The winds buffeted against Galeon's coat as he stood high up in the sky, beyond even the clouds that had begun to gather toward the heaven-reaching mountain. Even from this high up, he could clearly see the figures of Latonai and Fury marching onward, heading deeper into unknown territory. Their destination was the same as his, and in this moment of reprieve, Galeon began to wonder.
What was it that drove all of them to head to the heaven-reaching mountain?
Was it fear, the realisation of danger that loomed threateningly overhead, like a blade waiting impatiently to descend?
Was it thrill, the exciting discovery of a new and unknown chapter in a tale that was already reaching its very end?
Was it duty, the heavy burden that they chose to carry and the promise that they never break and never bend?
The answer eluded Galeon. Even with the Eyes of Clarity, there were things that were not meant to be seen but understood. And even as he gazed toward the heaven-reaching mountain, he found the unreasonable and unbridled fury within him had long since settled. It had quietly faded away without even his notice. Did it happen when he awoke from his trance? Perhaps the vision of entire galaxies at war changed his perspective on this unknown predicament of Corrin.
But as he mulled over these thoughts, his brows furrowed as he realised he was growing more and more detached from things. He did not like the unreasonable anger he felt toward the heaven-reaching mountain, but not feeling anything at all was strange to him. It was as though he was devoid of emotion, and he dreaded it.
Was this the price of power, to lift oneself aloft beyond the reach of anything that connected him from that which made him? He hated the idea of it. To Galeon, power had little to do with authority and destruction. Power was understanding the world around him and how he interacted with it. To become detached from everything, to become apathetic to the plight of his own world would make him a mere machine.
Was that the future he envisioned for himself, to merely witness Eternity as an emotionless and apathetic spectator viewing everything from behind a big screen? No, that cannot be it. He could not allow it to be as that would only be another form of End, one so utterly deprived of anything that resembled the continuance of Eternity despite the continuation of his life. That is nothing but Nihility, an Oblivion unto itself.
Galeon's heart trembled as his eyes opened slightly wider, shining as they used their authority to search for something. He desperately needed something to anchor him, to ground him in emotions that he knew would complete him. Perhaps only Benjamin would know what he was doing as it took a certain level of a special authority to even perceive the threads that made up the very fabric of reality. To peer into them like he does with Origin, that was the concept of power that Galeon understood.
And floating in the distance was a red string that waved helplessly in the wind. It was not connected to anything, having snapped from where it once was planted. There were countless other strings that seemed to be drifting away from it, but there were two that still remained entwined with it. One connected to something in Corrin, and another was from Galeon himself.
Seeing this red string, Galeon's heart began beating even faster. It was not out of excitement or joy, but the opposite. He had found the emotions that would anchor him, but it was also something that he very much loathed.
Negativity, it encapsulated a great many things. But at this moment, the emotions it dredged up from within him were only a few: disappointment, guilt, sadness, grief and anger.
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It slowly filled up the cold emptiness of his heart, reminding him of the fear that threatened to overwhelm him just a while ago. More and more emotions came flooding into him as he felt a sense of ease and comfort amidst the aching of his heart. Freedom... perhaps it was a matter of perspective, because at this moment, Galeon felt freer than ever.
He reached out toward the red string, hoping to keep it close to him. It was by his own will that he would carry this death with him. It was his failure and his mistake that led to the snapping of a thread, to the disappearance of a song. But as his fingers touched the red string, he found it inexplicably heavy as though it was bound to something.
His eyes shone once more and there he saw an inky shadow that began from the snapped end of the thread and extended further beyond the stars. But even if it seemed to be no different from other threads, Galeon knew that this inky shadow of a thread did not connect to the origin of these threads, the one that spun them. And it did not connect to the Loom that weaved them together. If so, then where was it headed?
He did not have any answer to this question, but he knew that there was something he could do about it in the future. There was a reason that his thread was still entwined with it. Their entanglement had not ended even with her death. And as Galeon kept the shadowy string close to himself, he gazed into the distant unknown, hoping to find any clues as he whispered.
"Wait for me, Sairen. I'll bring you back."
Sairen, the Songstress of Melchior and the daughter of the Divine Blade of Retribution..., she was the reason that Latonai had come to kill Galeon. When he heard the man's words the first time, Galeon had already guessed what had happened. And with Sairen's thread now with him, everything became clear to him.
Escorted safely back to Melchior by the Radiant Paladins under Shine's orders, Sairen had survived the beast tide. She was perfectly fine and healthy and even spent her money in providing aid to other victims. And a week later, she had scheduled a charity concert in the Grand Theatre where droves of people from all over the continent flocked to. With news of her return from a brief hiatus, it became one of her most successful events. Or at least, it should have.
The heaven-reaching mountain rose from the depths of Corrin, wreaking havoc across the world. The Grand Theatre was practically devoured by the land itself and countless people fell into its ravenous chasm, Sairen among them.
Galeon did not kill her, that much was true. But he did wonder whether she would have survived had he not fought Verglas and had let him take her back to her father. Although it was Sairen who did not want to leave Melchior, would she have survived if she did? Thinking about the devastation across the world, it would not have really mattered where one was. They would die one way or another. But with the power of gravity that Latonai wielded, would he not have been able to protect his daughter?
Duty, this was what pushed Galeon to fight against Verglas. Sairen's wish was a mere afterthought at that time. It was just another justification for his actions. He had never really thought much of it before, but was duty always truly right? Should they never be broken nor bent under any circumstance? G413 was a Contractor who followed the rules of the Guild to the very dot. He never strayed from the protocols and was an exemplary model to others. He had never once failed in his commissions.
Sairen's case was the first time that he had felt that he failed in so many different ways that it seemed utterly inconceivable to him. But most of all, he felt like he failed Sairen herself. He had taken up the responsibility to ensure her safety, but he never even got to personally bring her back to Melchior. And when the beast tide ended, all he did was check on her from afar after waking up. He did not even bother appearing before her. And when he returned to Melchior in search of Lily, he saw the Grand Theatre in ruins, but never did it cross his mind that Sairen would have been caught up in it.
He had technically completed his commission, completed his duty... to the Guild. But his duty to himself, to ensure the safety of a single person, had failed so miserably that he could not even pin the blame on anyone other than himself.
Was Sairen such a special and important person to Galeon? Definitely not.
But it was not because of attachment or love that Galeon wanted to protect her. It was because she entrusted her life to him. Faith is a fickle thing. To have faith in someone else is a surrender. And the responsibility to meet that faith or disappoint it would rest on the shoulders of that someone. Galeon had no desire to claim such a burden... and yet he already had, before he even realised it.
And he had already failed it.