Ancient Pasts - Tbate

Brotherly Squabbles

Cathan Leywin Pov

Virion, Ellie, Arthur, Tessia, Uriel, my mother, and I sat around a table with red eyes. Tessia kept staring at Arthur with longing. Sylvie and Azrael weren't here since Azrael wanted to be the one to ask her to choose who to join.

Athena was in her so-called sleep mode since Dragoth destroyed most of her arrows, which she couldn't absorb back, meaning she had to recreate them entirely.

Arthur and Tessia locked eyes with a smile etched on their faces. Seeing that, Virion and I looked at each other and nodded with a smirk.

We're going to tease them so much.

"I'm not sure where to start." Arthur sighed, breaking the silence.

"Starting from the beginning seems to be a common point in storytelling, so how about you start from there?" I taunted.

"Alright." Arthur nodded before taking a deep breath.

Arthur started to explain everything about his journey in Alacrya. From waking up in the relictombs to fighting the chimeras, forging an aether core, fighting the rodents, it was then that Regis stopped him.

"This is my favorite part." Regis hummed.

Arthur glared at Regis. "After killing the rats in the lava stream, I walked through the portal and-"

"Lies!" Regis and I exclaimed in unison.

"Don't. Say. A. Word." Arthur whispered through gritted teeth.

"Tell them about the lava bath," Regis demanded.

"The lava what?" Ellie, Tessia, and my mother narrowed their eyes on Arthur.

Arthur sighed. "I took a bath in lava so I could make aether channels."

Ellie and Tessia pinched Arthur, but he didn't react. "I just told you, I took a bath in lava, so your pinches don't hurt."

"I don't think I like it when you don't feel pain." Tessia sighed.

I turned to face Uriel. "Uriel, do you have that thing?"

"Yes." Uriel nodded, handing me a dimensional ring.

"What's that?" Ellie asked.

"A gift for Arthur," I answered.

Regis' ears perked up. "Do I get one as well?"

"No." I shook my head before turning to Arthur. "Here. It reacts to aether as well, so no need to worry."

"Thank you?" Arthur took the ring.

"You're welcome," I smirked. "It's for you and Tess. Don't look inside it now."

'It's an engagement ring. It has a phoenix wyrm core, meaning it can save her life.' I mentally transmitted.

"Now, continue on with the stories." Ellie urged in an excited manner.

"Alright, alright." Arthur chuckled, giving me a grateful glance.

Arthur continued his story, explaining the platform zone and the destruction godrune. After that, Regis butted in to brag about the form he got from the godrune.

Arthur swiftly moved on, describing the convergence zone, where he met Caera. Tessia narrowed her eyes on Arthur when he said he saved Caera, but Arthur didn't notice. Later on, Arthur explained his fight with the colossal aether beast.

"I believe you're speaking of Manzil." Uriel paused Arthur's story.

"That thing has a name?" Arthur blurted out.