[Edanian Journey] Sylvia

Chapter 11: For the Joys That Remain

Only when the Black Spirit and I fully gave ourselves over to each other would the power of hope be complete. We still had no idea how to do that, but we had to keep moving.

When we returned to the Singularity, Illezra and Goyen were holding Hadum back. Both looked as though they had already been pushed to their limits.

Goyen admitted that at first, he had thought I was the one who was not ready. He believed that if he wielded Ynix himself, he could stop Hadum. But the flame had been incomplete as well. It did not yet carry enough will to consume a god. That was why he had sent me into the gap between time and space, to rediscover that resolve for myself.

But the place he had actually meant to send me was the continent as it had existed three thousand years ago. Meeting the gods of recent times had never been part of the journey. Illezra said Hadum's will must have taken root along the way, twisting my path with the message that what was fated would come to pass.

Goyen asked whether any desire to save the world still remained within the gods I had met. But then he said the question that mattered most was what <i>I</i> wanted. Was my resolve to stop Hadum unwavering?

I could not answer with certainty. I knew I had to fight, but if I was being truthful, I was afraid.

Could I really face a threat to the entire world and win? Goyen said he could not give me that answer either. He had simply journeyed far, found companions, fought ever greater foes, and come to believe that doing so was his mission and destiny.

But there was one thing he could say for certain.

<b>Though life brings far more sorrow than joy, it's still worth protecting.</b>

Hadum threatened my life just as surely as anyone else's. If I fought for my own life, the world would be saved along with me. Hearing that, I looked back at the self I had hidden beneath the many names others had given me.

Then Illezra's strength finally gave out as she struggled to hold back Hadum's descent. The end was closing in.

I rushed toward them, but Goyen shoved me away from the incoming attack.

"We will bear this darkness ourselves."