"Zaire, you must promise me, you'll live a happy life."
"Why should I? why should I leave and be happy while you all die? I want to die together with you all!"
Zaire looked at the woman in front of him, her dirty blond hair was long, almost reaching the ground as she squatted in front of him.
Her bangs were almost fully covering her distinctive white eyes.
She was the person Zaire considered his "mother figure"
"Why.. do you not want me to be with you..? Am I not enough? Am I too pathetic that going to the battlefield with you all would get me killed? I can stand my ground!"
The woman looked at the young boy, swiping away his blond bangs to the right, she looked at straight at his navy blue eyes
"You're only with us because you considered us your "family". You had your childhood stripped from you, spending it at a lab being an experiment. Soon, we rescued you and you joined our group. You had 0 choice in any of these."
"And my choice now is that I want to die together with you all! I don't want to live in a world without any of you! Please…"
Zaire started tearing up, placing his heat on her chest.
"Elysia.. it's almost time"
A shirtless burly man walked in the cave
"I know.. I know"
Elysia didn't glance at the man, instead she remained focused on Zaire.
"Zaire, you'll do anything I say. Right?"
"…"
Zaire looked up, his eyes were now puffy.
"Don't cry, it's not an expression that suits you. You were always so.. apathetic before. I'm glad that you opened your hearts to us"
"Then why-"
"Because it's not worth it. You're someone who only experienced at best, less a quarter of your life. Our group was founded in order to ensure the world's continued-living. But what is the point of living if there is no one left to live in it?"
She took the clock laying beside them and placed it on his hand.
"This is your clock. It has your divinity and some of mine inside. I want you to live happily, to not care about the prophecy, the hero. The hero has yet to descend upon us and will not descend for the next 20 years. You can spend these 20 years being happy, building a house.. getting a lover.. baking.. anything. Just.. be happy"
"But… but"
Zaire's voice turned into a whisper, he wiped away his tears with his arm
"I don't want you to leave.."
Elysia patted his head.
"If you really want to contribute.. I'll assign you a mission. The hero who descends will have black hair and ruby eyes, a bright yellow star will be etched upon his back. You can ensure his rise."
"… do you.. really not intend on having me go with you?"
"..I'm sorry"
Elysia stood up and walked to the burly man
"Zaire, I send you my best wishes. Please, and this is all I ask for, live happily. You deserve it"
Zaire looked at the burly man next to him, who nodded and waved goodbye.
"Both I and all the other members wish you the best too."
As Zaire looked at them walk away, he could only continue crying.
***
'What time is it..'
I opened his eyes. I'm pretty sure i had ended up crying to sleep last time.
Stepping out of the cave, i looked at the bright blue sky.
'They..they're dead'
I stopped the rising emotions in me.
'… she assigned me a mission'
To ensure the hero's rise.
The last mission she had assigned to me
This was more of a safe guard than anything really, she probably assigned it on a whim because i was being too annoying to her.. I was dragging her down and she had to get me off her.
But…
'What do I do for the next 20 years?'
The hero was to descend in 20 years. So what was I suppose to do? I'd probably have left the world by then.
I had nothing in this world.
No family, no house other than whatever this cave is, no people I know outside of them.
At most, I made a few friendships but they were all superficial because I was in the group with her.
It would be better to die.
But, she wanted me to live a happy life. And what'd make me happy would be fulfilling her wish, to let the world continue living. But I didn't want to wait 20 years for that
After contemplating for a while, I finally thought of something.
I stood up and walked to a room.
As I was about to knock, I prevented myself and simply opened the door. There was no one living here anymore after all.
I stood in, staring at the large stone in the middle of the room.
The divinity crystal of time. Just like the demigod of time, it was officially considered lost by many. Those high up in society and demigods knew that a demigod of time existed and the divinity crystal was actually safe and sound, but that was at most 100 people, and they didn't even know where the crystal was. This cave was in a mountain and sealed off after all. Only those who are exetremely good at detecting mana and divinity can find it.
I stepped in, walking to the crystal.
I touched the rough edges of the crystal, feeling the divinity.
'I just need to abstract enough divinity to stop time for myself for 20 years.'
Truth be told, I wasn't sure if I could survive this. All I could do was wield a fraction of the authority of time. I was no demigod of time, my "mother" was.
Soon, I shut my eyes, letting the divinity flow around me.
Soon, it all turned pitch black.