The two brothers would often walk around the streets before Akon became sick; other children their age would walk hand in hand with their parents, smiling happily without a care in the world. Acting uncaringly like a child should. The two brothers would be reminded of their mother, but Ash was there to reassure his little brother. Since that is what he had promised his mother.
Time passed and Ash had to continue to pay the high bills for the treatment of cancer. The amount of money left was close to its finish. Ash tried to find jobs here and there, but no one seemed to be willing to offer him well paying jobs. After all, who would give a good job to a 8 year old no name commoner.
In the end, all the remaining money was spent in just 6 months of treatment on his little brother. Unable to pay the bills for cancer treatment. He, alongside his little brother, was kicked out of the hospital. No one pitied them, no matter much Ash kneeled in front of them and begged like a fucking dog. No one helped them.
They were back on the streets. Ash was already living on the streets or in the hospital while doing odd jobs here and there. But those odd jobs only paid enough for him and nothing more. They were back within the very rundown house they used to live in. The only difference was that, instead of his mother, his unconscious little brother was sleeping there. In the very same bed.
Ash looked high towards the sky through their broken roof, which leaked water. He muttered in a broken voice, "Mother, perhaps I won't be able to keep the promise in the end."
Ash was back to begging on the streets, while his little brother's condition kept worsening day by day.
Yes, that was the story, the story of Ash. Axel felt conflicted. For a moment, he felt a genuine identity crisis. Who was he? Was he Tyler Cross, a normal high school student on earth? Am I Axel Nomrad, the heir of the Obsidian Merchant and the Nomrad family? Or Ash?
The mere 9 years of life as Ash held such strong emotions that his lives as Axel Nomrad and Tyler Cross felt insignificant and fake. As if the personality of Ash had overwritten Axel and Tyler's lives. Axel felt broken. How could a 9-year-old suffer so much and still keep living and fighting, just how?
For a moment, he thought of his full name, Ashborn. Quite a fitting name since he was next to a dying flame with only ashes remaining, in a dark place.
Axel, lying in the narrow alleyway, let out a broken laugh. He wanted to cry, yet that battered body did not have enough water in it for him to shed tears. He got up and started walking towards their broken house after a long time. He reached there after an unknown amount of time, Axel reached the house. It was almost like everything was common, no surprise on his face.
Just as he stepped inside, he was petrified. His little brother was awake. It seemed like he could barely keep his consciousness together, his eyes were red. His skin was dried up. The little guy seemed to hang onto life by a thread. Axel immediately rushed forward and hugged his little brother gently.
Little Akon laughed, seeing that gesture from his older brother. The two brothers separated, and Akon eventually said, "Brother, I don't like this."
"Big brother, you wasted all the money mother left for us? I don't like it. I don't want to be a burden on you anymore. I just can't....." The voice of his little brother became weak at the end, it was hard for him to continue speaking. Axel gritted his teeth and said, "Do you know what mother said to me the last time I spoke to her?"
Akon's eyes trembled, and he looked at his older brother with wide eyes. Axel continued, "She made me a promise that I would take care of you no matter what."
"I don't need you to live for me, little brother, you need to live for our mother. We must live. After all, except for us, does anyone remember her? We are the last trace of her pitiful existence left within this world," stated Axel in a serious tone.
But the last few lines were perhaps not for his little brother but more so for himself. Little Akon didn't totally understand the last lines, but he understood what his older brother wanted to say; they both needed to live, for their mother's sake if not their own.
In the next moments, Akon, unable to remain awake anymore, felt his eyelids becoming heavier. Axel held his little brother's shoulder before his head slumped down on the bed. "Then let's both live together, big brother. For our mother." "For our mother," echoed Axel, the same words.
Axel let his little brother go back to sleep. He went outside, for some reason he started running, he kept running, and running, and running, until he reached the seashore. It was entirely an empty area. He thought to himself in despair, this was no revenge story. There was no one to blame, no one to hate. Only the world and its rules placed them in this situation, the poverty of society.
He could think as if it were all fake, yet he couldn't. It felt real too much. As if he were the boy named Ash from the very start. That's right, it was not just a persona he was playing, he was the named Ashborne from the very start. He screamed to the heavens with a deafening fury, he cried, he laughed, he smiled, he cursed, he despaired. His mind and heart broke for the umpteenth time....
After letting out all his pent-up emotions like a madman who lost all of his sanity. He felt like he could think properly again. Even that was funny.
"To regain sanity, you must embrace the insanity." Axel said to himself with a hollow laugh.
Now that he finally had a semblance of sanity in him, he needed to think. Think about what he could do. What he should do. He remembered the hint given by the Prime Nexus, "Find a trace of your true self?"
He started to think what he wanted to do. Axel did remember the story. In the Aspect Awakening Trial everyone went through the most traumatic experience of their lives, something that they would never forget, especially the 4th prince.
As for what the Valkyrie went through, that was not revealed by the author. Axel did not understand clearly how the trial exactly worked, but from what he could understand, it is that the aspects are awakened based on your choices and achievements.
But if those are accomplished by exposing your personality, you would receive aspects that are totally in line with your existence. Which would become problematic later on. It could also be a reason for your bottleneck in the higher stages as a Seeker later on.
Axel decided what he would do, or what he wanted. He wanted to save his little brother. He wanted to save Akon no matter what. This world was different from the world of Eldarion.
Unlike the continent of Eldarion, in this world, there are countless paths that one can follow. Multiple paths or singular it doesn't matter. Everyone is free to do their own thing. Axel did not have much time left for his little brother, within that little time he needed to become strong enough and take that particular path which would allow him to halt the already spread cancer within Akon's body.
If he could get his hands on the demon or dragon bloodline, his little brother could go through a racial transformation that would eliminate the cancer. But it was impossible to find the demon or dragon bloodline in this place. It was a large human empire. Not to mention, Akon would not survive through the sheer pain of racial transformation.
So, basically, choosing any warrior or bloodline path is out of the question. Only mage paths left, and many options could work.
Sorcerer, Spirit Mage, Summoner, Runemaster. Yes, some specific type of otherworldly summons with special attributes like light or sun could indeed be used for the cure of cancer. But that was like a shot in the dark. Spirit Mage is too time-consuming. Sorcerer, this could work, using special fire-type magic, radiotherapy could be applied, but that's not a real cure, and at the stage where his little brother is at, those temporary treatments wouldn't work anymore.
The only option left is Runemaster. That's the only way to create something new, something out of the box, and maybe a possible cure. But the problem is, his brother may only last a few months at best. How is he going to become a runemaster within that timeframe to be at least be able to use basic-level runes and other modifications?
He needed to get into the Rune master's tower. That's right, all the specific branches have their designated tower's and this is one of the important cities in the human empire. You can enter through a knowledge test and a test on your magic affinity with that specific branch.
But there is a hefty fee needed to even attempt the test. He needed some emergency money, enough to put his brother in the hospital for a while longer, and to attempt the test on the rune tower. So, how would he get it? That was the question for now.