Days passed after the fated battle at Heliodor, and the rest of the world of Estan'te was still celebrating the fall of the Shadow Monarch and the end of his tyrannical rule.
Meanwhile...
"Pip, don't move. Something's wrong."
The floating ball of fur flying next to a seemingly average young man paused, hovering in midair.
Pip's tiny head tilted to the side curiously, his round eyes regarding the cold, serious expression of his lord and master. Immediately, seeing the intensity of the sternness in his gaze, Pip promptly complied, ears twitching at the slightest sound it could pick up.
The two were traversing a secluded part of a large forest, surrounded by thick trees and canopies that ruffled in the wind. Sunlight trickled through gaps in the leaves, creating kaleidoscopes of light and shadow dancing over the forest floor.
The pristine wildlife surrounded them on all sides, accompanied by the not-so-distant songs of chirping birds. The forest felt alive, yet calm.
Aside from the occasional rustle of bushes and shrubs caused by smaller rodents, Pip's wide hearing couldn't pick up anything odd or unusual.
"My Lord—"
"Shh. Quiet for a moment." The black-haired youth silenced him before he could speak.
Then he raised his head mysteriously and stared up at the ruffling canopies, wind whistling through the crowned leaves of the trees. His expression turned serious.
"Old friend..." He regarded Pip with deep solemnity in his voice, then pulled out an old parchment from beneath his cloak.
"What direction were we headed again?"
"...Eh?"
The young man turned and frowned at the piece of parchment he spread open before his face, as if it were the most hateful thing he had come across in centuries.
"I could've sworn we were on the right path. A riverbank! The map clearly marks it!"
As Pip regarded this outrage with wide, round eyes, his master lowered the map and turned to him.
"I think we might be lost," he said bluntly, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"Not this again!"
***
To retrace… a few days ago, after the world presumed the Shadow Monarch dead…
"You… you want to see the world?"
"Mhm."
"A world… without you?"
"Precisely."
"The world…the hero who killed you spoke about?"
The black-haired youth grinned.
"Now you're getting it, Pip."
Pip hovered in midair, thoughts lagging as his round eyes trailed after the black-haired youth.
"My Liege… why, though?" the little fur ball said, struggling to understand. "Y-you were so close to your conquest. In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say you had it, right within your grasp! And you still do—right now, the Alliance has suffered immense losses and is celebrating under the guise of your downfall. If you revealed yourself once more, you could completely wipe them out. Starting with the hero, Alister Sin—"
"Pip." The black-haired youth's voice cut in sternly before Pip could finish.
He turned to face his furry little companion, and his expression softened into a gentle, almost tender smile.
"I don't want to rule the world any longer. In fact… I never truly did."
As he said this, he turned and walked back into the ruins of his fortress, heaps of rubble making a treacherous path along the way.
Pip floated closely behind, just staring at his back. He listened with a puzzled expression as his master's voice continued lightly, something hollow hidden beneath its cheery tone.
"You of all know better than anyone. I'm tired of it all — the blood, the fighting, the wars, and the suffering. Over eighty-five long years have made my soul weary... and that's ironic, because..."
He paused and stopped walking, staring forward with his back turned to Pip. His expression was hidden.
Then he shrugged with a stifled laugh.
"I didn't think I had a soul any longer. And I'm an authority of souls! Haha!"
Laughing at the punchline of a joke only he knew, the black-haired youth continued until he ventured back inside the devastated Dark Castle, sneaking in from behind through a secluded pathway.
It wasn't exactly hidden, but it would take a considerable amount of time for the forces and researchers of the Alliance to cover the perimeter of the now-abandoned fortress. So these parts currently lay out of sight for the guards assigned to watch the place.
Pip followed silently, uncertain of what to say. There was a lot going through the little creature's small mind, and staring at the youth's back, he knew it must have been the same with him — and for a long time now.
As the two original residents of the fortress returned to the dim embrace of the collapsed hallways, Pip spoke up finally.
"So? What's next then?"
The path they followed converged at a junction leading both ways. The youth glanced left, then right contemplatively before shrugging and picking a seemingly random side, then continued forward.
"What do you mean? I already told you — I want to see the world and explore its reaches now. An adventure, you might call it." He chuckled like a kid.
Pip regarded the youth's words and looked around their current location.
"Then what exactly are we doing back here, my lord? Since you're trying to leave everything behind, shouldn't we be trying to get as far away as possible from here?"
As Pip said this, the small creature suddenly had an incredulous thought.
"Do you even have a plan, sire?"
The youth halted his steps and scoffed, offended.
"Of course I do. You think I'd pretend to die in front of the whole world without thinking things through?"
Pip looked less than mildly convinced.
Pretending he didn't notice his companion's lack of trust, the youth continued until he stumbled into a particularly well-hidden chamber.
"This should be it."
It was so well hidden that only those with knowledge of the right arrays and systems could find it.
The black-haired youth nudged the side of a wall with his palm, pressing one of the bricks like it was a button. Immediately, a hollow sound resounded, akin to an empty click, and the stones groaned against each other.
A little dust spilled from the top of the wall, and the immediate ground beneath the youth's feet moaned and trembled. The wall itself pushed inwards, revealing a hidden side passage that led down through a set of stairs.
It was a basement.
The youth grinned to himself.
"There we go."
"X'xaldreth, that bastard, couldn't so much as tidy up even if the world was ending!" he cursed bitterly under his breath as he descended the short flight of stairs, waving his hands to disperse dust and cobwebs in the air.
"Isn't this place..." Pip murmured quietly as he followed, taking in the sight of the chamber.
Hidden beneath the walls was a small, stuffy, and cramped space — one of the dozens, if not a hundred, of hidden basements that served as storage facilities scattered throughout the fortress. Such storage and research facilities were usually left in charge of one of the Shadow Monarch's servants and shadows.
X'xaldreth the Unborn.
He... it? ...was the Shadow General in charge of the lesser logistics aspects of the Dark Castle and the Dark Legion's conquest throughout the War of Damnation. But he was primarily the main researcher of the Dark forces.
Whatever the case, X'xaldreth was dead, fallen by the Hero's party some time ago.
And the reason the youth had come all this way was...
"For this."
He raised a rolled-up, old-looking parchment in his grasp. Loose, dusty cobwebs spilled from around it, but he looked undeterred, dark eyes gleaming with undisguised anticipation and excitement.
"What is it?" Pip asked.
"A map."
An old map... but more on that in a little bit.
The youth dusted off the ancient-looking map and unfurled it on an old, dusty table, grinning like a child.
"Why do you need a map, sire?"
"Well... that's because all great adventures begin with a map, don't they, Pip?"
Who travels the world without an old map or two, especially in a backwards region like Heliodor, considered the edge of the world?
"You asked me what my plan was," his eyes swept over the charts and markings on the map, partly eroded by time and decay. Then they gleamed as he pressed the tip of his index finger against a certain spot.
"Well, the first thing we do is find civilization. A small village, a town... or even a big city."
Pip flew just above his head to look at the spot his finger pointed at. He could vaguely make out what looked like the shape of...
"A river?"
"Indeed." The youth nodded, rolling the map back up with the same pleased smile. "Where there's water, there's life. In other words — people."
"Oh..."
Pip observed the young man, who looked quite proud of himself, as if discovering something so basic deserved praise.
"And?" Pip asked. "What happens next if we do find a village or anything? What do we do after that?"
The youth pivoted away from the table and approached a coat hanger in the corner of the basement. A dusty, old brown coat hung loosely from it.
"I don't know. We'll figure it out after that," he replied confidently, like everything was completely under control, leaving nothing to fate, chance, or luck.
"You really don't have a plan," Pip deadpanned in dry horror.
The youth conveniently pretended not to hear that part and pried the dusty cloak from the hanger. Then, for no reason anyone asked him to, he raised it to his nose and took a sniff.
"Ughk—!"
It reeked.
Alas, beggars could not be choosers.
Under Pip's peculiar gaze, he donned his new... old... smelly cloak and stuffed the map inside it. Then he tore a thin strip from the cloak's hem and used it to haphazardly tie up the back of his hair, revealing a tinge of his pale, ivory nape beneath the messy strands.
All touched up and ready, he retreated toward the exit.
"Come along, Pip."
"You're actually serious about all this, sire?" Pip's left eye twitched with hollow disbelief as he stared at the back of his master climbing the stairs.
When he stopped—
"Of course I am."
Pip froze, not expecting a reply.
He looked up at the straight face of his lord. He was staring ahead, deep black eyes seemingly piercing empty space with an unreadable expression.
Now that Pip thought about it, it had been so long… so very long… since he had last beheld the bare face of his master and friend.
Had he always looked this young?
Pip's memories had grown fuzzy at some point. In fact, the answer didn't matter… At some point, the Shadow Monarch had transcended, becoming a being where size, shape, form, and appearance held no meaning to him.
Even his name.
He had shed all of those things, leaving them behind in obscurity—until now—
"Cid." A quiet breath slipped from the former Monarch's lips.
Pip's ears perked, snapping him out of his reverie. He paused.
"...My Liege?"
"No, not your Liege," the youth interrupted. He shook his head slowly and turned to face Pip. "Nor lord, nor sire, nor master," he added.
He gazed quietly into Pip's eyes. Not sternly or aggressively—just… deeply.
"Cid."
Sincerely.
"Call me Cid."
Cid… Cid… the monarch played with the sound in his mind. The comforting, yet almost unfamiliar word rolled strangely over his tongue, as if something were missing… something he was trying to remember.
"...Wren. Cid Wren."
Then he smiled.
It was a small smile. And the most sincere.
"That's my name."
..
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