“I don’t know!”

Three simple words. Those three words were usually used daily in everyday conversations, but at this moment, Aria felt her soul leave her body.

“Y-you… don’t know?” A visible crease appeared on Aria’s forehead, as well as the rest of the spectators surrounding her. The ancient man was an enigma to all. He wasn’t truly human. He could use magic that read one’s memories and learned everything he needed to know with just one touch. He possessed an indestructible body, one that could match diamonds… There were just too many mysteries wreathing this man. Yudonia couldn't unravel that many secrets in this short time frame, particularly when there was pressure from every single nation in the world.

Aria had thought with his ability to speak now, the ancient man would be able to divulge everything he knew. However, those three words scared the living daylights out of her soul.

“A-are you messing with me?”

“Why would I do that?” The man’s curly hair rustled as he bent down ever so slightly. His gorgeous golden eyes reflected the luminous lights that shone down from the ceilings. Therefore, Aria could see the innocence that beamed from his soul. “There’s no benefit for me if I lie to you. I honestly don’t know who I am!”

The ancient man said some scary shit without showing a single trace of shock or anxiety. It was as if he were stating a matter of fact, instead of describing his own pitiful state. “Hmmm, what was that word… Amnesia? I guess that’s the term. I think I’m suffering from what you call amnesia!”

“Amnesia?”

“That’s right!” The ancient man beamed. “I can’t recall anything before you opened up those doors! I was sleeping that I know! However, for how long, I can’t really tell. I can’t remember why I was locked up in that room and neither can I remember who or how old I really am. All I can tell you is that I’m grateful that you’ve opened up those doors!”

The man spoke with such a fluent accent that one wouldn’t question his heritage. Heck, the face full of human expressions and the jovial tone in his voice would easily make it in the acting industry. If Aria didn’t know better, she would have thought that this man was a regular human that was unjustly locked in the S-Class Dungeon. Alas, the Archmagus was cursed with the gift called knowledge.

Picking up on the man’s deliberate choice of words, Aria tilted her head with a probe: “Opened the doors… So you were conscious when I first pushed the gates of the Treasure Chambers?”

“Yeap!” The ancient man chuckled. “Well, if you had to be technical, I woke up the moment you defeated those two chunky guardians. However, I was under some sort of spell. Cursed to never see the light unless someone unseals me.”

Both the man’s palms attempted to launch him from his bed. Unfortunately, the Association President wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. The elderly man held onto the brown-skinned man’s wrists and locked him in place. The ancient man was pouted, and his nose sunk in. The President recalled the earlier warning given by the mystery man, but he threw out that notion immediately. There was no way that he would allow a repeat of the previous incident. Just as the two men were about to enter a verbal confrontation, an inquisitive sound echoed throughout the chambers.

“Curses… Spells… Are you sure you can’t remember anything? How could you possibly know those terms?” Aria raised her brow and folded her arms. Suspicions crept up every corner of her compact body as she glared down the suave young-looking man.

“I didn’t lie,” the man shook his head and dropped his smile. “As you said, I’ve read your memories to learn your language and culture. So, I’ve just described what I felt with the words that you know.”

Aria raised her finger, wanting to interject. However, the ancient man wasn’t done speaking.

“I was in there for a long time… How long, I can’t tell. I can’t even remember my own name after all. I was surrounded by darkness and cold. Although I was asleep for the most part, there were stages in my hibernation that I would ‘feel’ my surroundings. However, each time I ‘woke up’, my senses would pick up nothing… No animals, no plants… Not a single life form...”

When the ancient man began to describe his life of solitude, his shoulders dropped as his ten fingers intertwined with one another. Aria felt that he looked like a defeated boxer who had just lost his championship belt and was forced to sit at ringside. It was a broken expression, that smile, but at the same time… It showed that this irregularity of a man… was just as human as anyone else in the chambers.

“I was so… Lonely… I couldn’t bear to wake up every single time, just to feel that darkness wrap my soul again and again. So… I stopped waking up.” The man looked up at the ceiling that was brighter than any star in the night sky. It might even be as bright as the afternoon sun that could harm any who dared to stare too long into its grandeur. But the man didn’t care. He wanted his eyes to be burnt. He wanted a light to illuminate his life.

“I stopped waking up… Just as you all have speculated, I’m probably a thousand, if not a million years old. Maybe that’s the reason for my amnesia… I’ve gotten too old to remember everything.” The ancient man reflected.

“I believe that dementia only affects humans,” Aria snorted with a comeback. “You are neither a human or an old human. So I don’t think that it applies to you...”

The ancient man smiled and dropped his head back down. “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“How could I?” Aria continued to retort. “Your very existence is a mystery! Once we opened up the door sealing you, the world started to fall into chaos. Natural disasters are rampant now, and the montgen levels are rising through the roof! You even possess an invulnerable body and can use magic to read my memories! You can’t blame me for not buying into your soap story!”

“...”

The room became silent. Aria was being exceedingly harsh on the ancient man and understandably so. Who would believe that a being that could read someone else’s memories, but not know who they really were?

“Well, what I’ve told you is nothing but the truth,” the ancient man shook his head before pushing himself deeper onto the bed. “I really can’t recall anything about my past, and if you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do to convince you otherwise. As for the natural disasters… Believe it or not, I wasn’t the one that caused them...”

“Oh, and what did?” Aria’s ears perked up, finally relieved that she was able to get something out of the man. The ancient man stared into the gorgeous blue eyes that Aria boasted, putting on a complete serious front. Thinking that she had struck gold, the corners of Aria’s lips began to twitch. If the man could identify the cause of the disasters, Yudonia would be able to shift some of the blame away, perhaps even resolve the issue altogether to cleanse their sins. However...

“I don’t know...”

“Motherfucking ass-... #^@&*%$#&[email protected]”

That one response brought out the worst in the Archmagus. She was already fatigued after the sleepless nights she had leading to this meeting and had long reached her tipping point after the ancient man read her memories. So, it wasn’t surprising for her to spew out vulgarities to the point of speaking the devil’s tongue. It took Minerva’s interference for preventing the Archmagus from casting any spells to incinerate the innocent-looking man.

“Relax, Aria! Relax!” Locking her arms under Aria’s armpits, the White Sorceress attempted to calm the twenty-three-year-old down. “Venting your anger on him would achieve nothing! Remember, he’s immune to almost everything that you can throw at him!”

“Tsk… What a waste of time...” Aria brushed on her black hair to calm her beating soul down. She stared down at the ancient man and spewed out a self-deprecatory comment: “I was a fool to believe that you held the answers to solving our current crisis. Looks like half of the world’s population, maybe more, would fall to magic poisoning now...”

“Hmmm, I don’t know about that...” The ancient man flashed a cryptic smile.

“What now?” Having given up on taking any information from the man, Aria threw her back in the air, ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

“I’m not sure… I’ve read your memories, so I can roughly guess what you’re worried of. I don’t think that a sudden rise in the mana concentration would trigger a mass extinction of any sorts.”

“Oh, and why is that?” Intrigued, Aria decided to humour the man. Alas, it turned out to be a poor decision as well.

“Intuition.” The man replied with a fresh smile, similar to the one he showed the first time he spoke.

“Hah… You really are getting on my nerves.” Aria turned around and eyed the exit door. She didn’t want to waste any more time dealing with this ancient man who knew nothing or pretended to know nothing.

Before Aria could even take two steps though, the ancient man’s voice echoed through the chamber: “You’re leaving?”

“So what?” The Archmagus glanced over her shoulders and shot a cold reply.

Though, that didn’t faze the man one bit: “When are you coming back again?”

“...” Aria stopped. There was an elephant in the room, and she didn’t want to leave without resolving that question that plagued her heart. Aria looked straight that the alluring man without the slightest tinge of fear or lust. Just pure curiosity on her part. “Why are you so obsessed with me? You had so many days to interact with other researchers in the lab. You could have read any one of their memories… So, why did you wait until our meeting? Did I do something to you when I opened those doors?”

Every single spectator held their breaths. Truth to be told, they had the same exact suspicions. Why would the ancient man, who acted like he was brain-dead for over three days, suddenly react when Aria arrived? Why did he only move to touch Aria and no one else to read their memories? What made Aria… special?

“Yes… You did do something...” Still bound to the bed by chains, the ancient man couldn’t recklessly approach Aria. However, at that moment, the Archmagus felt like the man was right in front of her, giving her a firm front hug. Breathless, the black-haired maiden could only watch as the ancient man’s lips moved ever so slowly...

“You were the one that brought the light back into my dark life. The one soul that was strong enough to withstand my will. The woman that freed me from my curse...” The ancient man leaned forward and showed off the charming smile that had become his signature by now. “It’s only natural that I would follow my light and Aria… You are my light.”

“... Weirdo.” The Archmagus snorted and did a full reverse spin. She headed towards the exit without looking back for a single second to avoid the man’s gaze. Alas, her ears were wide open.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“...” Aria paused. She wanted to deny the man’s farewell with a retort on her own, but nothing came to mind. Indignant, the Archmagus slammed open the door and trotted her way up to safety, far away from the psycho man that Yudonia had fished out from the S-Class Dungeon.