Deep within a heavy slumber, a dreary old man had woken to the loud rings of a bell. The chiming of this noise had shot him upwards from his bed, where his crusty eyes opened - the two aged and filled with a hint of lavender at the pupils. Aside from him, a certain somebody had been missing indefinitely, but this had not impeded his day. He had risen from his bed, ready for his day in the town of Duke.

This average day of his took a strange deviation when his eyes rolled along onto the grand window which enveloped his double bed. Blissful and glistening with homely golden delight, a shrubbery of cottages and market stalls tightly scattered across the streets. Looming lightly in the distance, the gorgeous peaks of several mountains gushed with limitless streams of water. At their downfall, parades of flowers mingled with desolate divinity. The trees kissed each other in tranquillity. Dancing and singing in carefree delight, animals lifted the heavenly hue of the area with their jolly hysteria. Such beauty made all things smile.

For the man, a single flicker drifted his smile into worry.

"Smoke? It is so thin. It must be magic. I sense powerful magic." He thought. "That is not my business." He said aloud.

Continuing with his morning, the man had started with his stern face viewing a mirror within a bathroom. Stern, until a cough blundered him to fall overboard and into the sink. An unhealthy amount of vomit released from his dry lips. This though, was all but a regular occurrence for the old man. He mumbled an incomprehensible mess of words after, lifting his bushy face upwards to view his chin - a well-clouded bubble of hair that vined downwards with seemingly no care to its wellbeing.

His day continued. Mindlessly, he had made his way down the small stairs of his cramped cottage, until a slight scent of salmon smoked up through his nostrils, confounding him to his spot. He embraced it calmly, but soon became rattled with agitation as he descended to follow the trail. It had led to a lady with such precious quality to her aura, it cast the man into a plethora of thoughts that questioned reality itself. She had been wonderfully perfect in the charming eyes of the man, for he had become encapsulated by her particularly angelic hair - a sight so glorious, it sparkled with shining flakes that had fallen from the touches of the heavens.

"Lux Buchanan, is that you? I have made your usual." She turned to view him with a smile of sweet rejoice at his arrival.

"Hmph!" The man, Lux, had mumbled in frustration.

"What is the matter?" The lady asked.

"Well, of course, it's me. I am the only person that lives here." Replied Lux with something irritating his heart.

"Sit now, your food is ready." The lady said with no expression cast across her.

"Yes. I will sit and eat my meal now, thank you." Lux had said with his eyes troubled by her more superior pair - they had no colour, nor any emotion to them.

"Is something wrong?" The lady asked.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. You just look very nice today." Lux replied instantly, his lips already ready for her words.

His time boded quickly as he began his lunch. The sweet sensation of salmon stammered across his tongue, rolling down into his stomach until he unknowingly finished the plate clean. The time passed by in seconds, and soon his eyes had newer desires. A visit to a lake that stood near his home gathered his attention, as this had been his standard routine. Though, in this one instance, the lady had muttered something indiscreetly which angrily gained the attention of Lux.

"The lake again?"

Removing his eyes from the luscious lake which whirled just behind a small window, Lux turned to the lady angrily. His anger swiftly slipped from his clenched fists as soon as he caught sight of her downcast gaze. It confused him. With her lifeless eyes and strange sighs, he could never tell what was really before his eyes. What was the gentle girl before him really thinking? His thoughts could not come to a single conclusion. Anger, disgust, disappointment, hesitation?

"Is something wrong?" Lux muttered out.

"What do you mean, my love? Do you not want to go to the lake?" Asked the lady.

"No." Lux's simple reply took her aback.

"Oh. I see." Said the lady, her decadent eyes showing no signs of emotion.

"For the first time in years, I will not go to the lake." Said Lux with an unnerving grin.

"Very well. How should you pass the time?" Asked the lady.

"Me? What about you?" Lux stuttered with his words. "My love." He mumbled with struggle.

"I will do whatever it is you would like to do." Said the lady.

With these ominous words, Lux rose abruptly and slowly descended upon the lady ahead of his eyes. His gentle thuds across the floorboard of the cottage shook the furniture of the room until finally, he placed his hand on her shoulder. Gazing with intrigue, his eyes caressed upon her countenance. She smiled, yet her eyes were cold, her cheeks were cold, her breaths were cold. Lux pressed upon her forehead in search of something, and it was with a single touch that he sighed with woeful agony.

"I want you..." His lips trembled with anguish. "...to return." He finished, his warm breaths whistling up her ear.

"I am right here." Said the lady, her posture remaining motionless.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"You are not Liana, my love, my wife." Lux wept out. "So, return to my mind. Become a spirit again, Luna." He demanded.

Gently stroking her hair, Lux looked down at her with a sense of disappointment. His hands could not help but look for a way to make the woman before him seem real, but through his words, the lady slowly dissipated. His hands still stuck in the air, Lux sighed again with deep despair at his eternal loneliness.

"I am sorry to not have been satisfactory, sir." The spirit reached his mind and called out to him.

"I am sorry, Luna. You cannot capture what my wife truly was for me. She shall remain forever dead." Said Lux, his eyes cast in disappointment.

"It appears I cannot capture her if she is still alive in your heart." Observed the spirit.

"You are right. Maybe I should go join her in death." Sighed Lux.

"No, sir. You cannot. You are a legendary knight." Affirmed Luna.

"Ah. Yes." Hopelessly said Lux, his body stiffening with duty. "I am a legendary knight. I defeated the Seven Deadly Sins. I saved the world from evil." He cryptically said.

"Sir? What are you suggesting?" Luna questioned him, fear cascading her voice.

"I cannot die. Not so simply." Said Lux.

"That is good to hear. Now, will you continue with your plans to visit the lake today?" Asked Luna.

"No...no. Today I shall move on from the lake. Today, wine shall be my friend." Said Lux, his eyes captured by the dust of a bottle nearby.

"Wine will not help you through the sickness you will feel later, sir." Luna cautioned him.

"Luna, why do you even care? Is this not something new for me? Every day is the same." Revolted Lux.

"My service for you requires that I look after you." Professed Luna.

"I am a legendary knight. I defeated the Seven Deadly Sins. I saved the world from evil." Lux rolled his reply quickly off his tongue. "There is no need to protect someone so powerful." He said.

"You need protection, sir. Not from the forces of outer evil, but from within. There is pain inside you." Said Luna, a dagger striking Lux's heart.

"Heh. That would be you." Chuckled Lux.

"You wouldn't want me gone though. You are lonely." Luna observed.

"Liana is gone. Alsop has banished me from his life. My friends have deserted me." Miserably said Lux, his eyes thoughtfully looking down at the bottle. "So of course, I do not want to see you go." He said.

"I will not. My orders are to protect you." Said Luna.

"Hmm? Perhaps it is time to revisit the one who sent you your orders." Said Lux.

"Grove Cornelius? How might you do such a thing?" Pondered Luna.

Keeping his dry lips shut, Lux impatiently walked over to an ordinary bookshelf standing tall within the room. Knowledge caressed his eyes as he glanced over and over the rows of books in search of a single entry. At last, his eyes sparkled with fiery delight at the sight of such a thing. A book of red leather with golden embroidery upon its side, Lux gently placed his hands against it and pushed it. The book reading 'Alsop Dusseldorf' slowly began to recede into the brick wall behind it until a certain click came about the room. Shifting to one side with haste, the bookshelf revealed a hidden passageway that carried a single set of stairs.

"Come out, Luna. I need light." With Lux's demand, his spirit Luna came phasing out of his mind and into reality. Her gentle blue light provided an illuminating burst of brightness into the stairway, which greatly helped their vision.

Such light was necessary, for crumbling remains of rock rustled about along the steps. Safely navigating his way down, Lux found a great hall filled with a large pool of water at the end. Tied to posts with the eery cool wind kissing their backs, a set of small boats danced upon the waters. Lux was not interested in these. Nor was he entirely cautious of the three streams of path the boats and waters led towards.

Instead, his eyes searched for a corner of the room that contained a small passage of paperwork. His fingers caressed across several pictures that had been laid out, ordered on dusted shelves. The manner of these pictures greatly impressed the observing Luna, but a sense of confusion confounded her to pause her amusement upon seeing a single picture. Stitched with fine lines and perfect precision, a greyish outline posed elegantly for a portrait that spoke volumes of sorrow within its essence.

"Why is your wife a drawing in this one?" Asked Luna.

"To give you an impression of her to copy." Said Lux.

"I did not use this to copy her." Said Luna.

"Hmm? Then what did you use? You must be thinking strangely." Chuckled Lux.

"Sir. You are a legendary knight. Lying is not a legendary quality to possess." Said Luna with disappointment.

"Right. I am a legendary knight. I defeated the Seven Deadly Sins. I saved the world from evil." Proclaimed Lux, his mind lost in thought.

"So, where are the photographs you have?" Asked Luna inquisitively.

"Huh? Photographs? Ah right." Lux regained himself. "They are locked away. Into a deeper darker place." He said.

"Very well. I shall light the way." Said Luna with delight.

With a great sigh, Lux revealed a series of photographs that had strung out against a wall in a separate room. The door to such a room had been dusty and yearned for attention at its hinges. Within this single room, an eery cool glossed over the murky air and denseness came about through Lux's breaths. Luna's illuminating blue aura cast a strange sense of discomfort within Lux. Her form gave the photographs light, but they appeared dark and gloomy at first glance.

"Your light seems to be rather depriving of the life in these photographs." Commented Lux.

Receiving no more than a silent reply, Lux's aged fingers pressed upon the photographs with hesitance. His hands passed along the cold wall slowly, until a single picture struck him with warmth melting away at his heart. Bold with a sense of high valour, a heroic knight had been the centrepiece of the picture. Shadowing just behind this stoic figure, brightness tried to break through a tremendous castle with pale white bricks. Lux's eyes were not golden at the sight of his old home, nor was a grand smile on his face for his old self. His heart felt a nostalgic warmth at the sight of his graceful wife stood beside him. The beauties of the sun cast a gentle glow against her long brown hair, and her eyes carried a shade of brown so warm Lux could not help but feel mellow seeing her face again. Her angelic gaze was not for her husband, who looked onwards in the photograph. Her soft and sweet smile looked down with hearty delight at the figure in her fair-skinned hands. Wrapped in a shroud of white cotton, little Alsop Dusseldorf was well within his mother's grasp, like treasure in a chest. His hidden smile seemed so golden, for it glistened across his mother's bright face, radiating so much happiness.

"Ah...Liana...Alsop..." Exasperated Lux cheerfully. "Death and taxes. So certain in life." He shed a slight tear.

"What do you mean, sir?" Asked Luna.

"Liana is gone forever, and Alsop was the cost for all my duties as a hero." Cried out Lux.

"Your son is still alive." Remarked Luna.

"But I have lost him. At the cost of taking down those blasted sins, I lost him." Scornfully said Lux. "All I have of him are these photographs." He said.

"The one you are gazing at, it seems special to you." Observed Luna. "Taken during a good time?" She asked.

"Eh? Good. At the time. We did not know back then there were more." Replied Lux, his eyes thickening with ice-cold distemper.

"More?" Estranged, Luna enquired.

"Sins. This photograph...I had just returned from the battle with Edgar Westfield. He was our friend. Not the Sin of Envy..." Lux turned stone cold.

Like a statue, his figure failed to move.