Chapter 394 - My Biggest Emotional and Physical pain.

Its nice to hear the two ladies express their selves regarding their life trials and overall Inner Demons, but it is also a good idea to listen out the older. As tough as they sound, how do we know that their tremendous individual progress doesn't have struggle as a base foundation.

What they went through in life can be numerous regardless if they share their experience with everyone by the comfort of a blazing Campfire, but we should focus mainly on rage as it is what a Fire Controller goes through, as established.

It is even nicer that Mogranius is willing to share without being specifically asked too. Since the topic about Inner Demons is still fresh as a daisy, he decided to share a little bit of his past after eating a 4 pound fish. "As an early teen I had so much rage... If there was a proper way to measure it back then, I'd say I was dealing with a Level 5 Inner Demon of rage."

"Why be that angry?" Osira asked, curious and unaware of what this Mentor has gone through as a child.

"Oh my father was dragged in the Ocean by a Swordfish." He answered casually, as if what he just said isn't exactly a big deal. As if he spoke of something light as a feather to comprehend.

Osira just pulled her face back in confusion, trying to determine if what he said is just sarcasm or is he being serious? Asking after, "Really?"

"Yes, but that is not the point... Well wait it kinda is. Well there are two points on why I won against my Inner Demon." Mogranius found himself arguing with the facts and points he wanted to nail down in order to tell his story. "See due to the fact that I lost my father, I kept myself busy with Fire Controlling so I can keep my mind off his dissapearance."

"So in a way, you used Fire to tame your own Inner Rage. Kind of a fighting fire with fire situation, rather sentimental." Dilli pointed out, finding Eric's Mentor here an interesting old man although no doubt crazy when based on his behaviour up until this point.

"Now that I think of it, that's almost exactly the case." Mogranius complimented Dilli's claim, and tried to explain furthermore regarding his first point. "But Fire Controlling opened up a lot more doors for me. One of these great doors is my urge to know more, expanding bigger and bigger."

"That's how you know about Lan Zhe?" Eric asked, well more like tried to point out to the newcomers a little bit more about how they have befriended a town of Calidum Lutum. The newcomers know a bit about it here and there, but a solid origin of this friendship hasn't been explained to the very last detail.

"Yes indeed, but back then it wasn't so hard to find. Grand Masters treasured it as a highly spiritual place, perfect for advanced meditation." Mogranius tried to explain as much as he could regarding his past, although it didn't shed much light on his or their history with the Calidum Lutum.

"Aha, yes. Meditation, lots of sitting." Eric rushed it through with his tone cracking a bit in between, obviously showing once more that he isn't the biggest fan of meditation. Furthermore he got to the topic that mattered to him the most, "Tell us the second reason, that helped you beat your Inner Demon."

"Don't tell me its sarcasm." Osira added lightly, and witnessed how King Michael gave her a rough stare and wiggled his eyebrows, as if trying to tell her to not offend the man who is getting emotional.

"Sarcasm is a heavy source behind my... success aye? That's what we can fairly call it." He answered, not seeing Osira's wordplay as an offense.

A tear dropped from his eye, but it became almost too easy to conceal it because of the Darkness surrounding them as the sun hid behind the forest. A tear dropped, not because he took offense from Osira but because he thought a bit more of the second reason behind his success.

"Akareas is the second reason." He continued to tell his story. "Thank the Source that her soul is free now, but hell she has caused me emotional and physical pain."

"You two dated?" Osira asked, being a bit too bald and didn't really realise how emotional Mogranius is getting. Afterwards she felt her mouth being covered by Dilli's hand, and a whisper went through her ear after, telling her to. "Shut up."

"Well no... She was in love with me come to think of it, while I had to reject her because the age gap was just uncomfortable." Mogranius explained, showing a hell lot of reason for once.

"But in Meridionali Ignis some old men married 14 year old girls, how big could the age gap have been for you to reject an Electus?" Osira asked, with obviously no intend to tease right now and basing Mogranius' event on her own reality although the two situations are not the same.

"Just because some or more people are doing it, it doesn't mean that it's right. However that's not the point, she proposed to me after she came back from Molaria. Afterwards she trained with me for another year after I rejected her since she was only an Expert in Fire Controlling regardless of attempt, I'd say she was more focused to get some or more revenge on me for not respecting her feelings enough. After a year of training she went to Zameria and didn't return for over a Decade... The rest after that is a very long story." Mogranius realized that he has been talking a bit too long, but it is obvious that everyone is listening in a lot of anticipation, with their heads leaned in towards him and the fire.

To finish the story, he did not fail to add. "Akareas was my greatest distraction and greatest pain too, and that says a lot because I lost my father. Handling her has pushed me towards exploring the Forest as a result of fighting the emotional pain away, because my dumb choices pushed her to another Continent."

Seeing that Mogranius has let the silence stretch for a bit too long after, they pulled their faces away from the fire and felt developing sadness in their hearts. To think that Mogranius is just an old goof who has a mind of a child, obviously they have under estimated him.

"With Akareas gone, it has become my calling for me to redeem my mistakes. Eric, I could have ditched all of you and live in one of the many small islands between here and Zameria, this war and your Journey could have not been my problem even though I teleported here to your timeline." Stopping for another second to collect his thoughts, he added. "But with Destiny calling, I will help you more than I helped Akareas. This time, I will give my full effort and forge you to the all powerful Electus you are destined to be."

Feeling that tears will break in sooner than he wanted too, before his tone starts to cracking he pushed the attention to King Michael. "But I shared enough, I'm sure considering his Age King Michael has a lot more stories to share."

Seeing what Mogranius is trying to do here, King Michael took charge here knowing that he can damn well control his own feelings. "Um well, like a lot of Fire Manipulators I did face a lot of rage although I had no idea that it had anything to do with an Inner Demon."

"So you were clueless?" Dilli asked, most interested at what this Grand Master can bring to the table.

"Not at all, but Rage was a huge part of me... Especially after I lost my father." Here the king is expressing one of the biggest sources linked to his so called rage. "I was 40 years old back then and the war wasn't nowhere close to starting, but in Kastarian years that isn't too different from being a teenager."

"A teenager at 40 years old?" Osira asked, being very curious and seeing the concept as nonsense because she herself grew up too early thanks to her rough life.

"Yes." Mogranius answered for him with his tone at a high pitch, he has concealed a few tears while King Michael was sharing his own past. "Kastarians live for 700 years." Of course here he mostly thought about Commander Alia.

"Yes... So I was just a teenager who lost his father, and a new a.d.u.l.t at 100 when I lost my mother too." He explained, showing a lot of pain behind his words but no tear managed to escape.

"Wasn't your mother a Kastarian?" Eric asked, memorizing quite well what the King has told them over a year ago.

Figuring that Eric is referring to the 90% Bigger Lifespan a Kastarian has, he quickly explained. "Yes, but she got an disease which got the best out of her. She died on my arms, it isn't something easy to comprehend."

Seeing that everyone is listening, he continued to explain. "I even lost some friends due to age after my mother, afterwards I mostly lived alone for 2 Centuries. I only dropped in town when I needed more Parchments or Ink."

What he refuses to explain however, is the fact that sadness and overall depression has kept him busy when he wasn't exploring or researching. So between that, there wasn't enough time to be angry which inevitably has cured his Inner Demon of Rage.

It is fair to say that the toughest have the worst past, I mean look at King Michael. He is explaining how he lost friends and family, yet he has no more tears to shed. What can you consider sadder than that?

Finishing off his own story, he added. "Thinking about the friends I lost, has helped me keep busy more than exploring and researching animals ever did."