Chapter 549
A teenager dressed in a ragged black robe dragged his injured body while supporting himself with the nearby trees . His body was littered with injuries and his face was unusually pale .
Zodiak’s fight against the chimera was gruesome and almost resulted in his death . Their battle destroyed half the city and killed countless people yet the boy didn’t feel any guilt whatsoever . As he gasped for breath and slowly marched, a lightning-fast figure sprung from a nearby bush and attempted to ambush him .
Alas, before the assailant could reach him, it was quickly enveloped in a fog of darkness, binding the body and causing it to freeze mid-air .
Through the large hood, Zodiak raised his head and stared at the young face glaring back at him .
“I’ll kill you!”
This was none other than Forne, the young slave who was also bought by the now-dead noble lady . He managed to escape unscathed and, all in all, suffered only a few minor, non-fatal, injuries . His chilling eyes were locked onto Zodiak, ready to devour him whole .
In response, the robbed teenager, with an expressionless face, looked back at the angry Forne and said:
“Kill me? I don’t think we had a past grudge . ”
“You’ve killed thousands of innocents! People like you should die!” Yelled back Forne, his face flushed .
Hearing this, Zodiak snickered while retorting:
“Innocents? No one is innocent in this world, and even if there were some, I don’t really care . I did what I had to do in order to maintain my life and no one, including you, is allowed to judge me, much less blame me . Thousands die, you say? Well, even more die by the hands of those arrogant nobles . Plus, I did it out of necessity while they did it out of pleasure!”
Though many people died, most of them belonged to the high-echelon . The collateral damage caused by the fight between Zodiak and the chimera demolished the nobles’ district and killed almost all of them . The slums remained untouched and only a small portion of the citizens were unintentionally killed . So, in a way, those who died deserved that fate, or so Zodiak thought .
Zodiak didn’t want to argue with Forne anymore so, after one last glance at the latter, he disappeared from that quiet forest, leaving a frustrated boy .
Not long after that, Zodiak managed to fully awaken the Dark Magic, causing an unprecedented catastrophe to befall on that world, killing every life on it . In fact, it was sixteen months after the fight that Zodiak’s Dark Magic burst, insanely boosting his strength by sacrificing billions of lives .
Literally, nothing remained of that world, an absolute emptiness which was both eerie and chilling . Zodiak, who, at that time, was seventeen years old, found himself floating in the empty space, surrounded by a starry sky, unable to control his body, which was being sucked by the gravity of the closest planet .
Fortunately, he managed to protect himself as to not suffocate but this led him to enter some sort of hibernation, not waking up for the next ten years . However, that long slumber wasn’t simple . Zodiak dreamed of strange and inexplicable things, and these dreams were vivid and seemed to have a relation with the nightmare he frequently had when he was much younger .
He would see different worlds, monsters, and truly horrifying things . In particular, there were people who kept resurfacing, making him feel oddly uncomfortable as if he had forgotten something important .
****
After a long time of loneliness, Zodiak met the first living being and perhaps the one and only person he truly considered a friend throughout his bitter life . It all began when he fell from the sky like a meteor and crashed in an empty valley filled with colorful flowers . Just next to the place he crashed into, there stood a man with a mustache and a small beard, he held an unfamiliar musical instrument and looked at the unscathed Zodiak, his mouth was wide-open .
This man, who was surprised by Zodiak’s lack of fashion rather than what actually happened, was a troubadour by the name of Aneirin . He was a very talkative and comical person who shouldn’t have gotten along with Zodiak but, surprisingly, the two became friends shortly after that incident .
The minstrel brought the unconscious Zodiak to a broken shack and patiently waited for him to wake up, which didn’t take long, by the way .
“Good morning, O’alien . ”
The singer spoke with a mocking tone as he gazed at the expressionless Zodiak . The seventeen years old boy sat up and looked around him before focusing his gaze on the mustached man next to him .
“Where am I?”
One could see a creeping darkness revolving around Zodiak’s hands but Aneirin showed no fear whatsoever . With his chin resting on his hand, looking pretty bored, he rolled his eyes and answered:
“Somewhere quiet in a planet called ’Serenity’ . ”
The bard knew that Zodiak came from outer space so he gave just the perfect answer for the listener .
“And who are you?”
“Aneirin, a bard extraordinary, at your humble service . ”
The man did a comical bow before studying Zodiak’s young face, which was drastically changed with every passing second .
In half a minute, the face of a teenager became that of a middle-aged man, strangely . Actually, Zodiak noticed this change only when he saw the weird look he was getting from Aneirin . He curiously touched his face only to feel a beard and almost unnoticeable wrinkles .
Zodiak thought he understood the intention behind Aneirin’s actions so he raised his hand and magically transformed the creepy darkness into dozens of gold coins which fell on the rough bed . This ’trick’ fascinated the already curious Aneirin, who leaned closer and excitedly clapped his hands .
“What was that? Alchemy? Do it again!”
Zodiak frowned, thinking that the bard was greedy for money so he just did it again in order to rid of this ’savior’ . Although he felt no emotion, he was still a bit grateful for this troubadour and thought that by giving gold, he’d just go away . Unfortunately, he couldn’t be more wrong .
“You have the philosopher’s stone? Cool!”
The bard became hyped as he examined the cold coins then looked at the darkness revolving around Zodiak’s hands .
“Emm… it’s not alchemy . Really nice, I’ve learned something new today . Stranger, what’s your name?”
Zodiak looked back at the noisy Aneirin for a long time before unconsciously saying : “Arthu-” Only to stop midway and hold his head, which was aching like crazy .
After it somehow calmed down, he properly said: “Zodiak . ”
“Very nice to meet you, Zodiak . ”
The singer held out his hand, ready to shake Zodiak’s but the latter ignored him completely . Nonetheless, Aneirin grabbed Zodiak’s hand and made it shake wit his own, acting as if it was a normal thing to do .
*****
“What are you doing?”
Several days later, after Zodiak regained the ability to move properly and all the numbness caused by the long slumber disappeared, he hit the road . What he didn’t expect is that clingy Aneirin, who persistently followed him .
Aneirin rolled on the ground a few times, slowly got up while rubbing his butt and saying:
“Ouch! You don’t have to be so aggressive!”
He was attacked by Zodiak’s Dark Magic but he seemed unscathed . Although Zodiak did go easy on him, that didn’t change the fact that this wandering bard was actually resistant to his attacks .
Aneirin looked normal and was definitely not a mage yet he was mysterious . At first, he behaved normally but Zodiak grew cautious of him ever since he resisted his Dark Magic .
“Come on! Traveling alone is boring . Let us ease each other’s loneliness!”
He hugged himself and walked behind the grumbling Zodiak, showing no signs of giving up his ’pursuit’ .
In the end, Zodiak didn’t due anything extreme like trying to kill Aneirin as he deemed it as unnecessary . Moreover, after wandering this land for some time, he even grew a bit fond of this companion, who was knowledgeable about many things .
In their short night talks, Aneirin would talk about the vast universe, and the existence of three others, each one bigger than the other . Currently, they were in the Heaven and Hell Universe, far North, in a zone called the White commandment .
Serenity was a planet utterly void of conflicts and apart from the breath-taking scenes, it was very unsettling . The inhabitants seemed dazed as if they were controlled by something . They didn’t speak much and never fought, maintaining the current ’quiet’ state of the planet .
Sadly, things became complicated with Zodiak’s appearance . His Dark Magic unintentionally canceled the effects of the magic cast on the inhabitants, causing them to became insane, literally .
It happened two months after Zodiak started this journey… blood started dying the earth of Serenity, breaking this artificial balance, at last .
…
“My friend, look at what I caught!”
Aneirin held a large orange rabbit in his hand while flashing a satisfied smile at Zodiak, who busy writing his daily activities in his diary .
“It’s a sky rabbit! It’s the most delicious rabbit in existence!”
The troubadour patted a golden net which hung on his back while putting the corpse on an even wooden block . He skillfully skinned it then started preparing dinner, not forgetting to add the necessary seasoning .
Although he didn’t look like it, Aneirin often boasted about his culinary skills, telling Zodiak that he’s an unmatched cook . Though, his words weren’t without proof as Zodiak could really feel the effects of his cooking .
He couldn’t cultivate like normal people, nevertheless, his physical body was strengthened beyond his imagination . His control of Dark Magic was also slightly increased, which truly fascinated Zodiak .
“Now then, eat!”
He presented him with a big dish filled with well-cut vegetables, meat with an addictive odor and a side dish that was as plentiful as the main one .
While they were quietly enjoying their lavish dinner, Aneirin stared at the night sky, his eyes locking onto two-winged silhouettes which were monitoring them .
“So, what are your thoughts about our new friends?”
When he heard that, Zodiak glanced at the far away angels and grinned .
“I don’t care about them… as long as they don’t attack . ”
“Oh but they will! Angels need permission to interfere with planets such as ’Serenity’ which is why they’re merely monitoring us . I reckon that they’ll properly ’welcome’ us in a week, at most . ”
“Then we’ll retaliate . I do not think that the bard extraordinaire is afraid of a couple of angels . ”
Aneirin shook his head repeatedly while retorting: “I’m not cut for battles . Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I’d rather not dirty my hands . Also, it won’t be long before we reach the Well of the Lost . If we enter it, they won’t dare to chase us inside . ”
Hearing the name of their destination for the nth time, Zodiak became absent-minded .
“The Well of the Lost, huh…”
As someone who lived for a long time, Aneirin doesn’t just wander around without any destination in mind . He’s an explorer who seeks thrilling experiences in order to come up with good and real poems . He needs to be in the heart of the action, which is why he usually seeks dangerous places that are rumored to have heavenly treasures . The Well of the Lost is one of them, however, its origins are mysterious .
Back then, Zodiak didn’t know that this well will start an unstoppable chain of events which will drag him from one place to another . The first one being a world unlike any other, a place that only existed in the past before it was ravaged by continuous disasters .
At that world, there was his destined meeting with a certain person, a very special mortal, cast out from society . No one, including Arthur, Wolfram, or Leiu, knew that Zodiak and Claud Venice actually met . In fact, Zodiak never recorded that journey in his diary .
