Veronica knelt before the pitiful corpse, her tears flowing freely for what felt like hours. Only when the salt tracks had dried on her cheeks did she find the strength to rise and stagger forward on unsteady legs.
Her mind drifted through a fog of grief. No coherent thoughts penetrated the haze. Massive shadows passed overhead as Bahamuts moved by, casting momentary darkness before vanishing again. The creatures streamed toward the city center, making Veronica feel like a lone salmon fighting hopelessly against the current.
They probably see me as nothing but a failed specimen. Some bizarre mutation that didn’t quite take.
Occasionally, one would turn its massive head to study her, nostrils flaring as it sampled her scent, but none pursued her. For whatever unknowable reason, the Bahamuts showed no interest in attacking her.
Veronica trudged toward the collapsed mountain alone. When Philip had questioned her destination, she’d told him that the First Bahamut would likely be found somewhere in the Blasen Mountains.
I’ll probably get hopelessly lost, but what choice do I have?
“Ah!”
Her momentary lapse in concentration ended with her foot catching on debris, sending her sprawling. Genesis clattered across the stone as her knees struck the unforgiving ground. Veronica bit back a cry as she examined her torn skin where blood seeped through. Yet more painful than her physical wounds was the memory that surfaced unbidden, bringing with it a voice that hurt to remember.
“With how frequently you twist these ankles of yours, I’m genuinely mystified at how you ever managed to dance on stage.”
She held her breath until Leon’s memory passed, like a diver submerged beneath dark waters. Instinct warned her that breathing in these memories now would only tear open wounds barely beginning to heal.
I can’t move forward if I keep looking back. I need to become stronger. I need to rise again, no matter how many times I fall.
Veronica clenched her trembling hand into a fist, then deliberately relaxed it before raising her head. Before her loomed the mountain, half-shattered yet still majestic, its jagged peaks reaching toward the heavens.
It stood against the sky as if challenging her—or perhaps encouraging her onward.
A solitary hawk soared toward those distant peaks. As her eyes tracked the bird’s flight, a strange scraping sound drew her attention downward. Looking at the fallen sword, Veronica couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. Had Genesis just… moved on its own?
“Impossible…”
The divine blade’s tip caught the sunlight, sending a dazzling reflection dancing across the rubble. After a moment’s hesitation, Veronica grasped the hilt and deliberately placed the sword, pointing in the opposite direction. Nothing happened.
She exhaled a shaky breath, feeling both relief and disappointment mingling in her chest. But a heartbeat later, the divine sword suddenly spun with a metallic scrape, its blade once again pointing toward the mountain’s heart.
A chill crawled down her spine.
There was no mistaking the sword’s intent. Veronica carefully lifted Genesis, her fingers tightening around its ancient hilt. The direction it indicated was almost certainly the epicenter of the devastating landslide. It was a treacherous path through dizzying rocky valleys and sheer cliff faces—certainly no journey for someone with an injured leg. Veronica understood this logically.
Logically.
As she struggled to her feet, a single crimson droplet traced a path down her pale leg. Drawing a steadying breath, Veronica began to walk with a pronounced limp.
✦ ✦ ✦
She must have walked for at least half a day, from when the sun hung in the eastern sky until it disappeared behind the mountain’s jagged silhouette.
Her throat burned with thirst, and as expected, the path grew increasingly treacherous with each passing hour. Several times her leg became trapped between massive boulders, and any momentary lapse in concentration resulted in a dangerous misstep. Each time, she wiped away the stinging sweat and forced herself upright again, refusing to surrender.
As she climbed higher into the mountain’s embrace, the Bahamuts grew scarcer. The reason was obvious—as creatures larger than humans, they would naturally avoid such perilous terrain.
“…Is that the only way to get there?”
Veronica stared helplessly at the sheer cliff face before her. Genesis rattled insistently in her loose grip, continuing to point toward that impossible path.
The thunder of rushing water echoed from the dizzying depths below, and the treacherous cliff seemed better suited for mountain goats than for a wounded woman. Nothing resembling a proper path existed. One misstep meant certain death. Her reluctance disguised itself as a desperate longing for rest.
But if I rest now, will I be able to find the strength to continue afterward?
Looking down at her trembling legs, Veronica made a cold assessment and bit her lip until she tasted copper. Thinking of those who might still be alive—who might still be saved—she summoned reserves of strength she didn’t know she possessed.
She secured Genesis firmly at her waist and dusted her palms with a determined clap. Finding a narrow ledge along the cliff face, she carefully tested it with her weight before committing herself to the path. Her breath caught in her throat, every muscle coiled with tension.
Moving sideways like a crab along the rock face, small avalanches of pebbles tumbled into the abyss with each tentative step. The mountain wind tore at her, making her hair and tattered skirt flutter wildly. With each gust, she paused to steady her breathing. She deliberately avoided looking into the chasm below. Beads of sweat, stained crimson by the dying sun, trickled into her eyes.
She had just one more agonizing step left until she reached a small ledge where she might rest for a moment. Her hair clung annoyingly to her dry lips.
But just as she concentrated and stretched her legs wide to bridge the gap, a sickening crack echoed through the valley like death’s whisper.
Veronica instinctively looked down—a fatal mistake. She should have looked up instead.
A cascade of rocks tumbled down in a deadly avalanche from above her head. She released her handhold to shield her head, instantly destroying her precarious balance. Her body tilted backward into empty space, the world spinning around her as she fell. A scream tore from her throat.
No!