Chapter 114: I Will Leave My Hesitation Here
At the edge of the world, at the border of the Godfall Land.
What had once been a vast and dense forest was now just a black, misty void, the result of a falling star thousands of years ago. The mist had not dissipated, but had solidified into a black mud, the corrupted remnants of a divine power.
The Goddess of Procreation's power had once been the purest of life-giving forces. But to usurp the body of the Goddess of Life, she had made a pact with the demons and had made them her chosen people. From them, she had drawn a new, dark power, a power to suppress the Goddess of Life's own soul. But that power had come at a price. It had corrupted her own divine essence, tainting it with the stench of chaos and death. And when Rhodes had killed her, that power had erupted, creating the black, muddy tide that now covered this land.
Everything in the Godfall Land had been swallowed by the black mud, leaving only an oppressive, suffocating silence.
And on a nearby mountaintop, Serie stood. The wind whipped her golden hair around her, and she clutched the Holy Right Sword, Athos, to her chest.
She had been standing there for a long, long time, her golden eyes fixed on the all-consuming darkness before her. She could feel its power, a power that could annihilate the very soul, a forbidden power that even she did not dare to touch. The black mist that had once covered this land had not been nearly as terrifying.
And though the black mud was powerful, its source was gone. In a few thousand years, it might begin to dissipate. In ten thousand, it might be gone completely. But she could not wait that long.
Her gaze pierced through the blackness, to the very heart of the Godfall Land.
Rhodes.
He had been swallowed by that black mud, and had vanished. And the obsession to find him, it was a brand on her soul, a fire that had driven her back to this place.
Thirty years. Thirty long years, and all her efforts had led her back to the beginning, to the place where he had last been seen.
Before, she had been afraid to enter. But now, she had no choice. She had to have an answer.
If he was still alive, if a fragment of his soul still lingered in some corner of this land of death... that would be the greatest reward for all her long years of searching.
This place... it was her last hope, and also, her last despair.
"I can't wait any longer," she whispered, her voice so soft that only she could hear it, but filled with a resolve that cut off all possibility of retreat. She had wandered this area for too long. Every time she had tried to enter, the terrifying aura, an aura that made her very soul tremble, had stopped her.
"I can't go on like this," she said, as if talking to Athos, or perhaps to herself. "I have to find an answer, no matter what."
But she did not move right away.
She left the summit and gently placed Athos on a cold rock. She had to prepare a tombstone, for him, and for herself.
She cast a levitation spell and began to gather the scattered black stones. She moved slowly, carefully, selecting each one. Always leave yourself a way out, he had said. She didn't know if this counted, but... it was something. At the very least, future generations would know that they had been here.
Finally, two of the largest, most complete stones were set upright, and she began to build a base around them with smaller stones.
When she was finished, a blade of light appeared at her fingertip, and she began to carve.
Rhodes's Tomb.
After she had finished the last letter, she paused. If I find him... is this a bad thing to have done? She didn't know. If he was right, if she should believe in miracles, in a fated reunion... she would have to come back and destroy this tombstone.
She turned her attention to the other stone. This time, she carved more slowly, more hesitantly, as if unsure of what to write. In the end, with a complex and indescribable emotion, she wrote:
Dearest friend, Serie.
The words 'dearest friend' were carved with a fierce intensity, much deeper than the others.
She stared at the two tombstones for a long time. Was that really all we were?
No, that's not right. They had been partners, the closest of companions, teachers to each other. A single phrase, 'dearest friend', was not enough to describe their relationship. But she couldn't think of any other words. If he were here, he would surely have come up with something more amazing. But he wasn't. And it was a good thing he wasn't.
"This is good enough," she whispered, a final farewell.
She stood and brushed the dust from her robes, then picked up Athos, which had been waiting for her, and turned to leave. She gave the two small tombstones one last look. At least there were two. They wouldn't be too lonely.
And then, she took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the chaotic air, and pushed all of her hesitation, all of her indecision, to the back of her mind. She no longer looked back, and without a single step of retreat, her gaze fixed on the black, muddy expanse, she walked into the all-consuming darkness.
And not long after she had gone, a figure, covered in the dust of a long journey, appeared before the tombstones.
He saw the words, Rhodes's Tomb, and his face twisted in a strange expression.
He looked at the other one, and a wave of relief washed over him when he sensed that it was just an empty shell. "Who the hell is spreading these rumors!?" he cursed. "Don't let me find you, or you'll regret it!" But he knew who it was. Only the elven miss would do something so morbid as to erect his tombstone before he was even dead.
He squatted down and picked up a stone. The dirt on it was still fresh. She hadn't been gone long.
"Looks like I can still make it," he said, and without another moment's hesitation, he ran in the same direction she had gone.
"Wait for me, Serie."
(End of chapter)
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