Endless Reverie
Chapter 0: Reverie
𝚉𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚘𝚗
05/17/2025
A/N: zis is my first time writing a novel, so uh. tell me if i have inconsistencies.
——————————————————————
The thuds were ringing by, the taps of a shoe's heels were continuing to move forward.
*Thud*
He immediately stopped as he looked around the scenery. The sky was cracked, the ash of the ground was mixed with the snow, feeling the strong breeze of the wind.
Blanketing the once living field beneath them, nothing more than scorched earth and shattered feelings. The battlefield stretched endlessly, littered with scents of mangled steel, monster husks, and the indescribable shapes of those who had fought. Blades battered to the ground and others resting in place with shards or fragments of what they were once was. Fires crackled in the distance, feeding on the silent feeling of the surroundings.
Yet, amidst those. At the center, at the apex of the events. There, he stood still.
His armour, once regal and coldly daunting, now bore the scars and ruin by those that surrounded him. A rough gash tore across his chestplate, gouging deeply the steel ornate chestplate where a monster's claw had raked through steel like paper. Leaving twisted metal and the faint, pulsing glow of exposed flesh beneath. Feathers once black as a raven's wing had turned ragged, clinging weakly to the furred mantle like shadows too tired to fly.
His skull-like mask, portraying what a reaper would place on his face. It was cracked down to the cheek, a deadly yet silent fracture betraying the man beneath the mask. The scythe that was strapped across his back was chipped, its once-flawless blade and handle now dulled and stained. The steel built upon it shows weakness after days of continuous impact.
He dropped and settled his mask and his scythe on the ground, making an eerie sound as the silence was broken off with a ragged breath by him. One gauntlet was battered and broken, the other wrapped tightly at the girl in his arms. Her body limp against his chest, but not cold. Her breaths were faint and weak, yet it resounded a calm melody. He held her as though she would vanish if he let her go.
"It's over," he whispered slowly at her ear, voice hoarse. "We won. You can rest softly."
But her eyes didn't open. The same eyes that once sparkled with affection, admiration yet teased with mischief and resolve. The same voice that always called his name with every meaning, the same hands that always pulled him whenever he was having a tough time.
Now quiet... Still...
He laughed, his tone wasn't bright yet he laughed with the remaining strength he had.
"You... you always said I'd be the one to fall first."
His body trembled, his legs were threatening to fall save for the faint wings made of essence that supported his weight. He brushed her hair away from her face — stained with ash and dried blood. His comrades, gone. The enemies, cut down. The monsters, slain. The world they saved, silent in gratitude. He looked at the sky as he suffered in silence, until...
She twitched. Barely. Just enough.
Her breath hitched. "... Hey..."
Her fingers curled slightly around the essence around him before his cloak. A whisper escaped her cracked lips. He leaned closer.
"… idiot… you promised… ramen…"
His heart cracked.
They called him many things—Reaper, Betrayer, Monster—but none knew the man behind the mask, save for the one lady he was holding.
And then, through the ash and ruin, through the cries of the dead and the silence of the saved, he laughed again. But this time, it was real. Quiet. Full of pain and wonder.
"I'll make you all the ramen you desire before this world."
He held her tighter as the wind blew across the battlefield, scattering embers like fireflies. But she moved slightly against him, her hand reaching at his cheek and cupping him before continuing to speak weakly.
"... It hurts," she murmured, her voice barely audible. Before continuing in an angst manner, "... you used yourself as bait again."
Pinching his cheek with the remainder of her strength as she waited for his response. His gaze unwavering yet full of comfort and silence.
"You would have done the same for me," he held a moment of silence before looking down at her eyes with a loving gaze. He pulled away slowly before looking at her intently.
She however waivered, she stole his gaze from him as her cheeks show a faint colour of warm red. "Dummy... T-that still doesn't make it less idiotic..."
Though as she said that, she slowly glanced back towards him. Her eyes gazing at his dried tears that moved across his cheeks. Her eyes fluttered before she spoke with weakness in her voice, "... Did you cry for me, Zairon?"
He was mildly surprised at the question and paused for a minute. Then he responded to her question as he rested his forehead against hers. "I did... I thought I lost you," he controlled his breaths no matter how exhausted and weak he felt at this time.
"I never... I never really want to part with you. Just the thought of you leaving me behind doesn't make this world worthwhile anymore," he spoke with the utmost sincerity he could exude, even with his expression failing to comply with his words.
She went quiet for a moment.
Her lips parted slightly, searching for words she hasn't yet dared to say. Her eyes, even with the veil of the ash and snow, it fluttered with unshed tears and the weight of everything they've endured up to this point.
"Zairon...," she whispered as her voice cracked with the force of too many emotions, too long buried. "You're always carrying everything. Always trying to protect me like I'm made of glass."
"You're such an idiot, Zairon," she whispered, voice cracking with the force of too many feelings, too long buried. "Always carrying everything. Always trying to protect me like I'll shatter at a single touch."
Her breath shuddered, fingers curling tighter against the fabric of his torn cloak. She smiled weakly before speaking, "You're allowed to be scared too, allowed to cry, allowed to wail... Y-you are not a monster... You never were. You know w-why? Because..."
Her voice broke on the next words, her emotions piling into her voice.
"You're my everything."
Zairon didn't respond with words this time. He just held her firmly close, his exhale trembling that brushed past her cheek. With their foreheads still pressed together, sharing the warmth in the place that's long gone cold.
"You once said... that if the w-world ended, you'd still choose me," she whispered, "Even if it meant losing everything else."
He nodded faintly, eyes heavy. "... I still would."
She closed her eyes, tears finally slipping from the corners, tracing the ash on her fair skin. "Then don't you dare leave me behind either," she whispered, pleading. "Not now. Not ever."
He smiled then — cracked, aching, but real.
"Not in this life. Not in the next. I'll follow you through every end… even if the stars fall and the heavens forget our names. We will remain in EndlessReverie."
A single breath passed between them, charged with the silence of a thousand unsaid promises.
And in that moment, beneath the burning sky and the ghostlight of ruin, they were no longer warriors, no longer survivors.
At the edge of the broken world, the last two souls remained. Bloodstained, exhausted, and still holding on.
Together.