Legend of the Empyrean Blacksmith

EDIFICE OF DESTRUCTION (III)

Lino was currently staring dubiously at Ion who was seated across from him, inside a luminescent room of wall-embedded gems and wooden furniture, drinking calmly, a faint smile hanging on his face . Of all those in the room, only he eventually returned, causing Lino a deep-seated internal conflict . Had it been Lucky or Ally, or perhaps even Val, he’d have outright kicked them out, no matter what they might think of him afterward .

However, deep inside, he knew Ion hadn’t made this decision on the fly, as the sort of ’let’s give it a go’ thought . The now-old lad had the same determination in his eyes that Lino himself had sported countless times prior – which meant that he knew the best it would be nigh impossible to dissuade him from doing it .

Just as Lino was about to try, however, the doors to the small room opened and a figure casually walked through; Lino groaned right after as he recognized Caleb, draped in macabre, black robes, walking over and sitting next to Ion, the two glancing at each other for a moment .

"You too?" Ion quizzed, taking a sip .

"Yup . " Caleb replied simply .

"Nice . "

"Hm . "

"..." Lino sighed, taking out a bottle of wine, not bothering to take out a cup, drinking straight from the bottle itself . "What devil urged you to come here?" he asked Caleb who joined in on the drinking as Ion handed him a gourd of ale .

"Revenge . " Caleb replied simply .

"... revenge?"

"There were a couple of bastard Agents who nearly killed my ass," he said . "So I need to return the favor . "

"... oh fuck off," Lino groaned . "I won’t even consider it if you don’t tell me the truth . "

"... does it matter?" Caleb said after a short silence, looking Lino straight into the latter’s eyes, unflinching . "Besides, I was honest . It is revenge . Back before I learned of the reality of things, I used to be among the best of my homeworld’s hitmen . People would pay me exuberant amounts of money to sap away at their loved ones, and in the course of nearly twenty years of my career, I had never failed any of the targets . Then, the Ashening happened . And, for the first few years, I’ve found myself repeatedly failing – failing and failing and failing . To say nothing of the day the Agent arrived and culled millions of the survivors down to a hundred in the blink of an eye . On that day, I decided I’d rip his face off and shove it up his ass before gutting his heart . "

"... oh wow . I didn’t take you for the empathetic sort . " Lino commented .

"Hardly," Caleb shrugged . "I don’t give a shit he killed millions . It’s how he ignored everyone and just walked away right after . "

"... right . "

"It took me millions of years to uncover he’s one of the Prime Agents, whatever the hell that may mean beyond him just being ’super strong’ . I’ve yet to meet him again after that, the bastard . "

"You’re really fucked in the head, aren’t you?"

"Eh . Aren’t you the same?"

"... you’ll tell me the truth eventually, you know . " Lino smiled after a short silence, taking a sip . "That’s the thing about me; I’ve the uncanny ability to draw out people’s secrets over time . "

"..." Caleb remained silent, merely smiling .

"If you’re letting him, then you’re letting me too . " Ion joined in from the side .

"... wait, don’t—"

"I also desire revenge," Ion said, maintaining unashamedly serious expression . "There was this one bastard Agent, you don’t know him, who smirked at me once and told me he’d fuck my wife when I got married . It traumatized me so much I decided to never get married . The only way I’ll ever get married is if I first find him and kill him . "

"... Hannah’s waiting for you," Lino waved his hand off, giving up; it was pointless, after all . Neither of the two were children, but rather fully-grown people with their own intentions . In the end, it was their choice, and not his . "I wish you both good luck . Right, what about Talisha?" Lino asked Caleb .

"She’ll stay here for now," Caleb replied . "I’ve brought our family over, so she’ll probably spend some time with them . After, I imagine she’ll start stalking you and pestering you to disclose where I am which, naturally, you won’t know . So, over time, you’ll start losing your mind and probably lock her up . I’m saying all this to make it easier for you – just lock her up right now and tell her I’m undergoing the same training that might last a few billion years . "

"... fuckin’ hell man... is she your wife or your slave?"

"... you don’t know," Caleb shuddered for a moment, a look of horror crossing his eyes in that second . "Lino . You don’t know . Talisha is... Tal is... anyway, I’m leaving . "

"See ya’, my dear Emperor!" Ion downed the remnants of his drink and got up as well, flamboyantly saluting toward Lino with a grin . "I’ll be sure to remind everyone I kill of your name, so it may spread throughout all the universes there are!"

"..." Lino wordlessly watched the two walk away, chuckling right as the doors closed, falling silent .

Besides him, there were three more now – or, at least, there will be three more in the future . As to their futures, Lino had little say in them – he could only patiently wait and trust in them . From what the Edifice told him, how long it would take for them to become full-fledged agents would depend entirely on them . It’s not as though they’ll spend millions of years out and about, but, altogether, it might take that long, if not even longer . Timescale he was yet to really understand, or, in a way, even believe in .

Just before he was about to depart as well, the doors opened once again – an unsuspecting giant walking through casually . Lino paused, his lips gaping into a look of surprise as Eldon walked up and awkwardly sat in a chair way too small for him . Though Lino himself was hardly on the short side, the man before him towered over even when seated, to say nothing of if he were standing .

Lino absentmindedly stared at the calm Eldon for a long while before jolting himself back to reality, taking out another bottle of wine, quickly drinking it .

"Don’t tell me..."

"I wish to become Agent to seek vengeance..." Eldon said .

"You ran into those two?"

"Yeah . "

"... what the fuck are you doing here?" Lino asked straight out . "Aren’t you fucking tired already? I figured that, by now, you’d be merrily going out and about with Reli, readying to pop out a few kids already..."

"... I wish to seek vengeance..."

"Vengeance my ass!" Lino interrupted, slamming his fist against the table, cooling the atmosphere . "The other two, I sort of get . You? No . Not at all . Again... what the hell are you doing here, Eldon?"

"..." the latter looked deeply into Lino’s eyes for a moment before sighing . "I’m too used to it, Lino . The life of struggle, of battles that never end . I’ve spent billions of years entrenched in it . That isn’t something you simply walk away from..."

"What about the rest, then? Are they coming as well?" Lino asked .

"No," Eldon shook his head . "They’re stronger than me, in that . "

"The hell they are . "

"They are," Eldon reaffirmed . "They can look at the future and see themselves as a part of the world you created, Lino . Me? I can’t . I see no future limbering around, ’finding’ myself all over again . I’ve already found myself, many times over . And each time it was in the wars and battles . "

"... did you talk to them?" Lino asked, calming down .

"No . "

"... why?"

"For one, I’m fairly certain Reli would have a nervous breakdown," Eldon said . "And, secondly, they’d follow me . "

"..."

"I don’t know what Hannah told you," he continued while Lino took out yet another bottle of wine, his nerves stretched tautly . "But... I’m still in love with a ghost, Lino . I can’t respond to Reli’s, or anyone else’s, heart . The sole purpose I see for myself is entrenching myself back into the life I’ve known for what seems an eternity . "

"... what if I say no? Will you follow in Primul’s steps?"

"... I don’t know . " Eldon replied honestly, his wide shoulders slumping . "I truly hope... from the bottom of my heart... you will let me . "

"... you’ll regret it eventually . " Lino said .

"I might . "

"No, you will," Lino ascertained . "Nobody, no matter how broken, is meant to spend eternity shedding blood, Eldon . One day, you’ll look back on today, on the words you said to me, and wish you could go back in time, turn around, and walk back to your friends . "

"... I might . " Eldon said firmly, causing Lino sigh .

"You may have more years under your belt than me," the latter said . "But, by god, if you aren’t at least twice as dumb . Go . See if I give a shit . Go and chase whatever it is you need to find . "

"... thank you . "

"Nothing will bring her back, Eldon," Lino added just before the latter walked out of the room . "I just hope that, during your journey, you will finally accept that in your heart . "

"..." not letting himself be blindsided again, Lino flashed out of the room and vanished, appearing on the small balcony of the fortress, just outside Hannah’s and his room . To his surprise, Aaria was already sitting there, her back facing him, dressed in uncharacteristically ugly clothing – something Lino himself might wear – a broad canvas in front of her, her hand tracing over it gently .

"... isn’t the color of the sun all wrong?" Lino commented as he walked right up to behind her, stroking his beard .

"AAH!!" Aaria cried out, stumbling back and nearly falling as Lino reached out and held her, all the while focused on the canvas .

"Also, what’s with that dog? Did it evolve into the breed that has completely abandoned the sense of proportion? And what of these mountains, huh? Why are they shit-colored?"

"—could you ever, ever, give me a warning before you pop out?!!" Aaria growled, quickly setting herself back up to her feet and covering the canvas with her body, her cheeks flushed red .

"... you do realize you’re just outside my room, right?" Lino asked, smiling .

"... I needed a place nobody would bother me . " She said .

"... so, whatcha doing?" Lino asked as he walked back over to the table and a set of chairs, sitting down . "I mean, besides failing . "

"Hey!! Didn’t you say you would support me at whatever I decide to do?! Is this your version of support?! To belittle me?!"

"... how am I belittling you?" Lino asked . "Are you really going to claim it’s good?"

"... well, no, but I’ve just started . Of course, it’s not going to be good!"

"... paint me . " Lino said all of a sudden, ignoring the daggers she was throwing at him through her eyes .

"Huh?"

"I want you to capture me right here and right now; just remember, the portrait you make will be hung just above the throne, and will stay there until the end of time . "

"..." Aaria was stunned into silence at that moment, quickly recovering as she saw her father’s cheeky smile, fire in her chest igniting . "Fine!!" she exclaimed, ripping the canvas and putting up a new, fresh one, turning it over to face the seated Lino . "Just you wait, old man! I’ll paint you better than you can ever even look!"

"... less yappin’, more paintin’ . " Sheesh, he thought, barely holding back his laughter . Tricking her is easier than stealing from babies... wait!! Have neither Hannah nor I ever taught her about the most basic manipulation?! Hell!! If I hadn’t realized, I’d have been sending her completely unprepared... I’ll have to properly sit her down and teach her all the tricks . Hm, maybe not all... messing with her is kinda fun...