D_I.N_B

It was morning. The sun bathed the splotches in the abandoned village, and the winds collected the dust engulfing the surroundings. All of the remaining buildings had burned down as the infected creatures continued rampaging through, but all life had ceased entirely, human or not.

The only remnants of the village that were created in the previous hours was the preservation of two corpses merged into one. An ivory statue swarmed in ivy stood in the center of the abandoned village, depicting an angelic figure with wings holding onto the head of a baby. And in front, sat Lyn and Alfaic resting underneath.

Lyn had not moved ever since she had locked eyes with Cethe that night. Despite all efforts to summoning a single ounce of strength, there was nothing she could do beside sit in utter fog, both in mind and body.

"You saw it too, didn't you?" Alfaic's low voice broke the silence of the winds. "The angel and her dream."

Lyn remained silent.

"What is it that you feel right now, Lyn?" Alfaic asked. "Because you can trust me when I say that I know much has been taken away."

"I feel..." Lyn whispered as she gazed at the statue's unparalleled and unremarkable beauty. The winds brushed her elongated ponytail side to side. The dried blood on her face still remained. "What is this?"

"It's pain," Alfaic continued. "Pain can happen both internally and externally. In some cases, internal pain is much harder to fix, because it really is invisible. And sometimes, we don't know what the reason is for us feeling the way we do inside. But all we know is that we have to move on from it, some way or another, or else we'll be in pain for the rest of our life."

"I did not know her," Lyn continued. "I did not care much for her. Her goals, her intentions... But there is something about it that still hurts. It is difficult to explain."

"That's normal too," Alfaic said. "Sometimes, when we lose something, we spend days, months, or even eternity thinking about what we could have done to make it right. It doesn't need to be someone or something we knew. It matters because now, there's a hole where that thing used to be, and we can't help but want it back. It binds and breaks us."

"A hole," Lyn said, standing up from her crouched position. She held onto Relámpago and wiped the blood from its edge with a single stroke of her palm. "There is only one survivor. The girl in her tale. The lord of SIGMA."

"Oh, you're right," Alfaic said. "Maybe if we put her to rest, she'll be able to join Cethe and the others. I think that's what they would have wanted."

"What do you mean, join?" Lyn asked, turning to the floating Alfaic.

"Heaven," Alfaic clarified. "The belief that even after death, you live in peace above the skies with all of the ones that you love. That vista, stretching miles and miles above the horizon, beckoning and calling you with the angels that make you whole again. Humanity believes somewhere out there, a God is watching us, and once we die, it will open its arms and invite us to join them."

Lyn looked at the morning sky.

"Perhaps Cethe and the others are there right now, watching us." Alfaic said.

"Heaven. It sounds like a myth," Lyn brushed off, moving away from the statue and Alfaic altogether. "A deity in the skies, watching over us. This is unknowing."

"Probably, but it makes us feel all the more better at the end of the day. Humans are entitled to believe anything they want to believe."

"Humans..." Lyn turned back to Alfaic. "You are not one, and yet you know more about them than any other so far. Could it be that you were once human?"

"What are you talking about? I'm just a sword," Alfaic said. "Remember that time when we were talking about happiness? In that moment, I gave you a name, and you smiled at it. But you're not a human."

Lyn glanced at her bloodied hands. Normally, a human would have been disgusted by the mere sight of blood splatting on their bodies, or have emotions in response to death. But Lyn didn't have any of this, and for that logical conclusion, Lyn already knew the answer to his next question.

"I think what you should be thinking about more is yourself, Lyn. Could it be... that you were human too?" Alfaic suggested.

"No," Lyn said, holding onto Relámpago departing to the exit of the village. She gazed up at the ivory tower nestled around Llafiella, the Gallant Kingdom. The tree was the next target. "I am not, nor will I ever will be."

"But you feel it too!" Alfaic shouted, stopping her in her tracks. Lyn took seconds, standing still, before Alfaic finished. "Don't you?"

"I don't." Lyn coldly brushed off.

Alfaic soared toward her and followed along with her to the trail to Llafiella. The ivory statue of the angel and its apprentice remained still, gently nestling against the ivy bundled around its base. As the last legacy that signaled Stravia's history, much could be interpreted in the dying lands. But there was one thing for certain, and that was how the statue never relinquished the hope that the castaway would return, for its beacon would follow suit soon after.

"That's the biggest lie I ever heard you say, and I've only known you for a few days..."