Dark clouds covered the sky as far as the eyes could see, blocking the dim starlight. A weak rain drizzled over the Broken Forest, turning the ground muddy and making a pungent smell of humid earth exhale from it. Above the tall trees, a spirit vessel silently tore through the curtains of water as it made its way north.

Kneeling on the floor of the spirit vessel as if his legs had given in, a haggard boy wearing scraps of charred clothes was listlessly looking at his empty hands. His golden eyes were vacant, and he made no sound. His drenched ashen hair clung to his face, and the small raindrops hit him like stones as the spirit vessel traveled at maximum speed. Violent winds whipped at his bare chest, already reddened and covered in blisters.

His hands and his arms were not much better, and even his neck and his pale face showed signs of a slight burn. Still, the boy showed no signs of minding any of it. He was like a statue, frozen in place and at the mercy of nature.

Anxiously watching by the side, a gracious woman respected his silence. Her black hair cascaded over her back, contrasting with her pale skin and the simple white dress she wore. Her piercing blue eyes did not leave the boy for a single moment as her expression changed nonstop. She opened her mouth more than once to try to speak, but no words ever came out. The only sounds that ever reached the boy were the raging winds and the crying rain.

Lya could see thick wisps of nebula violently swirling around his aster, and she knew he never stopped using the Soulrousing Technique ever since he first faced Lawrence Meyer. She was unsure how to reach for him. She was unsure if she should reach for him at all.

"Amon..." She called sheepishly after a few moments of hesitation.

The sound of her voice seemed to make the boy snap out of his daze. He suddenly turned his head to look at her. The vacant look in his eyes slowly gave way to a blazing rage, as if her words had sparked a violent wildfire.

"I know this is not the best time, but we need to decide what to do..." Despite trying to sound calm, Lya’s apprehension was evident.

"We?" Amon spat disdainfully as he slowly stood up. The remains of his clothes were blown away by the wind, and his injured body was fully exposed.

Lya averted her eyes when she saw the damaged skin that covered him, returning to her silence.

"What exactly would ‘we’ be, Lya?" Amon aggressively took a step forward.

"I..." Lya tried to intercede, tried to properly explain what was on her mind, but all she managed to give him were the weak cries of someone desperately grasping at straws.

“Were you involved in this?” He snarled at her. A multitude of questions assaulted his mind, polluting his thoughts. 

Who was Nemeus? What exactly was the relationship between Lya and the guardian? They clearly knew each other, and were, if not friendly, at least complacent to one another. More importantly…

Amon glared at Lya, and his expression veered on turning murderous. Even though he was overwhelmed by his emotions, sharp, cold logic pierced through the hot mess of his thoughts and gave shape to a horrible assumption. The whirlwind in his mind was suddenly frozen stiff, and what emerged was sheer, indiscriminate anger.

“Were you involved?” He whispered this time.

“Yes,” her voice trembled as she faced him, her expression breaking up as she looked she was about to cry.

“Did you know there was the possibility of danger?” He gritted his teeth and his hands started shaking. Something was burning inside of him with an intensity he never felt before.

“I never imagined things would end up like this, I never intended to-”

“SHUT UP!” He interrupted her, feeling as if he was about to lose the flimsy grasp he still had over himself. “I don’t want your excuses, I want an answer!”

Lya looked at him with her mouth hanging open before she quietly closed it. Her lips trembled as she heavily pursed them, as if trying to hold back the words that were fighting their way out. She knew her struggle was pointless, and she knew it was unfair. She sent Amon an almost pleading glance but was answered with nothing but silence.

“Yes,” she finally answered.

She looked at him in the eye as she did so. She owed him that much. Looking at him hurting that way almost made her lose her reason. Knowing how much pain she was causing him was enough to make her want to go mad with regret. What she knew would come afterwards would be nothing but the consequences of her actions. Consequences she was deathly afraid to face. Consequences she knew were unavoidable. Still, like four hundred years ago, she wouldn’t run away. Whatever happened to her was what she would deserve.

Amon didn’t bother uttering a word. As soon as that single syllable left her mouth, he lurched forward, grabbing Brightmoon. He didn’t spare the sword a glance, nor did he do so for the illusive figure floating by his side. With all his might, and with all of his disregard, he threw the iron sword away as far as he could, hoping to see it get lost between the trees and never get even a glimpse of it ever again.

The sword didn’t stay airborne for long, though, as it promptly froze in place before darting back to the spirit vessel.

“Amon, you have every right to be angry. You have every right to throw me away,” she couldn’t hold back anymore. Her shoulders shook as she started crying. “But I’m begging you, please don’t do this.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” He almost started laughing. The nonsense of it all was enough to make him doubt his eyes. Beneath all the sense of betrayal and pain he felt, looking at Lya like this almost made him feel pity. This time, however, he wouldn’t be fooled. "No, looking at you is useless, isn't it? This is just a projection, and you can manipulate it as you like."

“I know that no matter how much I say I regret what happened it won’t change a thing, but you have no idea how much I regret it all,” she couldn’t deny his words, nor could she fully express herself. At that moment, she knew it was pointless, but she would try nevertheless. “I can’t apologize enough for what happened and I certainly will never be able to make things right, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do my best to try. I am still here. You are still here. You are important to me, and I don’t want to part ways with you like that.”

"I am important to you? Hah!” This time he truly laughed, and slowly walked towards Brightmoon. Soon enough, though, all traces of a smile disappeared from his face, giving way to crushing desperation. “Do you know what you were to me? You were my friend, Lya. You were my teacher. My master. You were someone I looked up to, someone I thought I could trust my life to. You were the person that gave me hope. You were the chance I had at living a better life with my family," his voice turned hoarse, bitter. "You were my salvation.

"I followed every instruction you gave me. I told you all you wanted to know. I told you all you needed to know, even if you didn't particularly ask me. I thought that you would make my life better. Now look where that got me," He shook his head, refusing to cry the tears that were threatening to fill his eyes. "Looking back, I see the fool that I was. The guardian really opened my eyes. What we had was a trade and I thought I was on the winning side, however… I never knew what you got out of it."

His gaze turned more intense as he grasped Brightmoon and brought the red soulstone to his eye level.

"Why did you decide to help me, Lya?" He asked, shaking. Although his voice was low, Lya could hear his words clearly. They cut through the howling wind and the rain, stabbing straight at her heart.

"..." Lya hesitated.

Amon walked to the edge of the spirit vessel and extended his hand. Brightmoon hung over the trees and the mud as he looked at it.

"I don't know if the best course of action would be to crush this red jewel or to just throw you away. I don't really know what would hurt you more," his expression slowly turned blank and his hands stopped trembling. Despite that, Lya could clearly feel his nebula moving even faster, although in a more stable way. He was sorting out his emotions and making his mind. 

“Know that whatever I choose to do next won’t be in a fit of anger. I'll give you one more chance before I make a choice," he warned. 

Lya took a deep breath. Her projection dispersed with the rain, and Amon was left alone on the spirit vessel. At that moment, however, her voice finally reached his ears.

"I decided to help you because I wanted redemption," she said with a weary voice. "I am nothing more than a traitor. I betrayed the man I loved because I was too fixated on the past. My actions resulted in his death and the destruction of his legacy. This is what I am. A disgusting, foolish, manipulative traitor.

“Forgiveness is not something I deserve, even if I know I received it before the end. Forgiveness is not something I’ll ever think of obtaining, much less give to myself,” she looked at him with regret. “But redemption… striving to make things right, and get nothing out of it, that’s the very least I can do. It is what I thought I owed him… but it is certainly what I owe you. Just as I owe Rebecca, and just as I owe Daniel.”

Amon didn’t answer her. For what felt like an eternity he stood there, motionless, blankly staring at the dark horizon that was barely visible amidst the pouring rain and the veil of the night. He realized he felt exhausted. He started to doubt if he ever wanted to see the sun rise on the horizon he was only now starting to clearly make out. Then, he mindlessly dropped Brightmoon, leaning down to firmly grasp Raven with his right hand.

"I won't throw you away Lya, nor try to destroy you," his tone almost bordered indifference. "You said you wanted redemption? I'll give you a chance.

"You will help me get revenge, Lya. How you will redeem yourself to my mother and Daniel is something I doubt you will ever find the answer to, unless you bring them back from the dead. As for the rest you want to atone for, I don't care, you can figure it out yourself," he looked at Brightmoon with a blazing glare. "If you refuse, I'll throw you away. If you kill me, that will just be your problem to deal with for who knows how long."

"Amon, I really..." Lya's figured appeared by his side again, as she desperately tried to reach him.

"The rest you can tell me later, I just want to make one thing very clear," he interrupted her and took one step back, making some distance between them.

"Do you remember what happened in the Sword Abyss, Lya?" He asked.

Before she could answer, a blinding light flashed on the spirit vessel. The rain and the wind seemed to stop for a brief moment, and silence reigned. Lya looked in shock and the black sword covered in a dense layer of light that was stabbed in her chest. She looked at Amon speechlessly, and what answered her was only an emotionless gaze.

"Forgiveness is indeed out of the question," he dispersed the sword qi that covered Raven and turned away from her.

Author's Note: I am very sorry for my long absence. Planning book 2 was way harder than I anticipated and a lot started coming up, but that is all sorted out. Wheel of Samsara will resume publishing as of now, with a steady 1-2 chapters per week. Thank you all for the patience and sorry for the inconvenience.