Undying Warlord

"10,000 years? What…what the hell are you talking about?" Williams looked at the pained expression on Dilan's face, confused and not sure what to say.

"I can tell that you resent me a little bit. You don't believe that it took me 27 years to return to Milarn, and that is pretty much correct. I could have never spent only 27 measly years to finish the Trials I've been given. Add a zero or two, and we're much closer to the truth…" Dilan said, causing gazes of confusion and doubt to appear on the faces of the people around him.

However, Dilan didn't even pay attention to anything or anyone around him. He looked down at his hands and smiled bitterly.

"I could have rushed through the trials, and come back to you guys, without any gains and as the same weakling, I've been before I left.

You guys might think that I was strong at that time…but I saw the truth, that I was just one of the countless beings with a little bit of talent…I was not even special, if not for my Origin ability… I began to understand that it needs more than rushing through the Divine Mission to become stronger, to protect those I loved.

I was told that you guys will be fine until I return…and that was the truth because you guys are still alive…but even then, I felt miserable. For a very long time, I wondered how you guys were doing, if you guys were fine and whether I should just give up on my attempts to attain true strength and return home, or prepare for what would await us in the future…"

The joy of reuniting with his friends had disappeared out of Dilan's face and he couldn't even look at them anymore. Something deep down in his subconscious told him that they wouldn't understand him, the reason why he stayed inside the City of Trials while they had been fighting for their survival.

Did he care so little about them?

Was it more important for him to get stronger than the lives of his family and friends?

What if he had been lied to and all of them would have died? Would the strength and knowledge he attained make him happy?

Dilan grit his teeth and he clenched his trembling hand. For several seconds, not a single sound echoed through his surrounding area. There was nothing, not even the sound of the wind whispering through the plains.

"It was then…when I was told what the future has prepared for us…Veils…cracks in the Void were bound to open…and Veilures, existences with the weakest beings as strong as DemiGods, and the strongest towering above True Gods…like humans towered above ants before the Primordial Ascension, would emerge from the Veils…in masses, swarming our stellar system…the entire Universe… ready to devour everything…"

Dilan was not even sure what he was saying anything, let alone what he expected to hear from the others. His sight was blurry and his mind seemed to be blanking out. Everything seemed to lose its color the more he spoke and it took him a while until he could lift his head once again.

He wore a bitter smile on his pained face and looked straight at Williams, whose entire body was revolting at the sight of Dilan…the hurt and broken Dilan, who never showed itself in front of others, the Dilan nobody thought would exist.

"Tell me, Williams…what would you have done knowing all this? Knowing that one day in Milarn is an entire year in the City of Trials… that this places where the laws of times were twisted are the only place where I could use my meagre talent and the bit of determination to make sure that I could keep my promise…to keep everyone I loved protected…"

Dilan asked, gritting his teeth once again. His nails had already dug deep inside his palm and blood poured through his fingers before it trickled down to the ground. A small puddle of blood was formed before the blood seept inside the wet soil.

"What would you have done…?" Dilan asked weakly, his eyes empty…void of any emotions and seemingly without any will.

His empty eyes stared at Williams, whose legs gave in as he saw unimaginable pain, and something old…unfathomable, but equally damaged and pained deep inside Dilan's eyes.

He slumped to the ground, his eyes widened in terror, with only one question flashing through his mind.

"What…what the hell did you have to go through?..."

Nobody could confidently say that they understood what had just happened, or what Dilan said.

However, what they say for sure was that their last 27 years had been much easier than everything Dilan had gone through.

They might not be able to understand what was actually going on but they knew Dilan very well…and Dilan was not someone who crumbled easily, that was for sure.

"10,000 years…if that's true…just what did he have to go through in such a long time…" Sven repeated what Williams said, just as baffled as everyone.

Dilan turned toward the origin of the noise subconsciously, with no change in his expression and no sound escaping his lips.

"Is that even possible…10,000 years in 27 years…?" Kathrine asked, not doubting Dilan's words, but how it was possible for something like that to exist, in the first place.

"Did you think that it would ever be possible for us to throw thunderbolts through the air like some Gods in the fairytales you read to me when we were still small? The Primordial Ascension made the impossible possible…who knows what is actually impossible, or if something like that actually exists, in the first place?" Yvonne's voice was quiet but everyone heard her.

She approached Dilan, raised her hand lightly, and touched his cold cheek.

"I can see the death energy around you…I can tell what you've gone through. Don't worry, nobody hates or resents you. We were just worried about you, okay?" Yvonne spoke in a gentle and loving tone, with a proud smile on her face.

"You did amazing overcoming it all by yourself…now go, you deserve some sleep"

And just like that, darkness mantle Dilan and he fell asleep.