The grey sand calls to the eclipsing shadow, he who mourns the restlessness of his feet. Yet still he walks the scorching grains, the frigid needles unwillingly greet.
They too feel the burden he carries, the weight of the world that yet slumbers in disharmony. They are the casket of the world that wonders if they can truly be free.
The rot stains this barren land, yet still it clings to its song of prayer. The humble shadow hums to its tune as the only light that shines upon this solemn night is the final light of truth.
Far beyond the mountains and dunes sat a golden wisp, feeble yet bright. The darkness encroaches yet is scorned by the light. The shadows shiver yet cry in longing. The golden wisp flies up and they are left mourning.
It soars the sky, streaking past what is known. And they are left gazing, longing for that bright unknown.
The formless pain that haunts all thrives, yet in the lifeless truth, what more is torment? What more is life to the glimpse of abandonment?
"Caelum?"
He opened his eye slowly. A sweltering breath escaped his mouth as he relaxed his body. It had been two days since he woke up, but Caelum only spent all that time meditating while guarding Erta as she slept.
With the recent events, he had grown so much stronger while at the same time feeling even weaker. Although he had gained more power, there were many things that now plague his mind, questions about himself and about everything.
It was only by understanding himself and his powers would he be able to surmount any obstacle he is faced with. And meditation was the answer.
But not now, he cannot return to that vision just yet.
He stood up from the floor and turned to Erta. She was already seated up, but still looked a little out of sorts. Her mind was still hazy, buzzing with noise that she could not easily ignore. Caelum sat beside her and held her gently.
"You can sleep some more if you want."
"No… I've slept long enough. How are you feeling?"
"I'm perfectly fine. I'm more worried about you. You shouldn't have stayed up for days."
Erta looked at his face as he spoke. She could not really tell what happened to his left eye now that he was keeping it closed, but his right eye was like a beautiful gemstone. And from it, she could clearly see his genuine worry.
Now she could finally rest assured that he was back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. She did not want to lose him again, but she did not know how to say it without feeling the pain of guilt assaulting her.
Caelum could not tell what she was thinking through the Life Covenant as she had once again put up her defences. But her actions were enough to tell him how she must be feeling and so he brought her closer into his embrace.
As he did so, Erta's body relaxed even more. She seemed to have fallen into a slight daze as she whispered softly.
"Reminds me of when we snuggled on that tree on the way back to Taixu Temple."
"You… remember?"
"...I wish I had never forgotten."
Her voice quivered as tears threatened to spill from her closed eyes.
If only she remembered their past lives earlier, she would never have doubted him. If only she remembered who she was earlier, she would never have doubted herself.
And although her memories were incomplete, she could clearly remember how he chose to die so she could safely escape. That was how she found herself in the land of the Divine Obelisk which nurtured her as one of its people.
After calming down, Erta left Caelum's embrace. Looking at her carefully to see if she was perfectly fine, Caelum noticed that she was smiling mischievously.
"Mother-in-law told me to wake you up with a good slap. You should be grateful I was gentle."
"...I guess you remembered how to be naughty as well. Ah, it was good while it lasted."
"Hey, what does that mean? I'm still Erta. No matter how much I remember my life as Shizuna, I can't really go back to being how I was."
"I know… I know all too well."
The heaviness in his voice was not lost on Erta. She did not know how many lives her husband had lived, but she was certain there was a lot more than what she knew.
Caelum pulled his mind out of his brooding, but in the end, his mood cannot change. After all, his next words were probably going to be difficult for both of them to talk about.
He looked at his wife's crystalline white eyes. They were extremely beautiful and gave her an air of majesty and divinity unlike ever before. But to Caelum, they were nostalgic. The comfort they gave him eased his tension as he began to speak.
"Erta, something happened in Sanctuary. You are the True Avatar's successor."
For a good few seconds, neither of them spoke. Caelum tried to decipher what was on Erta's mind because she looked a little too calm than he expected.
Erta was, in fact, calm. There was no panic in her heart, no trembling of her body, no anxiety in her mind. Like she said, no matter how much she recalled her life as the cheerful and naughty Shizuna, she could never be like that again.
Especially not when it was the fate of Sanctuary that they were talking about. She had told Ceres once before that if she had been an ordinary girl, she would have thrown away her world for him.
But she was an Avatar of the Divine Obelisk. No matter how much she hated Sanctuary and its people, she owed her new life to the Divine Obelisk.
And so, although she had no love for Sanctuary, she still needed to return and save it.
"I need to go back."
"How? Only a True Avatar can open a gate across worlds. There's no way for us to get to Sanctuary just yet."
"Us…? You're coming with me?"
"What the hell are you talking about? Of course, I'm coming with you. I'm your husband. And I swore to you back then that I'd help you save your world."
Erta felt embarrassed. Caelum's gaze at her made her feel like an idiot for asking such a question. In truth, she did not really expect Caelum to actually fulfil that promise after what had happened to him.
He had given up on his own world, so why would he go to save another? Caelum understood what she was thinking quite well and so he spoke up before she could say anything else.
"It will take time for us to find a path to Sanctuary. So in the meantime, I'll fix up the mess I made so that Earth doesn't get destroyed while I'm away. And you…"
"...What is it?"
"You need to recover your powers. Fortunately, there is one that you can easily do right away. But before you begin…, can you tell me where the hell we are?"
This time, it was Erta's turn to stare at Caelum as though he was an idiot.
He had been awake for quite a while already, but he still did not know where they were. Granted, he found not even a single person besides Erta in this whole place which was also the reason why he only meditated the entire time.
He could not ask Ciel either because the moment their important discussions were over, she immediately began the process of digesting all the benefits she had received from the Scarlet Tribulation. And he had only thought to ask the question when it was already too late.
All he could tell was that they were in a rather old house with most of its furniture and appliances gone. The neighbourhood outside was also deathly quiet and marked with ruin, obviously from his black flames.
Far in the distance were remains of a city. Some parts of it were cleaned up despite the destruction, but there were others where corpses of both humans and invaders ad been left rotting.
He knew that they were still in his home country, the Longgram Isles, but he did not know exactly where. As far as he could tell, they were in the Capital where there should be a lot more people. But somehow, he found no one in the entire city.
Traces of habitation and activity could be found sparsely, but he did not bother searching to deeply. After all, he never left Erta's side. All he did was use the Scarlet Moon in place of his eye. And although it worked, it was not enough for a thorough search. There really was no way for him to tell where they were.
"Cal, we're in the house you grew up in."