“Happy birthday…” Yeon told the young man in front of her, looking into his only functional eye under the silver light of the moon.
It was a bright and eventful night at Kaldstein, and not even the cold winds of winter could be heard under the show of fireworks, and joyful cheers of the people. The usually quiet and peaceful neighborhood that remained covered in snow throughout the year, had now popped the champagnes open, and rejoiced at the beginning of a new year with all nearby families assembled around the streets in a happy festival.
Food, drinks, games for the children, and tables for the adults to gather were spread all around. Fireworks ignited in the sky with flashing and diverse colors, keeping the infants entertained with their beautiful display of sparkly shapes and loud noises.
In the middle of a snowy yard from one of the houses—splendidly decorated with many flowers that bloomed during winter, was Yeon and the young man of dazzling silver hair, happily enjoying their time together while watching the display of fireworks. The woman protected herself from the winter under a fancy white pea coat, jeans, and brown leather boots with wool lining for better warmth.
“Wow… you’ve grown quite a lot.” Yeon told the man.
She surveyed his appearance with a quick scan of her eyes, starting with the pair of white winter boots on his feet, to his blue jeans, and black turtle neck sweater with a red scarf around his neck—stopping at the funny squirrel sewed in his beanie hat. He kept both hands hidden behind him, and his one eye smiled at her through its blue contact lens.
“I guess you are not a kid anymore…”
“Haha, are you considering dati—”
“No.”
“Damn…” the young man frowned, immediately breaking into a smile after a quick chuckle. “Happy New Year, Ki-Joon.” he expressed with a genuine tone, leaving all remnants of his usual antics behind. “Thanks for always being here for me…”
“Loewe…” Yeon’s expression softened, and she furrowed her brows with a smile. “You have nothing to thank me for. I promised to take care of you, remember?”
“I know… but that time is approaching too.”
“Don’t think about that at the moment,” the woman shook her head, and moved one hand inside her coat immediately after. “It’s your birthday today… You should celebrate instead.” She pulled out a small box from inside her clothes, protected under white wrapping paper, and ornated with many colorful polka dots. “It’s not much since I’m trying to save some money, but I’m sure you’ll be happy to have it.”
“Oh…” Loewe’s brows raised in surprise, huffing a chuckle before proceeding to reveal his hands to the woman.
He carefully held a small bouquet of white flowers in his left hand, which remained concealed under a blue latex glove. The young man proudly presented his gift to Yeon, leaning the bouquet in closer for her to look. Every flower had the exact same fragile look, as if their petals would dissolve like sugar in water at the slightest touch. Their green stems were wrapped in cellophane, kept together tightly to form the simple yet lovely bouquet, which colors melted beautifully with the falling flakes of snow.
“These are…” Yeon’s eyes widened, and her free hand instinctively moved towards the flowers—taking the bouquet without a second thought. “Loewe, you…”
“It took me some time, but I had to figure it out eventually.” he said, smiling at Yeon with pride. “Mom left a bunch of notes about them, but I was never into taking care of flowers. Until… well, until now.” He claimed. “It was harder than I thought, and these flowers can easily wither if not taken care of, but I wanted to gift you something special. I hope this is good enough.”
“It’s perfect,” Yeon replied instantly. “She would be so proud of you, there’s not a single doubt in my mind. Thank you… I love them.”
“It’s the least I can do for you, Ki-Joon.”
“Here,” the woman extended her towards Loewe, placing the small box in his hands.
It fit almost perfectly in his hand, and its light weight sparked the young man’s curiosity in an instant. “What is it?” he asked.
“Open it and find out. All I can say is… that it will help you with that look you’ve been trying to pull off.”
Center of the Deadlands, Ruined Castle: 936, December 30th, Sunday, 11:30 PM.
A mere day before the end of 936, a massive horde of specters gathered all around the very center of the Deadlands. Humanoid creatures, or beast-like monsters, their appearance was of no importance to the god that had brought them together. At the center of their gathering was the ruined black castle of colossal size, watching over the deadly zone with its imposing image.
Among the army of demons walked a single man, tall, strong, and armed with a gigantic sword in his back, and a sawed-off shotgun strapped in one of his legs. Despite the gloomy and terrifying sight of the monsters he walked among, the man continued his stroll with a smile, as if he were walking through a field of flowers in the morning.
At the enormous open gate of the castle stood a man of silver hair, dressed in a fancy black suit with a red dress shirt underneath—keeping his left hand hidden inside his pockets. He was smaller than any demon lurking the zone, thin, weak, and fragile. Despite his frail and fragile looks, there was no fear or any type of emotion showed in the young man’s expression. He simply observed, and waited silently, watching as the demonic creatures stomped his dazzling view of the field of flowers.
“Hey, buddy.” The words of a man interrupted his contemplative state—who gently bumped his shoulder with a fist.
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“How is everything going?”
“Pretty good! Thanks for asking,” replied Sebastian. “I actually had a few bears with Aria and Xun bef—”
“In the Deadlands,” Sovereign interrupted, growling at the man while gritting his teeth.
“Ah… well, nothing too different. I evacuated my team from the north without Cerberus’ knowledge, so I know they’ll be safe.” Sebastian claimed, proceeding with his report. “The company doesn’t seem to be aware of what’s going on here, which means my daughter will most likely be safe too.”
“…”
“Sovereign?”
“I’m thinking.”
“Yeah, but…” the major insisted. “The gladean knights know where you are now… looks like the specters activity around here has gotten their attention.”
Sovereign waited for a short couple of seconds before offering his reply, frowning with lowered brows at the sight of his flowers being trampled by the foul monsters of the zone. To Sebastian, the specters, and any other being other than himself, the Deadlands were nothing but a hellish zone of scorched land and fog.
“I know,” he replied to Sebastian. “Confronting them is unavoidable at this point, but we can’t take them all on at once.”
“You got a plan?”
“Ninigi and the order are not necessarily working together,” Sovereign began to explain. “He may seem calm all the time, but he can be quite stubborn with his values. Ninigi will refuse to work with King, but will try to avoid conflict with them regardless. Distracting him while the specters invade the south is our best option at the moment.”
“You want me to face him?”
“No,” the man replied instantly, almost reveling his fear towards the goddess’ chosen. He clenched his jaw, and the frustration within him was clearly showed by his scrunched brows and crinkled nose. “I have nothing…” he muttered.
“Hm?”
“I have nothing to beat him this time…” Sovereign continued. “But if I can expand the Deadlands just enough, then maybe I’ll have just enough strength to Paradise down once and for all. King will be transformed into a daemon, and his death will be swift not long after that. No fountain or blessing will be able to save him, and with Paradise gone… there will be only one threat left to deal with.”
Sebastian’s smiled faded at the man’s words, having met that threat a long time ago, and gotten to know it in a personal level over the years. “You’ll… are you going let Ninigi kill you?”
“…”
“Sovereign.”
“No,” the man shook his head—turning his eye from the army of demons to meet Sebastian’s gaze. “Being killed by a gladean knight would mean your death, and that’s not a promise I’m willing to break.” He told him, turning his gaze back to the front. “Lionheart is the only one that can help you. If… when… she takes the last shot, then every daemon alive would become free of my will, and return to normal.”
“You said she could control it for you… seal all of those memories inside the spectral gear, did you give up on that?”
“It’s too late to think about it now,” Sovereign retorted. “My mind is slipping, and my core continues to whither with every passing second. If it isn’t now then I doubt we’ll have another chance. She will not know, Sebastian. There is no Sovereign… or even Loewe. To her I will simple be Specter. Then you, Lucy, and… and him can be free.”
Knowing well what his words meant, Sebastian gently placed one hand in Sovereign’s shoulder, and showed his pearly whites with a happy smirk that contrasted with the young man’s gloomy expression.
“No need to worry,” he said. “If push comes to shove, then I’ll distract the champion for as long as I can. You’ll be able to hide away again, and wait for my daughter to rescue us.” Sebastian laughed loudly, throwing his head back at the thought. “That’ll be one hell of a story to tell her! She’s looked up to this guy ever since she was a child, so telling her that I fought him on even ground is going to blow her mind!”
“You are a strange man…”
“And you are still young,” the major said. “Listen, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I know that you have people that care about you out there.” Sebastian expressed his thoughts without restrain, smiling through every word as he would always do. “My daughter is one of them, and I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you safe and sound. I am here for you too, so don’t worry about a thing, buddy ol’ pal. You never told me what you wanted to be once all of this if over by the way.”
To him it was nothing special, just another day of spending time with the one friend he made many years ago, but for the first time in months, Sebastian had drawn an expression other than indifference from the black suited man. Though his crimson eye remained hidden with the shadows of the Deadlands, his half-parted lips, and unstable breath were enough signs for the major to realize his words had finally reached.
God, human, specter, or whatever possible being he could be. The young man standing before him was still a friend he’s known for almost a decade, and the one that’s protected his beloved daughter throughout the year. Spectral gear, Bloodhound, Sebastian and Heretic’s photo, their visit to Viktoria and Clara’s graves, every gift she’s received had help the young lieutenant move on from the nightmares she could not bear before joining Cerberus—something the old major had been thankful for despite knowing the origins of said nightmares.
“Sebastian…” Sovereign spoke, a softer tone that reminded him of the day they met at the vast green field.
“What is it, buddy?”
The young man cleared his throat while keeping his jaw tightly clenched, and he failed to express the words in his mind. Sovereign fell silent for what lasted nearly a minute, struggling to surface his thoughts as the major smiled next to him. Unbecoming to a god or a demon, at that specific moment in time he was nothing but a youth with a dream, nervously and optimistically looking forward at his possible future.
“…” he exhaled loudly through his lips, gathering enough courage to finally speak. “Dammit I don’t know what got over me but… I want to be with her, Sebastian. Once this is all over… I want to ask her out properly. No jokes, or silly undertones… I want to tell her how I feel.”
Stunned, stupefied, perplex, no words could explain the state Sebastian fell into at the young man’s bold claim. His eyebrows raised, his mouth slightly opened, and his body instinctively leaned back—as if being moved away by the wind.
“I don’t know what is happening…” Sovereign growled with one corner of his lips twitching with frustration. “Her name has been stuck in my head for so long… I think I’m confusing the meaning of it but… who cares what it meant before at this point.
“Haha!” the major crackled a small laugh after recollecting himself, slamming his palm down against the man’s frail shoulder—almost smacking him down against the black spectral floor of the castle gates. “I’m confident she will appreciate you being more honest! You two have a long life ahead of you, so might as well make the most of it!”
“She’ll probably have me fight a bear or something…”
“Well, she is very strict with her standards, but hey…” the major took his hand off Sovereign’s shoulder. “How about you take it slow instead,” he suggested. “It might be hard to go back to normal, and I’m sure there will be more conflict to deal with, but I want my daughter to have some peace and the enjoy the life she’s been chasing after. Just know that will always be welcome at my home… even if she kicks you out.”
Falling silent once again, the young man moved his gaze from Sebastian, and towards the intact field of flowers that expanded across the region. They gently swayed with the wind under the bright blue sky above, and patiently waited for a new year to arrive.
“Right…” Sovereign said under his breath, taking his left hand out of the pocket to reveal the black glove it hid under. “I’ll have to pay Ki-Joon a visit too…” a saddened smile drew itself in his expression.
END OF CHAPTER