May 25, 20XX.
in an underwater trench 11,000 meters deep. Liliya and Naoya has been exploring the great seas underwater for around 3 days.
"hey, Naoya, should we make a small grave here?" Liliya asks. the date today in Laplace is Medo 27, three days before their friend, Kirin Aiha's death anniversary. confirming their date, they set up a little makeshift grave in name of their friend, made from mutated coral and pearls in an extravagant matter
the date of their last goodbye
* * *
"hmm... the ocean of this world isn't that quite well maintained... more rather, it looks like it's been left for millennia... any theories behind it?" she asks. gathering a bit more samples and foreign life from them, they both leave the place slowly abandoning the makeshift grave. soon after, the sea life around it turned into mutated beings, both Ethereal and both monsters.
-----------
3 days after meeting with Phaedra, Osiria started leaving the inn permitted by both Ingrid and Arie. waiting at the same spot always, Osiria would follow the glowing blue butterfly to where Phaedra is.
"well hello there little miss Rose, how are you today?" with a warming smile, Phaedra gave her a sit in his lap, telling stories and explaining secrets, Osiria was quite enchanted and confused most of the time but loved the stories as if she was in the stories herself.
every day, she'd come to where they always meet, not even needing the butterfly for protection, she'd always arrive at the same time in the same place without even knowing what time it is.
with curiosity, she notices the necklace Phaedra has and tried to grab it. surprised, Phaedra stopped her and hid it immediately. Osiria was confused, asking what's wrong with the pendant.
"well... it's sort of my memories, along with the friends who I loved in the past, it's quite a depressing story so you shouldn't be that curious about it"
Osiria loves stories no matter what they are. well, he knows it, he knows well how she loves stories, but after a little bit of talking, he finally gives in
"ahh-... fine, I'll tell you the story. this pendant is old, older than me really, given to me by a friend who I adored as their... friend-
-a long time ago, there was a cave on the dragon's peak, submerged in the depths of deep waters, dragons would fight with each other to reign supremacy. years passed and the fight for supremacy was suppressed by the queen and the king of dragons, Lana and Goda. the royalty, being mad that they had these sorts of events, punished the dragons inside and sealed them into an ether crystal and never run amok and ruin their reputation. the crystal, later on, exerted so much Ether in the watery depths that turned all of the marine life into hideous, chaotic monsters all bearing the anger of the dragons inside. octopus raiding and destroying ships and armadas, water beast wyverns running the ports and the underwater castles and villages.
for a long time, these events would occur so often that all of the life around the crystal would decay into madness, turning oneself into Fallen. learning about the ancient crystal. Helios, the Fallen kingdom's mad scientist. the smartest and cruelest Fallen, took the entire crystal with his creations and converted every single bit to accessories of destruction, it is said that each accessory could enchant and power the wearer to unknown depths and could be said that even one accessory could concur the world. knowing this, Helios made experiments and gave them to his most powerful creation and integrating it into her heart, the girl corrupted itself and embraced the power like what her master said, running chaotically into the field of war.
killing allies and foes, the girl killed anyone and everyone with no mercy, Helios learned her danger to the world and tried to convince her to stop. he didn't, with a wicked smile and a lust for blood, the girl killed her own creation, mercilessly destroying his body. Helios knew this would happen and planned for the worst-case scenario. with the pendant he has in his neck, the girl's power was sealed.
with only half an upper body and one arm, Helios dug the seal and made an oath to the goddess Alyn, create the generations and finally subdue the demon girl-
and the world was once again at war against each other, the Fallen have disbanded and dispersed, turned into slaves and killed."
Osiria turned silent, lightly confused but understood the concept. a story of the past, maybe slightly changed but still delivers the story.
"so... that pendant..." growing ever more curious, Osiria held for the pendant on Phaedra's neck. inspecting it further, she can sense the Ether on the pendant, but...
"it's... not the girl?" Phaedra laughed at her answer, with a solemn smile, he grabbed the necklace and showed displayed its contents
"Little Rose, this is not the girl's seal, only a part of the ancient dragon's Crystal. the crystal you are thinking about is now in the rightful owner of the demonic girl"
Osiria smiled, content with the story. "well... it wasn't a great ending, it's still a good story" she said. she gave the necklace back and asked Phaedra to stay. he didn't know what she'll do but followed to her commands.
waiting for at least a few minutes, Osiria returns with a gift behind her back.
"what's this?" Phaedra asks softly. Osiria was hesitant, giving him the present was the only thing she could say thank you for the stories.
Phaedra opened the gift and to his surprise-
"this-... you had this?" he was surprised. the gift held multiple items; stickers, her own fully drawn out sketchpad, and a bracelet. what took his eyes was the bracelet he gave him, holding the ancient dragon- Lana's purified Ether crystal.
"what-... did you make this?" holding the makeshift bracelet, Osiria was happy and sad that he only took notice of one thins, "yes... Aunt Theia told me to make something out of it and give it to someone I want to stay with... so... I gave you that"
Phaedra looked surprised for the most part, inspecting the bracelet intently. after a while, he took all of the gifts and even giving them their fair share of compliments,
he took notice of everything, sticking the sticker to his mask and even complimenting her drawing skills. Osiria smiled, she was happy that she was complimented for them, specifically her drawing.
***
night time strikes and Phaedra patted her head. "you should go back to the inn right now, it may be morning in the other side but you should still take breaks from meeting with me, I'm afraid that you won't grow any bigger if you keep meeting with me..." Osiria was curious about what he said, no understanding one bit of it though...
after her leave, Phaedra took off and entered a cafe looking establishment inside a building, looking at the gift box he received from her- "well... I guess I still get present even in my birthdays hu? well... I'm not really alive anymore so I shouldn't be receiving these... all three of us are dead so shouldn't we be celebrating our death? that sounds ominous... I should consult this with Felix..."
the night shines young and the holographic moon in the starry illusionary sky shines brightly into the mirrored world, touching everything in the vicinity. with the sudden war about to happen, what shall he do to protect the person who gave him the present?