Aria floated down between the trees, landing at the top of the hill. It was a very familiar hill. For a long time, she had seen it every night in her dreams. Repeating that day over and over and over again. One day, that dream changed. It had been similar to her repeating dream, yet it had been vastly different.

The day that she had that different dream, she met him. Nic Verilo. Of course, at the time, she didn’t know that he was a Verilo. He was simply a boy from the Rad-Town that she had moved to.

He had practically begged her to teach him how to use magic. At the time, she thought she had Born Magic and found herself agreeing to it.

She never regretted that choice.

In the end, she never had Born Magic. Instead, she was contracted to the Wind Spirit Progenitor, Aerial. Among the eight progenitors, Aerial was considered the strongest.

Nic would eventually reveal himself as a Verilo, saving both the Rad-Town they had lived in, and just a few days prior, the City-State of Sanum. Since they stopped Jack Cariatel’s attempt at spreading Irradiation throughout the city, both of them had been resting. As had their two friends Sarman and Yuuki.

Yuuki was stuck in a medical ward, recovering from wounds she had gotten by pushing herself far past her limit.

Sanum Magic University, which they all attended as students, had closed for the time being as the city had experienced what could only be described as a terrorist attack. Because of that, they had a lot of free time on their hands.

“Is Nic really going to be here on this hill?”

The androgynous voice speaking in Aria’s mind was Aerial. When Aria had inquired about Nic’s location to Mr. Chapman, she had been told he had asked to leave the city. Hearing that, she knew exactly where he was going.

He’ll be here. See! There he is.

They reached the apex of the hill where they saw Nic standing there. He was gazing off into the distance, away from Sanum behind him.

Aria knew where he was looking. A large rock structure clearly sets one part of the forest apart from the rest. This structure stood over the once homestead of the Verilo family, three hundred years prior.

It was also where Nic had first met the memory of his ancestor.

“Nic!”

When Aria called out to him, he looked over his shoulder. He seemed surprised to see her there. He was wearing his usual clothes. A blue shirt and brown pants matched his eyes and messy hair respectively. Over the top of it all, to help keep himself warm was a black coat. At his waist was a longsword. In its crossguard was a gemstone that was as black as the darkest night.

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Aria could see a hint of sadness in his eyes.

For her part, Aria was wearing something very similar to Nic. The differences mainly stood in the color of her first layer. Her shirt was dark green while her pants were black. Her brown hair had grown longer over the past year. She was letting it flow gently in the wind while her light blue eyes gazed at Nic and the rock formation past him in the distance. The sister sword to Nic’s was currently strapped to her back, its green gemstone dazzling even in daylight.

She walked to Nic’s side and grabbed his hand. She interlocked her fingers, letting him know that she had no intention of leaving his side.

“Thinking about your ancestor?”

“Yea…”

Nic had met the memory of his ancestor, Noah, multiple times according to him. It seemed like his ancestor had believed it would take five hundred years for the seal on their blood to be broken, and yet Nic had done it after only three hundred years.

He had apparently seen him again during the attack on Sanum but hadn’t seen him since. He was apparently worried about what that meant.

“I think that not seeing him again means that he approves of the fact that you have removed the seal.”

“But what if it means the opposite? What if it means that I’m walking into hell because of what I did?”

“Then I’ll be right there, walking into hell with you.”

Aria wouldn’t let him go, no matter what. She would always be by his side. Even if the contract she had made with Aerial didn’t require it, she still would.

After all, he was her world.

“Hey, Nic?”

“Yea?”

“When we’re back in Sanum, can you teach me the basics of sword fighting?”

The reason that there was a sword on Aria’s back was because of the magic feedback loop she got from it. Her problem was that she had no training in fighting with it. When she used it against Jack, he had read every single attack of hers like she was nothing. If she had to use it again, she wanted to be prepared this time.

“Are you sure you want me to? Yuuki knows far more than me. Sarah does too, for that matter.”

Aria leaned into Nic. He held steady, which allowed her to feel the full warmth of his body as she let herself be supported by him.

“It has to be you. They can join in from time to time, but I want you to be the one who teaches me.”

She could hear a soft sigh from Nic.

“Alright.”

“Promise?

“I promise. Oh, one other thing.”

Aria looked up at Nic, questioning what else he had to say.

“Close your eyes.”

“Fine.”

Aria stood up and closed her eyes. A second later something warm pressed itself against her lips. Aria’s face grew hot but she didn’t back away. She leaned in instead. She wanted to savor the moment.

But it was gone too soon as Nic pulled away himself.

“I promise that I love you, Aria.”