Altezza Kingdom was a peaceful kingdom in the south of the Aetheria continent. But on the night of the 31st of Sagittarius of the year 999, there was a huge fire, caused by a secret ritual performed by some members of the Yena cult. A great massacre took place that night: people who tried to escape from or enter the kingdom were killed by the cultists. This night would then be known as "The Burned Night." In the following days, it came to light that the Yena cult performed the ritual to burn the kingdom on purpose, in order to "purify a kingdom of sinners." And about the wanderers...
The cloaked person was staring at them, tightening the grip on Aurus' neck. "You two did a great job" he said, referring to Silvye and Cuprue. "Even if I mentally controlled those knights, you managed to defeat them. You should embrace the Yena cult."
"Yena cult? And you mentally controlled the knights?! Who are you?" Cuprue asked in panic.
"I used my technique to control Soma, Pneuma, and Psychi in order to kill you all. If you noticed, their eyes were red, and—"
"I asked who you are!!" Cuprue yelled at him.
The man looked at him from under his coat. "My name is YHWH. I'm the leader of the Yena cult." He lowered his hood, revealing his face. Cuprue and Silvye were shocked, but they didn't recognize him.
"Why did you show your face to us?" Silvye asked, confused and concerned.
"Because you're gonna die. So I'll tell you about the Yena cult's belief before you die. So, I think you know the version of the story when Ayen was sealed by Yena, but—"
Silvye sprinted towards YHWH and tried to hit him with her daggers, but the man dodged the attack and continued talking as if nothing had happened.
"The truth is that Ayen tried to kill Yena because he wanted to rule the world alone and do whatever he wanted. The people of the world helped him, revolting against the Malevolent of Evil. But Yena defended himself and sealed him. He felt betrayed by his brother and by his creations, so he decided to punish the people, letting the Six Malevolents spread around the world. So—"
He dodged a punch from Cuprue, snapping his fingers. Pneuma was watching them, hiding in the woods, so he shot an arrow toward Cuprue. Silvye cut the arrow with her daggers, saving Cuprue.
"—We, of the cult of Yena, support the punishment of the Malevolent of Evil, and we spread it to everyone, killing and hurting as many people as possible, to make Yena forgive our sin."
Aurus coughed blood; YHWH's hand was still around his neck.
"This makes no sense and it's terrible! You're such a cruel cult, it doesn't make any sense to kill innocent peop—"
YHWH stabbed Aurus in the heart with a knife, killing him.
"Die, sinner" He said, angry at his words.
Cuprue and Silvye were desperate and in true shock.
"AURUS!!!!" the two of them screamed in pain, grieving for their friend's death. Cuprue was punching the snow, and Silvye was in a rage. She sprinted toward YHWH, ready to kill him. She wouldn't have any compassion.
"Pneuma, annihilate them."
The leader of the cult touched Pneuma, who had just reached him. The knight's bow became massive and made of a strange red energy. The arrow, made of the same energy, was huge too, ready to fire.
"Ultimate Soul Hunt."
Pneuma shot the arrow, which converted into a colossal amount of red energy toward Silvye and Cuprue, so powerful that it split the whole forest of Hikkun Mountain in half. YHWH grinned, looking at the scene once the energy vanished.
"We'll never meet again."
The "Burned Night" would later be recorded in historical books as an important religious and political event. The knights of Aetheria were ordered to eliminate any member of the Yena cult they saw, to prevent any kingdom from being destroyed by them. Cuprue and Silvye managed to escape from YHWH thanks to someone, but they were wounded. After some days, they recovered and continued their journey toward the village of Haldenreach. Aurus' corpse was never found, but Silvye managed to save Aurus' religious pendant, representing the symbol of Ayen.
"Cuprue" Silvye called, while the two of them were walking in the snow. "I was thinking... who do you think was that person... or creature... who saved us?"
Cuprue, hearing those words, remembered that night. A beautiful humanoid-looking creature, with shiny white hair and gorgeous ruby-red eyes, saved them from the red energy arrow.
"I... really don't know. I've never seen a creature that beautiful. It was a show for my eyes."
Silvye tightened the grip of her hand on Aurus' pendant.
"Yeah, it really was..."
Her thoughts were full of the beauty of that creature, but she got distracted and stumbled on a rock, weakening her grip on the pendant, making it fall from the cliff.
"Nooo!!! Shit!!" Silvye shouted. "We have to get it back!"
Silvye threw herself off the cliff in order to recover the pendant.
"Silvye!!! Stop, you idiot!!"
Cuprue covered himself in his spiritual power and used it to temporarily float in the air, so he wouldn't fall. Once they both arrived at the bottom of the cliff, they searched for the pendant, but nothing—they couldn't find it.
"Where the fuck is it?!" Silvye was very nervous and furious, afraid of losing the only thing they had from their friend.
"Silvye, calm down, breathe, and we can keep searching. It must be here" Cuprue tried to calm her down, but in fact, he wasn't calm either.
Suddenly, something moved under the snow. Silvye drew her daggers, while Cuprue screamed.
"A hand emerged from the snow."
"What the fuck is that thing?!" Cuprue asked, screaming.
"I don't know, but stay back" said Silvye, on guard.
The hand shook, as if asking for help.
"Should we help that thing?" Cuprue asked.
"Mmmh... maybe... it doesn't seem to have bad intentions" replied Silvye, getting closer to the hand. She grabbed the hand and pulled it.
After some minutes, she managed to save the person who was under the snow. It was Aurus. And he was wearing the pendant, despite being completely naked.
"AURUS??!! HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU ALIVE??!! ARE YOU EVEN REAL???!!!"
Silvye pointed her daggers at him, Cuprue tightened his fists.
"Wait, wait! Guys, I can explain!!" Aurus stood up.
"Really, I'm the true Aurus, the one who introduced you to Ayen. Speaking about Ayen, after being stabbed by that guy, I saw him, you know."
"You saw Ayen? How?" Cuprue asked, very confused, not knowing if he should trust him.
"I swear! After I died, I saw him. He said that thanks to my prayers, he became more powerful, so he used my own technique on me, in order to give me a second chance to live. Through the pendant's aura, I found you and now I'm here."
Silvye looked horrified at Aurus' lower body.
"Oh yes... I basically reborn, so I don't have clothes, you know," said Aurus, embarrassed.
He joined his hands and prayed to Ayen. Suddenly, some clothes appeared on his skin.
"Oh... I lost the present I wanted to give to the Chosen One." He looked at the sky. "Lord Ayen, please..."
The book appeared at Aurus' feet.
"Aurus, Cuprue" Silvye said, a bit shocked by the situation. "our final destination is there." She pointed at Haldenreach.
"Let's end this journey together."
Some hours later, the three of them arrived in Haldenreach.
"So this is the place, huh?" Aurus looked around, walking.
"It looks like a normal little village. It's pretty unbelievable that the Chosen One was born here," Cuprue said.
Silvye stopped for a moment.
"Silvye? What happened?" Cuprue asked.
Silvye pointed in a direction.
"I feel an insanely strong aura, right there."
Aurus widened his eyes.
"It must be him, let's go!"
They ran toward the direction Silvye had pointed.
"What the fuck are you looking at?!"
A tall man with long orange hair, shining in the sunset light, and deep blue eyes looked at them from top to bottom. He had a sword with a golden hilt on his belt; it seemed to come directly from the sky.
"Nothing, sir" Aurus said.
Silvye examined the man with her eyes. He was the one emanating that crazy aura.
"E-ehm," she said, unable to say anything, since she was nervous.
"Don't look at me that way, girl. I have a beautiful wife. I don't care about you."
The man walked past them, heading toward the center of the town. The wanderers looked at each other, confused about that mysterious man, but they noticed that he had just come out of his home.
The man's home was right in front of them. A woman was singing in the house.
"Who is singing?" Cuprue asked, as if the others could answer him.
They went closer to the house, peeking through the window. The woman was beautiful; she had white-silver hair and beautiful eyes with heterochromia—one white and the other black. She was holding her baby, who was about to fall asleep. As they got closer to the window, he opened his purple eyes.
He felt them. His name was Rentao Coral Orion, and he was the Chosen One. Aurus, Silvye, and Cuprue's journey officially came to an end.
But Rentao's journey was just about to get started.