To Walk Behind

"Do you judge me for what I have done?"

"I don't think I am capable of that decision."

"And if you were?"

"...Then I would not dare."

Walking along the bridge of light Lyrea could not bring herself to walk alongside Koel, she didn't know if it was disgust or fear.

"You choose to walk behind me."

"If I walk alongside you then I must bare part of your burden."

"It is not a weight to be shared."

"But what makes you carry it… after all that you have already suffered."

Koel did not reply, even with Lyrea's eye that allowed her to peer into the past, the answer eluded her, denying her what she had no right to know.

A strand of hair, an eye.

How much perfection was needed to right a wrong, to remake what was broken? What was her purpose, was she just simply a key?

"What will become of Kiburat now that all are dead. What was the purpose…"

For the entire length of this bridge of light, Koel paused, causing Lyrea to stand behind him, still shrouded in his shadow as he spoke.

"...Not all actions have a purpose, instead they can grant it. Vena was stuck in a spiral of her own doing, she sought faith so strongly that she left nothing else. I have cleansed the world of her actions but as for what it becomes now, is not my decision."

"But all are dead."

"Am I not dead as well, yet here I stand and talk. Granting life to you."

"Will they become like you?"

Koel laughed, his dark gritty nerve jangling laugh.

"But that I could make others like me. Now my dear, let us walk. By my side or behind I do not care, but walk you shall."

Resuming his deathly steps over the bridge of white Lyrea found her body walking by itself, unbidden it was drawn to Koel's side as he gazed ever onwards, looking for the next world to ascend through.

"Will every world we enter have to face…"

"...Demise.Yes. You may see my actions as cruel or malicious, if it pains you so then I advise you to keep your eye open to the past. I will not stop until we ascend to the top, so brace yourself, you are mine to do what I will with."

Walking forward Lyrea was once more left in Koel's quake but no matter how far she lingered, her figure could never escape the confines of Koel's ever reaching shadow.

It was to be a long walk.