"Where did she go?"


    Orion tried to look for Amelia from where he was. During the fight, he completely lost track of where he was.


    With Eagle Eyes, he found her fast. She was sitting a hundred meters from them, cleaning her real daggers with a piece of cloth near the portal.


    "Alright, over there."


    Without replying Karteira followed next to him. She was just slightly behind him, staring at his back all the time.


    ''What''s with her right now? Did I go too hard on her?''


    He felt the piercing gaze on his back, but kept quiet about it. He thought she was angry.


    But she was simply thinking about many things. It was too jumbled in her head to make anything out of it, but she was extremely confused about it.


    The main reason for her current state was Orion, and she knew about that, but why, that she didn''t know.


    Until they arrived to Amelia, her confusion kept growing.


    "We''re back."


    Orion waved at her, signaling their return. Amelia stopped what she was doing and placed her daggers the holder around her thighs.


    "Training is always short with you. I expected you to fight for another thirty minutes, but here you are."


    "Well, when you decide to release you full strength, it usually exhaust you quicker than during usual training."


    She smiled like always in return, and looked at her friend seemingly in a trance.


    ''That''s one serious frown.''


    Noticing her friend''s state, she called to her.


    "Karteira? Are you alright? Did you bump your head?"


    As if a bubble exploded, Karteira returned from the depth of her mind.


    "Ah! Yes, yes, I''m fine, don''t worry. I might have really bumped my head when I crashed on the ground."


    "You should get yourself healed then."


    "No! I''m fine!"


    She watched as a panicked Karteira rushed past her, toward the portal leading back home.


    "What''s with her?"


    Confused, she looked at Orion, who looked as confused as her.


    "I have no clue, she was like this after I healed her legs at the end of our fight."


    "Hmm, that''s weird. She never acts like this."


    "Right... I just hope that fight didn''t depress her."


    "You won again I bet."


    "I did, but I had to heal the whole fight. Her punches and kicks are no joke. I think, Karteira might be the fairy faction''s ''savior''."


    "The one that represents and fights for the whole faction? She does have the strength for that."


    Amelia placed a hand on her chin, looking at the back of her friend that was about to enter the portal.


    "What about Dramia and Drania?"


    Her gaze returned toward Orion.


    "They are humans to begin with, and I don''t think they are fit to fight like us. Their power seems situational at best. Drania needs water near her to fight, and Dramia still haven''t showed much of her power, but I''m sure she doesn''t fare better than her sister."


    "True."


    Amelia agreed.


    "Anyway, let''s go back? Or do you want to train more?"


    "I need some coffee right now. Karteira forced too much magic out of me."


    "Right, then I would like to talk with you about something else."


    She turned around, showing her back to him. Inadvertently, his gaze fell down.


    Sadly for him, she immediately noticed, and grinned.


    "You enjoy the view?"


    "What can I say to avoid being teased?"


    They exchanged a quiet moment.


    "Be honest?"


    "I like the view."


    He looked on his right, hiding his eyes with his bangs, and walked past Amelia.


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    ''Of course you do.''


    Who wouldn''t appreciate a compliment from someone you love? With a bright smile, she followed next to him, and one after the other, they returned home.


    When they entered their home, they noticed that Karteira was nowhere downstairs. She seemingly returned to her room, or was taking a shower.


    Not searching to bother, they decided to leave her be.


    They both entered the dining room. Amelia sat on a chair while waiting for Orion to finish making his coffee.


    "You sure love your coffee. I can''t drink that sludge that easily like you. Well, if you give me milk and sugar, that''s another story."


    "Do you want one?"


    Amelia pondered for a second, and answered.


    "No, thank you. The idea of sharing a cup with you is tantalizing, but I''ll pass for now."


    "Alright."


    Another moment of comfortable silence fell over.


    "To answer you, I do enjoy coffee. It helps me focus when I read, and also relax me after sweating a lot."


    "I can search for better quality when we shop. Why do you only buy the cheap kind? You have already so few things that you like. You could indulge from time to time you know?"


    Orion poured the hot coffee into his cup, and walked to the table. He placed his cup on it and sat next to Amelia.


    "It''s not the brand, or the fact that it is expensive that makes me like the coffee. Of course, I could buy the most expensive one available, that wouldn''t impact our finance, but I am sure that it wouldn''t be as good as the one I currently drink."


    She looked at him with dreamy eyes as he watch him sip his coffee.


    "I like the moment when I drink my coffee, not the coffee itself. Yes, without it, I wouldn''t enjoy that moment at all, but alone, or with you two, it''s simply a relaxing moment in my day."


    He turned the cup a few times, and drank his coffee once again.


    "I love you."


    His cup between his lips, his eyes slowly drifted toward her.


    After placing his cup back on the table without breaking eye contact, he answered.


    "I love you too, but why all of a sudden?"


    "I don''t know, it has been a while since we''ve been alone like that? You also haven''t shown me any affection since quite some time. Does that bother you?"


    He shook his head while looking into the darkness of the coffee inside the cup.


    "Of course not. Why would it bother me? On the contrary, I''m always glad to hear that."


    "Well, I''m glad to hear that too, even though I have to make you spit it out like this."


    She giggled while standing up. Quickly, she turned around his chair and sat on his lap.


    "What are you doing? I''m going to spill coffee on you."


    "I''m just charging my batteries, leave me be for a minute."


    *sigh*


    "For a minute."


    He gave up, not that he wanted to to begin with, and remained there, with Amelia snuggling against his chest.


    ''It''s days like these that makes me continue forward.''


    Orion began to think.


    ''There''s a world where I never built this relationship with Amelia. A world where I fight alone, where my heart is cold and withered, fighting for nothing than vengeance.''


    ''What does it feel to have nothing in your life? To not feel the warmth of your loved ones?''


    He thought of his parents for a moment. They were partially alive, but they were full of hope for him still.


    If Reon and Orianne weren''t together, would they have already despair?


    So many questions unable to be answered, as they were far from his current reality.


    Their calm breathing filled the room, until Orion remembered that she wanted to ask something earlier.


    "You said you had something to ask before returning?"


    "Hmm?"


    She lifted her head gently and looked in his eyes. Having enjoyed enough of his warmth, she placed one hand on his chest and pushed a little to make some distance.


    "Right, about that."


    Even with their little moment of peace done, she still remained sat on his lap.


    "I have something to ask, and only you can tell me if it''s possible."


    With a nod, he took another sip of coffee.


    "I''m listening."


    "Do you think it''s possible to improve the outside of Horizon?"


    "You mean by adding trees and flowers? We could by adding flower pots and tree pots."


    "No, not like that. I meant more naturally. Replace the ground with real dirt, add a lake somewhere, or have a hill or something. It''s way too white and flat in here. I like our home, that''s a given, but I''d like to see if we can really make it something real."


    "That''s quite the request."


    With a shocked face, he placed his cup on the table, and began to think for a moment.


    "..."


    He opened his hand, and with a single breath, formed a sphere of void element.


    "It''s my second time seeing it, and it''s still beautiful."


    With a glance, she noticed the myriad of flickering stars inside that blinked out of existence before being replaced by another moments later.


    "It''s just like the sky outside."


    When the sky was lighted, countless black stars blinked in the sky, and when the light dimmed out, notifying when the night came, their color changed to white.


    It was a very peculiar sky to have above you.


    "..."


    Orion kept quiet while fiddling with the sphere with his other hand.


    "Hmm... mmmh... Nnnh?"


    "Did you find something?"


    She noticed his surprised expression.


    "Maybe. I was listening if I could hear it''s voice like you and I do with our elements, but this one is extremely quiet. It seems to not really understand most of it''s own power. As a new element, it is akin to a newborn currently, so I understand why it''s quiet."


    Amelia tried to touch the sphere, but it vanished instantly before she could touch it.


    With a pout, she retracted her finger.


    "That''s how shy it is. Well, it''s more engraved in it than voluntary, so don''t mind it. I can''t use it much either, other than ''Spatial Shift'' and the portals."


    "I don''t think I''ll be able to form a crossbow with it. It shows no desire to help me fight, and fit the support category more clearly."


    A memory popped in his mind. One that happened during the fight with Ivan, the Apostle he fought with Kamala.


    ''At that moment, when the spear entered my hand as I was protecting Kamala. I was trying to transfer the spear with ''Spatial Shift'', and I knew that it was supposedly not possible. Ego said it clearly too.''


    ''But that little voice. It kept echoing in my soul, in my mind, everywhere inside me.


    -


    ''Save.''


    -


    ''That little voice, how could I ignore it? The more I listened to it repeating that single word, the more I understood. To learn about it, I need to save others.''


    ''To make it mature as a full-fledged element, I need to listen to it''s pleas. Thanks to it, I managed to save Kamala, while also breaking what was supposed to be a world rule.''


    "So, did you learn anything about this secluded space and how to add new things?"


    Amelia brought him out of his thoughts, forcing him to answer her.


    "Well, if what I learned his true, than yes... and no."


    *sigh*


    "I expected as much. It''s never a complete ''yes'' in these situations."


    She shrugged and looked a bit dejected.


    "I never said it was ''impossible''. It only means that there seems to be conditions to make the place different. We need a lot of catalysts."


    "Catalysts?"


    Her eyes began to recover some light as she heard Orion explained his discovery.


    "It''s really complicated, and I only noticed a small part of what we should do. It''s like a puzzle."


    Listening closely, she was ready to do anything to make her home more natural.


    *sigh*


    ''It''s going to be embarrassing if it doesn''t work.''


    Orion sighed, and coughed to clear his mind before speaking words unknown to both of them.


    "Screen."


    A little rectangular device appeared on the table next to his cup of coffee.


    "What is that?"


    Amelia looked at the device and poked it with her finger.


    With a clicking noise, the rectangular device was now activated. The screen lighted up, and a list of various improvements for Horizon appeared on it.


    "That''s everything you need to now about this space... it seems."