The Crossed Seas guild had been growing more and more ever since the youngsters—Aya, Dorian, and Cid—had been leading missions in the Eshvir region, ensuring that no events like the one months ago could occur again.
Whilst they had been successful and moving on from the past, it didn't come without difficulty and tough decisions. One of those decisions was prominent today.
Aya was sitting down, observing the room that she had once shared with Xerxes, now merely a memory of the past, but his presence still lingered.
Gazing at his bed, at the drawings on the wall, Aya chuckled slightly, "It's been a year since you left, Xerxes, and I feel as if I am torn between the fabrics that bind the world we had come to create, me, you, and Dorian, and the one where I have been running away from."
Aya thought deeply about the changes within her life, the decisions she had made that led to this point, and whilst she had been suppressing those emotions with the help of the mature around her, who had experienced loss, and with her own friends, she couldn't easily rid herself of those emotions.
Every day, she knew at the back of her mind, it was her fault, and that even now she still lacked responsibility; she was still running away from things she was 'meant' to do.
"I still hear the horrors of that day, like some grotesque melody playing over and over; it taunts me, it does, Xerxes. I need to change something, and I think... I need to go back to the Eros Kingdom, Xerxes. I need to face my brother and uphold my responsibilities as the sister of an Aspect."
Simply by mentioning his status, her brother, Cyrus Lanthir, Aya quivered, reminiscing about the past. Cyrus always wanted more from her; he wanted something even an Aspect couldn't achieve, but in that process, Aya lost something that she had held dear.
She had lost her brother, her self-esteem, her self-worth, through the pain of his torture, through the mental torture and from the horrid things he had forced her to do.
She shook her head and Aya picked up a birthday present Xerxes had given her when she had first arrived in the Layne Kingdom.
It was simple, childish even, but she still cherished it to this day. It was a small locket that held a painting intricately made with the precision of a delicate Indonian mage, one they had spent a lot of money on.
Aya flicked open the case, and she saw a painting that they had waited three hours in the same place for it to be fully painted. It was Aya in the middle, with Xerxes flailing his new fire magic, that made him almost pass out, and Dorian raising his sword, holding a small Emryss, who was still a baby.
"Dorian promised that one day we would soar through clouds, with the wind brushing across our skin, to the Mons Mountain range; that we would reach the branches of the great tree of Eros; that we would do so much together. But are promises rea;;y meant to be kept here, in the Crossed Seas guild?"
Her face turned bitter; she visualised what her life could have been, what she thought it was meant to be. However, maybe Aya never truly left the Eros Kingdom; there was still some part of her that never arrived in Layne.
She shivered, brushing her fingers across her skin, the raging storm between the interpass of Layne and the Eros Kingdom, which she had passed through originally, still haunted her physical being, and perhaps it served as a reminder to her.
A reminder that no matter how far she ran, she would one day have to accept reality and stop living in her fantasy. "This is destiny, after all; I cannot wish to combat against it, I cannot wish to refuse it, because life will always find a way to ensure that my destiny is fulfilled. Maybe your death proves that to me, Xerx, that I have to go back to the Eros Kingdom."
"All the good I have done for Layne over these past few months could pale in comparison to what I can do, granted Cyrus succeeds in what he chooses for me to do. If I could become an Aspect of the Eros Kingdom one day, I'd do more good than what I can now."
Aya pulled out a newspaper that was within her drawer, and what had given her the idea for going back to Eros was for one singular reason. It was this year that it was announced—shortly after the 'death' of Xerxes.
It was a new program, the Vaisel Mage Programme, announced by the Court of Kings. The reason being, in a new day and age after the War of Man and Beasts, after the world had generally come to a more peaceful era, there had been no high-risk scenarios where people would have to prove themselves, which led to the inability of many kingdoms being able to decide on new Aspects or produce stronger mage.
But with a programme like this, where Aspects, the most competent mages on the continent, could oversee one specific mage, that problem could be dealt with at an easier level than what had been occurring.
Currently, in the six great kingdoms, there had been Vaisel Mage vacancies for three: the Human Kingdom of Layne, the Daemon Kingdom of Xelryss, and finally, the Elven Kingdom of Eros.
"I can only imagine why he has not picked anyone—Cyrus knows I am out there somewhere and is waiting for me in his own sick, twisted way. But can I blame him?"
Aya began to walk towards the window, looking up at the full moon, which glimmered with so much beauty it could put someone in a trance. "Could I blame him for waiting on someone he probably thought was gone? As much as I hate him, as much as I despise the Lanthir name, I cannot help but see myself in him, because in Cyrus' own way of waiting for me... I am waiting for you, Xerx, even if that day may never come."
"I sometimes wonder if your gazing at the same moon as me, if you feel what I am feeling, if you have gone to the afterlife or you have ended up somewhere. But how long can I believe in that..."
Aya sighed; her questions made her mental state worse and worse, and without something to distract herself, not doing any simple missions, but something greater, she only feared that it would get worse. However, deep down she knew with Cyrus' intervention she may not be the same person who she once was.
"I shall give myself one year. I will remain in the Kingdom of Layne for one more year, and if nothing really changes, if I do not judge myself fit of carrying on a goal that we both wanted, then I will depart. But if there is a trickle of hope, even one percent within me, telling me that I can go on like this, then I will stay. I shall stay for the ones who I also owe everything to: Vanessa, Dorian, and the Crossed Seas guild."
Aya then placed her wand down on the side, pushing different envelopes and letters into the specific drawers, and finally looking at her side of the room.
Looking at it, she thought on how obsessed she had become, there were specific links going back and forth from the Fallen Kingdom, many articles and findings of phenomena that had occurred there, different anomalies that occurred with mana. But in the end, it turned into a fruitless chase.
Aya sat down on Xerxes' old bed, whilst taking off her garments and shoes. Closing her eyes, she heard the laughter, as memories replayed in her mind—of both her, Xerxes, and Dorian strolling around their room, playing simple games.
Though now, she was alone, trapped in a memory of the past that she wasn't sure she wanted to escape, as she slowly fell asleep wondering what Xerxes would do if he was still here.