Nolan noticed the greenish-blue glow on the edges of the beach. It covered the coastline. He turned to Ashia whose cheeks have become rosy. They had emptied cups of ale and yet that pocket of hers seems endless.

“You’re going to pay for all of this, right?”

“I will. Think of it as compensation for stabbing you.”

“Do you know what that is? I don’t think they are organic,” Nolan pointed.

She looked. “That’s the leftovers of the magics of the creates. Who says that humanoids can only wield magic? Most of our powers were learned from observing the creatures. There’s a fish in the sea that produces a circle of water that turns into a beam of water that could even tear through thick hulls. I think we had a problem like that in the north where merchant ships were unable to pass. They have to airlift the goods to their destination.”

“I see. So they are not dangerous are they?”

“On the contrary, they can be used to recover energy. But people like us who have large reserves cannot be affected by this.”

“The world knows this?”

“Used to be a part of the customs here to take bathe on the day where the sea glows. I think the southern edges of the Republic still do the ritual and they made it as a festival.”

“Arel, this guy whose a farmer here. He said that his friend and him fought a war.”

“Probably the Civil War then, the Olden Ice Dale was where we fought the enemy and change the world. The civil war is where the Old Empire got beaten by the Republic. It was bloody and would have been longer if it weren’t for our intervention.”

“The more I hear about your escapades, the more I envy you. You’ve all reach a golden ending for this world. That is something.”

She shook her head. “That still doesn’t mean much. This peace may last, but who knows how long will it last?”

The crystal lamp shone brightly when the wind blew. Nolan leaned his back on the chair. Ashia peered in her drink, eyes focused, and brows gathered. She licked her red lips and supported her chin with her gloved hand. She took a peek at Nolan.

“So what do you intend to do next?”

“Teaching,” she said. “But it seems that won’t be my profession. They wanted me to have the Headmaster role. Which would solidify the status of the island, knowing, that they have someone like me watching their children. I may not look like it, but I am quite as popular as my students.”

“Yet none of the islanders seem to care,” Nolan eyed the owner.

She followed his eyes. “Well, they know me long enough not to care about this. I have lived a long life, and I’ve been here most of the time. You could say that this is the place where I rest my sore feet. I have a house around here, and it has been quite a while. The republic’s good enough. My students are grown-ups now. They don’t need their teacher anymore.”

“Must be quite sad,” said Nolan.

“It is!” She said nodding hurriedly. “They all think that I should get married! Bah! What do they know? Do they think that all there is to life is love?”

“That seems like an excuse. Or do you Alf’s have different customs?”

She snorted. “I’m considered young for an Alf. While my people think that I interfere too much. But, I can’t just help but love the way the humans struggle. Look at them, trying so hard, and now look at what they achieve. Back then, my people wanted nothing to do with humans. They think of humans as barbarians who know nothing of the world. But look at what they have done to this world. It’s lovely. Even back home the matriarchy has seceded the throne in hopes that there can be no lonely queens. We are long-lived but it was better to change the system. The queen of my home didn’t want the island to be filled with the old. She wanted new faces and children running around the Alf Island. My word made her resolve to go through the people of the Alf, but it is an issue that seeks the betterment and the flourishing of the world.”

“Are there any other nations other than this place?”

“Of course,” she said to him. “There is the United Countries that choose to gather into a council. The invention of the machines had made traveling to the United Countries as a possibility. Because of this the ‘spell’ that my students conjured was accepted, but the system itself isn’t perfect. There are liabilities and flaws on it that might be used to usurp the system.”

“I see. How long will this peace take?”

“Long enough for people to think that it is the natural way of things.”

Nolan felt disquiet inside. No matter what he looked the world seems like it was in a status quo. A quo that would last long enough for them to think that it was natural.

“I do envy you all.”

Nolan leaned back on his chair again. The wind up his neck. His hair dancing along. The beauty of the stars that seem to cover him. No matter how he looks at it. This was a world that had reached a happy ending, but lives move on.

No army to fight on.

No threat that could destroy the world.

It was a peaceful world.

So peaceful that he wished that those who died before him could see it.

Tears fell on his cheeks. Nolan palmed his face. He didn’t try to hide his sobs. His body shaking. A miserable laugh escaping from his lips.

“Are you okay?”

“I am not. Just the memories are getting terrible lately. It makes me wish I could gouge my brain out.”

Nolan wished he could forget. He wished that the drink would allow him to forget even for a single moment. The screams of the fallen died. The world seems to go black with only the table around. The young man who was lost quietly sobbed with his drink.