Imdiately, Aren raised both hands to cover his mouth, not realizing the word had slipped out.
He knew about Lord-Class Beasts...and their temper. His experiences with such a beast were few and far in-between, mostly seeing them from afar. Yet, stories of such catastrophic monsters were well known in the future, of those with such strong tempers that even minor disrespect against them caused them to raze hell.
They were not much different from humans, not really. They talked, they were smart, and could even take on human form to blend in.
But surprisingly, her eyes lingered on him for a mont longer before drifting away again. It felt almost similar to Luna back during her days at the school, aloof and...distant.
Sterling let out a quiet breath.
"You shouldn’t be out here," she said, though there was no real bite to it. "You’re still injured."
"...I’m fine," Aren replied, though his body disagreed almost imdiately, almost stumbling as he barely managed to catch himself on a nearby chair.
"Right."
Aren limped toward her, just past a glass sliding door and into the outside balcony. He placed a hand onto the railing before steadying himself by leaning against it.
For a mont, there was nothing but the sound of the frozen winds and snow between them before Aren finally turned and asked.
"So...how exactly did you get a Lord-Class beast to beco your ntor..."
"It’s not exactly..mon," he chose his words extrely carefully, looking over to the woman to his professor’s side as he did.
Sterling didn’t respond imdiately, looking over toward Kko. It wasn’t a look of uncertainty...more of the ’asking for permission’ kind.
Kko didn’t respond, she didn’t even look back. Instead her gaze was fixed on the storm, as if the conversation didn’t concern her in the slightest.
Only then did Sterling speak.
"...It wasn’t by choice," she said quietly.
"Huh?" Aren tilted his head.
Sterling leaned a bit more against the railing, her shoulders lowering just a fraction.
"It was my first expedition with the Urban Hunting Club," she began. "Back then, I was around Daniel’s age, a fourth-year in Imperial Mystic College."
"And just like him...I was confident in my abilities, confident that the Wildlands was just a joke."
Sterling paused, frowning slightly before continuing. "We went in as a full team. Five of us."
Her eyes drifted out toward the blizzard, though it was clear she wasn’t seeing it anymore. "One of them...had a Dragon Bloodline."
Aren’s eyes widened at the ntion. "Was it...the sa person you told about back at your villa?"
The professor nodded solemnly. "He was stronger than any of us at the ti. And confident too...the kind of person you relied on without question. Dependable."
"...I liked him for that."
The confession ca out simply. There was no attempt to dress it up or make it sound like anything else. She shifted her position, turning around to lean her back against the railing instead.
"The more I think about it...the more I realize that expedition is awfully similar to what’s happening now."
"What do you an?"
"I can’t rember the exact details, but we found ourselves stranded in the Mangroves...exactly like the start of our trip."
Aren’s eyes narrowed slightly. "...Coincidence?"
The professor shrugged. "It was much worse. It felt like...sothing was already waiting for us."
"People started dropping one by one, overwheld by either the environnt or the monsters...almost like a culling."
"In the end..."
"..."
"...It was just the two of us left."
Then Sterling’s gaze dipped slightly.
"We ran," she said. "Straight out of the Mangroves...and into the Mountains."
"We survived on nothing but rations...but luck wasn’t on our side."
This ti, she turned to face Aren, almost with a hysterical smile on her face. "It was the sa Fox...that sa goddamn fox."
"It had 4-tails back then, but we were too exhausted to fight back. And in the end..."
She trailed off. Aren didn’t exactly need to know what happened next. And from her tone? Sterling didn’t look like she wanted to continue.
But she did.
"I escaped with my life...only after he gave his..."
"I struggled and climbed. And eventually, when I thought I was going to die," she looked over to Kko. "She found ."
Her story...is exactly the sa as what happened to us?! If she wasn’t here...could the sa thing have happened?
"Definitely not a coincidence then," he muttered.
"...Yeah," she admitted. "I thought so too."
"But it never happened again."
Aren’s eyes flickered.
"...What?"
Sterling nodded faintly. "I’ve been on multiple expeditions since then. Each in a different region and in a different team. And nothing like that ever happened again."
"...So what changed?" he asked.
She looked at him. Not as a professor or even a ntor...but as soone who’d already seen the outco once before.
"...The only common denominator," she said slowly, "was him."
"And now...you."
Aren went silent. What could he even say in this situation? So instead, he leaned back on what he’d been relying on.
Cold, hard logic.
But before he could piece it together—
"...Do you want to see him?"
"...What?"
"...His grave."
He didn’t know why his chest felt tighter all of a sudden. Why the thought of it, of soone he had never t...felt personal.
"...Yeah," he said softly.
"Alright," she nodded. "Follow ."
The grave wasn’t actually as far as he thought it’d be, just past the boundaries of the house. As soon as he stepped out, the change was imdiate.
The wind howled violently as snow slamd into his body, reminding him exactly of where he was. But the professor moved ahead without hesitation, each step steady, even if she was shivering.
"...Here," Sterling said.
It wasn’t much, not really. Just a simple stone buried in the snow with so hand-carved details. The surface of said stone was already worn down over ti, but the engraving remained...almost like it was recarved by soone who stayed here.
He glanced slightly at Kko, who was just a few ters behind them, choosing to keep her distance.
Aren took a knee before he noticed the man’s na:
Nathan Oliver.
He didn’t recognize the na, either now or in the future. But that didn’t matter.
"...I couldn’t bring him back," Sterling said quietly.
Aren didn’t respond. Instead, he lowered himself slightly, one hand brushing against the cold surface of the stone.
"...Thank you," he murmured.
It wasn’t for him. But it felt like sothing that needed to be said. If he hadn’t saved Professor Sterling, then the whole group wouldn’t have survived until now.
Yet when he lowered his eyes onto the gravestone, sothing caught his attention imdiately.
[September 1st, 2032 — February 28th, 2054]
Aren’s breath caught on the cold wind, eyes widening instantly as the realization settled in.
"Wait..."
The day that he died—
...
Was...the day I was born.
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