"You.. you.."
Her loose hair fell at shoulder length, the colour of brilliant gold, shinning like the most valuable treasures. Her eyes matched, equally as radiant and warm, instantly drawing Azdin into them.
Just seeing her, made his heart quake both with sorrow, and in indescribable longing. It felt terrible, as painful as if a bottomless had been dug right into him.
There was only one person who could possibly make him feel this way. Although he didn't remember her, the feeling he felt when he lost her still remained. Much like many other things still did.
"Hello again, Azdin."
It was Tyr.
"I don't have alot of time left, so I'll be brief."
So many things confused him, and numerous questions popped right into his mind out of nowhere. How was she alive? Why was she here? But he quickly understood that this reunion wouldn't last.
Frantically, he began to race towards the ghost of the past. And as he did, the apparition spoke somberly.
"I made a selfish decision without you. That person didn't give me many options, but I couldn't stand by and do nothing too. If I did, the both of you would've torn eachother apart."
He kept running, and running, and running. It sounded like she was speaking right into his ear, but with every step that he drew closer towards her, she seemed to be getting further away, even though she wasn't moving at all.
"Stop talking! Wait!"
"I don't know why someone as powerful as them did what they did, but they gave a me choice."
She seemed to become mournful, as if in deep regret.
"I accepted, I had no choice but to."
As Azdin ran, he came to realise that he wasn't making any progress at all. He had thought his soul sea was infinitely large, but that wasn't the case at all. The truth, is that it was infinitely far. Although he could try his best to reach the edge, he'd never make it in the end.
Tyr appeared to be standing right at the edge of this boundary, making it difficult for him to reach her.
Understanding that, he could only slow down in despair. But what she said next, made him freeze in his tracks completely.
"I had them erase your memories. Once you woke up, you would've forgotten everything about that place. You'd be an ordinary boy."
"What."
She did.. what?
"What are you saying? What do you mean?"
But as if she didn't hear him, she continued on.
"I believe that if you forgot all about that place, you'd be able to live without looking back at what happened. But they think differently. They believe you'll take back what's rightfully yours in the end.. as morbid as it was."
Something unfamiliar began to well up inside of him just then. It was hot, tightening his chest, before twisting into something even worse.
The memories he had lost weren't happy. He was glad to have lost them, but knowing that he hadn't done that to himself.. that someone had taken them from him without his knowledge..
"Don't ignore me! Answer me! What did you do?!"
He began to feel something he hadn't known till right then. An indescribable anger.
"But, if you truly wish to take them back. If you wish to become who you once were."
But he had no leeway to even express it, as something strange began to happen to Tyr. She seemed to be fading, the light of his soul core poking beams through her being.
She was disappearing. And this time, he wouldn't get to see her ever again.
"Stop!"
He quickly forgot about his anger, but as he called out and begged for her stay. It only proved to be useless.
"Find them. Find the one who erased who you were."
By then, she had truly disappeared, fading away into the light.
Even then, her last words still echoed.
"Find weaver, the Demon of Fate."
**
Somewhere far away, blew a storm that raged with apocalyptic fury. Black clouds churned across the sky like a living sea, torn apart by jagged flashes of lightning that illuminated the world in brief ghostly bursts as rain fell in relentless sheets.
Yet amid the chaos stood a formation of towering stone rocks, ancient and immovable. They rose from the ocean like bones of giants, their weathered faces enduring the assault without a tremor.
Atop the tallest of them grew a solitary tree. It's branches laden in delicate blossoms, pale petals fluttering softly despite the raging winds.
Beneath it's flowering canopy, lay a lone figure resting peacefully against it's roots. While thunder roared and the heavens split apart, the tree remained untouched, and so did he.
Whatever expression he was making was unknowable, as it was hidden behind a fearsome ebony mask carved from wood, it's features resembling a demon with three horns protruding from its head like a crown. But even then, one could tell that he was at peace. Despite the chaos around him, he was in serenity.
After resting for a long while the figure finally moved. Raising his hand into the air, he snapped his fingers.. and only a few moments later, something stirred within the shadows.
Stepping out from behind the tree, was a single man dressed in black garbs, with a dark unsheathed sword lay strapped to his waist.
The figure wearing the mask spoke, his voice sounding shattered and fragmented. It was as though many different people were speaking at once, all their voices overlapping to make out the same word.
"Status."
The swordsman dressed in dark clothing stiffened as he responded immediately.
"We've recovered some of the escaped vessels already, but they're all spread far too thin. It could take years to even find them all again. And if they manage to cross the realm boundary, I fear we'll lose them for good."
A sigh seemed to escape him.
"I see.."
But not long after, he enquired.
"And of that child in particular? Azdin?"
Taking another step forward, the black swordsman pulled out a rolled up scroll and quickly handed it over. The figure in the mask took it from his hands, and stared at it for a moment.
Then, without any warning, he threw it into the ocean.
The black swordsman seemed a little pained, but not very surprised.
"We found him at that island just like you said, and we've been keeping a close eye ever since."
Clearing his throat, he muttered,
"It appears that he boarded a War Empire ship, and managed to hijack it for himself. They're heading too.."
Hearing that, the figure froze in place for a moment, taking time to process what he just heard. Not long later though, a disjointed cackle emerged from his mask.
He laughed for a long while, as though he had just heard the greatest joke in the world. Eventually, he did calm down.
"It's important for children to experience the outside world, otherwise they cannot grow from who they were before. I'm sure everything he's experiencing now will be a great lesson for him."
Turning around, he stared at the black swordman before him. His face was dirtied, tired. It was obvious that he hadn't had a wink of sleep in a long while, and never took the time to care for himself either.
"But at the end of every journey, eventually it'll be time to put down the weapon and head home."
Feeling an odd sense foreboding, the swordsmen instantly kneeled, staring at the ground in reverence.
"Shall I go retrieve him?"
The figure in the demonic mask sighed once again, but this time he patted down the servants shoulder.
"No, I'll go collect him myself."
Looking straight ahead, he bore witness to the turning tides. A frightening creature suddenly broke through the waters surface, it's appearance, incredibly hard to be put into the words.
The moment it emerged though, it was instantly struck down by bolts of lightning. Forcing it to retreat back into the depths.
"What kind of a father would I be, if I couldn't even bring my own son back home?"
[End Of Volume 1]
[Sea Of Rebirth]