Episode 12

As the door opened, both of them rushed in. He knew that the door won't be open all the time, as well the company he had was a bit suspicious as well. While keeping all these thoughts aside, he sped up in that dungeon. As they kept moving forward, there was a certain force that was pulling them in. When they finally reached the core, there was a strange radiance emitting from a box. Along with that box, there was the statue as well. He unhesitantly took the statue, but he couldn't just turn around from the mysterious box. He tried taking a closer look but couldn't figure out what it was. After thinking a while he opened the box, to his surprise, there was only a parchment lying inside. As soon as he opened, the parchment flew up in the air and the letters started appearing on it. It was written that 'the holder of the artifact must note that great actions come with greater consequences. The artifact is a piece of a greater game, hold onto it and you'll be enlightened'. After the final sentence was read by them, the parchment burned up and the radiance from the box vanished as well.

'Strange! What consequences? What greater game? Is it related to the seal or something?' just as Theodore was thinking a shadow emerged out of nowhere and looked at Theodore. "I can't believe the plane chose someone weak and insignificant as you, but if the plane chose you that means you are special. I'll be watching over your progress, try to impress me. But you must note, as time will progress you must evolve into something greater." Saying this the shadow disappeared with a strange laugh in the darkness and a giant crack appeared right where that shadow was. 'What was that? And what is this crack? Damn!' as he cursed he realized a formidable force was sucking in both of them. Theodore was struggling with the force while the latter just let him get sucked in. With a shocked expression he realized there really was no gain by struggling as the force was quite formidable, he could only get sucked in. As he got sucked in, the inside of the crack seemed like a portal. It was twisting and changing constantly, at a point it all got extremely bright and suddenly he found it at the entrance of the dungeon. He was forcefully teleported out and thus with a thud, he fell on the ground only to find Aeneas stuck on a branch of a tree upside down. 'Clearly the luck isn't on his side' Theodore thought of this as he chuckled. He helped the latter climb down and get back on the ground. Aeneas burst into tears causing Theodore to frown a bit.

They both sat on the ground to catch their breaths, as they did Theodore started evaluating the things he heard inside. 'What game that shadow talked about? And the seal is weakened! Isn't that a grave matter? But still, I didn't get the meaning behind the consequences. And who was that person?' These thoughts made Theodore scratch his head. 'Maybe there is something I'm missing, a link perhaps. I need to solve it one by one.' He started thinking. As he was busy thinking, Aeneas took a mediating position that caused him to suck in some sort of energy at a visible rate. Theodore looked at him in awe but later, went back on thinking about the stuff.

Just as everything seemed quiet, a slap suddenly fell on one of the cheeks of Theodore causing him to roll a few times on the ground. There was a sharp pain and his vision was blurred for a while as well. Just as he opened his eyes to see who dared to sneak attack him, he was dumbstruck. Vivian was angrily looking at him as his sister was holding her laugh in the back. He was looking at Vivian with an awkward expression. "Do you understand what we went through to get here? You leave without telling anyone and don't plan as well. What would we have done if something bad happened to you?" She seemed like a mother scolding a child. No wonder His sister was bursting with laughter. But when he saw a drop of a tear falling from her cheek, he felt her pain. "That's your girlfriend?" A voice suddenly ruined the mood. "Who the hell is this old man?" Merida angrily asked Theodore, after Aeneas interrupted the situation. "Old Man! Arboria certainly has some beautiful ladies, and kids" After being provoked, he looked at Merida and commented in a mocking tone. "Hya, Kid! Should I show you what this 'Kid' can do huh?" Now the anger was visible on her face. Though Theodore interrupted both by jumping in. "Sister! We don't want to start a fight on search and rescue right?" Vivian asked her in a gentler tone. "Humph, that thing aside, I don't really like him at all. He can get lost." She looked at him as he was nothing before her eyes. "Sister, you don't know how powerful a guy he is, he single-handedly killed 8 soldiers, he might be helpful." Theodore jumped in the conversation as he sensed anger boiling up in his short-tempered sister. "Ha! You don't need to exaggerate my achievement." Aeneas waved his golden-brown hairs with a self-praising posture. "Killing a few cockroaches won't turn a tiny kitten into a tiger." Merida was clearly mocking him in a ridiculing tone. "Did she say a kitten?" Aeneas turned somewhat serious. Theodore thought his sister may have pushed on her joke a bit too much. But then to his surprise Aeneas suddenly fell on his knees crying, "I always wanted one, to pet. But they'd run away every-time I approached them. Is there no way? Is there?" His words made Theodore question his own decisions. "Well, I was at least able to befriend a few astral beasts." As he said Theodore was startled. 'Astral beast? Did he tame such an existence? And not one but more?' just as he was thinking Vivian spoke, "Actually we came across one and…" Before she could complete Aeneas jumped towards her, and asked her in excitement while holding her hands, "Where? How did he look?" "Here he had such a similar horn." As Merida threw that piece of horn in his hands, he turned silent. "How?" Theodore almost fainted by looking at it, it was a freaking Astral Beast that most legends were unable to fight off easily. "Well, he was just a child. What? Did it hurt?" She looked at Aeneas in a ridiculing way. Theodore thought the things might turn bad but, the later suddenly fell to the ground when he noticed something. There were traces of berries on that horn. "So it was that bastard who used to ruin my berry farms. Thanks, kid! Otherwise, I might have killed you for killing my pet." As he said it casually, apart from Theodore, no one felt a chill in his words. Merida threw a glance at him in a strange way and asked Theodore about the things that happened inside.

After a while Theodore shared his information except for the words of parchment, he felt it was not the time to think over something he might not get involved in. After hearing their story, Merida froze. "Our ancestors were God? Did you meet them? And the seal on the hell's get has weakened! And you encountered the soldiers as well?" She was still recovering from these pieces of information, "We need to hurry back to the palace and inform the king, I hope we are not late." she suggested to which Theodore nodded. He looked at Aeneas in a questioned look, "Want to join?" "Nah I got to go collect some important stuff." As he mentioned it with a mischievous look, Theodore understood that he was talking about his berries. "And there's someone I need to meet as well" Now his tone was serious. "Who?" Theodore asked inquisitively. "An old friend."