Memories and Shadows [Rune Factory 4]

Hope

He slipped into darkness for a time after Ethelberd's defeat. Victory came to him, but at a terrible cost, and his grief consumed him. For although he destroyed the Mad Emperor, he could not save the Dragon God of Selphia, the Divine Dragon of the Wind, though he tried with all his might, and even seemed at first to succeed. But Ventuswill died that night, her remaining runes scattering throughout the world to nourish it as was the destiny of all Divine Dragons, and he was lost in his self-recriminations and regrets.

**************

"Piers?" I spoke softly, not wanting to startle him, and I was certain he had not noticed my approach.

He did not reply, but only turned to me, and my heart shattered into a thousand tears. His beautiful lilac eyes had dulled and faded to a dingy, grayish violet, like withered wisteria blossoms. There was no life in them—no spark of the light and love and laughter that was Piers. Just an abyss of sorrow and grief, and if I stared into those eyes for too long, I would feel his despair drawing me into the void, too.

I looked away. I would go anywhere with him, do anything for him... but he had gone somewhere I could not follow, and I didn't know how to bring him back.

"It's okay, Forte," he whispered, his voice hoarse and cracking from disuse. "You can leave me. I understand."

I shook my head violently, my long hair whipping into a frenzy at my absolute rejection of his suggestion. "No, Your Highness. I'll never leave you. Even if I can't follow you, neither will I depart from you."

He stood up then, leaning heavily against the tree trunk next to him for support. "You must. For your own sake, you must. Never mind about me. It... doesn't matter anymore." Then he slowly walked away, and the spring breeze cooled the hot tears that ran down my cheeks as I watched him go.

Yet what could I do?

I was as helpless as he was against this thing... this demon he fought. And unlike the other demons he'd faced bravely and vanquished, this monster resided within him, devouring him from the inside out.

What could I do?

I turned, and with all my strength, I slammed my fist into the tree trunk next to me where he had leaned only a moment before, smashing a hole through the rough bark and splintering the wood beneath. I stood there, gasping as I tried to wrestle my tears and emotions back into some semblance of control, grinding my knuckles into the wood.

"You're bleeding." I jumped and whirled around, startled, and found myself face to face with Leon, who was watching me, not taunting, as was his norm, but rather with sympathy. Beside him stood Dylas—shoulder to shoulder they stood, as they did when they followed my love to meet his doom that dreadful day.

I glanced down at the rivulets of blood trickling down my fingers, dripping onto the soft green grass, and I shrugged. "It's nothing," I replied, tersely. I resented that they'd come upon me in such a moment, resented that I hadn't noticed their approach.

Dylas shrugged, then stepped forward and took my hand. I tried to snatch it away, angry with him for touching me uninvited. But he held on, and he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wound it around my knuckles, tying it tightly to stem the flow.

"You want to help him," he stated as he worked. Leon rolled his eyes at this statement of the obvious. He was right, of course—naturally I wanted to help him, more than I wanted anything in this world or the next.

But what could I do?

Leon cleared his throat. "Tell her," he ordered Dylas. Dylas raised an eyebrow at him, then looked askance at me.

"Tell me what?" I demanded.

"There's a door..." he began after a moment, then fell silent.

"A door? To where?" I asked.

He sighed, then looked into my eyes, scowling from the intensity of his searching gaze. "A door... into the Forest of Beginnings."

I gasped and reached out to steady myself against the shattered tree. No human can go there and return safely! Then I glanced at Leon as I recalled—Piers already had done so, once.

Leon picked up the thread of the conversation, likewise watching me closely. "A door into my former prison, the Tower Karnak, which in turn leads into the Forest of Beginnings, to be precise. But... not just anyone can open it, it seems."

"Not just.... Well, then who can?" I asked, anxious to know more.

"'One who has the determination to change the world'," he replied, and I groaned. He grinned and shrugged apologetically. "Not my words—that's what the Earthmate who bound Amber to her ambrosia monster told her right before her ceremony. No one at that time had such a determination, including Amber, so the door remains closed to this day."

"But... at least there is some hope... that he could go to the Forest...." I thought out loud. "If he could go to the Forest and return... he might... he might be able to save her then? To find Ventuswill there and return her to us?"

"It's possible," he admitted, looking serious once again. "If he can show he has the determination to change the world. And if he can find her. And... if she's willing to come home to us."

My heart began to pound in my chest. Finally, then, there was hope—however slender a thread, however tiny a flicker... there was hope. "Does Piers know?" I asked, looking back and forth between them eagerly.

"Not yet. We thought perhaps you, as the Dragon Knight, would like to seek him out for us, so that we—all of us—could discuss it with him. Do you think he'll be interested?" Leon asked, laughter dancing in his cerulean eyes.

He didn't need an answer to that, though, and I wasn't about to take the time to formulate one. Off I ran, as fast as my feet would carry me, in search of my beloved.

This was what I could do: I could carry to him a candle in his darkness, a little glimmer of hope to light his way back home.