In The Snow

By some kind of miracle, the snowstorm subsides just as we arrive at our vantage point.
It's perfect. The two armies stand before me. I can see everything.

I know my role is simple; I'm to freeze both armies in place, but there is one selfish desire within me.
I don't want to see these two armies fight. I want everyone here to be happy.
I've seen enough death. I never wanted any of this.
So... as cheesy as it may be...

"I wish they could see love!"

I speak those words, and it's obviously effective, yet in less than a second's time, screams surround me. The five allies I had travelled with go sprinting ahead onto the battlefield, no longer caring about staying in position or about being on guard. Their only priority is ahead of them.

I see three four-legged creatures in the centre of the battlefield, much like the ones used by each army's cavalry. On the left, Feana and Ms. Tsa ride atop their mounts. On the right, however, a rider plummets to the ground.

"That's Vio... But why!?"

Frozen with all the rest, a single figure stands, gripping a weapon in his hand. His clothes, very similar to those of the Eraiden assassins.
One of them made it to the battlefield? In that storm!?

Like the five, I join the sprint. The cube in my hand shimmers, its glow fades, and movement returns to the battlefield.

BANG!

As soon as the vision ends, a barrage of distant explosions pierces the sky. Amidst Lann's forces, a handful of the army's troops fall to the snow. Panic overwhelms each soldier like a tidal wave.
But what overwhelms them is not what overwhelms me...

That sound... Guns? From where!?

I look beyond the Lann army—to the snowy fields behind them. A storm is raging where once there was none. In the whistle of the wind, I hear a whisper.

"I will protect your one desire, dear friend."

...my... one desire?

The world is once again in motion, and it won't stop to give me time to think.
The army of Lann is overtaken by confusion. The queen of Yve has abandoned her steed.
The only voice that can command this kind of scene...
The only voice that can put an end to this war...
Is His.

With a database of death in hand, I take my place between both armies.

"Children of Larila! I wish to show you the deception of Eraidus!"

◇ ◇ ◇

Amidst the chaos, a Queen steps down. In her place stands an ordinary girl.
Feana's ruby eyes are stained with tears. Without him—without Vio—who will stand by her side? They were supposed to be together. She was supposed to be his Larila, and he...
He was...
Feana choked on her sadness.

"Why!? You were supposed to be my Sun."

A fading life lay in her arms. His smile, a memory of better days.
"Maybe... things would've been better..." with the last of his energy, he coughs, "if Larila had lived... and Soon had died."
That isn't what Feana wants to hear.

"I don't care about that! We should've been together! Why can't we just... be together!?"
"We'd have been killed..."
"We'd have been happy!"

Feana's blunt words only added more hurt to Vio's struggling heart.

"I just want... to go back."

Through tears, a princess choked on her frustration.

"I understand, but... this isn't the way!"

If they had been given a bit more time, maybe they could've found a solution, together. If Vio reached out, how would Feana answer? If this isn't the way forward...

"Then... what is?"

With his dying breath, Vio asks his one and only love an unanswerable question.
He wouldn't live to hear the answer. He would die never knowing.
That was how his life ended.

In that blood-soaked snowfield, only the sounds of tears remained.

"Haaah..."

The cold wind turns my breath into frost.
Why do things have to be so complicated?
Why can't we all just be happy?
I, too, wish I could go back.
I just...
...
...That's all......

◇ ◇ ◇

To my sweet Lieve.
I haven't seen you for a while. I wonder if you haven't seen me?
I can only hope these weeks I've lived have been a second to you.
I really do miss you.

I don't really understand much of what's going on, but I'm somewhere else, right now.
It's a place called Larila.
The animals are a bit strange, but people here are the same as anywhere else.
They like stories. They like to dance.
They go on holidays and buy their friends souvenirs.
When you're having a bad day, they notice. They try to make things just a little bit better.
If you tell a funny joke, they laugh.
And if something sad happens, they cry.

I really do love you. I hope you know that.
No matter what happens, you'll always mean the world to me.

Be safe. Please.

- Your Veni Ven

◇ ◇ ◇

Despite everything that happened, peace somehow blessed the continent.
The two armies retreated. We all returned to our homes.
By the time we arrived, a lot of news had spread.

King Vio of Lann was dead.

It wasn't that messengers had been sent ahead of the armies, no. King Vio's death spread throughout the continent in seconds.
For all we meet now believe these truths:

Eraidus were responsible for the continent's sudden conflicts.
King Vio slew his own father.
A human of planet Earth has descended upon Larila.
And more than anything, they believe in the love that King Vio felt for Yve's Queen.

My selfish wish, to show two armies memories of better days, had spread throughout the land. The vision it projected was one of a dying man's life.
King Vio's memories were shared with all his people, and with all of Yve's.

In a twisted way, his death brought peace to the land.
His desire to spend one more day in a garden, in the rain, seeing the person he loved smile wide...
That small desire brought peace to the land.

It's been a few days since then, but the surprise of it all hasn't worn off.
You'd assume that the capital would be in desperate need of its Queen, but everyone, in understanding, gave her time to grieve.
She left with a celebration and returned to a funeral.

"Well then, I'd best send you to Xark!"
"Princess?"
"No, I'm the Queen now, remember?"
"Sorry, I keep messing that up..."

Even so, she pushes on with things. She made me a promise to help me return home, and she's determined to keep it.
I feel a bit guilty watching her muster up so much energy for me...

"Will you be okay?"
"Three months ago, I was hiding away in the snow, believing everyone I knew had died, with only Tsa by my side!"
"...right."
"But today, I have my most precious six guards. I have the love of Yve and the love of Lann."

Logically, everything she says makes sense, but I know how it feels to love someone.
Affection is not equal. The love of six people, and even the love of entire countries, won't fill the hole that a single person's death leaves in you.
We've both lost a mother. We've both lost a father. And...
I can imagine how it'd feel to lose your partner.
Once, she told me she'd had enough time to weep, but... I'm not sure that time is much of a cure.

"Feana..."

I place a hand over my heart, and while thinking of those I love, I smile.
Before me stands someone who, even when the world brings her tragedy, chooses to believe in hope. She trusted that I would be her ally. She trusted that Vio still loved her. She trusts that time will make the pain go away.

"I'm glad I met you."

I don't want her to believe that I only care for her potential to help me return home.

"Thank you for being in this world."

My appreciation of all she's done is not a matter of duty, but a matter of heart.
I hope for her to live a life that makes her smile.
I want her to step outside and enjoy the day.

"Thank you for being alive."

◇
◆ ◇ ◆
◇◇ END ◇◇
◆ ◇ ◆
◇

He was born in the snow.
The world, then, was a storied canvas.
He would dye it his colour; death would be his paint.
And with each shine of light,
Larila grew.
 -  Record of Ancient Capital Larila, 6013 BD.