Two pairs of golden eyes stared at each other, unblinking. Before, they would have found it awkward and embarrassing. But now, it was probably one of the most comforting moments for them.
Caelum and Erta sat on their sofa and continued to stare at each other. Their facial muscles twitched every now and then, but they held on.
When more than a minute had passed, Caelum abruptly pushed his face forward close enough for their noses to touch. Erta blinked in surprise then realised what happened.
"You cheater! Why did you do that?! That doesn't count!"
"Who're you calling a cheater? We didn't even decide on rules. You just said, whoever blinks first loses."
"...Fine. But don't think I'll let you get away easily."
"Really? Then will you forgive me if I do this?"
Caelum leaned in and kissed her cheeks multiple times. The pouting Erta tried hard to control facial expressions, but in the end she gave up. After cuddling for a few more minutes, they went silent. The final moment of escapism had ended. And Erta began her story.
"I told you why I came to Earth, right?"
"Yeah. Your world was about to face a large-scale invasion from multiple worlds, so you all activated the magic array to isolate Sanctuary. And you were sent here just before it was completely isolated to forge an alliance."
"Yes, you remembered well. But that's not the whole truth."
Erta sent images to Caelum's mind. They were scenes of a world he did not recognize, yet felt very familiar. These were Erta's memories.
"I'm the youngest among the Avatars of the Divine Obelisk. I am the latest to become an avatar. And I am also the weakest. But even before I became an avatar, I was already weak.
People called me the 'stain on Sanctuary'. My body was weak and sickly, and I struggled to learn things. Even though I was a princess, everyone hated me."
"You're a princess?"
"Yes. Didn't I say that my lineage is the rarest among the fae? The alves are treated as royalty in Sanctuary. That's because we are a tribe born with great holy mana which is the power of the Divine Obelisk. But unlike the rest of my tribe, I was born with almost no mana at all. I'm probably worse than the normal humans on Earth who couldn't even feel mana. At least, they still have mana."
Caelum remained silent. He could not understand how someone as powerful as Erta could not have mana, but the pain in her voice was real.
The scenes in his mind showed a young Erta being neglected by everyone even as she was bedridden and sick. The young girl nearly died a couple of times due to her weak constitution, yet nobody batted an eye. He could feel the anger boiling within him as Erta continued her story.
"I said that I saw my destiny when I became an avatar, right? That was a lie. The only reason I could become an avatar is because I received a vision of my destiny. And that destiny was you, Cal."
Erta gazed into Caelum's eyes showing the depths of her gratitude. He may not have done anything himself, but it was his existence that freed her and finally allowed her to live.
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't even be able to escape that hell."
Erta leaned against him more. The weight of her body was inconsequential compared to the weight of her words and emotions. Caelum held her in his embrace tightly. He could not see the destiny that she saw, but he swore that he would fulfil it.
"Even then, I was still weak. The people who couldn't become avatars cursed me. They were punished for it, but even more cursed me because of it. The cycle just kept repeating. I did my best to train, get stronger and learn, but no one ever recognized my results. After all, what I saw as achievements should've been the standard."
The memories changed to show Erta following a dreadful routine of training and studies every day for years and years.
At first, there were a lot of times when she was crying alone in her room. But as time passed, she cried less and less. She bottled up the pain and put on a mask to hide the tear stains.
Then the memories changed again. Countless people were running away from enemies crossing over multiple gates. And Erta stood at the frontlines, fighting alone.
"As the years passed, more and more gates were appearing. And more and more avatars were dying. Somehow, I survived. And I was hated for it. They said that I should've been the one to die, to have suffered the brutality of the demons who defiled the purity of the avatars.
Then the decision to activate the magical array came. The world would be isolated, but nothing would change for me. I would always be alone."
The memories showed a woman who looked very much like Erta. She had a stern face. Even though it was a memory, Caelum could feel the woman's power. He realised what kind of being she was right away.
"That was when I decided to tell the True Avatar of the destiny I saw. She was my mother, but she never once bothered to care for me. She only watched.
Even at that time, she only watched as I made the decision to leave Sanctuary. Everyone else agreed that I should leave. And so she opened a gate to Earth just like that."
Erta left Caelum's embrace and stared at him. Her face was drawn to a frown in an effort not to cry. But a tear was already tracing a line across her cheek.
"I made myself out to be someone important. I made it seem like I had the grand mission of saving my world… but in truth, I was just running away. I just didn't want to be in a world where everyone knew me but no one cared. It's at least better to be alone in a world where no one knows me."
"I know you. And I won't let you be alone anymore."
Erta finally smiled upon hearing him repeat the same words she told him. Tears overflowed, but she tried her best to hold it in. She was smiling and laughing while wiping away her tears. Caelum thought it was very cute. Then Erta looked at him.
"I don't want to cry yet. I have a feeling yours might be worse so I'm saving my tears for then."
"Not really. I think yours is worse than mine."
"Alright. Then show me, Cal. Why are you fighting?"
At those words, Caelum brought his face close to Erta. He touched his forehead with hers as he closed his eyes.
It was not really necessary because of their connection, but the feeling of her skin on his at least lessened the heaviness in his heart. And then, memories flooded into Erta's mind.
The first thing she saw was the memory he recalled not too long ago.
A young Ceres was crying. Caelum's hand closed her mouth tight so that she could not scream. She lay beneath a mound made of corpses of their parents and the body of her brother.
In the background, the screams of terror along with the growling monsters echoed. And then, everything went dark.
Before she even realised, Erta was already in front of a large crystalline tree. Its trunk was like a pink diamond while its leaves were like glistening gemstones. They shone brilliantly under the light of a million stars.
The void up above loomed menacingly over her. And the pool of water that covered the smooth obsidian ground she stood on reflected everything perfectly.
And then she wondered… which was the real her? The one in the reflection? Or the one looking at it?
The world flipped. She looked up to see the reflection of the world and herself. She looked down and saw a void waiting to swallow her whole. Then she heard the sounds of footsteps and splashing water.
She looked forward and found Caelum. He was lying down on the ground beneath the tree.
Her orientation was now fixed and she walked toward him. She lay down by his side and saw what he saw. It was the void, waiting to swallow her whole. She was getting scared.
She removed her eyes from the gaping maw of darkness and stared at the countless stars shining above. Every once in a while, one of the stars would burst into light and show a memory. But she could not understand it.
The image was beyond distorted. Frustration gnawed on her as she began to actively search for bursting stars. And when she found one, it exploded right in front of her.
The burst of light was so enormous that it threatened to scorch the entire world. But when she blinked, it was so far away that even an ant looked bigger. Just as she was about to sigh in relief, a cacophony of sounds arrived.
They were the death throes of a million stars that died in her search for memories. She screamed in horror as the light of the dying stars and the darkness of the void seemed to mix and swirl right in front of her, drowning her in their madness.
"Erta! Wake up!"
Her vision returned. Caelum's face was right in front of her, but she reached out her hand to touch it. She was afraid that it might be an illusion, that he might actually be too far away for her to even reach.
But her fingers met his cheek. They traced the contours of his face, the worry that apparent in his expression. And Caelum held her hand. Erta began crying as soon as she realised that she was safe.
"What was that? How could you survive that? That was madness, Caelum! That was hell!"
"Don't worry. You're safe now. You're safe."
"How long… was I there?"
"One minute."
"...And how long were you there?"
"Too long."
Erta embraced him while crying. She was trembling in fear, not for her, but for Caelum. No person should ever have to suffer that kind of punishment. Not even the worst sinners deserve to be inflicted such torture.
Even now, with everything she saw fresh in her mind, she could not understand it. The place he was in seemed like a safe haven, but it felt wrong and incomplete. There was a dissonance somewhere that she could not point out.
And the stars, even now they haunted her. It felt as though she could see them bursting at the corner of her eyes, endlessly killing memories and emotions. Who was dying with each burst? Was it him? Or was it now her?
She could no longer tell. It had scarred her mind to a level she did not even know possible. But she vowed to herself that she would free Caelum from that prison one day, once and for all. But for now, there was only one thing she needed to say.
"I love you, Cal."
"I love you too, Erta."