Standing in the distance, May couldn't get that whisper out of her head.

A quiet voice was requesting assistance. The moment she entered Horizon, that voice became clearer, confirming that it came from this place.

She had an idea as to what it was. The voice was very similar to the voice of the jewel incrusted in her nape, so it wasn't too difficult to guess that it was an elemental.

In this world, she was probably the only person able to hear their voices. That's why, she looked everywhere around Turric for the source, unsuccessfully. Her last resort was Horizon, but she didn't want to barge in with her request.

'I don't want them to think I'm crazy.'

Is what she was thinking. Hearing voices wasn't particularly seen as being mentally sain nor stable. She was pretty terrified of the idea of being pushed away after getting herself a few friends.

But the voice seemed in distress, and though she did her best to ignore it, she finally gave in and entered the concealed portal in front of Eric's house leading to Horizon.

Now to the present, she stared blankly at the vortex above the elemental shrine in the distance. It was warping and pulsing in strange ways, but it didn't look dangerous. Sometimes, flashes of lights and pure darkness clashed in various parts of the vortex.

While she silently watched in the distance, she was thinking.

'Now that I'm here, what do I do? I should probably find Orion and tell him why I suddenly came, right?'

Her white face remained emotionless, but inside, she was thinking in overdrive mode.

'But what if he doesn't want to see me? What if I'm bothering him with my problem? He still have a lot of things to do, isn't it?'

'He probably doesn't have time for me. I'll just have a look and leave. Yes, that's the perfect plan.'

She nodded to herself, looking around her to see if no one noticed her yet. When she confirmed that no one was here, she began to walk toward the shrine in the distance.

From the portal hub, it was quite the distance. Approximately three kilometers away. It was a long walk, but she was a soldier, this amount was nothing. She never felt tired anyways, thanks (or not) to her undead body.

The closer she got to the building, the stronger the voice echoed in her head. She couldn't make anything of it, but she knew it was asking for help.

'This is strange, I could hear the voices of the elementals in that cave, but why can't I understand this one? Is it even a single voice? I don't know...'

'No, May. You're going to see BECAUSE you want to know. There's probably nothing I can do, but if I can just get a clue, I'll now what that voice is.'

'And then, Orion will listen to me. Or so I hope.'

Clenching her fist with mixed feelings, she finally arrived near the shrine. She carefully looked around and entered the wide opening, and approached the altar, where the three elemental prisms rested peacefully.

Her hand gently passed over the three prisms, as she remembered her time in the cave. The image of Orion avoiding the elementals beams with a smile on his face was still imprinted in her retinas.

But she was quickly brought back to reality when her eyes fell on a massive crystal.

"What... is this?"

As she was about to touch it, the crystal became clearer, showing a demon imprisoned inside it.

"Hello, May."

Hearing a voice she knew well, she slowly turned around with a strained expression.

"O-Orion. Hi."

The man had his back on the wall next to her, his arms crossed. He didn't seemed bothered by her presence, demonstrated by the smile on his face.

"I knew you would come at some point, but I wasn't expecting you to act like a stranger."

"You knew?"

"Obviously."

"Huh?"

Orion moved away from the wall and walked toward her, before passing her. He placed his hand on the crystal and closed his eyes.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"The person in this crystal. She is my mother."

"Your...!?"

The revelation made her speechless for a moment.

'What happened while I was home?!'

Not being able to be of help created a bit of regret in her, but she kept it hidden inside her. What was done couldn't be changed.

"Yes. I was pretty surprised too. Who would have thought that their bodies would remain after two thousands years."

"Is this a good thing?"

She was thinking that burying them would be troublesome, but she definitely wasn't ready for the next part.

"It is. I'm planning on bringing them back to life."

"..."

Her brain short-circuited for a moment.

'What is this man saying? Bringing them back to life? Is that even possible? I thought the laws of life and death were absolu-'

'I guess not...'

Looking at her hands, she was reminded of her own condition and smiled dryly.

"Of course, I'm planning to do the same with you."

"Eh?"

With a very surprised expression on her face, she looked into his grey eyes, noticing that his pupils were reflecting her perfectly.

"I will find a way to anchor your soul into your body one day."

"W-Why? Why would you do something like this for someone like me? I should have died a long time ago!"

In her head, she thought of herself as a ticking bomb. She could truly drop dead at any moment. So why would he say such a thing? Why would he instill 'hope' in her.

"I made a choice. This is my resolve, and I'll be sure to make it true. I couldn't care less about a 'walking corpse' affliction, you are still alive, and that's what truly important."

She continued to look at him as if he was speaking another language. At last, she settled down as he was finishing.

"You show various emotions, you think, you sleep. Maybe you don't eat much, but you're still 'you'. That body of yours may not age nor bleed either, but does that make you unworthy of living? I'll prove to you that it isn't the case."

He turned around and looked up, through the glass tip of the shrine.

"But that is for another day. For now, there is something needing my attention. Now, could you tell me why you came? I might have waited for your arrival, but I don't live in your head."

May closed her eyes and smiled.

'This guy. Saying something so important and then switching before I could process it.'

'I shouldn't have bothered worrying.'

When she opened her eyes, she walked next to Orion and looked up.

"I came because of that thing. There's a voice coming from it."

She pointed at the vortex.

"A voice..."

Orion fell in his thoughts for a split second, before nodding.

"You're hearing the elementals' voices again aren't you?"

"You don't think I'm simply crazy?"

"For hearing voices? I already knew. Is that bothering you?"

Feeling a strong need to avoid his gaze, she began to slowly turned her face away.

"..."

Sighing at the obvious reaction, he looked at her.

"Listen, I don't know how tough it is for you. It is probably hard, that's all I can guess. But that won't change how I view you. No one here will. You've managed to tell Amelia didn't you?"

"Did she ever show disgust, or pushed you away? I shouldn't have to ask, I know her well enough to know she did not."

"She told me..."

He turned his body toward her as she grabbed her arm, worried.

"That I wasn't looking at you enough. That your problems were weighting on you, and that I could do something to help alleviating them."

Slamming his fist on his chest, he forced her attention back on him. When she looked in his eyes, he continued.

"Depend on me more. I'm all for it. My opinion on you won't drop just for that."

After thinking for a bit, she nodded.

"I'll try."

"Good."

With a satisfied nod, Orion turned his gaze to the vortex.

"So, that voice, what does is it saying?"

"It wants to be freed. But I don't know what it is, or how many there is. It's just speaking words I don't understand, with 'Freedom' being the only word I could understand."

"Even the one on my neck doesn't understand a thing."

May explained what she heard to him, without hiding anything.

"But how do we release that voice? I could try using the void element, but I would rather avoid that at the moment."

Instinctively, he moved his hand to his chest. Glancing at his movement, May knew it wasn't a physical pain.

"I'll try to listen for more words, maybe I've missed something because I was too far away."

"Sure, you're the expert on elementals."

With a smile on his face, he placed a hand on her head and walked past them. He rested his back on the nearest wall and silently observed her.

For half an hour, they stayed together. May listened intently, while Orion observed for any kind of changes, either in the vortex, or in May.

'That red jewel.'

Orion glared at the jewel on May's nape.

'Something is strange. This feeling...'

Without a sound, he warped behind her and looked closely.

'You little fuck! I knew it!'

A dark spot moved inside the jewel, trying to hide itself from him. Corruption had began to corrupt the jewel.

Soon enough, May would have turned corrupted if left untreated.

'Trying to steal my friend's life. Aren't you a lucky one!'

He grabbed May's nape with one hand while applying the light element. For that, he didn't care on how or when he had to use his power.

"Hyaa! W-What are you-"

Under his grip, May began to twitch. Her nape, especially were the jewel was, was incredibly sensible.

"Ah~! Wait, no! Stop! N~nh!"

Squirming, she began to bite her lips to stop the sound from coming out. Orion was too concerned about the corruption to listen, which made him continue mindlessly.

"O...rion! Your hand!"

But it was in vain.

"I got it. Crystal clear, with the impurity removed."

He released his grip and slid his finger on the red jewel gently.

"Ah!"

May cramped and fell to the ground. When she turned around with a very angry expression, she noticed light coming from Orion's hand. Inside of it was an erratic black spot that was getting disintegrated slowly.

"Is that..."

"Corruption. I should have been more careful. I don't know when you caught it, but I'll have a look in Turric later. Better safe than sorry."

While rubbing her nape from the excess stimuli, she stood up. She watched the last of the corruption turn to dust.

"Thank you, even if the way you did it was a bit too savage to my taste."

Orion smiled, making the light magic stop.

"You're welcome."

May turned around, bashful.

'Am I a masochist? I shouldn't, I never liked pain. Then...'

She still felt the Orion's grip on her nape.

'Shit, I think I'm worse than I thought. I'm a masochist just for him...'

His touch aroused her a little. That was when.

'The prisms, release the magic.'

The whispers became clearer, and audible.

"Huh?"

As she looked at the vortex above her, voices began to flood her ears.