Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 570: A journey to the east (2)

But for some reason Elkar did not feel worried about it. The moment the orb enters his body, he had the confidence that his instinct would lead him to them.

This is ancient magic of tracking. That is what he felt as the orb enters his body. This feeling is instinctual

This is the reason why when one is given a revelation by the divine relating to the location of something, one did not need a map or a marker to let them know

The forces of the world would conspire to let the quester to find the things that they were looking for, guiding the instinct of such a person toward the location.

Then Elkar shakes his head like he just awakened from some kind of lucid dream. 

Opening his eyes, which he did not even remember closing, he saw that in front of him, there is no longer Astiel and Jurgan.

He looks at the air around him. Even though Astiel and Jurgan is no longer there, at least, he was sure that Astiel and Jurgan was there just a couple of moments ago.

He could still see the ripples of air above his head. It was not long since they were gone, Elkar thought to himself.

Now, it is only him alone. 

'heh' he thought to himself.

In the distance, the sun is showing its face. Light shines upon the world and the Darkness receded

Morning has come to the Shadowlands

There is no longer Darkspawn all around the ruins of Alendar. The moment Light shows its face, these Darkspawn all hide inside the Void, not daring to show their faces

They would wait for the opportune moment. But the mutilated corpses of the people of the Vergonian tribe is still all around

Some of them were hollowed out by the Darkspawn. 

Some of them were left only with bones that still have some meat on them while some of them were half finished food for the Darkspawn.

Elkar could see the destruction that has been wrought and the death that he has incurred upon these people

And like before, his heart is screaming that this is wrong.

He sighed deeply. 

Silent and quiet, Elkar walk away from the edge of abyss. His heart seems to guide him toward the Knights.

'Magical' he thought to himself. 

The methods of Astiel is truly magical and ingenious. 

Even though the vision helped, it did not help much if he were to rely on it to seek the whereabouts of the Knights of the Round Table. 

But with this kind of instinctual magic, as long as he walks forward, his heart would guide him

He accepted the orb and he wondered if he would be punished. 

He fears that Morningstar could read his thoughts and knows that he has been in contact with Amara when the Orb enter into his body

But there is no Dark Things that come to swallow him. 

There is thunder striking him. 

And there is no fire that burns him. Either Morningstar knew and pretended not to, or Amara have powers to conceal the meeting between him and her.

He wondered which one is the truth. He should really not underestimate Amara, he thought to himself.

Elkar sighed and then he uses transformation magic to turn himself to look like humans. 

The horns are hidden by illusion magic and he even changes his appearance. It took him only a few seconds to transform himself.

He now looks like a sturdy middle age man. With broad chest and rugged face with muscly arms, he looks like one of the strongman of the tribes.

His beard and his hair is styled with Elflock.

He even added some tattoos on his skin like those people of the tribes and he did not forget to create the same kind of birth red marks on his back.

He went to one of the potholes on the ground. 

There is a clear water on that pothole. 

There are a few red marks on the edge of that pothole, the signs of battle badly fought.

Not far away from that is the flesh and meat of some humans and the flesh of a Darkspawn. 

All kinds of shield and weapons all scattered about around the area

He looks at the reflection himself on that pothole water and nodded to himself

He had transformed himself quite perfectly. 

There is no trace of his horn whatsoever, no flaws that would lead people to question whether he is human or a Demonkind.

'Attention to details' he reminded himself. 

He saw one of the strand of his hair is a different color than the rest and he wipe that hair with his hand and that strand of hair changes to black

'Now, it is perfect' he thought to himself. 

He imagines that he would feel very aggrieved if he was caught as a demon because of one strand of hair

Astiel is many things. 

He is a bit obsessive in awakening Morningstar, but one thing that Elkar could truly compliment about Astiel and means it with his heart is that Astiel is a great teacher

He could nurture such a person like Elkar who had no magic to someone that is so adept at transformation magic that no one would be able to see through his disguise unless one has some divine means.

If Elkar had such ability during the scheme against Arakath and the Human kingdoms, he wonders how easy it would be to create internal strife among the human kingdoms by disguising as one of the people of some barony and incite war and enmity

"If" he thought to himself. This kind of "if" must not be thought regularly. It is not good for his mental health he thought to himself.

He walks away from the Ruins. He did not rush himself. Since he is walking guided by feelings, he needs to take his time.

The destination was clear to him. 

The instinct aided him but there was no denying the words he heard when he was in that vision.

One of the Knights suggested going to participate in the strife of the Three Kingdoms. 

Hearing this, and then taking the task given to him by Morningstar, he could not help but feel that there is a divine will that is pushing him toward Amara.

To pass through to the Three Kingdoms, to walk through the Crystal gate and the Wall of Repentance, one must pass the Godstree.

And in the Godstree, there is a Goddess that he wanted to see and meet. 

'A divine will' he thought to himself. 

If this was before, he would scoff at such thought. But here, he was not so sure. Old Gods and Old Stories come alive here.

He was reminded of it many times, from the people of this land and from the two heavenly demons themselves, but nothing could give him that feeling more than what he is experiencing right now

Now, he is in the last bastion of the Gods. So, he needs to behave. Divine beings are here and they are listening.

'The Godstree, huh. No wonder Astiel send mere there and not going there by himself.' Elkar thought to himself as his feet keep driving him walking forward. 

In the beginning, before the Darkness spreads, Astiel and Jurgan could still hover around the Godstree. 

But as the Darkness grew denser, the power of the tree become even more powerful

It is the bursting of life before death. That is what Astiel said to him

When the three Godstree wither, that would mean war between Asrana and Vasir.

Because of this, while Amara chain become even more powerful, Astiel could also not come near her

He was not too sad about it. 

From what Astiel told him. 

Amara had no intention of ever revealing the location of the sword to them, no matter how many times, he tortured her. 

And Amara is not a divine being that Astiel could kill. As the champion of the Battle of the Gods in the ancient time, Amara is eternal

She could not be killed. If there is a way to kill her, only Morningstar would know. But while Astiel could not kill her, he could seal her and chain her to that tree

Even though this did not prevent Amara from doing some moves on the sly, it restrained her greatly from interfering with Astiel plans and interfering with the destiny of Morningstar.

Of course, Amara also possess the Stone of Time and Space. To Astiel, the sword in the stone was more important to him that the Stone of Time and Space.

For some reason that Elkar did not understand, Astiel is not that worried about trying to find the Stone of Time and Space

Not to mention the power of repulsion by the nearby Crystal Gate and the Wall of Repentance that is getting stronger by the day.

Out of the two, only Elkar would not be affected by it and that is why Astiel had no choice but to entrust the matter to him

Elkar then look at the opening horizon in front of him. There was the sandy desert in front of him.

His eyes are shining with determination. He had made his decision. And the moment he made that decision, his heart become calm.

A lost man that now found a path. How joyful it would be for him

'I would like to know whether you were speaking honestly or whether you were lying' he thought to himself. 

There is hope in his heart

There is nothing more joyful or more despairing to have hope. 

Because if this hope is true, then he would no longer be alone. And knowing that, nothing could explain this feeling of his

It is not happiness. It is not sadness. It is a feeling which could not be described with words.

How does one feel when finding out that they are not alone? That there is someone out there who was a family

It is a sister he never met but even the mention of it had lift his spirit up. Elkar is a person with great love.

Only such a person could have nurture such great hatred in his heart that he would scheme to have humanity eradicated.

The reason why hope is also a despairing matter is simply because if the words of Amara is nothing but a lie, how cruel it is for him. To be given hope and to be crushed of that hope?

Still' he said to himself but he did not finish that word. He clenches his fist. After all, his foot already walks ahead.

Then with this determination in his heart, he walks forward, guided by his heart.

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