“So what do you want to do?” she held her heart.

The ocean was still and the wind caressing her hair.

She was afraid at this moment. There was something about the mood today that made her worry. Nolan Salvatore was a man who stayed strong from the start. Right now, he was stating words that made her worry about their future. She was worried about this future. She knew that it took her many years to reunite with him. She wanted to believe that it would happen, but a hundred years of waiting was hard.

She was happy. The three souls that became one was worried about the idea that he would leave them. “Please no,” she was deathly afraid. There was this fear that sprouted inside her heart. Ciara Alician had taken her life once because she found her husband’s grave.

Her heart was trembling.

She knows that if he would move on then she would be alone. Audrey, the Witch of Nether was her friend, but she would never substitute for the partner that she gave her heart to.

“I’ve been with you for all of my life. I dedicated forty-years of my life and fought until my body was old and dying. We’ve jumped from worlds to be with together. I cannot forgive you for what you did. But I am willing to start over.”

She opened her eyes wide. “Huh?”

“Marry me again,” he said to her. “I want you to marry me as yourself. Not as Ciara, not as Tania, but Ashia. Tell me, what is the meaning of your name?”

“Life and hope,” she replied. “My parents picked this name because I was filled with it. I was hope for the Alf Race, and I choose to embody the name.”

“Ashia,” he said with a serious expression. “Before your students get married, let us marry first. Not through any church, but through bonding of the soul. I will give you the knot of my soul if you gave me yours.” He stood up, pulled something from his chest and presented it to her. It was a glowing orb with both light and dark turning clockwise”

“Marry me.”

“I thought that you couldn’t forgive me?”

“Yes, I couldn’t forgive you for that. But that doesn’t mean that I would throw you away. That I would abandon you so easily. We are old people inside younger bodies, Ashia. We’re old as the stars and you’d think that by now we should be cold inside. That our hearts are frozen like ice as well. I don’t believe that. Even if my heart stops beating I can feel these emotions. I might be able to control them, temper them, but I don’t think can rid them. We’ve already been played with time and yet we can never go back to that time. That’s why I want you to have this.”

Ashia stood up. She didn’t know why her eyes were blurry. She could see Nolan, but her heart was pounding. She imitated the process and pulled on the strings of her soul as well. She neared this orb made from her soul and neared it, Nolan.

Like two knots being together, she felt a strong tug. She felt her body strengthened and she saw Nolan Salvatore’s hair lost all color. His eyes became deep red and there was a certain aura that she had not seen from her. She didn’t know why, but she could sense him where we are, and as they close this tugging sense grew strong as well.

“What is this?”

“It is the same seal that I bonded Tania with. Think of it having a ball on each side of a rope. If I am thrown then your soul would be thrown as well, and because of this, we will not be separated again. Even if we are continents apart, as long as we are in the same world then we will be pulled together by this.”

“I see,” she melted the orb into her soul. She wrapped her arms around Nolan and smiled. “I was afraid that you would leave me.”

“Why would I? Look, I just want to have a companion with me. Or are you going to back down on that? There is a world and I would like to accompany me. Maybe, one day, it won’t be just us traveling.”

Ashia’s face brightened up. Illuminated by the backlight she recalled the figure of a firm old man. That old man was Nolan who was still human. The Nolan who fought through hell with his human spirit. She held him tightly without care.

“I swear,” she said to him. “I will try to be good.”

“I know,” he said to her, “I lied. I don’t want this to be our last chance. I’ve been chasing for so long that this time I won’t let anyone say otherwise.”

Ashia felt like she was floating.

The two of them did not stay that long on that overlook hill. They roamed around the town with renewed interest. Old as they may in spirit, these two fools were roaming around with a curiosity of a child. Even in this world, she did not have the luxury of living a carefree life with the war. She had spent years studying the laws of the world that she forget to experience the things that she has. If it wasn’t for her students, Ashia would have lived this life repeating an old mistake.

Let go, a voice told her. Just let go for a second.

Grab hold of that hand and never let go.

That voice begged.

Ashia stopped for a second and saw a figure standing in the middle of the road. This woman had a burnt scar around her face. She wore a battered armor filled with scratches and dirt. But despite that burnt scar and worn armor, there was a bright smile on her face that rivaled the sun. Ashia smiled at that figure and turned her attention forward.

She had been playing savior all the time that she had forgotten to save herself. That’s why she let go of that role. She had enough of it.

She let it all go.

Chapter 345: A Moment of Silence.

END OF BOOK 4