The land of twilight was aptly named for the length of the time the sun persists under the horizon, long surpassing the time it took for the sunset were it to happen anywhere else. There was some historian who insisted that it was named for the ruin of great civilization that could easily be found in its vicinity. But most would say it was because in this place the day was short, the sun only shined for a brief period before the night came and shrouded the land in darkness.

From where he was hovering, he could see the approximate place where they sealed him before. he could recognize it because it was the place where the final battle happened. The first time he arrived here in that period of life that had long passed, there was a humongous ancient castle that stood on that exact spot, looming above the surrounding and casting ominous vibe to everyone who caught sight of it.

That was the throne of the Dark Lord who reigned over the period of darkness, the seat of power for the terror upon the sentient kind. The surrounding area was packed full of various forms of monsters, the amount uncountable that it almost felt like they were endless. The coalition army spent more than a week cleaning the place so he could get inside and stop the Dark lord’s reign.

There was a playful part of him who had wished that the Dark Lord was someone that could be reasoned, back at the start of the journey. He had hoped that there was anyone that could be placated and pacified among the monster and other races who supported his reign of terror. He had witnessed the evil perpetrated by people toward their neighbor and the lesser person on out of sight place that he wondered that maybe the dark lord was just lashing out to protect his people from other races.

That whimsical part of him had withered a long time ago when he knew that there was nothing salvageable for those devoured by darkness. All of those who were overcome by darkness, barring some exception, were people who had died and had there taken over, controlled like a puppet on a string. Just like his previous body, when he got pulled away by this container, it erupted.

Other people’s bodies whenever they became empty in the area where the darkness reign would have their body forcefully occupied by it. But it would be with more subtlety than the darkness that had invaded his body. After all, his body was sealed in the birthplace of darkness, the void of space where the power of the Dark Lord came from.

Back then he was sure that when the abomination retreated inside the void of space, the castle had collapsed and ruined. But now the only sign of destruction he could see was only something that looked recent, it might have been from the time he forced the hole in the seal imprisoning him open. So not only they made his prison into a tourist attraction, but they also rebuilt the dark lord castle. For what though? What’s the use in rebuilding it? Might it have been made into a museum?

And here, over in this place, is exhibit number 305, the throne of the dark lord. ...please, don’t touch. The image of something like that is hilarious and it was such a waste. If they had that much building material and budget, they should have been using it for other place’s rebuilding project.

He stood there watching the scenery while manifesting his form as a transparent body. he still had his unobstructed sight to all things in his surroundings, so he could still see the little girl sitting on the ground watching him. She had opened her eyes a while ago and put the container on the stone floor but otherwise kept her silence.

He turned his body to face her, fixing a gaze on her face, addressing her. “Who’s your name?”

She dazedly answered after finding out that he talked to her. “...Ara.”

“If you are here, where is your mother?”

She looked down and put her interlocked finger on her lap. She toyed with her thumbs for a while and when he wanted to repeat the question in a sterner tone, she answered with a low voice.

“...She passed away a month ago”

He made his projected body to step closer and pulling at her right hand to make her stand up. She tensed her body briefly before complying, looking up at him as she finished standing. He met her eye, and stare at her until she fidgeted in place before asking his next question

“And why are you here? Did she have a change of heart and send you here to release me...” she retracted her gaze and pressed her lips together, and put her right hand on her left upper arm when he continued “...or did she aim for something?”

She pursed her lip and rubbed at her left arm up and down before answering.”She left it up to me.” He kept her gaze on her for a minute before she continued. ”She told me a lot of things on her death bed.”

He patiently waited when she looked like she still had something to say. She moved both her hands to the side of her body and gripped at her cloak,  pulling at it with her finger for a while before she spoke again.

“...She says that she had no right to make a choice.”

He snorted and made his projected body cross its hand before saying” how typical of her.” He stepped closer and gestured at the container on the ground before it jumped at his hand.

“Who’s making this container? I doubt you could buy it in a random shop.”

She looked at the carved human figurine on his hand before answering.”It might have been my mother herself.”

“Very surprising.” He toyed with the figurine before holding it in front of her. She looked at it briefly before taking it from his hand when he said: “hold this.”

When the container was in her hand, he turned his projected body and walked away a couple of meters before looking back at her.

Ara turned her face away, and she was still fidgeting, her right hand holding her left elbow and the left hand gripping and pulling at her cloak. It looked like she wanted to say something but stopped midway. He fixed her gaze at her for a long moment before turning his gaze away while ordering her.

“Let’s go to the nearest settlement.”