Past memories 3/3

Athar and Lucia stepped out of the tents, their boots crunching the scorched earth beneath them. The grass was nothing but ash now.

"So, you have questions?" Lucia asked, walking ahead. Her hair was dusted with grey ash, streaked still with blood from the battle.

Athar moved past her with a quick stride, his eyes fixed on the sky.

"Do you even realize it's July?" he said quietly. "The new year is almost here."

Lucia paused before asking in a soft voice, "What are you planning for the coming year?"

Athar replied quickly, "I journey to the Abyss to uncover its strange mysteries"

Lucia nodded with quiet understanding and said, "Ah, I see...So, what is it you wish to ask?"

"I can already guess. I expect no answer or anything, but know that I still consider you a friend," declared Ather. His face was etched with fatigue, his eyes heavy and tired, reflecting the long burdens of this war, enduring sorrow.

"You're a vampire, aren't you?" asked Athar. Without waiting for a reply, he continued, "What is it like to be nearly immortal?"

Lucia, tired of avoiding the truth, sat cross-legged on the barren, ash-covered earth. "Nearly immortal, you say? It's like an endless hell. For the last five hundred years, nothing changed… until I met my husband, Seth. You met him at that gathering the king held."

Athar tried to remember, but nothing came to mind. Still, he lied. "Ah, yes, I remember."

Lucia looked into his eyes and said, "It's alright if you don't. He's the type who disappears into a crowd."

She stood up slowly. "I have three daughters and five sons. After this war, I want to settle down somewhere. And… I'm sorry I kept my fighting skills hidden."

Athar answered quickly, "It's alright. Happens to the best of us," and gave a quiet, joking laugh.

"If there will be a day where I will be gone," Lucia added, "and one of my sons comes to the Abyss… teach him about fire."

Athar agreed without hesitation, a quiet nod of understanding passing between them.

A cold wind swept across the dead plain, lifting the ash from the ground in soft, whispering spirals. It danced around their feet and clung to their clothes like old memories. Lucia's voice had turned softer now, but there was weight behind her words a quiet grief, something she'd long carried. Her eyes were distant, as if she'd already seen the end.

Athar felt it too something final in her tone. His chest tightened, but he showed no sadness, only calmness. In that moment, he looked less like a healer and more like a witness someone who had seen too much and still chose to keep his word.

[Present day]

"Goodbye, Valen, son of Lucia and Seth… Until we meet again. Good luck," Athar murmured under his breath, watching as the boy vanished into the shadows like ash from past memories caught in the wind from that day ,when he gave a promise to Lucia.

Athar turned without a word, gave a small wave of his hand, and returned to his tower. There, he buried himself in ancient tomes of fire magic. For three maybe even fourth days and nights, he did not sleep. He sustained himself only on mana potions, buttered bread, and milk. He read everything everything ever written by fire. No spell, no rune, no forgotten word was left untouched.

On the third night, darkness settled deep. Outside, the sound of a cat's meow cut through the stillness.

Athar stepped outside.

A black cat stood in the ash, eyes golden, its fur like moving shadow fluid and formless, shaped from something older than night. In the blink of an eye, the creature shifted. Where the cat had been now stood a woman behind him, silent and sudden.

She leaned close to his ear and whispered in an ancient tongue.

"What do you desire?"

"Life," Athar answered without pause.

"The pact is sealed," she said. "But I will return in one year…..and your price must be paid."

Then, she vanished into the dark.

Athar collapsed. Sleep claimed him before he even hit the earth.

When morning came, he opened his eyes to a new silence....