NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 38: Memory
A few minutes before, near Grim Rock Woods.
"Lily, you can't follow Daddy to that meeting so just wait for Daddy a little. If you want to pass some time you can hunt some wolves in the forest nearby." A man with short white hair crouched next to a little girl, the girl also had white hair but hers was long almost reaching down to her waist.
"Uhm..."The little girl's purple eyes with a touch of cyan and light blue light, a great contrast to her father's glowing red eyes.
The little girl looked around 10 and was beautiful, even her handsome father was dull in comparison.
"Lily will do so..." As the little girl nodded, the ruffles on her long white dress shook.
"..." And even her father looked quite elegant and well-groomed while in a black suit. The scene was somewhat strange since they stood near a forest in those beautiful and elegant clothes.
"Um... Dad, don't worry, Lily is strong." Noticing her father's slight worry, Lily comforted him.
"I know my little princess." Hearing the confident words the man lightly patted Lily's head, then stood up, turned around, and flew up into the sky.
"Um..." As the wind raised her long dress skirt, she held it down with a blushed face.
...
Not long after...
Lily was deep in the forest, surrounded by three wolves.
"Um... three..." She didn't seem agitated or excited, but her petite little face wasn't emotionless. No, she was quite serious for someone looking so young.
"Chain..." When the wolves were about to jump at her, "...Lightning!" She simply held out her arms and blue lightning came out of them, which shot through all three wolves, shocking and stunning them.
*GRRR* Since the wolves couldn't move, another lightning came from Lily's hand, and after a few seconds, all three fell, burned to black.
"Um..." After the wolves fell, Lily just turned and walked away from them.
"Uh?" She was about 40 meters away from the burned wolf corpses when she sensed danger behind, and as such she reflexively turned around.
*GRRRRR* Among the burned wolves stood a beast twice as big as the other wolves.
"White Fang Wolf King!?" Seeing the single horn on the beast's forehead, Lily recognized the superior wolf's nature.
"Lightning Bolt!" As soon as the giant wolf began to run, she released lightning which accurately hit the beast.
"Yes..." Since the attack seemed to damage it, Lily was relieved, but the real problem was that after a short stop, the wolf started running again.
"AH!" Noticing that her lightning couldn't stun the beast, Lily too started running, she was fast compared to her petite and innocent looks, but the beast... it was much faster...
"Kya..." As an attack came Lily jumped to the side.
"Go away!" She raised and released lightning bolts one after the other.
"Stupid wolf...!" She used her smaller size to get away while still using her lightning and with that, the beast couldn't catch up to her as fast as before.
"Help, somebody, please!" Screaming for help while running made the wolf angry and it located her in an instant.
*GRRR* With a jump, the beast landed near her
"Kyaa!!" She dodged the attack and attacked back with more lighting after which she turned to keep running.
...
[Notice: A story quest is taking place nearby!]
"Hm?" And at the same time, Temorsth listened to his system's prompts.
"Help... Somebody... please... help!"
[Notice: Event quest "Save the Beauty" has been acquired!]
"Hmh..." Hearing the scream one more time, he started towards it.
[Warning: The Host's luck and potential aren't enough to support the Host's own Story!]
"...?" He was running across the clearing when he was surprised by a warning.
[Warning: If the Host completes the event quest, "Savd the Beauty". The Host will become a character in the "Vampire Queen's Ascension" Story!]
"..." Yet, even though he heard the warning, he didn't waver and just rushed forward.
[No! Stop, don't complete the quest!]
'What?' But halted in his tracks when he heard Aidana's words.
[Host, please don't complete the quest...]
'What are you... Should I let her die then?'
[Yes...]
"..." Temorsth's eyes did not shake, they remained the same showing no remorse or feeling for the one whose fate was decided to be death.
[She probably won't die anyway, you should protect your freedom!] Yet again, when he heard Aidana's words continue... something changed.
"My freedom?" Hearing that Aidana's reasons couldn't outweigh his 'order', Temorsth jumped onto a tree branch and started to cross the forest by jumping from tree to tree.
"I never had any... after that day..."
[...?] Feeling something strange from the words, Aidana quieted down and thought about them, about the words that had emotions that were never spoken. Anger... sadness... remorse... hate, and love... emotions... No, no it wasn't just that. It was... It was a memory.
"..." The memory depicting a man, a man he would never forget, a man he couldn't deny, the words the man spoke, words which would never be forgotten... even if he wanted to... he could never forget... the words... the man... his father...
'Son! I tell you Four... no... Five Commands and you will follow them no matter what!' As Temotsth remembered the man's... his father's harsh voice, he continued to advance towards the screams of the girl.
'Father...' The shadowed face of his father appeared... the glowing green eyes.... the big beard... the muscular build towering over his little body... the pain of his shoulders getting crushed from the strength of his grip... the feeling... the look... the terror of the impending sense of... DEATH.
'You will follow them until there is no more to live for! Do you understand!?' The voice was both threatening and commanding at the same time.
'I... I understand...'
'First...'
...
'Third, help those who need it!'
'Help..?'
'There will be many who will betray you! Betray your trust, betray your ideas, or backstab you, but never forget... There will be those you have truly saved!'
'Saved...'
'Some people will think of you as their friend and comrade, you should never betray them!'
'Friend...'
'Be strong enough so it doesn't matter if they betray you!'
'Strong enough...'
'Boy! You have to pay back what you got, be it hate or love, trust or betrayal, truth or lies...!' As the voice slowly died down, a shout resounded.
"I will!" This time the word wasn't a memory, it was his own... the power it had was depicting the truth of the just words his father spoke.
And right at this moment, Temorsth stopped and opened his eyes, no longer depicting the bright light of the blue sky, rather they showed the depth of the blue that the sea swallowed.
'This... it's the same...' Seeing him and seeing his eyes, Aidana remembered the first time she saw Temorsth, the first time she saw what someone who lost everything could do, the first time she saw two beautiful blue lights dance and paint a world of red.
"Kya!! Help!"
"Hm... I should hurry." As the scream sounded again, the light returned to his eyes, they no longer were cold or seemed empty.
He jumped forward to cross the distance as fast as possible and when he wasn't far from the sound he turned to look to the side at the system window.
"Hm... I need a refill, I used too much mana." Noting that his mana was low, he took out a blue potion and drank it.
"Hm... I should prepare... Will of the Weapon!" He summoned a spirit weapon and took out another potion.
"I can summon two more, but my stamina is low I can't fight if I run out of it, and replenishing stamina is a different matter than mana."
[Host...] Aidana wanted to warn him again but witnessing that Temorsth completely ignored her words, she stopped.
"I should go." And after a few big leaps, the monster finally appeared in his field of view.
[...] Seeing the monster, Aidana hesitated but finally gave in after a short thought.
In the first place, Aidana didn't want to control Temorsth she just wanted the best for him, it depended on him if he took her suggestions, but this time it was a slight intervention of her personal feelings after all, she already knew what kind of situation this sort of quest would lead to.
[That Wolf King is in the Peak stage of the Body Tempering realm. Since there is more than an entire realm difference from your Mortal Body Late stage, you will deal less damage to it.]
'Hmh? Thanks...' Hearing her helping words, he thanked her. He wasn't mad at her it was just he had his 'order' to follow.
"I need to get a little closer." As he leaped to a closer branch, he saw a little girl with white hair running away from the giant wolf.
"Pretty..." As the girl ran while attacking the wolf with lightning, Temorsth looked at her face, which looked a bit tired, and at the tears that welled up in her eyes.
"Kya! AH!"
"Hm?" Seeing the girl fall and the wolf caught up, he jumped closer and crouched on the branch of a large tree directly behind the giant wolf.
*GRRRRR* Just as the wolf was about to bite at the girl, it stopped and turned its head as instinct told him that danger was behind.
"Hm..." He was paying attention if the girl fell purposefully after sensing him, but seeing that she shook with real fear he concluded that she wasn't playing and it happened by mistake.
"It's really like a story... Hm?" Noticing that the Wolf King turned towards him, he finally looked at it.
*GRR...* As the Wolf King noticed that this enemy was different from the one before and that this enemy looked at him like he was the prey instead, it jolted back instinctively.
"Too late, puppy!" Instead of waiting for the beast to make a move, Temorsth ordered the spirit weapon and jumped at the wolf himself.