Location : 50 th floor, Horizon Building, Nova Academy
Ti : 04:15 A.M
…
—Clank.
Locking the door behind , I entered the living room.
"The ds are in the second drawer," Ruby inford, placing the elf girl on the sofa.
After escaping from the auction house, I was now at Ruby's apartnt in Nova Academy.
The elf girl that I had brought, Ruby patched all the bruises on her right the mont we entered her house.
Unlike before, the elf was not wailing at all. She was tugging on Ruby's sleeves. The tiny elf didn't want her to let go.
"Oh," Ruby softly smiled, looking down at her, "I'm not going anywhere."
Patting her head, Ruby took the seat beside her. The elf girl's tiny body fell onto Ruby's lap.
"..."
I watched all this with amusent in my eyes.
Hey Sera, are you seeing this?
'Mhm,' Sera replied. 'Human, can you check on her injuries?'
She sounded worried, so to calm her down, I did as she instructed.
Don't worry, Ruby already checked them.
Sera's worries were reasonable. We all thought that Sera was the last elf in existence, so eting soone of her kind whom she was once queen of, of course she would be worried.
Recalling sothing, I asked Sera.
By the way, Sera, what's her estimated age according to you?
The elf girl looked almost like a 7 or 8-year-old if we compared her to humans. But as per Sera, elves can live up to millions of years, so I was a little uncertain about her age.
To my question, Sera first thought deeply before answering.
'If I have to guess, then around… around eight.'
Wait…
Eight years? So my guess was correct?
But how was she born? I an, besides Sera, there were no other elves in this world.
Curious, I asked her.
Hey, is she by any chance your chil—
'No,' she refused before I even finished.
Forgetting the thought, I walked toward the sofa.
Taking the empty seat right next to Ruby, I reached out to the elf's head.
The tiny elf looked almost like Sera, white shiny hair, ocean blue eyes, and that small innocent face. It's as if I'm seeing a younger version of her.
But the mont my hand touched her white hair, she forcefully shook her head, and her eyes started watering.
"...Aahh..!"
"Wha—" I imdiately retreated my hand from her.
Why won't she let touch her? I asked myself.
Watching her react like that, Ruby imdiately cald her down.
"Don't worry, he doesn't an any harm," she patted her head. "He is the nicest."
But the tiny elf refused to listen. No matter how many tis I tried, she always reacted the sa.
Frustrated, I pleaded with Sera for help.
But before I asked anything, Sera answered on her own.
'It's not your fault.' She continued, 'Look at her wrist.'
"Hm?"
Her wrist?
Turning to her wrist, which had shackle marks, I asked Ruby to inspect it.
"Ruby, can you check on her wrist for ?"
"Her wrist?" she questioned before shifting her gaze to it.
Smoothly picking up her wrist, she inspected it.
I saw it too. On her wrist, there was a strange tattoo, like a bracelet.
Ruby traced her fingers over the tattoo before asking ,
"What is this?" She looked closely. "So kind of mark?"
"..."
I stayed silent.
Both my eyes went wide as my heart started to race rapidly against my ribs.
"That's…"
That tattoo is similar to my contracted tattoo with Nathalia, but the shapes on hers were a bit different.
Unlike mine, her tattoo had little structures of clock hands, and the numbers beginning from 1 to 10.
Recalling Nathalia's words, I constructed a theory.
If soone's tattoo via a contract contains resemblance to any kind of Authority—just like Nathalia to Dream, and mine to Paradox—then this elf's tattoo must resemble…
"Ti?"
I thought rather deeply.
If it's true, then this girl holds the Authority of Ti…?
But how?
She is just an 8-year-old.
Do the gods not care about age as long as they fulfill the credentials for their apostle?
There were so many questions arising, but my main focus shifted to sothing else.
That tattoo on her hand… it was no doubt due to a Demon contract.
Which ans, she signed a contract with a demon—
"Zane?" Ruby called out to , shaking my body lightly from the side.
"Huh?" I returned to my senses.
"What?" I asked.
Ruby narrowed her eyes before her expression turned really sad.
Her chin quivered, and her eyes softened on .
She looked almost like she didn't believe I trusted her. And maybe that thought hurt her.
Even though she tried to act like everything was fine, I could tell it wasn't. It mattered to her—a lot.
I was hiding so much from her.
She even looked scared, and I knew she realized it too—that there was sothing going on with .
"You know," Ruby said softly, stroking the elf's hair, "I lied."
I stared at her.
Lied?
What was she talking about?
"I lied when I told you it doesn't affect . That it doesn't bother …"
She hesitated, then looked right at .
"The elf stuff? The gods? And then the look you gave just now when you looked at the mark on her wrist…" She paused.
"Zane… what are you hiding?"
"I can't take it anymore," she said, her voice on the verge of breaking. "I'm scared you'll vanish from my life. I hate feeling like that."
Then she looked at with pleading eyes.
"Please… won't you tell ?"
I hesitated at first… but seeing her like this really pained .
So today, I did what she asked.
With each breath, I revealed to her everything.
The gods. The Olympus. My eting with Ylthea. The Authority and Authority holders. My contract with Nathalia. And about Sera too…
I hid nothing from her.
It may sound absurd to others, but… she deserves to know all of this. Maybe with this, she will see the world with different eyes.
With each revelation, I saw her expression change—from calm to terror.
Her hands paused on the elf's head. Slowly, wiping the sweat dripping from her forehead, she clenched her chest, feeling the terror of her racing heartbeat.
"...That is all," I concluded, looking down at my lap. "I'm sorry."
"..."
"..."
Silence stretched between us before her one word broke it all.
"Idiot," Ruby said, her voice quivering. "You… you already suffered enough."
She didn't stop. With each word she spoke, it felt like she was scolding —and I kind of didn't mind it at all.
"Why do you always think that you're so kind of god, that you have to do everything on your own…"
Her voice was now a re whisper.
"You have us," she turned her head to . "Master and ."
"We will do anything for you…"
"You just have to ask..!"
I clenched my fists, listening to each of her words. I wanted to ask for help too. I didn't want to fight them alone… but I'm just a human.
"I am scared," I said aloud. My voice was shaky. My throat hurt each ti I spoke a word.
Turning my head and eting Ruby's eyes, which shone like a jewel, I told her,
"I don't want to lose any of yo—"
"Idiot!" she shouted.
Her tone took off guard. This was the first ti she raised her voice to , and to be honest, I wholeheartedly deserved it. Right now, I just wanted to release this burden on my chest.
"You are an idiot if you think we need saving!" she spoke, staring deeper into my eyes.
"I don—" I tried to argue, but Ruby scolded again.
"No! Don't you dare speak now, Zane!"
I shut my mouth.
'Wow,' Sera reacted too.
Ruby continued, with her quivering lips.
"Don't you dare forget who we are. Who was the one that trained with you? Who was the one who taught you everything…"
I listened.
"We can handle it! Whether it's demons or a god. If you had only told us, we might've countered them together… but…"
Her voice turned cold.
"If you keep hiding these creatures, these threats from us, then we might be the first to die by their hands—before realizing what even killed us."
"...?!"
Her last sentence got really good, and for the first ti, I felt this feeling.
I was foolish. I admitted it.
Hiding these kinds of things might not be a great idea after all… What if in the future, they're the ones encountering an Authority holder or a deity before ? Then, they might not survive without knowing much about them.
And I think telling her this was the perfect decision.
"Tell , Zane…" she now looked at with a warm smile.
"Do you want our help? Do you want us to stand beside you? Do you need our strength?"
She paused. Then she spoke, her hand reaching out to , tightly interlocking with mine.
"What can I do for you?"
I was hesitant. Parting my lips, I answered, eting Ruby's gaze.
"I'm… lost." I felt my heartbeat slow down. "So, please… be my light."
"Mhm," she politely nodded before giving a bright smile. "...See? It was easy."
She giggled. Then, slightly rubbing my fingers, she said, "I will be your light, no matter how deep you go into the darkness… just reach your hand to this light."
"..."
I now understood.
What I seek isn't understanding or even love—but just presence. Because love isn't about direction, it's about presence.
Suddenly, I found myself smiling at her.
"Hm? What's with the smile?" Ruby asked teasingly.
"Nothing," I answered. "Thank you, Ruby. Truly. I'm glad I fell for you."
"..?!" She flinched, then coughing, she scolded again, "Aren't you getting too bold?"
"Pfttt—No," I shook my head. "...Just get used to it from now on."
"Hehee," she giggled. Retreating her hand from mine, she asked,
"What should we na this elf?"
"Hm?" I shrugged. "Na?"
"Yeah, na…" She looked down at the elf. "We can't just call her elf, you know."
"Oh, then…" I thought for a second and answered, "How about Luna?"
"Ugh!" Ruby scoffed. "Leave it."
"What?! It's not bad, you know," I retorted.
"No," she stopped . "How about you ask that elf, which is inside you?"
"Ah, good idea!"
Turning my focus, I asked Sera loudly,
"Sera, what should we call her?"
Sera answered imdiately.
'Lily.'
"Lily?" I repeated.
"Oh!" Ruby clapped her hands. "That's a nice na! We'll go with Lily. Thank Sera for ."
"..."
Haaah…!
Ruby acts way too casual, considering the fact that there's a literal ghost possessing her .
'Rude! I'm not a ghost!'
Ignoring her, I asked Ruby to take care of Lily for now.
"Alright, I'll be going for now," I stood up from the sofa. "I'm leaving Lily in your care. We'll talk to her when she's cald down tomorrow."
Nodding her head, I said bye to Ruby before jumping off her balcony.
Reviews
All reviews (0)