1358  Kindness to All

Deluge disappeared from sight as his eyes turned to stone as well. Arthur felt no pain, only a cold chill spreading through his entire body. He began wondering how much time had pa.s.sed, but he could never tell. He could not understand what was happening, but he knew it was a challenge to escape this place. His wrath flared, but it was like throwing cotton candy into a river—disappearing without a trace. Then, Arthur saw a light in the darkness. He advanced toward the light until he found a door. The door led him to a pavilion of sorts, where dew fell from a tree, causing ripples in a pond. "Who is there?" asked Arthur as he walked inside. The door closed behind him. A man stood beneath the tree, watching the ripples in the water. His frame was tall and muscular, but he wore simple clothes. "Who are you?" Arthur asked. The man turned around, his expression stoic. Arthur did not recognize this simple man, but somehow, he could feel a connection in his blood. The wrath inside his soul yearned for this man, even though Arthur was its current master. "You must be me… my descendant," the man muttered as a smile appeared on his face. "It seems my children will live on after my death." "You are… Ragnar Netherborne," Arthur muttered in confusion as he took a step forward. "You look different than I expected." "What did you expect?" Ragnar asked with a smile. His skin was rough, his lips were cut, and his eyes were hollow as if he hadn"t slept in ages. "Did you expect someone more extraordinary?" "A little, yeah, because I"ve heard so much about your feats." "It"s not my feats I want you to learn about, but my mistakes," Ragnar said with a smile. "I"m no more of a man than any other you can find on the street. I was chosen as the King of Wrath because I could handle it, not because I could wield it." Arthur stood in silence, staring at the man who looked back at the pond. He began wondering where he was and why he was seeing Ragnar now. Just moments ago, he had been fighting Deluge, who used a strange sword against him. "Take a seat, son. This will take a while," Ragnar said as he turned toward Arthur. "I can explain everything before it"s too late." "How about you start with where we are?" Arthur asked with a frown. "You already know that we are in the Stone of Patience," Ragnar replied with a smile. "After my death, I infused a part of my soul into the Virtue of Patience. My plan was to reside here until someone else suffered the same fate." "You knew that the sword would be used against your descendants?" "Of course, I knew. Wrath is inevitable. Most who dream of sealing it use this sword. I knew that wrath would rise again, and that the sword would be the first thing the G.o.ds use." "That means… you are a fraction of your original self stored within the Virtue of Patience?" Arthur asked in confusion. "If you weren"t here, what would I have gone through?" "After being cut by the sword, the victim experiences a h.e.l.l of time. A single second can equate to a millennium inside this darkness. All wrath dies with time, and your hatred dies with you. Most of those who experience this either end up dead or insane." "A millennium?" Arthur asked with a frown. "Why isn"t wrath working against this place? It used to work against everything." "Wrath is a feeling, and time is the enemy of feeling. Happiness, sadness, hatred, and even love fade with time. The sword is the embodiment of time. Our perception of time expands until there is no wrath left." Arthur felt confused, lost, and a little scared. If he was indeed going to spend a millennium in this place, what would happen to his feelings? What would happen to his memories? "I need to leave this place." "If that were easy, I wouldn"t be here," Ragnar said, looking at Arthur with a smile. "Take a seat, and tell me your name." "My name is Arthur Netherborne," Arthur replied with a frown. "I cannot rest until I leave this place. Everyone is waiting for me." "No one is waiting except for you," said Ragnar as he turned back to Arthur. His black eyes seemed to hold infinite s.p.a.ce and time within them. "You are the only one who will suffer from waiting." Arthur clenched his hand into a fist. How could he allow himself to be cursed like this? A single time wound was more than enough to imprison him forever inside this s.p.a.ce. What about Diana, Oriole, Julia, and Li? What about Oren and Rain, who were fighting against Kar? "If you want to save them, then you have to learn," Ragnar said, making Arthur snap out of his spiral of despair. "If you want to save the people that you love, you need to be human again." "I am human." "As far as I can see," said Ragnar with a smile. "You are a humanoid creature, mimicking the feelings of a human. You have yet to understand what wrath is and how you could use it." "I have already tamed the Kingdom of Wrath," Arthur objected. "You have tamed the seas, but how can you use them with just two hands?" Ragnar replied as he walked closer to Arthur. "I left my soul in this place for one reason, Arthur Netherborne. I waited for countless millennia to meet you and teach you the truth." "The truth about what?" "About wrath, creation, and the reason that Devaheim must be destroyed. This is our last chance to kill the G.o.ds. If they defeat us again, then there is no future for us." Arthur was silent as he stared at the man. His attire was simple, and his expression was weary. But in his words, Arthur sensed a certain wisdom. A wisdom that only time could teach, and there was something more—a kindness to all things that exist.