Alnea Oathkeeper sat on the edge of a lake, staring at Orn’s reflection on its surface, just as Orn stared back at him. Her soft, silvery rays, illuminating the forest, and the corpses that lay scattered around him. Nine men, three women. Twelve in total. Just a small part of the hundreds, if not thousands, of people he had killed in the past couple of years. At some point, he lost the count.

  Sometimes, he wondered if he had become too cruel. Too bloodthirsty. All, just to Slaughter those thoughts right after. There was no place for hesitation in his mission. Not against the people who dared to move against his salvation. And not against the people who dared to stand in his path. But the people around him were neither. They were just some pitiful souls, whose only flaw was breaking their Oaths. And as an—the Oathkeeper, it was his duty to see them punished.

  In turn, the Oaths would grant him their blessings. But was such a power, gained from the blood of the innocent, really worth it? Was he still the Oathkeeper that he always wished to be? Or was he just a wandering ghost, roaming the lands in search for his prey, forcing his twisted sense of morality everywhere he went, and devouring the people who refused to repent?

  No, he was not even fit to be a ghost. At least, ghosts could still control their actions. He… He was just a puppet, acting according to the rules set by a power that he could not understand or fathom. A power that went beyond the Aspects. A power, that was once his hope of saving his salvation. But that was when he did not know better. When he did not have innocent blood on his hands. When he had not felt its ruthlessness…

  The power of Oaths was still his only hope. But it was also his nightmare. One that he could not let go even if he wished to do so. After all, it was the only thing he had left. The only thing that refused to abandon him when he was all alone. Without it, he would be nothing. Yet, if he did not abandon it, it would devour him. Make him a part of itself. An incarnation to spread its gospels.

  If that was all that the Oaths demanded of him, he would not have cared. But he could accept the carnage he had spread. Killing people for promises they did not even know they had made. Children, who had not even learnt how to discern the right from wrong… A girl, who could not restrain her curiosity… A boy, who could not even understand what his actions meant… He could still recall their faces whenever he closed his eyes, staring at him in fear and confusion. And hundreds of other similar faces, all asking him the same question. Why?

  Alnea Oathkeeper did not know the answer. But the ugly ghost staring back at him from the lake did. As did Orn, the Lady of Night, hanging above in the skies. And unlike the ghost, she even gave him hints, showing the faces of all the people he had ever killed in his dreams. Next, it was up to him. To choose between his Oaths and…

  Alnea opened his eyes to a dim red light, taking a few moments to recall where he was. Lost City. Pushing himself off the ground, he got to his feet, before twisting his neck and back to get rid of the soreness in his muscles. It did not work. So, he stretched out his limbs. That did not work either. And neither did taking another bath. Cold, of course. He was tempted to dip into a warm bath, but that would only worsen soreness, so he gave up the idea.

  Instead, after freshening up, he picked up his sword and dagger, before walking out of his room, and down the stairs, all the way to the building’s entrance, to get away from that annoying red light. Yet, the moment he stepped out of the building, he was met with an even more dazzling array of blood red lights. Squinting his eyes, he glanced up to the skies. It was dark, with no signs of either Enn, or Orn.

  Another hour till dawn? Probably less. Regardless, he would have to wait for over an hour at the very least. Or he could call Yuri. But she needed her rest. And he did not wish to go back to that small, dingy room. So, he could either just keep staring into the distance, distracting himself with the occasional Wanderers passing by him, to waste his time, or fulfil the promise he had made.

  “Are you there?” Alnea said, glancing down at the ring on his finger of fate.

  “I am always here,” the ring said in its usual arrogant tone. “But you know that already.”

  “…Do you not have anything to say for yourself?”

  “What do you want me to say?”

  “Something. Anything.”

  “…I will not make any excuses.”

  “I am not asking you to make excuses. I just want an explanation.”

  “What do you want me to explain?”

  “…You know that already.”

  “…Yes. I can read your mind.”

  “That is not the problem. And you know that.”

  “…You humans are too complicated for your own good.”

  “That is just how we are.”

  “…Complicated and needlessly proud.”

  “You are talking as if you are any different.”

  “…Perhaps, that is where our problem lies. We are too similar to each other.”

  “…That is not a good excuse.”

  “It is not an excuse. It is the truth. Just as you cannot change who you are, I cannot change what I am either. A Divine Treasure of Fate. The moment you put me on, and became my pa—master, you gained the qualification to pry the Mysteries of Fate. But in return, your mind will always be open to me. Both, as a price, and as a necessity for me to help you unlock the functions of the ring.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “…You could have warned me.”

  “Were the effects of the Mirror World not enough of a warning? Or did it never occur to you how I can help you convey your thoughts to Yuri?”

  “…I meant directly.”

  “How is it my fault if you are too dumb to figure out the clues?”

  “…You are such an annoying prick.”

  “…At least I am not an idiot.”

  “…Forget it. Who asked you to be my partner?” Alnea said, feigning a sigh, before quickly changing to a solemn tone. “I will forgive you this time, but you must promise me to not read my mind without my permission.”

  “…Did you even listen to what—Oh, so that is what you mean.”

  “You are doing it again!”

  “…Tsk. Leave it up you humans to make things always so unnecessarily complicated.”

  “…Just say, do you agree or not?”

  “…Fine. I promise that I will not ‘read’ your mind without your permission.”

  “That was not so hard, was it?” Alnea mumbled. “Well, that was it from my side. Do you have any requests that you want to make?”

  “…First of all, you are not allowed to call me stupid.”

  “That’s a little too excessive.”

  “…You… I am not useless!”

  “…What did you promise me just now, Evi?”

  “…Only this, I will not relent,” Evi said in an adamant tone. “I will not let you tarnish my name as the Ring of Fate.”

  “But other than connecting my fate with Yuri’s, and letting me fight against the Shadows of my Heart, you are practically useless.”

  “I am a Divine Treasure! A Divine Treasure! The Mysteries I can pry… You cannot even fathom my limits. It is only because of your own incompetence that you cannot peak into Fate.”

  “…That said—

  “Alnea Oathkeeper!”

  “Fine. Fine. I won’t tease you anymore,” Alnea said, laughing out loud, earning curious glances from the Wanderers on the streets. But he did not care. “I will not call you stupid anymore. And neither will I complain about your uselessness.”

  “I am not useless!”

  “…In return, how about helping me unlock a few more of your abilities?”

  “…That is not up to me. Only you can determine when to unlock new abilities.”

  “…You can ‘read’ my mind this time.”

  “…It has barely been a few months since you unlocked the true abilities of the Mirror World. Let’s wait until you get used to it first.”

  “At least tell me the conditions for unlocking your next ability.”

  “…Break through to the Peak Stage.”

  “Peak Stage… Has Yuri already unlocked the next ability?”

  “…You can say that.”

  “What is it?”

  “…I am not supposed to say—

  “Come on. We are partners, right? You can give me a few hints.”

  “…All I can say is that it is related to Fate.”

  “…You are a Divine Treasure of Fate. What else will your abilities be related to, if not Fate?” Alnea grumbled, but Evi did not relent. It—He kept adamant about following the rules that his mother had set. In the end, Alnea finally gave up, and changed the topic, asking about the things he had experienced in the Final World. More specifically, about the Fire Spirit.

  “…This is the first time I have ever heard that name. Or met someone who could block my connection with my sister. Not even the boundaries of the Origin Sea are capable of such a feat…”

  “In other words, you know nothing?”

  Evi answered that question with silence.

  “…By the way, when I was possessed by the Fire Spirit, were you also turned into Fire? And if so, then why did it not affect your Glyphs? Is it because…”

  Alnea kept talking with Evi, asking him all sorts of questions, until the ring finally got too annoyed to answer. Or maybe he chose to remain silent to keep himself from being embarrassed. It did not matter. By the time Evi began giving him silent treatment, the rest of the Star Seekers also began arriving one by one.

  Surprisingly, it was not the girls who came first, but the boys, all washed up and dressed in new robes, sporting new haircuts, with no traces of exhaustion or fatigue on their faces. On the contrary, they were all beaming with smiles, seething with nervous excitement. It was as if they had all changed into completely different people.

  The girls, on the other hand, seemed to have just had a bath, and changed their robes. Yet, he found their change to be even more prominent. Mostly because their new robes seemed to be a size shorter than usual, and clung tightly to their bodies, accentuating their curves. Especially their chest—

  “…Alnea?”

  “Ah, were you saying something?”

  “…I said, why have you not changed your robe?”

  “…Because this is the only robe I have now,” Alnea said, smiling awkwardly, as he grabbed the pouch hanging by his waist, and shook it front of his teammates. “My storage pouch got ruined in the Final World. And all my other robes were in it.”

  “…If you want a robe, I can give you—

  “No need,” Alnea said, brushing his hands over the thorns on his robe. “This robe holds a special meaning to me. It does not matter if it is a little dirty or tattered. I would rather wear it, than a clean, new robe.”

  Especially since he was about to meet his master.

  “Anyways, it is not what we wear that matters, but how we hold ourselves.”

  “Well said,” Zain said, before glancing at the rest of their teammates, sifting through his hair with his right hand. “No matter how well you people dress, you will never be able—

  “Alright then,” Alnea said, cutting Zain off mid sentence. “Since everyone is here, let’s go to the Blood Hall, shall we?”

  “Wait—

  “I was wondering when you would say that.”

  “Let me fin—

  “I cannot wait to go to the inner city.”

  “Will—

  “Are we not only going to enquire how to go to the inner city?”

  “You—

  “It is the same thing.”

  “Listen—

  “I thought you were going to show off to your clan first.”

  “To—

  “I can do that later. Right now, the most important thing is to go the inner city.”

  “Me!”