[Edanian Journey] Aal

Chapter 8: The Meaning of Days Gone

Wariyana asked whether I had felt the same regret when I faced the truth of the Redstar in Calpheon. He admitted that when I first set out in search of the Blackstar, he had opposed me. Back then, he had not believed in me. He thought a Hashashin's only duty was to follow the elders' teachings and uphold their laws.

That changed only after I became the King of Edana, defeated the Demonlords, and returned to the Sanctuary. Realizing how foolish he had been, Wariyana volunteered for the Scouts. Now, however, he wondered whether even that choice had been meaningless. But he was not the only one who had failed to protect everyone. I had too.

Together, we looked back on the lives we had led as Hashashin. We had all come from different circumstances, with nowhere else to go. Guarding the lowest reaches of the world had given our lives purpose, while the commandments had been the rules that shaped how we lived.

The truth of the Blackstar would throw the Sanctuary into turmoil once again. But if we were not to make a lie of the lives they had led, the truth had to be told. After all, they had joined the Scouts because they wanted to know it.

Our lives could not have been entirely in vain. Whatever Aal's intentions, we had guarded the gate, fought monsters at the risk of our lives, and helped hold the world together. When Wariyana asked whether even that still held meaning, I answered.

"We must become blades that move by our own will."

If the trials had tempered us, then we would decide for ourselves where to point our blades. Our will to fight and our pride were still our own.

Wariyana said that perhaps I could become the Blackstar. He asked whether I could still rise against a god even if I were cast down again. I told him I would, even if it cost me my very soul. Our conversation left him certain of one thing: if another trial had been foretold, there had to be a way through it.

The only commandment we had yet to face was <b>sharing</b>. Wariyana said he would take my mark upon himself. Sometimes, he said, everything had to be staked on the one person capable of forging a path ahead.

He asked me to prove that the lives we had led were not meaningless. To become the <b>Blackstar who would carry our hopes</b>.

Carrying that resolve with me, I set out once more for Aal.