Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 185: Kisses of love (1)

Arial opens his eyes suddenly. It was not a pleasant feeling at all.

'Huh' he sighed

He tried to sleep but his heart is beating furiously. He is worrying about a lot of thing, and sleep doesn't come easy for him.

He noticed that his sleep come harder each year that passed. He couldn't sleep.

He could not sleep, not tonight. He tried to. He struggles on his bed trying to find that sweet spot but he can't.

He looks at the ceiling.  He looked at his surroundings. His bedroom is furnished and clean.

On the walls were painting, valuable paintings by many artists that came under the patronage of his family, some tapestry by his mother showing him in battle.

There is also some tapestry by Lisa, a talented girl that is not only talented in battle but also in other womanly aspect.

Arial is rarely in the castle of his noble house. The beginning of his life has been fill with training in the Knight Academy.

Then the war begins. And then he spends his time in battles. And after that, there is the intrigue and plot directed at his family.

His mind somehow flashback to certain moments in his life.

The Henry plot against his family, the Bloody Feast, the war, the day he was speared by Alderam, the day he won and the day that he got the news that he is going to die in two years

A lot has happened. And a lot has changed.

And now it seems another war looms ahead in battle that would determine the survival of the human race.

He looks again at the tapestry that his mother made for him, the care she must have exercised in making it.

He had become unaccustomed to these little touches. Personal touches of love and care. He used to hug her mother and kiss her cheeks.

But rarely now he had the opportunity to do that.

With his mother sometimes busier than him, attending to the other nobles and her correspondence with the King and not to mention raising Arianna, she is busy.

He smiles a little.

He sighed. He is conflicted. All these emotions welled up in him and he doesn't know what to do.  It is hard to admit but he has long forgotten how to live.

He did not live before. He survived. But he did not live.

There is a difference between living and surviving and he knows that better than anyone. Arial is plagued with worries and unease.

What should he do now? Is this his mistake? Is this his fault? He seems to be thinking all of these dark thoughts. He could not be sure that this isn't his fault.

If it is, doesn't this mean that he has doomed everyone? No, he shakes his head defiantly. This time it's different.

The Human Continent has him now. Something HAS changed he said to himself, willing himself to believe it. Yes, the continent has him now.

And he has turned the region that used to be some backwater place into a state by its own right powerful, mighty and prosperous.

The first great city in the continent, unmatched by any other city.

Common Tongue with slight variation is spoken here. Arial have a thought to create the state own language, but he had to delay that for now.

Knowledge from all over the world is here.

Silas, his vassal is a great thinker and Arial daresay one of the greatest of this time, a polymath, interested in many fields and talented in them as well.

Even Arial himself has delved himself in his spare times to gain better understanding in this area called science, a forgotten art by the First Generation and has found the art itself in revival under the Vermont's.

Some people called it a renewal of knowledge arts and some called it a rebirth with the great revival of the arts and learning.

The schools of knowledge and thoughts are established all around the region, and their buildings and formations is encouraged by the policy of his family towards better understanding the world.

It started with the Levitia Disc.

Arial have corresponded letters with the man called Michael under his mother employs and he has suggested many good things in which Arial quickly employed.

Lisa also hearing Arial is very enthusiastic about the matter of reviving the art, began learning to wrote music and studying geography.

Arial on the other hand started learning astronomy, and he also began creating many inventions, many of it is a failure but he is satisfied with his attempts.

He also because of his own illness started learning medicine from a famed scholar from Asteros, Dioscorides.

Arial greatly admired the Asterosi skills in medicine.

He also taught Arial of the dangers of mosquitoes in an urban life and Arial has done preventative measure to avoid plague to ever enter his city.

The guard at the walls are also loyal to the state and his family. Arial had a lot of thing to be proud of in this life.

As he thinks about all of this the cold wind breezes by. And his limbs feel like a thousand needles is stick onto him.

He tries to walk it off. He stands up from his bed and each step he takes is a perilous task. Night wind burns him.

'Everything hurt now' he said gritting his teeth.

'Every damn thing'

He winces to exit his room wearing a clothes made by a bear fur. A fur clothes that he has bought to shelter himself from the coldness.

He put it around his body, shivering and he regulates his breathing and the cold recedes for a while.

'I need to walk this off' he said to himself as his steps become more resolute. He begins exploring the castle.

He took a lantern with him. He could use internal energy to see in the dark but better not aggravate his condition he mused.

He then hears some singing from the distance

'And the Princess,

Cried,

And cried,

Until finally her Knight in the shining armour came' the song can be heard by Arial. He then approached the balcony because he recognized that voice anywhere.

'Helia?' he asked.

The girl turns her face to him and smile at him.

She was wearing a long white trailing gown and she looked like a goddess Arial thought. Her face and her hazel eyes are beautiful like always.

'What are you doing here?' He asked.

'Enjoying the night stars' she said wistfully. She looks at the night sky, and she looked peaceful and beautiful all at the same time.

'May I join you?' he asks. She just nodded. Arial looked at her and he could not help but have his worry disappear for a while.

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