There was not a sound to be heard throughout the run-down fishing town as the two travelers walked through the streets.
Eleanor had decided to walk behind Aaron, who was carrying his strange egg on his back, her own expression blank as she glanced at the village around her, a sick feeling bubbling up in her chest.
The houses were of a classic Sea of Dreams style: pale timber walls, a porch that looked as if it had been battered by a thousand storms, and a slanted roof made of thick spruce.
Any of the intact windows were bathed in sea salt from tidal surges that forced their way up the cliffside, soaking the foundations completely.
When she found a broken window, it allowed the girl to peek inside some homes; however, the sight inside was something she avoided at any cost.
Each time she caught a glimpse, she would recoil, turning her eyes towards the dirty path beneath her feet, unsure and queasy over the figures that were staring out at them.
The streets were similar, albeit far more sparse than a major population center, the frozen forms of countless civilians locked in an endless pause.
They've done nothing to deserve this…
The words were simple and came to her easily; however, as she stared ahead, she could see the fear, worry, and self-loathing that oozed from the boy.
He had no memory of this place to her knowledge, but before he could even attempt to regain a sliver of the past, the being that lurked within his mind had forced another sin upon the world in his name.
Eleanor remembered a story he had told about his Hunters' Exam, about the day he had taken his first life.
She couldn't forget the expression he had made when recalling the anguish he had felt after a friend of his was brutalized by a religious cultist, all because of his leniency.
If he had never become a Ghostship wielder, then could he have lived a normal life…? Had a family?
Her thoughts began to spiral out of control, her head fixed on her shoes, causing her to bump into the boy after he had suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?"
Stepping to the side to gain a view of what he was staring at, she noticed that they had wandered to a more barren region of the small town, a single path leading through a meadow of flowers and cherry-blossom trees.
"Akari…"
The name he whispered was unfamiliar to Eleanor, something that hadn't appeared even once during his explanation of the time she had been unconscious.
Is it a memory?
Taking a step closer, she gently placed her right hand on his shoulder, allowing her mana to flow into his head to try to relieve any aches that plagued him.
He, having felt her healing, relaxed slightly, his turquoise eyes turning around to meet her gray ones.
"Why would she be crying… She shouldn't have been crying… No… It's not right…"
The priestess's neck craned to the left as confusion began to take hold, his words not making sense.
"She?"
With her theory about his memories returning in pieces, she continued to imbue the mana into his flesh as he spoke in a murmur.
"I-I can't remember when or why… Only the expression she made and the emotions I felt…"
Eleanor pursed her lips, not saying a thing.
Nevertheless, she observed the frown that slowly took over the boy's expression, the sight of his color draining, and his pulse quickening, causing a spike in her own anxiety.
Then, in a whisper quiet enough to be smothered by even the slightest wind, his lips formed three words.
"I felt cowardice."
…
"You think this is enough?"
Aaron frowned while examining the pristine shape of perfectly preserved apples, oranges, cherries, and grapes.
When we leave the island, what will happen to them…?
Disregarding the thought, he saw Eleanor give him a thumbs-up while examining one of the frozen vendors who seemed to have been asleep when time ceased.
Nodding slowly at her approval, he closed the bag tightly; his expression was light, and he had pushed the previous turmoil out of sight after having returned to the market district.
『You saw that memory once more, did you not? The one of that cherry-haired vixen walking past you in a dark suit with tears running down her face.』
The boy's expression darkened as he heard her voice within his head call out to him, his own response coming soon after.
"It's nothing. Or more accurately…"
He noticed Eleanor look over at him with mild confusion, unsure as to who he was talking to.
"More accurately, I can't remember if it's something."
Finishing the sentence he had started before, he returned to tying the food bag while Penelope returned to her silent observation.
This place is toying with my mind to levels I didn't expect. Even the fruit bores a burning hole through my skull…
Hoisting the sack onto his right shoulder using his only hand and allowing it to rest beside the egg, he moved back out onto the street, signaling to the priestess that they were ready to move on.
"Where to next?"
As she spoke, she tied her hair back into a neat bun, keeping it firm with a hair elastic that she had formed out of her Aether.
"You're asking me like it's my home or something."
Allowing a small smirk to break through his hard exterior, Aaron looked around in each of the main directions that the road diverged into.
To the North, there was an endless stretch of buildings that eventually led out into the wealthier wheat farms managed by the elders of Strava; overall, it didn't give the boy a strong feeling of importance.
When he faced East, once more there was a weak burn inside his head, yet nothing too intense; the only things down that way were the coastline that they had entered from and the frozen, but intense form of the mutated Kraken that was more of a High-level terror than a Mid-level one.
As he prepared to gaze over the empty South that he could vaguely remember to be bland, a severe, searing pain tore through his consciousness, warning him of something dangerous.
"Found it."
Eleanor furrowed her brow at his random comment.
"Found what? You've just been spinning in a circle…"
Chuckling, Aaron took a step forward and replied with a weak murmur.
"The only thing that would make my brain feel like mush would be something related to me, right? And as you know, both of our reasons for being here are directly tied to the Grimstall name."
The blonde-haired girl slowly began to understand where he was going with his idea, the final piece coming with the end of his statement.
"I'd wager that if we go South, we'll find home sweet home at last."
His turquoise eyes sparkled as they slowly met the gray ones behind him, their new target now set in stone.
…
Aaron watched with a strange look of hope and confusion as Eleanor's face paled in horror at the sight of a mere oak tree.
It was an old, half-dead structure with unmoving ravens sitting atop the bare branches, staring down at them as if they'd known that company would be arriving.
His own skull thrummed with agonizing pain, yet after experiencing headaches for almost six months, his tolerance had grown considerably.
Perhaps that medicine I acquired from Mr. Thorn won't be necessary anymore. That'd save me some Draughts when I get to the Southern Continent.
"I-It's the place where I died…"
Eleanor was gazing off to the side towards a sudden drop-off in the cliff, a location that eventually led down into a beautiful cove with crystal clear seawater speckled with magenta dust and sand.
"You died—Oh…"
He caught himself mid-sentence as he realized what she had been referring to.
After spending months attempting to rescue her, he had only learned what she had seen in his memories—and how it had led to her death—after she awoke.
Of course, the sight of the deity was already known; however, the details about Strava and the god rising from the sea were unique traits that he couldn't easily forget.
Therefore, as he followed her eyes towards the coastline where the waves were frozen still, he could feel the pain in his head intensify considerably.
"Whatever it is, it hurts like hell."
Before he could laugh, he felt a cool slap on his palm.
"Watch your mouth."
Scolding him like he was a child in church, the blonde-haired girl shook her head and returned to her fearful staring at the cove below.
I-I guess she hasn't lost her priestess mentality even after dying…
Groaning and wishing he could fake an injury to his hand using a second one that he didn't have, he stretched out wide, turning towards a dip in the terrain.
"What are you doing?"
Having disregarded her previous attitude, Eleanor looked up at him with confusion.
He only replied with a smile and a one-liner that he personally thought made him sound far cooler than he really did.
"Going down there, of course."
Reaching out his hand to the girl, he guided her towards a small staircase carved into the rock that led downward.
The blonde-haired girl, having taken that path before, already knew of such a thing, but in the end, she followed the boy gracefully.
It was the return to the scene of her death, the place where she believed it had all begun.
That object, the one that had washed up on that shore in his memory, was fresh in her mind as she began the descent shortly behind Aaron Grimstall.