"Perhaps the last time I left was before the rifts toward the other world were closed."
Her words echoed in the air while everyone listened with intense attention... even me.
It took a few moments for me to understand what she meant.
I looked at Arthania from head to toe before asking,
"Arthania, how old are you?"
She turned her head toward me while smiling. "Don’t get ahead of yourself because I called you handsome. You’re far too young for me... but since you asked."
"Let’s say more than three hundred years... or maybe four hundred... it’s hard to remember after the cycle of night and day changed."
I looked at the beautiful woman beside me while reevaluating my thoughts about her.
Three hundred years... perhaps she was the oldest person I had ever met in my entire life. It wasn’t as if it were impossible for superhumans to live that long, in fact it made perfect sense.
After all, those of Rank 3 could live for more than one hundred and fifty years.
As for those who surpassed Rank 4 and had their bodies rebuilt using Essence, they could exceed three hundred years at most... and of course Rank 5 would live far longer than that.
And since Arthania still looked young, it was likely she reached Rank 5 at that age and her metabolism slowed down... or there was another secret behind her youth, like an ability or something similar.
But even with the long lifespans of the Awakened, there weren’t many of them in the higher ranks, especially Kings, even though they could live for thousands of years.
Yet throughout the entire history of humanity only a few in Rank 5 had died of old age, let alone Rank 6 and Rank 7. All of them died killed, whether by a monster, on the battlefield... or by a dagger in the back.
But that didn’t matter now whether her age was more than three hundred years or not. What mattered was that she was from the same era when humanity fled to the world of Aetheron.
In the moments I was thinking about how I should ask, Ellen stepped forward and walked on Arthania’s other side, excitement clear in her voice.
"So, Lady Arthania, what happened there before the rifts toward the other world were closed?"
It was the same question I was going to ask, but Ellen beat me to it.
I focused on what she would say, and even the others behind us became attentive.
All I could hear was Izel murmuring from behind.
"Elliot, don’t stay silent like that. Tell us what they’re talking about."
I looked at Arthania who seemed to be thinking... would one of humanity’s greatest questions finally be answered today?
What happened when the rifts closed?
Finally, Arthania finished her moments of thought.
"Do you really not know what happened that day?"
Ellen and I nodded while I fabricated a lie.
"No... everyone in the place where we live is young compared to you."
Arthania stared at me for a few moments before smiling.
"Then that’s unfortunate."
"Why?" I asked.
Arthania raised her hand and scratched the back of her head before giving the worst answer I could imagine.
"Because I don’t remember."
Everyone’s expressions collapsed while Arthania smiled even more.
"Sorry to disappoint you."
You don’t remember? How can you not remember... didn’t the sky itself shatter that day?
Arthania looked at me as if she knew what I was thinking.
"I don’t know why I don’t remember, but I’m sure something huge happened that day... after all, the cycle of night and day itself changed while the passages toward the other world disappeared."
She raised her head and looked at the moon while her eyes shone.
"Especially what happened to our beautiful moon up there."
"But still, if you were alive at that time, how could you forget what happened?" Ellen asked from the side.
Arthania turned her head toward her while answering.
"It’s like a dream... or a nightmare where the world collapses around you every moment, then in the next moment you wake up and discover that everything disappeared... yet it didn’t disappear either."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Do you mean you were asleep at that time?"
She shrugged.
"I don’t know... maybe."
I almost cursed her for those vague answers, but I quickly restrained myself.
"You said the city contains tens of thousands of people. So are you the oldest there? I mean, doesn’t anyone else know what happened in the past?"
Arthania shook her head.
"Unfortunately, no one else knows either. But I’m not the oldest... after all, there are many others older than me."
I frowned when she said that.
"Then are there many people in Rank 5 or higher?"
"No... I’m the only one in Rank 5."
I frowned even more.
"Then how is that possible? You said your age is around four hundred years, and sorry to say this but you’re approaching your natural limit... so how is it possible that there are people older than you who aren’t even Rank 5?"
Both Ellen and I stared at this woman with suspicion while she looked forward.
"Would you believe me if I told you that our ages stopped progressing a long time ago?"
"What do you mean?" Ellen asked unconsciously.
"It’s exactly as I say. Everyone in the city stopped growing hundreds of years ago."
Arthania spoke those words as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Do you mean you’re immortal?" I asked unconsciously.
"Immortal? No, you can’t say that... after all people still die from severe injuries."
Is something like that even possible? How could thirty thousand people not age?
Doubt began to creep into me.
"Then were all of you born before the rifts closed? And what about the people who were born after that?"
Arthania continued answering our questions patiently. At the same time Elliot and Leona were explaining the conversation to Kyle and Izel behind us.
"Yes, we were all born before the rifts closed... but no one was born after that."
I swallowed.
Perhaps this woman was insane or something... everything she said could simply be a product of her imagination.
But at the same time, I didn’t see any hint of madness or delirium in her.
Which raised the question.
"How is that possible?" Ellen asked with a skeptical tone.
But this time as well Arthania didn’t give any satisfying answer.
"We don’t know that either."
Silence.
Everyone fell silent while we continued moving forward.
The deeper we went into the maze, the fewer and larger the paths became.
And we didn’t encounter any monster the entire time.
Progress became easier and faster; with Arthania leading the way we never had to stop to check our path or face any monster.
But the calm existed only on the outside, inside my head many restless thoughts stirred.
Was it really safe to follow her?
But if she wanted to do something to us, we had no chance to resist... because it was impossible for us to face someone of Rank 5, especially one that powerful.
I turned my head and looked at the others who were whispering among themselves while I nodded.
"We’ll continue with her."
Whatever the right choice was, I don’t think we were capable of choosing it.
I looked at the calm woman walking beside me before asking another question.
"Arthania, you said earlier you haven’t left the maze for several centuries... why?"
"With your strength, there aren’t many things that could threaten you."
She looked at me with a smile on her face while answering.
"Because the others need me."
...
Several hours passed and we advanced for dozens of kilometers while getting very close to the center.
During that time we asked Arthania more questions, while she answered everything with a smile... and it should be noted that she didn’t ask us anything about ourselves.
Eventually all the paths ended and only one road remained ahead of us, wider than every road we had walked through.
And there for the first time in days we saw something other than the towering walls of the maze.
Because beyond the end a vast space was revealed, while hundreds of buildings of beautiful white stone rose beneath the star-filled sky.
From this distance all we could see was a small part of the city, but even so we saw them.
Humans.
It was true that it was extremely far away, and it was only one person entering one of the houses... but I was certain it was a human.
After all, I could see his shining soul.
Even after Arthania told us and answered dozens of the questions we asked, I still couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing.
But the woman beside me had a different opinion.
With a wide smile Arthania stepped forward while throwing a few words.
"Welcome to the eternal city... Asfaria."
>>
Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying reading the novel of this failure of an author.
Anyway, I might stop publishing for a few days... I say maybe, as I am not sure yet.
The thing is, I’ve been facing many disappointments lately... and unfortunately, I feel that this is starting to affect the novel.
So, perhaps time will solve the problem... or not.