Vallen's Path.

The Emperor sat in silence, the weight of Vallen's words. He, the iron fisted ruler of the Imperium, a ruler feared and revered by all, had heard countless predictions, threats, and promises over his long reign. But nothing had ever struck him quite like this.

"I will die in two years"

The words echoed in his mind, refusing to fade, each syllable like the clashing of swords in battle. Vallen Casuss, his most trusted general, the mightiest strategist the Imperium had ever known, had said them with a calmness that belied their gravity. There had been no hesitation in Vallen's voice, no uncertainty in his eyes. He had delivered the prophecy like a statement of fact.

The Emperor's chest tightened. The very air in the grand chamber seemed to grow cold, as if even the walls recoiled from the pronouncement. He, who had crushed rebellions with a mere command, who had forged an empire from the ashes of his enemies, felt a flicker of something he hadn't allowed himself to feel in decades, vulnerability.

'How dare he?' A surge of anger flared within the Emperor's chest, but he quickly extinguished it. Vallen was no ordinary man. He had stood by his side, had led armies to victory when others had faltered. If anyone had earned the right to speak freely to the Emperor, it was him. And yet, the audacity of the claim gnawed at his pride.

"Two years..." The Emperor's voice was a low growl, more to himself than to Vallen. He looked down at his hands, calloused from years of wielding the reins of power, hands that had shaped the fate of nations. 

His gaze shifted to Vallen, sitting there, unmoved by the weight of his words. The Emperor's eyes narrowed. This was not the face of a man trying to undermine his reign, nor the face of one seeking to usurp power. Vallen's loyalty had been proven too many times to doubt.

"What makes you so certain?" The Emperor asked, his voice steady, though his mind churned beneath the surface. He wasn't ready to yield to fear. Not yet. Not ever.

Vallen puffed out the smoke and shifted his gaze toward the worrying Emperor.

"The skill I learned, the Yin and Yang, or rather, Life and Death." Vallen began, his voice quiet but steady. He paused, glancing up at the stars as if searching for strength. "During the great war, when I proudly and full of strength left the academy with my younger brother and friends. The battles we fought at such a young age are almost unbelievable to comprehend. What we saw and experienced changed us forever."

Vallen's gaze dropped to the ground, his expression darkening with the weight of the memories. "I became the youngest and most talented commander, thanks to you, Gaius, for recognizing me. Back then, I didn't have my Skill yet, and my talent wasn't about raw power, but my tactical and strategic insight and what I could do for my warriors." He sighed, his voice growing heavier with emotion. "When my best friends and brother were dragged off to the Hague camps, I volunteered to free them, so I allowed myself to be captured."

The emperor shifted slightly, his face a mask of uncertainty. Vallen, lost in his own thoughts, continued. "What I saw there… was a horror beyond comprehension. My friends were in pieces, and the only one still alive was my brother. When I managed to free not only him but everyone else who was still alive, there were more battles, more suffering for both body and soul."

Vallen clenched his fists, his voice trembling with the burden of the past. "Not long after, you summoned me back to the city, and I acquired my Skill from the Royal Library. But I made the mistake of not visiting my mother."

He paused again, staring into the distance as if lost in the memory of that regretful decision. The emperor watched in silence. Vallen's voice grew darker, almost a whisper. "When I learned that under my command, my soldiers had raped women in the conquered territories… after everything I had been through in the camp, knowing what it felt like to be vulnerable and defenseless… I personally beheaded all 130 of them."

Vallen's head dropped slightly, his shoulders heavy with guilt. He looked up at the sky once more. "And among them was my brother."

The emperor's eyes widened, his mouth slightly open in disbelief. He shook his head slowly, as if trying to process the weight of what Vallen had just confessed.

 "You killed him?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I did," Vallen replied, his voice firm but filled with sorrow. "Because I had to. He was my best friend, the one I loved the most, but after what he did to that girl, I couldn't see him as my blood brother anymore. I just couldn't." The emperor remained silent, too shocked to speak. Vallen exhaled deeply, the memory clearly still haunting him

"No one knew he was my brother, so I sent his body and severed head home along with his sword, so that our mother, who was proud of us and loved us the most, wouldn't find out what really happened."

The air between them grew still, tense with the weight of Vallen's words. "I made sure he had a proper ceremony and was buried as a hero. But after my mother received the news that he had died, she could only think of one thing, what happened to me?"

Vallen closed his eyes for a moment, his jaw tightening as he struggled to contain the emotion rising within him. "You know, I never sent her a letter, nothing, because I couldn't… not after what had happened. Then, when we were victorious, I was declared missing, though I have no idea why, since I was the commander anI arrived home a day late."

The emperor's eyes remained fixed on Vallen, his breath caught in his throat as Vallen continued.

"When I opened the door to our house," Vallen's voice broke, " the mother I loved more than anything on this earth was lying there in her own blood, clutching the letter that her last son was lost." He paused, his voice cracking under the weight of his sorrow. "I didn't know what to do. The feeling of seeing my own mother like that, the one who did everything to give us the best upbringing and childhood, took her own life in her grief."

The emperor's hand instinctively reached for the armrest of his chair, his knuckles white as he gripped it tightly. 

"So, I did everything I could to see her smile again," Vallen whispered, his eyes distant, as if reliving the moment. "My skill, Yin and Yang, is special, it completely disrupts the cycle of life and the entire System we live in."

He paused, a bitter smile playing on his lips. "I was able to bring her back from death, something the System registered as 'Life.' When she saw me… she was so happy… such a warm feeling I hadn't felt in a long time. But all I could see was the dead body every time I looked at her."

Vallen's voice trembled as he spoke, the weight of his choices pressing down on him. "That's why I don't spend much time with her… because I can't stop thinking about how I found her back then."

The emperor shifted uncomfortably in his seat, still unable to find the words to respond.

"I was 19 years old," Vallen continued, his voice quiet, "and my mother was 56. The System recorded 'Life' when I revived her and then 'Death' when I held her. You see, to bring my mother back, the System and the skill took 56 years of my life."

Vallen looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers as if feeling the weight of those lost years. "It's been 4 years since then, which means I'm now 79 years old."

The emperor's face was a mask of disbelief as he struggled to comprehend the reality of Vallen's words. 

"Many believe that the skill is sealed within my sword, something I can't control… but that's not true," Vallen explained, his voice firmer now. "I don't wield it or rather, I can't wield it because it holds the seal that keeps my mother alive."

A heavy silence fell between them, the emperor unable to speak, his shock palpable. Vallen's expression remained calm, though the sorrow in his eyes betrayed the constant battle within him.

"I no longer taste food," Vallen said softly, almost as if speaking to himself. "I can barely smell… my vision is deteriorating, and my entire body aches." He paused, staring into the distance as if already seeing the end. "The average lifespan of men in the Imperium is around 82 years… and in two weeks, I will turn 80."

The emperor sat in silence, his hands trembling slightly. His mind raced, struggling to remember the image of the proud, fearless warrior he had always known with the broken man standing before him. 

"This man"… The emperor thought, his heart pounding in his chest. "This man has lived through nightmares that no one should ever face." He gripped the edge of his chair as his vision blurred, overcome by the sheer magnitude of Vallen's suffering.

He thought of the wars, the battles where Vallen had been at the forefront, leading his men to victory time and time again. But behind every triumph, there was unspeakable loss. The emperor remembered the stories of the Hague camps, the atrocities committed there, but to hear it from Vallen's own lips… His friends… his brother… The thought sent a cold shiver down the emperor's spine.

He killed his own brother. The emperor felt his stomach churn. The words echoed in his mind, over and over. 

Vallen had done it to preserve what little humanity remained in him. 

Tears burned at the Emperor's eyes, though he refused to let them fall. He was the emperor, he could not be seen as weak. 

Vallen had faced the abyss. And somehow, through all the pain, through all the loss, he had remained standing. But the emperor could see now this wasn't the Vallen of legends, not anymore. This was a man who had carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, and it had slowly broken him. His body was old, worn down from years that had been stolen from him. His soul, scarred beyond recognition, was fragile beneath the cold, distant demeanor he wore like armor.

"And his mother"… The emperor's heart ached as he thought of the woman Vallen had described, the mother who had loved her sons, only to lose them both to the horrors of war. And when Vallen brought her back "He sacrificed his life to see her smile again." And now, every time Vallen looked at her, all he could see was the memory of finding her in her blood, her life taken by grief.

"What kind of man does this world demand him to be?" The emperor clenched his fists, his breath shallow. Vallen had given everything to his youth, his heart, his family yet the world had only taken more. The price for his strength, his victories, had been his very soul.

The emperor looked into Vallen's eyes, and for the first time, he saw the depth of the torment within him. There was no pride, no satisfaction in the things he had accomplished, only regret, pain, and the unrelenting burden of memories that would never fade.

"I've sent him to hell, over and over again", the emperor thought, his chest tight with guilt. He had praised Vallen's achievements, celebrated his victories, but he had never asked what it had cost him. I never saw it. I never even thought to ask.

For all his power, for all the decisions he had made as emperor, he had been blind to the suffering of the very man who had secured his empire's future. And now, as Vallen who was so close to the end of his life, the emperor felt utterly helpless. What could he possibly say? How could he even begin to apologize for all the pain Vallen had endured?

" I had to use it, no matter how much it would have benefited the Imperium—"

With a trembling heart, the emperor rose from his chair, each step a testament to his regret. He pulled Vallen into a tight embrace, holding him as if he were his own son, desperately wishing to shield him from the years of neglect and heartache. Tears brimmed in his eyes as he whispered, "I hope you can forgive me, Vallen."

A heavy silence fell between them, filled with the unspoken understanding of loss and regret. 

From the silent night a voice came.

"Please say that is all a lie, Vallen," Seraphina said, stepping out from behind the columns, her voice steady but laced with desperation. She had hidden there, heart pounding, overhearing the exchange that shattered her world. There were no tears left to cry.

Vallen's heart ached at her words. He had never realized the depth of her feelings.

"Seraphina, I—"

"Don't," she said, shaking her head. "Don't try to protect me from the truth. I heard you, the pain in your voice, it's tearing me apart. Please, just tell me this isn't real. That my father hasn't ruined everything."

He took a deep breath, searching for the right words.

 "The choices made were never easy, and I—"

"Then let me help you." She interrupted, her eyes pleading. "There is a Divine book called–"

"I can't." Vallen's voice broke through her words. "My soul is broken, I can only absorb one Divine book, and there's going to be the one I use to defeat the Republic."

"No, you can't!" She shouted, her voice trembling.. "Why does your life mean less than anyone else's? Why should you be the one to sacrifice everything? Why are you so willing to just throw it away?"

"Seraphina." Vallen gaze locked with hers, filled with emotion, a deep sadness she could hardly bear to see. "It's not that my life means less. It's that I have already made my peace with this. My fate has been sealed for years now. I share my life with my mother. If I die, she dies too. And I am happy to die with her, to end this."

Seraphina's breath caught in her throat as his words sank in. 

"No…" She whispered, stepping closer, her eyes wide with disbelief. "No, Vallen. You can't mean that. You can't just give up like this. I need you, we need you."

"You don't understand." He said, his voice soft but firm. "I suffered for too long, trapped in this life of pain and torment and my mother too." Vallen sighed, his gaze softening as he looked at Seraphina. "I can't let her suffer any longer, Seraphina. This is the only way for her to find peace, and for me too."

Seraphina said nothing, just rushed forward and threw her arms around him, holding him tightly with all her strength, as if she could keep him there by sheer will alone. Her face pressed into his chest, and for the first time in years, she let her sobs break free. The sound of her heartache echoed through the silent hallways, her grief filling the space with raw emotion.

The Emperor remained where he was, unable to look away from the scene before him.He felt like an outsider, watching the two people before him grieve for something that was beyond his reach to fix.

Vallen closed his eyes, his arms slowly wrapping around her, holding her in his embrace one last time. He could feel the weight of her love, her sorrow, and the life they could never have.

And in that moment, surrounded by the emptiness of the palace, they held each other as if time had stopped, knowing that when they let go, nothing would ever be the same again.