Read Novel Full Chapter 393: Fated Meeting
Chapter 393: Chapter 393: Fated Meeting
Chapter 393 – Fated Meeting
After quitting the Church of Sorrow to take the road toward the dungeon, Rea passed days outside with nothing but Einar and the world as companions.
Instead of taking any kind of transport — either carriage or teleportation to the nearest place close to the dungeon — she had decided to go on foot.
The reason for such a thing was one even Einar, the Disciple of Loss, didn’t especially expect.
"I only know the City of Pain and the City of Sorrow since the day I spawned in Fokay." Rea had said, her voice quiet and steady despite holding a faint note of sadness, "And mind you, Einar, I have been here for a little bit more than two years."
"So yes, I want to know a little bit more of this world. Let’s walk, and let’s prepare ourselves for whatever lies ahead at our destination."
To such words, Einar had felt nothing but blistering pity for her beautiful Rea. And in her cute attempt to lift her mind, she began to tell the few tales of Fokay.
Rea was not one to care about such folly. But every time there was a possibility to listen to any kind of tale, she would always ask about one being.
"The Golden Woman." Rea said giddily, "tell me about her, the one they say to be the richest being in the whole world."
Anything about money was something Rea would be eager to partake in.
Sensing her enthusiasm, Einar began to murmur inside Rea’s ears what she knew about the myth of the Golden Woman.
It was nothing much, Einar intoned, except for the fact that she was a young princess who lived in a very remote kingdom at the south of Fokay.
The princess was known to be lovely and gentle to all, a pure soul who didn’t hold into her eyes the riches of the world.
There were many quotes that people claimed she had said, the most famous one being:
"Running after the goods of this earthly world would blind one from what truly matters. Seeking nothing but ephemeral pleasures to fill a void in one’s soul would bare away the path to the heavenly world."
Many beings found truth in her words, yet others discarded her shallow thoughts with heavy disdain.
They whispered scornfully how easy it was for one born amidst riches to spit out such grand words!
A princess who knew nothing of the cruelty of the world. And any other thing she knew outside of her gilded palace were only names. Names she would believe to be nothing but fictional.
And yet,
"How strange," Rea had commented, as she sat on the back of a big deer, easing her sore legs after such long walks.
With her fear control, she could command even the mind of beasts to bind them.
Around her, nothing existed except forests of withered trees, their leaves all yellow.
"What’s strange, my beautiful Rea?" Einar had then inquired, curious about Rea’s thoughts.
"You are describing to me a being who didn’t hold money dear inside her heart. Yet she became — or rather, she is known — to be the richest being to ever exist in this world."
Her lips curled up into a whisper of a smile, "Isn’t that ironic? Or was she being hypocritical like any good ruler?"
"The story is not yet over, my beautiful Rea." Einar said, her voice like a giggle, "We have only spoken about the Golden Woman herself when she was young. Not yet about her family."
"What’s wrong with her family?"
"Her father, precisely." Einar intoned, "If the young princess didn’t care about money and instead wished for real connections and meditation, the legends didn’t say the same about her father."
"A greedy king, then? How typical. Nothing unusual." Rea snickered.
"Oh, it went even beyond that. Her father, Midas, was a man obsessed with gold. His obsession was so deep, so profound, that they said he begged for years and years to the gods for a power. A power to turn anything he touched into gold."
Rea had paused at that instant, inwardly surprised by such greed. But then her eyebrows knitted together.
"The gods would never accept such a thing." She said, "I might know only that bitch..."
Rea winced at that instant, feeling the goddess screaming inside her mind. She cursed her and continued smoothly her words,
"...but I know none of them would give such power to a mortal."
"Yet they did." Einar stifled a laugh, "The gods gave him the power. And can you guess what the first thing he did after obtaining what he sought so much?"
"Touching his own daughter, I guess." Rea easily connected the rest of the story.
"Of course, you are so delightfully smart, my beautiful Rea!" The Disciple of Loss chirped. Einar would not miss a single moment to show her affection for her master.
Rea always smiled and shook her head, now used to it. Still, she wouldn’t deny that she liked the attention of Einar. It was so uniquely twisted that it soothed her hollowed soul.
"Is that all? Is that because of that action that she became the richest?" Rea asked, still confused, "But then why did her father, Midas, not become known as the richest man?"
"Anything he touched transformed into gold." Einar said, "His daughter became a golden sculpture. But people say she was beyond mundane life, reaching a state of mind that helped her escape that golden cage."
Einar paused. She continued shortly,
"Her father was different. Seeing her as a golden sculpture, Midas, in his shock, touched himself. He became what he had always sought. Gold. Yet different from his daughter, he remained only a golden sculpture."
Rea slowly cocked her head from one side, then the other side, seeing something far away in the distance.
Her action was accompanied by the clacking sound caused by the rings knotted in her hair.
By now, she was back on foot. The forest of trees was replaced by some crude settlements and wandering beings with strange clothes.
"Is that the end of the tale?" She absentmindedly inquired, squinting her eyes, seeing far in the distance a forest of people behind a big, wide, black withered door.
"Yes," Einar said with a soft voice, "and it seems I am right on time. We have arrived at our first stop, my beautiful Rea after three days!"
"This is the Silver City you talked about?"
"Silver City? Not anymore, I have heard. It’s now called Black Dwells, named by the wolves themselves."
As if on cue, just as she arrived at the door, a very unique scent slapped Rea’s nose. A nonhuman scent.
Darting her ruby eyes, she began to see men and women with wolf-like features.
A smile crept onto her lips, and her red eyes shone with curiosity as, with more eager steps, Rea entered the strange city after a couple of lackluster protocols at the gate.
Just like that, she entered a big, wide tavern called The Howlers during her endless touring.
And in a series of ridiculous events, she found herself in the midst of a dance, her face bearing a smile as she experienced, for once, something not related to sorrow and pain.
There, Rea glimpsed for a moment what it was to live again like any other human.
Her heart somehow began to ease, yet there was still an edge of hollowness inside her.
Something that made her more like an observer of something joyful than the one living that joy.
Rea began to feel the creeping coldness of her heart, the drought that made her unable to connect to the people she was dancing with. To share their smiles and laughter. To share their bright eyes and flirty moods.
The more time passed, the more the loud music hammered inside her eardrums, and the more Rea began to realize that she had lost an important part of herself.
Leaving only a part marked like scalding ironfire with sorrow and pain.
Not being one to mourn something not meant to be mourned, Rea embraced her new self with hollow eyes.
It was at that instant that the music dropped, signaling a new partner.
Intending to stop this little dance, she observed her new partner to deliver her cold thoughts.
And oh,
BADUM—!
Her heart skipped a beat, then quickened dangerously in pace as her dilated eyes rested on the man in front of her.
She parted her lips to speak, finding out she was not breathing in the process, only to be beaten by the incredulous voice of her new dancing partner,
"Bloodyhell, gouge out my eyes and clean them with holy water. Is that really you, Rea Thornspire?"
Kaden’s voice echoed deep inside her mind.
His voice was different from the last time. No, he was different.
And yet...
Rea found herself smiling against her own will,
"Rea Thornspire herself, in the flesh." She smiled, feeling a sudden envy to laugh and dance, "Now, Child of Blood,"
She held his hands tighter,
"I hope you can dance."
The music increased in intensity as if feeling something.
Kaden’s mind couldn’t believe what was happening. Still, he smirked, showing his perfect white teeth.
"Shall we see?" He said, and then they danced.
The two promised had met. In a stinking, loud tavern filled with nothing but piss and shit of unruly wolves.
How romantic.
—End of Chapter 393—