USELESS REGRET

"Bring him back, please..."

Those words were spoken with trembling voice from the quivering lips of a woman whose hair was as pale as those of edelweiss petals, fluttering gently by the ashy wind that passed by.

The scenery around the woman was that of a bleak barren plain, riddled with ruins and corpses here and there as far as the eyes could see. But despite the horror scattered around her, the woman was fixated on the one lying on her lap. 

The woman's pair of golden eyes were glassy with tears, each lens reflected an ocean of reminiscence and regrets. They were staring down at the poor soul of a man cladded in a ruined armor. His eyes were shut. His dark beard was soaked in blood that dripped from his pale lips. His body was cold and stiff. Life could not be found within him anymore.

"Bring him back…I beg you…"

The woman lifted her gaze and stared at another lady standing in front of her. This third person however differed from the silver-haired woman and the dead man. She was glistening in blue radiance and her face was fading that one could not make up her visage.

But from what was remaining clear of her appearance was that she had long beautiful hair and wore a sleeveless gown that did not seem fitting to the terrible environment around her.

In fact, her entire existence did not seem fitting anywhere. As if she had this otherworldly essence that could not conform her being to the surroundings.

"Why should I help you, Luciana Edelweiss?" replied the shining woman. She raised her finger and pointed it to the silver-haired woman holding the dead man on the ground. "You're the one who killed him."

"I didn't…I didn't…" said Luciana shaking her head. The tears on her eyes began to drop on the cold face of the man lying under her.

"Indeed. You did not kill him directly." said the shining woman. "But it was certainly because of your guidance that led the man to his death."

"I DIDN'T KNOW!" shouted Luciana. "I DIDN'T KNOW HE WOULD ENDED UP LIKE THIS!"

The shining woman shook her head.

"No. You did know!" insisted the mysterious existence. "I kept warning you that this outcome would become his fate should you continue with your wicked ways."

"I only done so because I believed in him." said Luciana. "I believed that as long as I get him to the throne, he will bring us all to a grand new age!"

"And you did exactly that!" replied the shining woman. "You helped Prince Aristo defeat his six siblings and made him emperor. You succeeded!"

"BUT THEN THE ENTIRE WORLD TURNED AGAINST HIM!" cried Luciana in angered hoarse voice. "EVERYONE RAISED THEIR SWORD AND REVOLTED AGAINST HIS EMPIRE!"

The silver-haired woman looked down at the man lying on her lap.

"The battle was so great and terrible and it only grew worse." said Luciana as she washed her tears off the man's face. "And now, not even a year after his coronation, the conflict has claimed his life."

"Not just his life." added the shining woman. She stared at the distant horizon which was raging with great inferno. "The war has also claimed the world. Soon, everything will be gone."

Luciana wrapped her arms around the man's cold stiff body. Enveloping him with her warmth. Though knowing very well how useless her effort was to the man.

"This shouldn't have happened…." whispered the grieving woman. "This wasn't meant to be…"

The shining woman sighed at Luciana's state.

"I told you that I've been warning you that this would've happened." said the mysterious woman. She looked around at the terrifying landscape they were in. "This is what you get for listening to Fortuna."

"This wasn't what She promised…" replied Luciana. Her embrace on the man turned tighter. "SHE PROMISED A GREAT FUTURE FOR HIM…NOT THIS!"

"You should have never trusted Fortuna in the first place." said the shining woman. "It was never Her intention to give you what you desired for the man."

The shining woman laid a pitiful gaze toward the corpse on Luciana's lap.

"Such a shame, though. You did choose the right Little Sun to make your dream come true." continued her. "But because of your misplaced trust and devotion, you ended up killing what could be the last beautiful soul in the world. As well as someone who might be the last hope for us all."

"I REGRET IT!"

Luciana's shout caught the shining woman's attention.

"Oh? What exactly are you regretting?"

"Everything!" cried Luciana. "Had I known this would've happened, I would've act differently!"

Luciana parted the silver strands of her hair that fell on the man's face. Reminiscing how he used to look like.

"I would've taken different choices. I would've gone to different paths." said Luciana. "I'd do anything to avoid this outcome!"

The shining woman giggled at the silver-haired woman's wondering.

"Ah… The what-ifs… The what-could-be… The possible future…" uttered the shining existence. "Such bittersweet fantasies...for most of the time we could only think of them when it was already too late. Thus rendering them useless…"

The shining woman suddenly grinned widely.

"But, alas, such is not the case this time."

She snapped her fingers and a huge portal was opened behind her. Luciana looked up and stared at the phenomenon in bewilderment.

"What did you just do?"

"It's your what-if, Luciana Edelweiss." answered the shining existence. "Should you pass through this portal, you'll be able to experience the possible future and possibly realize the different outcome you oh-so-desired."

Luciana observed the portal and sensed the energy flowing from it.

"I could feel ancient magic from that gate." said Luciana. "It's unlike anything I've ever encountered before."

"Well, to be fair, it's not something even I nor Fortuna could easily conjure." said the shining existence. "You'd need to be at those two's level to cast this kind of magic at will."

"Then how?"

"The reason why I'm able to cast this portal is because of a bet I made with Fortuna." said the shining existence. "One that I put my entire existence as the stake."

"A bet?"

"There's a lot more to the story, but all you need to know for now is that…" the existence pointed at the silver-haired woman. "…I made a bet that if you, Luciana Edelweiss, regretted everything that Fortuna led you to do, you'll be given the opportunity to start over."

"Start over? In what way?" 

The shining existence turned her pointing to the portal.

"If you enter this gate, the space and time of the world will be distorted and you will be returned to the past." said the existence. "A point in history that will allow you to change the outcome of the man's fate that you had witnessed."

Luciana gasped at the shining existence's words.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! I CAN REALLY CHANGE THE FUTURE?!"

The shining existence nodded.

"Yes! You only need to do two things." continued the being. "Discard your allegiance to Fortuna and pledge it to me instead. Once you do that, you only need to pass through the portal and renew your journey."

" 'Pledge myself to you instead of Fortuna?' " repeated Luciana. Her eyes turned dark. "How am I supposed to know you're not just going to deceive me like Fortuna did?"

The shining existence giggled at Luciana's question.

"Frankly, Witch of Fortuna, you don't have a choice." said the existence. "As you understood by now, should you go back, you know I'm the only one who can help you reach to a different outcome from this one. For I am the forgotten one with no servants."

She then pointed to the dead man on Luciana's lap.

"But if you really can't trust me, then you should trust him." said the shining woman. "Unlike what you did in this life, this time you should listen to whatever what he has to say. Listen to his heart."

"His heart?"

"His desire… His longing… His dream… Listen to everything that is kept within him." said the shining woman. "They will be your guide to the future you wanted."

"Is that so?" replied Luciana as she stared at the man with a bittersweet smile. She traced her fingers across his ice-cold cheek. "After all this time, you're telling me that all I needed to do is to simply follow Aristo's heart?"

"There is a reason why the ancient prophecy said he will be the one to bring the entire world to a grand new age, Luciana." said the shining existence. "Don't take the words of those two lightly."

"I see…"

The shining existence then presented her hand to the silver-haired woman and spoke with a commanding voice.

"So, what's your answer, Luciana Edelweiss?" asked the shining existence.

She continued to deliver three more questions. The ones that would set the path of this beautiful story between the doomed prince and his despicable-villainess-turned-lovely-guardian-angel.

"Will you discard your allegiance to the Goddess of Prosperity, Fortuna, and pledge them to me, the Goddess of Harmony, Eirene?

"Will you embark on a new journey to change the destiny of the world?

"And lastly, will you shoulder this fate-defying quest and save the man you hold dear in your heart?"

Hearing those questions, Luciana looked up, stared at the shining existence with a determined gaze, and gave her answer.