Chapter 15: Burn The Diary

"So you're saying this fire spirit called Blaze was placed here by Wei to guard the ruins here?" Luna said to reconfirm what Gear had told her.

"Yes," said Gear as he lets Blaze dance around his place.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Luna asked.

"Honestly, I didn't remember until I saw Blaze just now," said Gear, "Just remembering Blaze's name was hard enough for me."

<The Forgetting Curse…>

Luna wondered why this curse was placed on Gear in the first place. If he didn't lose any of his memories from the start, just how much easier would life be for him.

"Then, you're really the person in the mural?" a question Luna had long to hear the answer from him.

Gear stood silent for a bit before nodding his head. Luna tightens her hand against her chest. She had a hunch that the person who placed this curse on him was the priestess in the mural, but for what reason did she do it, Luna had no idea. Knowing Gear, if he knew the risk he wouldn't have done it willfully. So, for him to accept such a curse despite knowing what it will do to him could only mean that she was someone who was important to him. Her heart aches from even thinking like that.

"Luna, are you alright?"

Luna jolted out from her thoughts and gave a quick nod. This wasn't the time to get lost in her thoughts. Now that they're here, Luna can finally find the answers she was looking for. Answers that Gear couldn't give to her due to some kind of reasons.

"Then, is this place your home?"

"...I don't know," said Gear after a long while, "I just have a feeling that it's important to me."

"Then…"

<Then was that woman in the mural your lover…?>

Luna shakes her head, "I see…"

Blaze started flapping its hand in the air to get their attention. They look at it. Blaze was using its body to do body language to tell them something, but they had no idea what it was saying. It puffs out its flaming cheeks at them and bursts into spark. It flies towards the wall and uses its spark to write something.

Priestess… Diary…

"She left a diary here…?" Gear tried to clarify what it wrote.

Blaze nods its head with a smile. It dances around Gear's palm for getting it right.

"Where?"

Blaze points at a certain corner inside of the cave. They walked towards the wall but there was nothing there. Blaze taps on the wall and stares back at them. It looks like Blaze wants them to tap on the wall. Perhaps there was a secret compartment somewhere in the wall. Luna and Gear got busy tapping around the wall to see if anything would sound hallway. After a couple of tries, Luna heard a hollow spot at the bottom corner of the wall. She tapped it again, and pressed something. The wall shook causing the cave to tremble.

They took a few steps back in case something might fall on top of them. As the wall pulled to the side, there were shelves hidden behind the wall. It was the size of a regular book shelf. There were materials, and ingredients nicely placed on the shelf. At the center, there was a book about the size of any regular book. With one look, anyone would mistake it as an old text book. If it wasn't for Blaze who was swirling around the book madly, Gear and Luna wouldn't have known that was the diary.

Gear reaches out to the book and takes it off from the shelf. He opens it up. All he could see and recognize were beautiful written calligraphy. Ones that he felt he hadn't seen for a very long time and missed them so. Luna on the other hand only saw blank pages. There was nothing written inside.

"Blaze, are you sure this is the diary?" Luna asked as she looked up.

Blaze didn't give her an answer because Blaze was also memorized by the calligraphy inside the book. Blaze looked at it fondly and even pur beside Gear's shoulder. Judging by their expressions, it seems they could see what was written except for Luna. She wondered if this was a safety spell the priestess placed so that no one can read it but a selected few.

Gear stared at the dairy for a long while. He didn't read the diary but just stared at it. After a few more hours passed, he placed the diary down with a soft sigh.

"Gear…?"

She wondered why he put the diary away. Surely, the reasons why the priestess put the curse on him must be written in there. Instead of reading why, he just set it to the side. Why?

"Blaze… Burn this diary."

"...!" Luna snatches the diary away from Gear's hand.

"Luna…!"

"No!" Luna yelled out, "Why are you going to burn this?"

Gear gave his hand out, "Luna, that diary needs to burn."

"Why?!" Luna demanded to know, "Didn't you come to the ruin with me because you want to find out why the Forgetting Curse was placed on you? Why do you have to kill all those princesses? Why was that number branded onto your chest? This diary might have all the answers in there!"

"I do not wish to know," said Gear.

"Why?"

"...You heard what Wei said, this curse will eventually go away," said Gear, "Besides, I already know why this curse was put on me."

"You're lying," Luna saw the number on his chest, and they haven't been killing any of the princess at all, "The number on your chest is still at 51."

True, Gear hasn't regained any of his memories at all. Everything was coming back to him in flashes but disappeared in the next second. For example, Blaze, the fire spirit, he could only vaguely remember his name because Blaze in front of him. If Blaze disappears, or if Gear leaves him, his memories about him will instantly disappear.

The diary in Luna's hand did ring of nostalgia and familiarity. However, something deep inside of him told him he shouldn't dwell any deeper into the diary. His instincts had kept him alive when he lost his memories. So if it was telling him to burn the diary, then he'll listen to it, but how was he going to explain it to her.

"Just give me one good reason why this diary should be burned when it might hold all of the answers to our questions?" Luna knew that expression on Gear.

Once he decided on something, he was going with it all the way. Since he wanted this diary to burn, nothing she said to him would change mind, then, she at least wants to hear why.

"...Because-"

"Grr…!" Blaze suddenly flares out in a deep red flame.

It glares outside of the entrance of the cave and flies out. The cave suddenly trembles causing crumbles of rocks to fall. Luna loses her footing and falls back. The diary slips out of her hand as her head was about to smack right into a sharp rock sticking out from the wall. Just as she was about to hit the rock, Gear manages to grab her hand and pull her towards him. They fall and roll on the ground, waiting for the tremor to stop.

The next thing they heard when the tremor stopped was a loud screech. Similar to a crying hawk when it flies to catch its prey, only this cry sounded more sorrowful. Gear's eyes light up in shock, "Blaze…!"