He had somehow was able to scurry around the Town of Memoria without trouble. It was a town with a salty wind hanging around it, the roads were paved with stone, the houses made of bricks, and roofs that are tiled. The sun would shine brightly, and in the night it would be a cloudless sky of stars.

Nolan had abandoned all of his worries. All he had now was the strap of iron on his belt. The six-shooter that he used to kill the Sons of Helios.

He was laying around the coastline. His eyes wandering the blue horizon, the transparent water, the corals, and the white sands. It made Nolan want not to move. No, it was more like he didn’t want to move with the woman using his back like a recliner. She wore her ashen hair neatly in a ponytail, her hair was rather long itself so he had to help her tie it. She was focused on the papers on her table, her right hand moving nonstop ever since they arrived on this beach.

“You really are hardworking.”

“I do own a city. I have many lives to take care off. I am rather displeased with what you did, but considering how you acted back then, I guess it was natural for you to move against the Sons of Helios. They are controlled by the Sunspawn Knights, you know?”

“I see.”

“You were quite effective. Still, what I am surprised about is how you survive that bolt of elementals. You didn’t talk about that.”

“I got decimated. I only survive because of this obsidian flesh stuck on me.”

“...”

She was silent.

“Forgive me,” she said. “I didn’t know it was you.”

“It doesn’t matter really now.”

“It matters to me. What if I killed you by accident? I would have probably turned mad.”

“No, that’s absurd. Please don’t joke about that. Don’t you have your granddaughters?”

“I was just talking nonsense. Still, there might be a case if that would have happened.”

“Shit,” Nolan thought.

“You know, I still understand your reasons. It’s odd, really, hmm, it’s like a dream come true that you are doing this.”

“So hard to believe that you don’t want to believe?” she said. “I understand from your viewpoint, but, let me make this clear. Still, you have no memories of our time together, and even if you don’t remember and even if you suspect me as a schemer. Truth be told, I do really love you enough to think that I should just skip these USELESS formalities and make you forcibly take responsibility. I mean, it’s not like you would hate it. You are a man, after all.”

“You scare me sometimes,” Nolan said. “Still, I have my reasons.”

“But I am not as unreasonable to force myself unto you. But I do confess that years of longing has finally broken the dam that has been keeping me in check, and not surprisingly, I am obsessed. Hey, I will ask this to you, Nolan.”

“What?” he said.

“Do you...know of the hill near the Pale Pass?”

“Ah,” Nolan said. “I do...what of it?”

“Do you know the Old Monster of the Pale Pass?”

“That giant?” Nolan said, his eyes had a glint of coldness. “What of that piece of shit?”

“I already killed that monster for a long time. Do you know why I felt so much pleasure when I killed that monster?”

“I don’t know.”

“The pleasure of killing that monster made me feel like I have done something to avenge...someone. I don’t know why, but I have been seeing mirages ever since I’ve become the War Maiden of this world.”

“Mirages?”

“Dreams from the incarnations of all the war maidens that existed. There is a lot of them, and sometimes I would see faces that resemble mine.”

“They resemble yours?”

“Yes, and it is odd, but I guess they were my ancestors or that there were...never mind.”

“So you are concerned with these mirages? Do they really affect you that much?”

“I am,” Ciara said. “The War Maidens gives me their powers, abilities, and their memories as well. Their heartbreaks, their regrets, and all of the things they had experienced would flash before my eyes. For five hundred years, I’ve done things to take them into my control, and although lately, they have been silent. Their echoing loneliness and their pain resides within me, tell me, Nolan, what do you do after witnessing so many broken hearts, what do you after witnessing so many regrets? What do you do when you know that you can avoid them?”

“I would try to fix my secrets and avoid such a bad end. Isn’t that anyone would do?”

“That’s right, you would avoid them. And after so long...you appeared before me, I thought I would end up the the...same end.”

She was silent. Nolan zipped his mouth as well. He stared at the beach for a while before looking at his wrinkled left arm coated in obsidian flesh.

Meanwhile, Ciara turned her eyes towards the phantoms in front of her. They had burnt scars around their faces, and they were looking at her, with determined eyes. They were phantoms, yet Ciara nods at them, and they nodded back. They pumped their fists, as they head towards a tunnel of light. She had never seen the phantoms lately, yet they appear before her with a quiet cheer.

“Ciara?” he said.

“Should I help you with that? It might be faster even though you know what you are doing well.”

Ciara stared at the fool who was too cautious of her. She was a fool as well for waiting for too long. She was a fool if those who knew her would see the current her. But she could not help herself now that the dam was already broken.

She had seen many dreams and mirages.

She had seen their despairs.

She had experienced them all as if they were real.

She had done their lonely dances.

But in the end, all those war maidens said one thing at the end.

“I will always find you.”