Towards the Moon, Goodbye
The back alleys of Shoara have always been dark and dirty places.
However, Vlad always kept that scene in his mind.
Perhaps it is not nostalgia for the back alleys, but rather memories of my mother, who are now gone.
“Mom is okay.”
One of the few memories I remember from my childhood.
At that time, my mother came in through the door, her face very swollen.
Her face, which could be said to be the bottom line of her business, was swollen and red, but she was at least smiling as hard as she could at her son.
“Hurry up and eat. “It’s going to get cold.”
The bowl of soup she offered contained thick pieces of meat.
Hearing Madame yelling outside the door, it seemed like the meat was probably stolen for herself.
“Did you steal this?”
“huh.”
A mother who steals meat for her child.
However, the soup she serves is only filled with warmth.
“What do you think? “I will feed my son.”
To some, you may be a dirty prostitute and a thief, but to me right now, you are the one and only precious person.
Young Vlad stood there in such a small room, looking at the soup she was offering.
“…I’ll eat well.”
The soup she brought was made of sin, but it was also probably love.
However, young Vlad, who knew nothing, just felt sorry for his mother’s pale face.
※※※※
“Someone has to give it to me.”
In the pitch-black darkness, a woman who had lost her form was reaching out to Vlad.
That gesture, which seemed somehow futile, seemed like the last struggle she could show to the world at this moment.
“I promised to give it to you.”
It wasn’t the dragon in front of her, but the oldest dragon before her and the resurrected emperor had promised her.
Because I fell from the most perfect being, I will give you a piece that can become anything.
“…So, you have to give me at least one person in this world.”
But what she holds in her hand now is the black moon that is gradually setting.
Murderer and apostate.
The founder of evil who has spread a poison that the world cannot bear for a long time and has driven countless people into hell.
“Don’t you think so too? Vlad Aureo.”
However, the side of Ramasht that Vlad sees now is not that of a madman tainted by evil, but that of a mother for her children.
Vlad gritted his teeth as he looked at the small hands approaching her who was still crying.
-Why are you crying? Sister.
-do not Cry.
In this dark space where no one cares, Ramasut was someone’s mother.
However, Vlad is someone who has already seen her numerous sins.
“no.”
The aspects that make up each world were all colorful.
Each aspect may have its own side that others cannot see, but even so, the world of Ramasht has already committed too many sins.
“Even if you cry like that, I won’t be shaken.”
There were children stepping into my world now.
Children who follow the right and upright path created by the knights of this era.
But even now, this dark place is full of sad children who have nowhere to go.
If you leave those children like this, you and the crying girl will probably fall into a hell that you can never get out of again.
“So you stay here. Ramasht.”
“…….”
Ramasht’s head, which had been collapsing helplessly, stopped at the sound of Vlad’s voice telling him that only you can’t do it.
As she was lifted up along with him, a sword crying red was suddenly visible in her field of vision.
“Because you have to stay here and pay the price.”
Hum-hum-
the sword was crying.
While taking out the piece of the dragon that resided in his world.
The most perfect world that was the foundation of me, but is no longer needed.
The world that not even the oldest dragon or the revived emperor had given up was suddenly shining like a star in Vlad’s hands.
※※※※
Kugugugugugu-!
There was a moon falling towards Achiuk, a town full of tragedy.
The moon, which was lifted up with tears collected with great effort, was just falling towards the ground, despite someone’s wishes, in vain.
“flaw! Hehehe!”
And one of the oldest dragons under the moon’s shadow.
Sarnus’ face, smiling with his helpless scattered roots behind him, was filled with the joy that had waited for hundreds of years.
“Still, it hurts. “It was truly a sword prepared by the best duelist.”
“…Cough!”
Sarnus was still clutching his heart as if he was in pain, but his face was full of joy that was difficult to hide.
“Now I’m putting you under me. Frausen.”
Because right now, lying below me was Frausen, the knight I hated the most back then.
Even though the light that even the most perfect dragon had longed for had faded, there was still a sense of conquest that could be given even in this rotten body.
“…Sucking your son’s blood. “It became a monster instead of a dragon.”
“Are you the only one who died and came back to life?”
Quack!
As if those words were unpleasant, Sarnus’ sword pierced Frausen’s abdomen.
“Look at this. “It doesn’t even hurt.”
“…….”
However, Frausen’s badly pinched wound was only filled with rotting, thick blood.
A dragon who killed his son to survive.
An emperor who gave up his faith to return.
The knights of that era, who had been defeated by their purpose, were now looking at each other with crazy eyes.
“From now on, I’m going to take a piece out of your heart. Then you will just become a rotting corpse.”
However, no matter how crazy he was, Sarnus was now trampling on Frausen, so he was the victor of this battlefield and deserved the spoils.
“And then we will fly to Bastopol. “I’ll have to pick up the piece of the humble steel ball from there.”
“Off!”
“I also took the sculpture of Bayezid in Sturmah. “That piece that the damn Ravnoma stole!”
“Keuuuu-!”
“Finally, after finding everything!”
The sword that pierced the abdomen heard Sarnus’ cry and was getting closer and closer to Frausen’s heart.
And when the coolness of the sword reached the heart that shrouded death, Sarnus was laughing, enjoying the feel.
“…I guess I should also take the potential of the son I love the most.”
The oldest dragon was smiling.
A dragon that is closer to its most perfect potential than ever before.
Frausen tried his best to stop the laughter, but his attempt to stop the dragon with a dragon sculpture failed.
“Thank you. Frausen. “Thank you for raising my son so well.”
The last words Sarnus spoke were probably to Quijano, not Frausen.
However, Frausen, who was lying down, did not even have the strength left to correct his words, so he just stared at the sword of Sarnus hanging high in the sky with empty eyes.
“Let’s end our bad relationship with this.”
A maniacal laugh and the final blow to Frausen’s heart were raised.
Sarnus’ quiet but hearty laugh was blacker than any wreckage on this battlefield.
Rumbling!
“…Ugh!”
However, the tip of Sarnus’ sword he was holding shook from the sudden vibration.
“What is this again?”
Sarnus glared at Frausen as the ground suddenly became tangled, but the revived emperor simply looked at the sky above.
“haha.”
With a somewhat empty smile.
Because in the sky he was looking at now, the red rays of light that he had wanted to hide were flying up.
“I lost, but you lost too. Sarnus.”
“what?”
The most perfect red light emitted by the collapsing tree for the last time.
Frausen began to laugh as he looked at the possibility that I had not dared to choose because I could not trust anyone.
Rumbling!
There was a thunderous sound that seemed to split the world, and a red light shooting towards the black moon that was gradually collapsing.
Everyone on the ground was raising their heads at the light that was shot from a place no one could see.
“That’s not a bad choice either.”
The black moon will say goodbye to this world forever once it rises.
Frausen was smiling as he looked at the perfect piece that the moon would swallow.
※※※※
Rumbling!
The tree in Yeokcheon was falling.
Because now there wasn’t a single tear left to suck from the branch.
Evidence of sin, created through the sacrifice of not only Ramasht but also countless other beings, was falling towards Achiuk, which was now in ruins.
“Now… let’s go too!”
And Vlad was crawling out of this precarious space where everything was collapsing.
Vlad, who was walking through his own world with Josef on one shoulder, was finally able to discover the cluster of light visible above.
-They are children.
There was a sight reflected from the corner of Josef’s eyes, which became paler as it went upward.
Tiny fireflies twinkled above the two people’s heads as if this was the exit.
The souls of the children who had been waiting for them were shining towards them as if they had finally arrived.
-I can hear a song too.
After seeing the two coming up from below, the fireflies seemed relieved and began to fly away, riding the boys’ song from afar.
The voice of God that I can finally hear.
Josef began to laugh as he watched the children flying towards that place.
chin!
“But in the end, he goes to God’s arms… I see!”
Vlad, who climbed into a world that was becoming increasingly blurred, was able to grasp the border between life and death.
“So let’s go home now!”
While supporting Josef up that dark path that was difficult to climb alone.
Above Vlad’s head, a black moon appeared, showing a slightly different light than before.
Doo-duh-duh-!
-Okay, I should go.
But even here, outside of death, Josef’s hands still feel cold.
Nevertheless, Josef’s smile was directed at Vlad, who looked for him until the end.
-sorry. I brought you here.
“We’ll talk about that later.”
Rumbling!
The tree that Vlad and Mal were standing on was collapsing.
It was a tree that fell because it could not overcome the sins it had accumulated.
-……I’ve always imagined it from the moment I grew up. What will my end be like?
But even at this moment when everything was falling apart, Josef’s face looked calm.
The dark-eyed young man, who had always lived a fierce life, was smiling as if he had finally found complete peace.
-Being born weak and living like this weren’t my will, but that’s why I wanted to draw it at least at the last moment.
“…Please, let’s talk about that later.”
Amid the collapsing rubble, Vlad was gritting his teeth.
Because there was a sight next to him that he couldn’t see in the dark, but now he couldn’t ignore.
-I don’t know if that’s why, but I’ve always thought that the completion of my life was death.
As Vlad walked further away from the border of death, Josef became colder.
His hand holding my shoulder and his smile looking at me.
Vlad, who was caressing his hand, which was becoming increasingly hard, lowered his head.
-But now that I look at it, I don’t think that’s the case.
Josef is smiling while looking at Vlad with a large gash in his abdomen.
The few fireflies still hovering over his head seemed to be telling him that it was time to leave.
-The moon was raised. you. For the kids.
“…We floated it together.”
-okay. together.
Josef opened his mouth as he looked at the black moon that rose for the last time in my life.
-right. We did it together.
Exchanging the sword I don’t have and the star I want.
Now it was time for the two who had been together like that to say goodbye to the moon in the sky.
-Thank you. Vlad.
Josef Bayezid.
A man who didn’t have the life I wanted.
-You complete the end of my life.
But the man who could have had the death I had hoped for was smiling at Vlad.
Now, as I leave you with the last words of farewell that I have no choice but to hear.
“…I was grateful too. Josef.”
With those words, Vlad hugged Josef, who was gradually getting stiffer, with all his strength.
He used his whole body to block the approaching dust from contaminating his death.
“For finding me in that gutter.”
A small light was leaving above Josef’s head as he slowly closed his eyes as if satisfied.
The world that Josef finally discovered at the last moment of his death was a shiny black place.
Although it was black, the light that sparkled as brightly as the shadows of his eyes was now slowly rising toward the sky.
“Thank you so much.”
The black moon was rising.
With little twinkling lights.
Worlds that could no longer be reached were looking at each other, saying eternal goodbye.
“…Goodbye.”
Like a woman waving to children inside a collapsing tree.
Like a knight crying while reciting a prayer he couldn’t even memorize.
Like a dragon howling over a perfect piece of horse that is now gone forever.
“Goodbye, Josef.”
Goodbye everyone to the moon of leaving this world.
A blue star was bidding its last farewell to the moon, which was receding with the fluttering fireflies.
