Zeth, walking towards his house, saw Malerva sitting in front of his doorstep, looking down at the ground. He seemed sad. Zeth thought to himself, "I think I should be there for him." He approached Malerva and said, "Hey," with a warm and sincere tone. "Zeth!" exclaimed Malerva as he stood up and hugged Zeth. Zeth hugged her back.
"Are you okay? Is something bothering you?" Malerva asked with a concerned tone.
"No, I'm fine," Zeth replied.
"I got really scared when you fainted yesterday! And when I brought you to your house, Sola was also terrified! You frightened all of us!"
Malerva tried to speak in a cheerful tone, but the sadness in his eyes was evident.
"Come to our place," Zeth said. "If you haven't had breakfast yet, let's have it together. It will make Sola happy too."
"Okay," Malerva agreed.
As they entered the house, Sola was already awake.
"Brother!" Sola exclaimed and hugged his brother. "You left me alone last night! And when you came back, you were covered in blood, and I was so scared!" Sola said.
Zeth touched Sola's head and said, "I'm sorry if I worried you, Sola." Sola, who was now happy, said, "Let's have breakfast!"
During breakfast, they didn't discuss anything related to the previous night. Zeth didn't want to talk about it anyway. When Zeth was alone with Sola, he intended to ask about the stone. Breakfast was finished, and Malerva said, "I should go now. I have things to do." Zeth stood up and said, "Okay then, goodbye Malerva." Malerva hugged Zeth tightly and left the house. Zeth felt sorry for how sad and lonely Malerva seemed.
Sola tried his best to make his brother happy or laugh since seeing him in the morning. But it didn't work. "Hmm, do you like her?" Sola asked. "Well, she's just my friend," Zeth replied. Sola laughed. Zeth understood what Sola meant. Yes, he loved Malerva. But at the moment, it was more of a feeling of sympathy towards him rather than romantic love.
"Hey, Sola."
"About the stone you gave me, where did you find it?"
"Oh? That stone? Stephany gave it to me as a gift. When I asked her where she found it, she said she found it on top of a decayed corpse in an old ruined village outside of N1."
"Hmm, got it."
"Why did you ask, Brother?"
"I was just curious."
"Oh, wait! Where's the necklace?!"
"I lost it.."
"Oh, come on!"
Days passed one after another. Everything in N1 seemed to be back to normal. People were happy and going about their lives, except for two individuals: Zeth and Malerva.
Zeth was standing on the roof of the Council building, gazing down at N1. Despite it being noon, the sky was cloudy. The ground was dark, and beyond the walls of N1, there was nothing but plenty of pieces of stone and ashes. Zeth thought to himself, "What a empty view." There seemed to be no difference between the past and the present.
"It's boring, isn't it?" Malerva spoke up.
"Yes, boring and empty," Zeth replied.
"But still beautiful," Malerva remarked.
..
"Is this dark and gloomy view beautiful? Or the dark dead soil beneath our feet? Or the red color I see when I look up at the sky?" Zeth said with an empty tone.
..
"You're looking at the negative side."
"What good is there left?" Zeth said.
"Us," Malerva said. He was right next to Zeth, leaning against him and resting his head on Zeth's shoulder.
..
"Don't do this, Malerva."
"Why? Why not?"
Zeth didn't say anything. Whenever he was with Malerva, he was reminded of Steph. It made him sad. This feeling was so strong that Zeth thought to himself, "I can't continue my life like this." If he wanted to live again, to be happy, he had to get rid of this feeling.
"Malerva-"
A loud explosion came from the east. When both of them looked in that direction, they saw the "transparent sky dome" that protected N1 slowly solidifying and shattering. The spell was broken. And there could only be one meaning for this.
Demons.