'It's too hot. Heavy.'

Orion had difficulty to breathe. There was something weighting on his chest.

He opened his eyes.

'Another unusual ceiling.'

The fact that they stayed at the house of the person he saved the day before, Crystal, returned to him.

'Oh, that's right. I fell asleep before even checking on the girls.'

He removed the cover he had on him, and stared at chaos personified.

'Now I understand why it was so hot and hard to breathe.'

Amelia was snuggly hugging his chest, in her underwear. That was poison for his mind.

It was morning, and he just woke up. Many things were starting their engine at that moment of the day.

'I can't move. Amelia, for the love of the world, why did you get in my bed?!'

Her pink underwear entered his vision, as he looked at her womanly parts.

'She has grown a lot physically, that I can tell.'

Indeed, her body has matured quite a bit since then. What really caught his eyes was her thigh, locked around his own leg.

'I thought I was over it already?! Calm down Orion!'

He did his best not to awaken something bad inside him.

"Hmm-"

Someone else caught his attention, turning around in her sleep.

'Why does every women in this room sleep in their underwear?!'

Personified chaos number two, Karteira, was sleeping without her cover, she was on her side, most likely to avoid crushing her currently invisible scorpion tail.

Orion stared at her, noticing the blue underwear she was wearing. Her thighs then entered his line of sight, as well as her butt.

'...'

He stopped thinking. This was too much for him. He, who did the best he could not to get aroused by his companions, was in the worst situation he ever had to face.

Ingenuity? Useless. Power? useless. Protection? Useless.

There was nothing he could do to resist this.

'I'm lucky I still have my tight pants on, if not... I don't want to think about it.'

He was completely aroused. He usually dealt with it by focusing on training instead, but today, it was not possible.

'What am I supposed to do now? Ignore them and stare at the ceiling until Amelia wakes up?'

He bit his lips, and shut his brain off. This was not the moment to let his desires take over. Not yet.

'Resisting the temptation is one of the worst torture in this world.'

As he thought this, Amelia began to wake up. By removing the cover, the sun directly shined in her face, causing her to react to it.

She opened her eyes slowly, and looked at Orion, only half-awake.

"Hi."

*Yawn*

She smiled warmly at him after yawning.

'That will never changed. That half-asleep face is incredibly cute.'

"Morning Amelia."

He placed his hand on her head and began to stroke her hair.

She snuggled closer to his neck, and closed her eyes, enjoying the caresses.

Amelia remained like this for a few minutes before her brain finally awakened.

"Eh?"

She lifted her face and looked into Orion's eyes.

'Ah, she has finally realized in what situation she is in.'

"Ah... Um... Sorry?"

She removed herself from his chest and hid under the blanket Orion removed earlier.

"I was supposed to wake up before you and return to the other bed, but I guess I failed."

Her face was bright red. She only realized once she had awakened that she was hugging him in her underwear.

'I want to die.'

She was cursing herself for failing her plan. But in the end, she managed to sleep next to him, so this was a success.

"That's why you were eager to accept her proposition yesterday, right? You are cunning for the wrong things, you know that."

Orion finally managed to sit on the edge of the bed, avoiding Amelia, and Karteira's attracting forms from entering his vision.

'Time to calm down, breathe Orion. Breathe. Calm.'

He hid his own emotions, returning to being in a non-aroused state.

"I said it before, I will not begin a relationship with you until I am done with my revenge."

He looked at her with a serious face. Amelia looked down. She heard it many times during the last three years.

There was only one thing she didn't understand. She returned his gaze, and asked.

"Why? You've never told me why you are dead set on not loving me."

'She never asked before. What changed?'

Orion kept his serious look, but inside, he was stunned.

'I have to answer, right? That's going to be embarrassing.'

He turned his head and looked through the window, absent-mindedly.

"I've said it before too, I don't want to be that important to you in case I die."

He tried to deflect it.

"I know, but it's too late for that. If you die, I'll most likely die with you. Even if I survive, there is no point if I am left alone. You know it, I don't have anyone else other than you in this world."

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He knew, and yet he couldn't bring himself to commit and accept her feelings.

His hands hid his face.

"If at some point I make a child with you, will I ever be able to continue my vengeance? Can I burden my child with a life of running away from Elliot?"

'Is he thinking so far ahead? I never thought about having a child with him yet.'

Amelia realized that what she wanted and what Orion imagined were different.

"I just want you to accept my feelings. I know how important this fight is to you, do you really think so little of me that I would force you into having a child?"

Still calm, he stared deep inside her eyes.

"No, but would I be able to contain myself? That's not going to happen. I knew from the beginning that you loved me, and I've never refused you. Do you know why?"

She knew, but remained silent. She wanted to hear him say it himself.

It took everything for him to say it. There was no pride stopping him, he was just apprehensive of the consequences that those words would bring.

"When we were young, I saw you as a sister. You were always the first one at my side. But after saving you from the fire, and sharing more time during the last three years, I've changed."

'Just say it already!'

Amelia was waiting impatiently. He was avoiding the words, but she chose to remain silent again.

'Is it his way of readying himself?'

"I didn't care that you had the Key, or that you had five elements. The moment I learned that you were forced to be by my side constantly, guilt and happiness formed inside me."

"Amelia, I wanted you to have a normal life, to live in Auro, find someone else than me, and be happy. That's the guilt I have."

"But, having you with me was the best thing that happened to me. I... love you too much to let you go. That's why I never pushed your advances away."

An unusual expression of relief appeared on face. As if he finally removed something heavy that weighted on him for so long.

Amelia was lost for words, she did not expect it to turn like this. The words finally got out.

Happiness grew inside her, to the point that she was unconsciously grinning from ear to ear.

'Well, I knew that the last time you showed me that book, but knowing and hearing it from you is different.'

"Then..."

She removed the cover and moved on all-four toward him.

Her face closed on his, as she went for her first kiss.

"No."

He pushed her face away, back to being the usual Orion. He was fast in getting himself together.

"Why?!"

Amelia began to pout. She sat on the bed, her arms crossed under her pink bra.

"Because I don't want to. At least, not in front of Karteira."

*Twitch*

'I was found out! Since when?'

"You can't fool me, I saw you peak a few times."

Orion sent a chilling smile toward her.

"She heard everything, good job Amelia."

And then he blamed Amelia, who had her face bright red.

"Karteira! Since when were you awake?"

Amelia stood up from the bed and ran to Karteira's side.

"Don't blame me! You're the one who spoke those embarrassing things!"

'What are they doing?'

Orion returned to look through the window, as the two girls began to argue in their underwear.

'There's nowhere to look.'

~

"Did you sleep well?"

Crystal asked Orion as he entered her room after knocking. He was about to check on her, and apply the last healing massage.

"I've used a lot of energy healing you yesterday, so I had a good sleep. I fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow."

Crystal thought about apologizing for what happened the day before, but she shook her head and instead, thought that thanking him would be better.

"I am glad that you enjoyed your stay. Thank you very much for your kindness, that dinner was one of the tastiest meal I've had in a long time."

"I'll be sure to say that to Amelia later. Now, please show me your back."

Crystal turned around, her back toward Orion.

Now that she was feeling better, Orion had to only apply his light element through her back. He would only massaged her chest the moment it became an emergency.

"Alright. I'll massage your back then."

The healing process worked fine, and the remaining pain she had in her chest disappeared completely.

"Do you have an idea of what could have happened for you to be in such a state? That didn't look like a simple disease to me."

Crystal plunged into her memories. She remembered the day before she turned sick.

"I had left my children at home that day, it was last... week. Nine days ago."

'She was drained for nine days straight? Yes, she is indeed the most resilient person I have ever known.'

Orion didn't quite get that he himself was extremely resilient.

"I was going shopping for dinner, when I looked at a strange soldier wobbling around the main road. He was really strange, like he wasn't there."

"Maybe because his behavior was suspicious, the village's guards appeared to arrest him."

"The moment they grabbed his arm, the strange soldier slashed at the soldier who grabbed him, cutting his arm off. Everyone panicked and fled the place, but not me. I was petrified."

'That would happen to anyone not used to this side of the world.'

Orion wasn't judging Crystal for that reaction.

"After a tough resistance, the guards managed to bring that other strange soldier down. They killed him on the spot."

"I think the reason for me being sick was the strange smoke that left his mouth after he died."

That grabbed Orion's attention.

"Strange smoke? Can you describe it precisely?"

Crystal turned her head, but couldn't manage to see Orion that was behind her.

"It was dark and purple. I can't describe anything other than that, because the instant I noticed it, it entered my mouth."

'It never stops! This might not be the end of her suffering.'

"If what you said is true, then I will have to heal you differently. You don't have to move a muscle though. Give me some time, please."

Orion stopped his healing.

He closed his eyes and tried to find the magic thread in her body.

'As expected, she doesn't have any magic in her.'

Only a handful of people in this world had magic in their body.

He kept searching for that thread of magic inside her.

'Found you!'

The dark purple smoke that she was talking about was encroached inside of her body. By healing, Orion managed to negate most of it's affliction on her.

By following that familiar feeling, he found the place it was hiding.

Orion sent his magic to flow inside Crystal's body and grabbed the smoke using his dark element .

'I won't let you get away.'

The dark element encased the smoke inside it. Before long, his dark element pushed the smoke out of her body.

*Cough*

Crystal coughed a small amount of blood in her hands. Inside that blood was a dark spot, way smaller than what entered her body before.

"What is this?! The smoke?"

Orion immediately opened his eyes after confirming one more time that no other foreign element was hiding in her body, and used his light element with one hand on her back, and the other over the blood using the dark element.

He pressured the dark spot, afflicting it with the many ailments Orion was capable of creating, and destroyed it completely.

"With this thing destroyed, your life is in no danger anymore."

Orion sighed and sat back behind her, continuing his healing on her, just in case his actions would have caused her any problems.

'I can't believe the corruption does that to people.'

He began to think about what Crystal said. A soldier releasing a dark purple smoke. Most likely the same smoke that was released when Orion attacked the building where the Ceremony took place.

Before Monolavir saved him, the soldiers began to act strangely after being wrapped by a dark purple smoke. That soldier might have been one of the few that stayed alive from that time.

Considering the distance, and the time, it's been two months since then. It was possible for the possessed soldier to walk the whole continent and arrive here.

"I can't believe I still had it inside of me! Without you, my health would have deteriorated again, thank you! I can't thank you enough."

'It's also my responsibility to heal you. This is partly my fault that you fell in this state.'

Orion began to feel guilt. Him attacking the Apostle during the Ceremony led to this very moment.

"No, you don't have to thank me. I said that you would be healed, and I will stick to my promise."

'I am sorry. Without my mistake, this wouldn't have happened.'

He kept it inside him, continuously apologizing for almost destroying this family.

A few minutes later, he felt someone staring at him. When he turned around, Amelia was smiling at him from the door.

-

"There are a lot of things in this world that we can't control. Orion, don't try to bear all of the faults of this world."

"There will be no end to your suffering if you do."

-

He remembered a lesson he heard in one of the recordings his parents left him.

A gentle smile appeared on his face.

'That's right. I couldn't know this would happen. All I have to do is correct it, and move on.'

Amelia, satisfied, walked downstairs to check their belongings.

"All right, this should help you feel better."

Orion removed his hands from her back, a little tired.

"Are you leaving already?"

Crystal turned to sit face to face with him.

"We have to continue our travels. So yes, we are leaving."

Crystal bowed.

"I cannot thank you enough for saving me, and my children."

She straightened.

"Know that you will always be welcomed in this house. I will never forget your kindness."

She placed her right hand on her heart.

"If we ever come back, I hope to see better colors on your face."

He warmly smiled as he stood up from his chair.

"I will. Please take care on the road. Can you give my thanks to your companions too?"

"Gladly, I'll tell them about our promise too. Well then, stay healthy."

He left the room, and closed the door behind him.

'What a strange man. Strange, yet kinder than any man I've seen in my life.'

'Orion. I'll remember your name.'

Once he walked downstairs, he found himself having to say goodbye to Lila and Leon. The goodbyes were tough, since children couldn't accept it as easily as adults.

Leon promised Orion to work hard on his goal, and Lila promised the girls that she would take good care of her mother in the future.

They picked up their bags, and left the house with the children waving at them.

With the Lavira village behind them, it was time to walk toward the Parsmata Desert.

At the same time, Dramia and Drania arrived at Ormrdivin.