Chapter XXVII

The living room of her quarters faded away the second that unfamiliar word left Ryokumo’s lips, and before she could even wonder what he had done, Album found herself in a different place entirely.

What the hell just happened?! What did he do to me?!

She spun around, trying to get her bearings as she brought her mana to her fingers, ready to unleash her power against Ryokumo, yet when her surroundings became clear, she froze, her eyes growing wide as she took in the painfully familiar scene before her. It was a room from an era of her past that she never wanted to think about again—that she had blocked out with every wall she could put up. It was her dormitory in the Academy of Erika, the school she lived in for the four years during what she once considered the happiest days of her life. She was standing in the main room, which consisted of a rather large table, a sitting area in the back left, and a balcony beyond. Yet, her eyes were immediately drawn to the table where five individuals were sitting, playing a game of cards and laughing with each other.

What is this? What did he do to me? How am I…here?

Nigreos looked younger, not yet having experienced the ritual of darkness, so his skin was a tanned color and his eyes were dark brown rather than pale white. His charming smile was an expression she never saw on his face anymore and his boisterous laugh was a sound of what felt like the distant past.

To his left was Ryokumo, his facial hair not yet grown and his hair dark brown rather than the silver he currently had it dyed. His personality had been quite similar to the way he was now, but there was more of a carefree attitude than his somewhat mature demeanor of the present day.

Sitting beside him was Album, herself, also prior to the ritual, with her dark brown hair and blue eyes, and a smile that seemed like it belonged to another person and not herself. She couldn’t even recall the last time she had looked like that, and she almost wanted to release her mana and blow the young girl’s head off for being naïve and ignorant—an utter fool of a girl that didn’t understand what was to come.

Album’s eyes then wandered to the other two, the women who caused her such utter pain, agony, and betrayal. Abigail was sitting on Nigreos’s right, her brown hair braided and a crown of white daisies surrounding her head. She lit up every room she was ever in and this wasn’t an exception. Abi had such a comforting presence—one that had once charmed Album as much as it did the others.

And sitting beside Abi was a woman whose face and features Album couldn’t see, as if the dreamworld was blocking her from being able to perceive her. She was a featureless individual, but Album could vividly remember what she looked like and how she sounded. That fifth member of their group—the one who nobody would have ever forgotten if not for erasure magic.

Album just stood quietly and watched as the five of them played their insignificant card game, completely oblivious to the utter hell that would rip them apart years down the road. It made her mad that they would dare laugh with each other. She hated that a day like this ever existed when she remembered what was done to them. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, and she knew this vision was somehow preventing her from doing so.

All she could do was observe.

“Stop,” she whispered, and when nobody reacted to her words, she screamed, “STOP IT!”

Once again, not a single one addressed her presence as they continued on with their game. They were mocking her. They were showing her what she lost—what was taken from her. They laughed in her face, enjoying her hatred and enjoying the pain that they were causing her. She wanted the laughter to stop. It was grating on her ears, invading and defiling her mind, crawling its way into every part of her body and sending shivers over her skin. She took an involuntary step back, her body shaking as the laughter continued.

“SHUT UP! PLEASE SHUT UP!” she shouted. “LUMINETTA! LUMINETTA!”

Album snarled the word, raising her hands and sending bursts of light straight through the skull of the faceless woman, wanting to watch as it burst open and covered the table with her brains. She wanted to see her head pop, yet with every burst of light she cast, they just harmlessly passed through her and vanished, failing to deal any damage to her or to stop the cutting laughter.

“DIE! WHY CAN’T YOU SHUT UP AND DIE! I GOT RID OF YOU! I ERASED YOU! SO WHY ARE YOU STILL TORMENTING ME?!”

Her breathing was heavy and they ignored her, and just as she thought the laughter might break her, the scene vanished as abruptly as it began, replacing itself almost instantly by a different sight. She was standing alone in the guest quarters of a mansion, though there was very little of the building left. The windows were all shattered and the ceiling had been blown off, leaving debris resting around her. She stared out at the city beyond and the smoke rising from the houses, the flames eating at the buildings and ruining what she knew was a beautiful place. Beyond the city was the sea, sparkling in the pale light of the moon. There was screaming and flashes of magic being hurled at each other as a battle waged on.

So I’m here now? In this place? On this day? Then…?

Album slowly lowered her head to stare at the floor around her and the numerous bodies that littered the ground. None of them were recognizable as people anymore, their chests blown open and their ribs sticking out at odd angles. Their heads were in a similar state, as if something had exploded from within and seared through their faces, leaving nothing left but a cavernous hole that showed their charred brains resting within. They were all burned, like they’d been set on fire, leaving every part that remained black.

This day… The day my future changed. The day that set me on my path…a path that should have been an honor. Album’s lips tightened. Am I supposed to feel something as I look at these bodies? Should I care that they’re dead? Should I feel something, because I don’t.

Album turned away to gaze back out at the seaside city, her eyes shifting to the massive clocktower off in the distance where she knew she would be, fighting alongside the others. Down there was the beginning of the end.

Is this supposed to cause me pain like that other one? Why am I here? Is it just to remind me of what I lost? Or is my lack of feeling anything the reason I was shown this? I don’t care. I don’t care! I DON’T CARE!

Without warning, Album dropped to her knees and threw up, feeling her stomach heaving everything out of her. The sickness was sudden and terrible, and she could feel tears forming in her eyes, as if her emotions were forcing their way out of her.

No… I don’t want…to feel anything! I don’t care! I didn’t need them! They were nothing to me and I was nothing to them! I don’t care, damn it!

Album’s eyes went wide as she noticed how different her arms and hands were. They weren’t the pale white that she was now used to, but the natural skin tone she had before the ritual turned her into the Master of Light. She slowly rose to a sitting position and just gazed at herself, having never thought she would see her normal body again.

But once again, the scene made an abrupt shift, and within a mere second, she was standing amidst another city not at night, but in the middle of the day, yet the screams of battle she heard before were louder now, surrounding her despite being unable to see anybody nearby. The cries of enchantments and the shouts of pain felt like they were inside of her head rather than in the real world, and they made that sick feeling return with a vengeance. This time, however, she held it back as she turned to gaze down at her hands. They were pale white and she was wearing her typical suit, though it was torn in many places, revealing bloody wounds that she had yet to heal. Album bit back her sickness and raised her head once more.

Noctalus. There’s no doubt in my mind where I am now. The day of the Battle of Noctalus. Which means it's over. I’ve already done it and Abi’s dead, killed by Nigreos in the heat of battle.

The city’s streets were stained with blood and bodies of both rebels and Noctalus soldiers alike. The dark stone buildings that surrounded her would have been beautiful on another day and to a different person, but Album only saw them as disgusting and tarnished. The city that had once been her home, defiled by the blood of a rebellion that took the last vestiges of joy away from her.

Moving on instinct alone, Album walked forward, stepping past the bodies as she began making her way toward the castle built in the center of the city and the ancestral home of the Noctis and Luz families. It was where she felt she needed to go, so she made her way in that direction, ready to round a corner and enter a battle yet still never finding the fighting that she could hear deep within her mind. Perhaps the battle was already over and the screaming she was hearing was nothing more than the memory constantly echoing in her mind.

The failed rebellion.

The death of Abigail Reiner.

The erasure of that woman.

That day was the true end of everything. This was the one she tried to think about the least, and so she wasn’t surprised that she was here now. Every part of the vision was tormenting her so of course she would be here. Noctalus was her greatest failure and thus, she had a feeling that whatever she saw here would be the end of the vision.

But she still wasn’t ready when she rounded the corner and came to a small plaza with a large, marble fountain constructed in the center, and beside that fountain, sitting quietly with her back up against it, was the forgotten woman, a bloody hole in the center of her chest. Once again, Album failed to make out any distinguishing features despite having a clear look at her, so she had to use her own memory to recall how she once appeared.

“I was wondering when you’d get here, Album,” the woman grunted. “I wanted you to see this all—to know just what happened.”

Her voice was the same as her face—indistinguishable from anything else, yet the meaning still reached her, forcing her to accept that she was talking to that person once again. It may have been a recreation of her, but Album felt her presence and her pain.

“I know what happened,” the Master of Light replied sharply. “I’m the only one who does.”

The woman laughed bitterly which then quickly turned to a couch as she sputtered up blood. “Then you know who’s to blame for all this. You know who bears the burden of the tragedy that befell this city and the rest of Ijiria.”

“Yeah, you,” Album spat. “If not for you, none of this would have happened. You caused it all, manipulating Abi and Kumo and stringing them along like your damn puppets, marching them to their fates. You’re the one who caused this.”

“When are you going to learn, Little Light,” she whispered softly, yet still loud enough for Album to hear over the screaming in her head. “How many times must you say ‘if it weren’t for you’ before you realize if it weren’t for you? You try to blame everybody but yourself, believing that you did what must be done, when in the end, you were wrong. You think you’re without blame when you bear most of it.”

“Shut up,” Album uttered, but the woman just kept talking.

“Erasing me didn’t bring about the ideal world you thought it would,” she stated. “No, it only brought about a world more painful than the one you left. I could have saved us, Album. I could have brought about that happiness you wanted. But you were too damn prideful. You were too loyal to your prior beliefs that you couldn’t see my vision, and instead, you ruined it all.”

“Stop. Stop talking.”

“Yet you’ll always blame them. If it weren’t for Ryokumo doing what he did… If it weren’t for Abi doing what she did… You blame them while failing to blame yourself. Your erasure changed the outcome and you know it, but you think you’re blameless—”

“I SAID SHUT UP!”

Finally losing her composure, Album raised her hands to aim at the woman just like she did back in the dorm, but this time, she couldn’t bring herself to unleash the light. The woman was smiling, as if hoping she would cast her spell and free her from her pain, but Album held back.

“Don’t act like you understand me!” she shouted through tears. “You never did! You never understood me so don’t pretend to! I know this was my fault! I know I made a mistake and that it cost us everything, but I can’t turn back time! Bringing you back won’t bring Abi back! It’ll only hurt Kumo and I won’t let that happen! I won’t let you take Ryokumo away from me!”

“You say that…but you’re already taking him away from yourself,” she countered softly. “You’re pushing him away, making an enemy out of him where he was supposed to be your friend. You’ve harmed your relationship more than I ever could have.”

Album clenched her teeth so hard that she could feel blood pooling up in her mouth. “Then it’s for the best! At least he’ll be okay! At least he’ll be able to live!”

“Will he?” She laughed mockingly. “So are you saying that you won’t turn him in for casting this spell on you? You’re going to let him walk away without consequences? If you turn him over, what then? What will this have been for?”

“I… I don’t…” Album shook her head. “That’s not for you to worry about! I’ll figure it out! I always have! It’s for…his own good!”

“Such a contradiction,” she muttered. “You are the embodiment of hypocrisy, Album Luz. Your words defy your actions, and your actions defy your words. You tell Ryokumo you hate him while claiming to be doing this for him. You claim Abi brought her fate on herself when you know that’s not the case. And you…berate Nigreos for caring about Eric Reiner when you care about him even more. You play at being cold and emotionless when you care more than anybody.”

As she spoke those words, Album felt a sudden stab of pain in her heart, and the blood in her mouth began spilling out.

“You…don’t know…me,” she choked, the light in her palms wavering.

“I know you…better than you know yourself,” she retorted. “You think you know what you feel, but you don’t. After all, I don’t exist, right? This entire vision is your mind, so deep down, you know that everything I’m saying is the truth.”

“You…” Album couldn’t get another word out before she dropped to her knees and coughed out the blood, the screaming in her head suddenly increasing in intensity to the point that she felt blood dripping from her ears as well. “You don’t…know anything… Ilirianna!”

When she spoke the name of the woman she erased, that plaza in Noctalus vanished and Album found herself twitching on the floor of her quarters back in the present day Citadel. She frantically thrashed around, her mind a jumbled mess, as she tried to get her bearings and process everything she had just seen when another voice caused her to freeze.

“Ilirianna, huh?”

Album rolled over onto her stomach and pushed herself to her hands and knees before staring up at Ryokumo Caeli, standing just a few feet away in the doorway. There was tension in his facial muscles, as if he were in pain, too, but mixed in with that confusion was satisfaction, as if he already believed he’d won.

“You…” Album breathed. “What did you do to me? That was…Seiras’s spell, wasn’t it? How do you have it?”

Ryokumo smirked softly. “I stole it from his quarters after he died. I thought…it might be useful in getting information out of you. Now, when you came back, you said Ilirianna? Was that her name?”

“You’re…a traitor,” Album spat viciously as she pulled herself to her feet, using the coffee table for help. “Reigious will have your head.”

“Are you going to make me do it again?” he snapped. “Do you want to suffer more than you already have? Just tell me what I want to know and we can be done. Who is Ilirianna? Who was she to me? To us?”

“Luminetta!”

Not giving even a moment of thought to his question, she hurled a burst of light straight for his chest, wanting to incapacitate him on the spot, but it seemed Ryokumo had been ready for her. He quickly raised his hand and chanted, “Diasio.” In the split second between their chants, the air around Ryokumo seemed to twist and distort and as the light reached him, the photons split apart, as if the very air was changing their direction, launching them all around him before they recombined behind him and smashed into the wall, sending a burst of debris breaking off.

“Condite!” he snarled.

Because of the mind spell, her thoughts were already weakened and thus, her reaction time wasn’t fast enough. The ropes of air wrapped around her neck and arms before she could shoot off another spell, yanking her backwards and blocking off her windpipe, preventing her from chanting anything else. She once again flailed her limbs as her body lifted from the ground but she wasn’t strong enough to break from his grip.

“Who was she, Album?” he demanded. “I’m giving you a chance to be honest. If you tell me what I want to know…then perhaps we can end this peacefully.”

His previous smugness almost vanished, replaced by genuine desperation and desire for her to help him. The ropes eased up enough for her to inhale some air, and when she was able to speak, she simply said, “There isn’t a thing you can do to convince me to tell you. Torture me all you want, Caeli. Do what you wish to me. I will never answer that question.”

She meant it.

With all her heart, she meant it.

No matter what, she could never reveal what she kept hidden behind the walls of the erased realm. It was for his own good, and the good of Ijiria, that the truth of the Battle of Noctalus stay locked away. Only she could willingly open the erased realm, so if she died, the truth would die with her. Ryokumo would know that and thus, it was impossible for him to ever get what he wanted.

He couldn’t win.

“So be it.”

With a flick of his wrist, the ropes binding her to the wall released her, sending her to the ground gasping for air as he turned and began moving through the door. She knew she should just let him leave, but she couldn’t stop herself from calling out once more.

“So you’re just going to walk away?!” she snarled. “You think I won’t turn you over to Reigious?! You think I can’t have you locked up for what you just did.”

Ryokumo stopped in the doorway and glanced back at her with a dark stare. “Go ahead. I’ll tell him why I went after you, and then we’ll see what he thinks. If you want to pull Reigious into this business, then by all means.”

With that, Ryokumo departed, leaving her kneeling on the floor as she took another deep breath. She was still shaking both from the vision and from her confrontation with him. She no longer knew what to do. He’d gotten bolder, and Seiras’s spell gave him power over her that he shouldn’t have had. From what she knew about that spell, it was capable of dropping four Masters at once, so if Ryokumo had enough control over it to do that then she would be at his mercy.

I need to turn him in. If I tell Reigious, then he can be arrested for both attacking a Master and the theft of Seiras’s spell. I can take him down easily but…

“So are you saying that you won’t turn him in for casting this spell on you? You’re going to let him walk away without consequences? If you turn him over, what then? What will this have been for?”

Ilirianna’s words from the vision came back to her almost instantly and she knew in that moment that she could never bring herself to tell Reigious.

Then do I only have one option? Has it truly come down to this? Am I going to lose him after all this time? Or was Liri right? Have I already lost him? Does it even matter…if it means he’d be safe and happy? If I do it, nobody will know. It can be one more secret I can take to my grave.

She clenched her fists at her side. Has the time really come…to erase Ryokumo Caeli?

***

Ryokumo departed Album’s quarters as fast as he could, not wanting her to see the utter agony he was going through. He knew mind magic took a toll on the caster but he still hadn’t been ready for the violent shocks that shook his brain when the spell left his lips. It felt like his head was going to rip itself open and he had the unnerving feeling that if he cast it again, something would break beyond repair. That was why he didn’t cast it when Album attacked him, instead choosing to use a spell that would counter hers. And despite the pain, he could only call that interaction a success. While she still refused to open the erased realm, he had gained something that told him very little, yet still comforted him more than he could articulate.

Her name’s Ilirianna.

The name felt familiar and he knew that had to be the identity of the woman he lost. She was the one he spoke to in Seiras’s visions and she was the one who he needed to get back. Even if he died before he could meet her again, just knowing that she was safe would be enough for him. Regaining the memories he rightfully owned and knowing what experiences he shared with her would grant him that final moment of peace before he died.

I just need to go through and execute the plan. I need to get Hannah and Arisa out of the city and I need to get Eric back to Omaruo. Then, if we can take down Nigreos and Album, and I can pass on from this world, everything will be alright. Everything will be fixed.

However, his plans had been unexpectedly sped up. He knew Reigious wanted to send Nigreos and Album to Harunhein, but he hadn’t thought they’d go so soon. That meant that they had to enact the plan that night or else they would have to wait weeks, or even months, for Nigreos and Album to return home. He couldn’t do that. They needed it wrapped up quickly before any of his dealings with Nuvo Tannath and the Children were exposed.

This is it. It all comes down to this. I’ll go get Eric, we’ll go down to the city to alert Hannah and Nuvo that it’s time to leave, and then I’ll go to the Vault and set everything in motion. I wish Album could have given me what I wanted. I wish this could have gone a different way, but there’s nothing I can do anymore.

It all comes down to tonight.