Clench—
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera’s fists tightened.
✦ ✦ ✦
“...It was pointless to come here.”
✦ ✦ ✦
And like that, he left the library.
✦ ✦ ✦
As if explicitly to torment him, all the places Vera visited after were those he had been to with Renee.
✦ ✦ ✦
The restaurant where they ate together, the plaza where they listened to music, the night market where they shared street food, and the hall where they attended the auction.
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera’s expression increasingly crumbled.
✦ ✦ ✦
He didn’t know why he kept heading to those places, and why his feet persistently retraced those memories.
✦ ✦ ✦
Unable to understand why he couldn’t stop even as his heart churned in turmoil, Vera’s face seemed to be on the verge of tears.
✦ ✦ ✦
Buzz—
✦ ✦ ✦
The Holy Sword let out a short cry.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Shut up.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera snapped at it irritably.
✦ ✦ ✦
All the while, his pace quickened towards a certain destination.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I resent that woman so much. Leaving me like this yet not letting me die, refusing to be forgotten, and appearing in my head all the time to torment me. Everything about it makes me resent her.”
✦ ✦ ✦
His gaze faced forward.
✦ ✦ ✦
The heavy steps were so rough that the people Vera passed mistook him for one of the remnants of the old slum’s cartels.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I resent that woman so much for making me suffer like this.”
✦ ✦ ✦
As he spat out those words, the biting tone carried a scorching, searing heat.
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera continued that action akin to self-torture, inflicting pain with each word that came out.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Surely you saw this coming, knowing me as well as you did. Every moment I live is full of suffering. My light can no longer illuminate anything. My heart has grown cold.”
✦ ✦ ✦
His steps led to the end of the Empire.
✦ ✦ ✦
The emotions masked as anger pulled Vera along, driving him here.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I…”
✦ ✦ ✦
The place he finally arrived at was a dimly lit, tranquil civilian district.
✦ ✦ ✦
The Empire’s Thirteenth District, the Slums.
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera collapsed at the center of the unforgettable swamp that had once been called that.
✦ ✦ ✦
“...I want to ask.”
✦ ✦ ✦
He swept his hand across the ground.
✦ ✦ ✦
The pitch-black swamp was gone, and what remained was a dirt floor, dampened by the tears that were leaking out.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I want to ask. Why did it have to be this way? Why did you make that choice?”
✦ ✦ ✦
He called it resentment.
✦ ✦ ✦
Overwhelmed by sheer agony and nowhere to vent it, Vera attached that label to the emotions he felt towards her.
✦ ✦ ✦
“If someone were to disappear, it should have been me. I want to ask you, why did you vanish instead?”
✦ ✦ ✦
When even that failed to lessen his anger, he named it hatred.
✦ ✦ ✦
However, even that wasn’t enough.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’m in so much pain. Despite being so greedy, I now no longer want to wish for anything. No, I’ve become incapable of wishing.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Realizing that no amount of wishing would attain what he truly desired most in the end, he became frightened of wanting anything at all.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’ve withered away because I couldn’t wish anymore.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Though his body grew stronger by the day, his heart was withering away.
✦ ✦ ✦
Clench—
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera’s hand clutched the dirt pile.
✦ ✦ ✦
His upper body leaned forward, his forehead touching the ground.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I…”
✦ ✦ ✦
Buzz—
✦ ✦ ✦
The Holy Sword cried out.
✦ ✦ ✦
The sword that had always been by his side gave an answer to its collapsed master.
✦ ✦ ✦
Clang—
✦ ✦ ✦
Something around his neck slipped off and fell.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was the cross Vera always wore.
✦ ✦ ✦
And the ring hanging with it.
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera’s eyes flew wide open.
✦ ✦ ✦
Buuuzzzz—
✦ ✦ ✦
The Holy Sword cried once more.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I…”
✦ ✦ ✦
His grip on the dirt tightened, turning the mud soaked with tears into clumps that squished and took shape.
✦ ✦ ✦
Above that were more dripping tears.
✦ ✦ ✦
Drip.
✦ ✦ ✦
Drip.
✦ ✦ ✦
The dirt absorbed them.
✦ ✦ ✦
Each time he held back, the weight grew heavier. Unable to restrain himself any longer, he began to release the tears he had been holding in.
✦ ✦ ✦
“...I don’t think I can endure it unless I ask.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera’s teeth clenched together.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I feel like I can’t go on living without asking why you did this to me.”
✦ ✦ ✦
His expression contorted terribly, and his body trembled as strength coursed through his body.
✦ ✦ ✦
Crackle—
✦ ✦ ✦
The oath engraved into his soul blazed.
✦ ✦ ✦
“For myself, for the life I have to live, I need to know.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The moment he uttered those words, Vera let out a warm breath.
✦ ✦ ✦
The last of his tears, barely clinging on, eventually fell.
✦ ✦ ✦
The corners of his lips curled.
✦ ✦ ✦
“So I will move forward.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The smile he wore as his stare pierced through the bare ground was one that could be fittingly described as a madman’s.
✦ ✦ ✦
Yet, it was also the smile of someone who had found a way forward.
✦ ✦ ✦
The ashen eyes that had lost their spark shined with light once more.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Is this what you wanted?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Buuuzzzz—
✦ ✦ ✦
The Holy Sword cried.
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera clenched his trembling hands tightly and started to rise.
✦ ✦ ✦
“...If so, then help me.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Buuuzzzz-
✦ ✦ ✦
The Holy Sword cried again.
✦ ✦ ✦
At last, Vera raised his head.
✦ ✦ ✦
For the first time in a year, he looked up at the sky he had been avoiding.
✦ ✦ ✦
“For myself.”
✦ ✦ ✦
He offered up the oath in flames—
✦ ✦ ✦
“For my life, to wish again once more.”
✦ ✦ ✦
—Still clinging to the one thing he wished for.
✦ ✦ ✦
“...I’ll bring you back.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Vera glared at the heavens.
✦ ✦ ✦
Orgus stopped in his tracks.
✦ ✦ ✦
Crumple—!
✦ ✦ ✦
The space folded.
✦ ✦ ✦
All of the paths began to go astray.
✦ ✦ ✦
From the moment of its creation until now, it took on a form Orgus had never once experienced.
✦ ✦ ✦
[...You’ve come.]
✦ ✦ ✦
Orgus had a feeling.
✦ ✦ ✦
That the time had come for this long distortion to end.