Love, demons, and other delusions

The ground was stained black with ashes. The village had been burned down to rubble. Once where 200 people lived their lives was now nothing but rubble, and the people themselves gone. Not a single one had survived the fires.

And yet, Alexander Telantra couldn’t find a single corpse.

“Something is definitely wrong here,” he finally concluded, staring at the remains of what had been the local tavern.

“As always, your judgement is incredibly precise, my lord,” spoke Veronica. “Remind me, what is it you hope to find here?”

Alexander spared an annoyed glance at Veronica before moving on from the building.

“People live in villages. When they die in villages, they leave behind the bodies they lived in. But there are no bodies here.”

“So… someone buried them?”

“This is too thorough and quick for us to see no evidence of anyone being here. This village only burned down about two days ago. Plus, we would’ve heard about something like that happening.”

Veronica put her finger on her lips as she thought for a moment. Then she sighed in resignation, “Alright, I’ll admit it, this certainly is an difficult puzzle. But what exactly does this have to do with us? Strange things happen in this world all the time, so what has drawn your eye to this town in the middle of nowhere?”

“I…” he thought for a moment. “I just want to confirm a suspicion I’ve had for some time now. No, I just want to be sure that what I think is happening isn’t. Because if I see the truth, I might be unable to continue living the way I have. I’ll be forced to keep walking down this path… all the way to the gallows.”

As Alexander spoke, he subconsciously reached for his chest pocket, where he kept the vial given to him by the sentry. Noticing this, Veronica questioned him further:

“So it has to do with where you went that day… and you still can’t tell me what happened?”

“No, I can’t.”

It wasn’t exactly a lie –he was forbidden from telling anyone about the contract he made with Charlotte. That didn’t make him feel any better about keeping such a big secret from his long time friend though. He could’ve told her that he went to Guileva to meet the sentry, but Veronica was smart enough that she might find out that he had willingly become a puppet. If that happened, Alexander wasn’t sure what Charlotte would do to him. Perhaps she would take his free will away.

He could feel her presence around him at all times, hanging above him like a guillotine. Perhaps he may go to sleep one night and never wake up again. However, this did nothing to dissuade him from doing what he had to do. He just had to make sure he finished before his time ran out.

“You’re a fool Alexander,” said Veronica. “Stop looking for a reason to get yourself killed. You don’t owe anything to anyone, especially people who are long dead.”

Her eyes were watery when he met them with his own. Veronica wasn’t one to express her emotions like that very often. Perhaps this would be the last time. Alexander saw the emotions behind her eyes. He knew what she wanted him to do. And he looked away.

He continued searching. Finally he found it –a single strand of hair. It was floating at the bottom of a well when he found it. Now held carefully in his hand, he could look at it closer. The strand of hair was over a foot long and brown– likely belonging to one of the villagewomen. This much wouldn’t let him glimpse much, but he focused his eyes and readied himself anyways.

Mana flowed through the eyes of Fate Prying as images flashed through his mind.

Deep fog. White hair. Onyx skin. Long pointy ears.

That was all he saw. The strand of hair dissolved into blackness, but his hand still clenched around it in anger. He had seen enough to confirm his suspicions.

Through gritted teeth he uttered but one word:

“Demons.”

- - - - - - -

She lay on her back, floating in a shallow pool. The clouds keep the sky gray so that she doesn’t get burnt. Her clothes are completely drenched, but she couldn’t care less about that.

She could heal all those she loved. But she knew not of love.

Her hand reached out to the cloudy sky. It too failed to grasp anything meaningful.

She knew not of love, and yet her magic worked.

So what did that mean?

Did she really not understand love, or was it her magic that was jumping to conclusions without her knowledge? Perhaps love, in itself, was inherently unknowable, like the origins of the universe or the infinitely vast tapestries of Fate.

Lumos could fill in the blanks where her knowledge was lacking. Maybe that meant her answer was close. She should thank him again later anyways.

She could heal all those who fought by her side. Though, could you really call what she was doing fighting? She certainly wasn’t swinging a sword on the front lines like so many of her supposed comrades, but when she healed them they looked to her with reverence and gratitude. How could she not love them?

The shallow pool she lay in rose around her. It filled her mouth and nostrils while it swallowed up the trees and the skies alike.

Love… what did he say that word meant again?

She felt pain around her neck as she struggled to breathe. Yet no bubbles rose to the surface.

Sakura sat up as soon as she awoke, rubbing her neck softly. She often dreamt of drowning. Even though she had never experienced anything similar to it, her dreams still felt so real to her.

She took a few breaths to calm down and looked around the room she found herself in. To her left, she saw Ivy sleeping on another bed. Normally there would’ve been a third person sharing a room with them, but that wasn’t possible anymore.

Sakura watched as Ivy slept peacefully, her chest slowly rising and falling. There was one other person who had disappeared from their team recently, though he hadn’t died like Eris had. Derrick had explained his final conversation with Pax, and how Pax had run away after reactivating his rapid aging magic. Sakura knew that there was more to their final conversation than Derrick had told everyone, but she didn’t press him to share it.

It was just a bit regretful that Pax hadn’t said goodbye to her as well, she found herself thinking as she started her day.

Sakura would wake up early each day to pray to her god, Lumos. Today she thanked Him for giving her the power to save others. But then she couldn’t help thinking about the one person she couldn’t save, who would have wanted her help. She prayed to Lumos for forgiveness and strength in these trying times. Even though she couldn’t stop her own thoughts, she could try to help everyone recover from the loss of their friends.

She smiled to Vincent as she sat down in the mess hall.

“So what are the plans for today, Major,” She asked.

“Hm? Today everyone is getting a vacation. You can do whatever you want,” Vincent responded tiredly, not looking away from his meal.

“I mean how do you plan to spend your newfound free time?”

Vincent flushed slightly when he realized his slip up. “Oh,” he said. Then the two spoke of the simple frivolities that they planned on doing that day. The conversation eventually turned to reminiscing about the past, as it often did with Major Vincent. When Ivy joined them, they spoke of their plans after the war’s end. Derrick was a surprisingly late sleeper, so he joined last. Djyn still wasn’t joining them for meals. Sakura would go talk to him later.

Sakura went about her day as normal, relaxing the best she could. Everyone seemed to be slowly getting better. She smiled to herself as she thought about how strong everyone around her was.

Yes, with the support of friends, nothing is impossible.

It took her a moment to realize, then, that there was a dagger sticking out of her back. She just felt the cold suffocation of being submerged in deep water and watched helplessly as everything turned black.