Chapter 544
CHAPTER 544
WEIGHT OF THE PAST
The sky settled and the colors faded; the energy of the unaccounted was gone, and the world seemed to calm . Primul stood at the edge of a tall cliff, a lithe smile on his face, a gourd of wine in his hands . His legs dangled off the edge, his dark hair fluttering in the hazy wind . He knew it was over; they had won . He didn"t know the price of the victory, but it was not on him to wager it . Taking a sip, he let the cooling sensation trickle through his body .
A shadow suddenly stepped into his shade and rose up, standing next to him . Ty glanced at the seated figure from the corner of his eyes before looking back up toward the sky .
"We"ve won . " Ty said in a low tone .
"Hm . " Primul nodded . "All"s well that ends well . "
"… what now?"
"For you," Primul turned sideways, smirking faintly . "It"s about time you stopped trying to make that la.s.s jealous and state your heart, no? Even that cowardly Rio stepped up . Why can"t you?"
"… her heart"s not mine, I"m afraid," Ty smiled bitterly, sitting down and taking out a gourd of wine as well, taking a sip . "Not all can have their happily-ever-after, Primul . "
"… tell me about it . " Primul chuckled, shaking his head . "Oh well . I"m sure you"ll find a woman yet . If not, you can always pretend your cultivating art forbids you or something . "
"Haii, do you really think I"d sink that low?"
"I at least don"t think you"re above it . "
"Puh, what a cruel guy…" Ty sighed, shaking his head . "What about you?"
"…" Primul remained silent, prompting Ty to do the same . There was an inexplicable glimmer in the former"s eyes, a s.h.i.+ne the likes of which Ty couldn"t recognize . His countenance cooled, strangely, and the air about him seemed to deflate . "It"s my time, junior . "
"…" Ty remained silent, words stuck in his throat, before sighing . Taking another sip of the wine, his dreary eyes looked toward the distance . "Can"t you reconsider?"
"Ha ha ha," Primul burst out into laughter for a moment, startling Ty . "Time ain"t something that"s in our capacity to reconsider, Ty . It pushes and pulls as it wills . "
"… hah," Ty scoffed, shaking his head . "You haven"t even said the goodbyes just yet . "
"… I"ve settled all my affairs," Primul said . "Found a successor, watched the world I nearly destroyed be brought back to life and beyond, and I contributed, however little, to its inception . I don"t have any regrets . "
"We all have regrets," Ty said . "You"re not above them . "
"… perhaps," Primul paused for a moment and glanced at Ty, replying after . "None, however, large enough to weigh me down . Do you know why I came here?"
"Why?"
"One of the few memories I have before becoming an Empyrean is of my father and me standing on a cliff like this one, overlooking a ma.s.sive sinkhole," Primul said, taking a sip . "At the time, I couldn"t have been older than thirteen, fourteen . Even though I can"t remember his face, I do remember him whipping out his c.o.c.k and taking a p.i.s.s into the sinkhole, with me following right after . "
"…" Ty"s mind burst for a moment as he nearly stumbled and fell, sh.e.l.lshocked . "You… you"re not gonna ask me to whizz with you, right?"
"Ha ha ha, no, no," Primul shook his head, laughing . "I can"t for the life of me figure out why that memory remained so imprinted in me . He didn"t say anything or do anything besides p.i.s.sing into that hole, and neither have I . Yet, among all the things I could have remembered of my childhood, that one scene is the most striking . "
"…"
"That"s the sort of a person I ended up becoming," Primul said, taking a sip of the wine and sighing . "Looking down at the world, p.i.s.sing all over it . When I first met Lino, I couldn"t figure out what made him so different than me . I saw it, in his eyes, the same madness that reigned over my heart . I saw that he was not above his emotions, above losing it . Yet, come rain and fire, he never surrendered over to that thirst . When I saw it, I knew he would become someone far larger than life . The world will continue down its lane; even he won"t pacify it . Rather, it is impossible to pacify our base desires . He can"t restrain them, so he"ll let them be . "
"…"
"I think that"s what most of us, in the end, lacked," Primul said . "The just wanted to uproot the entire world and make it better, even by force; the corrupt didn"t care either way and just fanned the flames in the end . He lets it be . He lets the world struggle, and he lets people fight for whatever they wish, be it for good or evil . I hope you"ll continue to watch over him for many eons to come . "
"… you could as well . " Ty said .
"…" Primul said nothing, setting down the gourd of wine by his side and glancing at Ty with a tranquil smile . "It"s been an honor, junior . "
Just as Ty was about to reply, Primul pushed himself off the edge and flew . Ty"s arm stretched out instinctively, but he held it back, in the end, merely sitting on the cliff and watching the tiny body falling deeper and deeper into the abyss . His lips trembled for a moment as the figure faded, swallowed by the eternal darkness .
"… tsk, what a coward . " A familiar voice spoke from the side, causing him to glance; Lyn stood upright, arms crossed over her chest, gazing down into the abyss .
"…" Ty said nothing, merely taking the gourd Primul left behind, putting it away, and getting up, dusting off his clothes . "Help me find a big slab of stone . "
"…" Lyn said nothing, turning around and meeting his eyes . "Is it true?"
"… it"s rather ill-mannered to eavesdrop, no?" Ty smiled bitterly .
"… buy me a dinner tonight," Lyn said, moving back down the slope, locking onto a rather large slab of stone . "And not that cheap s.h.i.+p you usually eat; I want some high-end c.r.a.p . "
"…" Ty remained silent for a moment, stunned, before coming to and following after her . "Do you know any prayers?" he asked .
"Huh?" she glanced at him strangely . "Maybe we can honor him by whizzing down?"
"…"
"Oh, wow . "
"… ugh, shut up . " Ty struggled inwardly; his heart trembled strangely as he suddenly uncovered a deep-seethed fetish he was unaware of up until now . "Isn"t it kind of depressing though?" he asked, sighing . "A legend… fell just like that . Someone who terrorized the world and evoked fears in the billions of hearts died in the middle of nowhere . "
"… isn"t that a given?" Lyn shrugged as the two reached the slab, both beginning to chisel at the edges . "No matter how holy the saint, or unholy the tyrant, both equally wind up dead eventually . It"s how it ought to be, if you ask me . "
"…" Ty said nothing, slowly shaping the stone into a child-sized grave, crouching down and simply carving "Primul" into the stone"s surface .
"If anything," Lyn said as the two picked up the stone, carrying it back up the slope and toward the cliff . "I respect him more for not making a grandstanding out of it . He lived out the remainder of his life trying to right the wrongs, and as he saw the dream of his coming true, he realized it was a time to say the last goodbye . The last hurrah, if you will . "
"… hoh? I never took you for an idealist . " Ty chuckled as they reached the top, putting the slab down before digging a couple of feet into the ground .
"… it"s hardly idealistic," Lyn shrugged . "If anything, it"s bittersweet . " She sighed, glancing down into the distant abyss . "He always kept his distance from everyone . Even in his last moments, who bid him a farewell? A random lad he"s maybe spoken to twice before . Quite a depressing way to go, really . "
"…" Ty said nothing for a moment, settling the grave and pulling the dirt back over into the hole, cementing it and getting up, gazing into the abyss as well . "I think… he was content with it . At the very least, he will no longer be remembered just as someone who murdered and caused chaos everywhere he went . For better or worse, whether he wanted it or not, he found a way into the hearts of many people . Whether he realized it by the end or not, he was no longer an outsider, a temporary help that he wanted to be . Rather… he was a friend . "
"… tsk, I didn"t think you were a sentimentalist . I might just have to cancel our date…"
"Ha ha ha," Ty laughed freely for a moment . "No takebacks, I"m afraid . " He chuckled . "After all, his dying wish was for me to get a girlfriend . It can"t be that you want to renege on such a heavy wish? Tsk, tsk, I didn"t think you were that cold, Lyn…"
"… using the dead to blackmail me?" Lyn arched her brows in exaggeration . "Wow, I did not think you had it in you, Ty . My respect for you just shot right back up . "
"… good G.o.d, you"re so f.u.c.king bizarre…" Ty sighed, shaking his head .
"… let"s give him a moment . " Lyn said, closing her eyes .
"Hm," Ty nodded, closing his eyes as well . "He deserved it…"