“Back when I was a kid, I used to go up to the tallest tree I could find at night, and gaze up at the moons.”

  Lilieth opened her eyes, and saw the statue of Eulalie in front of her. She was in Zusa square, a large and crowded place, filled to the brim with people and vendors. The bustle of life surrounded her, warm and welcoming.

  “There was always something so ... mysterious about them. So beautiful.”

  A familiar, wonderful voice spoke. Lilieth turned to her side, where a half-elf stood, staring up at the statue. Her face was gentle and serene.

  When Lilieth saw her face, she immediately remembered. All that fighting. All that chaos. Verlaine, cutting open Talgerda’s body.

  And then doing the same to her.

  “Lady Gerda...?” Lilieth asked.

  “And my brother, well, he wasn’t a fan of all that.” Talgerda continued. “He said it was a waste of time, and that the moons were nothing special.”

  “Um, Lady Ger—”

  “He would insult me all the time because I kept ‘staring at the sky like an idiot’.”

  Lilieth stopped. Talgerda wasn’t responding to her. She didn’t seem to even hear her.

  Talgerda smirked. “Like a prick? Yeah, he was. Biggest prick I knew.”

  Lilieth’s memory was close to perfect. There was nothing that she couldn’t remember down to the finest detail. That’s why Talgerda’s words here were so familiar. They were the words she spoke to her that morning, just before she left.

  Talgerda chuckled. “—And after he’d say all that, he’d climb up and watch the moons with me anyway.”

  The half-elf’s eyes softened. There was no doubt about it. This was that same memory.

  “...Right,” Lilieth said to herself. “I’m ... dead. I died.”

  Verlaine had cut her down. She couldn’t see very well at the time, but that was undoubtedly what happened.

  “So ... is this my life flashing before my eyes?” she asked no one in particular.

  “Well, he was still a prick.” Talgerda continued the conversation one-sidedly. “Everyone in our village knew it. I was ... a bit more clumsy, back then. Always making mistakes. Always messing up even the simplest things.”

  What happened to La Logia was your fault, by the way. Entirely your fault.

  She recalled Yupanai’s words before she died. She flinched at the mere memory of that accusation. If she had accepted her fate, then would Talgerda still be alive? Would she have let her die? Would she have been spared such a horrible death?

  Some part of Lilieth couldn’t help but agree with him. She hated it, but in the end, had she not resisted ... no, had she not snuck out in the first place, things wouldn’t have ended this way.

  Talgerda began patting Lilieth’s head. Rough, and slightly painful, but in no ways bad. “Thanks, kid, but I’ve long since faced my own demons. You don’t need to comfort me.”

  The one-sided conversation had moved along while Lilieth was busy drowning in her own regrets.

  This was simply a memory. Her life flashing before her eyes. But even still, Lilieth felt like she needed to say something.

  “...I’m sorry, lady Gerda,” she said, her voice breaking. “If I ... If I hadn’t ... It’s my fault...”

  “Sorry, sorry.” Talgerda simply smiled. Well, her memory did, at least. “At any rate, when I think of a hero, I think of my brother. The guy who was always there for me when I wasn’t enough. And ever since I went out and became an adventurer, I’ve been chasing after that back of his. So, what I’m trying to say is that you don’t need to feel bad about messing up, or not being good enough. I’ll be here to catch you, so just put your trust in me.”

  “...Ah.”

  She did. She put her trust in Talgerda. And Talgerda answered to that trust. She protected her.

  And she was brutalized because of it.

  “Oh, enough with that nonsense. Just call me Gerda. I don’t really do well with all the formality.”

  Lilieth began to tremble. Even now, when she was in a memory, her mind replayed that horrible scene again.

  “...I could do without the ‘lady’, but I guess that’s fine.”

  She fell to the ground, hugging herself with her arms, closing her eyes shut as hard as she could. But the memory wouldn’t go away. An arm landing in front of where with a gross splash. Skin opened by blades, revealing bone underneath. Pieces of flesh hacked away. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood. Blood.

  “—Urgh!”

  Lilieth doubled over, vomiting all over the ground. Her throat burned like molten iron had been poured down it, and with each cough, the pain got worse. She gasped for air, each breath a labor unto its own.

  “Sort of.” Talgerda said, continuing the memory. “The whole reason I left my homeland is so I can find him and give this sword back to him. I don’t feel comfortable carrying around something this valuable.”

  Lilieth’s eyes, desperate to see anything other than that scene of nauseating red, turned to Talgerda’s waist. She was lovingly caressing that shoddy blade.

  That’s right. Talgerda’s entire mission was to return that sword to her twin brother. A mission that she now couldn’t complete.

  Had you simply agreed, she would’ve respected your decision. But you didn’t, and so she had to try and protect you. Now look.

  “It wasn’t ... I didn’t mean for...”

  Lilieth sat there, burying her face into her palms, and cried.

  Yupanai’s words played back. Why were these final memories of hers tainted with his accusations? Was this a punishment? All she did was follow her goddess’ vision.

  “...”

  A goddess who abandoned her at the very end.

  Talgerda patted the shortsword proudly. “I know it looks like a sorry excuse for a sword, but it’s a lot more important than I think either of us realize. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up taking down the demon king, one day.”

  Talgerda continued to talk, but Lilieth felt something boiling up inside her. Pain. Sorrow. Betrayal.

  Betrayal from the heroes she looked up to. Betrayal from the man she admired.

  Betrayal from the goddess who sent her to her death.

  “Why...?”

  She couldn’t help but ask.

  “Why did You abandon me, my Lady?” Lilieth looked up to the statue of Eulalie, proudly standing like she’s done nothing wrong. “I’ve ... I’ve prayed to You my whole life! I’ve been diligent. I’ve never once doubted You! I followed the vision! So why?!”

  It was illogical. If you worked hard, your efforts should be rewarded. That was only natural.

  “What should I have done? What was I supposed to do, my Lady...?”

  None of it made any sense. She was Blessed by Her. She was chosen. And Lilieth had diligently, proudly prayed to her.

  So why was this her reward?

  “How was I supposed to know?” Lilieth weakly turned her head to Talgerda. Of course, in the original memory, Lilieth was standing up, so Talgerda’s eyes weren’t pointing to the her on the ground, but to an empty space above her where she should’ve been. “...What would you have done, Gerda?” she asked, not expecting a response. “Would you have known what to do?”

  “I don’t. I have faith anyway.”

  “...”

  Lilieth looked down. Of course, Talgerda wasn’t responding to her. That was what she said in the original memory as well. But it felt like a response.

  “Faith...” Lilieth muttered. “How can I have faith, after all this?”

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “It’s because I can’t be sure. Faith only exists in doubt, Lili ... no. Faith is strongest in doubt.”

  Lilieth took a deep breath. She knew what Talgerda was about to say next.

  “I’m saying that you should have faith in your own faith.”

  “—Ha. Haha ... hahahaha...!”

  Lilieth couldn’t help but laugh. Even as the tears fell. Even as her burning throat protested.

  “So this entire memory is a punishment,” Lilieth said.

  Her faith was a mistake, after all. And having faith in it cost her everything.

  “That’s all. Well, I’m off to go do some last-minute shopping. See you later!”

  Talgerda chanted her spell and flew away into the distance. Though it was only a memory, Lilieth waved her goodbye.

  “I’m sorry, Gerda. Goodbye.”

  And so Lilieth’s final memory was one of regret.

  There was a vast forest before her.

  Its trees were unfamiliar. Trees that Lilieth had never seen before in her life. The soft, colorful glow of the gradient moons above illuminated the forest.

  Lilieth was standing in that forest ... no. It wasn’t her. She could see her own clothes. Modest and simple, a quaint adventurer’s garb. Her own skin was darker than it was.

  “Lilieth” couldn’t move her own body. She stood there, in the middle of a dark forest, her hands clasped in prayer. She could feel herself growing more and more worried by the passing second.

  ...What is this? “Lilieth” thought. Where am I?

  Was this the afterlife? Was this another memory? But no, “Lilieth” didn’t remember this. None of this was familiar to her. Was this ... another vision?

  Before she could get her thoughts together, there was a sound in the distance. Footsteps, two pairs. “Lilieth” raised her head, a quick, snappy motion, as if she had been waiting for that sound for ages.

  She saw two figures approaching. A young half-elf, and a massive man fully clad in armor. The armored man was carrying a body over his shoulder.

  “Lilieth” immediately recognized the armored one. The Titan. The one who was always following Talgerda around. A member of Verlaine’s party. And one of the ones who betrayed her.

  The man in front, though, was someone she’d never seen before. And yet, she immediately realized who it was. Who wouldn’t, seeing how similar their faces were to each other?

  Messy brown hair, pulled back with a headband. Dark skin. Vivid auburn eyes. The half-elf man wore a peculiar outfit: a purple cloak, tattered and singed at the ends, worn over a butler’s attire, also just as tattered. In his hand, he carried a familiar shortsword. A poor, battered-looking thing.

  No doubt about it. That was Talgerda’s younger twin brother.

  “Lilieth” ran towards him. Hurried, almost tripping herself over. Her body went through the motions, not heeding her at all. Then, when she reached the half-elf, “Lilieth” spoke.

  “You’re safe! Thank Ezenar, you’re safe!”

  It wasn’t her voice. It was ... familiar. Gently so. But it wasn’t hers.

  In fact, she knew exactly whose voice it was.

  “I heard ... I-I thought you—”

  “I told you to go with Tryst, Gerda,” Her brother spoke. His voice was a tone deeper, and far more harsh. “Why didn’t you run, you moron?”

  “I should be telling you that! What were you thinking, going after them? You know you can’t fight!”

  That’s when it finally clicked for “Lilieth”. Currently, she was Talgerda. She was seeing Talgerda’s memory. There was no doubt about it, this was her. Even though her voice seemed so much more timid, so innocent. Perhaps even na?ve. A young, meek Talgerda.

  Why? Why was she seeing this?

  “There was something I needed to do,” her brother replied, his tone grave.

  Talgerda looked behind her brother, towards the deep darkness. Watching if there was anyone following him. Hoping there was. And she could feel it too. Talgerda’s hope, she could feel it as if it was her own. “Where’s the young lord? And Giselle?”

  Her brother grimaced. “They ... they did what they needed to do, too.”

  Talgerda looked down, the tears welling up to the sides of her eyes.

  What was she seeing? Where was this? What was this?

  Why was she seeing a memory that didn’t belong to her?

  No answers came. All she could do was let the memory play out in full.

  Talgerda wiped away her tears with an unsteady hand and began walking deeper into the forest, the opposite direction from where they came. “Tryst. Tryst is waiting for us at the rest point. S-should we go?”

  Her brother shook his head. “You need to go.”

  Talgerda stopped and turned to look at him. “What? What are you talking about?”

  The half-elven man took a deep breath, and held his arm out—the arm holding the shortsword. “Do it, Titan,” he said.

  Titan pulled out his own blade and sliced upwards. Her brother’s arm flew through the air, and fell to the ground, still clutching the shortsword. Blood spewed out everywhere.

  Talgerda shrieked, holding her hands to her mouth. The brother, gritting his teeth through the pain, covered his arm stump with his cloak, trying as best he can to stop the bleeding.

  “What are you doing?!” Talgerda yelled out. “A-ah, what should I do? What—”

  “Gerda,” the brother said. “Take it.”

  “W-what?”

  “The sword. Take it. You need to protect it.”

  “That’s not important right now! Your arm...”

  “I’ll live,” he said. “It’ll take more than this to kill me. Take the sword.”

  Talgerda’s eyes stared at the shortsword. The very shortsword that she carried, up until her dying day. Her brother’s hand was still attached to it, gripping it tightly. “What is it? What’s that sword?”

  “I ... I wish I could explain. I really, really wish I could, but I can’t. Just promise me you’ll protect it. Keep it safe. Make sure no one knows about it.”

  “T-the High Elders, from our home. I could give it to them—”

  “No, not the Elders either. Not a single soul, Gerda. I just want you to keep it for now. Don’t use it, ever. Just ... hold on to it.”

  “Hold on to it? But why? Why me? What should I do with it? I can’t...”

  “You’ll know. One day, you’ll realize it. Then you’ll know what to do. I trust that you will.” The brother turned to Titan, and gave a simple nod.

  Without words, Titan dropped the body he was carrying on his shoulder. It was an unfamiliar man with pure white hair and pale skin. A half-elf, like the two of them. His eyes were staring blankly into empty space, blood dripping down from the stab wound in his forehead. A corpse.

  Talgerda’s emotions twisted themselves into a complex vortex when she saw it. Utter fear, shock ... as well as relief, for some reason.

  “Titan, go with her,” the brother said to the armored man. “I free you from your contract. From now on, she’s your master. Protect her with your life.”

  Titan nodded, then walked to stand behind Talgerda.

  “Brother?” Talgerda said. “What are you doing?”

  “He can’t stay here, Gerda,” the brother gestured at the corpse. “I need to take him somewhere far. Somewhere very far, where no one would find him. Won’t be long before he...” He shook his head. “I can’t go with you.”

  Tears, long held back, began to fall. Talgerda shook her head. She couldn’t hear this. She didn’t want to hear this. Not those words. Not now.

  “...It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other,” she whimpered out, her voice so fragile it was on the verge of breaking. “A hundred years. Now, we’ve finally reunited, and you’re saying goodbye again?”

  “...”

  “How long will it be until the next time? A hundred more years? Two hundred? A thousand? We don’t even live that long! Please ... just come back home with me.”

  Her brother walked forward and gave her a tight hug with his remaining arm. “I’m sorry, Gerda.”

  He released her gently, then walked back and hoisted the corpse over his shoulder. Then, silently, he began walking away.

  “Don’t go!” Talgerda cried out. “Please, don’t leave me! I don’t ... I don’t know what to do!”

  Her brother kept walking.

  “Come back! Don’t abandon me!”

  He kept walking.

  Talgerda clenched her fists as tears streamed down. “I hate you! You liar! You said you’d always be there for me!”

  Her brother had disappeared into the darkness of the forest. Never once stopping. Never once turning back.

  Alone, Talgerda fell to her knees, huddling her body close to itself.

  “You promised...” she cried softly. A voice so faint, so weak, that it almost couldn’t be heard.

  Lilieth opened her eyes, seeing darkness spread out in front of her. Her head was groggy and dizzy, as if she had just slept for an entire day straight. She coughed out, and pushed herself up.

  She was still in the cavern. Without any lights, it was hard to see. Even after her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could still barely make out anything.

  Lilieth looked down at her own body. She saw most of what she expected to see. Her clothes ruined, covered in blood, ripped in half, exposing her bare chest.

  What she didn’t expect was to see her bare chest, instead of a giant, gaping wound. She felt around. Nervously. Cautiously. Tracing her hand across her chest, and her stomach. Nothing. Not even a single scar.

  She looked at her leg. The one that broke during the creature’s attack. She raised it, and moved it around.

  No wound. No pain. Nothing.

  “I’m ... alive?” she whispered out. “How?”

  She stood up, feeling nothing wrong with her body. She even did a few jumps just to make sure.

  Lilieth was surprised by her own energy. Hadn’t she been hanging by a thread before? Hells, she was killed. And yet, right now, her body was alright. The dizziness from waking up was gone, and she was fine now. More than fine, even. She could almost believe that everything that just happened was just a simple nightmare.

  “I was ... brought back to life?”

  It was an impossibility. She had, without a doubt, died. And while there existed Healing spells in the Fourth tier that could bring back someone on the very precipice of death, there was no spell that could reverse death entirely. When you died, that was it, and Lilieth was certain that it was too late for her.

  If there was someone capable of doing something impossible, it could only have been a god. Only a God can bring the dead back to life. And there was only one god that Lilieth could think of. One God who would bring her back.

  “...Eulalie.”

  That God who abandoned her. The one who showed her a vision that led to nothing but a reward of pain.

  Her eyes gazed upon the center of the platform, where the swords were lined up. Of course, all the blades were gone, save for her broken one, lying on the ground beside her. Everything was so quiet and still.

  Then, as Lilieth’s eyes finally adjusted to the dark, she saw it lying in front of her, and her breath halted.

  Feeling the strength leave her body, she collapsed to her knees. The half-elf woman was laying on the floor, her entire body dyed in dark red. Her stomach was open, entrails spilling out to the side. One of her arms was gone from the shoulder down. Lilieth wanted to look away from the horrible sight. She wanted to look at anything else. So, in her panic, she mistakenly turned to look at her face instead.

  She wished she hadn’t.

  Half of it was gone. Half of her face was just missing. She unwittingly remembered that horrid fight, when Titan had thrown a punch at her face, and a chunk of something flew off. That must have been when it happened.

  But it was the other half that made Lilieth’s stomach churn.

  “—Kgh...”

  Talgerda’s face was a locked in an expression of pain. Eye wide open, rolling to the back of her skull, bloodied mouth agape, dried tears on her skin. All the emotions were displayed so vividly that Lilieth could feel it all—and they were all of unimaginable agony. The agony of having your body ripped apart. The agony of being betrayed by people you considered comrades. A face tinged with nothing but agony.

  And now that she saw that face, she’d have to remember it for the rest of her life. For the first time since she was old enough to remember, she cursed her mind that didn’t know how to forget.

  “...”

  She was dead.

  Lilieth knew that, of course. She knew that. She remembered seeing it, as vividly as it happened. But there was some part of her that wanted to believe she was just seeing things. That she had somehow survived. It didn’t really sink in until now.

  Talgerda really was dead.

  She closed her eyes, but the tears still escaped. Her controlled breathing turned into labored gasps and weak sobbing. She had tried to distract herself. Tried to think about anything else, so she wouldn’t have to face it directly. When your only companion was silence, thoughts and memories were the only thing you had left.

  She would not thank Eulalie for saving her life. For bringing her back to life. After all, deep down inside, she knew. Eulalie no longer gazed in her direction. There was no salvation left for her.

  Lilieth didn’t come back to life. Even now, she was still dead.

  Whatever this was, she certainly was not saved. That’s why she wouldn’t pray. Never again.

  The priestess curled into a ball and hugged her knees. Quiet weeping echoed through the walls, with no one left to hear them.