The night is rather refreshing with the gentle cold breeze, picking up the crunchy fallen leaves of autumn for a group dance in a circle. Holding hands together, Kyrie lovingly watches Ian following the conversation about relics, even though it is a serious one. He already anticipates that he will miss Ian because just thinking about it makes him long for this presence.
Kyrie notices the trial of kiss marks that he left on Ian's skin. He trails with his finger where his lips have traveled, and a button loosens, opening the shirt up by accident. Kyrie buttons the shirt properly and adjusts the collar of the long black blazer hanging on Ian's shoulders.
"I am glad I had the opportunity to meet you," He faces Ian with a gentle smile, suddenly changing the topic.
Ian returns the smile, taking Kyrie's hands, "I am not sure if you should be the one saying it because I didn't know I was missing something until I have met you."
The wind suddenly rises, passing through the trees like it is ringing thousands of bells at the same time.
Warmth spreads inside Ian's heart as he watches Kyrie broadening his smile. His silver hair sways in the air with the breeze.
"We should aim to end everything in this round," Kyrie squeezes Ian's hands, "So that we could spend the rest of our lives free."
Ian lowers his head a little bit with a sad smile, a bit hesitant to promise. After going through so many rounds with the same result, he couldn't just blatantly make an empty promise.
Kyrie sees the hesitation and murmurs, "Phanes… I am planning to find her, or anything she has left behind. I think the fate of this world has something to do with her."
Ian frowns while thinking back to his previous loops, "I have never found anything regarding Phanes before. I am pretty sure that Imogen and I have looked through anything we could possibly think of."
"But then… It does not explain why Vita and Erebus are so invested in this incomplete world. This place should just be an abandoned world in the eyes of a common god, yet… they still paid attention to it after so long… Plus, Imogen came here at first as a deity, a demigod."
"Laurel has always been Imogen's concern for as long as I remember. Although Imogen does seem to be looking for something, she has never said what..."
Ian pauses as he remembers a particular memory. In front of a weak bonfire, Imogen has been struggling to breathe from her injuries and evidently not in her right mind.
"One time, Imogen mentioned something curious. Our fate cannot be separated from the gates, so our route has always been entering the gates. However, that day, she mentions another way to solve the loops and even mentions having a slight chance when fighting against Erebus. But, she also said that she has never been able to find whatever she meant that time."
[Phanes's essence reserves? But she has clearly detected the essence in me… Then, what else could Phanes have left behind? There are really too many questions… Too little answers…]
"It's getting cold," Ian wraps his arm around Kyrie, rubbing Kyrie's arm to transfer a bit of warmth.
"Yeah… It is… Let's go back in," Kyrie walks back inside.
Before Ian walks into the bedroom, he pauses to stare at a spot on the balcony that is visibly empty. He closes the door and closes the curtains. Just one level below the place that Ian was gazing at stands Imogen with her arms crossed, letting out a smile when she noticed that she had been discovered.
---
<Next day>
During breakfast, the marchioness tugs on the marquis's sleeve to draw his attention. From the moment they all have met for breakfast, the four youngsters have been beaming in light. Their faces somehow rejuvenated to the era of infants - smooth and bright, with the right elasticity and lack of swelling.
The surface of their skin is so polished and tender; even light can reflect from the surface and blind anyone who dares to look. As much as they both have experienced years of marriage, the old married couple couldn't even swallow the food properly without cloying.
The truth is, even though no one in the mansion has heard anything, all of them sensed the mild tremblings of the first-floor ceiling. The light fixtures have been swaying, and the surface of their tea rippled, picking up the mild human-caused earthquake with a magnitude of 2.0.
The menu for today's breakfast happens to be sweet pancakes. The married couple looks at the dish and then at the youngsters. The atmosphere is sweet enough that eating something sweeter could cause an upset stomach.
"We are getting old," remarks the marchioness while holding her handkerchief on her mouth with a bit of nausea from taking a bite from the pancake.
The marquis waves at one of the servants.
"What can I help, master?"
"Could you get some omelets for us today?"
"Is there something wrong with the pancakes, master?"
The servants curiously observe the perfectly made pancakes. They are round and bouncy, just like a textbook version of how an ideal pancake should look. The servant thinks that probably is the taste since the marquis has never complained about the food unless it tastes weird.
"No, we would just like something salty for today."
The servants take the pancakes away to the kitchen. The chief quickly takes a bite and is weird out. The pancakes taste fine!
The maids who have returned to the kitchen with dishes click their tongue while shaking their heads.
The breakfast passes by pleasantly after the married couple starts to gain immunity. They all sat around the table while enjoying some tea after breakfast.
Marquis and Marchioness Rowan have been waiting to ask some questions to their dear son. Of course, nothing about the artificial earthquake with the 2.0 magnitude, but rather about some items they have received early in the morning.
They have received items that some they know are rare possessions. Their jaws hit the floor when they opened the boxes. The marquis almost faints on the spot while thinking about what to sell to pay for what has been ordered. However, he discovers that the items are already paid for.
All of them could be considered either weapons, tools, or food rations specifically for travel. The amount is enough for them to guess that the journey would last for quite some time. The marquis could tell that the rare possessions are not sold in ordinary markets, maybe in auctions, but that is also questionable.
Instead of enjoying the tea, they wait for Kyrie quietly in their seats. Kyrie puts his cup down since he has noticed the stares.
"Son, you told us during breakfast to spare some time afterward. Could you tell us what you wanted all of us to hear? Are you heading somewhere?"
Kyrie nods, "The summoning of a saint always meant that the goddess wanted to intervene in something. Some saints came to stop wars, others to heal plagues that eat through kingdoms. This time, the goddess has summoned Imogen to prevent the fate of this world."
Kyrie starts with the story about the incomplete worlds and the first gate that would appear in this very city. He explains where the gates are connected to and why the people from the other world want this world to perish.
"Why do you need to go into the gate? Wouldn't it be better to remain outside and eliminate them that way?" asks the marquis.
"There are two reasons for going into the gate. The first reason is the resources inside the gate - energy called essence, and objects found inside called relics.
The gates are the openings that connect the two worlds. This connection is from the flow of essence that one world is taking from another. This flow has become a pathway for the inferior world to access the superior world.
There is a place between gates called 'Heaven's Middle Ground'; some call it Phantasm because the site sometimes looks like one from a dream or an illusion.
People who go inside the gate can naturally strengthen their physical and magical ability because their bodies will absorb essence. Our goal is to close the gate by taking the relic that brings the Phantasm to life.
This leads me to the second reason. Once the Phantasm is gone and the gate is closed, we will be transported to another location in our world."
"Why our world? We don't go into their world?" asks Laurel.
"That is due to the direction where essence flows. Our world is absorbing the inferior world to keep its existence. So, the flow of essence runs in our direction," Imogen replies.
Kyrie nods, "Yes. Once we manage to close a gate, we are sent to a place where the next gate will be."
"You won't come back out from the same gate?" Laurel finally understands why Imogen asked Ian to remain with Kyrie.