47 Meaningless

It took all afternoon to finish their work, the sun slowly sunk to its lowest, and Pelvin sat on the ground as they piled a mound of demon claws. With their time left, they asked a shovel from the guards, buried the corpses beneath the fresh soil,

The guards ignored what they've been doing as they focused on their work instead.

Everyone of them became breathless as they rested their buttocks on the ground, regardless, they were now done. Pelvin asked and prepared a cart where the claws would be placed.

"Whew, that was exhausting." Celina said windedly.

The boy gasped as he panted. "I'm never gonna do that again."

Pelvin chuckled. "Well, we are done, so let's return."

With all the preparations ready, Pelvin returned to the city as he hauled the cart, but for now he stopped by and faced a guard. "Good sir, I was done, but don't expect I did it for free." Pelvin gave a shrewd smile.

The guard sighed, he tossed a pouch on his arm. He was silent as he gestured for them to quickly move along.

They then complied quick and strolled across the stony streets.

Celina felt tired, seeing her body could barely support itself she broke off from them. "Pelvin, I have to return for a while." She said with a long yawn.

Pelvin nodded. "See me just around the corner."

Celina smiled and went away, however, her eyes shot out annoyance to the children he was with, her eyes rolled as she walked away.

She noticed the skies were losing light, she scurried to rent another apartment, but a blunder hit her like a truck, she then halted. "What am I gonna do? I don't have any money."

From the skies, Blue landed beside her, he tucked his arms in his pockets as he stood firmly. "Here you are woman, I was looking for you."

She faced him, her expression fell in dismay. "Blue, we can't depart yet without money on my possession."

Blue smiled crookedly. "If you have no choice you could just rob one of the stores."

Celina scowled a bit. "No need, Pelvin and I are gonna make some money tomorrow."

Blue sighed. "Anyway, enough of that nonesense, do you know anyone who could be unto my soul?" He said with a stoic look.

Celina shook her head.

"If you know one remember to avoid him, and I hope you did not forget that the day after tomorrow, we depart."

Celina crossed her arms, defiantly but was forced to agree. "Yeah, I know."

Blue whirled, and were about to leave, Celina was left alone, her eyes darted to and fro and noticed the dark corners of the city have thickened. The people around them have became few as well, with no place to go she ended up tailing him. "Blue wait."

When Celina gaited besides Blue, she eyed him curiously. "Anyway, Blue where do you go everytime we part?"

"Anywhere where your annoying voice can't reach me." Blue said spiritlessly.

Celina stuck out her tongue. "Unlucky for you, I'm gonna join you this night."

Blue smirked. "Goodluck with that."

The streets have fell into silence, torches found on the houses turned orange bright, lighting up the roads. The two strutted aimlessly through the city, Celina yawned and stretched her arms, she winced when she felt her muscles were worn out, alarming her that she needed immediate rest.

"Hey Blue where do you plan to go?" She said exhausted.

Blue sighed. "That's what I wanna know."

Celina almost lost her grip, she staggered forward and leaned upon Blue.

Blue snorted, he jolted his arm as she he tried to scoot her away. "You're still annoying since the day I once met you."

"Sorry Blue, I'm very tired." She slowly dropped herself, then leaned upon a wall. "Could you wait for me, I'm just gonna take a nap."

Blue rose his eyebrow, he looked puzzled. "In the side of the street?" By the time he was finished speaking, Celina had already fell deep into slumber.

Her eyes sealed and body limped in a fragile manner as she rested on a wall found beside the road. Recalling the words of the seer, Blue felt annoyed, he then sat besides her, he shut his eyes and crossed his arms.

As far as Blue could remember, his last wife was about two thousand years ago, after that he only kept on brooding and straying across the world. The gift of immortality only showed him a life of nihilism, since everything would end anyway, there was no point in life. It drastically sealed his heart allowing him to lose sight of his humanity.

Blue didn't want to admit it, but the woman was slowly melting the emotions he sealed beneath his chest. Celina's head slid off from the wall and her head fell on Blue's shoulder.

Blue sighed in frustration, yet he beared with it, since if the seer could predict his death in the future then there was nothing to worry about. It pleased him to know his wish was guaranteed. Right now he just had to be patient, he lived for thousand years after all, in contrast, two more years was nothing.

Right now, the surroundings were gloomy and quiet, there was no presence around them, they were lonely beneath a bright torch that was stuck on the wall. Until the torch was smoldered out, the fire vanished with a hissing noise. Thick darkness creeped around the two as the light faded away.

Finally the sun crests above, it seemed like minutes for him but about several hours have passed. Showers of light streaked past them, it hit their faces and Celina groaned. The young sunlight was a bit unpleasant, thus Celina opened her eyes and turned her head, she grimaced when her face was close to his. She quickly skittered away and squealed in surprise.

Blue sprang up, he gazed down at her. "In this early morning your yelping grinds my ears." He growled.

Celina rubbed her eyes, she then lifted herself. "Hey Blue, did I sleep here with you all night?"

Blue was silent as he continued walking away.

"Hey Blue, I'm talking to you." Celina sighed when he never respond a word. "Fine, just don't do anything malicious! Okay?" She yelled. She brushed off the dust from her buttocks, seeing Blue was lost in her sight she roved around the city to find Pelvin.

After the sun's dawn, the traffic of people on the streets have increased, consumers and merchants quickly took over the spaces. Seeing Pelvin was nowhere to be found, she thought she might as well see Shekurya. She crossed the city, diving deep into the heart of the city, heading to the white mansion that stood beautiful and just.

The mansion was fenced with brick walls, it stood high that only the roof of the mansion was visible.

When she made her way to the gateway she encountered two individuals, they were darkskinned who wore ragged and stained clothes, their looks signified their heavy labor, they were probably farmers. "I can't believe it, Lord Helrick is so kind."

His companion nodded. "That's right, no Nobles anywhere could beat his compassion."

Celina smiled weakly, their bright attitudes rubbed unto her. The armor guards that flanked the gates gave her a curious look, after a second they recognized her and then they opened the gates, giving her a path to the mansion.

When she entered, she noticed the couple on the doorway, it was almost the same as yesterday, Lord Helrick's forced smile masks his frustration and Shekurya was right beside him, although her smile was forced, it looked sincere and warm. They forced themselves to be strong as adversities blew on their faces.

Lord Helrick sighed, he rubbed the sweat of his face as he returned inside the mansion. Leaving Shekurya on the doorway, she then smiled when Celina and her shared stares.

Celina rose her arm. "Shekurya." She scampered to her front.

Shekurya seem pleased. "Oh you're this early."

Celina nodded, her face brightened. "Well, I couldn't help it." She said with zeal.

"Then let us move to somewhere spacious."

"Sure." Celina said.

As they strolled in an arcing path around the mansion, Celina's curiousity sparked that she could not help but ask. "I'm not sure if you're comfortable with this question, but I wanna ask."

Shekura flickered a smile, allowing her to proceed, there was no trace of caution on her face, telling her she shouldn't hold back. "Go on."

"What happened to your folks?" She said hesitantly.

Shekurya sighed as her face drooped low. "The empire..." She gritted her teeth, displaying her canine tooth.

Seeing the calm Shekurya boiling in anger, Celina then grabbed her arm, cutting her off. "I mean, you can stop. I'm sorry for even asking."

Shekurya's face became neutral. "Don't worry, I'm asked that all the time. But remembering the empire causes me to get mad."

Celina clenched her fist, rage burnt bright inside her chest, but she managed to suppress it with a huff of air. "I know what you feel."

Shekurya then held her shoulder. "I think we should focus more on what we can do."

Celina nodded quietly.

Then both of them positioned themselves in a spacious grassy yard. It was found right beside the mansion, Shekurya unsheathed her blade and displayed her katana.

Celina did the same and unsheathed her sword, she turned to Shekurya and they faced each other.

"Umm Shekurya, could I master this in one afternoon?" Celina said.

Shekurya shook her head. "No, that would be unlikely, I say this will take months or even years."

Celina sighed in dismay. "What do I expect? Since I have to depart for tomorrow after all." She said to herself.

"Do not fret, even if our time is short, I'm willing to teach you what I know. I would love to teach someone after all." She chuckled. "Then, shall we start." Shekurya lifted her blade to her shoulder level.

Celina knew they had to spar before she could be taught. She knew she was outmatched, but she had to put up a tough act.

"Prepare yourself." Shekurya said.

Celina nodded with a smug. "Yeah come."

Shekurya moved one step, leaving several after images on her tail. Celina got startled, she got taken aback, then Shekurya dashed quickly to her that she became blur.

Shekurya then swung her blade to her side, she could barely keep up with her speed, Celina awkwardly deflected the blade, the impact of the blades caused Celina to stagger backwards, she then fell into her rump. "Ouch!"

Shekurya chuckled she lent her arm unto Celina's face. She quickly grabbed on her and was heaved up. "What is with that ability?"

Shekurya smiled. "This stance is called Senru-Kyu, basically it allows you to scatter your presence across the environment, and that will allow you to confuse your enemy."

Celina stared at her with her lips in o-shape. "Really? How do you pull that off?"

Shekurya gently patted her shoulder with the side of her blade. "Right now you are standing here with your presence in place, what you need to do is to detach yourself from the shackles of the limitations your mind creates."

Celina chuckled cluelessly. "I barely got the gist of it, but I don't think it makes much sense."

Shekurya sighed as though tired, he grabbed some pebble close to her foot. She lifted it up. "This is a stone."

Celina's eyes were keen as she stared at it, she nodded.

"But who decided this was one?" Shekurya asked.

Celina rose her lower lip as she tried to come up with an answer. "What do you mean?"

Shekurya dropped it on ground. "This stone could just be a part of earth, even the leaves, the trees, the skies and everything you see all around us. But who decided that they were called that way?"

Celina rubbed her chin, her eyes befuddled.

"If you still have a hard time grasping it, visualize they were called that way because we chose to do so. Allowing us to live in an artificial world made by humans, but what lies behind that world?"

Celina's eyes lit up as she realized somthing. "That's quite a good question, I never though of it."

Shekurya grabbed a leaf dancing on the air, she let it flutter in her finger tips. "What lies behind this artificial world is ambiguity, where nothing is absolute, meaninglessness is the truth to everything." She said with a tone of assertion

Celina sighed, her eyes strayed as she recalled certain things. "I kinda understand what you mean, but how do we apply this idea to "that" stance."

"Adapting the idea of meaninglessness allows you to loose free from the limitations your mind has enforced upon yourself. Currently, you think your presence is restrained, but.." Shekurya lurched forward, only her blurry images were seen and before Celina knew it, Shekurya was already behind her. "with this you can scatter your presence on this world."