"Mom, what is happening to Father?" Aris, with lingering tears in his eyes, asked his shocked mother in a surprised tone.
"I... I don't know, Aris. But I think it's something good." The mother said in a hesitant tone.
As the villagers' cheers grew stronger and stronger, the white light in front of old Theno started to change.
My body is so hot!! old Theno screamed in his mind as he tried to maintain an upright position to not let the villagers' cheers down.
What is this thing and why is it turning green? old Theno was pondering as the white light in front of him surged, then its slight green color turned into a deep green with the final burst of cheers from the villagers.
They saw this light as old Theno showing his Chaos powers.
But all of a sudden, the light started to shrink rapidly from a diameter of one meter to the size of a fist. Then, with a whoosh, it flew into old Theno's chest.
"Ahhhh!!"
Old Theno, taken by surprise, let out a deep scream. His already burning body started to heat up even more. His skin started to turn a deep red.
"Father!!" Aris, hearing his father's scream, immediately ran toward him.
But before he could get any closer, he was stopped by a surging heat wave, making him stop a few meters in front of his father.
"Aris, get back!!" old Theno commanded in a strained voice as he endured the pain in his body from the heat.
The villagers, seeing this, slowly stopped their cheers and started to worry.
One young man immediately asked aloud, "What is happening to Hero Theno?" his voice carrying deep worry.
At this moment, an old hunched man with a weathered face stepped forward and said in a deep voice:
"Everyone, stop approaching Hero Theno. Right now, he might be increasing his realm, after being blessed by the Divine Will!"
Hearing the old man's words, the worrying crowd regained their smiles — only for them to fade the next instant.
"Fellow villagers, let's leave Hero Theno alone. Right now, we need to hurry and take care of the wounded and the dead family members. Also, we need to head back to the village to look for the Village Chief. Now with Hero Theno here, that beast shouldn't dare come back!"
The villagers agreed and, with faces full of sorrow, started to move the bodies.
A young man about fifteen years old looked at the body of his grandfather with bloodshot eyes, his hands trembling nonstop.
"John, you have to be strong." An older man approached the young man and put his hand on his shoulder.
John, with blood-red eyes, turned his head and asked in a trembling voice:
"Why didn't Hero Theno stop that demonic horse sooner? Why didn't he save my grandfather?!"
Sigh. The older man let out a deep sigh and patted the young man's shoulder once again, this time clearly using more force.
"You should bury those words deep in your heart, John. Old Theno must be a hidden Chaos warrior with a hidden story. If his own family wasn't in danger, he might not have even acted at all. Now we can only be grateful and smile. As normal people, we don't have the right to question Chaos users. I know this, and everyone else knows this. Just look around — do you see anyone dare say anything?"
The young man looked around at the other mourning villagers that had lost someone. Their hands were clenched like his, but they didn't dare look at old Theno, who was standing not far away, with any malice.
Seeing this, the young man bowed his head, thanked the older man, and kept his head down. But his bleeding hands clearly showed that in his heart, hate raged.
The older man let out one more sigh and left.
Fuuu!
Old Theno let out a deep breath as the heat in his body after a few minutes finally started to disappear, and a strange feeling appeared in his chest. He could feel something slowly growing. His old skin, burned by the sun, turned white with a luster, finally making this man in his mid-30s not look like an old man anymore.
"Father!!" Aris, who was sweating all over from the heat, finally sensing that the heat was gone, ran at full speed toward his father with open arms.
"Aris, my boy!" Theno with a big smile hugged his son and soon after his wife and daughter who followed after Aris.
Theno, feeling his family's warm embrace, let go of the questions about the strange feeling in his chest after the green light entered.
For him, this moment now mattered more than any mystery.
The last rays of the setting sun shone brightly in the eyes of a village elder who had his eyes focused on the embracing family.
"Elder Rohn, did you know we had such an expert in our village?" A middle-aged man with a skinny figure asked the village elder.
"How could I have possibly known?" The elder answered in a strict tone.
"Hero Theno brought his family into our village two years ago with the identity of an experienced hunter, which helped our hunting team greatly. But now, thinking about it, he must have come here to settle down or to hide. This also explains why he was the only one that survived the encounter with that beast."
Hearing the village elder's words, the man nodded but then let out a long sigh.
"Chaos warriors really do not see us normal humans as people. Even though he had the power to face this beast, he still didn't intervene until now that his family was in danger. All those poor villagers and hunters died unjustly."
The village elder scoffed. "He clearly is a hidden expert much stronger than the Village Chief and Guards Captain. For such an expert to take action and expose himself, it's going to take much more than just some villagers' lives. That's just how those with power are. We must be grateful that his family was here, otherwise..." The elder didn't continue, but the man's expression turned pale with fright.
"Alright. It's getting dark. We must hurry back to the village. Tell the villagers to hurry." The elder said in a deep voice.
At the outskirts of the Golden Fur Forest, a dark figure moved through the darkness of the night with great speed, leaving behind deep pits with every step. Its robust body was constantly releasing white steam as it ran.
What is going on with my body?
My chest feels like it's on fire. The stone in my chest is glowing nonstop. The heat is spreading everywhere in my body. Dravok had long ago started to panic inside. He was unable to understand what was going on.
But it feels very comfortable. I don't feel pain, but a feeling of growing stronger — and not slowly like before when that energy grew. This is an explosive and qualitative increase.
Nighhh!
Just as he had thought this, his hind leg suddenly exploded with immense strength — so strong that the ground cracked for three meters — and his body, losing balance, was catapulted into a tree that exploded into wooden shards upon contact.
A while later, after the dust dissipated, a figure lying down in a pit could be seen still releasing white steam.
I have to stop here for now. It should be far enough from the humans. Dravok thought with some concern.
If I keep moving right now without being able to control my increasing strength, I might end up injuring myself. Thankfully, I hit a normal tree. If it was one of those strange hard trees, it would have ended badly.
As the night deepened inside the dark forest, four flames suddenly appeared.
Interesting. Dravok thought with intrigue as he looked at his flaming hooves.
After the heat in my body dissipated, my strength stopped increasing, and the feeling of controlling flames actually appeared. It's similar to when I was able to control the flames in my battle with that captain, but now the control is much greater. Also, the most important change is — I get this feeling without needing to bleed first.
I was worried that I would always have to bleed first if I wanted to use these flames to fight. Now it seems that's not the case. Dravok thought with some joy in his heart as he looked at the flaming hooves. The red flame reflected in his dark eyes.
And it seems the opportunity to test my new strength is here.
Dravok's ears twitched, then his head turned. His dark eyes locked with two huge glowing vertical pupils filled with interest.