Chapter 78: You will remember

Phanes extends her hand towards Maya.

"Give me your hand."

Maya takes a step back. Ian locks eyes with Kyrie expressing the concern that the goddess might use Maya to really just release the souls. However, meeting a confident smile from Kyrie, Ian gets asserted that everything is alright. 

So Ian pats Maya's hair. She lifts her head and gazes at Ian, visibly shaken by the need to make a choice. 

She is scared. She has never seen death so up close. Although she is just a relic created to maintain an illusion, she has gained consciousness, so she is aware of the meaning of life and death. 

Yet, she has never had so much faith overflowing within her. The wish to trust these people drives her steps, and before she even catches herself moving, she already places her hand on Phanes's.

Maya flinches when Phanes encloses her hand. Nonetheless, unlike her expectations of pain, overwhelming warm energy flows inside of her. She feels the energy flowing inside so powerful and pure that the wind around her reacts to the energy that manages to escape her body.

Her feet lift from the ground, and for the first time, she watches closely at the beauty of the goddess in front of her. Phanes's vibrant green eyes shine with a golden ring around her pupils, reacting due to the essence that she is transferring into Maya. The wind embraces them, lifting them off the ground. Her brown chestnut hair, playfully dancing in the air, matches the sky that turned to beautiful vivid hues of orange, red, and yellow. 

"Maya, a relic of Udarr with blessings from the realms of illusions and dreams. From today onwards, I shall break your chains of duty and grant you life with freedom so that you use the power I bless you today for good and the people important to you. May 'the First' watch over you."

Then, a profuse amount of golden essence envelops her inside an oval shape. As if Maya has been granted new life, she emerges from the envelopment like a chick coming out of an egg. 

Her purple patches disappear from her skin, leaving her with her original smooth and olive tones. Her hovering, ash-blonde hair slowly falls back all the way to her waist. 

Feeling elated, she twists and turns to look at her body despite being in mid-air. She spreads a wide smile that illuminated the emotions that glow inside her heart. 

On the ground, watching the goddess and Maya floating in the air, Erebus suddenly casts an animated shadow behind Ian and Kyrie and covers their eyes. 

Before Kyrie can say anything, Erebus's aura makes both of them flinch. 

"Just wait till they are on the ground," says Erebus.

They both nod obediently. 

The tips of his ears flush red.

When Maya and Phanes land back down, they look at Erebus turned away from them while the other two young men have a shadow covering their eyes. Even Eric isn't exempt from having his eyes covered by the shadow with an extra arm. 

However, no one really understands why Erebus is acting this way since both Maya and Phanes are wearing pants. What they don't know is that Phanes's shirt lifted a bit with the wind, showing her abdomen a split second. Of course, no one would really catch that, but there are always exceptions.

Erebus coughs slightly from the awkwardness. Even when everyone is curious about the reason, none of them has the guts to ask. 

The sun is soon turning itself in, succumbing to slumber at its home behind the mountains. Soon, the skies flood in darkness, and the city in ruins becomes hard to walk. So, Maya reconnects her essence with the city. 

The path lights up with the street lights that Maya put up. Then, the city starts reconstructing itself. As time starts ticking the other way, the ruined city floors' debris picks itself up and reconnects back to the buildings and structures. The buildings and roads start to form back to its former glory. 

Although Kyrie has seen these kinds of scenes before in movies, he feels the difference. As he walks on the streets, everywhere he looks are building back itself like all the parts that got broken knew where to return. 

"Kid," Erebus calls Kyrie as they all walk back to the inn.

Kyrie slows down his pace and lets Erebus catch up to him. 

"Yes?" Kyrie turns his head to look at Erebus.

Erebus takes out the black stone pendant and gives it back to Kyrie. Looking at the pendant, Kyrie gets stunned that Erebus is returning it.

"I think someone is more suited with this," Erebus looks at Ian, who is staring back from time to time.

Kyrie understands Erebus's words. He clenches the pendant. Emotions run across his eyes.

[He knows that this will help Ian awaken his magic attribute to darkness… Sigh. Just that… I am nervous to see how Ian will react if he remembers.]

When they arrive in front of the inn, the city has reconstructed back to the illusions that they are familiar with. After placing Eric into one of the rooms and checking if he is alright, everyone retires for the day. 

Ian closes the bedroom door. Walking towards the balcony, he watches Kyrie in deep thought. The light from the street lights dimly illuminates his figure.

"Are you curious?" asks Kyrie, turning towards Ian.

"Hmm…" Ian closes in and leans on the rails next to Kyrie.

Kyrie shows the pendant that he received from Erebus, and Ian recognizes it immediately.

"This is your father's pendant… I got it when I caught Nate sneaking into the king's office for it. Then, Erebus got it from me." Kyrie runs his thumb on the black stone.

"Kyrie, this is my mother's pendant. Not my father's." Ian takes the stone.

"Oh… Your mother's?" Kyrie lets out a breathed laugh and takes Ian's hand. "Then, this should return to you. This will help you awaken your magic of darkness."

"How is it…" Ian pauses from his hesitation, but he wants to know, "How is it that you know so much about me and almost everything that we have encountered? I am not sure that any normal person would."

Kyrie's heart drums in his ears. Although he has opened his mouth to voice some words, as if his vocal cords stopped working, no sounds come out. He clears his throat while trying to hold in nausea from his nerves.

"This black magic stone will give you the answers you will need to fill in the blanks in your mind, maybe. You will remember many thing…s..." Kyrie's face pales, and he starts to sweat. His trauma is kicking in again.

Ian grabs his shoulders, feeling the tremble from his body, "Okay. I get it. I will wait. You can stop!"

Ian takes Kyrie into his arms. The strong Kyrie also has weaknesses; sometimes, he forgets because Kyrie would act strong as if nothing scares him.

"Don't be too angry, okay?" murmurs Kyrie softly.

"Angry? Did you do something that could make me angry?"

"I am not sure…" Kyrie's hands slowly slip down to Ian's perfectly shaped buns.

Ian stiffens when Kyrie's hands touch his buttocks, "Ky… Kyrie…"

"Hm?" He squeezes them, making Ian shout a pitch higher than normal in shock.

Ian stares at Kyrie with his mouth open in disbelief. Just… Just… How can someone be so shameless and take advantage of this situation?