"Yes, I am Valion. Leour or Grace, does not matter. There was a complication in my cycle that is of no import to our current predicament."
"What am I doing here? And who is that man?"
"His name is not something we can utter so simply. You are not ready to face the curse that name bears. It is a curse that has endured even until your cycle, after all. Imagine what havoc it would wreak should we utter it for no reason. For now, you may call him Undertaker."
"So he's the first of us?"
"Yes and no. You will understand in the future. But for now, think carefully then choose."
"...What options do I even have?"
Silence hung between them again. Valion stared at Caelum with an intense gaze and slowly furrowing brows. His piercing scarlet eyes seemed to be looking past him. They seemed to peer at something deeper within Caelum that the person himself could not find. And as though understanding the root of the problem, Valion sighed in exasperation.
"We should have come sooner. We should have expected this. I see Endir's eyes are truly sharp despite refusing to bear the Truth. The greater the power, the graver the danger indeed."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your soul, Caelum, has been damaged. This is, after all, the first time that three Divine Constructs would return all at once. Until now, the most we had was two at once. That was manageable. That our soul can handle."
"Three?"
"Do you not remember? The Imaginary Tree found its way to you first. None of us expected it, and so we could not prepare for it. Then it called on to the Scarlet Moon that is ultimately tied to our curse. And another streaks yet the expanse of Reality, the golden blaze that you cannot yet know.
Elise was correct. That Tree is too excited. It injured your soul in its haste. That is why you lost even the memories of your current life."
"What Truth can one wield…"
Caelum muttered the words that Endir had spoken about himself. He could not bear the Truth because his name became a lie. So what of Caelum whose whole life had seemingly vanished?
He turned to look at the distant figure of the Undertaker who was now walking further away. He only spared them a single glance before leaving, not even uttering a single word, but the intent behind his gaze was palpable.
He was even more of an extremist than Valion. It felt as though if Caelum would not walk the same path as them, he would just have to end his cycle so a new one could begin.
"Yes, you understand him quite well. Somehow you have become much like him, yet at the same time, the opposite of him."
"Indeed. How do I become myself again?"
"You… can never truly be the same again. You are forever changed, Caelum. You must understand. You have not only lost your memories of this cycle. They have been practically burned out of your soul.
Reestablishing a connection with a Divine Construct as powerful as the Imaginary Tree is not something that can be simply glossed over. Why do you think we have the Scarlet Tribulation and Golden Tribulation? Why do you think the Imaginary Tree kept you with it for an eternity in the Imaginary Space?
It may not have intended for this injury to happen, but it cannot be undone. The most we can do is heal your damaged soul to help you regain some of the memories that still cling to you, but the rest... they have been turned to ashes and thrown to the void.
This is the price of power, remember? We are here, Caelum, always. But whatever choice you make is not up to us to interfere in."
"Is it… wrong for me to become one of you?"
"...No. In the end, we are all One. In the end, I am you and you are me. There is no reason to differentiate one of us from the other. But at the same time, we have our own lives to live, our own paths to tread.
So Caelum Grace, tell me. We all have a choice, yet why is it that we all chose the same path?"
As Valion spoke, a silver light pierced through the dull sky. It was bright and blinding, but none of the three men shielded their eyes from it.
Valion merely stared at Caelum. And Caelum turned to watch the Undertaker trudge onward.
From the man's shadow, Caelum could see countless white wisps resting comfortably and patiently. They knew the wait would be long, but they accepted it without complaints. Because they knew that at the end of the journey, they would return to Eternal Cycle. The Undertaker would ensure it.
And in that moment, a thought occurred to Caelum. The burden that the Undertaker carried with him were the countless souls of the dead in all the worlds and beyond.
The burden that Valion bore were the lives he took in order to cure the worlds of the blight that ravaged them.
They both knew the torment they brought upon themselves. They knew that their end would never be of peace and contentment. And yet they still chose to bear the weight of it all.
And then there was Endir. He died smiling in contentment. He said he had not failed. Why?
"Because…"
The silver light grew brighter and brighter. It washed over the whole world, dying it in silver that met the majestic gold. Everything within it disappeared. And as they faded, Valion smiled slightly.
He could tell, Caelum had found the answer. Whether it was correct or not did not matter. After all...,
"...it is the only path we know."
From the blinding silver and gold to a pitch black, he seemed to have fallen into another trance. But this time, he saw memories.
There was a war he fought in. A war to fend off the incursion from the heavens. Then there was a war against foreign gods who aimed to conquer their world. Then there was a war against a world that wanted to destroy everything, even itself.
In these three memories, he did not fail. He may have suffered, but he endured. His sacrifice was worth it and he could not be any more satisfied.
If so, then what was stopping him from doing the same in this cycle?
He found that he had only lost his reason to continue. As Endir said, there was once a time when he saw the beauty in sacrifice. He cannot remember what it was, but it did not matter.
He only needed to find a new reason that would shine just as beautifully, that would push him forward farther than any of his previous lives. And he wanted to make this new reason to be the only reason he would ever move forward again.
Sacrifice, such a benevolent thing, but Caelum was done being purely benevolent. It was time to be at least a little selfish. He would no longer sacrifice for the sake of the world, not even for the sake of Existence.
The memories had given him the simplest and most obvious answer to his dilemma. It was the one thing he still had, the one thing that both Valion and the Undertaker had lost…, family.
Perhaps the difference lay there. The reason why Endir had not failed. The reason why Valion and the Undertaker endured despite the futility.
If there was anything worth sacrificing for, it was family.
For the first time since he left the Imaginary Space, Caelum felt an unprecedented calm. He had finally found the peace he was looking for. All that was left now was to grasp it.
"You have chosen the path of endless torment. Do you truly think it necessary?"
Another voice echoed out from the deep darkness. It was a different voice this time, but one that was also familiar to him. He did not fret. He knew that whoever appears in this place will not do him harm. After all, they are all One.
"Yes."
"You have chosen the path of thankless sacrifice. Do you think them worthy of it?"
His mind flashed with memories: his first meeting with Erta by the Watchtower; the ritual that tied them together in a matrimony of the being; the miraculous birth of their daughter, Ciel; his reunion with his other wife from previous cycle, Elise; and last but not least, the moment when relief washed over him as he fell unconscious knowing that Ceres was safely hidden from the monsters.
Many more faces appeared in his mind. Some that he knew in this cycle, others that he knew from previous cycles. They were all precious to him. They were his legacy and the proof of all his efforts. There was nothing worthier of sacrifice than them.
"Yes."
"You have chosen the path of the eternal march. Do you think you are ready?"
Caelum chuckled as he remembered the glare the Undertaker gave him. He recalled the contented smile of Endir and Valion's eyes that tried to hide the pain that still tormented him even now. He could not hide it from Caelum. Lies were pointless between them. He wondered if he would be like that one day as well.
"Have we not been marching all this time?"
"True. You have passed the Scarlet Tribulation. I am Arlein Grace, the Scarlet Light Bearer. Take this lantern and bear its light just as she had once asked of me."
A man appeared from the deep blackness. Long crimson hair and dark clothes covered most of his body. And yet his chest was completely bare revealing the ruby deeply planted into it.
He grasped the darkness with his right hand and grabbed the ruby with his left, ripping it out of his chest. Then he stabbed the ruby into Caelum's right eye and the darkness into his left.