Chapter 297: The Fear of Death
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   He opened his eyes and saw a pale face. The curve of her face and those worrying eyes. He was sure that it was Ciara.

“Ah, why am I awake?”

“I did it.”

Her eyes had turned red. Her hair was like the shine of the moon on a pond. Nolan lifted his body and clenched both hands. He felt no strength in his body. The strength that allowed him to take on monsters had been deprived of him. He transferred his gaze on her.

“I had to take all of your strength in hopes to make you live longer. I had tried to take a part of my soul, but you seem to reject it. All I could do was take what was burdening you into me. As you can see, I’ve regained some semblance of my appearance.”

He stared at her. “You made me into a human?”

“You still have Kaiser’s physique integrated into your soul. But your body would fall apart sooner or later. It’s not like I can do anything about it either. This is all I can do.”

“You look stronger,” he scanned her.

“I did take your abilities from you. That boosted my power into such a state that I could probably take on the overlord of demons without breaking a sweat. Not enough to defend against the Burnt Woman. She’s coming here so I have to assume that she has defeated the Eon-Father.”

Nolan laughed. “How can she be so strong?”

“The ritual that had allowed her to incarnate all the War Maidens into one body had made her strong. That eternity had allowed her demigod of a body to become even more. The mastery of runes and the knowledge of all the war maidens before her, had given birth to a Maiden of War. I had guessed that it might be because she had taken her persona. You could say that I am the Burnt Woman as well. If we met then she’d probably overpower me in an instant. This body will belong to her as well.”

Nolan looked down. “Is there anything we can do?”

Ciara shook her head. “No. Maybe we would have stood a chance if your main fragment was here. But right now we are helpless. We are a boat in the middle of the storm.”

“That’s it?” Nolan scoffed. “Just go gently into the night? No, I don’t want that.”

“Nolan,” Ciara held his hand. “Sometimes...you have to let it go.”

“You are going to die.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

Ciara smiled at him. “I told you already. I regret dying without you by my side. This is a better ending for us.”

“That’s stupid,” he snarled. “Don’t die because of someone like me. You’re thinking crazy, Ci.”

“I am. If there was hope then I would have done something. I do not give up easily. Even if it means marching to hell as long as a slither of hope remains I will do it. But I can’t help what is coming to this Oasis. Nolan, even now I can feel the worlds tremble at her step. There are about thousands upon thousands of worlds in this tower of nimrod alone. She will come.”

“I don’t like this.”

“You don’t have to like the storm. You just gotta go through the storm.”

Nolan bit his lower lips. “This isn’t like you at all.”

“Regrets, I have too many regrets. Isn’t it natural that I wanted nothing more than to spend the last hours of my life with my beloved? We’ve lived long lives this time. Better than such a short time we were together. Honestly, this is your fault as well.”

“How is it my fault you’re acting so weird?”

“Weird? What is wrong with loyalty? Do you find it that odd for someone to be loyal to their beloved?? Or do you think that only men can do that?”

“Of course,” Nolan denied. “I just don’t want you to die.”

“This is coming from a man who thinks death as nothing. I once died too you know?”

“I just have someone to lose this time. I’m afraid of what would happen now. When I died I was always alone. I had nothing to lose in those moments. Now, I have you and this scares me. Look at me, I should be stronger than this,” his hand shook madly, his tears wetting his palms. “We’ve lived long enough that it is a blessing. But I have lived long enough without worrying about death; that when it finally comes I am left horrified by the thought of it. I was so used to surviving that this is haunting me to death. Or is this because I’ve turned human because of what you did? I don’t understand. I shouldn’t be fearing like this.”

Nolan had let himself become hard that he forgot to be soft. The thought of not being able to do anything was a horrifying thought to him. He wanted to fight. He didn’t want to give up, but the reality of the Burnt Woman was going to happen. She will not stop in her goal to take her children back. If there was goodness in the Burnt Woman. Then she would desire to save her children.

He couldn’t hate her. They were his children as well. He could remember helping the Burnt Woman give birth to them in that cold cave. Their soft cries were something he could not forget.

“Can we escape into that hill?” Ciara asked. “For one last time, I hope that we can dance to our hearts. Or we can join their hopeless effort in trying to fight back. Everyone is gearing up to fight the Burnt Woman. Some want to convince the Burnt Woman for salvation, but I don’t think she will have any of those thoughts. After all, she would understand how they are using her children as a wall to protect them from the beasts of this world.”

She stood up in front of his bed. She looked down at him with a pale shine around her.

“Nolan. Are you going to fight to the death or will you spend your last hours with me?”

Nolan opened his mouth and closed it. He held her hand, and they left the house.

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