XX. Letter to a Cat

On a morning when the chilly spring wind tried to impress—not even a year since his life had restarted—Yumino sat himself in the throne room of an empty elven castle he was already familiar with. Maybe, it would be better to say he stood above it.

As he felt the wind caress his long white hair while he was staying in a comfortable spot on a branch high up in the tree sprouting from the elven throne, the last elf hummed a song he once played in a tavern. At the same time, he wrote a letter that he would throw away regardless, but he still did it. He wrote it because he felt like writing. He wrote it because he wanted to.

*****

To a lying cat:

First of all, if I said this back in my world, I would have gotten laughed at big time.

That aside, I've been thinking about that book of yours, and something doesn't sit right with me. I've read it, and that cat never came back. 'A sacrifice for a change' or something like that, right? So I want to ask, when did you really start seeing the signs?

Well, that's a question I would never get my answer to. Maybe that little cat really was Erolith, or maybe it was someone else? 

In the end, I guess you're the only one who didn't wait for my answer. SO I guess we're even?

I guess I just have to spend the rest of this long life wondering what the truth is. Ah... you know how much I hate lies...

But it's okay, because I also have something to apologize for. In truth, I've lied to you. Or better said, I can't keep my promise to you. You see, that's how life is. They say there is good in bad, and there is bad in good. In life, you need to find the... Ah, forget it. That line is way too old by now.

Maybe I'm just trying to find an excuse. Maybe this word broke me long ago, and I'm just trying to act like I'm the one in the right. Whatever, I digress.

The truth is, I'm leaving the house empty. I know I swore to stand by your side and never leave you behind, but since the day you vanished, I don't even know where I'm supposed to stand. To be honest, living in that house brings back memories, and while I will always treasure them, I don't want to be stuck reminiscing all of my life.

So I'm moving starting today. I'm going really far to the west. How far? Well, I'm going to the Western Continent.

I know, crazy, right? I'm going there with nothing but a trusty bow and some voices in my head. Yeah... In the end, not all of them left. Even as I'm writing this, Gauntmere and Erolith keep nagging me that I should at least go back and grab your daggers, but those belong to you alone.

As for the reason I'm going: An elfdom there wrote me a letter.

I have no idea how they found out about me. Maybe they called me there out of pity, or maybe they need something from me. The letter just said I should visit them. I wonder why...

Maybe I'm more popular than I thought, haha!

I had my doubts at first, but with how excited Gauntmere is, I just had to accept. I wonder how this little witch would get by if she didn't have my trust...

Well, that's all I wanted to say. Goodbye, and sorry, Nima. I guess lying has become part of me now.

Yours,

Enkazan Yumino

P.S.: I really want to say it back, but I don't know what I'm supposed to say, so I'll stop exactly where you did.

I lo—

*****

After he finished writing the letter, Yumino let the wind take it away, and as he watched it fly, the elf lit up an arrow and shot at it.

In the air, the letter burned away, only its ashes lifting towards the sky.

"Ready?" a voice asked in his head.

"Yes, let's go..." he answered without adding any smart remark, touched by how far he could see in every direction of the continent he was going to leave behind.

And so, Yumino jumped off of the tall tree and continued his long road, enjoying the spring breeze that in vain tried to take away his bad memories, for he wanted to keep them all locked somewhere.

Reminiscing about the battle that decided it all, he couldn't help but let his thoughts slip out.

"Since the bright side of the moon is all we see, does it mean it is also the only one left?" he asked himself, but soon scoffed at his own question. 

"If I even am the bright side anymore..."

Instead of overthinking, he continued down his road while he annoying Gauntmere with another piece of contemporary slang.

"No... that was cringe of me..."

*****

High up in the sky, the ashes of a burned letter reached what seemed to be the silhouette of a girl.

"Idiot..." a voice resounded from her. "You didn't break any promise. I can see those fangs in your pocket..."

If anything, to this spirit of the past, Yumino had been more and more sincere with time.

"After all, on the day we met you didn't even speak back in Elvish. Of course I knew you were hiding something. Hehe~"

After letting the ashes scatter, the girl turned back and looked at a knight riding a horse of ashen color. She nodded at Him, and got up on his steed, ready to finally be taken away.

As they rode, they flew above the lonely elf. Only, the elf didn't seem so lonely all of a sudden—not when four other people were desperately running to try and catch up with him.

THE END