Chapter 27: The Beginning of a Hero's Journey
"Who are you?" A voice confused and wary echoed,
In an empty space filled with nothing but darkness stood Ardor. It would be more accurate to say that he was floating, as nothing existed here but him. There was no ground to stand on.
There was no reply, however, Ardor knew someone or something was there. An unsettling feeling had been chewing him up from the inside. Something was making him feel small like he was standing against the skies. He was in no way perceptive nor did he understand what was happening, but he knew that he wasn't alone.
"Do not be frightened, Ardor, my child." A voice resounded, "I am here to help you."
His tense expression relaxed slightly once he heard it. The voice was no stranger to Ardor for it was no one else but the one that told him to heal his father. Ardor had nothing but immense gratitude for this being.
"I don't know who you are, but thank you." Ardor timidly spoke, "Why are you helping me, sir?"
"Sir?" The voice let out a deep chuckle, "You can drop the formalities child, from now on think of me as your second father. For I heard the cries of your soul and I was drawn to it. Do you understand my child?"
"I-I think so," Ardor replied his expression was focused, and his eyebrows crunched together in thought.
The voice chuckled once again, "I will explain in further detail later my child. I will be with you until you die so we have plenty of time. Right now, it seems as if it's time for you to wake up."
"Huh?" As soon as the words escaped from Ardor's lips the space around him seemed to fluctuate. He blinked his eyes, and suddenly he found himself in a completely different place.
In what seemed to be a lab stood a bed beside various equipment for alchemy. A familiar woman stood by glowing scriptures on the wall, mumbling gibberish that Ardor couldn't understand.
"Excuse me," Ardor mumbled, "Where am I?"
The woman turned, "Oh you're awake!"
The moment she stopped mumbling gibberish the glow of the scriptures stopped, however, it didn't seem to matter to her as she proceeded to walk towards Ardor.
"How do you feel, little boy?" She muttered as she inspected Ardor like a specimen. "I've already taken you to the infirmary, but do tell me if you feel any pain on you?"
"Infirmary?" Ardor asked,
The woman smiled, "It's where people who get hurt go. After what you witnessed and did, I'm rather surprised at how calm you are."
Ardor stilled. The woman's familiarity was of no question anymore, as the memories that happened to his family resurfaced like the raging waves of the ocean. His mother pausing her cooking to answer the knocking on the door. The sudden screaming followed by darkness. The man's bloodied hands clinging to his lips.
Tears started to pour from his eyes as more details were remembered, "Mom! Dad! My dad!? Where's my dad!?"
The woman's expression softened before she patted him softly on the head, "I'm sorry for reminding you, little boy. Thanks to you he's very much alive but he's in a coma."
"What is there something wrong?! Did I not do it properly?!"
The woman pursed her lips, "That's hard to answer."
Ardor lowered his head in frustration.
"It's alright my boy. Remember thanks to you, he's still alive." The woman said, "Do you even know what you did?"
Ardor shook his head.
What happened to him? It was a mess of emotions and feelings. The feeling of power surging in his veins. The feeling of fire in his body freely manipulated like toys. The feeling of killing a man.
That thought made Ardor freeze for a second, before tightening his tiny fist in anger. There was no guilt, no fear, just pure rage.
"Who did this!? Why!? Why us!" Ardor seethed,
Before he knew it the bed sheets around his palm started to get burned, and yet the woman beside him didn't get alarmed at all. Instead, she looked at him emphatically, and at that moment Ardor found that he had lost control of his body. He couldn't move at all.
"I understand your frustrations child," She said, "But with the powers you wield you must learn to be calm and rational at all times so that you won't hurt anyone accidentally, even yourself."
She smiled and raised a finger, "From now on, I will take care of you and train you until you can control your powers, so calm yourself down, because be it revenge on the Cult of Sin or to heal your father, I will help you."
Ardor took heavy breaths until the rage in his heart hid away rather easily. For now, he distracted himself with his fascination with the woman's powers. Once the woman saw the calm on his face, the force holding his body seemed to fade away.
"How did you do that?" Ardor mumbled once he regained control of his body.
"I'll tell you but you better keep it a secret," the woman winked, "I put a curse on you when I touched you."
"Can I do stuff like that?" Ardor asked,
The woman laughed, "No, but you can do so much more than I can. But only and only if you decide to train here with me. At least until your father wakes up."
Ardor scrunched his brows together, "What can I do?"
"You are a priest, but not only are you a priest, you have another ability as well which from what we've seen seems to be the element of fire." The woman said with sparkling eyes, "Maybe you don't know what it means to be like you but to put it in perspective there has never been anyone in the history of humanity capable of wielding divine power and mana."
Ardor barely understood what she meant. It only made him more confused, as she seems to be having expectations of him that from Ardor's perspective comes from nowhere.
Seeing the thoughtful expression on Ardor's face, the woman decides to leave, "I know this is a sudden decision to make, so I'll leave you by yourself for a while, okay?"
Ardor nodded. Once he was left alone, there was nothing but silence. But only for a second.
'You should take her offer child.'
Ardor looked around, scanning the room even though he had a hunch that the voice came from nowhere else but his head. There was nothing in the room but him, after all.
"Are you my imagination?" Ardor asked genuinely,
The voice in his head was a kind one, however, Ardor found it hard to wrap around his head that this wasn't some kind of mental illness.
'Thank you for thinking of me as kind child,' the voice chuckled, 'But please do not refer to me as your imagination. My feelings are bound to be hurt.'
'You can read my thoughts?' Ardor said, or rather thought, with a troubled expression.
'Yes, I can, for I am a part of you now.'
'Can you explain to me who exactly are you now?' Ardor asked as he lay down completely.
'I am God.' The voice said, 'In this life, I will lead you to greatness and always accompany you to whatever you desire.'
'How exactly will you help me' Ardor pondered, which merely elicited laughter from the God.
'I'm already helping you as we speak child. You may not have noticed it but I have stabilized your emotions. Now you will never be burdened by troublesome feelings such as depression.'
This explained why Ardor wasn't as grief-stricken as he thought he would be considering his father was in a coma and his mother had just died. Ardor could still feel the sting of grief and a mountain of rage towards the Cult of Sin but it wasn't as crippling as it should be.
'Aside from that I can give you information, information that would put you ahead of others and reap you enormous amounts of benefits.'
'Wouldn't that basically be like cheating' Ardor asked,
'Child, nothing is fair in this reality and it's best you know that now at an early age.' The voice paused for a second. 'Now listen to my first piece of advice as your teacher, Synthia, is about to return. Take her offer and you begin the journey to become the strongest, to avenge your mother.'
Not even a minute passed before the door to the room opens and Synthia entered, She looked at him and smiled.
"Have you decided?" she asked as she sat down on the side of his bed.
Ardor seemed to ponder, but only for a second as he nodded. Synthia's smile seemed to grow wider, "That's a great decision, little boy. From now on I am your mentor and you are my student. Welcome to Last Hope Ardor Withers!"
This was all happening too fast for Ardor, but it wasn't overwhelming. Just as God said this was the very first step to getting revenge on the Cult of Sin. It was a vow to himself and his parents. A vow that he will be the strongest to avenge them.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone