Extra And MC-Chapter 145 - 141 - Dreams Of A Long-Forgotten Past

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Getting out of a small cottage which was situated in the heart of the woods, an elderly woman nearing her sixties stepped on the cobblestoned pavement that led out into the darkness of the lush forest embraced by the night.

Surrounded by tall trees, lush green carpets of grass and the occasional wildflower sticking out here and there, the old woman, whose long flowing hair was the whitest of white, stretched like a female bear who had just woken up from the longest of slumbers.

And in actuality, that was really what happened.

’How long did I hibernate for this time?’ the old woman finally opened her sapphire blue eyes which ethereally glowed, a few wrinkles on her aged face scrunching up as she slightly frowned to herself.

A few fireflies gently danced about the small golden lamps attached to the side of her quaint cottage, the serenade of crickets filled the air, the owls hooted in the distance and the movement of few small creatures and critters could be heard due to the rustling of leaves.

This, along with other symphonies of natural and nocturnal sounds, gave a whimsical yet peaceful ambience to the environment around the cottage.

Just as the old woman was still pondering to herself, she suddenly whipped her head upwards and watched as a comet fierily streaked through the night’s star-studded skies, its radiance incandescent and its speed unparalleled.

Having an even deeper frown now surface upon her old and wrinkled features, the old woman watched as the comet which was accompanied by an otherworldly crackling sound, finally landed with a resounding boom, just a few kilometers ahead of her forest.

-BOOOOOOM!!!

The impact upon the earth’s surface immediately sent powerful gusts of billowing winds and tempest waves of debris and dust pushing everything around it away, totally obliterating every living thing in its vicinity whilst leaving a giant crater on the ground.

’I wake up for the first time in a thousand years and this is what I’m forced to respond to…’ the elderly woman squinted towards the distance the comet flashily and destructively landed on.

Slightly taken aback by the weird occurrence, the old woman soon disappeared from the front porch of her cottage and instantly re-appeared at the site of the destruction, gazing at the ground turned hot magma due to the comet’s aftereffect.

Despite all this, the woman still wasn’t surprised and instead, casually began to walk on the hot magma, her face unflinching considering the agonizing pain she should’ve been in.

And then, upon finally reaching the center of the crater where the cooled down rock should’ve been in, the old woman’s glowing sapphire blue eyes which had seen quite a lot of things in her thousand years on Arcanora, couldn’t help but widen her eyes in utter disbelief.

Occupying the center of the crater, just where the supposed rock of the comet should’ve been, a single creature stood there instead.

Her gigantic black yet severely burnt and injured wings wrapped around her like a cocoon and the armor pieces on her body slowly dropped to the ground from the obvious wear and tear of what seemed to be a long and arduous battle along with the obvious effect of her fiery impact onto the ground.

Slowly raising her open, helmet-clad head which also had a finely-crafted crown resting atop it, the Queen of Valkyries, without even caring about her own state, made a request to the very first human she had met.

"Please, Being of this planet… I beg of you… take good care of my children" she tiredly requested with her last breath and tears in her eyes.

Simultaneously, the being unfurled her gigantic wings to reveal four sleeping girls nestled within along with a singular large and gigantic golden egg.

Without even waiting for her response, the ethereal being gently slumped her head down, signifying her death…

Unable to even question the Valkyrie about what had actually happened, the old woman, despite not knowing the first thing about taking care of otherworldly beings, decided to honor her request and become a guardian to the four little Valkyries and the unborn fifth one.

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In the aftermath of a demonic onslaught, a once-thriving village lied in ruins, a haunting testament to the malevolent, dark forces that had left behind their indelible mark.

Dead bodies were haphazardly strewn across the destroyed landscape, an eerie silence pervading the ruined, smoldering and blackened hamlets.

The dark, disturbing residue of nether energy also hung in the air, casting an unsettling pallor and pervasive gloom in the air.

And yet, none of the inhabitants of the village were around to witness it, all of them brutally sent to the afterlife.

None, except a singular wandering old man whose black robes flowed in the eerie stillness of the wind.

In the backdrop of this entire devastation, the elderly man with his short-grey hair and glowing red eyes casually strolled through the remnants of the destroyed village, a complicated expression on his features.

’Although I’m just a wanderer, I have done my best to avenge you all…’ the man inwardly spoke to himself.

’I foresaw this coming and yet, I wasn’t able to be here in time…’ he continued with his inner monologue.

’But… I genuinely hope that your souls can rest in peace’ he further added with an offering of prayers, his thoughts running back to the multiple demons whose souls he had reaped in similarly brutal fashion.

Just as he was strolling past another destroyed hamlet, the old man with his keenest of senses, ever-so-faintly, picked up on the sounds of a muffled sob.

Already expecting this, he slowly turned around and began walking over to where the muffled sobs were coming from.

Walking over to the ruined hamlet, the man swiped his hands in a wide arc and immediately, a powerful gust of wind blew all of the destroyed remains of the hamlet to reveal a small trap-door.

-FWAAAM!

Gently squatting to open the trap-door, the man took a calm, gentle breath and then proceeded to finally open it.

Opening up the small trap-door, the old man’s merlot red eyes locked on to see a young child, presumably of five years, tightly covering his brother’s mouth who seemed a year younger, despair present in their teary and innocent young eyes.

Both brothers had snow white hair, interspersed with tiny strands of blue and their eyes were of a similarly deep blue color.

Upon realizing that the person whom had found them wasn’t the despicable and vile creature that they had come to despise, loathe and also fear, a genuine wave of relief washed over the two children as evidenced by the look of hope in their deep blue eyes.

But still, the trauma and scar of having to watch their parents be brutally and inhumanely murdered before their very eyes, didn’t leave the children as they were still very much shaken by the horribly haunting occurrence.

With a bittersweet smile now surfacing on his previously unreadable features, the old man gently carried the two children out of the tiny basement and began to console them.

There and then, one of the children, the older brother to be exact, spoke to the old man, his voice shaky.

"Sir… Are you powerful?" he quietly asked.

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"Yes, I am" the man gently answered while stroking the child’s hair.

"Then… can you make me… powerful too…" the boy quietly asked before he then gently shook his head and then requested this time more vocally, an incredible wave of hatred coursing through his very being.

"Please, make me powerful!"

"I understand" the old man gently nodded his head, walking off into the distance with the two children in his arms.

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The soft, golden rays of the early morning sun gently spilled into the hotel rooms of all the second-year cadets of Arcana Academy.

Most cadets remained in bed, unwilling to get out while some, considering they had finally completed their group quest just yesterday, were unable to even get out, still tired from the entire incident.

The members of Team X’s group though, weren’t even tired in the least and most of them soon promptly got out of bed, ready for the new day.

Flynn and Aiden were no different but, both of them, after getting out of their respective beds in their respective rooms, couldn’t help but have a vague feeling as if they had forgotten something really important.

Adding to that, was the weird dream that although they both had, were still quite unable to actually remember even the tiniest of details.

They both tried really hard to even remember what the things they saw were or was, but, in the end, it was all to no avail.

A few seconds later though, after realizing trying to remember wasn’t working out, they both decided to just go about their day, hoping that maybe, in due time, they’d be able to remember the weird dream.

But really, it wasn’t a dream…

No.

It was far, far from that…

Those dreams, although currently unknown to both youths, were memories...

Memories although weren’t theirs, were memories of a long forgotten past that was intricately intertwined with their previous lives and their current reincarnation.