ENTOMBED IN MEMORIES

Lynne found himself surrounded with both familiar and distant scenery. On one side resided desert beyond which a Kingdom raised in his name resided, and on the other was the rest of the continent he traversed in his youth. Before him stood a vast lake, coated in purity unseen elsewhere. Surrounding it were glistening flowerbeds bathed in faint moonlight. Even though night had dawned upon the world, he could clearly see everything. On the other side of the lake, surrounded by beauty of life, a single stone stood erected with pride. He tapped his feet lightly and appeared in front of it a moment later. Although it’s been a few years since the stone was erected, it remained unblemished, unscarred.

Although her body didn’t rest beneath this stone, but had long since turned into ash and was carried by the wind, the stone itself remained as a momentum. Hidden away from the eyes of the world, encompassed in preserved nature unhindered by world’s perverse hands, it was a place Lynne though he’d never come back to, yet here he now stood. However many years had passed, and whatever he’d gone through, he’d never forgotten those that fell on his path to becoming who he is. Their faces, voices, their expressions, their words, their will, doubts, pains and joys… he etched them all deep into his soul and heart. He was not a good man by any margin of thought, and he had long since accepted that, but he believed that even true, unfixable evil could entomb a memory or two, let alone he himself.

He sat down slowly, flinging one of his arms over the upright leg before taking out a gourd of wine. He stared at the faint carving in the stone and opened the lid before pouring some of the wine over the grave, while slowly drinking the rest himself. He fell into deep reminiscence about the past. Although not even ten years had passed since the start of his journey, to him it felt like faint eternity. He had forgotten many things he had gone through, he had forgotten many faces and many names of the people he once knew. He tried to hold onto them all, but it was to no avail. They, bit by bit, slithered away like puffs of smoke, leaving behind only faint recollection of their existence.

“… it’s been a while, eh?” he mumbled as he took a sip of wine. “You’re not going to ask me how I am, huh?” he entered a strange, serene state, where reality and fantasy intermingled, leaving both and neither as the things he’s seeing. Vague mirage of the young girl who once lunged after his life only to become a turncoat and help him in the end hovered above the stone. It was there, yet it was not. He found it rather hard to look away from that memory. “You look well…” he said, smiling faintly as he emptied the gourd. “I won’t take up your time,” he said, getting up slowly and dusting off his pants. “Goodbye…”

He glanced at the stone one last time before he disappeared, as though he was never there. What he left behind was silence; there was no Fen’er, no matter how much he wished that was the case. There was just eternal silence. He himself appeared on the same part of the continent, deep in the heart of the Kingdom he founded. Isolated from the rest, in a tomb lain deep beneath the palace, two coffins were embedded in a wall, side by side, as though holding hands even in death. Lynne’s expression stiffened for a moment as he laid his eyes on the two coffins embedded in the wall, and the plaques reciting prayers beneath them. In the end, he merely sighed before sitting down and taking another gourd of wine, pouring some in front of the wall.

“Dad… mom…” he mumbled, his eyes growing weary. “I’ve come a long way, haven’t I?” he said. “Ha ha, I bet neither of you imagined what I’d become when I was born. Especially you dad. Did you ever think that spoiled brat you called son would grow up to be anything more than a wastrel? Ah…” with slightly teary eyes, he gulped down the rest of the gourd before taking out another one. The wine tasted bitter, with a faint trace of cherry, but he paid it no heed. It slightly numbed his pulsating heart, which was more than enough for him. “I won’t ask for neither one of you to forgive me. I know, deep down, you’d forgiven me long time ago. Perhaps… you never even blamed for anything, and took all my wrongs upon your already burdened shoulders. I failed to realize it. Failed to recognize that, all along, there was a reason you parted. I was never able to help you two in life, and I’m helpless even more so now. Still… at the very least, I’ll live on. Perhaps selfishly, perhaps selflessly… but I’ll live on and, one day, join you. Aah…” he sighed bitterly, shaking his head while smiling and getting up. He gulped down the rest of the gourd and bowed deeply toward the two coffins. “Goodbye…”

He flickered out of existence as though he was never there, leaving behind only a faint scent of cherry wine which lingered for some time before dispersing into nothingness. He himself appeared far, far away, in a small courtyard reminiscent of a makeshift garden. At the very center was a tall and sturdy cherry tree, nearly ten meters tall, its branches and leaves fluttering in the gentle wind. Beneath the tree, standing upright, was a man-sized monument, akin to a stone stele, curved slightly from inside out. At its center was a large pile of fresh, white roses.

He slowly walked up and sat in front of the stele, taking out yet another gourd of wine, pouring half down onto the roses while beginning to drink the rest. How long has it been since he’d last remember her face? Months? Years? Somewhere in his distant memories, he remembered the smiling face of a Princess who was destined to become someone much grander than yet another listless body beneath the ground. Even so, herein she rested forevermore.

“Aah… do you even remember me, I wonder?” Lynne muttered, smiling bitterly as she read the deeply-carved name, Anna. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t. I don’t think I even have any right to be hurt if you don’t. Aah, but I remember you… I tried my hardest not to forget. Perhaps you won’t even believe me if I tell you, but I kind of became stronger than even the gods of this world. Forget those bastards that killed you… I’ve avenged you and the others plenty. They had a god guarding them as well, yet, in the end, I stole him and made him my servant. Aren’t I kind of amazing, eh?” Lynne chuckled as he continued drinking. “Aah, a lot of things have happened since then… you remember that Prince bastard that accompanied us? Eh, he became a King, and a rather good one as well unlike his old man. Oh, I felt he also participated in the Great War. He’s grown plenty strong since you last saw him… you’d be surprised. Ha, ha…” he laughed hollowly as he emptied the gourd and stood up. “I hope you at least remembered me now that you’ve seen me again… yes… that would be plenty. Goodbye…”

As like before, Lynne disappeared into nothingness, leaving behind wallowing wind which seemed to roar lowly as though to reply him. He appeared in a place beyond the boundaries of the realm, inside a rotting and forgotten ravine surrounded by dying life. In one corner, he found a simple mound and a wooden plank embedded in it, leaning slightly on the left. His expression darkened for a moment before he sighed and took out yet another gourd of wine. This one, however, had much more of a sour taste, reminiscent of grapes. He poured half in the already familiar fashion before sitting down in front of the mound and slowly beginning to drink the rest.

“… you never broke.” he whispered softly. “Till the end. No matter your wrongs, you’re perhaps the most resilient soul I’ve met in my life. It’s no wonder you had enough courage to turn your back on the endless eons of tradition and pursue your own path. You won’t be remembered… you won’t be celebrated… there will be no folk tales of you for the remainder of years… are you fine with that?” Lynne mumbled, looking up at the sky absent-mindedly. There wasn’t even a name etched in the plank. How sad of an end was that? “I won’t restore your dignity among the living. Rather, I feel like I’d just be trampling your resolve in the end. I don’t believe in fate, so I don’t think our first meeting was preordained… but I do believe in strings between the people. I’ve saved as many of your own as I could. Although it’s perhaps not enough… it’ll have to do. Aah…” he sighed softly as he averted his gaze from the sky back onto the mound. “Perhaps your end was a tragic one… no, it definitely was. But I don’t think the rest of your life was meaningless. In the end, we all serve some form of the purpose, however faint it may be. You’ve served yours well… and endured until the bitter end. Rest now, Ella.” he said as he stroked the plank lightly, getting up. “Your life was more spectacular than the others will ever know. Goodbye…”

One by one, Lynne visited places and people that left a mark in his heart throughout his relatively short-lived journey. He had lost count on how many gourds of wine he’d poured out and drank, but it mattered little in the end. The two days he had felt far too short to go through his entire past, yet, he somehow managed. Within the last hour, as the last bits of Magic from within him were slowly pouring out, he landed at his final destination.

He found himself in a small, enclosed room whose only source of light was the closed window. The room had no furniture and had no objects within it. It was relatively small, barely enough for him to squeeze in, but he simply sat down. On the day Highlind was erased from the memory of the world, there was no one left to build monuments and graves for those who fell. All that was left was a memory, a faint trace of a prosperous city which lived and breathed before. However, Lynne remembered.

He remembered the place he was born in, remembered the streets that raised him, and remember the people of the Kingdom who helped him. Slowly, but surely, countless images of people slowly poured out into his mind as he took out the last gourd of wine, pouring half of it onto the floor and slowly drinking the last of it.

“… it’s been a long ass time, hasn’t it?” he mumbled, chuckling. “I bet you guys would never have thought I’d reach pinnacle of Magic when you saved me, huh?” he added, slowly drinking as he looked through the nothingness. “Headmaster… aii, you bastard, you really played me back then, sending me to the Palace. Alas, believe it or not, I’m still impressed by that Spell of yours you cast when you helped me escape. Ah, I’d completely forgotten your name, though. I’m not even sure I ever even knew it, if I’m being honest. However, I do remember your bearded face.” Lynne chuckled lightly. “Princess Ella… hah, I’ve come a long way, haven’t I? Heh, I bet you’d leap at the chance to marry me now… aah, just imagining your angry face sends shivers down my spine…” Lynne shrugged for a moment as he gulped down some wine. “Did that bastard ever proposed to you, huh? Did you, Auldin?” Lynne mumbled, his eyes growing muddled as his mind went back through time to the scenes where he first learned to use Magic. “You introduced me to the Magic… and I’ve reached its peak. In a way, without you, there’d be no current me. I never got to thank you properly, I think… neither you nor the Headmaster, nor others who fought till their dying breath while all of Highlind burned. Back then, you gave me a mission,” Lynne suddenly took out a medallion and held it tightly in his hand; it appeared rather rugged and aged, yet that alone gave it more charm than anything else. He slowly strapped it around his neck and tucked it into his shirt, pressing it tightly against his chest. “To become a Skyfire Magus… the Academy’s pinnacle Magus… I haven’t failed you, did I? I reached that pinnacle, and I surpassed it… I carved out a path that no other Skyfire Magus of the Academy ever walked before me… I don’t want to brag, but I feel quite proud about that. Hmm…” he hummed lowly as he played around with the gourd, taking the last sip of wine within. “Very well, my time’s almost up. I’ve still got a relatively long life to live. Watch over me, you guys. Goodbye…”

When Lynne exited the floor and landed outside the city, atop the small hill, the last bit of Magic from him was sucked out into nothingness. He momentarily felt weakness akin to the days before he practiced Magic, but it quickly faded. The last traces of black in his hair were removed, and his eyes cleared up completely. He breathed in deeply, sensing the air not through his entire being, but as a pure and ordinary mortal. A strange sense of strength and pride poured through him, filling him up to brim.

“… eh, feeling quite proud, aren’t you?” a voice inside his head startled him for a moment, causing him nearly flip over.

“Eh? You haven’t died yet?” Lynne mumbled, his eyes widening.

“Ha ha ha, well of course. Some arrogant bastard never called me out when he was fighting against the Primordial God.” Meredith said, her voice accompanied by strange laughter.

“… aii, to be honest, I completely forgot about you. No, wait, how are you still alive?! No, before that, how are you still inside of me?”

“Our souls kind of merged,” Meredith said lightly. “But, don’t worry. It won’t last for long.”

“Hm?”

“After all, I’m just a remnant,” Meredith said in a somewhat sorrowful voice. “While you’re the bearer of the soul who’ve seen it all, even if you’re now just an ordinary mortal. You could say that this merge is my parting gift to you.”

“… so that strange strength wasn’t actually mine, huh?” Lynne mumbled as though he finally understood something.

“Of course not,” Meredith said. “That was me, finally helping you out. Well, I’ve still got a few months before completely perishing, so keep me company, okay?”

“… hm, I wonder about that…”

“Oi, you bastard!”

“Ha ha, let’s go, let’s go,” Lynne laughed freely as he turned around and looked eastward, preparing to undergo a journey. “You can keep me company instead while I trek back through time…”

“… aah, you never change…”

“… of course I’ve changed…” Lynne mumbled faintly as he slowly took a step forward. And thus began his journey to trek back from Highlind to the Eastern Wastelands, reminiscent of the days of his growth. A journey which would take eight months to complete.