Simon was sleeping. The storm was something normal that he would easily sleep through. There were worse times when the old man and the boy had to sleep.

  The lightning didn’t bother his sleep, the house was vibrating, its walls still held its own. It was made to go through tougher storms. The shape of the house was made visible by the hard pouring rain.

  Then again the boy’s eyes opened. He heard something strange. He immediately stood up and took the sword that was just near the door.

  “Knock! 2x”

  The loud knock reverberating was dimmed by the falling rain but the boy heard it. He opened the door and to his surprise, it was the old man. He was on his knees but what surprised the boy was the man was in his fleeting existence, too different from the visage he saw when he was waiting for him on the small island.

  The boy quickly moved to support the old man.

  “Boy… slowly… my knees hurt!” the old man complained, the words calmed the boy down. “Stop looking at me like that!” another complaint from the old man though he couldn’t see already he could feel the stare of the boy.

  “Old man what happened to you?” the boy asked with a worried tone.

  “It's okay, just lay me down near the fire and put some Hawaran Herbs on my knees!” the old man said.

  The boy was really strong so he didn’t have any trouble carrying the old man. Still, he carefully carried the old man inside putting him on the floor near the fireplace.

  Simon was going to start a fire but forgot that it was still raining.

  “Close the door first!” the old man said as he began removing his clothes. The ones he was wearing were different from the last time that the boy saw him.

  The boy followed and noticed that the old man’s sword was still at the entrance of the house, he took it and then closed the door.

  “Boy, you can start a fire as long as you just half open the canopy in the roof,” the old man said upon hearing the boy close the door.

  <--->

  The dark abyss loomed an endless night. Days could not be noticed passing and it was the internal clock that the denizens followed by themselves.

  Loud noises of battle were resounding in the totality. Most were made out of shouts and grunts, screams of provocation and encouragement.

  “I’m training you to do it all by instinct! Stop thinking!” a deep voice came from the deepest of his lungs, his screams were terribly grumbling. His name was Kaibot, a demi-human, he was a beast kin that was half wolf.

  Simon was in tatters after training non-stop. Though he had recently mastered the Magic Forging, he had pushed himself far beyond the state he was in when he first achieved it. Now, the Magic Forging flowed as naturally as his own breath.

  “Let’s continue,” the boy said.

  It made Kaibot smile. “Nope we take a break, their back!” the werewolf said using his thumb to point out a direction.

  Jubaic and Diamelle were back but another one was together with them. It was another denizen of the abyss.

  The presence of the denizen was blurred by Simon. The three approached Kaibot and Simon.

  “How are you doing guys? We got a new comrade in the ranks! Masamune, introduce yourself!” Jubaic was the first one to break the ice.

  The man behind the two took a step forward. He was wearing some traditional clothes from the far eastern part of the world.

  “As you have heard, my name is Masamune, I’m from the far eastern island that they call Krona Islands, nice to meet you!” he then respectably bowed showing a caliber that was so far from the past introduction of the other immortals.

  “I’m Simon,” the boy said trying to imitate the bow that Masamune did.

  “Kaibot… so you are the spirit of the sword right? Can you cut the barrier above?” Kaibot asked with a puny smile.

  “If I could reach it then it's possible,” Masamune answered.

  The two began laughing at each other, a strange or not strange happening between the two, Simon knew that there was something between the two of them.

  “It was chaos when those two met each other, they even accidentally killed another immortal because of their fight,” Diamelle spoke while getting closer to Simon “Hey! Simon! I want to hear what’s next!” and there she began begging again.

  The boy stared at Kaibot. Seemed that he knew that Diamelle would ask him for a story, and that’s why he wanted some break.

  “Let’s hear it, I want to know how it ends!” Jubaic in some sense knew that there was a connection between him and the old man who raised and taught Simon.

  Kaibot nodded in agreement while Masamune was just staring at the boy intensely.

  “...”

  Then Simon sighed, he sat on the ground as he began to recall the dying days of the old man

  <--->

  Unlike before, the old man didn’t recover his knees, rather he was severely weakened, there were days that the old man would regain his sight for a few times but most of his last days were spent in the darkness.

  Simon was emphatic with the old man, he would talk to him deep into the night, the boy didn’t want to wake up and find the old man dead, he wanted to be with him until the final moments.

  Day 5

  Simon was going around the house looking for the old man’s tumbler, he was rummaging their things and putting it back.

  “Boy did you find it already?” the old man asked. He was sitting in the veranda of the house.

  “I still can’t find it,” Simon said and finally he stopped looking.

  “And you said you hid it didn’t you?” the old man teased.

  “It was… a joke,” Simon knew the importance of the metal tumbler for the old man, and that’s why he used it to provoke the old man.

  “It's okay, just try to find it if you have time…” the old man said. He was currently blind and like years passed rapidly, his face was far aged than before.

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  The weather was still dim and it would rain frequently, it was the day after the old man arrived back from that monolith island.

  The boy sat along the old man, they had the hearth running and the door a little bit opened making a good exhaust of heat that was focused on the old man.

  “Simon… take me with you if you want to go fishing,” the old man suddenly muttered. The boy smiled in reaction.

  “Of course!!” he answered.

  Day 4

  It was one of those days when the old man had regained his sight. He had dimmed sights before especially after getting weakened when using magic but in those times it just glared at his sight. The two were now on the northern cliff, a few walks into the lighthouse.

  “That’s one! Got 4 already!” the old man said as he pulled another fish.

  The boy was silent, he was a bit frustrated but he really loved the way the old man smiled as another one took the bait.

  “Boy! Yours is moving too!” the old man warned Simon as the boy was staring at him.

  “I understand!” as per practice Simon began tugging.

  “Easy boy! Watch the tension of the line!” the old man kept on coaching Simon as he was doing his thing.

  “I! I got one!” the boy was now better than the last year. When the boy said it he knew that he got the fish but what he pulled was a monster of a fish. Rather it was a long eel.

  The old man was quite surprised “It’s a King Eel!” the old man said in wonder. “Pull it! Put it in the ground!” he said.

  The boy pulled and pulled until he could finally touch the eel’s teeth. He pulled it though the large eel was struggling. The boy’s sword was not with him but his carving knife was on his back.

  “Find the gill! Pierce it!” the old man instructed and Simon followed up.

  …

  The eel was 10 meters long. If it wasn’t for the boy’s strength they wouldn’t be able to pull it near their house.

  “Okay boy, let’s prepare a basin first before you cut the head~!” the old man was jolly, it was a special delicacy that even in his lifetime only had 4 to 6 chances of him encountering it.

  The two began digging, they turned the ground into a basin. Then in the middle, they put a large pot.

  As soon as the boy cut the head with one slice the blood gushed with its head pointing to the basin the blood began to flow. It was still mid-day and there was still time.

  “Hmm… it will take some time probably… oh… I’m getting blind again,” the old man calmly said as he tried to reach the veranda of their house. Simon helped him.

  “We can cook the meat on the closest parts of the head or do you want to let it all drain out and eat our stocks?” the old man asked as he was sitting down.

  Usually, he would be the one who decided, Simon stuttered and smiled “Let’s eat it tomorrow,” the boy smiled and the old man nodded.

  “Then let’s do that!” the old man laughed heartily.

  Day 3

  Simon woke up, he was sleeping beside the old man, they kept on talking until they got to sleep. The boy held the old man’s hands. Rough, battered and it was really cold.

  With a pained face, Simon asked “Old man are you still alive?”

  “I’m still alive… I would want to have a taste of that alcohol,” the old man answered and he opened his eyes. “Crap can’t see a damned thing!” the old man complained, he knew that his eyes were already opened but he still couldn’t see.

  The boy just smiled and stood up. He still had things to do.

  …

  The boy spent the whole day processing the large eel. Cutting it, parts by parts then wrapping it in leaves.

  Simon then dug the ground basin taking out the large pot. As per the old man’s instructions, the boy dropped some rocks inside it and began boiling it with its lid on top.

  The old man for the whole day was the one who managed to process the eel’s blood, he occasionally opened the lid letting the steam come out of the large pot.

  By the evening they already had two different kinds of Eel meat ready for cooking. One was marinated with pink salt, the other one was a sun-dried eel that was how the old man preferred.

  They were eating outside watching the black starry sky. The bones and fins would be buried tomorrow since they were already losing the daylight when they were about to finish.

  The fire pit was a few meters from the veranda, two logs were placed near it for the old man and the boy to sit into.

  “Aah! This is good! It’s been a long time,” the old man gladly declared as he put one of the smoked eel meat in his mouth. “Ah if I got the tumbler then I could have processed the eel’s blood much faster!”

  The large pot was now underground, buried in the same spot where they made the basin.

  “Does it taste good?” the boy asked out of curiosity.

  “Yep, but you probably won't like it. Don't even try drinking—it dulls the mind,” the old man smiled. Then, he took a swig from a bottle of cider. He was in a blind state, relying on the boy's voice to guide him as he tried to eat.

  The cider was already ripe for the drinking, these were ones of the alcohol the old man brought when they left the fisherman’s village.

  “I ought to drink this all, probably won’t have the chance yeah?” the old man said gesturing the boy to take more of the bottles in their stocks.

  The boy took some then he fried another eel meat into the stone slab.

  The old man was still proficient with his knife, even though he was blind he knew how to use it, the boy just had to point where to stab and without fail the old man would land it.

  “Boy, try frying the eel’s skin! Put some oil on the stone’s surface though!” the old man said.

  The boy followed and after a few minutes, they had a crispy skin of the eel.

  At the same time the 2 bit on it the crunchy sound took them by surprise.

  “Good!” / “Nicely done!”

  The boy and the old man said respectively.

  Day 2

  “Boy… when I die don’t burn me… you bury me okay?” the old man blurted while the boy was working with the eel’s bone.

  The boy stopped for a while and looked at the old man. “Anything else?” the boy asked. The man was currently blind and couldn’t see the boy’s sudden change of face.

  The old man didn’t smile, he knew that the boy was feeling sad “Cover my body first with my cloak, like the way we bury the enemies we killed, make sure it's deep enough-” There were thorns in the the old man’s voice. “-Maybe as deep as my height… put a stone for a marker too, so that you will not forget,” after the old man spoke Simon resumed working.

  “I understand,” he answered back. Ever the obedient boy to the old man. “-I will never forget you.” the boy added, his voice crackling with sadness.

  “I bet on it… I’m going to sleep for a while,” the old man said. He felt the boy walking closer to him “No need, I’m just going to sleep in the veranda… continue your work.”

  The boy stopped in his tracks and resumed digging.

  Day 1

  That day the old man didn’t wake up but his face was in pain. The boy worried and watched the old man thinking that he was going to die today.

  They have been talking all night ever since the old man had lost his eyesight. He couldn’t remember what they were talking about last night as his worries fell on his shoulders.

  “Old man…” after a few hours ever since the boy woke up, this was the first time he muttered something.

  From the morning into the midday he stayed by his side, not even eating until the old man was okay. By the evening the old man woke up.

  The old man opened his eyes, he found the ceiling of the house then the face of the boy “Boy… stop making that face,” like some sort of a miracle the old man’s eyesight was back.

  “Old man… I thought you were already dead,” the boy spoke with worry.

  The boy’s face seemed aged, he had been on the old man’s side, probably “Relax, this is normal,” the old man cracked even though his head was really throbbing in pain.

  “I’m scared… old man… what should I do?” the boy asked, face almost about to cry rather the boy didn’t know how to cry.

  “Hmm… how about you go around the world, see the world for me,” the old man’s eyes began to get blurred again. “Go north, find the explorers and try to join them, or you could go find your mother, whatever you like boy, the world is yours!” still he tried to motivate the boy. The last light he saw was the boy smiling at him.

  “The world is not mine… I was thrown away right?” the boy answered. It was the first time he thought of himself about what happened to him.

  “But since you were thrown we met each other right?” the old man smiled. “You were born as an idiot, now look at you… you are a decent human now aren’t you?”

  “I… I don’t understand!” Simon complained.

  “Shut up! If you don’t know what to do next then move on! Continue and don’t ever be stagnant!” the old man smiled. The boy’s face screamed of confusion.

  The old man knew how to diffuse the boy’s confusion “Boy, put some more clothes on me, it's getting cold, it's probably going to rain tonight!” the old man said and the boy immediately followed.

  The two spent their time talking the whole night until finally, the old man calmed the boy down… but it was the last time.

  Day 0

  Birds were chiming while the day was a bit gloomy. A dead body covered by clothes lay on the ground. It rained last night so the ground was soft, good for digging.

  The boy was silent as he was doing his work. After a few hours, he finally placed a dead body into the earth.

  Simon looked at the dead body and stared at it silently. Time passed as he stared, the rain that was hanging in the clouds like it knew the right time it began falling down.

  The boy knew it was time to bury him. He began burying the body of the old man. One shovel at a time.

  He didn’t know how the old man died, he was asleep. When he woke up he found the old man’s cold hands lying on his head.

  The boy couldn’t contain his feelings as his shovel began to shake, he had to stop or there was a possibility that he could destroy it. All the training the old man gave him didn’t help as his hands began to shake.

  Simon sat on the ground for a while… finally, the tremors on his hands stopped. “Isn’t it cold old man?” the boy spoke as he continued to bury the old man.