Chapter 55: Distance Between Stars

The radiating sun kept burning, even if it didn’t emit any heat; she felt herself sweating bullets just getting close to it. Maybe it was the pressure, having the world on her shoulders. She was the one keeping the Sun stable, the one feeding it, and calling the next steps.

Of course, she wasn’t the only one bearing this weight. It was the other two; they, too, had a part in this. The pressure got to them, too, so she couldn’t let herself fall to it now, when they are putting their hearts into this.

Both Aether and Elpis are away trying to find candidates to sacrifice themselves to the sun, but it has been a while by the standards of the artificial clock of the Rings, and with no results.

While the outskirts didn’t bother trying to keep up with time, the Rings were able to create a system that depicted how many days, weeks, months even years that have passed. Which has only led her to realize how long this was going to take.

Elpis tried to go with Aether’s strategy for some days, but he found no reward at that risk, maybe because he didn’t exactly know what Aether meant by using hope as a sword, but he has been trying his own ways recently, and has insisted that Aether also try something else.

But the Fool refused.

And it was strange, since after the first day, he hadn’t left the hut, looking as she tried growing the Sun with only her blood, which was very slow. He offered to use his sometimes, which was helpful, but he was supposed to find people, not laze off.

She didn’t say this, however, and today, he had left way before everyone else, which was weird, and he wasnt come back since either. It was strange; she didn’t know what he was up to.

She just hoped it was something good.

But as she waited beside the Sun, the door of the hut opened up.

Elpis entered roughly, his feet pressing hard against the ground as if his feet couldn’t handle the weight. His face had a deep frown, and his eyes looked lifeless. If she had to guess, it was another disappointing day for him, not finding anyone.

He walked over to her, groaning as he sat down next to her.

Seeing his irritated face, she couldn’t help but chuckle to herself, which made Elpis blush so slightly. She got up on her feet, walking behind Elpis, and massaging his shoulders.

“Come on, don’t be so grumpy. Well, make it happen eventually.”

Elpis frowned harder, but relaxed the other muscles in his body. Enjoying Avrie’s hands on his shoulders.

“We don’t have time. The world is changing, if we take too long… we will never finish.”

Avrie rolled her eyes, her hands moving to his arms, as she slowly reduced the tension growing in his muscles from the hard work he had been doing. The knight was a kind person; he always was, ever since that day he saved her. Always looking after others… without anyone to look out for him.

“That is right. But if you keep trying so hard every day, I’m afraid we’ll lose you. Why don’t you take a break, like Aether did?”

The knight paused for a second, and Avrie noticed this, tilting her head.

A laugh broke the silence, a very humorous one. Elpis turned his head to Avrie, letting her see that his big frown was replaced by a very amused face.

“Break? I doubt that Fool ever took a break.”

He stared a little longer, as if expecting her to laugh. But seeing that she seemed quite confused, he coughed, turning back, trying to seem more serious this time.

“He has been acting strange, even asking me to teach him to play cards, but he’s doing it to help us. Just in his own way. I think he’s been doing more than I’ve been.”

Her arms paused for a second before grabbing his chin and making him look at her. Elpis looked flustered, but seeing Avrie’s conviction burning deep in her eyes, he felt embarrassed.

She frowned just slightly, her grip tightening.

“Don’t say something like that! You’ve been doing more than enough.”

There was an awkward silence after her words, where she finally realized what she had just done. Her face turned bright red, looked at how close their faces were together. It was embarrassing, she had never done something like this…

And yet it was as if she couldn’t let go.

They lingered for some time, staring into each other’s eyes. Slowly, feeling as their lips got closer.

…

And then the door flung open.

Avrie let go of the knight’s chin, staggering back and falling on the floor. She rubbed her back, feeling the pain, before looking at the two figures that had appeared at the door.

The first, she knew well, it belonged to Aether. No doubt, he was the only person she had seen with that kind of mask ever. She also recognizes his clothes, even if normally they were covered by a cloak.

But the other man, she didn’t know. His eyes were dark, as if there was no light inside them, but as he noticed the small Sun, to her surprise, they lit up. His face was battered, painted in dust, and his hair was messy, like it hadn’t been washed in a while.

Avrie’s eyes widened. Finally realizing what had happened.

’The Fool… has done it.’

…

…

A human sacrifice, it was the second time he had seen something like it..

the first time being with Jude, which had done it to save him.

He didn’t know what to think of it, really. He would never do it, but it was a very weird topic to him. Sacrifice is usually supposed to be selfless, not getting anything in return. Like with Jude, he had died to protect him, and he got nothing.

But for Reuben, his was in no way pure. He had done it for himself, for his own gain and pleasure. It only happened to also help them, but his intention was never to help others. He knew how it felt; he had been just like him not long ago.

Luckily for him, instead of a masked Fool coming to him, it was a knight.

Really, it made him think that if Elpis wasn’t there that day, would he have done the same that day?

Either way, what he knew about sacrifice was simple…

It was worthless.

In both cases, it hasn’t led to anything. He was still chased and had to kill for his survival, and even then, he was still trapped. And Reuben was only one of the many sacrifices they needed, so while it might now seem worthwhile, once they get more, they will start to forget his name.

It was the same for the Sun’s growth. It was now bigger than his head in length and width, even reaching the end of his neck. If he wanted to grab it, he would have to use both of his hands. But while it was an improvement, and a big one, as it got bigger, these small changes will start to become worthless.

…

But why now enjoy the moment?

Aether smiled gently, looking from behind as Avrie jumped first to examine it, and Elpis moved right behind her, just in case anything went wrong.

They have been getting along quite well recently. After the knight came back home every day, they would spend the whole day together. It didn’t bother him, since he was still trying his best to learn the tricks in the game he played against Reuben until now.

His smile dimmed as his eyes were slightly covered by a dark veil.

The distance between them was small, of some steps… and yet it felt endless. In his eyes, it kept stretching infinitely, getting narrower the closer it was to them.

This was the actual distance between the three of them.

It was moments like these, were he should be happy and celebrate with the others, that he realized how far away they actually were. How different their personalities were, and their ideals too.

But how could he feel like he was part of this group, while they were doing this to leave this utter torture that has been their dreadful life in this horrid world, and to gain their freedom back… he was only doing so to get home. Just to enter another world, where he will meet many others and go through even worse with them.

It was something that he never thought about. But did he really think that he would remember them when he was stronger, after clearing so many books? Will he even remember their faces, their names? Their ideals?

Their eyes?

At that moment, it felt like the road between them was breaking, leaving a giant canyon between them. The hole was gigantic, devoured by a thick dark fog.

He looked at the other side, seeing as the Witch and the Knight were celebrating their progress. As he just stared from the other side.

…

As much as he tried, he wasn’t one of them.

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