Gilgamesh raised his head toward the sky, his eyes filled with a light he had never known before. He was dreaming of his past.
Jasmin's voice cut through his train of thought as she said in a serious tone: "Shouldn't we talk?"
Gilgamesh sighed deeply and rose slowly, carrying the weight of years and wounds, to find the group lined up under the cover of night: Erold, Luce, Argus, and the horse Utma, who was watching the scene in silence. Gilgamesh composed himself and asked with sudden interest: "Alright... tell me now, where did you find the Eye of Mystery? And in which village was it hidden?"
Erold replied tersely, as was his habit, his eyes fixed on the horizon: "In a village in the far North."
Gilgamesh's eyebrows shot up in surprise and disapproval: "The far North? You realize there are dozens of villages scattered there like grains of sand! Does that village not have a name?"
An awkward silence fell. Erold looked at the ground for a moment, then said with strange honesty: "In truth... I didn't even think to ask them for the name of the village. My only concern was the Eye of Mystery."
Gilgamesh fell silent in shock, looking at Erold and those around him. Jasmin shouted at Erold: "You idiot! You didn't even ask the Chief for the name of the village?! It's a good thing I did!"
Here, Luce intervened with his usual calm, as if putting an end to this futile argument: "It is the village of Amil."
As soon as the name was spoken, Gilgamesh's features changed completely; his eyes flared with suppressed rage, and he shouted with a voice that shook the sands: "The village of Amil! I was there myself! I entered their homes and shared their food, and I believed every word that came out of their cursed mouths! I never intended to harm them, even if they lied to me about trivial matters... but to hide the 'Eye of Mystery' while knowing I was searching for it?!"
Erold replied, trying to calm him: "The inhabitants didn't even know of its existence, save for a few, so do not place the blame on them. Look at the positive side—we are here to take you with us."
Gilgamesh turned his gaze away from Erold and eyed Jasmin with a scrutinizing look mixed with doubt, then pointed at her, questioning: "And as for this little one... what is the point of dragging her with us to the Jinn world? Won't she be just an additional burden?"
Jasmin bristled with enthusiasm and courage, beating Erold to the response: "You may not see much from me now, but on our way, I will prove to you that I deserve to go with you."
Gilgamesh raised his eyes toward the distant horizon and let out a sigh from the depths of his heavy soul, then said in a tone of deadly calm: "I want to ask one last request of you before we depart."
Luce answered him solemnly: "Go ahead."
Watching the sands of the beach, Gilgamesh said: "I want to stay here alone for a while. I do not intend to return to this place again, so I want to bid it farewell."
Luce objected quickly, anxiety gnawing at his thoughts due to the approaching peak of the moon: "Impossible! We must leave..."
Erold stopped Luce with a motion of his hand and said in a decisive voice: "Fine, we will wait for you at the top of that mountain over there."
Erold and his companions moved to the mountain top, while Gilgamesh remained standing on the shore, talking to himself: "This is the place we promised each other, isn't it?"
In a moment of despair, Gilgamesh took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and inhaled the scent of the beach. He felt something shift; he opened his eyes to find himself on the same beach, but the place was sunny. He heard a voice: "What is wrong, Gamsh?"
Gilgamesh saw a girl before him, about twenty-five years old, with vivid features and a face that glowed with light. Her hair was thick, tending toward a warm curly brown, falling with a slight rebellion that reflected her strong personality. Her eyes were wide, the color of warm amber, yet they carried a bold and decisive look.
In a moment of shock, while Gilgamesh's eyes could not believe what they were seeing, he spoke in a hesitant voice closer to disbelief: "Ili...a."
Elia lunged toward him with a charming, childish laugh and reached out to grab his wrist with surprising strength. She pulled him behind her, rushing toward the water's edge, her laughter echoing like music in his ears: "Come on, Gamsh! Hurry! Let's walk on the water!"
Gilgamesh was being dragged behind her, frozen in his place. He wasn't running; he was drifting in complete shock. His wide eyes followed the strands of her hair, and his heart screamed in denial, for he knew that this bliss had died and ended, and that this scene was nothing but a mirage.
Suddenly, she stopped at the water's edge, turned to him while panting and laughing, and said in a firm tone that knew no hesitation: "Promise me that we will never part, Gamsh."
Gilgamesh felt the answer tearing his soul apart. He muttered in a hesitant voice, barely a whisper, as he collapsed under the weight of the memory: "I... I promise."
At that moment, the vision abruptly unraveled. The warm sunbeams evaporated as if they had never been, replaced by the frost of reality that gnawed at Gilgamesh's bones all at once. Elia's laughter faded, and the touch of her warm hand vanished from his wrist. He found himself alone again, standing amidst the cold sands of the beach, facing the sea waves that returned to sounding like a long wail.
Gilgamesh lowered his head, heavy with disappointments, and closed his eyes to keep the last trace of her scent in his memory. Silence prevailed, except for the rattle of his broken breaths. Then he whispered in a low voice—a voice not directed at the wind, but at her soul that had settled in his depths: "Farewell, Elia... I am coming to you."
He paused for a second, as if a lump had stuck in his throat, then continued with bitterness overflowing with love and regret: "I cannot say 'wait for me,' because that is what you have been doing your entire life. Only a little remains."
Gilgamesh turned his back to the shore, leaving behind the mirage of Elia and the warmth of the place, to return to the coldness of the mountain and the silence of his companions. His steps were heavy, as if he were dragging invisible chains of memories that refused to die.
On the mountain peak, where the wind whistled between the massive rocks, Erold and Argus stood watching that lone shadow approaching them from afar. Argus broke the silence, asking in a tone dominated by bewilderment: "It's puzzling.. why is he clinging to this beach to this extent? The kingdom is burning, the throne is collapsing, and he is still searching for something in the sand. Why the beach and not Uruk?"
Then Argus continued, recalling what he had heard from the commoners: "He had a strange tale with the people there... at first, they called him the 'Deranged Prince,' then it evolved into the 'Mad Prince,' and finally they settled on the title 'The Drunkard.' There is a suspicious progression in this story."
Erold nodded his head slowly, his eyes reflecting the pale moonlight, and said succinctly with much understanding: "You are right."
Luce, leaning against one of the trees, replied in a voice flowing with great calm: "I know a little about him. It is said he was treated as a monster since his youth."
Argus shook his head in affirmation: "True... I have heard that as well."
Luce continued his explanation, as if narrating a story: "It is said that his heart only beat for one person since his earliest years... a person to whom Gilgamesh dedicated his life and meaning. But this person began to die before his eyes every day from the severity of her illness. After her death..." Luce stopped to take a heavy breath, then continued: "Here, in the heart of this sweeping sorrow, the ugliest transformation occurred. The Prince, who was known for his strictness and who hated and loathed wine, began to drown in drunkenness. He wasn't looking for pleasure; he was looking for oblivion, or perhaps for a gate to return him to her. After the drink took hold of him, everything changed; a strange isthmus opened before him between reality and illusion."
Luce paused a little, then continued in a voice like a whisper: "Gilgamesh began addressing the void, laughing at nothing, firmly believing that he saw her beside him and heard her breath. His rebellious soul refused to let her body be buried in the dirt of his mind, so he created a parallel world for her where he lived with her. From here, the dark legends were woven around him; for people in their ignorance do not understand that sorrow which gnaws at the mind and shatters logic, so they described it as madness, as derangement... the truth is we only know the surface of that story."
At that moment, Eirold remembered the girl from Gilgamesh's soul realm and whispered internally to Arthur: "So... that's her, Arthur."
Arthur replied: "Yes. Everything is making much more sense now"
Luce suddenly cut off his speech, his eyes turning toward the source of an approaching sound among the trees. Luce went completely silent, and the team followed him in silence, as Gilgamesh entered quietly and said: "Let's go."
A heavy silence prevailed as the group made its way through the forests surrounding the Kingdom of Uruk. Erold and Luce were in the lead, exchanging anxious glances about the remaining time, while Jasmin watched the path cautiously. In the back, Gilgamesh walked like a lonely phantom, separated from them in spirit even if he followed them in body.
Argus slowed his pace to be level with Gilgamesh: "How are you doing, buddy? How do you feel after your kingdom was destroyed?"
Gilgamesh stopped walking for a second and looked at Argus with extreme surprise, as if the man were speaking a language he had never heard before. His looks were cold, devoid of any emotion, which made Argus feel a sudden prick of regret. Argus rubbed the back of his neck and said in a confused voice: "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
Gilgamesh didn't move a muscle; he fixed his eyes on Argus's eyes and said in a dry, cutting tone: "What do you want? Did you come to pick a fight or what?"
At this point, Argus lost his usual patience; his good intention was met with a wall of flint. His face flushed with anger, and he shouted in Gilgamesh's face with a voice that shook the silence of the forest: "You bastard! I only came to talk to you, thinking I might lighten this burden for you! Did you not have friends in your life to know how to be friendly with people or what?"
Gilgamesh didn't reply. Argus sighed and started heading forward, saying: "Damn it, he's hard to talk to."
At that moment, from Erold's glowing aura, a familiar energy emanated. Arthur emerged, hovering beside Erold, and turned toward Argus with a look mixed with contempt and mockery, saying in his cynical voice: "You idiot! Do you have a shred of a brain? Who starts a conversation with a man who has lost everything by asking how he feels about the ruins of his kingdom?! It's as if you're a human with the brain of a ostrich."
Erold couldn't help himself; he burst out laughing and said in agreement: "You're right, Arthur... that was a very successful start."
Argus stopped in his tracks, his face turning red with rage, and shouted while pointing his finger at the hovering Arthur: "Haha, you're not funny, you idiot!"
Erold told Arthur's comment to Jasmin and Luce, and everyone began mocking Argus as the laughter rose.
Amidst this noise and side bickering, something happened that no one expected. While Arthur was floating boastfully, mocking Argus, Gilgamesh's gaze suddenly froze. In the blink of an eye, he was face to face with Arthur. Arthur was startled and said: "What...?"
Jasmin gasped, her eyes widening in astonishment, and she cried out in a voice filled with amazement: "He sees him! Gilgamesh can see Arthur!" Then she added in a tone dominated by a trace of sorrow and childish jealousy: "It seems Luce and I are the only ones here who cannot see Arthur."
Gilgamesh didn't turn to Jasmin's comment but narrowed his eyes sharply, as if his looks were blades piercing Arthur, and asked in a voice emanating from the depths of his throat: "What exactly are you? Your features... your energy... you are not of the Jinn, are you?"
Arthur swallowed hard and appeared tense for the first time since his appearance, and replied in a faint tone: "No, I am not."
Gilgamesh took another step, dominating with his heavy presence, as if intending to wrench the truth from the gut of the soul. At that point, Erold intervened quickly, placing his hand as a barrier and saying: "Calm down, Gilgamesh. This is Arthur—he is my soul."
A cold laugh erupted from between Gilgamesh's lips, a laugh devoid of any mirth, carrying a bitter mockery that shook Arthur's being. He said: "Souls do not manifest outwardly without the Soul Realm , or so I've heard! This is not a soul; so what are you?"
Arthur replied in a tone he tried to make mocking: "Listen here... I cannot curse you right now out of respect for your circumstances, but I swear I am a soul!"
Gilgamesh said in a serious voice: "What did you say?"
Arthur couldn't bear that pressure; he quickly entered Erold's body, saying: "We have two deranged people now! What is your problem, Erold, with these people?"
Meanwhile, Argus was watching Erold, who had begun laughing quietly at Arthur's internal comments. Fed up with the mystery, Argus shouted in protest: "What did that cursed spirit say to make you laugh?"
Erold wiped a tear from the corner of his eye from laughing so hard and looked at Argus mischievously, saying: "He insulted you."
Argus flared with anger, his face turning red as embers, as he waved his fist in the air, shouting in challenge: "You bastard! I promise the next time you come out, I will hit you!"
He had barely finished his threat when something unexpected happened; the air split as Arthur emerged from Erold's body like a lightning flash, and with a swift and sudden move, he delivered a powerful "spiritual" blow to Argus's shoulder that made him reel. Before Argus could turn his gaze back to him, Arthur dove back into Erold with extreme speed. Erold fell to the ground from laughing so hard, clutching his stomach, unable to catch his breath.
Argus bristled, trying to regain his balance, and shouted in Erold's face with suppressed irritation: "Get him out of your body!"
Gilgamesh looked at this utter chaos, and it was as if a smile found its way to his face. He said to himself: "What have I gotten myself into?"
While Erold's laughter and Argus's complaints filled the air, Gilgamesh raised his head toward the sky, where the moon hung coldly above their heads. His smile faded, and he muttered: "Only a little remains."