I hadn't left you that day, if I hadn't left in search of power, none of this would have happened... I was a fool, and I realize that now."
Lena looked at him with eyes filled with hatred and pain: "What are you talking about? Why are you blaming yourself now? Do you know how much mother suffered because of your absence, you idiot?! She was suffering every day, isolating herself from the world, refusing the idea that you left and abandoned her! And now you come to say you are regretful? What good will regret or admitting guilt do?! Tell me... will any of that bring her back?!"
Aryos lowered his head and said: "No... and you are right in everything you say; I was reckless and stupid."
She interrupted him with a voice as cold as a knife: "Rather, you were scum... a traitor as they used to say! I hate you, Aryos! I don't want to see you in my life again! Stay away from me!"
Lena stood up and ran away from him, came down from the attic while stumbling over her tears, headed to her room, and slammed the door with a force that shook the corners of the house.
Aryos remained standing alone in the attic, looking out the window at the snow covering the world in white. Suddenly, something happened he did not expect; his rigid features shook, and a single hot tear fell from his eye, followed by tears that poured down profusely in a way he had not known before.
At that moment, the transparent "System" screen appeared before his eyes, and words were flashing on it in red: [The effect of the transformation is starting to end (The price)].
His feelings had returned to him with all their weight and pain at once. Aryos fell to his knees, sobbing, covering his face with his hands and whispering bitterly: "Yes... she is right about every word. I will not blame her anymore; rather, I will carry this guilt alone until the end of my days."
Aryos straightened up in his stance, and the veins in his hands were almost exploding from the intensity of the pressure on his fists, and he said in a voice filled with a hidden hatred he had not felt before: "I swear... I swear I will find that cursed person, and I will kill him with these two hands. That hateful masked man robbed me of the most precious thing I own, and I swear I will rob him of the most precious thing he owns no matter the price, and no matter how much time it takes."
Aryos went down to the ground floor with unsteady steps; his face was different this time; the mask of icy coldness had broken. Rhaemus looked at him with anxiety and asked: "Aryos? What happened upstairs?"
Aryos answered him, his voice trembling: "A lot has happened... a lot indeed."
Rhaemus noticed the shine of tears in Aryos's eyes, so he gasped in astonishment: "Your eyes... Aryos, you are crying?" Clarice rose from her place quickly and approached him, saying eagerly: "Dear! You are feeling again? Your sensation has returned to you!"
Aryos leaned his back against the couch and sat down, feeling the weight of the world on his chest, and said bitterly: "Yes... and the matter now has become painful to an unbearable degree. I have woken up to the hell of truth." He then fell silent for a moment before adding in a firm tone: "I will leave the Sixth World... immediately."
Rhaemus jumped from his place and shouted at him: "Again?! Didn't you learn from the first mistake? Running away won't solve anything, Aryos!"
Aryos looked at him with tears falling on his cheeks like embers: "But Lena... Lena no longer wants to see my face! She said it clearly... she hates me, Rhaemus."
Rhaemus tried to calm him, saying: "Don't worry, I am confident she didn't mean to hurt you; the words that are said in moments of collapse do not represent the truth. She is just angry and sad, and needs someone to vent this pain on."
Aryos shook his head in despair: "I no longer know what I should do... all paths are blocked before me."
Clarice sat beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder in an inciting tone: "We will return, my dear, to our home in the First World. It is completely clear that we are not welcome here, and why stay where they hate you?"
Rhaemus turned to her in anger: "Stop! Don't incite him like this in a time of his weakness!"
Clarice replied sharply and in a loud voice: "Shut your mouth, you! On top of that girl behaving rudely with her only brother, you come now to blame me? Aryos does not deserve this hateful treatment!"
Rhaemus said, ignoring her and directing his words to Aryos: "Aryos, think a little with your mind, not your feelings now... if you leave at this moment, things will become more complicated, and you will lose your sister forever."
Aryos looked at the floor and felt the house walls closing in on him, so he said with suffocation: "I need some time alone... completely alone!"
Suddenly, and before anyone could stop him, Aryos rushed out of the house and flew into the sky at a insane speed, leaving behind a swirl of wind and snow, leaving Clarice and Rhaemus staring in his wake in astonishment.
Clarice said in a confident tone, folding her arms: "Aryos will return with me to our home, and no one will stop us. And tell me... didn't you say before that he was a traitor to you? What happened now? Why are you holding onto him? You are just contradicting yourselves!"
Rhaemus looked at her with a look of disdain and answered her sharply: "Stop the chatter... for you don't know anything about our history or what we went through together." Then he left the hall heading inside, leaving Clarice alone in front of the door threshold, watching the cold horizon and muttering sarcastically: "Fools... they don't realize the value of what they have."
On the distant horizon, where the lights of the crowded city faded, Aryos landed with a trembling body in front of the gate of the silent cemetery. He walked with stumbling steps between the tombstones until he reached the grave of his mother Yona. He knelt there, staring at the dirt that had hidden her, and shouted in a choked voice: "Why did you do that?! Why did you both do this to me?!"
At that moment, the gate of memories opened in his mind; he saw his mother "Helis" sacrificing her life to save him from destruction on the planet Celestin... the images overlapped, Yona's face and Helis's face, both died so he could live. He whispered with burning pain: "I never deserved these sacrifices... Is it fated for me to lose everyone I love? Am I a curse walking on two feet, burning everyone who gets close to it? What should I do, Mother? Should I turn into a monster that hates everyone so no one gets hurt? Should I go away and disappear into the farthest corner of existence? Tell me... what should I do?!"
Aryos collapsed completely; he fell to his knees and hugged the cold marble headstone as if it were his mother's body, and exploded in a scream that shook the silence of the cemetery, a scream of pain that tore his chest and brought out all the grief he had suppressed after "his mother's death" previously.
At home, Clarice was standing by the window, holding a cosmic communication device and talking to Nahira. She said in a sharp tone: "Nahira, get ready... Aryos and I will be back home soon." Nahira replied with coldness and disgust: "And will you bring 'that thing' back with you as well?" Clarice's eyes ignited and she said threateningly: "Don't you dare say that about my sacred King! He is your master and the master of this existence!" Nahira felt nauseated by her sister's sanctification of Aryos, so she hung up the line in her face without an additional word.
Hours passed heavily, and the sun set, spreading darkness over the city of "Tokyo," and the snow was still covering the streets with a sad white veil. Clarice began to feel anxious, pacing the hall back and forth and saying: "He is so late... why hasn't Aryos returned yet?"
Rhaemus, who was sitting beside Lena trying to console her, looked at her and said calmly: "Don't worry, Aryos is not a child to get lost... he just needs time, and he will return soon." Clarice replied with arrogance: "It's not like that! We were supposed to be on our way to the First World now; I don't want to stay here another minute."
Lena raised her head and looked at Clarice with a look full of disgust and abhorrence, and said in a dead voice: "That is good... take 'that person' and leave immediately; no one wants you here." Rhaemus was shocked by her words and shouted: "Lena! What is this you are saying? How do you speak about your brother like that?!"
Clarice laughed with mockery and schadenfreude: "Do you really think we need to stay here anyway? Aryos's return to this place was a pure coincidence, and he doesn't need the likes of you in his life... he only needs me, and we will leave as soon as he returns."
Rhaemus turned to Lena in astonishment, trying to regain his composure: "Lena... do you realize the danger of your words? He is your brother! The one who fought and burned worlds for us!" Lena looked at him with extreme coldness and said words that were harsher than death itself: "That is not my brother at all... no blood relationship binds me to him, so how could he be my brother? He is just a stranger who brought death to my home."
Rhaemus stepped back as if he had been stabbed; this was the first time he had seen Lena with such coldness; her disowning of Aryos so easily was the greatest proof that her soul had been completely broken, and that her sadness had turned into a poison destroying all the sacred bonds that had once brought them together.
Clarice's smile widened in amazement as she shook her head left and right, and said in a tone filled with mockery of this dramatic scene: "Wow... that is very harsh! Even my stupid sister Nahira doesn't dare to say such things about me, even if I burned her a thousand times. It seems the relationships here are worn out and much worse than I imagined!"
The tension had reached its peak in the hall, and while Rhaemus was trying to comprehend Lena's hurtful words, Clarice's phone rang to break that heavy silence. She checked the screen quickly, and her eyes flashed and she shouted: "It's Aryos!"
Rhaemus rushed from his place eagerly and said: "Answer immediately! Put it on speaker!"
Clarice opened the line with a pounding heart, and before she could utter a single word, Aryos's voice came from the other side; it was not a normal human voice, but a voice coming from the depths of a well of sadness and icy coldness, he said in a decisive tone that did not accept debate: "I will be gone for a long time... do not look for me, and do not call me ever."
Clarice was stunned and the words stumbled in her mouth: "Wait, Aryos! What do you mean? Where are you? What are you saying?!"
Aryos continued in a hollow tone, as if he were delivering his last will: "Don't worry... I am still keeping my promise, I will marry you... but the promise will be postponed until I reach nineteen years of age. Until then... there will be no trace of me."
Clarice screamed madly: "Aryos! Wait! What are you saying?! Aryos!"
But the response was a continuous ringing that announced the line had been cut. A deathly silence prevailed throughout the house, a silence that was stronger than any scream. Clarice's hand fell to her side as she looked at the phone in astonishment, while Rhaemus whispered, trembling: "What... what just happened? Where did he go?"
Suddenly, the volcano dormant inside Clarice exploded; she raised her hand and struck the wooden table with all her strength until parts of it shattered, and she screamed his name in a scream that shook the walls of the house and its echo reached the heights of the sky: "ARYOOOOOOOS!"