The Path To Perfection

Chapter 14: His Wife

In the dark of the night. It was now that time of the year when green clouds appeared in the sky.

Currently, on a particularly thick green cloud, Krene and Jurdelious stood side by side. Krene wore a pair of blue tight jean trousers with a black hoodie sweater along with a pair of black high-top shoes. Jurdelious wore the same thing except that instead of black, he had white shoes on.

"Ah! Hominid clothes are as comfy as always," Jurdelious said in his usual deep voice. Krene did not say anything, she just kept looking at the vast expanse of land that looked like green, brown, and black paintwork from high above.

Jurdelious continued talking. "Do you know what I enjoy most these years?.. It's observing all these mortals, especially the humans. Their similar yet completely different way of life is always amusing to watch. If others were here, it'd be more fun to gamble."

Once again, Krene just kept silent. She narrowed her eyes as she gazed with unbreakable concentration. If someone followed her line of sight, they would see that from so high above, she was staring right at a seven-storied building, to be precise, she was staring at the sleeping Al'ravee through the window.

"You should relax, Al'ravee is always under our senses. I've ordered my Spirits to keep watch over him in case of any 'abnormal' occurrence. If anything was to come up...if anything dared to come up, hehe... I highly doubt that anyway."

Krene, upon hearing her son's name did not shift her gaze from the distant building but she said. "That's not what I'm worried about... can't you see it."

"See what?" Jurdelious questioned back.

"His aging... It's slowing down." Krene said in all seriousness.

Jurdelious turned to look in the direction where Krene was also looking at. His expression went from shocked to a frown then to being relaxed again. He said. "Is that it? It's only at a rate of 0.003%, no one will notice."

Krene shook her head. "No one will notice, for now. If my calculations are correct, then he would completely stop aging when he is thirty years old. That's a bit earlier than we predicted Jurde. "

Jurdelious face suddenly lit up " Really? if so then that's good, we don't need to look much older than him. It'd be weird if he ended up looking older than us. Maybe we can speed things up a bit..."

Suddenly, the cloud they were standing on seemed to grow thicker. Green lightning bolts danced around the now dark green cloud. Krene narrowed her eyes even more.

*CRACKLE!*

Jurdelious immediately wiped away his excited attitude when he felt an uncomfortable feeling from Krene. "I...I mean..oh, darn it, the mortals will notice and might do something stupid." Jurdelious quickly said even though the light from his eyes showed that he wasn't scared at all.

Krene looked at Jurdelious with an expressionless gaze. "I love you Jurdelious and your ridiculousness might be part of you, but... please don't let such thoughts about Al'ravee go to your head. You of all people should know how long we waited for this."

"Of course," Jurdelious said before continuing. "Our planned slumber is approaching, there's just so much we have to do for him before then." Jurdelious was saying.

Krene's gaze towards Jurdelious became warmer, she looked away from him and interrupted him. " I'm just saying. It's at this time that we need to control ourselves the most. As for the Slumber, what will be, will be.

For Al'ravee to temporarily continue aging, we'll need to use the Concept of Mortality on him, none of us have that concept yet, we'll have to contact Stylaff."

Jurdelious got out of his apologetic mood and continued discussing Al'ravee's future.

....

*Seven years later*

Inside a white beautiful temple, a crowd of people dressed for a special occasion stood on two sides of the building's interior. Going through the center of the crowd was a gold-patterned red carpet that led to the front where some people stood on an elevated platform.

A gray-haired old man who was donned in ceremonial attire took the position in the center of all of them. To his left, a tall slightly handsome man dressed in a white suit stood there nervously. He had neck-length smooth brown hair which complemented his tan skin. His short trimmed beards made him appear slightly more handsome. He was not fat and neither was he thin, he could be considered average at best. This was none other than Al'ravee at thirty years old.

Next to Al'ravee was an unbelievably fat man slightly shorter than Al'ravee. The black suit he was wearing could barely fit him. He kept looking around him, searching for something. "Ravee, if she delays a bit longer then the food will start getting cold." The fat man whispered in a joking manner. He was Batly and even now, he was thinking about food.

Al'ravee didn't answer him, he looked down at all the people who came today because of him and his wife-to-be. That's right, on this day, at the age of thirty, Al'ravee was getting married.

Down below the elevated platform, Krene and Jurdelious stood in front of the crowd. They looked different now compared to when Al'ravee was younger.

Krene's golden hair now had gray locks here and there. The wrinkles on both sides of her nose further raised her status as an elderly. As of now, she and Al'ravee were of the same height.

Jurdelious, the tuft of hair on his head had become sparser and completely turned white, even his beard was no exception. His face was covered in elderly wrinkles. But 'old age' did stop him from looking very intimidating just standing there.

His height plus his muscles that looked like he hadn't stopped going to the gym yet- -Al'ravee had never seen him going to the gym anyways- - all added to the dangerous feeling he gave people. Even now that he was all grown up, Al'ravee was sure that if he tried to fight his father with his current physique, it would only take two to three slaps to bring him down.

Off to the side, a beautiful woman with waist-length black hair who looked to be around Al'ravee's age stood silently. Two figures stood next to her, one of them, a handsome thirteen-year-old boy. The young boy bore a striking resemblance to Ivan, the only difference was his younger appearance and his black hair instead of blonde. The second person beside her was an average-looking middle-aged man with small eyes and a wide face. The man wore a matching suit with the young boy and the beautiful woman.

The woman was none other than Selou. The young boy standing beside her was obviously the result of She and Ivan fooling around in the past, Duane.

When Al'ravee saw the middle-aged man standing beside Selou, he could not help but be reminded of Ivan and felt a bit sad. Since the time Ivan ran away, the last anyone heard of him was when his parents were informed that he was caught by law enforcers during a criminal act. His exact crime wasn't released to the public.

Selou couldn't allow herself to be held down by her past for the sake of her son, she needed a means of livelihood to support her and Duane's education. After all, she could not expect someone else to help her.

After she finished university, she abandoned the thought of becoming a doctor and immediately took a loan from the bank to open up a big provision store. Al'ravee remembered that he once assisted her in paying the first part of her debt after he got a promotion.

It was later that she met a nice man who offered to pay the rest of her debt in exchange for them partnering up. It seemed too good to be true but if they looked from the man's angle, it was understandable.

The man who went by the name Lian was a worker who was let off along with many others by his company due to bankruptcy. Luckily, he had saved enough money for the rainy days. The problem was that Lian had enough credits to sustain himself for some time but not enough to start up his own business. With the way the global population was increasing every day and young men and women constantly graduating from universities, the chances of finding a good white-collar job continued to decrease. Instead of putting the hope of his future on some organization, he thought it better to become self-employed.

Lian once admitted that he got to know of the debt from a friend who worked in the microfinance bank. His strategy was very simple: look for someone who couldn't afford to not pay their debts, and pay it for them in exchange for becoming partners.

Normally, no one would be willing to share their future profits so easily but back then, Selou was in a pinch. If she paid the next part of the debt, then the money for annual renting of the building her provision store was in and Duane's school fees would be gone, and she would have no choice but to leave. And if she didn't pay the loan within the time duration, the bank would just seize the collateral which was her house. Lian just happened to come at the right moment.

Selou studied medical service so the only thing she knew about buying and selling was the basics taught during secondary education. That just happened to be what Lian specialized in. It could be said that Lian was a blessing, because a few years later, the small provision store had turned into a supermarket. Not to mention that they owned the building now.

Well, one thing led to another, and Lian got married to Selou and became Duane's stepfather. Selou was technically living the dream of her and Ivan with another man.

*DING! DONG! DING! DONG!*

The sound of the temple's large bells ringing interrupted Al'ravee's thought. He couldn't help but try to loosen his collar, feeling a bit nervous. He looked at the entrance of the temple in anticipation.

A feminine figure dressed in a beautiful and dazzling white wedding gown slowly walked towards the platform on the bright red carpet, catching all the attention of the surrounding witness. A white semi transparent veil rested upon her head.

The woman stopped in front of the gray-haired white-robed man, standing beside Al'ravee who was looking at her.

Al'ravee waited for a few seconds before gently unveiling the woman. Beneath the veil was revealed a beautiful face that held a mesmerizing shy smile.

*After some ceremonial procession*

"Do you, Ravee Divera, take Eva Samiz to be your lawfully wedded wife."

"I do..." Al'ravee answered the priest.

"Do you, Eva Samiz take Ravee Divera to be your lawfully wedded husband."

"I do.." Eva responded excitedly.

The priest paused for a moment to take a deep breath, he then proclaimed in a loud voice. "In the name of Ozia!, I now pronounce you husband and wife....".