Lander suddenly opened the door without any notice. He is carrying firewood and forgot to knock.
“Alisa, here is the firewood”, he uttered peeking through the slightly open door.
He is planning to leave the firewood he collected by the door without any intention on entering. Partially because Alisa never talked to him but mostly due to his personal guilt that he can’t face her properly.
Lander scanned the room. The inside of the cabin is small and it looked ragged and old. The woods used and the roof of the terrace outside is starting to have traces of termites, but still, it looked comfortable to live in.
From what he can see through the door, there is a fireplace where a cauldron is hanging over the fire. In front of it is a small table where Alisa is sat. At the far side is a bench and a small sink. He opened the door a bit further out of curiosity and the bed is what he saw. It is where Nicolas is sat.
“I have a pretty bad news”, that’s what he heard before the two stared at him in a daze.
“You’re awake, that’s great news”, he awkwardly said before hastily putting down what he is carrying at the door. “I’ll just leave it here then I’ll be going”, he added before closing the door.
“Wait…”, Nicolas stopped him from leaving. “I need to tell you something first”.
“There’s no need. I know how heavy my crimes are, no need reminding me”.
“That’s not what I want to talk about”, Nicolas explained as he looked at Alisa.
“I really know how much I deserve death for my sins. You don’t need to remind me!”, Lander exclaimed as he gulp every drop of his saliva.
“Like I said I’m not going to talk about that”, Nicolas got off the bed and kneeled at the floor.
Lander got intrigue by the loud thud from the wooden floor so he decided to take a glance inside. To his surprise Nicolas is gesturing for a bow with his head glued to the floor.
“What are you doing?”, “What are you doing?”, Lander and Alisa both asked getting discombobulated.
“I am scarred from the thing you did almost ten years ago but I also know that I am not the only one who suffered such hardships. If there is anyone who suffered more consequences it was you”, Nicolas started.
“Raise your head you’re a prince!”, Lander exclaimed refusing to believe what he is hearing.
“Though we can’t forgive you just yet and these scars have not been fully healed, I would like to thank you for saving Alisa this time when I could not. I’m hoping that we can cooperate from here on out”.
“I said lift your head, you don’t need to do that”, Lander replied not knowing what to say as his guilt started to take over.
“Why are you looking tense?”, Alisa asked. “Would you prefer if we punch you instead?”, she sarcastically added as she stood and washed the vegetables she has.
Lander just can’t believe what’s happening. The prince lowering his pride to the person he hated the most and the girl he did wrong finally interacting and looking at him as a person.
“I too would like to give my gratitude to you for saving my life but don’t expect me to forgive what you did to me that easily”, Alisa blurted placing the vegetables back to the table before picking up the firewood that Lander unintentionally scattered to the floor.
“What? Why are you crying?”, Alisa laughed as she witnessed Lander turn into a crying baby.
“I too would like to apologize!”, Lander exclaimed as he copied what Nicolas did.
“I know what I did was unforgivable. I don’t even deserve any forgiveness from you and that is fine but I too hope that we can work together”, he added as his tears reached the floor.
“Fine fine”, Alisa said starting to cut the vegetables while Nicolas sat back up.
“Since you’re here, why not join us for lunch?”, she asked while Lander lifted his head and watched the two as he wiped his tears.
“Why do you look so worried?, don’t worry we’ll not give you poison or anything”, Nicolas sarcastically said before he laughing.
He thought it was funny but Lander heard it as a death threat. He looked tenser than before.
“No thank you”, he said then got up. “We already ate and you want to talk with the ones in command right? I’ll do that instead”, he proposed before sprinting away like a reindeer being chased by poachers.
Nicolas and Alisa had just finished their meal when Lander came back together with Anton, Alvor, and Donnor.
“Alisa?”, Alvor came knocking at the door.
“Oh they’re here”, Alisa hurried to the door and let them in.
“Hello…”, Alvor cheerfully said as he entered, even waving to Nicolas whose washing the dishes.
“I thought you just woke up?”, Anton asked sitting directly at the bench and Lander followed.
“Yes I did”, Nicolas replied wiping his hands to his shirt before facing the others. Out of all, Alvor is the first one he saw sitting on the table together with Donnor.
“Alisa…”, he whispered to her.
“What is it?”, she whispered back in confusion.
“Do you remember what I asked at the waterfall about who the bearded man when I was angry?”
“Yeah, you asked what my relation with the bearded man is”, she replied but still confused.
“Yeah, do you know the difference between a beard and a mustache?”
“No”
“Your father has a mustache, not a beard”, Nicolas explained with his palm on his face.
“Huh?”, Alisa looked at his father then back to Nicolas.
“So you mean I almost died because I did not know what a beard is!”, she exclaimed, leaving everyone confused what Nicolas said.
“You can do sweet talks later”, Anton blurted before clearing his throat.
Nicolas and Alisa blushed as they turned to Anton.
“That’s not what we are talking about”, they both said with wavering voices.
“Ah, we can’t help it, my bear cub had grown”, Alvor said wiping his eyes.
“I told you it’s not that!”, Alisa exclaimed before sitting on the corner of the bed while Nicolas sat on the other end.
“So what was the bad news Lander was talking about?”, Anton asked after an awkward silence.
“Before that”, Donnor said. “I would like to apologize for what we did a few days ago”.
“Never mind that now. I know how you felt that time considering the circumstances”, Nicolas replied. “But if I can remember correctly you said something about a reaper, that was the reason you wanted to kill me correct?”
“Yes, your soul… may we see?”, Donnor asked while Nicolas projected it as per request.
“That blue color it possessed is unnatural, as you see ours are white”, Donnor explained revealing a shield. “A reaper is an entity who harvests the soul of any living being on its own accord. Though they are soul’s themselves but on another level. However, because they too are souls, they can be used for the Dark God’s revival”
Lander and Anton started to feel out of place as the conversation started to go deep. They are confused what was going on. Projecting souls, the Dark God, it was a new concept for them.
“Another thing, I know you’re not aware, but we can feel the force it possesses. It’s like a miasma, suffocating and heavy to face. Could you at least suck it in? It’s hard for us and it will be more convenient if you can hide your presence like a normal person”, Alvor said.
“You can at least ask politely father”, Alisa whispered feeling embarrassed.
“No, it’s fine. I also thought that it was the case”, Nicolas agreed before closing his eyes and imagined inhaling in a thick unpleasant fog.
“It disappeared!”, Lander exclaimed standing from the bench. Anton was even startled. He immediately sat down upon noticing he was the center of attention.
“Moving on”, Alvor cleared his throat as Nicolas recalled his soul.
“The moment you changed your soul, we already knew we messed up”, Donnor continued the explanation.
“You’re a guide”, Alvor said snatching Donnor’s moment.
“Guides are the real caretakers of the souls. They can change their soul from sword, bow, and shield just to accomplish their task of guiding souls from one life to another”, Donnor snatched back the explanation.
“Unlike reapers, guides can be reasoned with”, Alisa joined in. “But it was a mystery on how would a guide possess a mortal body. You’re supposed to be on purgatories between plains of reality”.
“About that”, Nicolas said sounding serious. “Have you met a boy who looks like me?”.
“I have”, Alisa replied. “On the market after I found you at the remains”.
“Are you pertaining to the boy you fought?”, Donnor asked.
“Right… he’s my brother”, Nicolas seriously said.
“Brother?”, Lander let out and the look in everyone’s face especially Alisa and Anton is enough to voice out their confusion.
“Are you still lucid from all that sleeping Nicolas?”, Anton asked looking worried at him.
“I guess I should have not let you do the dishes after all”, Alisa added.
“I am fine and I’m telling the truth”, Nicolas assured them but none of them is taking him seriously.
“We all know you are an only child”, Anton pursued his point.
“Yes, but actually no”, Nicolas replied.
“Are you really fine Nicolas?”, Alisa kept trying to feel Nicolas’s forehead.
“I told you, I’m fine”, he said stopping Alisa. “Remember the Blue Moon’s Tale? how certain are you that you know the whole story?”
“Are you somewhat challenging out belief?”, Donnor blurted shaking the whole table as he felt offended.
“No, that’s not my intention”, Nicolas assured him. “For the past 2 days that I was out I had a dream, no, a recollection of my past lives”.
“Recollection?”, Alvor said looking interested.
“I saw Marcus together with me. We are brothers bearing identical souls. For our past lives, we are hunted down or killed as an infant but we remembered everything in every new life we had”.
“How would that be possible? The guides should also be tasked with the directive on resetting deserving souls with each new life”, Donnor said.
“We did not go through any purgatory. Each time we die we got sent directly to a new plain as if we just woke up from a dream”, Nicolas added.
“Even if what you’re saying is true, why did you only remember it now despite bearing the memories the moment you start a new life?”, Alvor again asked. He looked like he is enjoying every bit of the discussion.
“That’s because we did not die together the last time”
“Did not die together?”, Alisa also asked.
“From all of the lives we died together. We got drowned, smashed, burned, shot or got stabbed together. But the last time, when I tried looking for help to save Marcus from grave danger I got pulped by a train, half a kilometer away from him”.
“I see”, Alvor said fidgeting with his mustache. “What’s a train though?”
“I would also like to know”, Lander raised his hand.
“Seriously?”, Nicolas felt disappointed at them for some reason. “Forget the train, let’s just say I got hit by a cart running a hundred miles an hour”, he felt like a teacher having no choice but to answer kindergarten’s questions.
“I too would like to know”, Alisa also raised her hand.
“You too?”, Nicolas looked at her and sighed.
“It is a vehicle. A long metal vehicle running on road like metal tracks, it is used for fast transportation from one location to another for a shorter number of time than riding a horse. Considering the state of the reality plain we are in right now, it would at least take three decades or four to reach steam engine technology”.
“I did not get it”, Anton blurted.
“For goodness sake I’m sure you have seen it before but you can’t remember it because of the soul reset thing. Let’s just get back to our current problem okay?”, Nicolas said finally deciding to cut the crap while regretting his decision to even bring that train up.
“Now let me know, have you examined the engravings at the temple?”, he added.
“Yes, none of it deviates from the legend”, Donnor reported. “But it is a mystery on why would those soulless would try understanding those scriptures”
“They must have been looking for a way to make Nero’s resurrection faster”, Alvor answered.
“It’s not that”, Nicolas debated.
“What do you mean?”, Alvor said thinking why would his statement be wrong.
“Nero must have ordered them to look for a way to make sure the God of light would never be able to take any action”
“God of light?, Why? There is no way he’ll not take action”, Donnor wondered.
“Remember why I have a brother with an identical soul?”, Nicolas again bringing that part of conversation up.
“Yeah”, all of them replied.
“The fact that we exist, is the proof that God of light is no longer watching from above”.
“What do you mean”, Anton queried upon catching up to the conversation.
“The Blue Moon’s Tale that you know is not entirely right. It is incomplete”, Nicolas elaborated while panning his vision from Anton to Donnor. “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings as children of light but what your ancestors did was just sit and be a diversion”.
“Here you go again with an even deeper topic”, Donnor scratched his head.
“They served as decoys in order for the God of light to prepare. He had used all of his power, his soul. All if you must say. All in order to save every plain of reality by splitting Nero’s soul into three”
“Split in three?, how would that explain your existence”, Anton cut of the explanation.
Nicolas just looked at him before going back to the explanation.
“Nero was split into three in order to prevent him from using all of his power. One of the pieces of him is what resides Marcus’s biological father, Martin Terradin, the bearded man”.
“By doing so, God needed to also split his soul into three; he combined 2 of his fragments to the fragments of Nero as a counter measure to their evil nature while his last piece was used to accomplish the goal, giving birth to us.”
“Nero became a lowly wandering soul and then Marcus and I existed from the mended soul fragments of Nero himself and God”.
“This is bad”, Alvor muttered. “If your brother is really Marcus and his already in Nero’s hand, we might be in for the worst”.
“Yeah, but we are still lucky. As far as what I’ve felt from Marcus, he was still compact except for the growing dark space on his soul. It seemed like Nero tried corrupting him but he did not sensed that Marcus had a part of him already. We can thank God of Light for that…”.
“Because if he already knew, then he should have already forced a synthesis”, he added.
“Then what for does Elizalina needed to massacre our homeland!”, Anton exclaimed sounding frustrated,.“If they just need Nicolas why would they need to kill thousands”.
“They need sacrifices to mend ones soul back and it is a God’s soul we are talking about. They would need lots of souls”, Alvor explained.
“I know what you are feeling Anton”, Nicolas assured projecting a shape of the soul no human can procure, a scythe. “I also think killing me or handing me over are the best options, but I beg you. This might be the last chance we can face Nero and end this cycle”, he lowered his head.
“Wait, if you have a piece of two God’s soul, can’t you contact angels to help us?”, Lander asked out of the blue.
“Seriously Lander?... I can’t, plus if you’re expecting such lovely angles, no, they look horrifying and since God is not present to super vice, I don’t think they will still meddle with human affairs anymore even If Nero is part of it”.
“I was just wondering”, Anton sat back down pulling Lander down to their seat and calmed down. “Is there any way for a normal person to acquire soul reflecting abilities?”.
“None, unless you are from our bloodline, there is none”, Donnor answered leaving Anton disappointed.
“Then how did Elizalina gained such abilities?”
“There is a way”, Alvor blurted. “If you sell your soul to Nero himself you could”, he explained while looking at Alisa. “Do you remember that girl? she has a dark blade meaning…”
“She sold her soul”, Alisa blurted looking at the concerned Nicolas.
“Wait a minute, Nicolas, I need to give you something”, Anton changed the topic before handing a black book to Nicolas. “The king’s last letter is inside and I think you should read it”.
“Then why bother bringing this journal, I have no use for this now. Plus this is a part of Aquilos’s Literature”, Nicolas said reaching for the book.
“Where did you get this?”, Donnor blurted before snatching the book from Nicolas.
“That’s my grandfather’s journal”, Nicolas explained.
Donnor flipped the book to the side and examined the red circle emblem.
“None of you youngster’s know but our ancestors had some kind of discrimination to its few subjects”, he began explaining.
“This red emblem is a tag, used to mark those of us who cannot conceive a reflection of their soul. Some of those people left Drasyl a long time ago”, Donnor enlightened them.
“What could that mean?, Lander asked upon feeling interested with the topic.
“It means that Nicolas might be the one mention on the Legend. You’re ancestors might be affiliated with us, and considering the color of your soul it is certain”, Donnor looked hopeful at Nicolas.
“What about Lander?”, Anton intruded the explanation.
“What about Lander?”, Alvor bounced the question back at him.
“He too can project his soul”, Anton added.
“Is that true?”, Alvor looked at Alisa.
“Yes, he saved me with his shield. I still can’t believe but his soul is really a shield”, Alisa confirmed.
“I don’t know my family history”, Lander said showcasing his soul.
“My mother died shortly after the incident almost ten years ago without any information where we came from and I never knew my father”, he said feeling embarrassed as he awkwardly looked at Donnor.
“This is great!”, Donnor rejoiced. “If either of you is the chosen one, then we have a great chance to succeed”.
The conversation is on its peak when sudden knocks from the door gained everyone’s attention.
“We have already found where the enemy is hiding”, the man reported.
“Where?”, Anton attentively stood.
The man just looked at him before saying, “West of Drasyl near the sea”.
“Good work”, Alvor said. “Let’s head back to the Temple, it’s a wider place for a meeting”.
“Lander, you go ahead and tell the others to prepare the place”, Anton blurted ordering Lander. To which the boy heeded without any concern. He sprinted towards the cave while Anton walked the opposite direction.
“How about you?, Where are you going”, Alvor asked Anton.
It was a rather silent eye to eye moment then Anton just smiled.
A loud fart suddenly erupted from him and he laughed.
“I’ll be answering Mother Nature’s call first”, he laughed. “Nicolas’s explanation is too long and I’ve been holding it since he started. Don’t worry I’ll be there before the strategizing starts, with clean hands of course”.
The assembly progressed without any problems. Using the map they possess and thanks to the survey team that found the enemy, formulating an attack strategy was easy. The other knights and Lander can’t help but be in awe as Alvor, the knight they all look up to, discussed his plan.
Anton could not help but laugh as he watched them. “What are you? A girl who has a crush?”, he said making the whole table laugh. It ended with a final decision that they will attack at dawn, and so they adjourned the meaning and prepared themselves.
Alisa was just about to go back to the cabin after she helped cleaning the mess at the cave when she heard breaking branches nearby. She does not have any lamps with her so she just depended on the moonlight which is occasionally covered by the clouds.
She got curious and took a glance what it was. To her surprise he saw a figure traversing the overgrowth, nervous, and attentive to his surroundings.
“Faster!”, Alisa heard another voice. “Fine”, the figure she was tailing replied.
She got even more curious so she followed them deeper into the woods. She could not hear any word properly because she doesn’t want to risk getting caught.
“Do you understand?...”, the other figure exclaimed.
A nervous bop of the other’s head said he understood what it was. “Tomorrow… be silent…”, Alisa again heard. She wanted to lean in closer but the thick clouds finally let the moonlight out.
“Lander?”, she felt shivers down her spine. “What are you doing!”, she whispered to herself. She got agitated so she decided to head back. With her heart beating fast, she stopped just outside the overgrowth.
Moments later Lander came out too.
“Hey Lander… where did you go?”, Alisa asked pretending to be on her way home.
“Nothing”, Lander replied on a tense high pitch voice.
“Be sure to get some sleep, we might have a very long day tomorrow”, She advised before walking pass him.
“Yeah, I will”, Lander replied before hurrying back to the cave.
“Just who are you talking to Lander, I don’t want to doubt you or accused you so please prove me wrong”, she thought as she entered the cabin.
The sudden opening of the door almost gave Alisa a heart attack.
“Why do you look so worried?”, Nicolas asked as he looked at Alisa frozen on the bed.
“You fucking startled me that’s why!”, she exclaimed. “But no, I was just worried for tomorrow”.
“You should sleep then, you’re just tired”, Nicolas suggested.
“Yeah, but where would you sleep?”, Alisa asked getting up on the bed. “I slept beside you when you’re asleep but now that you’re awake, it now feels wrong to do so”.
“Yeah, about that, I already took my stuff at the clock tower and since I’m doing fine now, you can have the bed and I’ll be on the floor”
They both settled down and turned off the lamps. It was a pleasant night, peaceful and tranquil.
“I hope we’ll succeed tomorrow”, Alisa whispered.
“We will”, Nicolas assured her while at her eyes from the floor. “And no matter what happens I’ll keep you safe”.
Alisa blushed for a bit from what Nicolas said so she turned around.
“Hey Nicolas”, she whispered.
“Don’t worry about it. You can just snipe from a far…”
“It’s not about that…”, Alisa replied. “Do you remember what day is it?”.
“No, why?”.
“Tomorrow is August first”
“Really?, it’s that time of the year already?”, Nicolas laughed.
“Yeah”, Alisa faced him again. “Advance happy birthday…”, she added before lowering her hand to the side of the bed”.
“Uh huh, to you as well”, Nicolas held her hand and smiled.
It did not take long before they fell asleep. With the warmth of each other, they felt at peace. And even if it’s just for a short time, it is indeed peaceful.