Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

"Now focus your mana through the bow, to the arrow."

My plan of espionage to the town failed as Lianne caught me and dragged me back to the training grounds. 

Yup, she was definitely worse than the devil, no doubt about it.

"Hey, no slacking off!" she yelled.

She was teaching me how to imbue arrows with magic. I pulled if off during my fight with Xerphas, so I didn't think it'd be hard. I couldn't have been more wrong. I couldn't even imbue it on spot let alone fire one and keep the mana intact. How the hell did I pull it off back then, anyway?

Lianne slapped her forehead and frowned. "And here I thought you might actually have been my best disciple: a prodigy even. At least you're one saving grace is you don't crack under pressure."

I'm pretty sure I crack more than your typical guy, though. 

"You've had disciples before?" And more importantly, hadn't she said something about me not having any talent for bows?

"Of course how long do you think I've been alive?"

"Actually I don't know." I was rather intrigued to know too. 

"You see-"

"My lord! I have returned!" Brice butted in at the last moment. 

I tried to ask again but- "I'm still listening-"

"My lord! Here!" Ever since I made this guy my personal bodyguard he got louder and louder, becoming a pain. In his own words, 'I'd never doubted you, Sir!'

I sighed. 

He'd brought something big in a crate. 

"What?" annoyed, I asked.

"I've brought you your armor. Sir!" He was more than just excited. He was basically jumping around like a kid.

Armor? I don't remember- "Lianne?"

"Your armor broke down, so I ordered one custom-made for you." Lianne flashed a nervous smile. 

I suppose I can't run from this forever. 

But honestly the thought of breaking armor every time I got into a fight was kind of depressing. "How much did it cost?"

"The guild covered it. They said to take it as an offering of goodwill."

"Yeah right." If the guild was involved then that meant they had their own profits for giving this to me. I didn't want to think too much about it though.

I opened the crate. A solid armor of red and black. It looked like something out of a power ranger's show. But with a little more aesthetic. Kind of like those dragon mails in the fantasy games. The sharp edges and rough design reminded me of dragon scales. 

I might actually have to thank them. They did a pretty solid job. 

Did I forget to mention, I was a fan?

"Not bad." I took the top half and looked at it. It was surprisingly light too. Not lighter than the one I was wearing before the fight but definitely light.

"We must have a different opinion on fashion then." Lianne rebuked me with a pretty smile. I couldn't fault her though. "There's a letter in here." She pulled out something beneath the other half of the armor and started to read. 

"Dear Daarc.

I know we're like brothers but I'm afraid I'm a girl, so please feel free to call me your sister. Big sis Jori will always love you-"

"What the hell!?" I was really caught off guard by the letter. My whole body shivered and I felt a sudden chill.

Lianne giggled. "Most of it is just stuff like that. Okay here's an interesting part. 'I will forever remember you. I really will. I believe what we have is something beautiful. Something even others would be jealous of. Especially that-" She stopped, looked at me, and smiled. "Can I just rip this apart?" Her voice leaked hostility and pure murderous intent. 

I guess what was written there was something extreme. Lianne was pissed beyond belief. "Anything about the armor?" It was more of a plead than a question.

She sighed. "It's made from dragon scales so it should be good." She wasn't interested in the slightest.

"That's it?"

"You really want me to read this on?" She flashed the piece of paper in front of me and smiled.

"I-I'll pass. Give to Brice. He seems eager enough."

On that note, Brice was actually drooling over the armor. Good thing half of it was on my hands or I didn't know how many washes they'd need.

I was still going to wash them though.

"Hmm, what's this?" There was another letter beneath the rest of the armor. I picked it up like I was picking up a bomb or something. The paper and aesthetics seemed a little different so I opened it. 

Be cautious. We don't know what the enemy might have done!

Okay, that was an exaggeration but still.

"Lord Daarc,

This is a rare armor. It was made from the scales of the Grand monster of Heavenly Dragnoid Mountains. The quality is on par with the best this country has to offer if not better. Big boss told me you were an expert in imbuing your armor in mana. In that case, this is probably the best armor ever for you. You can make it light, hard, or even heavy depending on your mana control. It is something that the duke should wear, at least I believe this. The letter big boss wrote might have had weird things in it, so I decided to let you know. He really likes you. Normally he'd have sold this and made a profit instead. But he gave it to you. Please make good use of it and continue to do good deeds on behalf of the guild and the country.

Yours only, 

Ravine."

Yours only? Wait, who the hell is Ravine?

And it wasn't like they were just giving it to me for free. And the materials were mine, to begin with. After all, the dragon left the scales for me, probably. 

But I still liked the armor, so all was good. 

"I think that might be one of the top adventurers of the guild," Brice answered when he saw my utter confusion: could this guy read minds or something? "But I must say, even if you're the duke, I'm really jealous of this armor, Sir!" 

"I suppose I'll conclude our training here for today. But I would prefer you not slacking. I have to drill the basics of using a cane into you as well." Lianne sighed with an exaggerated face. "If only you weren't so average when it came to anything other than swords! Why do I see so much similarity between you and that damn brat Jowy? Honestly, you two are from the same feather. But you have way less time than him." Lianne massaged her temples. 

"Brat? You mean you're older than him? And what the hell do you mean? I'm nothing like him!"

"Yes?" She ignored my other question.

I squinted my eyes.

If Jowy's three hundred then…. Holy shi- "Ho-How old are you, Lianne?" 

I'd been wondering it for a long time. But this time, I was a little afraid to ask.

"1527 this year, why?" Lianne answered, a face straight as hell.

And then there was silence. 

I and Bryce stood there, completely dazed.

Huh?

***

Dinner was actually very nice. We had old cheese for- old cheese? Old cheese!? Old?

***

I went to bed early in the hopes of forgetting about age and lifetimes.

Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. She's not that old. Elves age faster. And a few hundred years is nothing. 

Ha ha ha ha…..

I couldn't sleep a wink.

***

"Why do you look like that?"

We were having breakfast.

"Nothing. Nothing happened. Nothing at-" I couldn't even talk. My speech faltered and my eyes were very heavy.

"Well something happened, that's for sure," Lianne said.

I smiled and looked at her with pain-stricken eyes. I sniffed and almost apologized for overthinking such simple things. But I didn't.

"It's really nothing. Don't worry about it." How the hell was I supposed to tell her that I lost sleep over worrying about her age? Honestly, it was so stupid that I was embarrassed. But there was another reason for that. I also felt a little sad. She lived all these years. She searched for all these years and yet when she found her answer, she learned she was wrong all this time. I couldn't even imagine what she went through.

I felt weak, ashamed, and sad. I was a hot mess of emotions.

"We were supposed to leave after breakfast, but why don't you get some sleep? We'll leave in the afternoon." She cupped my hands and smiled.

"I think that might be a good idea. I can't keep my eyes open." I was literally falling asleep for a few seconds every now and then. I really needed a break. "But Lianne, are you okay? I mean you've been searching for so long-"

She stopped my lips. "I had a feeling you were worrying about that." She smiled. "But don't worry. I'm not over it, but I think I've taken the right step forward."

I went to bed afterward. My mind was still occupied with loads and loads of emotions but at least I got to see Lianne smile. 

Even if she was sad when I saw her smile my mind was kind of at ease.

And so, I erased the age part from my mind.