The Final Chapter

Questions

Chapter 31

"No... Maybe she is being... controlled too... We... can't just kill... her" Her hand squeezed Paimon's firmly.

A little marble floated above her wound. The Gnoses circled her little companion.

Her friend began to cry as her vision got blurry.

Warm blood ran through her fingers. This was where she would meet her end.

As she opened her eyes again, she noticed that her pain had faded away. Slowly she pushed herself from the floor and sat up right. Her head was still spinning. She saw that, blood was still on her dress and hands, but there was no sign of her injury. Everything seemed healed. But it was silent. Dead silent. Where was Paimon?
Lumine looked around, through the maze of endless paths. Panic began to settle in her.
"Paimon?", she whispered disbelieving.
She hadn't sacrificed herself, had she? Was that really what she did? If she couldn't take the Sustainer's life to heal the Traveler, she would use her own?
Next to her she found a little white marble glowing slightly with elemental energy. The Sustainer. She put it her pocket. But still no sign of Paimon.
"Paimon?", she now asked louder into the void.
This had been a mistake. Now the stupid Sustainer was alive, but her best friend was no longer with her. All of that because her stupid sense of righteousness had kicked in. Lumine felt so stupid. Paimon sacrificed her life for healing her.
"Paimon...", she cried out, breaking down into tears.
If she was lucky... No it wasn't lucky to be reborn into Celestia. Not in their case. What would they do with her? She had to get to that entrance now.
Still crying and dizzy on her legs she stood up and took her sword. The Traveler's feet dragged over the floor, slowly getting her towards the door.
Maybe. Where was the door? In her condition she wasn't able to search for that door. Not for hours. She should eat, she should drink. Mindlessly her hands searched through her bag, feeling the little marble, then her bottle. That stupid marble, she thought as she took a sip out of it, she should throw it to the ground. Shatter it. No... then Paimon's sacrifice would have been pointless.
Her hand put the bottle back in the bag and took out her food, as a little piece of paper fell out. Lumine bowed down and picked it up, folding it open after. A feeling began to sink in and she stopped before fully opening it up. It had to be from Paimon. She breathed deeply and opened it up. Tears filled her eyes as she read the first line of text on it: "Dear Lumine,"
The Traveler sat down trying not to cry to be able to read the paper.

"I'm sorry I had to leave you. But I will wait with your brother for your return..."

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It had been silent inside the cell.
Lynn had asked the Hydro archon to braid her hair for convenience, while the Pyro archon had not spoken a word at all. Ei still sat on the ground opposite to Zhongli who had his eyes closed again.
Just the Anemo archon's steps echoing of the walls. He was the only one moving, walking up and down in front of the door, seemingly thinking. A question stuck in his head. Why weren't they killed too? The three of them who did, probably did because they spoke against the Heavenly Principles. But the rest if them swore violence of that day too, rebelling against the Heavenly laws too. What protected them?
"What are you thinking about?", Lynn asked softly. Since their heart-to-heart about Barnabas her voice and eyes had gotten more soft and peaceful. She had had so much hatred inside her for so long.
"Why didn't we die too?", Venti asked and paused his walking for a moment. "What do you mean?", Lynn spoke again. The room around them was silent and the archon soon noticed that all eyes were on him. Focalors had paused the braiding and Zhongli had opened slowly, now piercing Venti with his gaze. As if the bard could explode again any second. "I mean... Morax, Beelzebul and I were present that day. We declared war against the Principles, like Mutata, Baal and Barnabas did, but only they died. What was different with us? Why didn't we die? Why only they...", he asked again lookimg around desperate for an answer. The newer archons looked down to the floor, not knowing the answer. But they knew how the bard felt. Guilty, because he survived.
"Maybe because of the light...", the Electro archon said more in thought than giving an actual answer. The attention shifted towards her. The Geo archon and Anemo archon exchanged looks. "Light?", Zhongli asked. Ei lifted her head dumbfounded: "You didn't see it?" Both shook their heads.
"It was a bright light that lit up the whole battlefield. Shortly after I...", Ei paused in her story. Struggling to continue. "...found her."

Noise came from the hallway. The Anemo archon stepped at the door trying to get a glimpse of the situation outside.
"Heeeey! Let me out! It's humiliating in here!", yelled a high pitched voice outside. A smile hushed over his face as he recognized the voice, but faded soon after. Did that mean, that-? No. She couldn't have. She wasn't. Not she too. And why was-?
Guards stepped at the cell door: "Get away from the door!" Venti stepped back letting them put a small cage into the cell. For a brief moment he considered escaping but he knew as well as everyone else that, it would result in nothing. Also it was so much more important to get to know what happened out there.
So he sat down to the cage as soon as the guards left: "Good to see you again Paimon. Nice cage you have there..."
He looked downwards into the cage where an even smaller Paimon floated. Frustrated. "I would appreciate losing it... Hmpf..." She crossed her tiny arms."What happened to you?", Nahida asked curious.
"Lumine and I fought the Sustainer-"
"Is she alright?", Venti interrupted, worried. She did not, did she? No... He couldn't stand that thought.
"She is now...", Paimon answered, getting a confused but still worried look from the bard.
"I saved her with everything I had."