Chapter 190 - Star-crossed

"I was told she's with Kresnik now…"

WHAT?

Ivan hadn't realized he stood up in shock. "My great-grandpa's here?"

He couldn't believe it.

Unlike Perun who first appeared as a mortal for the first time in the form of Alistair, Kresnik was a constant returner to ancestry. The last time was as Vladimir, the most powerful Flame Emperor in the history of Kres, the returner to ancestry Kresnik and the current emperor's great-grandfather.

He was the reigning monarch who had sent his firstborn son in the pursuit of Kronos' artifact. But of course, that was what the legends said. The truth was entirely different, but it was a discussion for another day.

In a nutshell, Kresnik appeared more frequently in the mortal plane in his quest to find Alencica and be reunited with her.

However, all their reunions ended up devastatingly as was the curse.

But that was more because they had no idea how to stop it properly and dealt with it over and over again with cataclysmic results. Alencica always died. But what was more tragic than her death was that it was always Kresnik who was forced to end her life.

"That spawn of the Black God said so," Alistair stated bitterly.

"But is her word trustworthy, Your Majesty?"

Fredek wanted to know. After all, she was the villain in this entire fiasco, and her nature as a spawn of the devil made her prone to lie and cheat to take advantage of the situation or to make things crueler.

"About Ali? Of course."

Alistair's voice broke, his hands balling into fists on top of the huge oak table. His body trembled in suppressed rage, but there was also hopelessness in his stance.

"Letting me know that my child's been reunited with Kresnik is like telling me that her death's near. Knowing that I have no idea where to find her with this knowledge is a torture to me, of course, she wouldn't lie. Czernobog and his spawns had nothing else that could give them much happiness than see me suffer."

Well, it was the truth. They could never refute that.

After all, there was nothing as punishing to a father's soul than the knowledge that his child was in imminent danger and there was nothing they could do about it.

"But that's strange. If my great grandfather's back, then why didn't he come and show himself earlier?"

Returners to Ancestry always went back to where their blood descendants were. If Kresnik was there, Ivan would abdicate the throne immediately and the returner to ancestry would be the new emperor. It was what they had always done in the millennia the country of Kres had existed.

It was how they kept their blood as closest to pure as possible. It was why Kres was the strongest country in terms of fighting power. Most of them had more deity blood than human.

"That, I do not know," Alistair answered honestly.

The news that Kresnik was here also took him by surprise. If the God of Flames was here, he would have tried his best to connect with him – most especially now that everyone knew that he was Perun. But then again, there must be an explanation, just like there was an explanation for his twin brother's absence.

"Something must have happened. There's a possibility that he too suffered from being reincarnated and tortured over and over again in a span of thousands of years."

"You mean his soul could possibly have broken too?" Ivan couldn't imagine such a thing to happen to his ancestor.

Alistair shook his head. "Of course not. I'm the only one who could do that, and I haven't been in contact with him since the first time he killed himself to follow Alencica's soul. Only my twin met with him before we decided to descend and be born here on the mortal plane to help break the curse."

"Then?"

Fredek looked thoughtful once more. "I think his memories got wiped out – or at least most of them."

"What do you mean?" Ivan was confused.

"He meant what he said. Because he forced himself to be reincarnated several times already, his memories might have been blocked. It's possible that he either had no idea who he is or that he knew who he was but had little to no memories of the past."

They were silent for a while as they absorbed the words spoken. Each of them analyzed the information in their heads, trying to come up with a good plan. They had uncannily been given a chance to redeem themselves and fulfill the millennia-long promise Perun had given his daughter and his son-in-law. They didn't want to mess with this opportunity.

"It's great then. He wouldn't have any idea what had transpired in his past lives. Even if he's with Alinea now, he still didn't know…"

Ivan's voice trailed off. He didn't need to say it completely. Everyone in the room already knew that in order to save the world, Kresnik sacrificed his heart and his life to keep his promise to his beloved wife.

What promise?

Kresnik vowed to always make sure Alencica died by his own hands as she wished.

Alencica had always known she was a calamity waiting to unleash its wrath into the world. She had always been aware of her wretched fate. However, she had met Kresnik and fell in love. It was an unexpected thing.

Perun who had been sure he could change her fate had assured her it was alright for her to love and be loved. The King of Heaven promised his beloved child that everything would be alright.

But it wasn't.

Perun until now felt guilty and tortured watching the lovers search for each other, only to die together over and over again.

But it would soon change.

"We don't have much time. We need to find them as soon as possible before it's too late." Alistair stood up and leaned over the window behind his desk as he looked far, far away outside.

"Search each and every nation up to their nooks and crannies for Ali and Kresnik. Tell all the rulers that whoever dares impede our search will feel heaven's tribulation!"

Thus, the search for the star-crossed lovers began…