Chapter 20 - The last quiet chat

The ruined view was calm enough to let Roi be immersed in his heavy thoughts.

He tried to imagine that city before it ended up ruined. The sky that illuminated the tall and white houses, the hundreds of people warmed as they walked in the streets full of life and magic. 

There, he had trouble. How could he have imagined magic? What form did it have? What was it like?

He remembered the strange feeling in his lungs in that place. The feeling of nothing and something at the same time, much different and much heavier than the weightless air. 

That must have been magic. It made sense; that was his soul after all. 

He closed his eyes and shook his head, chasing away a harmful thought. When he opened them again, the dying houses were still there, and the light of the sky was replaced by the night. 

"What the hell happened?"

A question that could help him understand everything around him. But when he turned to Lish, he wasn't quite willing to ask. 

The man who would be the next Leader of the Regulursteum, or Settlement as he called it, was looking at the dark ocean in front of them with a hopeless expression. 

It hurt Roi to see him in that state.

Shortly after, Lish looked at him with wide-open eyes.

<> He glanced around. <> He said, patting his hand on his knees. 

"The next leader is a crazy man!" 

Roi moved his eyes elsewhere to avoid making him feel uncomfortable.

<> He said, pointing at the dark veil with a head's gesture. 

Lish inhaled deeply. 

<> He looked at Roi with boring eyes.

He raised his index finger, pointing at the sky beyond the roof.

<> Lish lingered for a moment, his eyes lost on the houses behind Roi.

On the other hand, Roi was confused. 'The Gods died' implied that there were more than two Gods, especially since Gordàlish was sealed away and not killed. Maybe.

<>

<>

They both spoke at the same time. Then Lish gestured to Roi to continue.

<> Roi was in disbelief. Why did no one tell him that?

Many more questions floated in his mind. 

Lish looked confused, very confused. 

<> Lish was just as incredulous as he was. <>

Roi just blinked, stunned for a moment.

<> Feeling the pressure of Lish's eyes, he continued. <> 

Lish seemed annoyed when he talked. He shifted himself more comfortably in his creaking chair, caressed his forehead, and passed his hand over his short brown hair.

<> His eyes with gold rivers in them seemed to glow even more intensely.

<> 

The air around them stopped. 

"He's right. I'm obsessed with the past for what? I thought I'd learn more about myself and Gordàlish, and I did. For better or for worse."

The wound under his left eye pulsed. 

"They were of no use against Mansin. What difference does it make if I know about this war? I can't change it, anyway. Zelkrom, the Emperor, the Prophet, the Golden Temple, Xoloth, Gordàlish, everything is so distant from me."

Suddenly, his eyes caught a rhythmic movement. Lish's left shoe was swaying left and right. Only in that moment, Roi realized that he had been staring at the floor for who knows how long.

<> Lish grinned as Roi raised his head. 

<> He burst into a muffled laughter.

Roi too laughed just by looking at him and instinctively raised his middle finger.

<> Between each word, Lish couldn't help but faintly grin. Only after exhaling deeply, he regained his serious tone. He raised his callous fingers.

<> 

<> Roi didn't expect that. Every God had a domain over something important: Seas, Life, and Death. But, False Life?

<> He shrugged before leaning completely on the back of the chair. 

Roi just nodded. In fact, it made perfect sense. He turned his head to the Regulursteum's temple. 

<> Roi pointed his thumb towards it. 

<> He slammed his hands down on his knees. <> He said as he got up like an old man.

***

Roi was leaning against the parapet with his head held up by his right hand.

He saw the tall houses inside the Settlement regain their colors, and the world being lit up. The dense black mist slowly disappeared, showing the spectacular battle between the waves and fire once again. 

The houses turned out to be made of wood and built much differently than the ruined houses outside the walls. They looked as though they might fall at any moment, with balconies at every angle, and sometimes transformed into bridges between the apartments. 

Roi's tired eyes stared at them, wondering how many people were still sleeping inside them. 

Lish was sleeping silently behind him, leaving him to watch if some Cursed appeared outside or inside the walls. 

He explained that the curse placed on them by Xoloth turned, sooner or later, every person with the Blessing into a mindless puppet driven by the sole purpose of killing every follower of the Sun God.

Apparently, they were smart enough to try to escape and return there with more Cursed. 

All night, he watched every inch of the Settlement and every window of the ruined houses to spot them. Luckily, all he saw and heard was darkness and silence, except for the occasional chat between the guards. 

"I wonder if he slept well."

Roi was thinking about the man who lost half his hand. One major theory was that the more wounded a person was, the higher the chance was to be turned into one of those.

Suddenly, the guards on the other watchtower blew the horn in an unfamiliar way, which Lish did not explain to him.

Three short, deep blows. The sound wasn't that loud, but it made his bones tremble anyway. His tiredness disappeared in an instant, but before he could turn around and wake up Lish, he saw two men opening the gate near the small city. 

He almost shit his pants.