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> Every decision we make in life creates regret, so walk the path where it’ll be much better for you, where you think that it would create much less regrets than others.

- Alessio Amaryllis

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After that morning's argument with Garett, I was never able to talk to him— or see him that much for the past few days that passed. Whenever I saw him, he quickly avoided me, not even batting an eye, not even giving me a chance to explain things. But after a while, I came to a halt. I thought that perhaps it would be better if I gave him some time to calm down and think for himself, while I should do the same for the time being. I trained the new recruits, planned a couple of new strategies, and even tried to help some citizens in the nearby villages. Despite everything, at the end of the day, that one question remains in my mind... Is it truly the right choice to make?

  "It feels like anything I would do would make no difference, and the result would still be the same." I said before sighing, then slowly raising the Stone of Time high, pointing it against the light of my room. I still don’t believe that I could rely on it to find the solutions to my everyday problems. Well, I didn’t try using it way too much to begin with anyway.

  And fully knowing how many possibilities there are in every choice and action that I or anyone else would do, that would lead to little or huge changes in the future, is already a pain in the head just by imagining it. "Such a small stone but with such a big purpose, and is enough to change one’s life forever."

  Hearing the knock on my door, I quickly looked and hid the stone, "Come in."

  Upon opening the door, a familiar yet unexpected person showed up and soon walked into the room. A tall man with pale skin, messy purple hair, and purple eyes.

  "I hope that I’m not interrupting you, General Amaryllis," he said with a bow.

  "No, Sir Klein, not all." I responded as I stood up from my bed. "What is it?"

  "There is... something that I would like to report to you in private," he says as he closes the door behind him. "If I am wrong, then please correct me. But I don’t believe that you’ve recruited any new troops in the past few days. If you did, you would have told us during our meetings like you usually do. So, I and many others were confused to see new faces arriving earlier, and they were... aggressive towards those who were from this kingdom, despite how they were welcoming them with such hospitality."

  "That is very suspicious. But unfortunately, even if I say that I didn’t recruit them, they’re already here. The people in this kingdom are too trustworthy when it comes to newcomers. It's as simple as claiming they were recruited by me. They will easily believe them and let them in. So, if I suddenly dismissed them right on the spot, the others would disagree with the decision and would perhaps even cause some mistrust between us. " I crossed my arms and shook my head. "... How many are they?"

  "There's... a lot of them. Enough to start an ambush from within when we least expect it, and what I fear will happen next. I’ve tried to warn them about it, but most of them wouldn’t believe me, saying that I’m overreacting." He responded before sighing. "Well, complaints aside, what should we do now, General?"

  "I will notify the king as soon as possible. But knowing him, he would probably—"

  "The king? Right now? I don’t think it’s a good idea to— No, you have the very right to know what’s going on." He said before looking away for a moment before looking back at me once more. "My apologies for not telling you this sooner. We… We thought that we would be able to handle the situation by ourselves without coming to you and asking for your help, but the king— he hasn’t left his room for several hours now. And there’s this strong negative and cold aura that we were able to sense outside of his room. The servants were terrified, and his mother, she wouldn’t even bat an eye."

  I became silent for a moment. How could I let this happen? I thought before my eyes widened in fear as a memory flashed in my mind. A memory that I don’t remember happening before. An incident where the king lost control of his stone’s powers while attempting to tell me the truth, but I lost control of my anger and almost killed him in the process. And as soon as that quick memory ended, I suddenly stumbled back a little while breathing heavily and feeling the sweat drip down my horrified face.

  How— Why— This has never happened before, so why am I seeing it now? What does it mean? I thought as I looked at my shaking hands before looking at the worried man.

  "G-General? Are you alright? If you’re not feeling well, you don’t need to force—"

  "I-I’ll be fine." I quickly responded in a reassuring tone as I stood up. "I’m fine... However, I should be the one apologizing for not being able to prevent something like that from happening in the first place. How very careless of me to forget about it…"

  Putting the Stone of Time back in my tie, I gave him my last command, "I’ll do what I can to help the king for now. While I’m gone, I need you and the others to take more precautions in your surroundings, especially with the suspicious newcomers. And whatever happens, don't come after me—don't let anyone, not even the former queen, enter the room after I do...Do you understand, Sir Klein?"

  Klein looked hesitant at first, but soon he nodded determinedly, "Yes, General!"

  The two of us then left the room and went our separate ways without wasting another second. But the nerve-wracking feeling hasn’t left me, and the thought of having no certain plan of what to do once I arrived there wasn’t helping either.

  Something like that has never happened before. Well, Lady Lucerne was always around for him to keep him in check. But since she left and hasn’t returned yet, the only other person who knows about his stone and his situation is me, and yet I failed to keep an eye on him. I should have known that something like this was about to happen, especially after what happened during that morning meal with Garett.

  "Garett…" I said as I suddenly stopped in my tracks, looking back at the hallway. For a moment, I thought of visiting him— talking to him one last time… but soon I shook my head and continued walking. Is this choice of mine just another big mistake?

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As soon as I arrived, I felt the quick yet shivering breeze that passed through me, and I saw how such pure darkness almost engulfed the whole room. Some of the things that I was able to recognize through the darkness were broken glass that was scattered in front of the windows that were now covered by the thick darkness, and some were near the bed that seemed to be almost broken. It looked like a hurricane had come here.

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see where the king was, and searching for him in the dark without any source of light would be difficult. I could use my fire magic, but it might startle him once he sees me. And so, I quickly began looking at one of the nearby tables in the hallways, and fortunately found unlit candles in a candelabrum. Grabbing it and lighting up the candles, I took a deep breath, then began to slowly walk into the king’s room. The door was shut forcefully behind me as I entered, and soon I was quickly consumed by the thick darkness. Truly, there was no going back.

  I can’t honestly imagine how Lady Lucerne is able to keep handling this kind of situation with him and all by herself every time. It is impressive, but very much more concerning. I thought before looking at the imaginary path of darkness ahead of me and began walking around, looking for the missing king.

  I tried calling out his name a couple of times, but there was no response other than my own voice and my own footsteps resounding throughout the room. The broken glass and any other broken furniture that I saw earlier before I entered were all nowhere to be found.

  After walking for several minutes now, I soon realized that the room, or the void now, had become bigger than it was before, and perhaps I had been walking in circles. I almost wanted to stop to take a rest and think before I might lose my mind, but I soon noticed the Stone of Time in my tie began to glow all of a sudden. I was hesitant to touch it at first, but I was desperate at this point in looking for an answer to find him. And so when I touched it, another unfamiliar but short memory came to my mind.

  The memory showed me the king. He seemed to be happy as he was giving me a golden pocket watch as a gift. And just like the memory from earlier, that occurrence has never happened before, at least not yet, I believe. However, it could be a sign of what I needed to find in order to find him.

  Though I must say, even though it was only a short memory, that was enough to give me another headache. The drawback of this stone is that it is not as dangerous as his, but I stopped and just shook my head before beginning to walk once more.

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  I’m not entirely sure if it is even possible to find something as small as a golden pocket watch in what seemed to be an endless void of a room, and I would just end up wasting my time even more looking for an item that doesn’t exist. And yet... I soon found something glowing in a shade of orange on the floor, and picked it up.

  "Hmm? Is this perhaps the golden pocket watch from that memory? But it doesn’t seem to be working at the moment." I said before noticing the hour hand began turning as I tried moving the pocket watch around, as if it was pointing somewhere else like a compass. Even if it may seem like a far-fetched idea, it wouldn’t hurt to try it out.

  Just wait a little longer, Taro. I’ll find you soon enough. I thought as I continued walking once more, using the pocket watch for navigation to look for the king.

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  After walking for only a couple of minutes, it wasn’t that long when the once resounding of my footsteps was slowly being surpassed by the sound of someone’s familiar weeping. And as the weeping became louder and louder, a cold breeze blew by, almost putting the fire out on the candles on the candelabrum. But it didn’t concern me that much, not until... I finally found him and the state he was in and was speechless.

  There he was. The king of Ivory Moon, Taro Naoko, curled up and sat in the middle of the void-like darkness. His hands were holding on to his head, and he was in shades of unnatural purple with red veins showing visibly under his skin, and the armlets that were still locked into his wrists were shaking violently.

  I could sense from where I stood the strong energy and the negative aura all around him, making me hesitate on approaching him, so I tried calling out to him first, in hopes that he would snap out of it, "Your Highness? Taro?... Taro, Can you hear me?"

  Soon he slowly lifted his head and looked at me with his eyes widened in fear and tears streaming down his face. He stared at me for quite some time before, as if it seemed that he wasn’t able to recognize me at first. "W-Who are you?!... S-Stay away from me!" he shouted as he suddenly stretched out his hand, unleashing a strong force that pushed me furiously back and caused me to cough up blood a bit from the pain.

  That was a huge blow. Not the worst one I've dealt with, but this would have been avoided in the first place if I had been there for him sooner. I thought, wiping off the blood from my chin and standing my ground.

  "It's me, Alessio! I’m here to help you, Your Highness!"

  "A-Alessio?... Help me?" he repeated. "Help me with what exactly? I’m perfectly fine—" he paused as his eyes widened. "W-Wait— N-No! You can’t be him! He’s already dead! I’ve… I’ve already killed him... It was my fault that he died! "His blood is in my hands," he said, looking down at his trembling hands before returning his gaze to me. "Whoever you are, you shouldn’t be here— I don’t want to hurt you. I don't want to lose you either. Not again— Never again! Leave immediately!... That’s an order!"

  As he said those last words in a demanding tone, a strong force pinned me down against the floor as my vision of him turned pitch black. Then there was only silence. I could barely feel any part of my body except for my hands, which were still holding tightly on to the candelabrum and the pocket watch, but I was blinded by the darkness for a while until... I was able to feel someone’s hand touching me on my cheek, making me slowly look up, only to see a familiar yet haunting face that I never thought of seeing again. Tears began streaming down my face as I gritted my teeth in regret.

  "I should have known that one day... you would come to haunt me too…"

  I tried to look away from the blonde man, my old friend, but the strong force firmly made me look at him and his neutral face as he asked, "What are you doing right now, Alessio?... Have you perhaps finally decided to stay here forever with us?"

  I opened my mouth but no words came out of it, and so I kept myself silent.

  "You are as reckless as before. No one asked you to take revenge." he said.

  "I know." I quickly responded.

  "You know, and yet there were times where you tried to kill the king yourself after he told you the truth of what happened in that tragedy..." were the words that came out of his mouth before his appearance changed to a horrifying sight of how I presumed he died that day.

  He continued, "You shouldn’t have hesitated on ending him."

  My eyes widened in fear as my body suddenly flinched. "W-What— No— I-I—"

  "With the power of the stone that I gave you that day, you could still make things right. You could have ended everyone’s suffering once and for all. But it was your choice to cower away. It was your decision that resulted in far more human sacrifices than you could ever imagine... Don’t you want us to forgive you, for leaving us behind that day?"

  I kept myself silent, lowering my head on the floor as I didn’t know how to answer him. He is right… I’ve made so many mistakes in my life, so many choices that could have perhaps led to a better future, not only for me but for everyone else as well, and yet... These were the thoughts that began flooding my mind as I slowly felt my energy being drained and felt freezing cold before my whole body became completely numb…

  …

  There was only silence and emptiness. I thought everything had ended, but…

  "Alessio? Hey! What are you doing in a place like this? You’re so silly. Get up." But a familiar woman’s voice said, but I wasn’t able to move. I then felt her warm hands on me, slowly and carefully helping me sit up.

  "C’mon. Look at me, Al. Please? Just for me."

  Slowly, I tried lifting my head to look at her, and finally saw her face. She then smiles brightly and places both of her warm hands on both sides of my cheeks. Tears began streaming down my face once more, "Endellion… It’s been a long time."

  "I suppose you’re right. It seems that time flies by so quickly. But I never thought that I would be seeing you in this poor state." She said as she gently wiped away my tears. "Usually I was the crying baby between us two. Do you still remember that, Al?"

  I nodded a bit. "Yeah, I actually do. That was a very long time ago though…"

  After looking away from her, there was a short moment of cold silence before she soon asked me, "Do you think I’m disappointed in you for what you had done before?"

  "How could you not be?" I responded immediately.

  "I failed to protect you that night after I promised to our father that I would. I wasn't there for a very close friend of mine when the tragedy occurred. I wasn’t there for the king to prevent any of this from happening. All of the choices that I’ve made have led to more mistakes... nothing but mistakes.

  As soon as I finished my sentence, her warmth spread even more as she suddenly embraced me tightly in her arms. It all felt so real. She felt so real. It’s as if she wasn’t just an illusion, and she was truly here with me.

  In a comforting tone, she then said, "We both know that there are some things that we truly can’t prevent from happening, and some of the decisions we make would lead us to unexpected events, but even so, the past choices that you've made shouldn't stop the person you've become now… You’ve fought for the people and for what you think is right. You've stayed determined through and through again. So, why stop now, especially when you've made it this far…"

  "You truly haven't changed at all, El. Even when we were kids back then, you w—"

  "I always believe that everyone can change if you give them the chance and time to try. I know. But isn’t that the very reason why you didn’t kill the King, even if you had every perfect opportunity to do so?... You've given him a chance to change, and tried to see in his perspective the tragedy that happened that day, and then in the end, you finally understood him..." she said as she slowly broke the hug and looked at me with a smile.

  As I slowly lifted my hand and placed it on her cheek, her body began to slowly break into glass pieces. "This all felt too real. I can't afford to let you go, not again…"

  "Just… Remember this. Remember how brave and strong you are. You’re the most strong-willed person I know. Don’t give up. Promise me, you won’t give up, Al…"

  Despite how I never liked making promises, I still said to her, "I promise you, El."

  She finally breaks along with the black space around me. Without wasting more time, I stood up and began running. I ran and ran, and as I passed through the illusions of everyone that I’ve loved and lost, they quickly broke into glass pieces until I was finally free from the delusion of the inner void, the Chains of Duress. I was finally able to see my body, the two objects, the candelabrum and the pocket watch that I was still holding, and the king himself, who looked surprised and terrified to see me return.

  "H-How are you—that's impossible—how are you able to get out?" He exclaimed.

  I stared at him for a moment before slowly approaching him, which made him unsettled even more. He started shaking his head quickly while moving further away from me as he said in a frightening tone, "N-No! Stay away from me! I don’t want to hurt you even more than I already did! So please, just leave me alone— Leave me be! I-I can’t control this... I don’t want you..." as the Stone of Void that he had begun glowing brighter, so did the Stone of Time that was attached to my tie.

  As soon as I stopped at the right gap between us, I kneeled down in front of him, placed the candelabrum and the pocket watch on the floor by my side, and then held out my hand as I said in a calm and reassuring tone, "Taro... Please, even just this once, I need you to trust me and give me your hand... I can assure you— I promise you that everything and everyone will be fine after this."

  He became silent as he stared at me. He was hesitant for a moment before slowly reaching out his shaking, cold hand towards me. I then gently grabbed it and placed my other hand on top of it. Not long after, the darkness all around us started to fade away, along with the strong energy that comes from the Stone of Void. I could also hear his loud breathing soon becoming stable, even though he seemed to be crying still.

  This nightmare had come to an end. But I still need to keep him safe... I faintly thought before slowly feeling numb and falling to the side of the floor.

  I didn't think what I did, a spell— or some unknown power of the stone— would work or cost me that much energy. But regardless, the king is safe now, and I'm very thankful for that, though I don't think he would say the same after seeing the state I am in now. I opened my tired eyes a little wider, and I could still see his worried— or more panicked— expression, but I couldn't feel him shaking me or understand what he was saying to me right now.

  As much as I wanted to say something, my mouth wouldn't move, and despite how I still wanted to keep my eyes open a little longer, they slowly began to close and my ears began to ring. I'm tired. I feel so tired. But I don't want things to end just yet…

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