Noticing the skeleton in ornate robes sitting opposite her, Elizabeth's battle instincts honed through a millennium flared.
Her drooping ears flared, the earrings gingling. Her pupils narrowed, muscles tensed, and her staff appeared in her hands.
Her clothes flared, the ever-present protective layer reinforcing itself. Her hat stirred, the numerous spirits housed in there stirring.
It all happened in an instant, and for that moment, the projection of the past, overlaid on the city of Autsberg, flickered as if preparing to vanish.
The Skeleton stirred at that moment.
It didn't seem startled.
With its hands still crossed, it raised one of its skeletal fingers adorned with jewels of unimaginable powers. The world seemed to dim.
In the next instant, the flickering figure of Young Jonah and Elizabeth stabilised.
The children seemed unconcerned. Young Elizabeth still tried her best to pull Jonah out of his book, and Young Jonah still tried his damnedest to stick to his spot. The cat still rolled around with his pouch of catnip, and the city outside played out like normal.
And that reminded both the skeleton and the Elf that the city, as grand as it was, was indeed only a replay of the past.
"Haah!" Elizabeth let out a breath that dispersed into the air like mist, visible to the naked eye.
It was highly saturated Mana, brimming with life. The skeleton was no stranger to it.
Elizabeth stood up.
Her staff vanished, her combat readiness seemed to disappear, and for a moment, the skeleton didn't feel the sense of creeping danger deep in his barebones spine.
For a moment, the skeleton didn't know what to do.
It, too, stood up, untangling its arms, only to regret it when it didn't know how to proceed. All the preparation he'd done prior with that Elf woman didn't seem to matter.
As the business came, he didn't even know where to put his damned hands!! He should've brought his staff!
"Jonah?"
As his mind was a mess, he heard the whisper.
It was faint, as if coming from a choked person.
His cluttered mind settled down. He raised his hollow eyes to look straight at the woman opposite him.
At that moment, his mind was calm, calmer than it'd ever been in the last few years.
"Yes," he replied, "Have you seen an old woman around, young lady? I'm supposed to meet someone-"
He wasn't allowed to finish his icebreaker.
He was enveloped by the figure of a crying elf.
The hat had flown off Elizabeth's head at some point. It lay on the floor, close to the children, with the furballs peeking out from it.
Jonah could see the snowy white hair on the elf and the twitching ear from his vantage point.
Elizabeth clung to his bony frame, her face buried in his chest. He couldn't imagine it being comfortable.
He didn't shy away, placing his hand on her back.
He felt tongue-tied. Not that he had one.
He didn't know what to say anymore. The calmness he had felt just moments ago felt distant, yet it didn't return to the chaotic mix it was.
Mere moments had passed, yet time seemed to stretch for both.
Elizabeth looked up from Jonah's bony chest, upward, looking at the skeletal head looking down on her.
Her pearly white hair clung to her snot and tears, sticking to her face. Coupled with her expression, it was a messy sight. Yet, it reminded Jonah of their childhood. She'd always been a messy crier. It hadn't changed, just as her face hadn't changed much.
"I thought you were dead!" Elizabeth squeezed out through her breath, sniffing.
Aside from having grown taller, Elizabeth hadn't changed much. No one would mistake her for being older than twenty. Yet, her voice reminded Jonah of the years that passed. It was hoarse, a bit low.
Jonah felt himself reaching out even before he had settled his thoughts. His bony fingers traced her hair from her face, unconsciously trying to wipe away her tears.
"I kinda am."
Elizabeth sniffed once more, burying herself back into Jonah's arm.
…
Elizabeth felt the chaotic mix of energies that had mingled with her own to stabilise the mirage.
It was filthy, reeked of death, sin and chaos. However, tethering this chaotic mix of energy was a stream of mana that Elizabeth felt entirely too familiar with.
She had just sensed it earlier, on the scene replayed in the library.
However, contrary to the young and vibrant mana full of life, this one felt old and withered. It still showed signs of life, yet, one could feel the unmistakable effect of time on the mana.
She unconsciously stood up.
"Jonah?" She called out.
"Yes," and Jonah answered.
That instant, Jonah's face, at least what she imagined he looked like as an adult, overlapped with the skeletons. That gentle, yet analytical gaze. That warm smile that always felt welcoming.
Her mind cleared, and she rushed forward.
Her hat, which she always had tethered to her head with mana, fell off from the motion.
But she didn't care.
Maybe, in all throughout her life, it was at this moment that she was the most vulnerable.
…
'Why did you never look for me?'
This question was on the tip of Elizabeth's tongue. She wanted to question him, she wanted to understand, she wanted to know what he had experienced in his life.
Yet, she didn't ask. Now, he was here. Now, he was with her. She could ask him anytime.
There was only silence in the library.
The children were yet again back on their book. Mr. Kregils looked tidy, patrolling the library like a guard, his catnip pouch having been tucked away. Mr Ivans was back, preparing the material for the next lecture.
Overlooking them, Jonah and Elizabeth sat on the bench. Elizabeth leaned on Jonah's bony shoulders. She didn't feel the slightest bit uncomfortable.
They didn't speak, instead letting the comfortable silence and the replaying of the library play out for them.
It felt comfortable. Elizabeth felt comfortable, more than she'd ever felt in her life.
Of course, she couldn't think about having the source of her comfort by her side for eternity. Jonah looked and felt like a lich, despite having that signature of life within his mana. And the aura of death and sin about him. She couldn't mistake it. It had to do with the daemon realm.
Who knew what kind of life he had lived? Lichs were known for their undead minions after all.
Who knew how many undead companions–which could arguably be his taste at the moment–he had?
What promise from a thousand years ago? It was just a childish promise with no weigh–
"Have you ever been married?"
Jonah's calm voice interrupted Elizabeth's chaotic thoughts, and she couldn't help herself from a chuckle.
She looked up at the skeletal head, which desperately tried not to look her way.
He was as blunt as ever.
"No."
She replied, her eyes hiding a smile.
The bony head turned, and their eyes met.
"What about you?" She asked.
"Never." Jonah's voice was firm and urgent. Elizabeth felt it.
She held out her bare hand at him.
"Are you going to keep your promise?" She asked, still looking him in the eye.
The bony hands of Jonah reached around his neck and broke off a ring tied to a golden string.
He removed the string. He held it up, looking at it for a moment.
Elizabeth, too, looked at it.
It was an old-fashioned ring, and the designs on it were something familiar to her.
"It's my mother's ring, the only thing I have left in memory of my parents."
Jonah held the ring in his palm.
"I want you to have it."
He held out his other arm, turning over Elizabeth's cold, soft outstretched hands, and placed the ring on her palm.
"But, I don't want to rush you into making any decision–" Jonah couldn't complete his well-thought-out sentence.
Elizabeth took his hands, made him hold the ring, and she unceremoniously slid it on her ring finger.
"Fuck that, you're stuck with me now, whether you like it or not."
"..."
Jonah looked down, his bony jaws opening and closing repeatedly, but no sound came out.
Elizabeth was beaming, looking at Jonah with a smile that stretched to her eyes.
At last Jonah's boney jaw's clacked together, mimicking laughter. It was an unconscious reaction.
Back when he had just transformed into a skeleton, he hadn't many ways to express himself. Mimicking laughter through clacking jaws was something he had done in his early days, and something that stuck around.
His hands reached out, cupping Elizabeth's cheeks.
He leaned forward, his forehead touching hers.
They stayed like that for a while.
They separated, looking each other in the eye.
"Please give me a minute. I got something to take care of regarding my long-time stay here."
Jonah stood up, but Elizabeth held his arm.
"Is it the rat outside the city?"
Jonah nodded.
"I'm kinda infiltrating the world of the living right now, and I haven't gotten the time to get Yggdrasil's approval. I planned to do it the right way, but… it didn't go the way I planned it to."
"I'll go with you," Elizabeth stood up as well. "She's an unreasonable bitch despite being called the mother of all. I'll help you 'persuade' her."
Jonah felt reassured.
They walked out of the library together.
…
Outside the library door, Heiden stood guard.
Seeing as his liege and an incredibly terrifying existence walking out through the door, Heiden just wanted to keep his distance.
Yet, duty bound him, and he leaned over to his lord's ear to ask.
"What should I do with the prisoners?"
Jonah looked as if he'd just remembered.
"Heiden caught these people skittering outside the city." Jonah pointed, and in the ground where there was nothing before, materialised a dozen people, bound, "Do you know them? They did say they were quite influential and all.
"Do you think they'll fetch anything if I ransom them? I mean, I don't have much influence in the real world, and I am a bit tight on funds."
Elizabeth once again giggled.
"They'll sure will sell for a lot.'
The Emperor and his entourage. Even the God that backed the conglomerate that spanned its influence across the entire world.
And judging from the mana signature on the dozen people, they were highly specialised to counter her magic, and spirits known to the world.
"That's a relief to hear."
Jonah nodded.
…