In the Archive.

Airen stared at the huge telescope in the corner of the Archive, a personal record of Fieluri’s battles from the present. With his last contribution from the Valrock Ruins, Fieluri had granted him the ability to view one more battle.

“History Eater. Our empire that has served you for so long is falling, and yet you still refuse to lend us aid?” A man in a radiant white and green robe cursed at a woman that resembled Fieluri, but with an adult’s visage and dressed in a regal gown.

Airen recognized the room as the chamber with four pillars deep underground the city of Tel’naraa, the very place where he had met Fieluri for the first time. It was there where he had first come into contact with the one that called herself the ‘History Eater.’

“Ever since the founding of our empire around your cove, we have worshiped and deified you, bringing all that you ask for, and all that you did not ask four. I beg you, in our time of need, please lend us the power to change our fates!”

“I was here long before your ancestors to build an empire above these grounds. All countries will eventually fall, and if you wish for the power to change your destiny, then like all the others before you, take the test I have prepared.” Fieluri did not bat an eye at their humble request, instead choosing to indulge herself in a large tome. Her tone was that of someone who had seen this happen many, many times.

“All those that have thus far has died!”

“They lacked the qualifications. If I had to compare, then their dreams and history was like a rotten seed cake, unworthy of my attention.” Fieluri dismissed.

“You...You monster! I even gave you my son!”

“You were the one who send him to me, and my, was he disappointing.” Fieluri smirked, slamming shut her tome. “Overshadowed by the will of his father, not knowing what he himself desired, crushing his own emotions until they became nonexistent. He was dead before he even met me.”

“Will you lend your assistance to this nation or not?!”

“I lend my assistance to nobody but myself. Of all the six hundred and fifty two youths you sent me, only one girl caught my interest, but she too succumbed to her desires. Even now, she is floating in a beautiful dream, never to awaken. A fairy tale without a prince or hero.”

“Your father was a great man, but you must be what’s left.” Fieluri smirked. “How utterly disappointing.”

“...It seems that it was useless to try to bargain with a fickle being like you.”

“Bargain with me?” Fieluri started to laugh, her voice resounding and causing the air to tremor, Even Airen, was merely watching this memory, could feel his eardrums vibrating at her haughty laughter.

“I do not have time to humor and amuse you, History Eater. If you will not aid of your own will, then I will subjugate you by force!”

“History repeats itself once again. Your predecessor was not the wiser either.” Still mocking him, Fieluri gracefully closed her book and stood up. “Subjugate me? You and how many armies?”

The king of the country raised his hand, and a grey realm burst out, twisting the space around him. In the air behind him, thousands upon thousands of light silhouettes appeared in the shape of swords. After they finished forming, dark humanoid figures shaped like the king stepped forward, each of them arming themselves with a sword that was a fragment of the man’s soul. After a few moments, an army had started to pour out of the man’s realm, with yet even more to come.

“This is my realm! Each sword is a perfect imitation of my weapon, the Eternity Blade which was forged with the blood of a hundred demons and a hundred angels! Each body is a sliver of my soul that has been tampered with conviction!”

“I am the one crowned as The Nameless King who needs no army but himself!”

“Then allow me to educate you, oh Nameless King of a Nameless Army of a Nameless Kingdom,” Fieluri murmured after seeing the ever growing army charge towards her.

“I have too many names to give you, but in this Era, I am the History Eater, who has peered into the endless abyss that is the human soul and found it wanting!”

Fieluri tossed the Blank Book onto the ground, and it rapidly expanded until it was the size of a door. As the army of kings charged towards her, one fabled figure after another stepped out of that shining door, each one wielding a famed sword of legends.

“Oh- Nameless King. Do you have enough swords?”

“Oh- Nameless King. Is your soul more heroic than those before you?”

“Oh- Nameless King. Do you dare to challenge history itself?”

“Show me your labors of these past one hundred years!”

“History Eater.” Keri greeted Fieluri, who was sitting tea on a bench overlooking a hill of white flowers, with a small half-beast village in the distance. She had thought she had entered Airen’s vault, but found herself in a strange place. However, she wasn’t fazed the slightest. It wasn’t the first time the History Eater changed the scenery as she wished

“Bell-keeper.” Fieluri acknowledge in response, causing Keri’s brows to furrow. This was the first time that the History Eater had not called her as ‘Lizabel’ or ‘Survivor of Osperica.’

“I was just going to find you.” Keri sat down by the bend and accepted the cup of tea floating in front of her. The only thing she knew for a fact after so many encounters with this being was that she was fond of tea.

“I know. I heard the conversation between you and Airen.”

“It’s not nice to eavesdrop.”

“All the events near the Blank Book is automatically recorded.” Fieluri replied. “I ‘read’ it.”

“...So you leave it with the boy?”

“No, the magical tattoo I place that is invisible on Airen’s body is a pseudo-version of the Blank Book. It’s only right that a disciple of mine possess one, no?”

“History Eater, what are you planning to do with that boy?” Keri could not help but stare after Fieluri revealed this information. She herself knew how strict Fieluri’s requirements are.

“What would you do if I said I would make him my slave and aim for world domination? I’ll offer him half the world when the time is right.” Fieluri laughed. “Or perhaps I’ll be his final opponent in the end? SUrely the look on his face would be priceless.”

“Please don’t joke around.”

“You have no sense of humor do you?” Fieluri shrugged as she refilled her cup.

“Enough games and let’s get down to business.” Keri sighed, “I want to know where the ruins of Osperica is.”

“Should you not ask me who the ‘other’ survivor of Osperica is?”

“Whatever price you ask for is no doubt something I cannot pay.” Keri replied. However, she knew perfectly well that the History Eater was dropping hints for her. “You have already given me enough to speculate as is.”

“Oh, so you’ve noticed.” Fieluri smirked.

“Why are you helping me, History Eater? This is unlike you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Fieluri played dumb and Keri did not push the issue.”Instead, how about you plan on telling me what you plan to offer me for the location of your former home?”

“What do you want? All of my possessions except Starlight has been robbed from me already by a specific someone. Even the Painted World of Osperica has been taken from me.”

“Robbed? I believe the term is ‘confiscated.’ A dead person needs no possessions after all.”

“Even if they returned to life?”

“This and that are too different matters.”

“...What do you want, History Eater?”

“I have already obtained all your paintings from now and till the future. So what I want now is a record of your journey. I have observed your time in the painting of Osperica for a long time, and I am curious how your choices will change as time passes. “

“To think that I would draw the interest of the History Eater...Trying times are ahead.”

“Few have the qualifications to speak like this to me. Those that don’t possess the right type of soul cannot even hear my words or see my form as is without the use of magic. You are one of the few lucky ones… or perhaps unlucky? ”

“It seems I had some heavy shackles on me ever since I was born.“

“Hmph. Here is another one.” Fieluri placed her hand on Keri’s arm, but she did not resist. The sound of burning skin filled the surroundings for a moment before disappearing in a gust of conjured wind. Keri looked on as a symbol faded under her healing skin.

“I’ve marked your soul with this brand. Think of it as insurance for an event in the foreseeable future. I have also adjusted the keystone I gave you to be a one way transfer to Airen’s vault to deposit the paintings and other things you wish to pass on. And this here is my gift to you for embarking on a journey you had never thought to undertake.”

Fieluri snapped her fingers and a ring fell out, along with a small bar of gold.

“This ring will allow you to understand another’s language, and this gold is for any miscellaneous purposes since you lack currency. Of course if you buy things for me on your travel, as long as it is something I have not seen, I will gladly recompense you…”

“I’ll leave that to Airen.” Keri had a bit of dark satisfaction as she turned the History Eater down. No doubt she had wanted to make her acquire things for her.

“Tch. Stingy.”

The two smirked at the other for a moment. Keri did not quite like the History Eater, but they a mutual understanding- that they were to use the other for their own ends.

“Farewell, Lizabel. May you find the one you seek, so when you pass into the next world, I will have an interesting tale to read.”

“My fate is my own to bear, History Eater. If possible, I will seek immortality just to spite you.”

“Even immortals die, or even worse, they simply fade away. It is not a fate that you should pursue, lest you wish to fester like a diseased wound until someone with the capability of slaying immortals come to pass.” Fieluri snorted. “And then, the price you may have to pay would be even greater.”

“There is no need to fear, I have no intentions of eluding you. Even now I am simply moving about in borrowed time.”

“The bell is still tolling, bell keeper. Take care that it does not attract vultures.”

Valrock Ruins.

Jourmind stared down into the pit of spikes with the secret entrance. After the three adventurers has escaped his senses, he had ignored them as the mission from the master took priority.

It had been nearly two days afterwards when an unlucky undead servant made from a slave had tripped and fell into the pit, and while it struggled feebly against the spikes, it’s rotting eyes had seen the hidden passageway.

Jourmind waved a hand and all of the bones in the bottom of the pit, a testament to the number of lives that it had claimed in the past, swirled up and formed a stairway. And thus Jourmind descended through the chamber of a podium, until he encounter the wall of bone and skulls.

Naturally, Jourmind did not hesitate and reached out with an arm. A dark and brooding tar-like substance slowly surged forth before stretching and imbued the bones with unnatural energy. As the necromantic magic seeped into the bones, they started to tremble and shake, and slowly popped off the wall like maggots leaping off a piece of rotten flesh.

Paying the process of reanimation no more further heed, Jourmind entered the next room, to come face to face with a wraith like warrior, blue flames signifying eyes in the skull stared at Jourmind for a moment before a dark silver weapon was pointed at him.

“Ut saya nes. Jun je ne”

Mordecai the Duelist greeted his fellow undead brethren and issued a dueling challenge. As an Etna Duelist who gained immortality through a curse, his only living purpose to engage in an endless battle to satisfy his dying flesh. It was perfect that his opponent was an undead just like him.

In the darkness of the Valrock Ruins, no torches burned for the dead fighters. One an eternal duelist seeking battle, and the other a failed resurrection turned death knight, the battle raged on.

Jourmind grinned as he had finally found his target. It will take some time to subjugate this powerful undead.

“Cohen.”

“Ah, hello Captain Galvin. You’ve arrived earlier than expected.”

“Now, now. I’m supposed to be dead remember? Just Galvin would do.”

“No.. that’s way too disrespectful for someone like you...”

Two figures exchanged pleasantries as they moved towards the back of the office. One, a one armed man, was humble and kept offering the other snacks and drinks, while the other, an aged man under a cloak with a seldom-seem symbol, a crow with its wings spread forming a gust, waved him off. Within minutes, the two of them locked themselves in a soundproof room.

“So, Cohen, what can you tell me?”

“Actually, when I pressed for information on this ‘Yuelei Casteya’ someone interfered and issued a gag order from the Kingdom of Macha’s capital branch. I had my suspicions, so I decided to ask a fencing teacher that worked in the Imperial Palace who was a former adventurer. There are rumors that the Crown Prince and Princess are missing.”

“Didn’t you tell me a day ago that they signed up to be adventurers in-person?”

“That’s exactly it. There’s eyewitness reports at the branch so the rumor can’t be true at all.”

“...”

“Crow-Captain Galvin. What exactly is going on here?”

“The sudden gain in strength by the Empress, the movements of the Masked Men, and the mustering of military force in the Kingdom of Macha. Furthermore, it is said that the Necromancer has recently appeared in the Desert of Heroes. If my guess is correct, and I pray to the Goddess that it is not, then the balance of power may have shifted.”

“Sir, the Crown Prince and Princess has been declared well and healthy and have appeared in the eyes of the public...”

“From what I’ve gathered, the two of them were suppressed by Empress Xeina from a young age. King Macha was always out and about, and left their rearing to her. The public hardly knows their faces- if you get my meaning, Cohen.”

“That’s quite the implication, Galvin. But I thought you no longer cared for matters of politics since you’ve… ‘retired’.”

“The ostentatious man lives until his reputation fails him, the humble man lives until old age. Normally Cohen, at this point I would ask you to investigate the guards and servants that acted as the Machian Crown Prince and Princess’s entourage, but if we did deeper, then we will be throwing ourselves into the pit of vipers willingly. It is best not to pursue this any further.”

“...As you say Captain.”

“Cover your footsteps, Cohen.”

“And mask your presence, sire.” Cohen replied with the standard saying of the Harbinger Crows. As he watched his former Captain leave, he sighed and proceeded to gather all the documents he had spread out.

“Every time Crow-Captain Galvin comes with a request, I find out things that I didn’t want to know.” Cohen sighed as he fed the forms into the fireplace.

Yuelei’s name quickly went up in smoke.

“High Priestess Geisla! This time that man has gone too far! Are we just going to let him tarnish the Church’s reputation?!”

“Howard...” The voice was almost like that of a sigh.

“Such insolence and slandering towards the Goddess cannot be tolerated!”

“Howard. Let me ask you a question. Do you believe what that man what that man said?”

“Of course not! There’s no way that Goddess Ecclisa was such a simple person!”

“Don’t tell me what you want to believe, Howard.”

“My lady. If this servant may be frank, then we should take that man’s words with a grain of salt. We have long searched for fragments of Goddess Ecclisa’s past, only to find some half-minute truths. There are...” Howard hesitated. “-some details that corresponds to that man’s words.”

“It is a well known fact that Goddess Ecclisa was born about roughly a thousand years ago. This was recorded in the ruined scriptures we found in the broken churches and temples scattered all over the Holy Land. However, it is said that the war of angels and demons was almost three thousand years ago. Furthermore, the Shadowless has only became active in the last five centuries or so.”

“My lady...”

“I think that man has come to warn us.”

“Warn us?”

“We received a messenger from the Shepherds a week prior. Do you remember it Howard?”

“Yes my lady. We have already sent forth some troops to assist them.”

“The Shadowless are growing restless, and if that man had come to give us some insight, we should be thanking him.”

“...If that is Ecclisa’s will.” Howard grumbled.

“Hah.” Geisla laughed bitterly. “If what is true what that man said about our Goddess Ecclisa, we never properly received the Goddess’s will. And if we were the original inhabitants of this land, our ancestors has wronged her.”

“We are not our ancestors.” Howard said flatly.

“I know Howard. Did you find out who that girl was?”

“We asked the Harbinger Crows to investigate, and they found out she was but a street urchin. She ran from the orphanage after a disciplining action, and started roaming the streets since. A few weeks ago, she fainted and was found in a clinic with the Shadowless Blight, and the clinic quarantined her. She broke out a few days after and a warrant was placed on her due to the Blight. She was missing… until today.”

“That potion that man used to cure her. Does it remind you of anything?”

“My lady?”

“...Never mind. I doubt something as rare as that is so easily procured or created. It is a shame that we cannot obtain the recipe.”

“Can we not ask that man’s student?”

“The girl? Lorrin asked her once before, and she claimed that only her teacher could heal the Shadowless Blight that afflicted the survivors of that expedition.”

“She could be lying.”

“Howard.” Geisla cautioned. “I trust Lorrin, and this girl is but a child. Are you doubting who I place my trust in?”

“A-Apologies. My Lady.”

“Lately, you’ve been acting quite strange Howard.”

“My apologies High Priestess. These old bones have not been sleeping well lately...The Storm- never mind.”

“Is there any news from the Wuuther Warlocks?”

“Farrel has not reported in yet, so we decided to ask the League of Adventurers. There was nothing particular to report… on the surface that is.”

“Then we must hope that the Goddess will watch over our agent, and guide him back to us in safety. In the meantime, we should also invite some warlocks over to inspect that flask we discovered.”

“Yes my lady.”

Silfy’s POV.

Ah. I admire Yuli.

She reminds me of Fifi, and I detest myself for thinking that.

However, that attitude, that way of carrying herself and especially the way she diligently trains all the time, as if preparing for a never ending battle is just like Fifi’s.

However, she’s not Fifi.

I should not think of her this way.

Galvin told us that we should not participate in the upcoming ceremony because our attunement was bad. I didn’t think so, so I was going to argue, but June had agreed readily. Am I the one holding everyone back again?

This guilt tears at me. I have nightmares at night.

After one especially horrifying one where Nieves and Fifi came back as undead monstrosities, I couldn’t go back to sleep. When I went to get a drink of water, I heard sounds in the courtyard. Peeking out a window, I had seen Yuelei sparring quietly with Liur.

I don’t know what to think about Liur. Her appearance is sometimes enough to put on guard, yet Yuelei seems so at ease in her presence, moreso than in ours.

….Ah, I lied. Its not Liur that I dislike, but her eyes. They seem to pierce through all the walls I build up with a single glance. Are all magical beasts like that?

In the moonlight, Yuelei’s graceful figure and movements made her appear like a dancing snow princess. Yuli. Why are you so dazzling?

I confessed the truth to Yuelei. She has the right to know.

I thought she would yell at me for being two-faced, and trying to have her replace those that have passed, but she simply nodded and accepted my flaws.

I, the so called ‘White Azalea’ known for temperance and taking care of others, was taken care of. If mother were to see this, would she laugh at me?

But it makes me happy that Yuli isn’t a person with a heart of ice, contrary to her appearance. She truly values her friends, and it makes me warm inside when I am reminded she treats me as one.

Tomorrow, at the League of Adventurer’s, we will be getting our aptitude measured.

Have I grown stronger then the Fifi from back then in these last two years?

If not, then I must grow stronger and be the one that protects instead of being protected.

For the sake of the two that still call me friend.