How many years had it been?

—How many years had it been from what? I grew confused at my own question. From when the two of us had met? From when we had gotten married? From when I had lost her?

Too long, that was the only answer I could tell myself. It had just been too damn long. We had met twenty years ago, and for a man in his forties like me, that was half a lifetime ago. Hell, I had trouble remembering what I ate for breakfast yesterday. But, if it was about Verretheia instead, then it would be difficult for me to forget about a thing…

When the two of us met, it had just been under the simple pretense of teammates working together— fellow good actors playing their role in the face of one of the greatest tragedies to ever impact human history. Even though my intent had been insincere at the start, and even though I was no more than a no-good punk having a nervous breakdown during just the simple prelude, she took me seriously.

She watched over me… and she even vowed that she would protect me. Although simple, they were words which I had never heard from anyone else other than her in my life— and I truly felt the depth of her sincerity in my heart.

If I had to pinpoint the exact moment where I had fallen for her, it would be then on that helicopter. I knew that she was not treating me any more special than any others who worked alongside her. She was just that genuine of a soul who was capable of freely showing kindness to anyone. However, it was just that aspect of her that made me fall for her even harder. It was what led me to change into someone who could stand next to her with pride– someone who could provide a shoulder for her to lean on when she needed it.

If I had to use a single word to describe the kind of person I was before I had met Verretheia, it would be 'unnecessary.'

I was born in a middle class family without any worries for money. We were not in debt and we never had trouble putting food on the table. My parents were smart individuals and put money into an investment account for me from the day I was born. They ensured that by the time I turned twenty, even if I ended up a talentless and incompetent person, I would still have more than enough money built up to not have to work a single day in my life.

And so, after I graduated from highschool, I ended up becoming just that. For a brief moment in time, I attended university because that felt like the natural continuation of grade school, but that intent soon fell through. I realized from talking to the people whom I treated as mentors that I had no real goal or expectation out of completing higher education and that I was really only just doing it to put off adulthood for just a while longer.

I, after this, fell into a slump and as if completing the cycle to a self-fulfilling prophecy, I ended up the very thing my parents future-proofed for the sake of: A recluse and a social reject— a truly worthless human being willingly cut off from all social contact who was neither in education, employment, nor training.

It was during this time that the news of the world's first stable rift spread like a viral meme on the internet. It was the result of the accumulated fruits of labor of the entire scientific world over the past thirty years and it would forever connect the mythical otherworld to this one.

And it would also be the same year that the very first rift outbreak event and one of the greatest tragedies to ever grace the human race would coincide. It was the Russian Great Rift Outbreak Event of 1 AR— the full details of which would not be revealed to the world until several weeks had passed, and the true horror of what was released into the world would not be fully realized until months later.

With the opening of the Russian rift, it had connected to the midst of a caldera deep in the undergrounds of Arca Archa. The resulting difference in pressure from either side of the rift instantly triggered an eruption event that would leave the majority of Russia covered in ashes. However, that was only a prelude to what was to come next. The caldera was, in actuality, the main body of one of the Great Calamities of Arca Archa named Vulcan, the Great Volcanic Slime.

In the culture of the otherworld, it was a being that was worshiped like a god by many tribes. And to the people of Earth, it was something that had the power and fury of one as well. With an estimated volume of over 4,500 cubic kilometers that had made it through the rift and aerosolized, it would continue to rain down destruction upon not only Russia, but the entire world for years to come.

Even for the me who was present during this time, it was something that had left me truly shaken to the core. My thoughts during this period of time were a blur, so it became unclear just what overcame me to volunteer my life away in a situation where there had been no guarantee that I would not come home in a casket, much less in one piece. But somehow, I still ended up sitting in that helicopter with Verretheia.

Miraculously, I ended up marrying her just a year later. Even if you asked me how, the specifics of how our relationship came to be eluded me even now. But what was certain was that our bond only continued to develop further after our tour in Russia concluded and I followed her to become a part of the newly formed government entity of the United Nations dubbed the Guilds, which themselves were greatly inspired by Arcanian culture.

Truly, it was the best timeline, or so I had thought. In the end, it was a bliss that only lasted one short year.

…

The events of that day, I still considered myself responsible.

At that time, Verretheia had been eight months pregnant, with what would have been our first child, a daughter. It had been an anxious time for the both of us, but it was something that we looked forward to. We had her name all thought up, and even what to name her if she had been born a son instead. We both attended infant care classes, safety classes, stockpiled an entire walk-in wardrobe worth of supplies, and even cleared out a room just for her own.

However, even though she had been so close to labor, she still continued her responsibilities at the guild. If it had been up to me, I would have had her rest at home, but my advice went through one ear and out the other. Verretheia was not a workaholic by any means, but she did have a strong sense of duty, and that led her to overwork at times where it was neither her obligation nor responsibility to. Of course, even the ever stubborn Verretheia knew where it was appropriate to draw the line. As she entered the late stages of her pregnancy, she made the transition to mainly administrative duties whereas prior she had been a prominent field leader with many subordinates who looked up to her.

But, given the fact that the guilds had only just taken off the ground at this point in time, compounded with the newly rising issue of the rift event phenomena flaring up equally at all parts of the world, we were always critically short of hands on deck. As a matter of fact, the situation became so desperate that when it came down to it even people who should have stayed far into the backline ended up stepping forward.

Of all things to have happened, it was a rift event that had sprung forth in downtown Singapore— and where else but right outside our base at the city's guild building. To make the situation from bad to worse, it quickly transitioned into a rift outbreak event where eldritch horrors came spilling out to abduct nearby civilians. Their bodies were composed of a mass of dark fleshy tentacles that could pick up a person each. They had no face and one stood upright while others were on four, six, or even eight limbs. And when they were injured, black sludge like blood came seeping out that consolidated into even more tentacles.

It was an outbreak event with monsters unlike anything ever seen before. At the time, we only had two response teams capable of handling an outbreak of this scale– for perimeter control and for search and rescue– however both those teams had already been deployed out of the city to handle unrelated emergencies. Regrettably, our forces had been spread too thin and although there had been some reserves left, they amounted to no more than first responders who could scout out and secure the area surrounding the rift event. Not to mention there had been no one left capable of field leading at the guild… no one left except for Verretheia—

"—I have to go."

These four words bore down on me and rang in my head like a gong. Even now I could vividly recall her expression and tone as she told me this, and for me to even think about this elicited a visceral response the same way my body shuddered imagining the sound of nails scraping on a blackboard.

"You don't have to go."

"There are others who can take your place."

"You're not fit to go right now."

Nothing I told her worked, and I failed to convince her to stay. No matter how many times I begged, no matter how I pleaded to logic, she refused to stop. She looked me in the eyes and shook her head gently.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you." Her expression said it all— that she needed to go, that there were no others who could take her place, that even if she was not fit to go, she still had to. That was the noblesse oblige that had been bestowed upon her as a Draconian of Arca Archa.

This was the one thing I could never agree with Verretheia upon. For me, there was nothing in this world more important than her. It was not even a question I had to consider. Even if I had to sacrifice the entire world to save her, it would be done in a heartbeat. There was no price too high to pay if it was for her sake. And despite this, there was one thing I could not bring myself to do…

If everything else that I had told her had just been excuses, then what I had been trying to hide from were my own feelings, that— "I don't want you to go."

…

—I was afraid.

I did not say those words to her because I was scared if I did, maybe she might have actually listened to me. It was a contradiction, appropriate for the hypocrite and fool that I was. I did not want her to go. I valued her above all else in the world, above my own life— and yet I let her go. For what reason? Because I was afraid? If I truly valued her above myself, then even that fear should have taken second place to what should have been done.

Then why did I stop myself? Because there was still just one thing I could not bring myself to do, and that was to betray her. For me to stop her was to reject the very nature of her being as that unfettered brilliance who was born for the sake of helping people in this world, and that would have been a betrayal to her to an umpteenth degree.

What was more important to me: her life, or my betrayal? I became paralyzed as she looked me in the eyes and told me she had to go. From that point on, history had already been set into stone, and my choices were but a scratch upon that marking. There was no longer anything I could do but to accept her decision as law. From the start, I had been damned— damned if I did, damned if I didn't… and damned to watch it all happen.

It was, by far and without doubt, the most frustrating moment of my life.

…

…

*Knock Knock*

"I'm coming in."

I struggled to pull my head up and by the time I did, Oryza had already made it back inside the room. Sitting down next, he placed down two glasses and a bottle of brandy dated back to 2090 AD on the table. Wordlessly, he cracked open the wax seal with a small knife and filled each glass generously to the halfway point. He pushed one of the glasses in front of me and grunted at me to drink.

"Oryza…" I made an attempt to speak, but with so much going on in my mind, I failed to put anything substantial into words.

"Drink," the man wisely advised.

My gaze lingered on the golden orange liqueur that smelled of wood and oranges. Grabbing the cup weakly with my one free hand, I shot down half of it with a single gulp. It burned only lightly, as if rekindling a small flame within the depths of my body. It was only after I drank mine that he drank his as well.

"How do you feel?"

"I don't know," I shook my head and repeated, "I don't know…"

…

After shooting down the rest, I found myself gazing weakly at the photo through the empty glass.

"Oryza, just where on earth did you get this photo from?"

"It wasn't here on Earth, Edmond."

"Not on Earth? What are you going on about… oh, right, not here, but Arca Archa." How foolish was it of me to have forgotten about the existence of the entire other world. Even if I had been out of it, it was still something ridiculous to think of.

"It would be appropriate to say that it is the fruit of our labor from months of accumulated effort. We've been tracking the Arcanian Liberators… damn, it fouls my mouth to call them by this name, but if Verretheia is a part of this group now then I suppose it gives them legitimacy."

Oryza shook his head before returning to what he had been saying.

"Video and picture evidence of them starting riots aside, we got our first real confirmation of their organized existence when we found traces of them on anonymous imageboard websites. Do you know about 4chan? Yeah, those. Once we caught wind of what they were referring to themselves as, information that we had been dying for just began to spring up like weeds. It's as they say, once you've caught sight of the tail, the rest of the snake is soon to reveal itself. It was almost too easy just how loose lip some people can be on their social media accounts. But it makes sense. It doesn't matter how secretive of an organization you are, if you want to expand quickly, cracks and leaks are bound to happen. In this case, it was to our benefit. In any case, after catching wind of a recruitment location, we decided to send in two of our people— a Lungwang and a Lin pair who volunteered."

"The Lungwang? How did you manage to get one of them to work for you?" I asked him curiously. Arcanian society was much in a way a reflection of our own, with long standing traditions relating to their ruling class of nobility. Unlike Earth however, which only had intraspecies conflict between us humans, there were very clear and sometimes jarring physical and magical superiorities inherent to certain races of Arca Archa. The Lungwang exemplified this with their abilities to manipulate the very ocean and weather itself. And it was with this capacity that they ended up conquering the oceans with their Lin servants. It went without saying that they did not typically delve into the kind of work associated with the guilds.

"Edmond, you married a Draconian who was instrumental in getting the guilds off the ground, and who fought at the very front of the lines."

"Verretheia is a special case," I objected, "well… she was a special case. I don't know if she still feels this way anymore."

Oryza's gaze softened at my words and he poured out seconds on the vintage brandy. The topic of Verretheia really did hit a different spot for the both of us.

"So the two that we sent in. While it was a little worrying since neither of them had any prior experiences with espionage, it was still decided that they would be the best choice since an extremist group like the Arcanian Liberators would be on the lookout for any measures to increase their credibility. As expected, they were welcomed with open arms and if we're lucky, they might even be given fairly high positions within the group."

"That's still a lot of risk you're taking on though," I frowned. If the Arcanian Liberators were to be mirrored to a group such as the United Nations, then every seat that gets taken up by a different nobility of Arca Archa would be a nation joining their case. In the worst case scenario, it could end up becoming a crisis where public sentiment would be skewed to an 'Earth against Arca Archa' mentality. If that were to actually happen, then there would be no telling what could happen.

"It's a necessary risk. How do you think that photo got to your hands? Did you think they would just text over pictures of their leaders?"

"Leader?" My ears perked instinctively and I pushed myself up against the back of my chair.

"She's a Draconian, Edmond," Oryza growled at me exasperated. "Even among the hierarchy of Arcanian nobility, the Draconians stand at the very top as the eldest race. Just what kind of role do you think she would have in such a group, a janitor? Of course she would be a key figure! Even if she wasn't, she would at least be a figurehead. And if it's the same Verretheia that we know, then she is very capable of being a leader that can attract crowds of people."

He shook his head firmly, as if casting aside all the useless thoughts from his mind. Then, with alcohol burning in his blood, he slammed his hands against the table and pushed himself up. He walked around the room until he was right in front of me.

"Enough. Edmond, I'm going to get straight to the point. I want you to come back and help us with this case. To tell you the truth, ever since you left there haven't been many people who could fill your shoes. I never intended on contacting you about this because I respected your choice to retire, but the situation has changed now. No, put your hand down, I'm not going to give you some time to think, and I'm not going to take no for an answer either. It's part of your problem now as well, or will you abandon her again?"

Those words rang hard in my mind, but my answer was already set. Resolutely, I spoke.

"Not a second time."

"Great!" Finally, Oryza's fierce smile stretched across his face as he reached out with his hand. "That's what I like to hear. Welcome back. The hours are going to be long, you will work seven days a week, and there will be no overtime pay. But you have no need for money anyways, you trust fund baby."

I slapped his hand away.

"I'll have you know that I've built a fortune of my own by investing with that money," I scowled at him, but it did not take long for my expression to betray me. I sighed. "I wouldn't have it any other way, you lion faced bastard."

…

…