Kharon stood motionlessly for a while, dazed by both the looks of the stunning man infront of him and his hypnotic voice which seemed to resonant all aorund the forest.
He continued to stare even after the young man had introduced himself. Kharon was of an average height, atleast he thought he was. But the man standing infront of him made him look small in comparison. Kharon wondered about the possibility of everyone person being just as tall or if not taller than the figure standing before him.
As Aidan silently stared at him with a puzzled look, Kharon realised how rude he was being and was suddenly flustered. He quickly greeted the man and blurted out his name before apologising for his strange behaviour.
There was an awkward silence between them before Aidan burst into laughter. His laugh was just as pleasant as his voice and it was strangely soothing to listen to. Kharon felt but confused and embarrassed as his pale face slowly turned red. He wasn't sure what to do after Aidan stopped laughing so he remained quiet, hoping that he would help lead the conversation and his prayers were answered when Aidan started speaking while wiping tears from his eyes.
"I am sorry, for laughing at you. I hope you didn't feel offended; I just find socially awkward guys cute... I am guessing you aren't from Lunaris Haven right?"
Kharon slowly processed what Aidan had said before giving an answer.
"What is Lunaris Haven? And I am not cute, I am much older than you."
Aidan stared at him dumbfounded and answered back, "How old do you think I am? I am twenty five. You look no longer than twenty and I am way older than that by a few years."
Kharon stared at him and quickly retorted back, "As crazy as it might sound, I am over a hundred years old."
He knew that Aidan would think that he was lying and call him out for it. But to his surprise, Aidan stayed quiet, looking at him with a sense of awe and apprehension.
"You are over a hundred...? Or do you just think you are?"
"I am atleast one hunred and twenty one, atleast that is what the grimiore told me. Shouldn't you be calling me a liar though? I may not know a lot about the world, but I am sure that normal people don't look this young when they are over a century old."
Aidan took a moment to compose himself before answering back, "I know you aren't lying. The path of radiance pretty much makes me a walking lie detector. Unless you are of a higher tier than me or have a mystic construct which allows you to conceal the truth."
Kharon thought about what he had just learnt, the path of radiance was indeed a very useful path to go down. It seemed to have a lot of versatility and seemed to be a great choice for anyone to go down. Even if it's ritual seemed to scar the Weilder.
Before Kharon could think about what he was saying, he suddenly blurted out, "Did your path cause you to get those marks on your face?"
Aidan seemed to be a bit shaken up by the question and Kharon quickly regretted asking something so personal, expecting Aidan to ignore the question. But to his surprise he was given an answer.
"No, I was born with these scars. It's something that happens sometimes, my parents told me it was quite common in the past. But not anymore due to the influence of the Arcane Obe-"
Aidan suddenly stopped mid sentence and quickly dismissed the rest of his answer. He then ask Kharon a question of his own.
"Where exactly are you from? Did you come from the Ashen Hollow or somewhere further?"
"I didn't come from any place in this world. I came from a mauseleum."
Aidan quickly asked, "Where exactly is the mauseleum? Is it close to a purple or red zone? How are you still alive?"
Kharon felt a bit overwhelmed by all the questions. Red zones? Purple zones? He didn't even know where he was at the moment, let alone the location of the mauseleum he had woken up in.
"I don't know what you are talking about. I have no clue where exactly I was or where I am currently. All I know is that I was in a dark mauseleum, and after completing a few trials I was ejected from said mauseleum and ended up here."
Aidan took a lot longer than before to think about what Kharon had just told before speaking again.
"Could you tell me what types of trials you did and give me a description of the mauseleum you were in? I know a few people who may be able to help you in Lunaris Haven, though getting you in could be tricky as you aren't a registered citizen. Though there are some who get inside illegally... I think I can convince a guard to let you in. By the way, Lunaris Haven is a few miles away from here in a green zone. We are currently inside of the forest of the Heartlands; a blue zone."
"What exactly is the Heartlands? And why do you keep talking about zones?"
Aidan face palmed himself before chuckling.
"I forgot you don't know anything about this place. I will explain while we get going, we shouldn't stay in one place for too long. Who knows if another Essence Beast will attack or maybe we will be lucky and encounter an Arcane Creature. Though I would rather not meet any."
"What is an Essence Beast and an Arcane Creature? Is there even a difference between the two?"
Aidan stared at him before turning around and walking away from Kharon. He looked back at him before asking, "As I said, I will explain on the way. Are you coming or not?"
Kharon stood still for a moment before catching up to Aidan and walking next to him. Aidan began explaining several things to him as they made their way through the forest.
"The Heartlands is the area we are currently in. It is the southern part of the continent which encompasses areas, such as Lunaris Haven, Aeon Reach and other locations. Just so you know, there is only one mega continent. This is because of the arcane phenomena which happened several hundred years ago... There are other parts such as the Shattered Wastes, the Frostbound North, the Voidlands, the Sacred Oasis, the Crescent Isles and some unexplored red and black zones. The coloured zone system is just a way of assessing how dangerous an area is and how much arcane activity occurs there. There are green, blue, purple, red and black zones. And we are currently in a blue zone."
Kharon took in all this information and started to piece together how exactly the world functioned. There were parts of a mega continent which came to be several hundred years ago because of something. Kharon suspected it had to do with whatever word Aidan had been about to say; the Arcane something. Then there were the zones which were a measure of danger which probably involved Arcane Creatures, Essence Beasts and maybe supernatural phenomena which occur.
Aidan continued with his explanation of the zones before shifting to the difference between Arcane Creatures and Essence Beasts.
"Arcane Creatures are animals which were affected by the arcane phenomena. They aren't ranked in tiers but instead use the colour system. Essence Beasts are also animals; however they are animals that somehow came into contact with the Astral Realm and gain the power of a path. Just like the beast that attacked which was an Iron-tusked Boar, a tier 4 beasts with powers from the path of enhancement. It's one of the hardest beasts to kill due to it's armor plated body. Only beings of the same tier or above can kill each other, and yet you managed to defeat with a bit of help from me."
Aidan stopped walking and looked at the ground, deep in thought before asking Kharon a question.
"What path are you going down, how did you kill the Iron-tusked Boar?"
His voice still sounded bright and cherry, but it was slightly colder than before and there was a clear sense of apprehension in his tone. His sky blue eyes seemed to pierce straight through Kharon's soul when he asked the question.
Kharon was trying to keep some secrets to himself, but he knew that it wouldn't be fair on Aidan if Kharon refused to share information about what he knew. Especially when Aidan was graciously explaining everything he knew to him.
It would also be futile to try and hide the truth from Aidan as he would know if Kharon was lying. Kharon suddenly thought about using Veiling on his words but decided not to. He knew that it was probably going to allow him to lie to Aidan but he didn't want to. It would leave a bad taste in his mouth if he did something so devious. He wasn't a saint or anything but he wasn't a devil either. So he decided to be honest.
"I am going down the path of mysteries. As for how I killed that beast, I used a tier 3 mystic construct of the path of radiance."
Aidan stared at him with a horror stricken look before saying, "No ordinary person can get their hands on a mystic construct, especially not a tier 3 construct. Also you must be confused. There is no way you are going down such a path because it doesn't exist..."