VOLUME XXIII

FOREVERMORE

CHAPTER 551

RAIN

Hannah stood in front of a simple, wood-laden door framed in jagged stone, listening to the rhythmic sounds of hammering coming from the inside. A tall and wide chimney sitting on top of the slanted roof spewed out ashen smoke into the sky, seeming extremely lonely, perched inside a valley surrounded by a mountain chain and a lake with no other house in sight.

She had a pensive look on her face, her fingers curled up into a tight fist, pale-white in hue. Ever so often, she'd reach out for the door's handle and stop at the very last second, pulling her arm back. Even more times she wanted to simply turn around and walk away but ended up somehow holding herself back.

“Ugh, get a hold of yourself,” she suddenly slapped her cheeks rather firmly, shaking her head. “You promised him! Come on!”

Even though it was faint, that little push was enough to allow her to finally open the wooden door and walk inside. A simple hallway welcomed her, opening to the left and right, the left leading to the living quarters, and right to the smithy from where the hammering sounds were still ringing true. She took a deep breath and walked to the right, entering a spacious room lit up by oil lanterns hanging on the walls and the giant furnace standing on the other side. Dozens of tools hung on the walls, corners decorated by hills of different types of ores, center with a set of tables and three anvils, one of which was currently being used by a stalwart, old-looking man.

Seeming to finally notice her, Eggor lifted his head up and smiled, dropping the blade into the barrel of water for a moment before putting it back on the anvil, taking a nearby towel and wiping the sweat away before walking over.

“Getting visited by the Empress herself,” he said with a chuckle, taking the cup of ale from the nearby table and downing it. “I’m quite honored, I must say.”

“I think I’m your daughter-in-law first, and your Empress second,” Hannah replied, smiling back. “So me visiting shouldn’t be that odd.”

“Ho ho ho, look at me, having the Empress of the world as my daughter-in-law,” Eggor laughed fully, sitting down. “I really made it in life, haven’t I?”

“Oh, shut it,” Hannah rolled her eyes with a smile, sitting down as well. “Where’s Cae?”

“Ah, where else but somewhere being suffocated by the books,” Eggor sighed helplessly. “I swear, that kid might actually go and marry a damn book eventually.”

“Which, as a loving and understanding father, you will no doubt respect, right?”

“Right my ass!” he exclaimed. “Bah, let’s not talk about him. How’s Aaria? She hasn’t been around in a while.”

“Eh, she’s going through her phase of self-consciousness,” Hannah said. “So she’s finally acting like a proper princess from the stories.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard something about it,” Eggor nodded. “Didn’t she send someone into a dungeon for a day because they accidentally brought her black shoes instead of white?”

“Yep.”

“She really is Lino’s daughter…”

“… just what kind of a person do you think your son is?” Hannah laughed faintly, shaking her head.

“Ah, that bastard. Selfish, arrogant, morally loose, definitely up to no good whenever he opens his filthy mouth.” Eggor said, his thick, bushy brows dancing. “But… just like Aaria who ended up giving the poor sod a bucketful of gold for his troubles… he’s too kind, Hannah. To this day, I don’t know how he hasn’t broken down just yet.”

“… he’s as strong as he’s kind, that’s how.”

“…” the silence fell between the two as Eggor drank the ale while Hannah took out a bottle of wine. It persisted for a long while, as demons inside of Hannah’s heart raved and ravaged while she barely kept her expression together. “Ella’s dead, isn’t she?”

“… e-eh?” Hannah exclaimed fearfully, glancing sideways and seeing Eggor’s dark eyes meeting hers squarely.

“… I just… know it,” he said, taking another sip. “I know it’s impossible… but in my heart, I felt it, Hannah. That she wasn’t coming back. She is, isn’t she?”

“… yeah.” Hannah took a deep breath and replied. “She is.”

“…”

"… I won't ask if you're okay," she said, extending her arm and placing it on his shoulders that seemed to grow much smaller at that moment. "But, if you need anything… I’m right here. We all are.”

“… thanks.” He said, taking a deep breath. “Would you mind staying for a while and drinking with the old man?”

“Of course,” she said quickly, her lips curling up into a faint smile. “We’ll drink till we’re both passed out on the floor, napping like babes.”

“… geez woman, you have some problems…”

“Ha ha ha…”

“Ella… she never liked drinking,” Eggor said as Hannah turned to listen carefully. “Didn’t like the way it made her feel, she said. Wobbly. Even on our wedding day, she toasted with moonjuice instead of wine or something like it. And, every once in awhile, I'd look around for some new booze to try and get her to drink with me. That's how I wound up with a collection that even made that bastard jealous."

“Ha ha ha… he really is… grumbles about it all the time…”

“She never took to it, though,” he continued, sighing. “Always maintaining her… stupid argument."

“… I always wanted to ask,” Hannah said. “Where did you two go after escaping the Sect?”

“We settled on the Central Continent for a while,” Eggor replied, smiling. "On the shore. I worked as a local smith while she worked as a cleaner in a nearby monastery. She was quite lost… for a while. I'd often see her staring off into space, her mind drifting somewhere else. It was the first of many times I've felt completely helpless. She was the love my life… and all I could do was stand on the side and watch her wither."

“…”

“Eventually, however, she started getting better,” he said, taking another sip. “Began talking with the neighbors, sharing gossip with me, started smiling… it was when I knew I was completely head over heels for that woman. So I swore to myself I’d become someone she could depend on; I promised myself she wouldn’t have to claw out of any future hell all by herself. Heh, one promise I never got to keep…”

“… I think… you’re under-selling yourself,” Hannah said after a short silence. “You helped her far more than you might realize.”

“…” Eggor glanced at her eyes, noticing a familiar spark.

“While he’s out somewhere, god knows where, here I am, pretending I’m helping,” she chuckled bitterly. “There used to be a time where he depended on me, and when I felt like I was needed. Even then, he stubbornly demanded to always stand by my side, ride whatever winds caught us. Yet, as the roles slowly started being flipped… I couldn’t do what he did.”

“… the way that kid looks at you,” Eggor said. “It’s like he’s seeing the most beautiful thing in the world for the first time, each time, Hannah. In my heart of hearts, I know he could live without all the rest of us; he would have done just fine had we just walked away. You, on the other hand, are his anchor. I guess… in a way, I was hers too.”

“… you have a big heart, old man.”

“I am a big guy, after all…”

“… when did you two come to Umbra Kingdom?” Hannah asked.

“… a few decades before we met him,” Eggor smiled. “It was supposed to be a temporary stay… but, hah, who would have known…”

“… all the pieces that fit into the world’s story… seem to beckon back to that small corner of the world,” Hannah said, leaning further back in her chair. “Talk about serendipity…”

“Do you know,” Eggor suddenly laughed faintly. “That one of the first things that bastard did is promise me he’d steal Ella away?”

“Ha ha ha, it does sound like him…”

“He was definitely a major prick… but, he was still a kid,” he sighed. “Behind that strongman façade… all I could see was pain. He’s someone who’d lost everything, and who kept losing, time and again, while always picking himself up. Quite honestly… right now, I envy him. All I want to do is crawl into my bed and forget the reality. Anywhere I look, I just see her face looking back at me. It’s like I’m living in a fucking nightmare…”

“… I don’t think his strength is magic,” Hannah said. “He once told me something, that his secret is in using the pain as the fuel, rather than letting it overwhelm him. I don’t know if it’ll be of any help,” she added. “But… maybe you could craft something to immortalize her.”

“… I’ll give it a shot,” he nodded lightly, taking another sip. “However much I want to disappear, I can’t. Not with my kids still living out and about, and such a wonderful daughter-in-law.”

“Oh, stop it, you’re making me blush.”

“Thank you,” he said, meeting her gaze with a faint smile. “For being honest with me. And for staying to listen to my rambling.”

“… it’s not rambling, but a story,” Hannah said, smiling lightly and getting up, walking over. “A beautiful, heartwarming one.” She crouched down slightly and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his wide back. “Thank you for being his strength and his shield when he needed you the most. Now… let us become yours. You’re the grandfather of this Empire, Eggor, and all of us, one way or another, are your children… all at your beck and call.”

"Who… who would want a whole bunch of brats like you as kids…" his voice cracked faintly as his body began to shake, causing Hannah to tighten her grip, her eyes feeling as though being pricked by the thorns. "Who would want that…" she gritted her teeth and endured as he sobbed lowly, his shaky arms holding onto her back like a man hanging off the cliff, hanging onto a rope.

At that moment, Hannah felt as though her heart was about to crack; even figures that, to the world, seem indomitable, like fortified walls, those names that seem larger than life, are, in the end, people. They shake and break like the rest, yet they can never show it. People look to them because they seem untouched by anything, because they look like nothing and no one would break them. She, too, felt it – the eyes of the people who look at her as the shining star. That was why she held onto the few friendships she knew were true, especially with Lucky and Alison. Those two didn't care for what titles she held; they treated her just as a friend would treat a friend.

She had no doubt Eggor had it far worse; everyone who knew him knew him as the Emperor's father, the untouchable, the name beyond the names. He had only them, those few that were with Lino for a long time, yet when was the last time she herself had visited him? Talked with him? Shared a drink with him? In a way, she realized, she too treated him as someone she couldn't treat 'normally'. If it would always take death to break down the walls of separation, and to open hearts to one another, and to give into acceptance, would it even be worth it? Rich or poor, strong or week, eloquent or illiterate, brilliant or dull… they're all just artificial lines drawn by the closed minds. None of it truly usurps the single, simple truth of the reality: all everyone wants is to live happily for as long as they've got, and perhaps to form a few bonds over their lifetimes to share the everyday pangs of life with.

“… tomorrow,” she whispered softly. “I’ll have you meet up with me and a few girls, and you’re going to help us design some jewelry.”

“… what?”

“Oh, and Aaria’s been asking for a new, ‘flamboyant’ crown, so you’re going to have to make one so big and so bejeweled she’ll be too embarrassed to ever put it on her head.”

“H-Hannah?”

“And you and Cae will have to attend the upcoming ball; I hear some beautiful, prestigious women of those Holy Sects will be coming, so it will be a good opportunity to hook Cae up with someone. You, as a father, have that obligation because, clearly, your son couldn’t be less interested even if he tried.”

“… you’re scaring me…”

“I heard one from the Aeonian Sect was rather decent; headstrong, honest, upfront, she’d be a good counterpart to Cae. I can probably abuse my power a bit and force them together if you’d like…”

“…” What the hell is wrong with this woman?!