Do something?
Zerath and Vivia exchanged confused glances.
Zerath asked, "What should I do?"
"Not you. Her."
A beat of silence later, he said. "Vivia Mariel."
They went still. The whisper of her real name buzzed in her ears as like a plunge into the ice-cold water. She was used to Zerath calling her by it, but hearing it here, like this, was something entirely different.
Of course, nothing is hidden from God…
"Yes…" her breath came out a little shaky as she stared at the silhouette - still shrouded in the hazy mist as always.
The figure stopped swinging his legs, bringing an eerie stillness in the air.
"You must protect someone."
She blinked twice. "Protect someone? Who…? And from what?"
"You will eventually understand it yourself when the time comes. But you must protect that person. That is what I want from you in exchange for granting your wish."
Zerath knitted his brows. He couldn't understand the cryptic request either which held no information at all - just a promise.
Vivia glanced at Zerath, uncertain. He placed his hand on top of hers and looked at the mysterious silhouette.
"Is it something dangerous?"
"Given the kind of storms you keep walking into, what do you think?" His enigmatic voice lulled peacefully.
Zerath could actually feel that he was probably smiling. His heart sank. If a figure - about whom he was quite certain that it was God - was asking Vivia to do something for him, then it only made sense it would be anything but sunshine and roses.
"Please let me do it instead. It's me who needs the Vein to return to my realm. I won't have Vivia walk into danger because of me."
"You can't. Only she can do it. Besides…" The silhouette's head slightly tilted. "There is no going back from the chaos you have gotten yourself into. It will only grow more dangerous from here, not shrink."
He clenched his fist. "I-"
"I'll do it."
"Vivia!"
She furrowed her brows and pinched his cheeks. "I know you're worried about me. I understand you, but I'll be fine. Trust me. I'll take care of myself. If you can't return to Rudaheim, you can't imagine the pandemonium. You're the Crown Prince, after all."
His lips pressed into a thin line. "I cannot agree to this, Vivia. If something happens to you while protecting this person, I would never forgive myself."
"Please trust me, Zerath. I'm not defenseless, and I'll always be alert. I…don't feel alone. I think I can trust Lady Judith. Queen Regina adores Clairette. Erissa worries about me. Finnian is a talented wizard, and now I know that Aeren is also someone I can count on to be on my side. All this time…"
Her fingertips gathered onto his warmth.
"You know, before I left the palace to find Audreya, I felt I was completely alone. I thought I could trust one knight - but he ratted me out. Since then, I felt it was me against everyone. I couldn't afford to take even a single misstep. But since coming here - meeting Judith, Finnian, learning Aeren's intentions - I feel stronger than ever. They might or might not be able to help me protect this person, but I know that I won't be abandoned anymore."
Listening to her sincere words, Zerath understood Vivia's sentimente. At one point in time, he was like that too.
The days when he had just stepped into the royal palace as the adopted son were filled with doubt, hesitation and suffocation. Nefarion loved him, but that was all. The palace walls were nothing more than lifeless pillars for him.
It was only when he slowly garnered the support of his own people - whether it was Lucian, Silas, Gressil, Doloros or Asmodea - that the once lifeless walls eventually brightened with colors. They stopped feeling like stone.
The palace began to feel like home. Because Zerath wasn't alone anymore.
There were people who would stand by his side because they cared about him. It was that sense of realization that Vivia was beginning to feel now.
When in a grand position as that of a royal prince or princess, one cannot afford to be alone. You cannot lead a kingdom alone. You need people by your side you could put your trust into. And to find those people was the most reassuring than anything in this world.
If Vivia trusted them, then Zerath knew he needed to place his faith in her trust.
He closed his eyes for a moment. Then opened them again. A quiet smile settled on his lips.
"Okay."
Vivia's face lit up. "Thank you!"
He frowned. "If you get hurt, I'll punish you though."
"I'll accept any punishment~!"
"Wrong answer. You should be saying you won't let yourself get hurt."
"O-Oh," she coughed. "Apologies. I-I just got too excited…"
He paused. "What kind of a punishment were you imagining?"
Her brow twitched, her ears threatening to turn bright red. "You're just putting words in my mouth at this point!"
She turned back to the silhouette before he could say anything else.
"I'll do it. I'll protect the person when the time comes."
"Are you sure?"
"...Why do you ask that?"
"It might prove to be a…difficult task."
Vivia looked determined nevertheless. "No matter how hard it'd get, I promise on my name that I'll protect this person you speak of."
After a heavy pause, He said, "Nara has taught you quite well."
She froze. "You-you know Master Nara...- I mean of course you do…" the earlier breathlessness flooded back, and she shakily asked, "Can I ask you something?"
"I know what you want to ask. It's about your reincarnation as Clairette Emberlain, isn't it?"
She pressed her lips together, then parted. "Forbidden rituals don't just happen by chance. Someone must perform them to get what they desire."
"Indeed."
She clutched her dress, beads of sweat forming at her brows. The mere anticipation of his answer felt like she was sinking.
"Did someone close to me perform one?"
"Yes."
"Was it…Master?"
In that moment, she felt the weight of the God's scrutinizing gaze upon her - despite being unable to see him at all.
"Yes. And she is dying."
A steep silence fell, turning their eyes vacant.
"Dying…?"
"You must understand that Nara wasn't truly alive in the first place. Not since she died centuries ago."
That revelation landed, abruptly that, almost as if they just took a plunge into some unfathomable, inescapable void. Though they already had an inkling of the impossibility of Nara's survival for this long - hearing it take the shape of reality was something else entirely. To the both orphaned Zerath and Vivia, Nara was the only person who came close to being their parent-figure they needed and longed for. The person who had shaped them, tested them, infuriated them and believed in them.
Zerath's lashes trembled. "For five hundred years, how was she able to…"
"I granted her time. Because her purpose wasn't over, not then."
They stared at the silhouette.
"But Master aided in ending the deadly war…" Vivia said.
"That was five centuries ago. You may think that that ended everything, but it hadn't. The future - or the present that you live in now - wasn't out of danger. She had to fulfill another purpose - and that was to find two disciples to pass her blessings onto."