The two stayed unmoving as if their souls were sucked out. It was when the moon cast a shadow upon the trees that Nolan finally started to function. He stood with little to no noise. He walked to the War Maiden who had little to none purpose left.

Hate. He felt nothing but hate. He recalled the things she had done. He recalled the days she would push her convictions no matter what. For the good of all, she would push him back. Was she evil for doing so? No, how much willpower did it take to make her decided all that? What can this veteran of many wars of the world do when her life was in danger? She would fight because she’s good at it.

He found many reasons to convince himself that she needed punishment. For what? He saw it clearly how she tried to surrender in hopes that they would leave her in peace. Einar’s memories were painful in a way that armies ganged up on a lonely war maiden who clawed her way out of the tower. She fought many dangers and even had the tower stopped. Nolan remembered the words of Wayne. How the Blood Crier fought beings that would put despair in the hearts of people. Fighting endlessly without rest.

Nolan took a knee and held her right arm. She looked at him blankly. He caressed her arm and said, “How many years have you been fighting, Ciara?”

“Ten thousand years if we are not counting the time where we were stuck in a loop.”

“Do you remember how many years we were stuck in that loop?”

“I don’t know. It was hard to tell.”

“How many times did you betray me.”

“I betrayed you a hundred times.”

“Did it bother you?”

“It did. Why would it not bother me when it was you?”

“What am I to you?”

“My soulmate. I will have none except you.”

“Funny. Considering how things were. You would say all of that but you’d leave me for anything else.”

“That’s because I had a duty to do. And I did it because of the loop. I had to reach my goal no matter what. I will not regret them. Doing so would shame my family.”

“Your family. What happened to them?”

“They’re dead. They took them away from me. If I could I would burn their domains and offer their lives to my family. But I am tired. The War God who once blessed me wanted me to reach this place. It was the War God’s gift.”

“Ciara, tell me, truly, without lies. Did you ever thought of running away with me?”

“Many times I did. But to run away from the world and leave it burning. I cannot do so.”

He pressed his finger on her right arm. She looked down and turned her eyes away from Nolan. Ciara had lost her scars and the burnt marks that he remembered her having. Her body was harder than steel and she had the appearance of a maiden despite her overwhelming strength.

“You could kill me with a swipe of your hand. No matter what I do I really can’t escape you. No matter what world or timeline. I am bound to meet you.”

“This is our last time.”

He looked at her.

She answered, “All the seedlings of the world tree doesn’t exist anymore. The world tree is endless and even I can’t save it unless I take the final step.”

“The final step?”

She locked her eyes at him, “Godhood. I’m a step away from that place.”

“Why haven’t you taken that step?”

She locked her jaws, “Nolan, I can barely bear the weight of the worlds. Do you expect me to bear all of them at the same time? I barely was able to reach this world. You expect me to fight those who are divine? I am a human and will always be. I will not step into the divine state. I refuse to become the Burned Woman.”

“Burned Woman?”

“If I am to become one then I would have that title. Nolan, I want to die by your hand and I would gladly offer my life for you. I’ve fought too much and killed too many. How many more blood would I have to spill? I kill because I am good at it. I save because I want to. Along the way, I keep hurting people. How many more will I have to do so? Why am I not being punished? What is even my purpose? Tell me, what is the purpose of a War Maiden lost in another world?”

Steel can be bent and broken. It also rusts. A sword for the people to those who could not defend themselves. Ciara Alician fought with all of her might for things she wants to cherish. She fought without regrets and never looked back. Because she knew that it would bend her heart of steel. Her mind of steel would rust and she would have to look back at the path she walked. She was a woman who did what she could to save those who needed. She didn’t want to let others experience pain. She wanted to save the world despite how it treated her.

Ciara had looked at the path she left walked. It was filled with blood and the bodies of those who she slew. Among them the corpses were Nolan. She had been so focused on saving others that she forgot to save herself. Another body was on the ground before her. It was the face of the young man whose soul will never be able to return. It was the young man who Nolan had nurtured.

Ciara had always kept herself moving forward. Never looking back on whatever she had done. So when she stopped to look back at the path she walked. She felt the weight of her journey. It was heavy and it overwhelmed her. She wanted to move but she realized that the path forward was a ravine leading to an abyss. She had trod her bleak path and she had reached her path.

Nolan looked at the woman before him. The Ciara he knew was a stern woman who never despaired. There was one time she did fell but she came back strong. In front of him was simply a woman who had lost her purpose. Nolan couldn’t pit him. His heart’s rage has settled but the death of a son didn’t leave him.

“What will you do now?”

“I am perpetual. I have stopped aging and I can live eternally. I am free of disease. I can sustain my health with meditation. I’m barely human. I’m a monster.”

She lowered her head. The moon had cast a shadow on her. Her shattered sword was in front of her, yet she didn’t pick it up or thought of moving her hand on it.

“Ciara, our relationship is poison. How many times have we hurt each other? Right now, I want to drive my sword in your throat. I’ve calm down yet that urge is still inside me. I want to hurt you so bad but I can’t. You’re invincible and even an army couldn’t stop you. Even the favored children were unable to put a dent on you. Your arrival has caused the tower of nimrod to lost power. You broke the tower that symbolized hope and unity. Now the countries will come for this land.”

She lowered her head further.

“I don’t blame you for escaping that tower. I don’t blame you at all. I don’t give a single care about what happens to the tower. The only thing that I care about is that you took the life of someone precious to me. You took him away from his family and from me. I loathe you. I really do. If I could I would end you. But you are too strong.”

He said tonelessly. Ciara held a bitter smile while listening to him.

“I fought you in that world. I wanted to end my suffering but killing you. But you threw me into that gate and I met the Elior’s. I was happy. I owe you for that. I really do. But you are also the one who took it away from me. What am I supposed to do? Lash out on you? Leave you alone? I know what you are, Ciara. You, you are like this at the moment. But you are a hero by nature. No matter what you do you will rise up to the occasion. You may despair now but you always stand the moment you see someone in trouble. Your greatest duty and your greatest wish. You are a warrior by heart and I know you won’t allow yourself to become an attachment. You will allow others to attach themselves but you’d never do such a thing.”

Nolan wore a stern look, he added. “I won’t deny you of your heroics. I won’t deny that you made a mistake again. I’m calm at the moment. That’s why I can say these words. But Ciara, I don’t know what to think about you. I feel indifferent. I hate this feeling of being a husk. I tried running away from you. I failed. When I found happiness after a very long time. You appeared and I couldn’t protect anything again. The path you walk always end up involving me. I end up miserable and while you get what you want.”

Ciara Alician prioritizes duty over anything. The moment she became a maiden of throes she held on that duty. Nolan doesn’t believe that she will continue like this. He believed that the moment something lights a spark inside her. Ciara Alician will take action.

Nolan stared at her and took her hand, “Ciara, lay down your arms. You’ve taken everything something I desire. That’s why I won’t allow you to act a hero here. No, I won’t allow you to redeem yourself by fixing what happens next. I want you to watch the consequences of your actions. Until the day I find a way to execute you. I will not let you go.”

He pulled her up and tightly held her wrist. “Let’s go, we have no place here.”

Ciara held her mouth open, she said, “Is it alright? To just leave without saying anything to them?”

“You want me to tell them, ‘Hey, your son got murdered and I’m using his body now’ and you’d think they’d accept me?”

“I,” Ciara said.

“Let’s go. We’ll head east and get away from this place. I don’t want you acting like a hero again.”

He pulled her hand towards the forest in the opposite direction of the Tower of Nimrod.

“Ciara.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t misunderstand.”

“I know. You are my warden and my executioner. As I said, I’ done fighting, but you are right. I will try and save them. I will not disagree with you on this.”

Nolan pulled her up a small mountain that overlooked the tower of nimrod. Climbing on a slope, he looked back at the city where he spent fifteen years of happiness. It was a fragile peace that didn’t last long and again he couldn’t protect anything he found precious. Nolan could see that the lights weren’t back. The shimmer of the tower was gone and the bright lights that covered the city of hope were extinguished. Soon, this place will be turned into a center of chaos. Without the protection of the tower, with its army defeated, the Tower Cities of Nimrod will fall into chaos.

Nolan had no right to defend it. He had no right to help it when the cause of the chaos would be the woman whose wrist he was holding.

He looked up at the night sky. He saw the pale dots of milk and clenched his teeth, “A Bleak Walker never stays in one place, they always take on a bleak path. I guess even without the curse, I am still fated to be like this.”

In the end, he could only tread on the path again. Nolan thought he found peace only to have it destroyed and trampled. He no longer had a place here, and he’d rather drag Ciara away before she tries anything. They do not belong here and thus they can only take the road before them.

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