Nova could feel the scale shaking as he released it. It floated towards a distance and then stopped. The ground started to tremble and the scale started to grow. A human came out of it–a familiar human with black hair and golden eyes. Nova smiled with relief as he saw Robin in the flesh. All eyes were on Robin, confused on what just transpired; a man came out of a lavender scale! Sirius was the only one not perplexed.
"So, you came…"
"Not for you, though. I came for him." Robin gestured towards Nova.
Robin then scanned the vicinity. The more he looked, the more frustrated and disappointed he became. He set his sights on Sirius once again and then charged towards him. Sirius was knocked down onto the ground quickly with Robin sitting on top of him unamused.
"I have heard everything from the scale Nova was carrying. I am honestly disappointed in you, Sirius. You are doing this out of jealousy? What stupidity."
"Shut up!" Sirius was struggling to break free, but Robin did not budge, despite being shorter and leaner than him.
"Cease this nonsense at once. Nothing will benefit from burning books. You, of all people, should understand how much work Aster has put into those books he wrote. You want his hard work to all be a waste?"
"I don't care as long as any trace of you is eradicated!"
Nova could hear murmuring from the burners. It made sense why they'd be confused; all people knew about Souhait was the dragon. They didn't realize that the dragon from the stories could take on a human form.
Robin let out a heavy sigh, "I guess we can never see eye-to-eye… We never have… Fine."
He jumped. His body started glowing a lavender hue as his body elongated and took on a serpentine form. In a flash, he was no longer human but a lavender dragon, causing the spectators to gawk at the sight in front of them.
"What the heck?"
"That guy was Souhait?"
"People can turn into dragons?"
"The lavender dragon was real all along?"
Nova could hear all sorts of discord in the crowd; it made him feel vindicated after so long. The majestic sight in front of him was his pride and joy. Souhait existed and it was all true. Nova knew who Robin was the moment the man gave him the scale back in spring. But, he couldn't be excited for too long, for he knew Robin transforming into Souhait definitely meant something was going to happen; it would not end well.
He was correct. Souhait let out a mighty roar. The strong pressure caused all the fires, close by and afar, to burn out. All that was left was smokey residue and ringing ears. Nova had it the worst as he couldn't cover his ears like the rest. All he could hear was ringing noises and muffled voices; he just hoped his ears weren't bleeding from those sound waves.
He couldn't hear temporarily, but that didn't mean he lost all of his senses. He could still feel and see. He saw Souhait flying off and somehow, he was in his claw's grasp. Rather than questioning what was going on, he looked down and his eyes widened at the sight below him: Aster had just appeared from a rift to stab Sirius in the back. The last thing he saw before both were out his view was Aster pulling out and then leaving. Nova did not feel an ounce of resentment or hatred towards Aster. In fact, he accepted it. Sirius was the one who had betrayed both of them, so he knew it was inevitable.
It is what it is. Perhaps, it was for the best…
His vision blurred before realizing his eyes were getting watery. Tears trickled down his face, but he blamed it on the wind pressure. He wasn't crying because he felt sad about Sirius dying; he was crying out of frustration for what had transpired until now. He wasn't sure if he was sobbing because he couldn't hear himself, but he hoped he was.
When he looked up, he noticed a rift forming in the sky and Souhait confidently entered it, taking him along. He saw a myriad of colors before finding himself in a serene flower field. There were no trees; just a boundless meadow full of lavender colored flowers underneath a lavender sky.
Souhait had placed him down gently and used his claws to cut through his bounds. Nova quickly stood up and stared in awe. The scenery itself was so relaxing, contrasting what he had witnessed moments ago.
"Where is this?" Nova felt a sense of relief when he could hear his own voice again.
"This is the Realm of Desires, a part of the Spirit Realm where people come to have their wishes granted. It takes the form of a person's greatest desires."
"Who does this belong to?"
"That would be me."
Nova turned around to see Aster standing there with a sullen face and gripping his blade tightly. Recalling what he saw a moment ago, he ran towards him and embraced him.
"It must have been so tough, right?"
"You don't hate me…?"
"How can I? You did nothing wrong."
Aster released his blade as he lowered himself to his knees and hung his head low. Nova released his embrace and let him be silent. He turned to face Souhait. "You want to grant my wish?"
"Yes."
"Any wish I want?"
"I normally have some limitations and I usually make people look at their memories before deciding what their wish is, but I can see I do not need to do that for you. I know a lot about you due to the stories Aster tells me, and your clan because your ancestor Loreseer was the first person I granted a wish for. I will make you an exception, so tell me: what do you wish for?"
Nova started to recall a memory of a far past. It was during a time where his parents were alive. They had been telling him stories about Souhait and the impact he had caused to his family that caused the creation of the Loreseer clan. He remembered his mother asking him a question:
"If Souhait were to grant your wish, what would you want granted?"
He was young at the time, so he didn't have a concrete answer. But now, he knew. Remembering how his manuscript got incinerated and the pain of the betrayal of his fellow apprentices, he knew exactly what to wish for.
"I wish for revenge towards those who wronged me."
Souhait looked intrigued. "What is your idea of revenge?"
"My ideal revenge is to change this world into one where everyone believes in you and in the power of wishes once again. It'll take a long time for the change to occur, that I know; I'm only mortal, so who knows if my revenge can happen. Which is why… I want to live on until the end of eternity. I can't let anyone else do this revenge; it's mine and mine alone. I'll do whatever I can to change Terrenter back into a world where people will believe in you and in the power of wishes once again, even if it takes hundreds or even thousands of years. It'll be a good revenge where I get back at those who wronged me and make them regret not believing in you before."
Souhait glanced at Aster momentarily before reverting his gaze back at Nova. "I like your wish. However, there are some conditions–three to be precise…"
"What are they?"
"The first is to never take back your wish. Immortality means you can never age again. You will stay the same as the people around you wither away. It also means you can survive the harshest of situations and still come out unscathed. People may think it has no weaknesses, but there is one for the immortality I bestow on others: taking back a wish means your immediate death."
Nova became worried, "Isn't that a bit harsh?"
"That is the price one pays if they want me to grant their wish."
"Makes sense. What's the second condition?"
"The second is to accept everything about me."
Nova tilted his head, "What does that mean?"
"It means that if something were to happen to me, you must accept me; your body must become a vessel that harbors both me and the Spirit Realm."
A sense of worry came to Nova. He couldn't fathom an idea of something bad happening to Souhait, but if such were the case, he'd gladly accept.
"What is the last one?"
Aster stood up and approached Nova. "The last is that you must take my place."
Nova turned to look at him confused. "Take your place?"
"I chose to stay in this world because I love Souhait. Spatial Seers like me can reside in a world if we choose to, but our biggest code is to never kill a denizen of the world we reside in. If we do that, we can no longer stay in said world. I killed Sirius, so I cannot stay in Terrenter anymore. I can only stay in the Spirit Realm inside my Realm of Desires. However, since I cannot stay in this world anymore, people won't remember me anymore."
"They won't? Why?"
"Leaving the world means disappearing from the memories of the people who remembered. I am no longer a part of anyone's memory now."
"But I remember you, though? My memory hasn't been affected…"
"Because you're here in this realm. If you were to return to Terrenter, your memory of me would be erased."
"I don't want that."
"Then, take my place. However, if you choose to accept this condition, everything that is related to me will be replaced with you. You might even get blamed for Sirius's death."
Souhait added, "On top of that, no one will remember you anymore since you will essentially become what Aster was in that world–you would be Aster Mariner and the existence known as Loreseer Nova Cosmos will cease to exist."
Nova was shocked. Accepting this condition meant that the Loreseer clan, and what was left of it–him–would cease to exist. He'd be living on as someone else until the end of eternity. No one would remember him anymore.
Nova looked up at Souhait, "Would you remember me?"
"The condition does not affect me whatsoever. Essentially, the only one who would remember your existence as Nova would be me."
A sense of relief came to him. As long as someone would remember him, even if it was just one, he'd be fine with it. He could just build new identities as time passed, so even if he was no longer Loreseer Nova Cosmos from before, he could be Nova whenever he wanted in the far future. Most of all, he had nothing else to lose from this wish.
Staring straight at Souhait's eyes, he confidently remarked, "I accept."