"The Final Toll — Nevan and the Piano Melody"
Nevan walked through the ruined cathedral. The soles of his boots sank into blood, ash, and crumbled embers; with every step he raised dust of sorrowful memories. Then he stopped.
He heard it.
From somewhere amid the wreckage… a gentle piano melody played. Familiar and mournful, yet threaded with a certain compassion and forgiveness.
"That music… I heard it once… when it was still alive…"
The piano's sound spread from the cathedral's doorway and echoed through the cold, silent streets of Asterra. From between the shadows, the spirits of the dead rose. They did not surge angrily — instead they drifted quietly toward the music, attentive.
In their eyes there was not rage but remembrance: final words, memories of past lives, glowing in their depths.
Among the shadow that played the music sat a young man with brows like night, drowned in sorrow. His fingers pressed the keys with the most delicate, tender touch, and even the fallen leaves and shattered stones at the cathedral's entrance seemed to stir at the sound.
"This is… his final words… a lamenting symphony pleading forgiveness for the past and bidding farewell to the living…"
Nevan stood frozen, drew a shallow breath through his nose, and felt a nameless ache in his chest. Each spirit used the melody to whisper the last words they wished to send to their loved ones.
"Mother… forgive me…" "My beloved, I still remember you…" "My son… you were my pride…"
The music reached deeper into the heart, shining like a light amid the darkness.
Nevan thought to himself: "How strange… Even the masters of darkness play such music…"
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The Final Toll of Darkness — Chapter II: Forgiveness in the Melody
Among the ruins of the collapsed cathedral a soft, gentle piano melody rang out. Sad and compassionate, the tune reached Nevan's ears, and he followed it in silence to the cathedral's great hall.
At the center of the hall stood a piano as if placed on the snow. Behind it sat a woman cloaked in black, her hood casting her face in shadow, crafting a lonely melody with her fingers.
The few survivors and the spirits of the dead gathered to hear her. They noticed Nevan, but none paid him any heed; their attention was entirely fixed on the music, which resonated with whatever remained in their hearts.
As the piano's lament deepened, each spirit began to perform farewell rites to the loved ones they left behind. Families and friends separated by death entrusted their final feelings to the music, mourning without shedding tears.
When the melody ended, the bodies of the spirits dissolved into white smoke and drifted upward toward the sky. As the music stopped, the crowd dispersed in silence, and Nevan remained alone.
— Nevan: "What are you doing here, Maria?" — Maria: (looking toward the music, softly) "Don't you see what I'm doing?" — Nevan: "No. I heard that melody just now. The spirits… you sent them to a peaceful place, didn't you?" — Maria: "Yes. They had no other choice. Nevan… will you not return? The seat at the hall is still empty." — Maria: "I am thinking about returning. But… I expected that someone else would take my seat and lead better than I did." — Nevan: "What are you saying…? There is no one better than me. A person like you—strong as you—cannot be born again." — Maria: "Power is only a title among the shadow's champions. I am merely a shadow of bloody memories who moves by orders." — Nevan: "No. You are a wandering hero. You are the only one who knows what happens where. You may not have heard, but the branch known as the 'Eye of Darkness' cannot move without your command." — Maria: "I do not want to spill blood anymore. I have had enough." — Nevan: "Yet there is no sinless person in this world. You said that yourself, did you not?" — Maria: "Yes… our sins are not different from those of the cathedral. They sin by the light; we sin under darkness. The difference is only form." — Maria: "People die… but some deaths are too sudden, too cold. We stand behind those deaths." — Maria: "Death is not a cessation of life, but a responsibility. The sorrow after slaughter… we call that 'sin'."
Maria continued: "Thus we call that feeling 'sin'. Too much pleasure? — Sin. Too much greed? — Sin. Overindulgence? — Sin. Becoming arrogant and domineering? — Sin. Killing other living beings to avoid starvation? — Sin as well.
Sin… sin… this world is filled with sin."
Nevan (in a calm, even voice): "Then what shall we do, Maria? If she wants to cast off that terrible sin… do we go to the white temples of the holy light and kneel and pray?" Maria (closing her eyes, exhaling): "No… Praying to gods changes nothing. We must bear the sin, carry it, and walk with it. That is our fate."
As Nevan spoke, just when the conversation reached a true center, the hall's door suddenly creaked and several unannounced visitors entered.
Sefist greeted them with a pale smile: — "You look well, Caira?" he said, grinning.
Kraan looked at Maria and asked: — "Who is this woman?"
Sophia exclaimed: — "Hello, Sister Maria!"
Casmir smiled and teased: — "You look more beautiful than before. Will you marry me?"
Maria's face offered no smile; she refused: — "No." — "Why?" Casmir asked, surprised. — "You are not my interest," Maria replied, quietly but clearly.
Sefist frowned: — "Now is not the time to flirt. Move aside — the Light's Laita troops are coming. This was always part of their plan."
Suddenly Maria spoke: — "I do not want to see more blood spilled."
Kraan asked in a puzzled look: — "Ain… but aren't those people? Why would you not see them?"
Sefist's eyes twitched: — "They're creatures that cannot get off their circular tracks. They're pests." He turned to Maria: — "Will you return?" Maria shook her head: — "No, I will not."
— "Why?" Sefist asked. — "My intuition says: 'Now is not the time,'" Maria answered, then walked off. As they walked a little, Maria suddenly seemed to recall something; she pulled a small envelope from her pocket.
— "Oh — I nearly forgot to give you something important. Read it on your way," she said, handing the envelope to Kraan, and then she pulled her black hood up and disappeared into the ruined cathedral, swallowed by the darkness.