The chamber was unlike any Noah had seen.
A space carved in silence, surrounded by violet flame that flickered gently along the walls, casting a pale glow like dying stars.
There were only two chairs in the middle of the room—
And four people kneeling on the ground, shackled by glowing sigils.
Three men. One woman.
Their faces were tired. Their backs straight.
But their eyes screamed guilt.
Noah stepped in cautiously, his gaze flicking between them.
"Who are they?" he asked.
Nemesis didn't look at them. Her voice, when it came, was quiet—but heavy, like rain before a storm.
"They were with my husband… the day he died.
They ran. Left him behind.
He trusted them—and they let him die like a dog against that monster."
Noah's brows furrowed. "So… you brought them here to—"
"To kill them?" she interrupted, turning to face him for the first time.
"What will I gain from it? Will it bring him back?"
She walked slowly toward one of the kneeling men. He flinched as her shadow passed over him.
"No, Noah.
I want them to feel my loss, my grief.
Not through pain.
Through memory.
Through truth."
She turned and walked to the center of the room, sitting on the left chair. With a flick of her fingers, she summoned her harp from her ring.
The instrument appeared in a swirl of dark mana—sleek and cold, its silver strings humming like a wind that had forgotten how to sing.
She rested her fingers on the strings but didn't play yet.
Instead, she looked at Noah.
Her voice softened—not cold now, just… tired.
"Do you know why I brought you here?"
"It's not to justify myself. And it's not because I need your pity."
"But… if I disappear tomorrow, and no one ever knew the truth—
Then I was never anything more than what they painted me to be."
She lowered her head.
"I just want one person to understand...
That I didn't burn the world because I hated it—
I burned it because I loved it.
And it never loved me back."
"Maybe someday… that truth will matter to someone else.
Maybe it'll change something.
Even if I'm not there to see it."
She took a breath.
"So I won't tell you with words.
I'll show you.
My life. My joy. My love.
My loss. My grief."
Her fingers touched the strings.
"Watch closely, Noah.
Remember it.
So someone, somewhere, remembers me… as Althea."
She closed her eyes—
And the harp began to play tunes.
🎶 The Melody of the Forsaken
🎶 "She once smiled, so soft, so bright,
Fed the poor and healed the night…"
Like a wave crashing against the soul, the melody opened Noah's mind.
Reality twisted.
The violet flames faded.
And his eyes widened as a new world opened in front of him.
Fields of wheat.
A sunrise over hills.
Birds, roosters, the sound of a girl humming while carrying a basket on her hip.
Pink hair. Violet eyes. Barefoot in the dirt.
That's her... Althea.
Not Nemesis.
Just a girl trying to survive—and still finding the strength to smile.
🎶" They called her kind, they praised her grace,
Then watched her burn and left no trace…"
The scenes warped—
Bandits. Screams. A helpless girl thrown to the ground.
Jayant.
His hands. His eyes. His cruelty.
And then—
Amael.
A bow. A robe. A voice: "You're safe now."
Noah's chest clenched.
🎶 "She once loved, so deep, so true…
Danced with stars under skies of blue…"
Love bloomed.
Marriage beneath cherry blossoms.
A son named Lioren.
Laughter. Meals on the floor. Weekend festivals.
And then—
"The village is gone."
Althea screaming at the sky.
Her husband—dead, torn apart by monsters.
Her child, smiling… only to die beneath rubble.
Noah stumbled. He felt the weight of every heartbeat she lost.
How did she keep going… after all that?
The scene melted into black fire.
A cloaked man. An offer.
"This is not mercy. This is retribution."
And she took it.
Not for power.
For closure.
🎶
"Now you kneel, and call her cursed…
But weren't you there when she was hurt?
You let her fall, you watched her fade…
And now, you fear the blade she made."
(Her final lines fell like snowfall on a coffin.)
🎶" She once smiled… remember that.
Before she wore this cloak so black.
Before her tears were turned to flame…
Before she lost her name…"
"She used to smile…
But smiling never saved her."
The harp went silent.
The flames dimmed.
The song ended.
Noah blinked—and the real world returned.
Violet flames. Cold chairs. Nemesis, harp in hand.
The four kneeling figures were barely conscious—bleeding from their ears and mouths.
They hadn't been struck.
They had simply drowned in a grief too heavy for their hearts.
Noah stood frozen. His hands trembled at his sides.
He didn't cry loudly. There was no scream.
Just the quiet fall of tears that slipped without permission.
Noah stood there, breath caught, his soul twisted in sorrow.
He had faced demons, monsters, beasts of nightmares…
But this was the first time he stood before a grief so deep it had become a curse.
He wanted to reach out.
He wanted to say something.
But he knew—
She didn't want pity.
She didn't want forgiveness.
She didn't want salvation.
She just wanted someone to finally understand.
And so, Noah whispered to himself:
"She didn't become a monster...
The world made her one."
He looked at her, the woman cloaked in shadow, cradling a harp instead of a sword.
And inside his mind, his voice trembled:
This wasn't a villain's story.
This was a requiem .
A dirge for everything she tried to protect.
He looked at her.
She wasn't looking back.
She stared at her harp, fingers resting gently on the strings.
As if… even now… she was still playing it in her mind.
"Thank you…" Noah whispered.
"For showing me."
Nemesis turned to him slowly.
"You believe me?"
"I don't need to believe you," Noah said, voice steady.
"I saw you."
And quietly, in his heart, he made a promise:
You're not alone anymore.
You carried this weight for too long.
Now let me carry a piece of it.
Until I find the one who gave you that flame...
And rip the curse from your soul myself.
He walked closer—
Not as a judge.
Not as a hero.
But as a witness.
To the pain no one else dared to see.
"You won't die like this. You won't fade into villainy. Not while I'm still standing."
"You gave your everything to protect the ones you loved…
Now let me protect you—until you can smile again."
"Even if that smile… is the last thing she ever wears."
[TO BE CONTINUED]