THE ARCHAIC SKY

CHAPTER: THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE PAST

The Empyrean commandment

"Shun the abyss whose dreams are to overturn the rulings of the gods and the mortal's archons and praise high Empyrea and her stars, the only place for you at the end of the journey in the mortal realm."

Walking back inside to the forgery, every single pair of eyes was on the two. That and the fact that they all know she nearly lost. And it was to him. "Look, milady! Hikaru has one of her flame swords on display" his cheery voice cut like a knife. But it was something she certainly needed at that moment. She shook her head, dusting off her weariness and hurt away. "The great flame sword of Agnis smelt in the great mines of Ranyuan in Zhong yang... archons, what I would do to try it out... I might even be as strong as an Araceli."

Amara tilted her head. The hilt was decorated with an ornate design. The crossguard was rather long, the blade that appeared from it was wide but slowly becoming thinner as well as pointier. Amara would love to try it out, but she could tell from the sheer size it would be hard for her to even swing it. "You seem pretty happy even though you lost," Amara smirked, teasing him slightly as she kept switching from tiptoeing and standing still.

"The outcome of a battle is irrelevant, what matters is what you learn from the experience," he said as if quoting someone. "But you're wrong in one part, I'm not happy because thanks to you, Asteria, now I have no flame sword," Haru said to her.

"Eh? I'm doing you a favor; I can tell you're the type who'll just burn your face off with it" Amara pointed out as nudged him slightly on his chest. Which caused him to cough rather violently. "...wah... quit the tough guy act already, you need to see a doctor right away, don't you?"

"I'm..." she sent him a soft glare, "...not fine, yes, ow, everything hurts, ojou-chan"

"Hah... it's going to hurt more the longer you leave it unattended... come with me," she let out a hand. A smile etched on her face as she tried to forget Hikaru's little jab, who seemed too busy with her chattering to notice Amara anyways. At least that's what Hikaru makes it seem, but every now and then, she would glance at Amara from the corner of her eye. Giving soft glares and teases as she showed Amara how much she didn't need her. "I don't have any classes today anyways" she tried to convince him further.

"Classes?"

"Etiquette classes of course"

"Ah, is that why you're so kind, or do you just enjoy being so nice..." He adjusted his mask, knowing that he would truly be breaking the rules if he's seen in public in uniform yet mask-less. "To me?"

Amara paused and turned to face him. his grin made him seem as if he was happy yet his eyes from under his mask were saying otherwise. She laughed softly, giving him a soft nudge "to you?"

"Healing me by yourself instead of going to the clinic?"

She averted her eyes. "I don't- I- I'm just bored and I'm too lazy to fill out the form in the clinic nearby" That and the nurses and healers are too close with mirage. They would never help her. At least not willingly.

"Or do you just want to be with me?" Haru asked, smirking with a glint of mischief in his eye through his tengu mask, reminiscent of a bird. "Come on, admit it, Himmelia, you want to hang out with me more, don't you? besides, I would love to have another friend aside from Ruyi"

"you're close with Ruyi?"

"a little, seeing as we both come from Hikaiyo harbor" he smiled brightly. Yet something about his smile made his words sound false. Now that she thought about it, his voice, his smile, his personality, they all seemed fake. At least, forced if not fake. "So, it's a yes?" he managed to ask, his mouth grinning happily.