Chapter 28 – A shattered heart can still be broken

- Time changes people -

That was something Aien was very well aware of, more than anyone else. Even so, he'd never have expected that their meeting would be like this.

After leaving Levestein behind without any troubles, Aien had intended to head towards the Northern Garrison to meet an old friend. Since the capital, Hayden was on the way, however, Aien had thought that he'd save himself some time if he looked there first. It turned out, he was right to do so.

Outside of the city, he stood atop a distant hill from which he could see the full brilliance of the capital. Compared to the city of Magecraft, there were none of the mysterious constructs that filled the city with wonder. Instead, it was home to the most important Noble Houses that divided the control of the city among themselves. This was clearly displayed by the four districts that separated the city with banners belonging to each Noble House. At the time of Aien's arrival, some kind of festival mixed the four districts together, merging the city back into a single entity. However, who precisely the noble families were, or what was going on, wasn't something Aien cared about.

He silently watched the people from afar as they went about their lives without any care or worries about the events transpiring in the world. Although the rumors about the academy had already spread throughout the empire over the last several days, the people didn't seem to let it bother them too much. They shrugged off the disasters that were too far away to reach them and continued with their blissful lives. They remained ignorant of the dreadful future that could await them as well. It looked like the officials had successfully upheld public order by restricting critical pieces of information from circulating. From what Aien could gather, the officials seemed to be far more efficient than in Levestein.

Aien was lost in his thoughts until he noticed a couple approaching him from behind. They walked along the plastered road that led to the peak of the hill where they stopped some distance away from him.

“I... I wasn't wrong.” The quiet gasp of a woman sounded in surprise when she saw his back. Aien briefly turned around to take note of the two before continuing to stare into the distance. He faintly remembered the voice he had almost forgotten about from the peaceful days he'd spent in the orphanage.

“Michael...?”

He pretended not to hear her. For a day in the middle of winter, the sky was very clear, and the warm sunlight raised the temperature to a comfortable degree, unusual for this season. A pleasant weather, perfect for enjoying the festivities in the city and spending the day idling around.

It was always on days like these...

The young woman looked towards her companion for assistance, but he remained silent, equally as stunned as her. She didn't know what to say as she nervously looked around her surroundings before finally gathering her courage to speak up.

“I'm sorry... that you had to find it out like this.” She looked at his feeble back and his shoulders that listlessly hung down. None of Aien's usual confident demeanor was present as his body lacked any signs of strength. As if the calm breeze on this tiny hill was enough to blow him away, he almost seemed to fade away into the background of the scenery.

“How did you find me here?” Aien asked, his voice remained as calm as it always was.

“Warren heard about a person loitering around the residence of the Regea's... That's when we saw you heading out of the city...” There was some hesitation before she continued. His distraught appearance when she first saw him hurrying out of the city flashed through her mind. The person in front of her didn't let any of it show, but she knew how he must have felt when he had found it out.

“You remember Warren, don't you?”

“...Of course.” Aien answered seemingly unbothered.

“I'll be honest with you.” Her companion, Warren said, not knowing how to act in this situation. “I'd never expected to see you again.”

He wasn't particularly close to Michael during their time in their orphanage. But he knew what fate had awaited him. Naturally, he'd thought that Michael would spend the rest of his life wasting away inside one of the mines. In a sense, he'd already signed him off as a dead person the moment they left the orphanage.

“We both only found out later what was behind the facade of the work camps... I'm glad you could overcome those hardships.” Whether there was some truth in his words or not – Aien didn't even pretend to care as he remained silent.

“...”

The pair felt more uncomfortable, and the stifling atmosphere began weighing on their hearts. It wasn't just that either. They couldn't tell what it was, but Michael's demeanor had tremendously changed over the years they hadn't seen him. It left them restless, and if they hadn't caught sight of his face in the city, they'd have never recognized him as the same person from all those years ago. There were no traces left of the jubilant youth who they had lived with for so many years.

“Come.. let's go.” Warren held his partner in his embrace, helping her to calm down.

“I know why you are here...” But the young woman gathered her courage once more and turned towards Aien. “I'm sorry. This is all my fault... I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have-”

“Your fault?” Aien let out a dry and empty chuckle devoid of any emotions that would indicate how he felt. “No, it's not your fault. It's mine. I shouldn't have expected anything. I should have known this would happen."

Aien's chillingly calm response made the pair even more uncomfortable until they decided to leave him alone for good.

“You are a liar, Alice...”

Aien remembered her words on the day they parted ways as he stared at the clear sky. It didn't stop there as he reminisced about the peaceful days he'd spent with the giddy girl who'd chosen to always stick around him.

"You, who was perfect, had looked after me, the defective human being. You, who had everything, thought that it was your responsibility to look out for those who didn't."

But Aien knew the truth, and so had Michael from back then. Behind the facade of her gentle and friendly smile, she had looked at him with pity. That wasn't kindness. It was her egoistic and selfish feeling of superiority that hid behind the mask she called helping. To make herself feel better, she had taken care of Michael, who appeared like a helpless puppy before her. In her eyes, she probably had never considered the two of them on the same level.

"I should loathe you for that. To be patronized with such self-righteousness for no one's sake but for your own. And yet..." Finally, Aien couldn't hold himself together anymore as his lips faintly trembled.

“I was quite fond of that,” He muttered with a sad smile. In this alien world he'd found himself in, she was one of the first persons to open up to him. He'd never cared about Alice's reasons. The results of her actions were far more important than her motivation.

His face twisted, on the verge of crying, but the tears wouldn't flow out. For that, too, wasn't something he was allowed to do anymore. This human-like privilege of relieving pent-up emotions and pain through crying was undeserving of the person he'd become.

“You are one of the very last people whom I trusted and have never betrayed me...”

“So why...?” He looked at the inscription on the small stone in front of him.

Alicia von Regea

2349-2370†

May her soul rest in peace.

“Did you have to die?”

Alicia von Regea had died two years ago during her stay at the Northern Garrison. An accident had led to her unfortunate demise. However, thanks to her heroic sacrifice, her friend Lyra was able to survive the tragic incident. Aien couldn't help but let out a cynical chuckle when he thought about that. Surely, the events at the academy were also just an accident.

At this point, more than ever, Aien became aware of the important place Alice held in his heart - His last and only friend.

Somewhere in his heart that had grown cold from his actions and the misery he'd lived through, Aien had hoped for Alice to stop him. He imagined how he would have told her the truth about all of his deeds and receive her judgment. A part of him had hoped she would have told him that he was wrong and scorn him for what he'd done. Tell him that there was a different way. Tell him to repent for these sins and choose a different path - a path of redemption. She was one of the last persons who could have changed what he'd become. At least that's what that tiny part of him had hoped for. What the last traces of Michael wished for.

But he'd never be able to hear those words. Alice was dead, and nothing would change that. Was this his punishment for what he'd done? Did the gods decide that he was not worthy of another human's judgment? That he was not allowed to find solace in confession and repent?

He didn't know. He didn't want to know or think about it. Only one thing became clear that day as an uneasy feeling, overwhelmed him with a sense of foreboding and dread.

Fate was not done toying with him yet.

The small light in the darkness within him dimmed, leaving behind a weakened glimmer that had yet to extinguish completely. Lost within the wind like a leaf with nowhere to go, Aien forced himself onto the road that led further to the north.

On the same day of the infestation, Zeristin arrived in front of a large tower in the middle of nowhere. It had a solid and robust foundation that became thinner, the closer it got to the sky. Its long needle-like peak was hidden behind the clouds where it stood tall without bending to the mighty gusts of wind.

“Who is there!?” A booming shout thundered across the sky. At the same time, the wind in the surroundings began circulating with the tower at its center. Before the brewing tornado could display its full might, Zeristin spoke up to calm the person inside the tower.

“Calm down, Leizy, it's me.”

The building tornado abruptly stopped before calmness returned to the surroundings. Following that, a young woman slowly stepped out of a hidden door that was built around half-way to the top of the tower. Her appearance was unkempt, wearing a shirt that was clearly too large for her. She carefully looked at Zeristin with traces of cold sweat covering her entire body.

“Don't scare me like that, Zeri.” She said, her shoulders sinking in relief when she saw the face of a friend. Her timid voice was nothing like the booming shout that made the air tremble.

"What? You didn't see me coming?" Zeristin joked habitually but abruptly stopped himself. It wasn't the time for their usual antics.

“I need your help with something.” Before she could say anything, Zeristin already stepped through the door without waiting for her permission. She realized that something was off about Zeristin. He'd neither teased her about being a scaredy-cat nor did he correct her about his nickname like he usually did.

“What's wrong? It's rare to see you this worked up.” Leizy asked with sincere concern. Compared to him, she was only half his height, but it was perfect for the small room in the tower. Zeristin, on the other hand, was forced to bend over just to barely fit inside and not hit his head on the ceiling.

“You'll find out soon enough. Do me a favor and find me the owner of this necklace.” Zeristin unceremoniously handed her a gold-covered necklace. She glanced at it several times, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, at least as far as she could tell. Realizing that Zeristin was clearly impatient, she hurriedly rushed through the small room with the necklace in her hand.

It was a messy room, not allowing anyone to walk through unless they stepped on either open books or different pieces of clothing that were spread across the floor. Zeristin paid no attention to it as he watched her place the necklace into a small cavity in the wall. After closing the cover, she placed her hands on it and closed her eyes in concentration. There were no signs of any exasperation on her face. The only thing indicating that she was making a divination was the immense amount of mana that rose from the bottom of the tower all the way to its fine, needle-like peak.

“...Teralis.”

“What?”

“No... not exactly... A church? On the outskirts...”

“Stop, Leizy. That can't be right.” Zeristin interrupted her, and she turned around with a frown on her face.

“What? You want to say I made a mistake?”

Zeristin didn't know how to respond at first. Since she'd gotten a result, there was only a very minuscule chance she got it wrong. They knew each other long enough for him to acknowledge the talents of this slothful woman, that were her only saving grace.

“But that can't be... Even I would need a few days to travel this far without a construct...” Zeristin thought the matter over. But as all of his attention was too focused on one single thing, his mind naturally disregarded any other possibilities.

“Tell me more about this person you are looking for.”

Zeristin gave her a brief explanation of the essentials. He didn't mention anything about the city or what had happened to Lea, and only gave her the information that was necessary for the divination.

“Of course, you can't find him, you idiot!” She lashed out at him with her tiny fist, not even listening to the end. “I can assume you are telling the truth, right? And not just pulling my leg to relieve you of your boredom? A person without Aer or any other form of mana... Does he really exist? Aren't you mistaking him for a ghost or a dream of some sort?”

When she saw the serious look on Zeristin face, she continued.

“Suppose a person like that existed. You won't find him with divinations. You should know that much.”

“You're... right.” Zeristin realized his mistake and scowled in irritation. He really ought to calm himself down lest he'd make another mistake. Why could none of the divination magi find Aien? Because he had no Aer - no mana. The goal that would tie the divination together was missing. If a divination was to show the route between two points, in this case, Aien, and the necklace, then it'd be unable to do so if one of the points had no marker. Without any Aer, he might as well not exist in this world, so how was one supposed to find that? To describe him as a ghost was indeed fitting.

“Why Teralis?” Yet, they did get a result.

“How am I supposed to know!?” She became even more irritated. Usually, she wouldn't have to explain every little thing to him, and she wanted to get back to bed already. The annoyance from having him interrupt her necessary sleepy-time by startling her with his unannounced visit grew the more time she wasted being awake. “Maybe he bought it there! Maybe someone gifted it to him, who knows? Stop asking me silly questions and think for yourself.”

“A gift...” Zeristin closed his eyes to organize his thoughts and came to an obvious conclusion. “Thanks, as always, Leizy.” After quickly saying goodbye without explaining anything further, leaving her very dissatisfied and yet relieved, he set off towards his new destination.

Zeristin activated his entire construct and exerted himself to his utmost limits to arrive at Teralis on the same night he'd departed from Leizy. It was almost the break of dawn when he walked through the small village. He took the time to recover from his exhaustion as he walked through the village towards the church on the outskirts.

“Oh? A visitor? How rare!” An elderly nun greeted him kindly as he stood in front of the gates of the church. She was just about to head outside when she saw Zeristin walking towards her. Although there was not a trace of politeness in his behavior, the nun maintained her kind smile and offered him to come inside.

“It's quite cold this early in the morning. How about-”

“Do you know a person called Aien?” Zeristin cut her off, not interested in exchanging pleasantries.

“Aien?” The nun pondered with a quizzical expression. She wasn't the least bit bothered by his sudden interruption and earnestly pondered to help him answer his question. “...I'm sorry. I'm afraid I've never heard of this person before.”

Zeristin clutched his hands in frustration. Unless the nun was an exceptional liar, she was telling the truth as far as he could tell. Even after coming all this way, there seemed to be no clue that brought him closer to his target. Everything appeared to be a dead end.

“Then!” Zeristin shouted agitated while grabbing something out of his robe. “Who does this belong to!?”

The nun was startled by his shout that must have woken up the entire village downhill. After gathering her bearings, she stared at the necklace dangling in front of her as her eyes lit up in a mixture of joy and concern.

“Oh my... May I ask where you found this?” She asked, surprised when a sudden realization hit her. “Is Michael alright!?”

“Michael?” Soon after, Zeristin squinted his eyes, and something resembling a smile crept onto his lips. So that's how it was...

“What is this Michael to you?”

“A dear child of mine. I hope nothing bad has happened after he left again... Thank you for going through all the trouble of bringing back this necklace and coming all the way out here. Do you know where he is?” There was not a trace of suspicion in her elderly and gentle voice that was brimming with motherly concern. She seemed to be completely ignorant of the danger in front of her as Zeristin's attitude changed dramatically.

“In other words...” He ignored her, and a vicious glint flashed through Zeristin's eyes as the cold smile on his face grew wider with glee.

“You are his mother?”