The cold desert air blew through the narrow city streets as Akari and Aaron walked slowly back to their hotel.
High above their heads, the moon itself glistened with a renewed radiance, its lunar gravity turning the once calm waves into large monsoons.
Yet, as the two challengers strolled through town after their swift meal, they shared a quiet conversation.
"After you had disappeared, I went to Sea Fallen to search for you since you had always said that it was a place you wanted to go."
Akari paused, looking over at the boy who gazed at her wearily, his eyes bloodshot from sleep deprivation.
"I happened to have a dream during my time in that city, one about you."
Aaron's brow ticked upward, a spark of interest flashing through his eyes as he listened to her intently.
"But it wasn't just you in that dream. No, it wasn't that simple. There was another girl who had long blonde hair and wore the dress of a priestess."
There was a silence as the boy stopped where he stood, his gaze locked on his feet as if they were rocks weighing him down.
"It just so happens that I watched her be kidnapped in Sea Fallen and only a few weeks ago in Corvassa, I saw that very same girl lying in a hospital bed, comatose."
Finishing her one-sided reveal, Akari waited for his response, a heaviness spreading in the air between them.
After a few minutes of silent deliberation, Aaron finally spoke, addressing the pink-haired girl in a low voice.
"It was only a few weeks after I regained consciousness… I was in the Sea of Chains and found a pirate ship floating in the sea. Aboard that ship, there was only one girl, Eleanor Lynn, a priestess from Sea Fallen."
He pursed his lips, taking a moment to sort out his thoughts, but soon continued.
"She told me she had been sent by an angel, likely the same one I had met on an abandoned island a few weeks prior. Of course, I welcomed her onto the small fishing vessel I had awoke on."
Adjusting the sapphire ring on his finger that ached ever-so-slightly, he recounted his experiences after that meeting.
"We travelled together for a few weeks until we got to Sea Fallen. She helped me with my Ancient Nordic, and I obviously brought her back home. Once we arrived in the city, we parted ways for a time. I headed towards the Hunters' Guild, and she spoke of unfinished business at the Church of Depths."
Aaron's eyes glazed over as he reached the part that he wished not to remember, the image that made him keep pushing forward even in the toughest times, with one goal only.
"We did not meet again until the Great Wall fell. I had traced down the terrorists to an underground Mausoleum with a core so powerful that it could've been left behind by a deity. By the time I had entered, she had already witnessed the death of what I assume was her friend. The man who attacked them also seemed to be in a daze."
Furrowing her pink brow slightly, Akari leaned closer, not wanting to miss any of the elaborate details of the biggest disaster in recent history.
"After that, I was sucked into the mindscape where I could access both Eleanor's and the terrorist's, Adam's, memories. I watched her suffering for what felt like hours until something broke inside me."
He turned his eyes towards the ground again, his face pale and his breathing getting heavy and erratic.
"There was something that went wrong, and she nearly died right there and then. I still don't know why or how it happened, but all I knew was that I had to get her out of the city at all costs. I had nothing else to live for at the time, so, as I placed my life on the line for her, I fought against him… or what was left of him inside that monster."
His hand instinctively reached upwards to his shoulders, a place constantly battered and bruised by the enemies he fought.
"I barely escaped with my own life; however, as I raced through the city to escape, I wished for a miracle. That miracle came in the form of Lord Quinn, whose actions helped me survive and get Eleanor out of that place. Ever since then, I've been looking into ways to wake Eleanor from her coma."
Akari watched as his face twisted from disappointment and sadness to a fierce determination that even surpassed her own.
"Cauron Thorn is the only one who can save her at this point. And if I can get an item from the Vault of Nautilus that would be of interest to him, then I'll be able to ask him to heal her and bring her back from whatever hell she is going through right now."
Ending his long-winded explanation, which practically laid out his whole life ever since he had awoken on the Ghostship, Aaron faced the girl, waiting for her reply.
For a moment, she just stood there, processing everything she had just heard, the craziness of his experiences adding up in her head.
"T-Thats…"
She cut off, unsure of how to even react.
"That's horrible… Are you sure you're alright?"
There was nothing else she could even think of saying after listening to the boy's tragic story that recounted his days in Sea Fallen.
The sequence of events that ruined the once prosperous city was so awful that many of the survivors were left with severe traumatic stress disorders or mental handicaps.
Yet, this boy, who had been in the very epicenter of the disaster, could still laugh and joke with her like he didn't have a care in the world.
I-Is he really okay?
As she reached out to place her hand on his shoulder, he avoided her and began walking again, his gaze unreadable as he moved through the night-covered city.
No… He's not okay… He is just smiling through it like always…
The memory of their childhood resurfaced in the pink-haired girl's mind, her friend that she had known forever, finally gone in her mind, now replaced with this hardened Hunter.
…
They reached the hotel around one in the morning, both children on the verge of passing out from fatigue.
As they made their way up the staircase and to the door that Aaron swiftly unlocked, they both fell into their beds without delay.
Before the blond boy could even place the sheets over himself, he could hear Akari's high-pitched snores from across the room.
Someone was tired…
Deciding that he wasn't quite done with the day just yet, he climbed out from his soft mattress, looking sadly over towards the corner where Raphael had enclosed himself before leaving for good.
By then, he had probably already arrived in Corvassa, where he would receive mental care from the professionals employed by the Guild.
Yawning slightly, the boy walked into the bathroom, clicking on the light and locking the door behind him.
"Penelope."
He spoke in less than a whisper, afraid to wake the sleeping girl outside.
『Ughh, what time is it…』
Furrowing his brow slightly at her words, he pushed aside his original plans and asked a question instead.
"You have a sleep schedule?"
There was a short pause, an awkward silence hanging between the two.
『Of course, I have a sleep schedule. Just because you want to talk doesn't mean you can keep me awake.』
Then she groaned and closed off her thoughts, clearly intent on ignoring Aaron in favour of sleep.
However, Aaron stirred her up again by allowing Naelith's voice to boom through his head.
"DROWN THEM ALL!"
The creature's happy shouts annoyed the noble woman inside his head, her words coming out sharply.
『Fine, fine. I'll talk. Just shut him up before he wakes the other thing in here…』
At the mention of the otherworldly deity that lurked inside Aaron's head, the boy listened to her words, silencing the Apex with a burst of mana for it to feast on.
『Good… So what do you want?』
Hearing her tired voice serenade his ears, the blond boy decided to make it quick and get straight to the point.
"Are the two Sea King commanders still on the island?"
He had known they were going to stay a little longer to transport the Church's supplies across the bay, but he was unsure if they were still around.
『Let's see…』
There was a pulsation of mana ejected from the boy's body, and in the other room, Akari stirred slightly in response.
『The aura of Death is gone. Only Dreams remain, and he's near the Church.』
Nodding his head slowly at the information, he spoke again, quieter this time.
"What about that cult leader? Have you located him yet?"
There was a pause from the girl, a quiet buzz coming from inside his head.
『No. I can't detect him anywhere.』
Sighing heavily, Aaron responded while exiting the bathroom.
"I'm going for a midnight stroll to cool off. If I find him on the way, then all the better."
Glancing over his shoulder at the sleeping girl, he smiled slightly, turning the handle on the entrance door and slipping out onto the open staircase that led to the courtyard.
Walking down the metallic steps, each clang against the solid surface sent shivers down his spine, a strange feeling seeping into his gut.
As he reached the bottom and felt his feet sink into the sand, he took three steps forward before stopping with a confused frown.
Taking a glance downward, his body froze as he realized what he was staring at, a look of absolute horror dawning across his face.
A straw doll with cherry-colored hair charred black, fire dancing over its form as blood dripped from its surface.
Summoning Penelope to his side and spinning around as fast as possible, he found himself staring straight into Crimson Sanctormous's eyes, a smile streaking from one side of his face to the other.
Then, with his hand raised in the air, he snapped his fingers together, and Aaron was forced to watch as the entire hotel exploded in a fireball of destruction.