Blackout Ascension: Return of Primordial Heir-Chapter 37: Prologue of Volume 2 - Land of Zephyros
Seyana woke up after some from Kairos hugging arms, her eyes darting across Kairos sleepy face. "You are too handsome," Seyana whispered, her hands skimming his messy hair.
"Lurking girl," Kairos teased her, with a humble smile tracing his lips.
Seyana smiled, with an annoying look on her face. "Kairos, promise me. You will never be moody again. Smile Kairos, I love you more when you are chilly like in our fresh years in academy." Seyana said, stretching her open palm asking for promise. "Please don’t be sad."
"Umm... Okay Princess," Kairos murmured back, stretching his open palm placed on hers as a gesture of promise.
They hugged each other smiling and pure love blossomed under the moonlight.
**** A week after ****
The morning air in the Solaris Kingdom was cool garbage today. Kairos Vedaryan opened his eyes and immediately shivered. He pulled the thick wool blanket all the way up to his nose, but it didn’t help much. The stone walls of his academy dorm room felt like the inside of a meat freezer. After the meet with Seyana, and after the help of the system in battle with demon god, Kairos felt some soothing in his heart, wanting to become some chilly person rather than a moody bastard. Because, Kairos thought he was the only person where Seyana was comfortable.
He let out a tired, jagged breath. A cloud of white mist formed in the cold air above his bed.
"It’s totally freezing," Kairos muttered, staring blankly at the ceiling. "Hey, Blackout. Are you awake? Don’t know the sick name of yours.."
A familiar, lingering DING! flashed suddenly inside his mind.
[SYSTEM ONLINE. GOOD MORNING, HOST. FINALLY YOU ARE NOT IGNORING ME!]
"It’s definitely not a good morning," Kairos grumbled. He rubbed his sleepy dark eyes. "Can you use one of your fancy system hacks to turn on a room heater? Or maybe just unlock a ’Warm Blanket’ skill for me? And you, bloody system helped me in critical times, then how can I ignore you?"
[NEGATIVE. I AM AN APEX SYSTEM DESIGNED FOR COMBAT, SURVIVAL, AND CHRONO-MANIPULATION. I AM NOT A HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE. GLAD, I AM SOME HELPFUL TO YOU.]
"You’re completely useless now," Kairos sighed.
[SUGGESTION: PUT ON A THICK SHIRT. YOUR PHYSICAL ENDURANCE IS HIGH, BUT YOUR COMPLAINING STAT IS CURRENTLY MAXED OUT.]
"Tsk... Annoying...", Kairos muttered.
Kairos actually smiled a little. He kicked the blankets off his body and in a vivid motion, he rolled sideways and stood on the floor with a muffed thud. His bare feet touched the freezing stone floor, sending a painful shock of cold right up. He grabbed his dark combat kimono-type gear from the cushion and tossed it on. He strapped his leather belts tight, and he reached over to his wooden desk and picked up Asteria. The silver sword felt cold to the touch, humming with a faint, comfortable warmth on the second his fingers wrapped around the hilt. It reminded him of Seyana. That simple thought made the freezing morning a little bit better.
He cinched the sword to his leather strap and walked out the door, his silhouette flickering against the morning light before the oak door clicked shut behind him. The academy courtyard was empty and covered in a thin layer of white frost. The sky was still a dark, bruised purple. The sun hadn’t even risen yet fully.
Waiting for him near the massive iron gates were two familiar figures. "You are exactly four minutes late, Kairos," a rough, jagged voice groaned.
It was Ignis. The fierce warrior stood folding his arms, looking annoyed. Ignis had bright, spiky red hair that smoked at the tips from the misty morning. He wasn’t wearing a jacket. He was just wearing a thin black tank top, unbothered by the freezing weather. His body naturally ran as hot as a roaring furnace.
Standing right next to him was a giant of a man. Terravarous. Terravarous was tall and built like a brick wall. He had hardened skin that looked remarkably like polished stone. He just gave Kairos a slow, heavy nod.
"Sorry," Kairos said, walking up to them and blowing into his cold hands. "My bed was actively holding me hostage. It’s freezing out here."
Ignis snorted, a tiny puff of smoke coming out of his nose. "It’s barely a mild breeze. You humans are so soft. If we were standing near the magma pits of the old wastelands, you would completely melt into a puddle."
"Well, we aren’t at the magma pits, Ignis," Kairos replied, his eyes drifting sideways. "We are in Solaris, and it’s freezing. Why are you even complaining? You’re literally a walking campfire."
"Because waiting makes me angry," Ignis snapped, his red eyes flashing, "and when I get angry, I want to burn things. I haven’t burned anything yet today. It makes my skin itch."
Terravarous finally spoke, his voice was deep, sounding like two heavy boulders grinding slowly together. "Save your burning for the dungeon, Ignis," Terravarous rumbled slowly. "The outer-district gates open in ten minutes. We have a daily quota to hit."
Kairos nodded in agreement. The Great War was slowly creeping closer every single day. The brutal fight with Algreth the Time God was over, but the reality of the world hadn’t changed. Monsters were still pouring out of the dungeons, and Kairos needed to test his new limits. The System had recently granted him the Conqueror of Time title, but having a powerful title and actually knowing how to properly use it in a messy fight were wholly two different things.
"Alright," Kairos said, his breath fogging in the cold air. "Let’s go hunt some monsters. Terravarous, you take the frontline today. Ignis, try not to accidentally burn all the valuable loot this time. We actually need to sell the mana crystals to buy better gear with only our money."
Ignis scoffed loudly and turned around, walking toward the outer gates. "I make no promises, human. Fire does exactly what fire wants."
Terravarous patted Kairos ponderously on the shoulder, nearly knocking him over with his raw strength. "Do not worry, Kairos. I will simply throw rocks at his head if he gets too wild."
Kairos laughed gently. The three of them walked together out of the academy grounds, heading straight for the dangerous, monster-filled outskirts of the Sun kingdom.
****
A few miles away, across the continent, the morning in the Zephyros Kingdom was entirely different. Zephyros was officially known as the ’Kingdom of Wind’. Usually, that meant a pleasant, constant breeze. But today, the wind was howling with a frigid cold wind that felt like invisible knives scraping against the skin.
High up on the private training grounds of the royal estate, Luna Freyr Zephyros was currently regretting every single life choice that led him to being awake at this hour.
"I hate mornings," Luna whispered miserably to the empty air. "I truly hate mornings. Why am I doing this to myself?"
He was dressed in a simple, loose black training uniform. His silver hair was a chaotic mess, blowing wildly in every direction due to the harsh wind. He looked tired, his pale eyes languishing like he was ready to fall asleep right away. But his physical body was moving well.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Luna moved his hands cleaving through the freezing air. He was practicing his dark martial forms. The shadows gathered tightly around his wrists. He stepped forward, and the gravity around his boots doubled in a heartbeat, cracking the stone floor slightly. He stepped back, and the gravity vanished. He was always lazy. He was the type of genius who hated working hard because he never had to work hard.
But the terrible memory of the Crystal Colosseum was burned into his brain. He clearly remembered and felt the suffocating pressure of the Demon God Algreth. He remembered watching his best friend, Kairos, step forward alone to stop an execution, the sickening feeling of helplessness.
I cannot be weak, Luna thought, his eyes suddenly focusing. If Kairos is going to fight monsters like that... I have to be strong enough to adamantly stand right beside him. I absolutely refuse to just sit in the back and safely watch him doing things that lead him to die.
He thrust his hands forward, sending a monolithic surge of gravitational shockwave. The invisible wave surged across the training yard, instantly hitting a wooden training dummy, shattering it into tiny pieces.
Luna exhaled a long, exhaustive breath. He lowered his arms.
"Okay, that’s enough training for one day," Luna said to himself, shedding his aura. "I worked hard for twenty minutes. Time to go back to my warm bed and take an important nap."
He turned around to head back inside the manor, but suddenly, the rhythmic sound of heavy horse hooves echoed loudly on the cobblestone path.
Luna stopped walking, frowning deeply. "Who in the world is visiting before the sun is even fully up?"
He walked slowly over to the edge of the stone balcony and looked down at the main courtyard.
A highly expensive, beautifully polished carriage was pulling up to the front gates. It was painted a pristine white, decorated with glittering gold trim. On the side of the wooden carriage door, a familiar royal crest was proudly painted.
The crest of the Sylphyros family.
Luna’s tired heart skipped a heart beat, his eyes widened. The carriage door smoothly swung open. A royal guard stepped down and politely offered his hand. A young girl stepped gracefully out of the carriage, wearing a beautiful traveling cloak of ocean blue. Her bright, intelligent eyes drifted across the Zephyros manor with curiosity.
It was Soltheia Sylphyros.
She was beautiful, smart and radiant. She was also the biggest crush of Luna’s entire life.
"Oh, no," Luna gasped in the air, staggering back from the balcony edge so she wouldn’t spot him. "Oh no, no, no. She is actually here. Why is she here?! I look like a complete disaster!"
Total panic overrode his usual, cool "Night Emperor" persona. Luna frantically adjusted his messy silver hair with his hands, trying to flatten it down against the wild wind, but it didn’t work. His hair just stubbornly popped right back up.
He frantically looked down at his clothes, he was wearing a dusty black training shirt. He didn’t have his cool cloak on.
"I look like a dirty street beggar," Luna panicked, pacing back and forth. "The most beautiful girl in the world is currently walking up to my front door, and I smell like sweat and crushed wood!"
He heard the front doors of the manor echoing downstairs. The royal butler was warmly greeting her. She was officially inside his house. Luna took a deep breath, forcefully slapping his own pale cheeks with both hands to wake himself up.
Calm down, Luna, he thought to himself. You are an Elite General. You are a master of shadows and gravity. You defeated a Half-Elf prodigy in the grand tournament. You can talk to a pretty girl without completely embarrassing yourself.
He smeared the dust off his black shirt. He cloaked his facial expression back into his usual, lazy, half-asleep look, into the mask of pure boredom. He slowly walked down on the marble staircase, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Soltheia was standing calmly in the grand foyer, admiring a large painting on the wall. She heard his footsteps and turned around. A luminous glow flickered in her eyes with a genuine smile.
"Luna!" she called out happily, her voice cutting right through the cold morning air.
Luna’s heart thumping anxiously against his ribs. He fabricated hardly to maintain a blank face.
"Soltheia," Luna replied, keeping his voice steady and casual. "What an unexpected surprise. You are awake awfully early for a royal guest. Did you get lost on your way to the library?"
Soltheia laughed, with a melodic sound. "I didn’t get lost. I specifically came all this way just to see you, dummy. Are you going to just stand up there on the stairs, or are you actually going to come down and properly say hello?"
Luna gracefully walked down. Inside, his mind was screaming with pure joy.
"I suppose I can make some free time for you," Luna said softly, standing three feet away from her. The bitter, freezing morning suddenly didn’t feel cold anymore.
****
Meanwhile in Solaris Kingdom outskirts.
Ignis, Kairos and Terravarous walked into a dungeon named Ironfang Dungeon in their process of daily goal of training, while hunting the grade beasts.
