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Darkness is a veil weaved in fear to mask the true monster hiding behind it.

Then I shall become a slayer, and track the beast until there is no more monstrosity to threaten us.

Ignorance is stronger than reason, but it is sweater in the way it erases all sorts of worry.

Then I shall become a beacon, and live forever in fairy tales to plant this undying seed of abhorrence towards gods and demons.

Weakness is not a weight, it is a sign to remind us how strength should behave like.

Then I shall become a protector, and defend the mortals against the threats coming from below and beyond.

This was my raison d’être. The eternal duty which sustained my sanity, however, that wasn’t all there was to it.

As a lone being put on a pedestal since my birth with the gods putting a collar around my neck and ordering me around, life had little to no meaning to me as I witnessed every day the lethargic evolution of this planet and the civilisations inhabiting it.

Mortals were still hiding in caverns during this age, wearing the skin of their prey to ward off the cold or to help prevent harm from external sources such as dry branches or sharp claws. I observed their daily behaviour more with the responsibility of the Watcher than the curiosity of an innocent children.

I watched them cutting long logs into deadly pointy javelins which they used as a hunting tool or as a repelling weapon against scaly predators, then went back home and organised those grand festivities to offer their prayers to the gods.

That was the most they could achieve with the tiny bits they possessed in their hands, but that was still enough to guarantee they didn’t neglect their part as clueless cattle.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the scope, my kin soared through the skies with their majestic wings and the unfathomable pieces of technologies bestowed upon us by our masters. Thanks to them, we enjoyed a never-ending golden age. Or more like, my people enjoyed this privilege, while I was stuck next to the deities, playing the role of a dog they would send whenever they noticed an abnormal conduct in the world below.

My life then could be resumed in this short sentence, and the part I always had difficulties explaining was that I… Sort of agreed with those terms.

Perhaps I simply didn’t know better back then, and merely did what I was told to do.

Perhaps I actually found joy in this easy role, and didn’t even think about what else I could become.

Whatever the reason was, it blinded me from the leash they put on me, controlling everything I was so they could continue harvesting the souls to ease their hunger.

And their reign shouldn’t have ended, it just couldn’t, until something changed on my side.

They have shown me something different from what I was used to see or hear.

While everything seemed both dull and acceptable on my side, they made me realize how big and colourful this world actually was.

When obeying was the only thing that made sense to me, they helped me remove the blinker so that I could finally gaze upon what was really happening before me.

…

I was being used by my friends, persuaded to strive for a better world with my unmatched authority. I was only needed for my strength, and was candidly made to pursue another goal disguised in the shape of salvation.

They told me to protect this world against the innumerable dangers lurking beneath the earth and beyond the sky, but the purpose was not to cover the lower species and maintain the peaceful existence of humans and yumes.

In fact, their very presence served yet another purpose which wasn’t clear to me.

What do they mean by… Upgrading the soul?

… Nevermind. My head hurts. And my heart aches.

I can feel my body trembling under this revelation, this damned truth which painted in a depressing black my entire life. I felt dull, unmotivated. Empty.

How could I even keep an ounce of anger in my mind, when everything I took for granted was just a lie?

No, of course I was angry… Angry because I felt betrayed.

However, knowing that everything I stood for was for naught surpassed this frail ire in my soul, like dumping cold, freezing water on a zealous lot, intending to cool him down, but only succeeding in actually killing him due to hypothermia or just by dumb luck.

I was angry, but if anything else I could only feel this melancholic sense of loss. Loss of a cause. Loss of trust. Loss of… Everything around me.

There was nothing else to cling on. I wandered in the school without any plentiful goal in mind, wondering if any of my actions had any meaning, if anything I did… Meant something.

Do mortals still remember why they should hate and avoid divine beings?

Are they even aware why they were saved in the first place, when the fortress crashed against the ground?

Do any of them even correctly remember who or what we are?

This was… Plainly pitiful.

…

And now, she stood in front of me, again.

…

Inert.

Unconscious.

But safe and alive.

Qalendra.

The petite lady with silver hair was lying asleep on the cold stone of the underground dungeon, locked behind iron bars and a firm spiritual algebra to help reinforce the container, preventing outsiders from breaching the cell and freeing the poor girl.

Ignoring such cheap obstacles, I passed through each of them, bending the metal and sparking a few critical errors from the formula which ended up breaking under the abnormality of my touch.

Finally… This felt like a long journey, but I finally reached this point.

A day may have passed since my awakening, but it’s been decades since I last saw her face.

All I ever knew about her, it was all mere fragments in my memory, still glued together by the passion I felt for her.

Uncertain, but present. Incomplete, yet unforgotten.

All those shattered pieces falling apart, forever trying to give a familiar form to ease my mind, yet barely able to because of missing sentences, scenes and thoughts we shared together.

I may have forgotten most of our precious time spent together, however, I could never forget what brought us closer in the first place.

I would never forget that she was the woman I loved.

Upon closer inspection, I found no major injury on her body and her soul remained untainted. A pair on chains bound her arms to the opposing walls, giving her just enough freedom to not feel uncomfortable while sleeping.

She wasn’t damaged in any way, her current state was induced by her own will. She locked herself in her dreams, so reality would feel distant enough to not hurt her anymore.

Under those circumstances, there was nothing I could do to pull her out of her coma. There was nothing I could accomplish from this side of the realm, I had to join her and make her wake up on her own volition.

Gently, I wrapped my hand in her hair then softly put my forehead against hers.

“I’m here, Qalendra… I’m coming…”

I closed my eyes, shutting down the world around me.

…

The lightless view blinded me with its confusing depth. Was I looking far away in a distant future or some other places beyond our local reach? The ground under me crumbled into dust, an erosion born from an endless amount of time spent scratching at the rock and the cement, heartlessly turning fortresses to ruins, ruins to memories, and memories to emptiness.

An infinite pit made me look small in comparison to its wideness, its walls either too black to be perceived through the darkness despite my fabricated nyctalopia or simply too far away to even be seen in the first place.

I’ve only been sent here for a short time, but the persistent absence of landmark, any evolving sign of a luminary to mark the revolution of the stellar system, any symbol manifested in the physical state to prove breathing still held a meaning.

Then, my foot set on soft soils.

I discerned a light shining behind my closed eyelids.

And after opening them, there was a large meadow surrounding me, pulsing with an ethereal, throbbing life despite the wind not blowing on this peculiar world.

Similar to when our eyes are sleepy yet unwillingly exposed to the outside light, the sight around me was blurry, highly colourful, naturally standing out from our expectations of the realm of reality.

The teal, pinkish sky brightly shone around the dissipated shape of the surrounding trees. The flower’s shape, albeit numerous, evaporated amongst the sparkling, undulating grass.

This wasn’t real, it couldn’t be. None of this was.

…

I walked forward without hesitation, perhaps I didn’t display the correct amount of self-confidence or perhaps others would believe my voyage wasn’t over yet. But it was.

This place wasn’t real. Nothing here was existent. Just mere replicas born from distant knowledge, dizzy pictures and inconsistent, fragmented memories from the past. Despite recognizing most of the décor, the clear lack of borders and individuality between every objects demonstrated an obvious absence of… Persistence. Of matter. Or should I say… For how many years did she lock herself up in her own dream, to even forget how a tree looks like?

Forget the environment, even some notions like gravity or distance became unclear.

I walked forward because there was no other direction I could take, and despite the short voyage I already arrived in front of my final destination.

If everything else was dream-like because of their diluted appearance, then this castle was the only and last solid vestige of her memories from the real world.

This huge construction made in stone and magic wasn’t a mere castle, but a formidable rampart built to travel and watch over the world. A hometown to the guardians of this world’s peace and tranquillity, the hometown of the civilisation chosen by gods to perform the ultimate duty.

The Flying Fortress, my motherland. Or rather, another miniaturized replica twisted with an incomplete map and an inaccurate blueprint. In the world of dreams, we called this place the Marvellous Castle.

Despite looking heavy and sturdy, the front door was made of thoughts. No amount of strength or persuasion could force it open, it needed a specific key to unlock the easy yet unbreakable mechanism.

In a stranger’s eyes, they may believe they are witnessing a mystery waiting to be solved or a sort of riddle that required the correct word to make it work.

Unfortunately, the only key which could open the gates was something only a few lucky ones possessed.

Touching the door with my gauntlet, I could hear the gears reacting to the answer I offered, slowly switching to a new state and unlocking the path for my final destination.

High above the ground, enclosed in a cage of stone and books, was where I could find the room. A thousands steps to reach the next floor, meanwhile left and right forgot their own definition once setting foot inside the keep of the dream world.

Corridors were spanning above and beyond me, another sign that the fortress turned into just another misshapen picture in her mind, or that the place itself became distorted after many years, decades or centuries of isolation.

Finally, I stood in front of the last door.

I pushed it and came inside the room.

…

A dream being a dream, I should’ve expected the end result to be… More than slightly different from what a dungeon should look like.

Once behind the door, I gazed upon a vast meadow, gracefully welcomed by a warm breeze under the large blue sky.

Taking a quick look behind me just to check on something, I still saw the door from which I came from, meaning this new area was part of the castle and I wasn’t just transported to some random coordinates.

Then this must mean…

“NWOOhh Py, LaiErtAe’SsyE o yu.NouO h!ere?”

Oh, it’s you. Why are you here? NO PLEASE NO!

There she was. Peacefully sitting still at the table, sipping some fragrant delicacy in her delicate white robe.

Her long silver hair appeared as silky as ever, gently caressed by the slow wind which brought to me her soothing aroma. But her body being as immortal as mine was set in this short stature, and despite being an apple taller than her there was still this aura that I probably will never be able to fend against.

The charisma born from someone who choose to stand against the gods, coupled with the charm and the beauty that I chose to devote all my love to.

But… Something was missing from her appearance.

Oh right. Her eyes lost all their brilliance.

I exasperatedly sighed after confirming her condition.

“Qalendra, please. If you keep struggling like that you may break something precious.”

Closing the distance between me and my beloved, I caught a glimpse of her body… Shaking. But it didn’t seem like she felt cold.

“PFILofEr AhySooEwu ’LlrEoeAn VghE e mrMueEs, t A tLIhO eNbnEe ltohneg tpol ayno um? ust have failed.”

If you’re here, then the plan must have failed. For how long must I belong to you? PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE!

“Failed? Failed what?”

I scanned her physical and spiritual body to check their integrity, and found out that her spirit was… Abnormal. A sorry mistake from my past actions on her soul to try and accommodate a few changes.

I shook my head while listening to her spouting nonsense.

“Look at you, my poor Qalendra. I’ve reduced you to this pitiful state because you kept fighting against it.

Here, I will repair your broken soul.”

I extended my hand to caress her cheek before beginning the operation to fix her.

“NWFOhiOyrO sOmt!u !sy!toN uOy MoeOunR sEhl!ua!rv!te! uLNsEo Tth hoMiuEs, w GaaOyn!? !dP! l neLoaEwsT e m MesE.t oGJpOu OstOth! I!ss!t ompa dinte sas!lready!”

First you enslave Nohou, and now me. Just stop it already! Why must you hurt us this way? Please stop this madness! NOOOO!!! NO MORE!!! LET ME GO!!! LET ME GOOO!!!

The fissure was deep and damaged many organs, I believe she could endure this pain solely thanks to being asleep. Meanwhile, residing inside the Marvellous Castle must have acted as an additional layer of protection against the harms brought upon her body.

The symptoms were pretty much clear to me, as she spoke gibberish ever since she first attempted to grace me with her words.

How unfortunate that I couldn’t understand what she was saying, however, I am certain she must feel stressful after living in this cage for so long, and relief after I finally managed to retrieve her.

“Don’t worry, my love. I will heal you and we will be reunited just like the good old times. And thanks to the mortals’ studies on the soul, I have finally understood what was lacking in my actions, so now we really will be together forever.

No more sickness or fate to separate us, we can finally stay close to each other.

Just like how we both wished.”

“DTWOhhNey’n…T tB hRIiA sIo NniWlsAy S mHwyMa Enl!ta!es!dt ctoon sscaivoeu st hmeo mmeonrtt…als…”

Why… I only wanted to save the mortals… Then this is my last conscious moment… DON’T BRAINWASH ME!!!

It took me a mere moment to finish the operation.

It was done.

Qalendra was cured.

… Yes, at last. My journey was over.

…

Qalendra leaned against the table, certainly tired just like after a long, long dream, before finally waking up. She looked around herself, dizzy, confused, then her eyes met mine. Her bright, emerald eyes full of passion and tears.

Shocked by the emotions, she stood frozen on her chair, staring at me as if she couldn’t believe what was happening. Until the realization fell on her.

“Haliaetus!”

Jumping from her seat, she leaped at me and I hugged her back.

We missed each other.

We longer for each other.

And now, we were together.

This felt like a dream coming true, like an incurable disease from which the suffering seemed never-ending, yet today the pain was finally gone.

She kept screaming my name, crying and embracing me as if she feared I would suddenly disappear again. However, this time it was definitive.

“I’m here, Qalendra. This time, I’m going nowhere.”

I gently patted her head in an attempt to sooth her.

It was then she stared back at me, her eyes filled with…

“No, Haliaetus… You don’t understand…”

“What is it, my love?”

She was desperate, I could sense this dread inside her. She was looking for words to explain to me the situation, perhaps about the upcoming cataclysm I was entrusted to fight against.

It was fine. No matter what kind of challenge the world would throw at me, I could easily beat it and come back home unscathed. Nothing in this world can stop me, nothing can overcome me.

I possessed the strongest miracle, I was born to protect this world. It was my destiny, my role.

But… Even I had weaknesses. I only understood it later, after the incident.

It was truly… Unfortunate.

If only I was a little bit more… Mature. Maybe I would have listened to her and accepted what happened next.

Qalendra looked at me, and with immense pain she told me.

“It’s a trap. I was the bait. Flee, and don’t worry about me.”

…

Waking up from a dream always left a strange aftertaste to the body, even more when you remember moving your body yet you’re suddenly reminded it wasn’t your body but merely an illusion.

My muscles didn’t ache thankfully. It wasn’t my muscle, but something deeper in myself.

I remember the cell I walked in to save Qalendra, the chains holding her here against her will.

It was a trap to lure me here.

They used Qalendra to lure me here.

I sort of already knew this after snatching the memories of Ukolonaetus, yet being told about it by her made me realise this situation was more… Pitiful than I thought.

A light loss of time and effort, a mere trifle which barely needed my attention to be resolved.

She told me not to worry about her, but how could I when I always dreamed about her?

“Come, Qalendra. We’re leaving.”

With a thought, the chains snapped and freed my beloved. I softly took her by the arm to lift her… But the arm broke.

The… The arm broke, like a branch teared from a tree.

I… Didn’t comprehend it. The arm broke.

The arm… Broke?

It was… Broken, dusty… Falling apart, like an ancient, eroded statue.

Qalendra… Was changing before my very eyes, turning into… Something else.

From flesh to… Rock.

And from rock… To dust.

…

No…

… No… No…

…

I tried to gather the dust into a pile, mumbling something I wasn’t certain was audible.

I could… Yes, I could still save her. Right.

Without a physical body, I could still build another one as long as I had her soul.

But the soul was gone.

…

It was still salvageable, as long as I have the body, then I could retrace how the soul was moulded.

But the body was gone. Reduced to this.

…

…

I…

…

I am…

… Aaaahh… Aaaaaaaahhh!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

25th Fivruory of the 505 year. Lagida was gone, seemingly destroyed after a failed experiment resulting in a devastating explosion that annihilated everything in a 20 km radius.