Hesitantly, Alan stepped into the portal, expecting either Lanesha herself or a trial she had prepared for him, He was scared, a little bit.
Despite it all, he gathered his courage and stepped onto the foreign land at the other end of the portal, one he could not see but feel.
He expected something great, terrible, or even horrific… But it was simply a normal forest. Well, Perhaps calling it normal would be…a disgrace?
The ground was solid, firm, and strangely melancholic, Alan looked at it first, finding…normal soil. Fertile soil, enriched with mana, He felt strange, It didn’t live up to his expectations. But his caution grew because of it. He looked at the trees, red bark, and blue leaves. They were exceptionally tall, easily at a height of about 30 meters or so, and strangely enough, as the wind travelled past and through them, like a gentle breeze. The trees seemed to whistle.
The whistle was strange, and normal. It was like the whistle of a normal human being, or perhaps a being even greater, The sound also brought a certain sense of calm strike deep in his mind. He instinctively summoned his weapon.
But instead of responding to his call normally, The AME-No-Sakahoko vibrated calmly, as if expressing its joy of being here.
He let his spear…enjoy(?) this place, and let it rest on his shoulders. He looked at the sky, adorned with not one but three moons, each a different color. Red, Green, and Blue. Staring at the moons hurt his eyes, so he reluctantly looked down and gazed at the shadows around the place, dancing with the wind. The shadows also seemed to be gleefully listening to the whistling of the trees.
Unease gripped his heart, and he tried to use Dragon Eyes to get a clearer understanding of this weird place. But before he could, a voice stopped.
“Just enjoy it, Alan.”
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A voice he had heard, whilst in the embrace of the stars during his meditation, possessing a stark contrast to the mechanical voice of the system, A voice he heard only a few times, but remembered it clearly.
He looked up once more, and saw Lanesha, in her human, or rather elven form, sitting on one of the branches of the mighty trees. Her clothing was the same, and she was still as beautiful as he remembered, perhaps even more, her beauty enhanced by the light of the moons, and the song of the trees.
She began to whistle as well, her voice, a thousand times better than the whistle of the trees. Alan finally felt at peace.
“You should have done it a lot quicker.”
She said to him as she stopped, Alan regretted that she stopped, as he found himself enjoying her voice. She laughed.
“Sorry… I just didn’t like the unfamiliar place.”
“Understandable.”
She looked at the moons once more, and basked in their light. She said, with a soft voice.
“Look at the moons, Alan, but not like before.”
Alan had tried to avoid looking where she was looking, because the moons hurt his eyes. He didn’t understand what she meant, however.
“Look at it with a different perception, Alan, like the esteemed lady before you.”
What did she mean? To look at them like she was looking at them? Alan studied her eyes, as beautiful and boundless they were, and said. He didn’t know if his conjecture was right or not.
“… To forget my vigilance?”
She chuckled, and affirmed.
“Yes, do not be wary of the celestial moons, but accept them.”
He did as she asked, although slightly hesitant. This time, he could gaze at them for as long as he liked, but strangely, he didn’t feel anything.
‘Bummer.’
He expected something else, not pain, but something else when he looked at moons, perhaps Enlightenment? No, that would be wrong, He already went through it when he unlocked Aura.
But then… It was a bit saddening to see nothing happen.
“Something is happening, but unfortunately, your view is so twisted you don’t see it.”
Alan looked at her, and asked.
“Then…what is it?”
Lanesha sighed, and looked straight at him, her boundless, blue eyes piercing right into his soul, seeing something he couldn’t. Instinctively, Alan stepped back.
“Beauty.”
“What?”
“Beauty, Alan. The beauty of the skies, the stars, and the moons. Not everything has to give you something for you to appreciate it, right?”
She continued.
“You felt it when you first stared at the skies of Giganta, the stars that shone so bright. So why do you not feel it now?”
He stayed silent, not knowing how to respond. Lanesha looked at him once more, sighing, and then smiled.
“Unfortunately, Fate has not been kind to you, so you forgot to appreciate it.”
Alan wondered why she suddenly brought fate into this, isn’t it just admiring the beauty of the moons?
“What does fate have to do with beauty? Of those moons?”
He asked, not really hoping for an answer. He knew he wouldn’t understand anything that came from the mouth of a supreme.
“Fate is beautiful, just like the moons. But when stared at with animosity, it is cruel. But perhaps it is always cruel. A cruel beauty.”
Not even trying to say anything related to it, Alan skipped to the point, hoping to avoid this conversation about fate.
“What did you call me here for?” Lanesha had to have something in mind if she called him here. Something unrelated to the topic of fate.
Instead of answering, she looked at the moons once more and heaved a heavy, long sigh. A sigh filled with…regret?
Unease gripped Alan’s heart once more, and he wondered why she was sighing like that, He didn’t like the emotions on her face. The ones he could read, at the very least.
Anger, regret, sorrow…and love?
“It’s simply time…”
Those words flowed out of her mouth. Time? Time for what? Alan wondered, he was going to
ask something but judged that it was better to let her finish speaking.
Something materialized in her hand, and she gritted her teeth, finally completing her
sentence.
“To do what I must.”
She looked at Alan, who was now sweating profusely.