It was night already, Bishop Romani was along with several clergymen, at hurried pace, walking through the corridor the City’s cathedral.

He was having dinner in good company when he received notification from one of clergymen that one of the Fourteen, the Holy Paladin Armand Aubrecht was summoning to the Autel room of the Cathedral, the place where ritual are held.

The Bishop Romani was nowhere pleased by sudden visit and even less this sudden summoning in the middle of the night yet hierarchy between the Church members and that person standing and background obliged him to answer this call. The Paladin Aubrecht is not a personality he would dare to offend in a any sort of way.

Frustration cast aside, the Bishop was also quite surprise to hear that the Paladin Aubrecht was here in Beaufort, after all, from his last piece of intelligence, he, a short while after the calamities was summoned by the Church, and wasn’t back ever since, so for him to be here, banging at his door, the Bishop couldn’t help but be perplexed.

Could it be that the Lord Paladin received order that he was to transmit to him directly?

After pondering about this, the Bishop remembered that the last time he was summoned this way by someone of the Fourteen, it was before he was made Bishop in charge of this Cathedral, back when he was just an executionner of the church.

It has been 7 years since he was given this position of Bishop by the Archbishop Medvedik, with the sudden death of his predecessor, the vacant seat left by this one, was almost immediately assigned to him.

Despite the mess left behind by the previous Bishop and the mess that followed thereafter, Romani was satisfied by the liberties and privilege that came with the position of Bishop, of course, he was still, as he always has been, under the authority of of the Archbishop Gregor Medvedick, in charge of Djeem the Accursed authority, but the later for the first three years following Romani promotions was, from what he had heard, laying very low after the scandal he had caused in the Ducal Castle, so for Romani, this lack of close supervision was an ebene.

The first three years as a Bishop were the best of his life, but then as the Archbishop Medvedik was getting more and more active again, the workload was getting heavier and heavier, then one day, out of the blue came the Calamities, it was there that everything turned upside down for him.

The Archbishop Medvedik being this fully active again with the aristocrat hounding, the paranoia of a possible second wave of calamities, it was to the Bishop as if everything was falling appart around him. To be fair, with his position of Bishop exiging of him to be this close of the Iharana forest, this duchy was the least safe place of the continent to be right now, there was a point in his life where he considered bailing everything out, and applying for a position somewhere safer, even though it would mean losing the position of Cathedral Bishop.

It has been two years since the calamities and looking back, he was glad he didn’t took that decision. It would’ve been a such waste. Sure, thing weren’t back as they used to be, but still he knew he was having better than most.

Having reached the door leading to the Autel room, the Archbishop and his clergymen got in.

The large room which served as a place where ritual such as baptismal or coronation are held.

The first half of the room, from where the Bishop entered was left in the dark, while on the second half of the room, toward the altar where the Holy Paladin Armand and golden statue of the seven apostle were, was bathing bright under the bright chandelier light.

The Bishop approached the Holy Paladin, and greeted him accordingly to their status.

Kneeling, the Bishop prayed; "I, Romani, Bishop, under the Authority of Djeem the Accursed, greet and his honored of your Grace the Holy Paladin visit."

"We greet and welcome, the Holy Paladin." The others clergymen behind Romani followed.

Hearing no response, the Bishop rose his head and saw upon him the cold red eyes of the the Holy Paladin, the Bishop, in fear of having offended this person somehow was about to look down again, but a nod from the latter suggested that there was nothing.

"I aplogize for the wait. This one, welcome your Grace the Holy Paladin Aubrecht back, I was not yet informed of the Paladin return to Beaufort. If I had known I would’ve personally made the journey to your Ducal castle."

The man simply nodded, "I just came back today."

"I see… Is there anything this one can help the you Grace the Holy Paladin with?"

Once again, wordlessly the Paladin, motion with merely a nod, an order.

"Leave us." The Bishop requested to the other clergymen.

The men upon receiving those order wasted no time, and left the room, even closing the door behind them, leaving only of only the Paladin and the Bishop.

Upon their departure, a long and awkward silence took place for while the Bishop was expecting a word from the Holy, the latter said nothing, and simply starred at him.

"Erm, … Holy Paladin Aubrecht?"

The Holy Paladin didn't answer, someone elese.

"How was it to be a Bishop for these past seven years, my friend?" A voice asked.

Someone talked but it was not the Holy Paladin.;

The voice came from the first half of the room, the one cloaked in the dark.

The Bishop immediately realized that the words uttered were cleared adressed to him, yet he did not recognize the voice the slightest.

"Who goes there?!"

"Come on, it’s me, you’re not going to tell you’ve forgoten about me."

"I don’t recognize this voice, … show yourself!"

Noise of footstep reverberated across the now closed room.

"Fair enough, I can’t deny that my voice slightly changed, so it’s understandable that you don’t recognize it."

The Bishop saw two red gems glowing in the dark, but as the noise of footstep was getting closer and closer, a silhouette appeared, and soon the person to whom it belonged was within clear sight.

It belonged to a young man.

"Prince…"

The first person that came to the Bishop’s mind upon seeing this person youthfull feature and his red eyes was Beaumont Ducal heir, Elliel Aubrecht, but that person height and hair color didn’t match up with what he remembered of the prince.

"Come on, don’t tell me you’ve completely forgotten about me…"

To a thought, Romani’s heart skipped a bit.

This couldn’t be true, this couldn’t be him,

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

" Shall I freshen your memory then… a night of winter, a butler, a vicar of the church, several Church’s executionners, Bishop Stanis, you and then me."

This time he was sure. It was him.

"How... could this be... You were supposed to be dead! The fourteen killed you that night!"

Romani glanced at the Holy Paladin, and saw in the same red eyes as the young man, something that froze his blood.

How could he forget?

When he and that person met, they tried to kill each other.

That young man, he remembered, as the Faceless One.

"I know, that’s what I heard has been said about me. But you know, you shouldn’t so easily believe what you’ve not seen on your own; it might come back to bite you harder than you could ever imagine. " He said, closing the distance between him and the Pontiff.

"What did you come here to do?" He shouted, unintentionally backing off.

"Oh you know very well what I came here for..."

In a flash, the pontif summoned water magic, which he was endowed with, but before he could do anything with it, the water he summoned splashed on the ground in the same way normal water would.

"Hop hop hop! What were you trying to accomplish? Trying to catch me off guard again, Eh, you haven't changed a bit, have you? "

"Huh, what the..."

For some reason, his magic didn’t work as intended. It didn’t take him long to realize that it had something to do with that boy.

"Bishop, why are you backing away from me?" He asked derisively.

"Stay away from me!"

Deaf to his words, the young man kept approaching.

Desperate, the Bishop called, "Holy Paladin Armand, it’s him, it’s the Faceless One! Do something!" pointing vigourously at the young man.

Unable to use magic, he was already desperate, but the stare he received from the Holy Paladin felt like a final blow to him.

"What are you looking at him for? He’s not going to save you; nobody will. It is just between you and I, just like the opportunity I couldn’t grasp that night. "

"Stay away from me." The Bishop, getting more and more despondent with each step he took, shouted, "I’m a Bishop of the Church. You know what will happen if you lay a finger on me... The Church won’t let you go. And you, Paladin Armand, did you betray the Church for him… they won’t forgive you." he yelled, glaring at Armand.

A moment ago he was shouting these words, all threatening, but the next he was on his knee, without even him noticing.

The young man, who was now in front of him, reached out his hand for Romani’s neck.

"That night, if I had been faster,..." Shaking his head, he rectified, "No, that doesn’t matter anymore."

Looking at Romani straight in the eyes, he asked, "So, Bishop Romani, what will you do now? Call your Archbishop Medvedik? If yes, then you’d better do it now."

"Please." Before he himself could tell, tears were flooding from his eyes.

"Please?"

Feeling the grasp around his neck tightening, the Bishop's face went paler than it already was.

"Please, spare me. It’s their fault, not mine. I was just an envoy of the Archbishop of Medvedik,"

"Just an envoy, huh?"

"That’s their fault. Yes! It’s them! Them! Not me! " The Bishop pleaded in the hope that maybe someone outside that door would hear him or that maybe he would be sparred.

Much to Romani surprise, the grasp around his neck that was already suffocating him loosened.

"So you were innocent... You were only an envoy back then, right? You know what, I have an idea. Since you were "just" an envoy, we will send a letter to your beloved Archbishop Medvedik."

"A letter?"

"Yes, that's what envoy do right, they send a message. Bring me a pen and a sheet of paper. "

***

Ironically enough, these two things the boy requested were from the Bishop himself: pen and paper.

"A letter." This is such a great idea. " The boy rejoiced.

"What do I write?" The Romani asked, barely able to hold the pen, for his hand was still trembling.

"It’s a letter to an old friend, so I suppose inquiring about his health should go first."

"Understood."

The Bishop, kneeling on the ground itself, began to write, despite his trembling hand, the letter the boy requested him to write.

The letter was almost completed with these words, with the boy dictating and the Bishop writing its contents.

At one moment, they felt a strange and short-lived seîsm taking place, but with what he was going through, a seîsm going through was the last of his worries.

"It’s Ronandt, not Ronant. "There is a "t" at the end. Do you want to die? "

"I’m sorry! I swear I’m sorry. "

A while after, the letter was finally completed

"Splendid! As expected of an envoy, you have cute handwriting. What a shame you’re trembling this much. I’m sure this will reach the Archbishop's heart. " The boy said upon inspecting the letter’s content.

Hearing these words, the Bishop felt divided,

He was relieved of this praise but was particularly concerned about the fact that he was no longer of any use.

It was at that particular moment that Romani’s eyes met the boys.

"Now, with this done, I wonder what will become of you?" With him still protratiting on the ground, the boy crouched to Romani’s level. "Because I came here to simply kill you. Obviously, after this great service you've made for me, I can't do that anymore, so what are we going to do? I'm in a good mood, so you tell me."

Romani thought this might be a chance.

"Please spare me, I..." I can still be of use. I know things. Yes, you’ve heard about it earlier, didn’t you? I know a lot about the Archbishop. It’s him that you want to get revenge on, right? I can help. "

"Hum, sure you knew quite a lot of things about Medvedik," for a moment, the Bishop felt relief, but the next instant, that relief was torn apart, "But that is not enough for me."

"I..."

"You know what, I think I found something else. I want you to apologize. " 'he simply said with a smile.

"To apologize."

"Yes, I just want you to apologize sincerely, not to me alone but everyone you and your friends wronged that night."

The moment he uttered these words, the Romani knew that this was his chance to get out of this alive.

He thought for a moment, then prostrating himself head against the ground, the Romani pleaded with all his being, "I sincerely regret what I and my fellow executioners that night did that night to you, your Butler, and Vicar Serena. We did wrong. We should’ve handled it differently." I’m willing to dedicate the rest of my existence in repentance of what I have done. "

The young man, who was previously crouching at Romani level,

"What a shame. But I guess it’s fine that way too. "

His hand reached for Romani’s face.

"Huh?"

"You cited me, my butler, and Vicar Serana, but you forgot someone else, two actually."

It was at that moment that he finally remembered that that night there were two other people. Romani had forgotten about them because they were just coachmen, yes, mere coachmen.

"I apologize-"

"I’ve heard enough. Die."

Everything went black in an instant for Romani, and it would forever stay that way.

***

Ronandt

With a sad expression, I let go of the ripped head in my hand and watched it roll on the ground.

After having made several modifications to the letter.

I handed it to Grandfather. Upon reading its added contents, he looked at me. As I was adding ontop of the lifeless corpse of the Bishop, a severed the arm.

"I’ve changed my mind. A letter won’t be enough; a message will." Looking at what was left of Bishop Romani and the arm. "Find yourself a suitcase somewhere and do what you have to do, and don’t forget to send the arm along. This is our farewell. " I said to Great Grandfather before taking my leave.

I was midway through the room when he asked, "Would you still have taken revenge on him if he had gueninly apologized to these two people he had forgotten?"

"I don’t know, it would’ve greatly depended on what I would’ve felt about his apologies, which felt very weak to begin with, so I guess regardless of the outcome, if it had pleased me I would’ve just killed him."

"So it was not about those two people then?"

"You’re right, it wasn’t. I am taking revenge on behalf of no one. I was never asked by anyone to do that in the first place, but I, for years, just felt that I had to. That’s it. All of this is not about revenge anymore, it’s about what I want to do. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be standing there asking me that question. "

With the silence that took place, I deemed my answer was clear enough, so I took my leave.

Nia

The Hazo

I remember this tree from back when it was still nothing but a small nut that would fit into my little hand.

When I heard the legend of that tree from Ronandt, I had the feeling that it could be the same nut that that uncle had presented to me that day.

"To think you would’ve grown this much," I said, caressing the withered trunk of the Hazo.

And to think that one day, outside, beneath this same nut's tree, I would sepnt one of the most memorable moment of my life.

"We’ve both come a very long way, haven’t we? Millenias went by, we’ve changed, yet there you and I remain,"

Allow me to dedicate these feelings to you in honor of your centuries of good works.

Stepping back, and the same way, I summoned the same way I, two years ago summoned the ocean, forest onto the places that has been ravaged by Ronandt, I danced.

Almost immediately as I started, slowly around the tree and I, golden and sky blue particles emerged both from the ground and me and floated in midair.

Closing my eyes, I whispered into the wind, "Say Rene, I know you hear me, the same way I hear you, where you are."

A soft murmur reached me, to which I couldn’t help but smile.

The murmurs I heard didn't spoke a word, but their emotions were clear.

"Soon will come the time you, like every dragon worthy of being called so, will spread your wing and reach onto the sky, the same way I one day will ." I said, knowing that my words wouldn’t reach her but that my feelings definitely would.

"Have patience, Rene. Soon you too will be born into this world." I declared, as I finished my dance.

Finally, opening my eyes, I saw the tree reborn under a new light.

It was now, unlike how it was a few moments earlier, a tall tree, reaching out onto the blue starry sky with its verdant leaves.

Leaving the place, for my actions had caused a commotion that attracted everyone in the neighborhood, I whispered:

"Have patience, my Other Half. Soon you too will be born into this world, or what will remain of it."