"The gloomy days are over!", someone shouted into my ear, but before I could recover from the shock to turn around and find out who it was, he'd gone.I found myself in a very packed inn in Montreuil. I rather liked the city but the tavern was chock full of fat, jobless, drunkards. Despite all the prosperity of the city, men always found reasons to be useless. But if not for these men, the very nice and hearty innkeeper would have been out of business. There was only one woman in the entirety of that huge tavern and that was the innkeeper's daughter.She was no goddess but in that difficult, disgusting place, she was like sunshine. I ended up staying in that inn and although I never spoke that much with her, I liked seeing her work."'Nother?", she'd ask every time anyone finished their drink even if they were so drunk they could drop dead any second."Did you ask the lady for dinner, Natasha?", her father would ask very often."She's asleep", Natasha would reply.I don't think this p
"I climbed up an icy mountain once", she said with perfect composure despite the changing winds, "And there I met a man, my angel of death. He'll come to claim my soul when the world goes wrong and my time is up."I stood with a distorted look in my eyes. Exactly as I remembered it. She was once again lying half buried in rubble, and the impression of a seemingly century-long struggle on her face."What triggered it, Lady?", I asked, trying to ignore her current predicament."The red sky. He must have been looking for me for a long time since then. I didn't think he'll find me this soon. It should have been harder."He was the one that delivered the blank note. "Why are you dying, Lady?", I asked, incapable of comprehending why she had given up."I promised", her answer was too honest, yet I couldn't wrap my head around it.I suppose she had more than one priorities in her life. I never really knew."Is he the one you hated?""Not him. He's the one I loved.""You? You loved?""I'm ly
"No one is coming to save you."Her mother's words rung in the air.With a blurred vision and a half open head, she stood erect on what remained of the hill. They were all dead. Valhalla was gone too. She stood alone. **************"In the end, you didn't kill him", I walked up to Lady who was standing at a great distance from Valhalla.She didn't say anything. But she probably regretted everything."Everyone died", I said, without really caring for anything.I figured I'd be redoing everything once again. This time was much sooner than I had expected. I realized I needed to be much more firm if I wanted to create a better reality."You should have let them leave", she looked at me as if all of it was my fault."Please don't push it all on me, Lady. You've had this coming for a while now", I wasn't going to take the accusation sitting down, even if she was right.She seemed like she didn't want to go on arguing about it. For one, everyone was dead but
"No one's coming to help you. Ever", her mother combed through her hair.She sat with her head down, as if she'd been caught in a snare."You were playing with that box again, weren't you? Haven't I told you I hate it when you mess with my things? How hard is it for you to understand?"She stayed silent. Her head was hurting. The mother was almost ripping her hair out.She lifted her eyes to look at the pretty box that was placed out of her reach. She had no toys to play with. The box was about the only thing she could admire in that house."You nameless child", her mother mocked her, like she usually did when she was angry, "You know why no one named you? Because you didn't deserve it. What good is it giving a name to a girl? What good is a girl, anyway? You can't go to war. Can't pull us out of this shit hole. Your existence is pointless."She was barely listening to her mother now. She was lost in thoughts of her own."You'll suffer here. Like I have. But don't worry, my love", the
"What're you up to, Seraph?", Chopper asked, taking a seat beside me.I myself had no clue what I was up to. Everything looked fine. Lady, the Valkyries, and Valhalla too."What happened to the letter?", I asked."What letter?"I didn't yet know where to place myself. I stayed silent."What's up with you, kid? You know I can tell that you fought someone", he scrutinized me.Even I didn't know that I had fought someone. I looked at myself. And though I didn't find any trace of being out of place, I realized that I was aching all over. I could tell I had gone all out. The remnants of Nasty's grip caused my body to hurt this much.I was sitting near Lady's bathing pool and Chopper had joined me. He'd never been here before. But most importantly, Lady didn't know we were here. If she found out, she'd have sent us on another grueling mission."Oi, kid, I'm talking to you. You good?"I think it was then that I lifted my gaze finally and looked at his face. At first it felt like I couldn't r
"You must have realized by now, Seraph, that there is indeed a way. But I suppose you are far too hesitant to take it", Grim said, casually.The sky looked nice and blue. He and I were in some place that I couldn't seem to recognize. He was lying in the most green, luscious grass in the history of grass and I was sitting just beside him under a tree.I found myself outside once again.To be honest, it had become hard to keep track of how many times I had done what I was trying to do. I thought that as long as the future kept moving forward, albeit slowly, I could reach the end. I'll just keep making sure everyone was alive until they were old and grey and died peacefully.But the idea was ridiculous when I thought about it long enough. For one, what if I died before them? It would all come to nothing. My life would have been a waste."Where do gods exist?", I asked Grim, simply because I had nothing to say."Everywhere you turn", he replied, "They're very good at hiding it.""I don't
"Tell you what, Seraph, this one time, I met a girl and she had these enormous scars all over her arms and legs. I couldn't help noticing her, of course. When she told me she did it herself, I couldn't help it. I killed her then and there", he chuckled to himself, "I didn't want to do it, of course. Something just came over me. It wasn't that she told me she did it herself. It was how she said it. She was smiling.""I'm sure she wasn't smiling because she was happy", I answered, with a solemn look on my face."I'm sure of that too. I was sure of it back then too. That's probably why I killed her. But do you know how many people I've saved?"He looked at my face. I stayed silent."I've saved more people than I've killed. I've been counting since the beginning. I know, for sure, that my atonement is over. At least, it ought to be. But does it look like I'm still repenting?", he asked, smiling vaguely, knowing my answer."You do.""That's because I am. No matter how many I save...the ato
"Do you blame me for mother's death, father?", she asked, placing the empty cup of tea on the little side table.Her father wasn't facing her. He was still locked up in his study, reclining on his chair and looking out of the window at some distance lands.She sat straight, with her back erect. The weight of her gown was enough to tire her but she was made up, as befitting of a noble. She had to look all the more perfect since she was visiting her home for the first time since her marriage."Blame you?", the lord of the house spoke in his grave voice after a while, "I simply don't think you were worth her death. Esme was a wise woman. A level headed, understanding, noble woman."Faye looked at her lap."You refuse to carry out the will of the house of Vlad. You'll go as far as to commit a heinous crime to that end. I'm disappointed beyond measure."Faye pursed her lips. No one but she herself had been hurt the most by what she'd done."Vlad was born to you twice. And yet, you ungratef