"Your father hates me."
"Did you do anything wrong…?"
"A lot. Some of it to him."
They continued walking down the alleyway, taking the occasional turn where Elyon deemed fit. The guards probably already lost them, but better to be safe than sorry.
"Wait, then-"
"I won't kill him. I'm only after the book."
Despite turning his back on Alleria, Kyou still couldn't let go of the past decade he spent under his father's care. If possible, he didn't want to kill anyone.
"Not that I could."
"Is he stronger than you?"
Kyou was rather puzzled - Elyon was incredibly strong, that much was certain. Was that feeble middle-aged man really this powerful?
"The barrier."
Elyon said, pointing his index finger up.
"Blood can't be shed inside the city."
That explained why he didn't outright kill the guards. Elyon came off as cold - both literally and metaphorically. He gave Kyou the impression that he'd kill without a second thought.
It was weird how he spared them instead. If no one in here could have their blood drawn though, then bludgeoning them with the handle of the scythe made much more sense. Only….
"My head nearly went flying though!"
Kyou exclaimed, clutching his neck with both hands. Elyon heard him, but there was no response. He simply closed his faintly glowing eye and when he reopened them, the scythe appeared in his hands.
It might have been his imagination, but his eye seemed to be glowing no longer. Elyon held the scythe with one hand and stretched his other one out so that Kyou could see it clearly in this narrow space.
He brought it up, and-
SHING
It sliced through the air, but was stopped dead in its tracks after colliding with Elyon's arm. With that demonstration out of the way, the scythe disappeared once more and they continued walking on in silence.
"So, why are you after the book?"
"To bring back her moon."
It was like talking to a brick wall. Elyon promised him answers and he was given them in the form of a riddle.
"…. Then can you at least tell me what it looks like?"
"I don't know."
"Then how are you supposed to find it?"
They turned a corner and exited the alleys after what felt like forever.
Actually, Kyou retracted that statement. It felt like forever, but not this long. The moon was out and it was pouring its luminescent rays over the town. It was eerily quiet compared to the morning.
"That's your job."
They stopped in front of a massive steel wall - the very same that surrounded Kyou's town. Elyon hopped onto it with ease and looked back down on Kyou.
The scythe appeared in front of him the very next moment.
"Hold onto it."
Kyou grabbed the handle and it levitated off the ground, pulling him up to Elyon. The flowers on it were now blooming, and in the middle of the bouquet, the same symbol on Elyon's eye was engraved.
"Do you know the contents of the book at least?"
"A diary of the first divine goddess of Sacrifice."
Kyou's ears tingled at the phrase, but he couldnt be too sure yet.
"Some called her the divinity of Salvation. Others freedom, but her true authority is Sacrifice. The same authority Alleria now has."
"What was her name?"
"Yulleria."
It was indeed the one he had in mind. A book he was read a long time ago.
"Yulleria was real…."
"You know of her?"
Elyon jumped down the wall on the other side and Kyou hovered down with him. When his feet could just barely touch the ground, the scythe disappeared and a surprised Kyou tripped onto his behind.
"Yeah…."
He said, standing back up while rubbing his behind.
"…. Dad read it to me before when I was younger."
"Do you know where it is now?"
"Probably at home but…."
He recalled what his father said before he left - 'I have been really busy these few days. A troublemaker has caused quite the ruckus'.
"…. I think he knows you're here."
They continued walking through the forested area surrounding them while Kyou took in the surroundings. This was the second time he'd been outside the walls. He didnt have very fond memories of the first.
"Then he knows what I'm after as well."
"I could just ask him for it. I don't think he knows about me yet."
"Too suspicious."
An intruder he hated suddenly came along, looking for a book and now his son was asking for that very same book after having finished it over a decade ago. Alleria would have been a fool if he handed it over like that.
"Then what are we supposed to do?"
"I'll wait."
Elyon left the forested area and Kyou followed him soon after. He felt a sudden change in his body but couldn't pinpoint what.
"You go find it."
***
Yet another day had passed. This marked the third, and the singular town guard was nowhere to be found.
For over a decade, come rain or shine, not once had he been absent. Every day, he'd do nothing but stand beside the gate, awaiting the day he'd be called to action.
However, he was nowhere to be found now.
"What happened to mister scarecrow?"
A young boy mumbled, his cheeks cupped in the palms of his hands.
"Maybe he got sick. A real bad fever."
A deep, burly voice rang from behind him.
"Sick? Him?! Even if he were, that guy wouldn't just give up like that! He'd come crawling all the way here if he had to! It's his duty!"
"Well then it goes to show just how sick he really is. Maybe wearing that coat under this kind of weather's finally caught up with him."
The man said as he lifted his hand over his face, blocking some of the light from his eyes.
"I don't buy it. You're lying."
"Son….. I'm the last person in the world who would lie to you."
"Then everyone else is a liar too!"
He exclaimed and stormed off in a fit. Everyone else thought of Kyou as a commodity, and exactly as they had dubbed him, a statue.
However, this boy was slightly different. He admired Kyou's unwavering determination and knew best that he wouldn't leave his post. Only if the world came crumbling down.
***
"The authority of Sacrifice allows one to erect barriers, or 'zones' imbued with a rule of the owner's choosing."
The scythe appeared in his hand and Elyon began sketching out the city of the Respite. Above it was layer after layer of semi circular shields, representing barriers.
"The more absolute that rule, the more divindum it takes to sustain it. The Respite has over 10 of those up right now. Alleria can't afford to create another barrier strong enough to stop me or…."
Kyou recalled the contents of the book he was read and his father's sunken face.
"He'll die."
Elyon nodded.
"That means if he wanted to stop me, he'd have to do it with a barrier tailored to counter me specifically."
Elyon threw the scythe into the air and it disappeared once again. No matter how many times Kyou watched it, it still felt so incredible.
Kyou looked over at the distant city. He could clearly see how it was split into two portions - one housing the humans and the other, the gods.
They weren't exactly equal halves - the side with the gods was much larger and it was fair, considering the difference in population. In fact, some might even argue that there wasn't enough space for the gods.
Above the city, he could now see the barriers shimmering clearly in the sky. They were massive, some surrounding the city while some others stretching way beyond it, with a radius of over 20 kilometres at the least.
"Then if these barriers are so big and the book can be anywhere inside them…."
He glanced over at Elyon. He already had an idea on what some other conditions for the barriers could be, but it was better to make sure.
"It would be much smaller than this. Other than the rules, there are 2 factors that affect divindum consumption."
"2? I figured the size did as well but…"
"Every barrier needs an object to act as the core. The more fragile that object is, the less divindum the barrier would require."
Kyou could now see the outlines of Elyon's grand plan. Given the size of the barrier, the book's location would be a dead giveaway. Normally, it wouldn't matter since Elyon wouldn't be able to intrude but he couldn't have accounted for Kyou as well.
He was amazed by the scale of Elyon's plan. To think that he'd have thought this far, to lure Kyou over to his side from the very beginning. Elyon was more than just a fighter. He was an adept tactician as well.
"…. What does he lose if the book is taken from him though?"
Elyon's finger twitched at the question. Some old memories flashed through his head.
"Yulleria had 3 different diaries. That's the only one he has left. It's a symbol of his authority as the one who carries on her legacy. If he fails to protect even one…."
He stopped there, his voice trailing off.
"…. I suppose some of the blame falls on me too. I failed to protect the second one after all."
Kyou saw a faint shimmer in Elyon's eye as he looked up into the night sky. It was completely empty, with the only stars being so close to the moon that they lost their own shine.
There was a certain beauty to this scene though. A beauty that could only be seen through the eyes of Elyon.
"Will you still help me then?"
"…. That moon you're taking back…. Is it important to you?"
"More important than the sun."
The usually stoic, emotionless Elyon seemed so vulnerable right now. He noticed it in the middle of their conversation - he was speaking far more than he normally did.
He looked up at the night sky, the silence between him and Elyon stretching wide. He still wasn't sure who to trust. But for the first time, he wanted to find out.
At this sight, memories of the incident from over a decade ago - ones that Kyou had long since buried - started resurfacing.
Memories of a world far crueler than this.