Lucian stepped through Cherry City, his gaze swept across the empty streets? He couldn't help but think about how different it looked now. The City once named after the Eternal Bloom trees, which bloom even in winter due to a minor magical energy beneath the city.
Although this city was once labeled a city the smallest on the continent… it no longer deserved to be called a city.
A baker silently hands a loaf of bread to a customer... no words, no smile. His apron is flour-stained, but his eyes were hollow.
Children sit by a broken fountain, not playing... just watching the stagnant water swirl with bits of trash and petals.
Nestled in the far east, Cherry City was the most remote settlement of all. Its population was sparse, its economy stagnant, and its people weak in power. For centuries, no one paid it much attention nor stepped inside… aside from the occasional traveler mesmerized by its beauty.
Why did no one ever protect Cherry City… was its beauty not worth guarding? It was something, better contrast to the darkness of this world.
How did a city once known for its beauty become forgotten by the world and abandoned by hope?
Soon Lucian came upon one of the city's few large structures… It became a rare sight.
A compound behind tall green covers ivy stone walls, wrought-iron gates. It still held some faded beauty… His ears perked up, from within he heard voices… and beneath them, a silence too heavy to ignore.
There are less people that I remember.
A guard in black and silver steel armor stepped forward, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade.
"Halt! State your business."
Lucian paused, lifting his head just slightly. The guard couldn't see his face behind his mask… and that fact terrified him.
Without hesitation, he reached benath the folds of his cloak, the guards shivered a bit, their grips on swords tightened. Instead, of what they thought, he withdrew a small pendant on a silver chain.
It looked like a flower, carved into obsidian and white stone… shaped like a star.
Lucian's voice was deep quiet, yet still heard. "I'm here to see your young mistress. This token… she said I should return with it, when it mattered once more."
The second guard stepped forward, squinting his eyes at the pendant… In that moment, when he had hint of doubt, his eyes widened in recognition, not just their minds but also their memories.
"That flower… Lunaria Noctis. She used to wear it every day... Said it was for someone who never said goodbye."
The first guard gaze lowered, his gruff voice went soft… As if he held something back.
"...You're him, then."
A heavy silence fell between them, even the air grew colder.
Without another word, the first guard stepped aside, placing a hand over his chest in respect.
"Please… come in, sir."
The gates slowly creaked open. One of the guards walked beside Lucian… not out of caution, but reverence. As they entered the courtyard, servants paused their work and stared. He instantly, heard their whispers about him.
Inside the family hall, he inhaled the scent of old woodsmoke and faded perfume that lingered in the air... Lucian stood tall, scanning around, his heart race slightly.
Why the solemn faces? Why the hush in the air? How bad has the Zion family fallen, that everyone looked filled of death... depression.
"Who's this visitor?"
Suddenly, Lucian heard a old rasped, slightly energetic voice behind him, continued by the echo clatter of a uneven cane.
This voice, an elderly man entered, leaning heavily on his cane, covered by his servants. Grey thin hair, his body frail, but had muscles underneath.
It's only when Lucian turned and removed his mask, the old man's breath caught in throat.
"… Mister you're returned."
"Yes. Elder Richie." Lucian replied respectful. "I promised Cassie my return after completing my journey."
The old man Richie was helped into his chair, at the end of the hall. "She often spoke of you… said she would wait, no matter how long it took."
Lucian's voice dropped, it soften but almost had a pain laced in each word. "Where is Cassie? I want to what's changed? Is she… still so believing?"
Old man Richie face twisted with sorrow. He stared at nothing, even around him, the servants all lowered their heads. He was filled of suspicious now something was wrong and he felt his gut twist.
"Sorry... C-cassie is dead."
Suddenly, something inside Lucian shattered. A heavy pressure in his chest.
The ground trembled.
Even the thick air was a crushing pressure radiated from him… suffocating, the souls of the guards that rushed toward the hall but froze just outside, unable to push forward. Everyone inside the room was the same, overwhelmed by his presence.
Richie intensely felt his blood boil, that presence pressure attacked his body and soul, he couldn't even move nor talk.
Lucian's shoulders sagged as he stared at the floor, the corners of his mouth turned downward into a painful frown. Shame and dread, overwhelmed him.
Cassie. He had a very close relationship, she who once offered him warmth in the cold of his world… She was a bright moment in his otherwise dark path… helping and enjoying his time away from his usual mission and killing.
Something he enjoyed for that moment, but there of course interruptions always intervene from either outside or themselves.
It's only been a couple of years… Last I saw her, Cassie was healthy, happy. There was nothing I knew of that could've killed her. Unless… she started believing in those fiends again. Could that be what got her killed? Why she she was the only one to openly she me affection?
Would she still be alive if he had returned even just a just a month earlier? Was his promise to Cassie truly a vow, or just something he said to ease the pain of parting?
Lucian clenched his fists, his eyes burning beneath his mask.
Richie felt his pressure intense, so he forced himself to speak, coughing out blood in the effort.
"S-she waited… every day. But you never came. I watched my own daughter, joy faded from her eyes. She cried every night. She had nothing left. Eventually… she just faded away."
Lucian head dropped low, his gaze fixed on the ground, as a lumped form in his throat.
He wouldn't lie about his daughter… she's really gone. And I… I should've never left without telling her the truth. I said to return sooner… Maybe she'd still be alive.
A moment later, the pressure receded as Lucian stepped back, allowing the servants to aid old man Richie. The guards hesitated at the door, but he slowly waves signaling them away.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Lucian said softly, bowing slightly.
It was usual for Lucian to always openly say sorry and respect, he showed then to those who deserve it. And, who he trusted and believed in.
Richie weakly nodded. "Thank you… You may not have known, but she was always so unhappy being tied here… to this house, to take over this duty."
He remembered the nights Cassie would sit by the window, watching the road, hoping for a shadow to return.
"I watched my own daughter… joy fade from her eyes," he forced himself to say now, blood rising in his throat. "She cried every night. She had nothing left."
He closed his eyes for a moment, recalling her laughter in the garden, chasing butterflies in the spring. That childlike wonder had returned… because of Lucian.
"But once you arrived… I'd never seen her smile like that. So I made a choice, even if it was unethical. She… she had a younger brother. Born before she passed… For her happiness."
He hadn't told anyone else that. Not the elders. Not even the boy himself. It was a last desperate act… a father's broken wish to keep some piece of her alive.
Lucian nodded slowly. He remembered one of the first story she told him… her resentment toward her family's burdens. He never thought it would crush her like this.
She kept a smile even through it, until her death the Zion family realized only when its to late.
Cassie had been more than just a symbol of peace to the city. She had become its heart. Tourists came not for the fading buildings or the spring cherry trees, but for her… the bright soul who brought the city to life.
And, something he was blessed to be given he started to think he didn't appreciate it enough.
However, depression was something he never had deal with in a very long time, it was something that Halcyon and all human, have beside there other, mortality weaknesses there also vulnerability.
I don't even feel like I have the right to head there anymore… I promised I'd return, but that was a lie, wasn't it? I had someone else on my mind. And now… I can't help but wonder did I cause her death? Did I show her, what she showed me? This city, like her, was left to rot in silence. A flower left untended, petals withering in the cold
Just as Lucian turned, he decided to leave… to disappear into solitude, try to seek strength another way.
The ground trembled again, however this time, it wasn't from him. His ears and brows perked up, he heard footsteps and heartbeats thundered outside the compound.
Growls?
Immediately, everyone froze.
"Bang!"
Before everyone heard a shout there was a crash and that when they saw, their gate was knocked down.
A voice rang out.
"Zion family! It's been a week since our last warning. Hand over the Keik Relic… or be destroyed!"