The past she left behind

The reaper's crimson wings latched onto the mortal's flesh. In silence, Ethel followed the luminary from behind like a shadow stalking behind the light. The young knight showed no sign of hostile yet. He remained calm despite death counting his seconds. Whispers bellowed from below, beckoning her to return to the past. Souls she left behind, along with her regret and guilt.

"Would you mind if I asked you a question?" The mortal broke the silence between them. Her lips sealed cold. Without waiting for her permission, Cael continued to throw the question at her. "Why did you leave your sword here? It was one of your greatest asset."

Ethel ground her jaws in annoyance. It took every patience she has to not push him off the stairs. "Why the sudden curiosity?"

"Think of it as I'm going mad because of the curse doing," Cael chuckled.

Any sane mortal wouldn't bother themselves with a sinner, Ethel agreed. "You know the name Ella. Then you should know what happened to her and Lamifel." 

"The truth came to me unexpectedly," Cael admitted. His head hung low as the burden of the new founding truth weighing down his mortal body. Ethel never thought there would be a day she witness a luminary admitting their own flaw to a sinner. Usually it was them blaming the sinners for causing such flaw. It was easier to put the blame on the sinner than admitting themselves being the same sinner as everyone.

"My predecessor caught her playing among the children. They punished her before the public. Right here where the Lamifel's heart once beat. They saw her death as justice."

"Justice?" Her shadow faltered. "They threw rocks while she was bound powerless. She did nothing wrong with the children. What kind of justice is that?"

The shadowy hands reached out to the luminary. Cael flinched as it held his neck. She could just snap him dead right at this moment. 

"I thought I knew what justice meant until I lost something of mine. They took it from me as I did to those I have stripped from their justice. Right now, I have no justice. Previously, my justice was only a facade. You'll kill me if I told you the old meaning." Cael continued on walking down to the abyss. The shadow retracted itself from the light. The scorching heat waved at their faces. Ethel glanced at the mortal, dripping in sweats and heaving out for a breath. He was only alive because of the blessing he was born with.

Watch over him, she commanded her butterfly. The butterfly remained by his side.

The ember sword embedded in the same place she left. Fragments of its blade cracked and fell into dust. There was hardly any left of its former shape, but a shattering one. As she approached the sword, scorched hands emerged beneath her feet. Citizens of Lamifel she doomed to burn for eternity crawled themselves out from the grave she buried them. Cael jumped back away as the burning souls finally showed itself to his mortal eyes. Ethel ignored the outreach hands of those beggars.

"Lost in my first awakening in this hateful land. My first birth was quick and short. Then, my second birth, I tried to understand your people. Ella was a sinner born from my naïve. I brought her into this world that couldn't accept her. She was my heir, and you took her from me." Her voice raised. The burning souls cowered away behind a flickering flame hovered in front of the sword.

The scene was clear as yesterday. Ella bounded in a melting iron chain. Rotten food and stones scattered around her. Blood painted her face. Ethel remembered hearing the screams around her and the crimson flames burst out from the ground, sweeping the buildings off from its feet. Even after what they did to Ella, the little flame she raised begged her.

My dear lady, please don't let your own flame devoured you.

Ethel released a shaky breath. The flame before her was only a piece of Ella she lost. She brushed past the flame. Even now, you're still protecting them.

"I'm no different from them," Cael murmured.

She held the hilt. A pulse from the blade pounded the ground. Dust and stones rained down. She tried lifting it up, but more shards of its embers crumbled. It was too fragile to be taken out. Streaks of crimson from the blade ran up to her pale flesh, linking the sword to her arm. Ethel tried fusing some of her own abyssal energy onto the sword to recover its form.

"This won't work." Ethel released the hilt.

The scarlet butterfly rested on her shoulder. "What now? You can't linger here for too long."

Ethel pondered for a moment before placing both of her hands to the hilt. The sword illuminated in crimson light. The blade tied in hundreds of thin, red strings and scattered throughout Ashendel. One red string was closer to her. It lead her to the back.

Ethel sighed at the string.

"What's wrong?" Cael asked.

Her gaze followed the string. Invisible to the mortal's eyes. "Don't accept any gift from the hands of tainted. Devoured the fruits of the evil and the abyss will welcome you into its home." 

The butterfly beside Cael stroked the string tied inside his chest where the fragment of her sword buried.

"You brought Ashendel to its next ruin."