Deep down below in a secret passage of his home in Duke, legendary knight Lux Buchanan had run into a conundrum. Unlike his usual days of solace at a nearby lake, his adventure on this single day had led him so far away, that his mind ventured off into the past. Cold and dark, the room he stood within could only find some light from the illuminating light of his spirit, Luna. Crumbled in his hands, a single photograph of the past had launched him back to a battle against Envy. Upon being brought back to Duke, his senses seemed to reciprocate the aura of the room. Cold and dark.

"I failed."

With Lux finally speaking, it did not take long for Luna to respond to her distressed master.

"You failed?" She asked. "How are you here today?" She pondered.

"So, you saw my memory too? I forgot you were capable of that." Scoffed Lux. "Yes. I failed." He slumped himself into a wobbly wooden chair. "After I killed all of those sin cultists I passed out." He sighed.

"Yet you are still alive here." Commended Luna.

"Strange, right? You would think a sin cultist would have come and killed me at some point. Someone must have found me." Muttered Lux, still in disbelief.

"Strange, indeed. Was it one of the other legendary knights?" Suggested Luna, but Lux quickly shook his head.

"No, no, no." He chuckled. "They were busy...they were...they..." Lux choked upon his words. "They were busy with the plan. They failed." He said, going ice cold.

"What exactly was this plan you mention?" Pondered Luna.

"Eliza." Lux's eyes sparkled with rejuvenation. "Edgar's wife. We hoped that she could maybe change Edgar's thinking so the Sin of Envy could not consume him." With these words, his eyes dropped with a sigh. "We tried everything for him. One day he was Edgar Westfield, the next he became the very first Sin of Envy. How? How? How?!" Pounding the ground with his foot, he exclaimed.

Such a minor tremor managed to have an effect on the dilapidated room, whereby a small wooden table collapsed with a loud clang. Once the dust settled, it did not take long for the light of Luna to shine upon the decaying papers which flew about onto the floor. Like a beating heart, a single piece of paper fluttered down with glowing residue. It shined so greatly, it took Lux aback, until he had seen enough and began to leave the mess of a room. Still, Luna lingered. She resisted following her master.

"There is unopened mail down here, sir." She said.

"From who?" Lux stopped at the doorway with reluctance.

"Legendary knight Grove Cornelius." Replied Luna.

"Then I cannot open it." Lux moved onwards. "The fool binds his letters with magic, how am I supposed to unravel them?" He laughed off the idea.

"You may use me." Recommended Luna.

"You, Luna?" Lux turned to view her. "Even if I did use you, my magic is on too high of a frequency - it would attract unwanted attention here." He reaffirmed.

"Why are you running away from the past, sir? Are you not a legendary knight?" Interrogatively asked Luna.

"I am a legendary knight. I defeated the Seven Deadly Sins. I saved the world from evil." Said Lux. "But that letter is probably not so heroic." He added.

"Perhaps so, but it appears to be very strange. A memory letter." Commented Luna.

"Hmm? That is strange. Why would Grove send me a letter carrying a fragment of his memory?" Pondered Lux. "We must find out. It is unlike him." He said with a nod to Luna.

Blinding the room with an immensely bright light, Luna began to intertwine with the dusty old letter, until finally, the scenery around the two of them began to take shape. A blurry haze heated up around Lux as his eyes took time to adjust from the darkness of the room to a hot and fiery scene. So bright with pink and orange, yet so gloomy, the sky looked as if the sun had exploded. It surely smelled as if something of the sort happened, as Lux could not help but capture the smell of the memory. It was not something unfamiliar to his senses. He shivered. Boiled blood, blackened bodies and blasted buildings. It glistened across his tongue, suffocating all his taste buds.

"Why..." Lux began to vomit. "Why can I smell? Why can I taste?" He shivered out.

"It seems Grove has not omitted those senses of his memory here." Said Luna. "Where exactly is here?" She pondered.

"18 years ago. Milun." Lux's eyes went white with trauma. "Judging by the angle we stand in. We are observing the memory from Grove's view. It seems to be sometime after he and I split off from each other." He reported.

"Sir. You seem to be struggling. Are you sure you want to begin the memory?" Asked Luna.

"The terrors of the past should not be censored by the weakness of the present. Go. I must find out what Grove has to show." Implored Lux with anguish.

With his confirming words, Luna illuminated the scene once again, with her light only pulsing for a few seconds before it eventually weakened. A great voice echoed from the clouds of the scene as it called out to the estranged ears of Lux.

"I hope you're feeling better, my friend. You must have woken up from our battle against Edg - Envy by now?" Familiar to Lux and Luna, the voice was Grove Cornelius'. "No answer. I must get used to the one-sidedness of these memory letters." He chuckled to himself.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Where is he going with this?" Muttered Lux.

"Ah well. If this was in person you'd still be just as silent to my words." The voice awkwardly laughed out. "But that's exactly why I am raising this concern with you. Listen well, my friend. This letter is dangerous. You must keep it private. I place you in my eyes, to show you what I saw when we split on the day we fought Envy." The voice had faded, and soon Lux had been embraced into the eyes of Grove Cornelius.

For Lux, these eyes were a new experience in both a physical and mental sense. Despite being revolutionary at the time of its creation, memory letters that bore accurate recreations of a memory were swiftly slept upon by the general public. Too much magical talent was needed to even think of reading one, and beyond such restrictions, the access to memory letters was indefinitely limited to only military eyes. Yet, Lux was not just astounded by the functioning of the memory letter as he played out Grove's memory in his body. All around Grove stood ashes and smoke. Of course, in this memory, Lux was busy subjugating the sin cultists which had separated him and Grove in the first place. Thus, being placed in a memory where there were no ghostly murmurs or fiery cries, Lux looked at Grove's viewpoint with disbelief. Instead of the turmoil of fierce battle Lux remembered, Grove's eyes unwillingly gave up the consequences of such battle.

With great haste, Grove tapped along the desolate streets of Milun. A city that once breathed with vibrance and beauty, was now the epitome of war and destruction. Beyond the narrow passages clogged up with bodies and the trampled homes of thousands, not a single living sound shared a moment with Grove. Alone and in agony, his breaths and heartbeat vibrated across the shattered streets so profoundly, the inner Lux and Luna could not help but hear it. With smoke striking one eye and the trauma of war another, Grove was stumbling about the streets of Milun hopelessly. Yet, with such disarray in the massacred streets, a strange pattern could be made out. Plastered out with perfection, several bodies lined up in a manner that appeared almost as if it were a trail of sorts.

"This street, my friend. It appears strange to me. But that is not all. Pause this memory when the gust of wind hits my face." Called out Grove from the clouds.

"Hmm? Luna be ready to pause." Said Lux.

His words barely had time to reach Luna before the gust of wind Grove described soon pushed their field of view down fiercely. Within their pause, came a picture of perfect horror. A gust of wind did indeed hit them, but with this wind came a small, sinister spark. A spirit? A sin cultist? Neither Grove nor Lux could recognise the terrifying figure which appeared before them. The shape and figure almost mimicked Luna in her spirit form but this pulsing light carried a wicked face stuck to the front. So haunting, so chilling, such an expression cried as if it were a ghostly essence. Regardless of its intentions, it only came to be for a matter of seconds as the moment of terror passed by Grove quickly. A freeze-frame had rendered the image slightly more accessible, but no face could be conceived from whatever the thing had been. Lux had seen enough, calling upon Luna to move on.

"Strange, no?" Grove called out.

"I'll say!" Exclaimed Lux.

"Perhaps it was just a figment of my mana-lacking mind? Or was it something more? I can't help but feel so." Pondered Grove.

Before Lux could render the words of the letter, Grove's body had arrived at a mountainous peak in the middle of a street. More bodies. Even Death itself would have had a hard time swimming within the lifeless heap of flesh and bones. The sight was simply something to avoid, but it was unavoidable. Particularly, once Grove had made a grim discovery.

"Look at their wounds, my friend. Anything strange?" He had gently implored his observer to inspect the mass of death.

The views were wretched, especially in the dust, but they were an ask from a friend of the past so Lux reluctantly decided to agree. His conclusions gathered nothing special from the melted faces but the way in which the bodies had been slaughtered was something of concern. A fine incision to the throat with a dagger was enough to roll their heads across the ground. But walking up further through the letter, it became clear through the dust, some of the perilous souls had been clawing at each other for something. For life? For death?

"I'm certain this was not the Sin of Envy. This madness...it is unlike the set of powers we have seen from Envy before." Said Grove.

The thought lightly lingered in Lux's mind as he progressed with the letter, soon arriving at a key moment to the memory - the safehouse. A small cottage that had managed to survive the destruction all around it, this safehouse was so important because of how it could revive the humanness within Edgar Westfield. The Sin of Envy was running rampant through Edgar’s body, but ahead of Grove stood a final hope for the four legendary heroes to bring back their friend. For such a small place to be guarded against the decimation dwelling in the streets, a single protector sat slumped across a fence. The wonderful Guardian of Water, Roslo Reginald had been enlisted. Though, his appearance at this moment was not a wonder of beauty. His body had been drawn drearily across the fence, where his mouth gasped for air. He had been in-between the touches of life and death. His skin had been paler than usual, and a bloodshot black swirled around his pupils. His pulse remained perfectly fine, but at the touch of his skin, a bluish foam had begun to pour out of his mouth.

"Roslo?" Asked Grove.

"A night witch..." Roslo had spoken, but his words were faint and soon unresponsive.

"A night witch?" Lux remarked.

"You are aware of them, sir?" Asked Luna.

"Obviously." Lux's voice trembled. "They went extinct long before these events though." He said, regaining himself.

The thought would have to pause as soon, the letter moved onwards into the safe house, where a single room had gathered their attention. A lady had been sat down miserably on a double bed, but she had been perfectly fine and unharmed. The events outside had far from reached her. Yet, her mind was clearly at unease. Her shoulders shivered and her lips stuttered as she turned to view the guest in front of her. Gorgeously green, her eyes struck Grove with pity as desperation clung to her lashes.

"Good afternoon, Eliza." Nodded Grove.

"Such a fool." Commented Lux.

"Afternoon. Grove." Spitefully said the fair lady.

"You seem scared, Eliza." Remarked Grove.

"I fear Envy. Not Edgar. My husband is not a person to be scared of." Said Eliza. "Tell me, do you think it will work?" She asked.

"No." Replied Grove.

"Huh." Astounded, Eliza looked to Grove with disarray.

"Though, if Indominus and Lux have faith in the plan, I must agree with them." Said Grove with a smirk.

"You soldiers. You have two minds. You use the wrong one." Sighed Eliza. "But I suppose you think I will walk right into my death?" She pondered.

"You will not walk right back into his arms. Is that not what you are hoping for?" Inquired Grove.

"You tell me." Quickly responded Eliza.

"Indominus and Lux merely want you to speak with Edgar." Said Grove.

"How far have words ever gotten you as a soldier?" Asked Eliza sternly.

"Eliza. If you are thinking of touching your dear Edgar, it will not work. He will kill you." Said Grove.

"This fool was supposed to reassure her, not stop her." Commented Lux.

"You have no hope, Grove. I believe in my Edgar, he will not let the Sin of Envy swirl within his pure heart for so long." Proclaimed Eliza, her feet rising impatiently.

Grove paused in his seat on the bed. As he looked up to her, his heart could all but melt in anguish. A fire from outside the small house could not have found greater pain than the one which settled in his stomach. His eyes twitched slightly as he forced himself upwards. Even his hands shook with resistance. His breaths began to become wavy and dissolute as his voice lost all confidence. At last, his eyes looked down to the ground with despair.

"Goodbye, Eliza Westfield." He mumbled out.

"You aren't coming with me?" Questioned Eliza.

"Not the whole way." Said Grove. "But let's go." He said, raising his eyes to the burning city of Milun.