Return of the Fallen Volume 9 Chapter 26
Aziria could see the determination in Zephris’s eyes.
“Boy, it seems you’ve made up your mind. Although you are only eight, and the pressure is enormous, I know your mind well, you understand the consequences, don’t you?”
Zephris nodded.
“Being away from my family for a long time will hurt but it is something that I must endure. If I want to gain the appropriate strength, the best worldview, and as much knowledge as possible, I must follow you and endure the hardships. Endue the loneliness and all of the heartache.”
“Boy, even knowing that your future will be full of pain, you still think you can handle it?”
“Master, my father has trained me every single day for two years now. He’s beaten into me what it means to work hard and my mother taught me how to be patient with not only the world around me but with myself as well. With the hard work, I will push myself and with the patients, I will wait until I am ready bidding my time until I can protect those I wish to protect and see the truth of this world with unclouded eyes.”
Aziria had known Zephris for just over two years now and even now such an answer surprised him and made him feel proud to call this boy his student.
“So you say you can endure the harsh world and patiently wait until your ready but can you follow my every word, my every teaching as if it is law, can you follow someone who’s a monster?”
Zephris went quiet for a moment before shaking his head, which in turn surprised both Chela and Grek. Grek once again felt his anger welling up but after what Aziria said about his actions affecting Zephris, Grek didn’t yell or shout and calmly as possible asked.
“Son this is your Master. Of course you will follow his every command. What are you saying no for?”
“Father, if I simply follow every word of his, then that would merely make me a puppet. Teacher has said that he will show me the truth of the world and teach me all that he knows but if I am a puppet I will only see what he wishes to show me and when he teaches me everything I will only know what he knows. I also have to figure some things out for myself. Anything that compromises that and it will already be going against the so-called truth that I must discover. Master, I hope you can understand that I am not being disrespectful but instead am truly trying to follow the right path.”
“I know your not disrespecting me but at the same time what path is it that you will walk.”
Zephris shook his head.
“I don’t know for sure but whatever it is it is my own. As for Master being a monster, I’d say what those soldiers did today, what they did to my family and the villagers, it makes them thousands of times more monstrous than you Master, by far. Your appearance doesn’t frighten me, instead, I think it’s really strong looking. I hope one day I can be stronger than even you master.”
Aziria nodded.
“That is an interesting way to put it. A strong-looking appearance, fascinating. Most would say I’m terrified to look at, something that would haunt one’s dreams but to you, I simply look strong. Very well young Zephris, I will show you the way but I will not make you walk it. I will teach you all that I know but also find others to teach you the things that even I do not have knowledge of.”
Grek didn’t expect his son’s answer and couldn’t help but grab his shoulder with pride. He didn’t know what to say afterward and just nodded to his son but for Zephris he needed no words to understand that his father was proud because that’s just the way his father was.
After the talk, Chela ushered Zephris up to bed. Gently tucking him in, she gave him a warm kiss atop his forehead, and just like that he was asleep. After everything he’d gone through, he had truly pushed himself to his own limits and then beyond them. Every muscle ached and everything was sore.
Aziria saw the boy spasming in his sleep from cramps and other aches and fed him a potion to help him recover before Zephris finally relaxed and was swept away into his dreams.
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Months later Aziria fulfilled his promise and took Zephris and his family to a protected place. To get there Aziria had taken them to an old ruin where he teleported them all away. Once His family was settled in, it was time for Zephris and Aziria to leave. Mom, son, and daughter balled their eyes out as they embraced. In the end, even Grek kneeled down and hugged his son, shocking Zephris to the core.
“Boy…Son, in this world some deserve mercy but that doesn’t mean you have to grant it and for those that don’t deserve it, snuff them out as quickly as possible. Remember these words and come back to us when it’s time. Be careful.”
Zephris felt a bit bitter in his heart. Even now his father couldn’t say the words but at the same time he knew what his father did say was a big step for him and he could live with that for now.
Afterward, Aziria led Zephris away back to Feya where they roamed the continent. Aziria was true to his word and taught Zephris all of his knowledge. He took Zephris all across Feya and introduced him to other teachers and experts in their own right who then passed on their own knowledge. Like this, Zephris grew into a young man.
He saw hardship and pain, beauty in life, and sadness in death. War, famine, everything his master said about the world was displayed in full effect. Zephris grew stronger and stronger but quickly found a limit to his own strength but alas his alchemy showed him the way.
Traveling the lands, Zephris was a young man now. Everywhere he went, he would help those in need. He healed those that couldn’t be healed and he did it for free. The two traveled and helped those in need. Killing monsters and beasts. Destroying those that harmed without mercy. He defended the weak and taught others himself. In time he became famous and was thought of as a saint. It didn’t stop there. He and his master together created many new things. They made a plant that could grow dozens of times faster without destroying the nutrients in the soil. Something that could feed the entire land. Aziria had never been prouder and part of his dream had happened.
However, these good times would not last. After introducing this new miracle food, those with tainted hearts became greedy. Even though Zephris and Aziria would give it out for free, Kings fought over it. They did not wish to see an unlimited supply of food in their enemy’s hands. The excuse was that food moved armies and the one who controls food can march an army across the entire continent. This was not something any king would stand for and very quickly they clamped down on any who tried to grow this miracle plant.
Bothe Zephris and his master Aziria became wanted in every kingdom for trying to upset the natural order and their miracle plants were destroyed and burned until there was nothing left. Neither Zephris nor Aziria could believe this was true. The rulers of humanity had in one fell swoop destroyed their reputation and destroyed every single miracle crop.
After Zephris and Aziria fled, things still did not stop there. After the spread of the miracle crop became popular, most of the farmers saw the plant as a cash grab of sorts and had abandoned most of their other crops. When the kingdoms outlawed the miracle plant, millions of acres of farmland were destroyed and burnt up to rid them of the plant. In doing so, the foolish kings overlooked their own food supply and within two years of Zephris and Aziria becoming wanted criminals, a famine overtook the entire continent.
With hope gone and the people on the brink of starvation, the Kings finally saw their wrongs but it was too late. Aziria had opened his heart over the years and his bitterness toward humanity was nearly fully gone. The moment humanity turned on him and persecuted him, hunted him, his bitterness returned and his heart was sealed. Except for Zephris, Aziria hated everyone and everything. He turned his back on humanity and its plight.
Zephris though, even after all of this, he couldn’t abandon humanity. Even after the betrayal of the kings, Zephris couldn’t just watch everyone else die. He had learned many truths of the world and one such truth was that no one asked for a king. No one asked to be ruled over and have their lives affected by bullshit reasons on a whim. He did not lay the blame on the people but instead on those that ruled the people. Because of that, he would not leave the people to rot as he still wished to make the world a peaceful place where his mother, sister, and father could be happy. Because of this, because he would not abandon humanity, Aziria and Zephris could no longer agree on the world and so, after 15 years as master and apprentice, the two split.
Aziria disgusted with the world, hid himself away in some mountain like a hermit, while Zephris, returned to humanity’s embrace.
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