Hiro Kouen opened his eyes, shielding them from the rising sun He tried to remember what he was doing before he opened his eyes. Was he sleeping? He wiped the sleep from his eyes. There was a lot of it, as if he was sleeping for a long time. He looked down at himself, he was wearing his usual armor. There was a small red ribbon tied to his finger. He was not in the inn room he was in before. Where was he? He heard the birds of the morning chirping as he wandered through the forest he found himself in. His mind seemed frazzled, dazed. Why was he here in a forest? Was he dreaming, or was he wake? There was a longing in his heart, a deep sadness. He looked up, and saw a familiar temple at the end of a forest path.
He was in Angela's realm.
Might as well follow the path.
Soon he was at the temple, in the Gardens of Devotion. He felt hungry, thirsty, as if he hadn't eaten or drank anything for awhile. He walked through the gates into the building, the bright, warm, glowing alabaster home of the Goddess.
"A-Angela? Are you there?" It felt like he hadn't spoken in a long time, and his voice felt hoarse. "I . . . don't know why I'm here, did you summon me? Or . . . did I come here on my own will somehow?" Maybe he wanted to come here, and hadn't realized it. He hadn't seen Lady Angela since that time on the battlefield. It wasn't the right time to talk to her, considering a war was going on. Memories started coming back to him. Pain suffered during the Deadly Sins curse, where his mother suffered from one of the curses. She tried to strangle him. His father, Sabishii Kouen, he had to restrain her. He said he had to lock her in the basement, to keep her safe, to keep her from hurting herself or others. Or visa versa. They went to confront the creators of the chaos, Lady Dalanesca and Lord Xunatar. They were assaulted as soon as they approached the tower they resided in. They had to fight their way up through the traps and monsters guarding the way.
They made their way to the top of the spire, and confronted the duo. His father asked them to stop the curses, to give humanity a chance to survive. They refused, and attacked. They were separated from each other. Hiro was caught withing Xunatar's darkness, doing battle with him, while his father was fighting Dalanesca. When the darkness surrounding Hiro dissipated, his father, he was grappling with Dalanesca, he was being immolated by hellfire. He tried to take Dalanesca down with him. The one last spell Sabishii cast on Hiro, he found himself flung out of the tower, and he found himself somewhere outside in the desert sands outside of Arri, their home.
Sabishii, his father, was dead. He rushed back home to find their house in shambles. The doors were broken down, including the basement door. There were scorch marks and blood everywhere. But no sign of any bodies. The Hiro looked throughout the town, but there was no sign. His Mother, Seraphia Kouen was gone. Presumed dead.
He spent the next two years or so in isolation. He had no one left. Lady Sapphire was at Mage College, and he was caught in despair. He spent his time training on his own. When he left isolation he met a few people, Brwyln and Kythe, who knew his father. He participated in the war against the insect tribes. But the pain was always there. He tried to bury it down within his heart, and lock it away. But it wouldn't go away, no matter how hard he tried to push it away, bury it away, ignore it.
"My heart hurts," he was crying. That's what he was doing before he found himself here in Angela's realm. "Why my parents? Why? My beloved Father and Mother, they're gone, and it hurts so much." He was on his hands and knees sobbing.