Even the Wind Remembers

While looking for Fenric, Lior had a lot of time to think.

He frowned.

I'll die if this keeps up.

The previous clash had been a brief one. Lior ended up triumphant, but there were many things that tipped the scales in his favor.

His opponent's condition—pathetic. The warrior's body was in no shape to fight. He could barely walk without Immanence. That goes to show how powerful his augmentation was.

Luckily, he was as thick as he looked.

The man's overreliance on magical reinforcement also played a part. His technique left a lot to be desired. The injuries didn't help. But relying on brute force was a mistake—especially against someone like Lior.

Brushing the back of his head, he winced.

Ouch! Fuck! If just a few of those half-dead punches did this… he would've easily killed me at full strength.

He walked a bit more. Then he heard a familiar voice.

"You killed someone again, wretch. When will you stop? How far will you go? Will anyone be left standing once you're satisfied?"

Lior immediately recognized the disgusting voice.

It was his.

Dragging the sword through the snowy ground, he smirked.

"Oh, it's you?" he answered. "You really don't give up. He attacked me first. I simply acted in self-defense."

The voice didn't answer immediately. It waited a few seconds.

"Lies. What stopped you from avoiding conflict? He couldn't even give chase. You chose to kill him."

Lior clicked his tongue while shaking his head.

"You really are a dumb monkey," he said coldly. "Turning your back on an enemy. Idiocy, at its finest."

He sighed, already tired of the conversation.

"Listen, I don't care what a dumb voice thinks of me."

"Do you have fun?" the voice asked. "The killing. Like when you took the poor angel's life? Or that nameless soldier—he probably had a family, and you killed him in cold blood. Don't you feel a shred of remorse, you cretin?"

The voice chuckled.

"Of course not. They are all monkeys to you, aren't they? You even killed your own moth—"

"Shut it!" Lior snapped.

He stood motionless. His eyes narrowed. Teeth clenched.

"Can't you just fuck off!" he shouted. "Why should I care? You think that old bastard would've spared me just because I had a family? No, he wouldn't. Why annoy me with these stupid questions?"

He waved his hand as if shooing a fly.

"Yes, I killed them. Yes, I had to kill them."

His voice dropped.

"Satisfied? Now, fuck off."

The voice didn't answer. It left.

---

After walking some more, Lior found Fenric.

The boy, crouching next to a corpse, shook his head in disappointment.

"Hey, Fenric," Lior said, his voice a few feet behind the boy. "No luck, huh?"

"Oh, Lior. It's you," he said—startled, but didn't look back.

"You are right. I'm sorry, I can't find any," Fenric said dejectedly.

Lior smiled warmly.

He wiped the blood off the Kodachi onto his pants.

"That's alright," he said.

Fenric turned around.

"Really? Don't we need weapons?" the boy asked.

"We do," Lior answered instantly, "and we do have weapons."

He outstretched his right hand, pushing the Kodachi onto the boy's chest.

"Here, you can have this one."

Then he turned his head back, glancing at the curved longsword.

"I'll use this one."

Fenric, surprised, stared at the sword he was given. Then at the sword Lior was dragging.

"How did you find those?" he asked, in disbelief.

Lior smirked, then pointed at the Kodachi.

"That one, I found next to a headless corpse," he answered. "Can you believe he never got to use it?"

"As for this one…" he threw a glance to the Odachi. "I had to behead a walking corpse and take it from him."

Fenric's eyes were wide open. His jaw left hanging in the air.

"You killed a Hollow?" he asked.

Lior raised his eyebrow. Confused, he answered a question with his own.

"A what?"

"A Hollow, Lior," Fenric replied, "You know, the walking corpses with no sentience. They're fueled by one emotion that didn't leave their body even after death."

Lior chuckled. Realizing the misunderstanding, he quickly dismissed it.

"Ah, no, it wasn't anything like that."

His laughter stopped, but the smile still lingered.

"That guy was alive—barely. Actually, he was a warrior of Velgrynd. The old man had a Kindled core."

He placed his fingers on his chest.

"Guess what yours truly did?" he asked.

Not giving Fenric a chance to speak, he sliced the air with his hand—mimicking a slash.

"With only one slash, his head was already on the ground."

"Really?" Fenric's eyes glistened with awe. His face filled with excitement.

"You are amazing, Lior."

Lior, his arms crossed, nodded.

"But..." Fenric took a better look at him, "then why is your head bleeding?"

Lior, embarrassed, coughed.

"You see..." he paused, "that old bastard caught me by surprise and hit me from behind."

He shook his head, then sighed.

"Anyway, that doesn't matter."

He looked beyond Fenric.

There stood a temple—ruined, scarred by war, forgotten by time itself.

It wasn't large. One side of the walls had collapsed. The other was barely holding on. Only fine dust remained, carried away by the winter breeze. It looked like the building was disintegrating—slowly, but surely.

There was something ominous about it. It drew Lior's attention.

"Hey, Fenric," he said, "come with me."

He leaned the Odachi against the ruined wall.

Slowly, they stepped inside the temple. There were no doors, just a hole for an entrance.

As they did, something changed inside Lior.

The cold bit his skin even harder. That didn't bring him pain. What he felt when he walked in was—

Sorrow, solitude, fear… and something else. He couldn't explain what that feeling was.

But it felt the strongest.

Then he heard Fenric's whimper.

"Mother..."

Lior swiftly turned around.

He looked at Fenric. The boy stood unnaturally still. His face in an awkward daze. Eyes had no spark in them. The only movement was tears. They slid down his motionless face in unison.

What the fuck... Lior thought, concern written on his face.

He quickly glanced around to see if anyone was there.

No one was.

The inside was much like the outside—dead. The fallen debris lay all over the stone floor. The wind, gliding through the gaps, sang a terrifying tune.

As if the walls are crying.

It creeped Lior out.

He grabbed Fenric's hand and quickly ran outside.

Once outside, he let go of the boy's hand.After a brief pause, he asked:

"What happened, Fenric? Are you alright?"

Fenric's eyes came back to life. Confused, he asked:

"What do you mean? Didn't we approach the... Huh?"

Noticing the tears on his face, he quickly wiped them away.

"Why am I crying?" he asked. "What happened?"

Lior raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Fenric asked, even more confused.

Lior, lost in thought, waited a few seconds.

No, really... what happened back there?

He shook his head, a sigh escaping his mouth.

"Never mind," Lior said. "Let's just go back for today."

Fenric nodded.

---

While heading back, Lior suddenly turned to Fenric and said:

"Listen. We won't be scavenging as often for now. Only when it's necessary."

"Why?" Fenric asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

Lior raised his finger. He spoke while twirling it around.

"Simple. We have more important things to do now."

Fenric frowned a bit.

"Like what?" he asked.

Still dragging the massive Odachi, Lior smiled.

"Train, hunt, form a core. That is what we will be doing."