Strings Of Domination

The entire island was blown by a gentle breeze that felt both peaceful to the mind and heavy to the skin. As for why, no one really knew, or at least not yet.

Nash and Aruer stared at each other for several seconds with neither of them talking, and only when the wind stopped blowing did the former moved and sat down, "I think it will be a long story so if you excuse me..."

Aruer smiled when he saw how casual did Nash behave before him and couldn't help but form an even wider and charmer smile on his handsome face. Just how long has it been since he met with someone who was this carefree before him, a being that lived decades and centuries and possessed enough power to conquer dimensions?

He did not know it as he had been in his current form for far too long to remember, but he clearly remembered that during the Ancient Era only a few were 'brave' enough to behave so nonchalantly around him.

"Such a refreshing yet familiar feeling..." Aruer closed his eyes as he leaned more against the tree's trunk as memories from the past flooded his mind bit by bit.

Although Aruer's eyes were closed and his facial expression was unchanged, Nash was somehow able to tell how Aruer's emotions altered from one to another despite not seeing his Indicator. It was pretty obvious that he suddenly became nostalgic, but as to what made him such as was unknown.

Nash waited patiently, not wanting to break the rare moment of Aruer who possible was sealed and imprisoned inside this mystical world for who knows how long.

Therefore, time ticked without seemingly any notice and seconds quickly turned into minutes, and gradually a quarter of an hour has passed invisibly!

"I really have been inside this separate world for far too long, huh?" Aruer mumbled quietly that if it not were the utter silence around the island may have failed to reach Nash's ear.

Nash watched silently as a hint of regret, sadness, and other negative emotions flashed through inside Aruer's eyes for a split second the moment he opened his eyes, even letting out a deep sigh that carried a kind of weight he could not wish to understand even if he lived for a thousand years!

However, just as things cease to vanish sooner or later with time, this hint of negativity and heaviness that currently surrounded Aruer quickly disappeared without any sign that it was there a few moments ago, and what replaced it was mind soothing calmness.

"Well then, let's see... Where should I start?" Aruer mumbled as he glanced at Nash and after a brief moment of pondering he smiled and began to talk, telling everything that Nash so far wished to know and understand.

As for Nash, like a little kid who was told a well-waited story after a long while he stayed motionless and noiseless as he listened to Aruer's voice that for some reason felt like it carried a kind of power that brought his words alive and allowing to see what happened in the past with his very own eyes!

Aruer talked without stop and only stayed silent when Nash had questions that he had to answer. But those moments were extremely few, could be said insignificant in the amount of time.

Hours flew in blinks and what seemed from the side as almost four hours was, in truth, in Nash's eyes only a few minutes at the very best! He was so immersed in the way Aruer told his story that he completely forgot about everything and only concentrated on his words as if he was some kind of addict!

There were several moments where he forgot to blink where his eyes ended up dry, showing just how engrossed he was in Aruer's tale!

"And that is how I ended up in this place and state, and this is why my race has to undergo so many hardships and suffering." Aruer sighed as he reached the end of his story, his seemingly solemn gaze flickering with numerous emotions at the same time.

Upon hearing that the tale reached its end Nash closed his slightly loosened jaw which opened several hours ago and began to recall the words of Aruer.

'So my guess was correct. Or at least half correct.' Nash thought in his heart with a solemn expression.

So far, because of the stone monument which he has seen back in the Emerald Palace, he believed that the Human Race was enslaved because of other races' fear and worry. Furthermore, he thought that the Ancient Path inside the Human Dimension was sealed for the first time because humans were prohibited from entering the Ancient Dimension or because an accident happened.

Though, it seems all these speculations were only half right and things ran deeper than the bottom of the deepest ocean in all dimensions!

First of all, according to what Aruer just said, the Ancient Path inside the Human Race was sealed not because the humans during the Ancient Era did something unacceptable and were prohibited from entering the Ancient Dimensions but because they were attacked by all the Ancient Races and were forced back.

Who were the Ancient Races? During the Ancient Era when only a few dimensions were opened and connected to the Ancient Dimension, fifteen race was able to rise to the very apex and rule over the Ancient Dimension in seemingly harmony.

Also, as each of these races had leaders, known as Alphas, there was ranking among them where their overall strength from one another was separated by simple titles such as the 'weakest' Ancient Fifteen all the way to 'strongest' Ancient One.

Naturally, while their title showed their difference in strength, at the end of the day even the weakest Alpha was capable of annihilating dimensions with a portion of their strength so it was not a wise choice to underestimate them just because they were called 'the weakest'.

As for Aruer, he, not so shockingly, was also an Alpha, and with also the title of the Ancient Second! Though despite having the title of the second, according to his tale he was just as strong as the Ancient One who he once thought abought as his own brother but in the end was betrayed.

As for why he was betrayed by the Ancient One and the rest of the Alphas and why was the Human Race pushed back to their own Dimension where their path back to the Ancient Dimension was sealed was something Aruer still failed to understand completely.

It was during their time exploring the Ancient Dimension's most scary and deadly domain, The Horizon. According to Aruer's words, the Ancient Dimension was an ever-growing dimension whose size always grew and never ceased to stop expanding, and its region where time, space, and matter seemed to be born, was exactly what was called The Horizon.

Though, while one would think that inside this so-called Horizon nothing would be able to live as space and time were so unstable that instant death would occur for anyone that reached it, turned out to be a hidden domain where someone or at least something was able to exist!

And after several hundreds of years of exploring, they found a massive palace that was able to oppose the primordial destruction of The Horizon! And exactly inside this palace which they succeeded to enter after another few decades of blood-shedding struggle, was the reason why he and the entire Human Race was attacked and enslaved!

Just because of a single scroll that only the Ancient One was able to read, the whole fate of the Human Race was turned over, becoming a literal living hell!

But thanks to Aruer's critical thinking, unfaltering decision, and terrifying power he possessed, he not only was able to bring his race back to the Human Dimension and seal the Ancient Path away but was also able to claim four Alpha's life in the process, unfortunately, none of them being the Ancient One.

As for what happened after that was pretty obvious. As the Ancient Path was sealed the Human Race was unable to strengthen their Legacy any further while those that were born afterward failed to obtain their Legacy.

Thus, once the Ancient Path was reopened, humans without any strength were like a flock of sheep before a pack of wolves, having no means to fight back against the races that invaded their dimension and sealed their fate seemingly forever.

As Nash rethought this part of the story from time to time, the more he too felt that several things didn't make sense. Like, why would the Ancient One decide to kill Aruer all of the sudden? Why was he the only one able to read the ancient scroll? What was inside the scroll? Also, even if something eerie was inside the scroll like a prophecy, why did all the other Alphas decide to join him instead of helping Aruer?

All these things were questions that Nash, just like Aruer failed to understand no matter how long he tried to think or what ideas came up to his mind!

They just simply made no sense at all! Or at least that was how they looked like from his perspective....