"Stop!!!" Ikky's head sprung up as he heard the shout.
From the distance, a man in torn grey clothes was running at them. He had a look in his eyes that exposed exhaustion, confusion and yet he held a grin of perseverance.
Speaking of eyes...
"Hey you!" The man called out. "What happened?! Why do I look like this? Where is this place?" He rushed to Ikky's side, pulling him up using the wide sleeves of his shirt.
"What?!" Ikky was confused. Why was this person asking him? But more importantly, why did this person look so... Ikky couldn't describe it properly.
The man looked nothing like himself, having a straight chin, tall muscular body and eyes more confident then Ikky had seen in a while. Yet, he had traits that made him somewhat similar to Equinox— eyes like the fine dust of shattered gems and a body that glowed conspicuously lambent so as to leave one wondering if there was red blood beneath the skin.
"What do you want to know? I'm the one with information." Stepping ahead the two women from their camp, Ivan placed his hand on the man's shoulder as a gesture for him to back off.
The person in question raised an eyebrow. "You are willing to speak on the hierodule's behalf?"
"What?" Ivan took a step back. "Hierodule? He's not a hierodule... are you?" He turned to Ikky thinking, well that would explain his white temple attire.
"I don't even know what that means." Ikky shrugged, not knowing why the two looked so confused.
The strange man shifted his head to the side, examining Ikky. "You speak too many words at once than befits of a proper hierodule. However, for some reason, such behaviour reminds me of my time spent in the castle with one of the hierodules that tend to the royal family... But my memories are hazy. I do not remember them so well."
Ikky pulled the man's hands away from his clothes, his feet touching the ground again. He backed off nervously, guessing,
"Woah woah woah! You mean like helpers, right? The kinds who help with chores and only chores... Right?"
The man replied, "They're hierodules. They're for whatever we please."
Ikky wretched in disgust. " You gotta be sick to think that would be me."
The man's face deepened into a frown, as if angered by the fact that Ikky even had the courage to talk back at him in such a crude manner.
He took a step forward, making Ikky take one back.
"Do not overstep your boundaries, hierodule. What you will matters not! Because everything about you was crafted down to the minute details by stained hands, all set to mimic what nature has created. The only fact you should consider is that you were made to grovel and elevate others. While I, I am a royal prince!"
Seeing this man getting too agitated for his own good, Ivanhoe stepped in the middle of the two and pushed them apart.
"That's enough!" He turned to the tall man.
"You claim to be from a good background, yet speak in a manner contrary to that."
"Royalty can speak however they please!" The man spoke with such authority and confidence, yet his legs stood side by side in attention, halfway shifting backwards.
"Dirt is dirt, whether it is packed in a bin, or stuffed inside a golden crown. Are you nothing but filth underneath that mighty title?"
The man grimaced, blood rushing to his head. Yet he could not argue.
On one side, the man saw Ivan's warning gaze, the weight of the Sullivan's presence making him look struggling and small in comparison. While on the other side, Ikky saw the face of a regular person he could at least try to relate to.
"Alas, you are alone in this matter after all." Yaga said. "Although his Virtuous essence still reeks, his control over his spirit is at least functional."
Yaga was not complementing Ivan as much as she was insulting Equinox. Ikky rolled his eyes.
"Will you start a proper conversation?" The Sullivan gave the mysterious man an opportunity to save face.
Taking a deep breath, "It was rather silly of me to start off with concerning myself about 'insignificant matters'. Greetings, I am Theseus Laskaris, second prince of Troezen and I... do not remember much of my past."
The people from the camp left with the wounded woman in tow, leaving Ikky, Theseus and Ivanhoe to talk.
Theseus remembers only bits and pieces of his past, his memories distorted like a scattered record. If it weren't for his current physical form and perceived age, he would have thought he was still just a teenage child. What had happened throughout the years? Why was he in the charred forests of Troezen, wearing this strange attire? Why did he look like a...
He looked at Ikky and asked, "You said you had a name?"
Ikky's eyes were unamused and tired, but he was still thinking about the man's words. To Theseus, the two of them had features of something called a Hierodule— beings made by mortal hands.
But if what Theseus calls Hierodules were native to the Realm of Augury, then Equinox definitely couldn't have been one. He is not a Sin after all. And he definitely had parents, albeit he only remembers his father being with him up to some point in his early years.
Nox himself couldn't have been one. He had dim coloured eyes, separating him from the Hierodules by that key feature.
But the more Ikky pondered, the more thoughts began to form in his head, theories that just might prove Theseus's statements correct. What if he really was a man-manufactured creation made so well he possessed a beating heart and was able to obtain a Story memory? Could that be why he was always looked at with such eyes that made him feel like he was not a part of the rest of the people in Svarga.
"Calm your beating heart, child. The company of humans is insignificant compared to the rewards you will attain while treading down the path of a prophet." Yaga stated.
"Ugh!" Ikky's shoulders fell with exhaustion. "You people never shut up." He honestly was just excited to know. But even if someone were to prove to him that he was somehow a frog and not a human, that won't change anything that had happened in his past.
It was his experience up to this point that had made him the person he was today. What the stranger who'd literally just met him today was saying is garbage talk.
Ivan turned to Ikky, trying to choose his words carefully. Because with the other bright-eyed people, whenever they came to the realisation of where they are, and regained their memories, they would collapse. Yet unlike the rest, Ikky seemed to be more aware and didn't seem struggling with any vague memories. In fact, he called himself a Summers— a well known name in Svarga.
"Equinox, what kingdom are you from?"
Ikky replied, "Uhh, Sumeru?"
Ivan looked away. "I see." But he still kept his words to himself. Who knows when Ikky would start to get those strange memories. It did occur to him that Ikky might actually not be infected, but he could never be too certain. Perhaps the amber eyed man was simply just experiencing a different memory.
Nevertheless, the consequences of these people finding the truth of their existence was too severe.
"Well, clearly I do not belong here. So if you'll excuse me, I'll be heading to my castle... hmm. That pillar of crimson seems familiar." Theseus froze, turning to the two youngsters and asking,
"I don't suppose you two know if that red light is coming from the city?"
For the second Ivan took to ponder his response, Ikky revealed, "City... That would explain the messed up buildings I saw while falling from the sky earlier. Yeah I don't think anyone lives there anymore."
"Wh— what?" Theseus was shaken.
Such devastating news was revealed in a lax uncaring manner.
"That was just the edge of the Charred forest, Equinox. Remember the locals back at the capital told us that the wild spirits these days have become even more rampant than when we arrived, affecting the houses nearest to the forest." Ivan said with a sigh, his calm composure and words calming Theseus's mind down.
Ikky on the other hand was utterly confused.
"The kingdom is in danger?! Then what are we sitting here for? We need to act!" Theseus stood up with a cry of urgency.
"Please calm down. The cities are safe in the hands of the knights. The forest on the other hand is a lot more dangerous to wander." Ivan sat up, pressing his palms together with a grim expression on his face.
"In fact, the only reason we haven't encountered any spirits so far is because of the evil warding charm I have strapped up to my waist. You feel it, don't you?" He looked into Theseus's eyes. "... A strong pressure emanating from my form, making hearts beat with caution."
Theseus looked down at the jacket Ivan had tied to his waist and shivered. So that was what was causing the weighty pressure on his shoulder earlier.
'I must have that charm.' He thought.
Ivan didn't stop there. "There are others facing the same problems as you, Theseus, and more from another kingdom come to offer our assistance. Come with me to a proper shelter and let us wait for the knights to find us."