The time of Sylphs playing around had passed. They were chased away by the gnomes that had been woken up by their merriness.

As the result, trees and flowers that were their friends lost their energy. They shed tears of leaves and petals from sadness.

Soon enough, they became bald because there were no signs of Sylphs ever coming back this year.

Still, Sylphs, without catching the Gnomes’ attention, wiped their friends’ fallen tears. By using their wind.

From a lower height, Undine watched the scene with mother of life, making waves from her uncontrollable heartbeat.

Splash. Splash.

A quick tempo of waves hits the cliff.

Salamander did not want to have anything to do with them. So, he hid behind the cloud together with the great father of life.

Away from the world of spirits, a man sat on the ground. He, too, missed the time of spring of which the Sylphs had brought. Yet, unlike trees and flowers, they were unable to wipe his tears because it was unreachable by their wind.

His tears dried by itself together with the season, leaving stains which could not be erased.

A sound of trees and flowers’ tears being stepped on. It was light sound but nevertheless told of someone presence.

“So, you have come, again.”

The man did not look back at the visitor and merely gazed at the place beyond the sea. Not the land of demons, but somewhere beyond that.

The visitor did not reply and stopped a few steps away. Flattened flowers on the ground signed the frequency of visit.

“You’ve quite a time to spare, aren’t you?”

He asked the question he had thrown a few times. But, even now, he had not received an answer back. Not that he expected it from her.

“Well, take a seat. Make yourself feel at home. I won’t be going anywhere for a while.”

The visitor, a young girl, complied. She knew the man’s definition of ‘a while’ was on hours scale. So, she lowered the body that had gotten used to the rough sensation of the ground.

Then, time just passed.

At this point, there was nothing left for them to talk about. Quite a time had passed since the slum incident.

The man, Selv, had woken up from a one month comatose only for everything to have ended. Edmund and the other had been cremated, Gilbert left for work, people had dealt with the aftermath and gone back to their daily life, and the season had changed.

He was the only one left who hadn’t gone over what Edmund had done. Sipping on the cheap alcohol in his hand, he tried to forget everything, well aware of how he was running away from the truth.

Not even the great alcohol could change the fact that he had killed his own son. But, it could avert his thoughts. So, he went on a drinking spree these past few last weeks.

Ironically, his hangover and unhealed wounds were the thing that showed him he was in the reality.

“Hey, how’s the scenery? Isn’t it beautiful?”

Selv started to talk. It was not directed at Nely, but someone else.

“The pleasant blue of the sea and the orange reflection on the surface. If it was months ago, the colorful flowers would also join the picture, what a shame.”

Past the gate of Entertainment District was a flower garden. It was where Selv and Scond had a training. And, also happened to be Scond’s favorite place.

Was this just another entertainment spot because it was near the entertainment district? No, far from it. This place was the most sacred place of Independent town.

The thing beyond the joy and happiness of entertainment was one only, emptiness.

Those who had enjoyed the entertainment known as life would sooner or later reach the end of it and perished. A resting place for the dead. The garden was such a place.

“I guess it wasn’t a mistake making this the final resting place,” Selv said, sipping on the alcohol again.

The independent town was as it sounded. A town where it could operate on its own. Every facility to support it existed in the town, such as food plant and underground water supply. But, because it was independent, the spaces available were precious.

They could not afford to build things that took up space such as graveyard, which was why their tradition was to cremate dead people and spread it into the sea from the flower garden.

It was done with the pray of returning back to life.

An old belief where souls came back from the other side of the sea. In the same manner, once the period had passed, they would return to the sea. The belief Selv had mocked in his youth because such a thing was unscientific and unrealistic.

Even now, his stance was the same. After all, in his long life, the soul of the death never visited him.

“I’ve heard your last message. Forgive you for being weak, was it?”

Selv remembered back when he was told his last words. Unable to hold himself, he broke the nearby plate and glass.

“You’re a foolish son, you know that?”

Selv let out a big sigh.

“That’s a big mistake you’ve made there. Don’t mistake your kindness as weakness. Only fools would do that,” he said, preaching his dead son.

“Kindness is your strength. With that, you’ve gained people’s cooperation. Merk, Scond, Prima, Annatashya, and even Gilbert. That was only the people I realized. I’m sure there are many more. If not, doing something like that behind my back is impossible.”

That was the source of his anxiety when he was searching for him. He had unconsciously sensed the unnatural behaviors of the people around him.

Annatshya’s delay in relaying the information of attack. Prima’s intentional stalling time. Gilbert’s unnatural mistakes and uneasy behavior. Nely’s kidnapping. And, the crucial lack of information.

Once it was over, everything seemed obvious. They all took part in the plan. The answer was so simple and idiotic.

Could thing have ended differently if Selv noticed it faster? It won’t.

Edmund was set on carrying on the plan. As the result, he lost his life. It will not change.

“But, you should choose the right people for the right job. It’s not the job for the kind you to bear my cross. There’s a suitable person right by your side. Why did you think I put you two together? That child is there to cover for you.”

The person who was by his side until the very end, May. She was a poor person who could not fully abandon her roots. Born and raised in the slum, she had trained herself to kill her emotion.

Poverty, misfortune, guilt were just trivial things in her world. Nothing more, nothing less. That was why she was the right person for the job. Selv did not know that she was slowly losing her ability to do that because of Edmund.

“But, I guess you wouldn’t change your mind even when she volunteered. The one who has to kill me is my son. Even that sounds old-fashioned to me. It made me wonder. How the child in that slum back then grown up to become like you?”

Selv did not think it was his credit.

How could he? After all, he was the kind of man who slew his own son. He blamed himself for it.

Annatashya and other told him it was not his fault but the curses. Who was he to blame it on a curse?

Selv thought back of the incident and believed that it was his fault. That was it. He was the one to decide things whatever it was his fault or not.

“Unlike you, I’m not kind. I never think of myself as one. I do help people when they ask. But, you also know about my other curse,” Selv said, putting his hand to his forehead.

“Even now, I could hear it. A burning town. Crumbling walls. Someone’s voice, seeking for help. Yet, no one came. When I reached the voice, it was too late for the person. So, I was asked to do it, instead. I was asked to help the people in place of the one who no longer could.”

It was a curse. But, unlike the one where he was forced to live, it was not a magical one. A different type.

This one was the type normal people could cast regardless of their matureness. It was the curse with the name of promise.

At that time, he had promised.

Amidst the blazing fire that scoured men and buildings. Screams of people running away from their doom. A strange phenomenon that changed people into something else. And, the body in his hand that was slowly becoming hard.

He promised the person that he will carry the title of Guardian with its obligations.

It was his obligation to help people.

If it was not for it, Selv would not help people. He had no reason to.

“Because of that, since then I became unable to refuse people’s request. I believe I have told you on how many times I burned my fingers because of it. Well, plenty.”

Although there were conditions where he could refuse, most of the time he would accept it. If he was not on the independent town where people were afraid to receive free things, but somewhere else.

There was no doubt people would use him. He had suffered enough from it.

“That’s why I found it strange. How come that child became a kind person like you?”

The person did not realize. But, even Nely knew the answer to that. She had watched him enough to receive the answer.

It was because he, too, was a kind person.

Grieving over something unavoidable. Blaming himself when he could push it to someone else. What was him if not kind?

At the very least, people around him thought of him as one, which was why they prayed for his happiness. Even if it meant freeing him from his curse by death.

The answer never came back to him; only rhymical sound of waved did. No wonder.

Nely, the only person around, did not have the ability to tell him. Not when he did not even look at her.

Moreover, did she have the right to do that? Her father had taken part in the plan. And, she herself had injured him physically.

Despite not knowing, she was on the side who hurt him.

The bell tolled, signing it had passed the evening. Before they noticed it, the sun had hidden behind the sea, causing darkness to showed itself together with the symbol of night.

The wind changed direction, coming from the sea to land. Lights began popping out, one by one, from behind them. The smell of stew and roasted meat reached their noses, stimulating their stomach.

It was the time to return home. Yet, Nely stood with a blanket in her hands.

From the blanket hanging around her shoulder and the basket with a hot drink and light meal, it seemed it was not their time to return. Furthermore, her preparation answered on how daily this was.

“Thank you,” Selv said after she put the blanket on him. “But, this will be the last. I will be fine on my own. You don’t need to force yourself to come tomorrow.”

It was a soft rejection. Soft enough for a child and also clear enough to convey his intention.

Despite being thankful for her thoughtfulness, which also came from Annatashya, he thought of her as a bother.

His son just died. He killed him.

To come in term with it, he needed time. A time where he could put his whole attention to it. Having Nely by his side all this time distracted him. After all, people always minded others’ presence.

Furthermore, he had learned from Edmund that kindness did not always come as something warm and pleasant. At a time, it was also cruel and disturbing.

Euthanasia, the act of ending people’s suffering by killing them, was the same.

It killed people, so many people thought of it as wrong. Life was God’s gift, so we should not take it with our hands.

People’s opinion differed base on their belief and moral. But, one thing was certain. It was, without a doubt, a form of kindness.

Sane and healthy humans would hate pain and suffering. Forget humans, even animals do not want them; only masochist wanted.

That was why relieving people from their pain and suffering was a kindness. Until the very end, Edmund was a kind person. It reminded Selv of him.

Thus, he did not want to have anything to do with it for the time being. The stung in his heart was unbearable.

Nely did not reply back, not that she could. She silently placed the basket next to him and walked away.

He did not say goodbye to her, eyes still to the sea. Her existence was already out of his mind.

But, he still hadn’t known what his behavior would bring him. If only he looked back, he would have seen it.

Nely, eyes straight to the gate, hands made into balls, legs moving fast and large. There was no need to look at her face. It was not the look of someone who was sad from being rejected, but a person with firm determination.

Her every one step caused petals and leaves to flew upward. As the result, the path she walked through was filled with dancing leaves, as if she had received the blessing of Sylphs which shouldn’t be there at the moment.

Selv was standing still while Nely kept moving forward. The scene ended as petals were carried upward and the curtain was lowered.

Silent.

No applaud came.

It was obvious because the time of applaud was not now. This was a beginning, nothing more.

The story still continued. Just a little gap of switching.

Before long, the curtain would open and the story would continue. After all, one’s story did not end until death.

The second chapter: Soon.