"I told you you shouldn't have used your power to light a single campfire. But look at you now after lighting every fire in camp." I berated Yunjin as she lay in her cot, white as the ash beneath the fires of our camp.
"I just wanted to help." Yunjin murmured quietly.
"And in the process, now you're the one who needs help." I said, shaking my head in disbelief.
"Give her a break, Seren. She just wanted to be useful, feel useful, just like all of us." Kazuha said as she approached us gracefully and quietly.
I sighed. "Where's Sakura?"
"At the central fire. The kids had her pinned down. They enjoy her stories." She answered while sitting down beside me and resting her head on my shoulder.
"She always liked children." Yunjin muttered with a smile.
"I didn't know that." I said.
"We never met a lot of children while we're traveling." Kazuha interjects.
"Fair point." I shrugged.
It's been three days since the Battle of Dazkora and we've been traveling southward with a refugee group of about a hundred. We've pitched in where we can, I helped forage and hunt for food and supplies, Sakura helped heal the wounded, Kazuha scouts ahead and watches our rear, and Yunjin always forces herself to light every fire in camp. The first two nights were hectic as we were settling in in our respective roles. This night seemed more peaceful than most, though I dared not lay down my guard. And all this time, the Compass remained silent, still in hibernation after I overused our teleporting ability.
Kazuha sat beside me as I chowed down on some fish we caught by the stream we camped on. "It's been three days." I said, remembering Chaewon's tear stained face after she kissed me.
"She'll find us." Kazuha said.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because she made a promise." Yunjin was the one who answered. "And because she loves you, like all of us."
I allowed myself a small smirk of amusement. "You love me too?" I turned to Yunjin.
"Can't you feel the heat of my love, Seren?" She answered sarcastically, opening her arms wide in mock adoration, making Kazuha chuckle.
"You act like Ignariel." I remarked.
"Bad joke, Solari."
"Yeah. Sorry."
I then doubled back to our previous subject. "Since when?"
Yunjin sighed in a rare moment of exposed emotional vulnerability, "Since you rescued me from that theatric bastard. I've felt it but chose to ignore it. Big mistake when you're the angel of passion and emotion. But the clincher was seeing, no... feeling how much you love my sisters."
I can't help myself but smile as warmth spread across my chest. "How come..." I started.
"I don't show it?" Yunjin finished for me. "I'm also the angel of fire, Seren. I can't be all soft over you like Zuha and Sakura. I have an image to uphold."
To that Kazuha and I laughed.
"Zuha." I repeated, making Kazuha turn to look at me. Her soft and sweet features made me melt, almost enough for me to forget the sacrifices we made during the battle.
Almost.
"Cute nickname." I remarked before kissing her lips.
"You can use it if you want." Kazuha whispers, seductively twirling a finger on my hair. "It makes me a little bit jealous that you're calling Sakura 'love' and yet you don't have an endearment for me." Damn, her cuteness is killing me.
"Zuha. I like it." I said, smiling at her which she reciprocates.
"Of course you like it. I made it." Yunjin says weakly from behind us.
"Should I start thinking about yours?"
"Don't even think about it."
And we all laughed.
"Something funny?" Sakura's soft voice echoes as she emerges from the shadows.
"We're thinking of a nickname for Yunjin." I replied as she laid her head immediately on my lap.
She chuckled. "Better come up with something she'll like on the first try or she'll toast you."
"In her condition, she won't even be able to toast a slice of bread."
"Try me, Solari," came Yunjin's annoyed voice.
Sakura and I chuckled as we settled in a silence, comfortable yet heavy with unspoken truths and feelings that have yet to be discussed.
"Are you my Sakura? Or do I have to embrace you to keep you from breaking apart for the whole night again?" I asked.
Sakura smiled as the Temporal Vow pulsed once in her chest.
"It is me Seren. You'll know when it's not." She said softly.
She was right. "I feel like I had developed a certain sense whenever your timeline alter-egos are emerging. It's a tingling in the back of my mind that urges me to find you and when I do, it's always on the verge of one of your 'episodes'." I told Sakura.
"It's the Temporal Vow." Sakura answered. "He knows you can piece me back together in a way he can not. So he calls for you every time he senses a Temporal shift in my body."
I nodded, stroking Sakura's hair gently when Kazuha asked. "Speaking of relics, is the Compass still silent?"
"Yeah. Three days and not a single word."
"Stillveil worries for him." Kazuha said, making Stillveil coil around her as if embarassed. "And so do I."
"At least we know where we should be going." Yunjin said drowsily.
"SouthEast." I said. "Towards the Last Light."
"Eunchae." Sakura said softly.
Kazuha and Yunjin seemed to grow wearier at the sound of their youngest sister's name.
We fell into silence as we watched the kids play with stick swords and parents calling them to bed as the night grows colder.
Just then, a trio of elderly men approaches us. "Wraith-slayer." They greeted with reverence. Then, with almost equal reverence it made my skin crawl, they greeted the angels, "Your Divinities."
The angels nodded their heads in acknowledgment, yet I remained awkward. "Please, just Seren is fine. Take a seat."
They took a seat opposite us. Kazuha straightened a bit yet Sakura remained resting her head on my lap.
"What can we do for you?" I asked.
"We, uh..." one of the elders began. A gray man who looked almost seventy. Yet I recognize him as one of the leaders of our hunting parties. The man can track like no one else I've seen. Yet for the three days we traveled together, he only looked alive while we hunt. When in camp he always seemed lost. From what I gathered, he was the father of Captain Libo, the man who commanded the defense of the walls, and took his life on Chaewon's command after our loss, death being a better fate than being Broken Enlightened. If Chaewon told me of this before the fight, I would've argued with her. Yet now, I can't help but agree that it was the right course of action. Imagining this elder hunter track down prey only to meet his son, corrupted into an empty husk breaks my heart and gives me more fuel to take down the Counters.
"... we've seen tracks." He continued "A few leagues north of here. They look nothing like the tracks of creatures we know of."
"Purity Wraiths." Kazuha said. "You're asking us to leave this caravan." She said flatly.
The elder hesitated. Another one, younger, and stockier, with the build of a smith took over. I've spoken with this smith once when I asked him if my daggers were fine after the battle. He looked at it and was awed at the craftsmanship. He said he has never seen nor felt steel like my daggers before and he wondered whether it was a mix of exceptional craftsmanship, an otherwordly type of steel, or both.
"We appreciate all the help you've provided, truly, most especially to the Lady Sakura for treating our wounded, but..." he continued then hesitated.
"We understand sir." I said. "The Wraiths are tracking us. And that compromises this camp."
I looked at each of the angels, understanding written in their faces.
"We'll separate from you this morning. You can strike west while we go southward. Our journey takes us there. So I think it would be better if you go the other way. We have a few requests though, if I may be blunt." I said.
"Name them, Wraith-slayer." The third elder spoke, he looked to have the build of a soldier, complete with armor and all. Yet he walked on crutches as he lost one of his legs. This man was a defender at the walls. When he lost his leg, Libo ordered him out of the battle and to evacuate. He would've been one of the soldiers to take their own lives had he stayed. And yet, I can't help but wonder if it was mercy to have spared him or if survivor's guilt is eating at him considering the fate of the men he fought alongside with, and that he may be wishing for death to claim him, yet honor pushes him to live for his comrades who didn't.
I willed myself back to the conversation. "Again, Seren is fine, good sir. As for our requests, we ask for one wagon as well as the tent we are staying now with everything else in it." I replied.
The elders looked at each other and with one silent nod, they looked back at me. "Consider it done, Wraith-slayer. We shall also give you a few provisions, considering you're one of our best hunters." The first elder said.
I bowed. "Thank you, elders. And again, just Seren, please."
"No. It is us who should be thanking you and the Fallen, Seren Wraith-slayer." The soldier replied.
Damn it. Get a hint, will you. Just Seren, no Wraith-slayer! I thought.
"Our city may have fell but we survived thanks to all of you." He finished.
It's thanks to Chaewon's Command, I thought bitterly. The city fell, but not its people.
"Well..." the smith began. "We shall not keep you any longer. Once again, you have our gratitude, should we ever return to Dazkora, you shall always be welcome there." They stood and bowed. I bowed yet stayed on my seat as Sakura's head refused to budge on my lap.
"That was well handled, Lord Solari." Sakura teased.
"Shut up. Them calling me Wraith-slayer is bad enough." I chuckled.
"Lord Solari?" Kazuha wondered.
"Yeah. I still haven't told you of my memorywalk, right?"
Kazuha shook her head.
"One day, when I'm ready. Till that day comes, please don't be jealous of Sakura for knowing my secret." I teased, yet it was laced with a silent plea I know Kazuha will understand.
Kazuha smiled and kissed me. "I understand, Seren. Memories are... a fickle thing. You can tell me when you're ready."
"Thank you for understanding." I said as she rested her head back on my shoulders.
Painfully aware that Purity Wraiths may be hunting us and may attack at any moment, we slept in shifts, aside from the first night when Sakura was racked with temporal shifts from her timeline alter-egos. Not to mention bandits and other dangers in the night.
"You all should rest. I'll take first watch." I said. Kazuha and Sakura sat up. Sakura kissed me before rising with me as she enters our tent. "Goodnight, love." She said and I replied with the same.
Kazuha spun me around and kissed me as well, lingering a little longer than Sakura did. "Call me Zuha." She whispered when she pulled away with a playful smile on her face.
I chuckled softly. "Goodnight, Zuha." She giggled like a little kid and gave me another quick peck before following Sakura inside.
My gaze then lingered to Yunjin who stayed lying on the cot outside our tent. "Aren't you going in?"
"No. I'll stay here."
"You'll get cold."
"I'm the angel of fire, I don't feel cold."
"You look like the angel of blood loss right now." I said as I took off my coat and draped it over her.
"You don't have to—"
I shut her up with a kiss to her lips and noticed some of the color returned to her cheeks as I pulled away. "Goodnight, Yunjin."
She sighed. "Goodnight, Seren." She closed her eyes and I sat by the fire, my daggers by my side.
Only the crackling of some campfires remained to break the silence of the night as the survivors all settled in their tents. A few watchmen exchanged hushed conversations and greeted me with a casual but reverent "Wraith-slayer" whenever they pass by on their patrol, the title ringing true yet still feeling awkward to my ears.
"You would have teased me to no end with this Wraithslayer thing, am I right, partner?" I talked aloud, hoping it would wake the Compass and I'll have someone to talk to, to tell me what to do next, to say that even though I failed, I still fought well.
I looked at the stars and one name remained on my mind. One Fallen who I refused to believe fell or captured, she promised she'll find me after all. One whose lips I wished I had also kissed goodnight.
Chaewon.
"Thank you once again, Wraith-slayer." The elderly hunter bowed as the refugee caravan slowly trudged west.
"No, honored elder. Thank you. And really, just Seren, please." I replied.
"Names have power Wraith-slayer." The crippled soldier said. "Embrace yours and you shall become it."
This earned an approving nod from all three angels.
"He's born as a noble's second son. He's not used to these titles." Sakura commented, a few kids still trail behind her, a little girl gingerly holding her robe.
"This is a title you've earned, not inherited, Wraith-slayer, embracing it does not diminish you, it lifts you up." The smith said.
"Unless he gets his head on the clouds." Yunjin teased.
"And that," Kazuha interjects, softly caressing my shoulder. "Is why we are here. To keep him grounded as much as he does us." She flashed me her adorable smile, and I would have melted if I was made of ice.
"You're blessed, Wraith-slayer. May the Light guide you in your journey."
Ironic, I thought. Since we're headed towards the Last Light.
"And may it guide you in yours." I replied courteously.
The elders bowed, but before they could leave, Sakura stopped them, the kids trailing behind her. "Would you like to see one more magic before we part ways?" She said sweetly and the kids nodded vigorously in agreement.
She approached the crippled soldier. "The divine are always said to make miracles." She said, the Temporal Vow releasing the familiar golden and sandy temporal etchings to her skin. "Mortals then grew dependent on these miracles. They curse their faith should their prayers not be answered, saying that the Divine does not listen, yet we do. Mortals should then first ask, why we don't grant their prayers." The kids and the elders looked at her with awe as she reveals a fraction of her divine form.
She turned to the crippled soldier. "Good sir, may I have your name?"
"Alton." He replied.
"Alton, have you ever prayed for your leg to regrow?" She asked.
"No."
"And why is that?"
"It is a badge of honor, to remember my fallen comrades with."
Sakura smiled and turned back to the kids. "Don't you think he deserves to have his leg back?” The kids all nodded aggressively much to the shock of Alton.
"But..." Alton stammered.
"Tell me Alton, would you forget them even if you did not lose your leg?" Sakura asked.
"No." Alton replied.
"Then it does not matter whether you're physically whole or not, a part of your soul will always carry this scar."
She then knelt and sand swirled from the Temporal Vow to Alton's missing leg, and with a motion of her hands, it coalesced and solidified into one golden leg. Alton's eyes, the children's and the elder's all widened in awe. And they all knelt.
"Thank you, Memorywalker, thank you Lady of Time." The elders and the children sang yet Alton was silent.
She then turned sweetly to the children. "The divine favor those who don't pray yet deserve their blessing. How much more if you pray and deserve it. Yet it is not us who determine whether you do. It is the people around you. Do you understand?" the children all nodded slowly.
"Alton of Dazkora." Sakura then called as she rose. "Raise your head." All three angels stood beside her.
Alton raised his head and faced the glowing golden eyes of Sakura.
"I, Sakura of the Fallen, charge you to remember Dazkora, its fall, and the sacrifices that was made to defend it."
Kazuha followed, her silver eyes glowing. "I, Kazuha of the Fallen, charge you to gather and lead the scattered people of Dazkora, keep moving forward. Do not let the sacrifices and the lives lost be for naught."
Yunjin, her eyes also blazed fire red, then finished. "And I, Yunjin of the Fallen, charge you to keep the fire of Dazkora alive and return when the time is right to recover the city and cleanse its corruption."
"Do you accept this charge, Alton of Dazkora?"
Alton stood wide eyed, his eyes widened with pride and new found purpose. "I accept, Your Divinities."
"Then we name you Alton Golden-Leg, and when the final battle for the Dawn comes, you, and Dazkora, shall answer the call of Seren of House Solari, Wraith-slayer, Compass-bearer, and beloved of the Fallen." Sakura said.
Then as one — "Rise, Alton golden-leg, and carry out your charge."
Alton rose, to the applause of the elders and the children in the vicinity. He bowed to us and proceeded to the caravan with the two other elders by his side. The children however, remained.
Sakura then knelt, "I also have a charge for you, can you do that?" They all nodded enthusiastically, eager to have a great story themselves to tell.
"I charge all of you to tell this story to all the places you visit. Tell them of the prowess of Seren Wraith-slayer, of the grace and heart of Kazuha, the Throne of Motion, of the resolve and passion of Yunjin, the Seraph of flame, of the gentleness of myself, the Angel of Memory," she smiled sweetly as she said that. "And most of all, of the unyielding will and the sacrifice that was made by Chaewon, the Archangel of Will."
She then twirled her hands and the sands swirled towards the children, forming an hourglass symbol on each of their chests just where their hearts are located. "You are now all named as the Heralds of the Fallen, charged with keeping our story alive."
The children all beamed with pride and bowed towards Sakura then to us. "We will not fail you, Lady Sakura." The biggest, most likely the eldest of the children declared. And they all returned to the caravan with renewed hearts and purpose.
---
"Beloved of the Fallen?" I said incredulously as I drove our wagon southward.
"You don't like it?" Sakura teased.
"Oh he's flattered all right." Yunjin followed up.
I rolled my eyes.
"You didn't expect to just be Seren of House Solari after this journey didn't you?" Sakura asked.
"I did expect to be just Seren of House Solari when this is over."
"Ha!" Yunjin snorted, "You honestly believe you won't be the stuff of legends after fighting with and against literal manifestations of concept of reality."
"Yeah, yeah. I get it — Jinjin, no that didn't come out right." I teased, testing out the first nickname I thought of.
"Move your head, Seren." Sakura said.
I moved my head just in time as a jet of fire passed just a few inches from my ear. I chuckled as Yunjin voiced her disgust. "I told you not to even think about it."
I waved her off. "It was cool to see though, what you all did back there."
"Just cool?" Yunjin quipped to which Sakura chuckled.
"Awe-inspiring, happy now?"
"Meh. 5/10."
I rolled my eyes. "But seriously, it was cool to see you all in sync back there. And you, Sakura most of all."
Yunjin scoffed. "Perks of being the eldest." She said sarcastically.
"Hey! You make me sound so old!" Sakura objected.
"What do you prefer then?"
"First born sounds better." I offered.
"It does indeed. Thank you, love." Sakura beamed.
Yunjin rolled her eyes as Kazuha landed beside me, fresh from her scouting trip. "Nothing of note so far, what did I miss?" She asked cheerfully as she sat down.
"My first nickname for Yunjin."
"Really? Let me hear it!" Kazuha chirped excitedly.
"Duck." Sakura said dryly, and we both ducked as another jet of flame streaks above where both of our heads were.
"Hey! That's dangerous!" I said sarcastically.
"Then stop when I tell you to stop!" Her voice was more annoyed than angry.
We all laughed.
"Anyway, Zuha." I began, and she looked at me with sparkling eyes, delighted at my use of her nickname. "Yes?"
"Your wing. They seem fully healed." I observed.
She unfurled her formerly injured obsidian right wing proudly, showing that it is indeed fully recovered. "Yeah. It started healing a lot quicker after the battle. After I repelled Nemethel without moving."
"After you ascended?" I asked.
"That was not an ascension." Sakura said behind us. "At least not yet."
We both turned to look inside the wagon where both Yunjin and Sakura were entangled amongst our baggage.
"What do you mean not yet an ascension?" I asked.
"Kazuha was on the verge of one, before she was interrupted by Valamar's arrival. Had she continued, she would most likely have ascended."
"What is ascension anyway?" I asked.
"It's sort of an evolution of an angel, although the details are mostly unknown." Sakura answered.
"Mostly unknown?"
"To my knowledge of time and memories, only one angel has achieved true ascension. And that angel was erased by Valamar." My jaw fell in shock.
"Valamar erased her name and every title that she held, essentially making her a void in the cosmos. A soul without a name." Sakura finished.
"Why?"
"Valamar thinks ascension violates the natural order. Angels are already perfect beings, they don't need to evolve any further is what he says. To think of us as flawed beings with all the power we hold is blasphemy." She paused. "But truly, he just fears the power of an ascended angel, for it is an angel who has unshackled itself from the bounds of its domain, overcoming the natural alternate to their power, something he himself has not yet achieved, no matter how much he Commands reality to."
"Like how Zuha was controlling space without moving?"
"Exactly." Sakura said. "One ascended angel was a problem for Valamar, he slept for a millenia after the command to erase the angel from reality. Imagine if Kazuha did ascend." Kazuha nodded in innocent amazement.
"Imagine if all five of us ascended." Yunjin quipped.
That would be a sight to behold. I thought.
"So that's what he fears, something outside his domain that might break his iron grip of heaven." I deduced.
"It is what we think he fears." It was Yunjin who now answered.
I nodded. "Why won't his Command to ascend himself work then?"
"Ascension affects the soul, Seren. Something Valamar does not comprehend nor deem necessary." Sakura added. "While Kazuha was in the process of ascension, her soul must have been undergoing a transformation in both a fundamental and trancsendent level. I presume Valamar sensed that, panicked, and commanded himself to be strong enough to manifest in the battlefield." She finished.
"Prompting Chaewon's sacrifice." I said, bitterly.
"Hey." Kazuha said softly as she turned my head to face her. "Stop beating yourself. She'll find us. Have faith in her." I merely nodded.
And then — a thud. Kazuha and I jumped as something hit our wagon, protruding in the driver's seat between me and Kazuha.
I plucked it and my blood boiled with rage. I held it up and saw the same rage reflected in the Fallen's eyes.
It was a steel feather. And we know of only one person with a steel feather.
Chaewon's feather. And with it... a note.
"See you soon. S." I read, confused.
Sakura growled. "Prepare yourself, Seren. Your vengeance awaits."
"And so is your test, sister." Kazuha said.
"I don't get it." I said.
"S." Sakura started. "Seraphiniel."