Aaron squinted as he watched a group of people taking a lift to the top of the Great Sea Wall.
"Incredible…"
He was confused about their purpose; however, he quickly noticed a flyer posted on the side of a building.
Festival of Dreams, eh? Something like that must cost a lot of money to attend…
Sighing inwardly, he didn't bother reading the rest of the information on the paper, instead continuing towards the destination that he had marked on the Ghostship's map.
The wind blew his hair into his eyes, distracting him as he approached a large cathedral that faced the wall from a distance.
"This should be it, though it looks normal here?"
He looked around before spotting a group of nuns running around inside the building with looks of panic on their faces.
Perfect! Now I just have to follow them.
Sneakily following the women, he reached the large doors that guarded the entrance to the holy cathedral.
Pushing with all the force he had remaining in his body, he opened the wooden doors without hassle, noticing the nuns standing frozen at a strange staircase by the altar.
That's odd… Why is there a staircase at the altar?
He furrowed his brow as he continued inside, calling out to the women who hadn't noticed him.
"Hello? Is something wrong?"
Aaron was afraid of intruding in case they were in the middle of a religious ceremony; however, by their attire and expressions, he assumed something worse.
He waited for a response or even a reaction from one of the nuns, yet not a single one of them even flinched.
This is getting weirder and weirder…
Continuing at a steady pace, he eventually made his way to the magenta altar where they had gathered.
His curiosity had begun to overwhelm him with a desire to go down the stairs, running through his mind.
As he prepared to step, every single hair on his body stood on end with a primal sense of fear creeping into his mind.
His expression darkened as he shook off the warning, deciding that whatever was down that staircase had to be taken care of, whether it cost him his life or not.
Here goes nothing…
Placing his left foot on the cold stairs, his vision blurred with a single image appearing before him.
The Old Man.
…
Olivia's eyes widened in shock at what she was looking at.
"B-brother…?"
Her voice wavered; however, the man she spoke to turned his gaze from his mutilated arms to the red-haired girl across the chamber.
She immediately dropped her axe and ran towards the winged man without a care in the world, tears streaming down her face.
Eleanor watched the scene in disbelief before regaining her composure.
I-It can't be… He died all those years ago… That's what Olivia told me…
Murky memories floated throughout her head, organizing into a likely theory that deeply disturbed the blonde-haired girl.
No… it couldn't…
Shaking off the terrible idea, she returned her gaze towards Oliva, who was running to the man assumed to be her brother.
The red-haired girl was yelling in a loud voice that could be heard around the room.
"Is it you!?"
As she approached, she studied the crimson-haired man; however, the moment her eyes met, she saw something.
What reflected within his pupils wasn't the affectionate, caring, and kind brother who she had eaten cotton candy with all those years ago, but instead, they were filled with something darker.
Adam looked at her curiously with hatred, malice, and shame all bubbling beneath the surface of his mind, fracturing his thoughts into pieces.
The only instinct that remained within his broken conscience was a single command that his master had instilled into him during his training.
"Kill."
His shoulder, which had been oozing with thick crimson blood, had turned black with a terrifying crackling and crunching emanating from within.
Arianna, who had been at his side, recoiled yet quickly regained her composure before turning her gaze toward Olivia, who continued to run to her brother.
"Foolish girl…"
The silver-haired woman cast her eyes to the floor, where a pool of black blood dyed her clothing with an awful hue.
Adam's arms steadily reformed with their new appearance resembling that of a skeleton as the regeneration effect slowed.
He flexed his newly formed hands before snapping his thumb and ring finger together in a minuscule gesture.
Space folded as a blade was summoned before him, falling into his bony hands with a crackle of flame.
Olivia hadn't noticed his actions as she continued her push to reunite with her long-lost brother.
Adam's eye twitched as he stood holding the blade in his right hand.
His thoughts ran rampant with murmurs clouding his mind.
N-Not her… Why does my heart feel this way?
He ran his left hand through his hair, thinking hard before his eyes glazed over with an unusual determination.
Across the chamber, Eleanor shivered as she realized what was about to happen.
Her voice tore through the chamber, cracking in absolute terror.
"DON'T! It's her, Adam! It's Olivia!"
At the same time, Olivia slowed down as she approached her brother, smiling through her tears as if she could not hear her friend's desperate call.
"You… You're here… Alive…"
Her voice echoed throughout the mausoleum; however, only silence followed with an eerie fog creeping into the chamber unnoticed.
Olivia stopped moving and looked down, furrowing her brow in confusion.
"W-What…?"
She turned her gaze from herself to the man who stood only a few centimeters away.
"Adam–"
Her voice was scratchy with blood dripping from her mouth as she spoke.
Eleanor's mind flashed back to the moment she watched Mia's body burn in the fires of the orphanage as she watched her only remaining friend collapse ahead of her.
The Dark Angel's blade protruded from her stomach, with his hand grasping the hilt.
His expression gradually changed with spasms contorting his face.
Olivia reached up with her hand towards the blade before placing it atop the handle where Adam gripped it.
"I'm glad…"
Her voice was a little less than a murmur, with her attacker being the only one able to hear.
"I'm glad that even after this…"
She slowed her speech as her voice faded even quieter.
"I missed you so much, big brother."
As she spoke, she smiled before her hand fell from its perch to the cold pavement of the floor.
A single tear fell from the man's cheek as his deadpan expression rapidly faded into a frown.
His eyes twitched before his frown gradually degraded into pure despair.
Adam's sobs shook the chamber, with the floor beneath his feet cracking under the pressure he exuded.
Eleanor had fallen to her knees, watching the scene with tears streaming down her face, remembering the warm smile that her friend had greeted her with not even a day ago.
Arianna, who had previously shown no emotion, was simply staring at the bleeding girl whom Adam wept over.
"What a pathetic waste of life."
She spoke without any certain tone as her form slowly faded into the dark fog that had begun to fill the mausoleum.
…
The Great Sea Wall stood menacingly towering over the city of Sea Fallen as the afternoon sun finally overcame its great heights to strike the town below.
Soldiers marched along the top of the wall, setting up scaffolding and mechanisms that would allow the city to host its largest festival since the war began.
Nuns rushed along the busy streets, handing out flyers and invitations to anyone who would listen, spreading the word of the Church of Dreams along the way.
Children built castles out of sand on the beaches with small sea creatures climbing their way to shore to observe.
Silver hair blew in the wind as Arianna overlooked the bustling city, sighing to herself.
"What we couldn't complete six years ago will all come to fruition today."
Removing her hand from her pocket, she placed a crimson horn on the wall before dripping a strange sticky substance on top of it.
Throughout the city, every single citizen simultaneously heard a noise that deeply confused them.
The soldiers who had been working atop the wall felt the wall itself shake a little with an odd sound accompanying it.
Even with the unusual event, they didn't pay it any mind because, after all, the Great Sea Wall was indestructible.
What these workers didn't know was that there was one grave oversight with the construction of that 'indestructible' wall that protected the city of Sea Fallen.
Once brought to question during the eleventh annual Conference of the Seas by Grand Marshal Rand Twynam, there was one concern with the completion of the wall.
"Why would this Magician help us?"
It lay unanswered for nearly a hundred years after it was presented; yet, it had finally been solved.
"It was simply a trap."
Alarms blared throughout the city; however, the residents didn't understand why.
Soon after, every single pair of eyes within Sea Fallen stared in disbelief at the same place.
In the dead center of the Great Sea Wall lay a large crack that was widening at a rapid speed.
Across the stone surface, countless smaller crevices opened at once, causing large segments of the wall to fall to the island below.
Finally, on the thirty-seventh day of June in the year of three-thousand one hundred and twenty-five at exactly twelve-thirty in the afternoon.
The Sea of Dreams itself trembled as the Great Sea Wall collapsed in a brilliant display of destruction that decimated the city itself.