After settling down in the crystalline springs for a brief moment, Lyn ensured safety that Scabs would be unharmed by scouting the perimeter for the reptilian-type Rot that hid underneath their shielded shells. Immediately after she had finished, Scabs's glowing pooled eyes flared with excitement as he cannonballed into the hot springs beside the teal-colored tree where Lyn and Dorothy previously sat by.
It was a big mistake. The sweltering heat caused Scabs's eyes to tear up into flames as the scorching sensation dragged him up to the surface. A slow wave of dirt and muck caked over the orifices on his body spread outward from his splash zone, dissolving into nothingness as seconds passed. As he peeked his head out of the splash zone, his eyes rolled toward the back of his eyes as he relinquished all of his stress to the waters.
"That's real nice..." Scabs's voice lowered down as he sunk the lower half of his face underneath. Bubbles formed on the water's surface as he played with it, watching the glittery sparkles vortex around like a child. He performed a spectacular flip and dove back inside, performing reverse arm strokes as he frolicked through. "Lyn and Alfaic are missing out."
Further into the distance for some privacy, Lyn and Alfaic seated themselves on the precipice of the springs and the shore with a flame set ablaze for warmth. They seated themselves beside each other on two separate logs. Lyn gazed into the fire with her orchid eyes reflecting flame as she was lost in thought, while Alfaic finished placing the rest of the kindle in the flame.
"I hope the others are okay." Lyn whispered.
Alfaic dropped the final kindle inside. "We survived, so they should be safe. They made it out before sunset. The continent's not too big. We just have to hope, at this point." He said, gazing out in the open ocean.
Lyn didn't want to think of it any further. She chose to address the question at hand, which caused her skeptical attitude to resurface. "Tell me about the dreamscape," She begun, tracing Alfaic's path as he stood on the separate log. "Before we were taken away to that nightmare, you walked up to that person who sent us there and stood there. You looked at them as if you knew them. Why did you do that?"
After a light chuckle, Alfaic looked away, placing his elbow on his knee. "I must have been dreaming myself, then. I'm delusional." He joked.
Lyn gazed at him with a piercing stare, dissatisfied with his answer.
Alfaic cleared the smile on his face. "No. Sorry. Bad joke." He said, leaning forward with his hands tied together in silence. Lyn watched carefully, waiting for his answer. "I cling to the hope, every day and night, that I may reunite with the one who gave me life."
There was only one person who could fall in that category. "Your... mother?" Lyn asked.
Alfaic nodded. "Ever since she left us, I still follow in her footsteps. I have no leads, and yet I still follow. That's the reason why I chose to embark on this journey from the beginning. I've been searching for more than fifty years... thinking I'll be able to see her one last time with the hopes that we may heal and to bring our family together again. But it's been ages since that happened, so my disillusionment continues to run rampant." He said.
The news had shocked her. "Why... why did she leave you?" Lyn asked.
"She was in love with someone else. I never met the person... but I only heard rumors from my family. How they tainted my mother's soul. Ruined her. Corrupted her. Rotted her from the inside out, leaving nothing but a mindless and talentless husk behind. It was the sole purpose of why my father fell into disarray... and why I had to leave them behind."
A hidden relationship made Lyn question the validity of the statement. It seemed that every single statement that came out of Alfaic's mouth was met with reasonable doubt. None of it made sense to her. "And you thought this person with the hood was her? Why would you think that?" She asked, raising her voice to add pressure.
"Well... I would assume wearing a hood to shroud for face in darkness implies you hide shame, and that fear of being discovered is the one thing that will eat you alive. If my mother was ashamed of her actions... then it would make sense. I just had to see it to believe it... but I couldn't get a closer look. But I'm tired of chasing these shadows. I don't even know if it's possible at this point."
The identity of the hooded figure continued to spread through Lyn's interests and continued dissatisfaction, causing her to change the subject. If what he had said about his mother was true, Lyn realized for a brief moment that her question would sound as if she didn't validate his claims.
But she had to speak the troubles that blotted her mind.
"Claire told me that you spoke to your father the same night after the festival ended. His name was Aldion, right? And you never told us any of the things you spoke to him about since that night. Because of that, she finds it hard to trust you. Now I'm realizing I feel the same." Lyn mentioned.
After taking a second to process her statement, Alfaic leaned in. "Lyn, you can trust me-"
"What is the Desir lineage?" Lyn bombarded, remembering everything she had witness in the dreamscape. "Who is Astra? Why did Claire call out her own name to the one with the hood if you thought she was your mother?"
Alfaic leaned backward. "Am I... Am I being interrogated?" He asked.
"I want to know the truth!" Lyn shouted. "Is it wrong to want that?"
Alfaic remained silent, shocked by the animosity of her anger.
"Am I... am I really the daughter of the Rot Mother? Or was that an excuse too, just so you could get me to find your mother? Or is that a lie too?"
He continued to watch her skepticism unfold.
"I saw someone in my nightmare who looked exactly like you. I had to look again so many times, just to confirm that it wasn't you. I swear to you it was. But it wasn't."
Alfaic turned his face away, hiding his expression from her, as if he was hiding the sort of shame he mentioned before.
"Who are you?" Lyn's voice curdled into a hiss, frustrated by the inability to seek answers.
"Lyn, I..." Alfaic stammered.
Lyn rose up from her seat and stepped forward with her intimidating glare, overpowering and towering Alfaic who remained glued to his seat. She sensed her own legs lifting themselves off the ground in rage and confusion, but it was only an illusion. "Could you please, for just this one time, stop lying to me?!" She roared. "Please!? Why is it so difficult to do that? Are you with us, or are you against us? Because you promised me that you would be there for me. So that involves a level of trust, doesn't it?"
"It does." Alfaic agreed.
"So what did we say?" Lyn asked, turning her back against him as she moved several steps toward the ocean. She turned back around. "No more secrets, Blade. No more any of this useless drivel. If you really are with us, then prove it. Or else... you'll lose me. Do you want that?"
"That's... that's the last thing I'd ever want." Alfaic said, standing up and meeting her gaze.
"Then say it." Lyn hissed, approaching arms distance toward him.
Alfaic remained adamant about his secrecy. His parted mouth refused to speak any words. Lyn noticed this, which only fueled her frustration even further.
"Say it!"
"I... I can't." Alfaic admitted.
Lyn turned away in dismay. "I can't believe-"
"I'm doing this to protect you, Lyn!" Alfaic interrupted, voice lifting towards his pent-up disarray.
"Doing what!?" Lyn exclaimed.
"Look, I know you can't trust me. Both you and Claire. You have the right. I won't fight that. I know that what I've been doing doesn't warrant anything of the sort. Talking to my father... lying to you about being the Rot Mother's daughter-"
Lyn's jaw nearly fell to the floor after hearing his final statement. "You lied about that?" Her voice cracked amidst the disbelief, causing her to retreat backward with her hands positioned in front of her chest.
Alfaic tried to speak, but nothing could come out. "I..." He uttered.
It was yet another lie that she couldn't believe. "You... I can't believe... I..."
"Lyn..."
"Do you know what I've realized?" Lyn mentioned, gaining the resolve to confront him at last. "I've grown too soft for you. Now I know that everything we said that night, everything that we built to this point meant nothing to you." She turned her back against him.
"That's not true. I can prove it to you-"
"You're not proving anything!" Lyn yelled, turning back toward him with her irises dilated. Her voice grew to unreasonable heights. "You keep all these damn secrets; what is it all for, then? I've had this tattoo etched onto my skin since the day I woke up, and I still can't get an answer to it! The Desir lineage? Astra? Why I fight to protect the others? Nia? Claire's powers? Krin? Absolutely nothing is answered at all since the day! I've lived in darkness since the beginning of my journey, and the one person I trust the most can't even give me light."
Hearing those terms made Alfaic freeze in silence. Her words seemingly touched his soul, making Lyn realize that he had some kind of responsibility or knowledge toward it all. He couldn't disavow it.
"So you're not proving anything to me besides just how worthless you are, stringing me along this path all for the sake of what? A tool? Am I just a tool for your pleasure to use?" Lyn asked.
"It's not like that-"
"I have feelings too, Alfaic!" Lyn pressed three fingers into her chest and tapped them rapidly. "Did you forget that? Because I DO! And everything you've done with me and the others so far has cemented that I was wrong in my choice. So stop pretending that you care about me, because in those fifty years you've been alive, there's nothing that means more to you than getting what you want! That much I know."
Alfaic stayed silent once more.
"So what is it that you want? And you better tell me, otherwise this will be the last you ever see of me again." Lyn's voice grew bitter.
"I want to save you." Alfaic said.
Lyn's face contorted in confusion. "What does that even mean?"
"I want to save you, what else does it mean? I can't say anymore. I just... can't. Ever since the day we met, you've given me that hope to cling onto to find my mother. At first I didn't want it. But I realized that isolating myself was the last thing I ever wanted to do ever since I met you."
Shaking her head in continuous dissatisfaction, Lyn turned away from him.
"Yes, our paths collided. Yes, everything seems rocky. But still, I fight on with you!" Alfaic continued.
"I'm leaving." Lyn stated in a dull tone, snatching Déraciné from the side of the log she rested upon by the handle.
Alfaic bolted toward her. "Where are you going?"
"Somewhere away from you."
"Wait-" Alfaic cried, snatching Lyn's non-dominant arm.
"Let go of me!" Lyn snapped, turning around to face him as she yanked herself.
"Lyn-"
"I said, let go!"
"Just LISTEN TO ME!" Alfaic roared.
Lyn froze as Alfaic pressed his clutched hand against her forearm. His roar echoed through the shores.
"I've said it before, so I'll say it again. You have every right to not trust me. I'm not defending myself any longer. But you have to understand that what I do is strictly for you." Alfaic repeated.
"That's completely-"
"Just let me finish. Please." His voice was soft and calm.
Lyn glared at him in silence.
"What I do and why I live is solely to protect you. That's been my job. I've always done it for you, because... I know you, Lyn. I've known you since the beginning. Your existence, your life... who you really are."
"So why can't you tell me?" She asked.
Alfaic shook his head. "Because I'm selfish. I can't do it. I would lose you... and everything that I worked toward for these fifty years. If I told you, you would be involved in it. You wouldn't stop searching for the truth... and that truth would drive you insane. I don't want you to be insane. I don't ever want to see you like that, Lyn, because I care about you."
"Do you?" Her voice trailed off.
"Yes, I do," Alfaic said. "You don't understand how much you mean to me and the others. The Rot Mother has destroyed the wills of millions of people across the world. They gave up before they even tried to fight back. Nobody wanted to stand against her, nobody even looked for a cure… except you, Lyn. You've inspired all those who live and die to fight. Stravia. Gietha. D'Avuzel. Even hundreds of survivors know your name. All of them who barely have anything left still know your name. You carry a kind of determination most people wouldn't dare to have, just because you want to protect everyone."
That was the first time she had ever noticed such a thing, for she didn't believe in any of it. She realized that perhaps, for the first time, she really meant something. But part of it was shattered because of her distrust for Alfaic.
"But if I told you the truth… everything they believe in, everything they've built around your name, it would fall apart. All of it." Alfaic continued.
"I didn't know so many people felt that way about me." Lyn said.
"Traveling the world with Ardine wasn't just for his sake, or for Qliphos. I've told stories, and so many of them were inspired from what you've done."
Told stories...?
"I can't lose you, Lyn. No matter all the obstacles we've been through together... even if you don't trust me... I need you. Because like you said before... you give me life too, Lyn. Without you, none of this means anything."
She had enough of all of the sappy talk. Everything he had said to her was an overflowing burst of information that seemingly had no end to it all. It was too much to bear. "I've heard of all this before. I'm not going to get hurt from you again. I won't let you do that to me." She said, pushing away from him.
"Lyn..."
"If what you say is true, then I accept it. But what you've done so far? Keeping information from me for my "safety" is nothing but a lie to me, still."
"It's not a lie-"
Lyn exploded. "Just STOP! None of it makes sense! You come into my life! You follow me around! You lie to me and apologize, lie to me and apologize! You make empty promises after I told you that I need you, break my heart after I put my heart and trust in you! And you stand here trying to tell me all this? Why…? Why would you do this to me?"
"Because I love you, Lyn." His voice was resolute and stern.
Those words teetered on the cusp of truth and deception, desperately searching for a crevice to inhabit; a home inside Lyn's heart. But it found no shelter, for it had no weight attached to it after everything she had been through. The words were empty, hollow, and emotionless, for everything she wished was true could have been false. Yet still, despite that, it still managed to stir her soul for a brief moment.
"I love you… and I promised I will find a way to save you. No matter what happens to me. We can bring an end to this cycle of death… so we can live freely, just like we've always wanted. I'll make it happen. I promise." Alfaic stated.
She didn't know what to say, but she chose to voice out her uncertainty. "I… I don't know what love is, Blade. I thought I felt it the night we kissed, but… all of it seems so blurry now." She said.
"I know. You don't have to accept it. I would understand. After everything I've done… I understand. But nothing will change my promise."
"The only reason you'd want to save me is because you know my fate. It's yet another thing you keep away from me. I wish I could believe you." Lyn said, looking away.
"Lyn, I..."
"If you really mean what you say, then prove it," Lyn solidified. "Stop hiding-"
An ear-shattering detonation in a faraway distance rippled across the crystalline springs and shores, rattling the sands in unison while exhausting the flame they stood beside. The thunderous aura surged toward their direction, brushing winds across their perimeter. Lyn gasped in shock, turning around to witness a detonation of golden energies that brimmed to the cloudy skies above. A pillar of light sourced light across the skies, acting as a miniature sun that illuminated above the mile-wide stone bridge.
"What is that?" Alfaic's voice was drowned in the roar of the blast.
"Gold aether," Lyn whispered, eyes wide. "It has to be Claire…!"
Scabs stumbled in, clutching a crystalline leaf to his bare crotch to cover up his private parts. "What happened!?"
Lyn seized Déraciné, sprinting toward the shore. "I have to save them." She insisted.
"I'll come with you," Alfaic pressed.
"No. Stay with Scabs."
"What if it's the hooded person? You can't expect me to just-"
Her blade cut the air in a vicious arc toward Alfaic, stopping inches from his eyebrows. The force of the swing blasted a wave of wind against him, rattling the crystalline trees and the sands underneath his feet. Lyn's glare burned with unyielding will. Her stance was resolute.
"Stay. Here." Lyn's words struck like bullets, leaving no room for defiance.
Alfaic disregarded Lyn's warning. With a deliberate step, he pressed forward with his shoulder sliding against Déraciné's edge. He stopped only when he reached Lyn's face with his fervent stare locking onto hers. Their eyes lingered, searching for some resemblance of hope, love, or life, as though if they were strangers meeting each other for the first time.
"No." Alfaic rejected.
Lyn's patience snapped. She raised Déraciné upward, preparing to slash down upon Alfaic. However, she summoned a gradual amount of aether in her left hand, pressing it against Alfaic's chest in one swift movement. The air thickened as vibrating energies expanded outward against him, shoving him backward.
"Lyn-" Alfaic struggled to breath as his body contorted inward with an invisible bind. "What the hell are you doing!?"
The force began to coil around Alfaic's limbs like living chains, tightening with each pulse of her will. His shoulders jerked as invisible bonds locked him in place. The ground beneath his feet glowed with white aether than bound him to the crystalline shore. He strained through it to free himself, but the aether only grew stronger.
Lyn stepped back with Déraciné lowered but gleaming at her side. Her voice cut through the aether-stained air. "I won't let you go. This is my battle." She insisted.
Scabs approached hesitantly, now fully clothed with his eyes darting between the two as he took in Lyn's ruthless composure. "Lyn, you're…" He began as his words faltered beneath the weight of her behavior.
Without turning, Lyn's eyes sharpened themselves toward Scabs. "Stay with him. Make sure he doesn't get out." She commanded.
Scabs swallowed hard, nodding quickly. "O-Okay." He said.
Without another word, Lyn sprinted across the shore toward the stone bridge.
"Lyn! Damn it!" Alfaic hollered, wrestling with the invisible bonds to free himself. "I... I won't be able to... live with this... fuck...!"
Lyn's rushed against the crystalline shore, carrying her closer to the blazing pillar at the stone bridge. The weight of the truth wrestled with her shoulders, forcing her to momentarily pause in her stride.
She suddenly turned back towards where she had escaped from with her glistening eyes finding Alfaic bound in her aether. She wanted to believe that what had happened was nothing more than a dream, but she escaped the dreamscape long ago. The weight continued to press down on her, forcing an inescapable exhaustion onto her as she felt unresolved from the situation.
With her gaze still locked toward Alfaic's position which was nothing more than an ant, Lyn's lips parted open. Her voice was barely more than a silent breath carried on the wind.
"I love you too."
The words carried no weight as it drifted into nothingness. She had prayed that he would hear them, yet after all that had unfolded, there would be nothing but regret in her heart. She swallowed a deep breath before rushing to her ally's aid, hoping to save them from harm.
But beyond that, what was her true purpose? After countless lies, Lyn started to question the validity of her own life. Whatever it was, she knew it would weigh down upon her for the rest of her life if she didn't find the answers to her questions.
If she would even want to at that point.