The Hero's Pilgrimage

Chapter 12: Anguish

The Astral Peaks, once resonating with the clatter of armor and a sense of urgency, now embraced a quieter atmosphere. The crackling of a fire cast flickering shadows upon the faces of those who remained around it. Agape, seated with a war-weary demeanor, shared the warmth of the fire with Lucious, Seraph, and others from their entourage. The conversation flowed, weaving through plans and navigation, until Seraph, ever observant, directed a question at Agape.

"Agape," she asked with a gentle curiosity in her eyes, "what do you want to do?"

Agape, his eyes reflecting the dance of flames, responded in his resonant voice, "We'll head further Northeast and follow the Eustus River down." His thoughts on the current mission, he was cut off by Seraph who clarified, "No, I mean after all this."

"After?" he echoed, a melancholic note woven into the deep timbre of his voice. "My dear, I'm afraid there will be no 'after' for me."

Lucious interjected with a scoff, dismissing Agape's stoic declaration. "Please, he's been thinking about 'after' for years now. He just refuses to get there."

"He almost never found Celestia, you know, until..." He trailed off, and a somber quiet enveloped the group.

"Until what?" Seraph probed. Agape's head shot up, fixing his gaze on Lucious. "Until he so heroically won the Battle of the Rebellion we all know the story, obviously," Aric said as he walked up to the group with a less-than-happy demeanor.

"That's when all this started, you know," Aric mused, "It's funny, my father came in at just the right time, and he became a hero, nay, a king. Agape shows up and he is treated like he is some sort of god. Me, I come, and I'm just the same as before, actually worse."

Seraph countered, "Aric, that's nonsense. You know you will never be the same. But trust me, you are much different than the Aric back at Grimhaven."

Agape, quiet until now, stood up abruptly, formally excusing himself. With a trembling voice, he mentioned having things to attend to and disappeared from view. After Agape left, Aric questioned, "What's with him?"

Seraph shot back, "What do you mean, 'What's up with him'? He's been under a large amount of stress recently, most of it from you, might I add! What's up with you is the better question!"

Aric, in frustration, exclaimed, "What's up with me? You haven't even the slightest idea of what I'm going through. My parents are dead, I have to fill the shoes of my father, which I'm not doing very well at currently, And the girl I wanted to hopefully marry has practically treated me like I don't exist!"

With a softened tone, Seraph responded, "Aric, you know my father's dead. If you're struggling with how to deal with it, you know we can talk. We've always talked about everything. Why haven't you asked me?"

Aric's frustration surfaced, "I tried, Seraph. I tried to ask you to talk. I've tried to talk to you since we got here, but every time I am met with silence. After enough tries, you kinda stop trying."

He abruptly turned toward Lucious, "Goodnight, Lucious. We can wake up early tomorrow to train."

As Aric left, he made eye contact with Seraph, who with a puzzled look said, wanted to marry, who are you talking about, Aric? Aric replied with, wanted, Seraph, I wanted, and with that, he walked away leaving Seraph wondering what he was talking about.

Passing by Pippie, who was perched on a rock, Aric exchanged threatening words as he walked away. Pippie, being his cheeky self, stuck his tongue out. "I'll kick you. I promise you I will," Aric warned, as Pippie scurried off. The tension lingered in the air as Aric retreated to his tent, leaving behind a quiet and reflective group.