Orion, Karteira, and Florian returned to the top of the wall of Albriar.


    There was a lot to think about, the fact that he died once, and Karteira''s sudden confession.


    The one having the most problems was unexpectedly Karteira, who was in Orion''s arm due to her sudden loss of control over her emotions.


    "Alright, let''s breath a little bit. Florian, your army is still in battle. Are you going to intervene?"


    "No. I''ll keep watching from over here."


    He shook his head, his gaze falling on his army in the distance, noticeable only by the lights of their helmets.


    After gently placing Karteira next to him, Orion walked up to Florian and placed his hand on his shoulder.


    "Thank you."


    The two men stared at each other, as Florian felt a familiar sensation invade his body.


    No more words had to be said. Orion and Karteira were both alive thanks to him, and Florian got stronger thanks to Orion.


    Florian only nodded.


    After being healed, a portal opened. Orion grabbed Karteira by the arm and walked with her through it.


    "His life is a real chaos."


    He chuckled a little, feeling his muscles relax after such a battle. Placing his face on the low wall, he sighed, relieved to still be alive.


    "I guess I''ll have to take exemple of them."


    As he thought of Kamala, another plan in his life was now in motion.


    ~


    "Orion! Karteira! Are you two fine?"


    Amelia ran toward them, worried. The first thing she did was to check on them.


    "We''re fine. Don''t worry."


    With a smile, Orion managed to relax her.


    "I''m glad. The sisters are fine too, they returned quite some times ago, and went to rest."


    "That''s a good thing. What about you?"


    "I''m just tired."


    All the time while speaking with Orion, she glanced a few times at Karteira.


    ''Something happened between them.''


    "Amelia."


    She was cut off of her thoughts by Orion, who looked at her with a serious expression.


    "We have to talk."


    ''What is so important for him to be this serious? Maybe the battle against the Apostle?''


    ~


    While the battle in front of Albriar was coming to an end, Orion explained what happened to Amelia.


    "Wait! You... died?"


    The air began to cool instantly, and she looked at Karteira with a terribly angry expression.


    "That was my fault, you don''t have to look at her like that. She would have died if not for me warping in front of her."


    "I don''t want to imagine any of those options!"


    Amelia slammed her fist on the table, and released her pressure.


    "I''m sorry."


    Karteira looked at her hands resting on her lap, despairing.


    "So? Why are you still alive?"


    Her mood was all but great right now.


    "Florian came up and injected electricity in his body."


    "His knowledge came in handy in such a situation. Not everyone know that an electrical discharge can restart someone''s heart."


    Orion was slightly shaken knowing that he died once, but other than that, he didn''t really care. Surviving was more important than caring about that detail.


    "And? After that, what happened?"


    Turning her head away, Karteira chose to stay silent. She felt that her friend would be disappointed in her.


    "Karteira lost control and attacked Julian."


    "Lost control?"


    Nodding, Orion developed.


    "She wasn''t responding to any of my calls, and I''m pretty sure she wasn''t even in control over her own thinking. Her mind was lost at that point. Only when she injured Julian did she stop and I finally managed to bring her back to her senses."


    With a fast reaction time, Amelia turned her face toward Karteira.


    "I''m going to ask again, are you alright? Both of you I mean."


    Orion looked seriously at Amelia, and then at Karteira, before returning to look at Amelia.


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    "It doesn''t feel real. Even though my heart did stop beating, I''m still the same as usual. I can confirm I am a hundred percent fine. The shock of the attack damaged my chest quite a lot, but I was able to heal everything in time."


    "I can''t really say that my heart stopping for a few seconds count as dying, because it was too short to matter."


    Amelia''s face stiffened.


    "Don''t say that. Of course it matters!"


    She said to Orion, before looking at her friend.


    "Karteira, I think I understand why you lost control. But don''t do that again."


    A silence fell in the room, until Orion decided to go check on the sisters.


    "You two, do rest until morning. I have a feeling this is far from over."


    "Orion? You killed that Apostle right?"


    "I surely did. I even confirmed it. His head was not on his shoulders anymore."


    He turned his face, looking through the window.


    "But... the thing with corruption is that we don''t know how far it goes when taking over the body of an Apostle."


    Opening the door, he looked one last time at the girls.


    "I''m sure you two need to discuss things. I also have to think over a few matters, so I''ll see you later."


    Closing the door behind him, he left the girls together. Orion''s footsteps slowly stopped echoing in the corridor.


    "..."


    Only their breathing could be heard.


    "I''m sorry, Amelia."


    "Why are you apologizing? The fact that both of you are alive is good enough for me. I don''t really care about the details."


    But Karteira shook her head. They were both sitting in front of each other, and now that they were alone, there was no more escape.


    "No, not about that."


    Shaking her head vigorously, she hid her face between her hands.


    "Hmm? If not about that, why would you apologize for?"


    Amelia was lost. She only understand when Karteira spoke again.


    "I told him right after I returned to my senses. I felt like it was the right moment."


    "..."


    It took a few seconds for Amelia to notice the hidden meaning.


    "You... finally did it?"


    Karteira was blushing, and it was hard not to notice, because even her ears were bright red.


    "Tell me! What happened?!"


    With a big smile on her face, and quite excited, she was more interested in those details.


    "Not much. I told him, and he haven''t said anything since."


    *sigh*


    Amelia sighed dramatically.


    "That''s just like him. I''m sure he knew something was off with you, and the pieces are starting to form the pictures in his mind, that''s why he said he had to think about a few matters. This is most definitely one of those topics."


    Peeking through her fingers, she stared at Amelia.


    "Aren''t you angry? I said I wouldn''t say it, but here I am, telling you otherwise."


    "He almost died in your arms, right?"


    Her gaze fell toward the ground. The image of Orion making his last breath was engraved in her mind.


    "Yes."


    A dark gaze appeared on Amelia''s face.


    "Then I can''t judge you for doing this. I know I would''ve reacted way worse than you if I had seen this too."


    She quickly switched to anger.


    "And can you stop with the apologies? I''ve told you already that I was fine with you telling him?"


    "But..."


    Karteira couldn''t even finish, the words Amelia spoke next touched the most sensible spot in her heart.


    "Regrets. I don''t want any of us to have them. You know what I mean."


    *grit*


    That was why she suddenly told Orion. He miraculously came back and she managed to regain her senses at that moment. She had to act now, or else this would have been for nothing.


    She stopped hiding behind her hands, and exchanged a long gaze with Amelia.


    "I''m going to bother your time with him, are you alright with that?"


    "Does that change anything in our current life?"


    "I''ll be more aggressive, that''s a problem for you isn''t it?"


    "Go for it, you take the training time, I take the rest."


    "..."


    "I''m not going to stop you, so can you not try to find a way to blame yourself?"


    "But it''s not normal! I''ve never heard of someone having multiple lovers!"


    "Why not make it the first then?"


    Karteira lost her will to fight, and slammed her forehead on the table.


    "How many people can you accept? I don''t want to share him personally."


    That was a tough question, even for Amelia.


    "No idea. What I know is that I''ll always be his number one, and that''s enough for me. Even if others find faults in his actions, or his way of thinking, I don''t. Sure, I''m not perfect either, but that won''t change our relationship."


    "Even if the world is against him, and his allies turn on him, I will always stand by his side. He will always return to me."


    With a loud slam, Karteira hit the table.


    "I want that treatment too! That''s so unfair!"


    While surprised, Amelia still gave her advice.


    "Then do your best to enter the deepest part of his heart. This will be the most difficult task. Even I, who has been with him since our childhood, doesn''t understand him completely."


    "And I think that we will never understand each other fully. But isn''t the idea of continuously trying to learn more about him appealing?"


    "What''s hidden in the deepest part of his soul? How much does he love me? What is he thinking about? Does he have insecurities? That kind of things, topics that he quite refuses to speak about."


    Karteira smiled.


    "You''ve put a question that wasn''t necessary in there, Amelia."


    "Have I?"


    They both smiled at each other, while Amelia played dumb.


    ~


    "I know the battle is not done, but what are your thoughts on the situation?"


    Once again, two shadows emerged from the darkness. Around a table, the cloaked women observed Albriar.


    "This is definitely not what we were expecting."


    "How so?"


    The woman looking at the water in the hollowed center of the table.


    "I''ve explained to you right? What the battle of Albriar was supposed to be."


    The second woman looked at her friend, and nodded.


    "Another city to fall in the hand of the Apostles, right?"


    "And?"


    The answer wasn''t satisfying enough.


    "And... this is where a lot of people died. Of course."


    "''A lot'' is not really the right wording I was expecting, but anyway."


    The first woman tapped a few times on the table, and another list of names appeared, just like when they observed the attack on Kaios.


    "So, the battle isn''t done, but you''re already comparing the results with the expectations?"


    "Yes. An event like this, that could be considered as a turning point for the continent, showed so many divergence."


    "The Queens of the Fairies?"


    "Yes. They weren''t supposed to be here."


    Both women looked at the sisters hugging each other, sleeping, their back on the wall outside of Albriar.


    The first woman continued.


    "This is the first divergence."


    "The second one, Florian Delur wasn''t supposed to arrive until the very last moment. His army would be demotivated, and lose before anything could be done."


    "Third, the group was going to arrive later in the night. The battle would have been lost, with only Florian fighting the rest of the armies."


    "Fourth... I don''t really want to say it."


    She received a cold glance from the other woman.


    *sigh*


    "The Fairy ''Savior'', Karteira, was supposed to die in front of Orion, and Amelia."


    "And the last divergence, Florian entered the next stage of his element. He his one of the rare humans to have mastered his element."


    The second woman looked into the water. Orion was standing on the wall of Albriar, looking at the army finishing the corrupted soldiers.


    "Five divergences, created because of one single thing. The void element."


    "Exactly. This single detail led to such a result. Well, Orion almost lost his life, but I guess that will be a good experience for him."


    "What were the predictions for that man? He was supposed to lose everything, right?"


    She pointed at Florian, who focused on his army.


    "Corrupted."


    "!"


    "I hate that word just like you. That''s how bad it was supposed to be."


    "So, is it a good thing that we''ve obtained those results?"


    "Definitely. I am quite interested how far Orion will go, before the harsh reality comes crashing upon him."


    "Don''t start with that. Can''t you be hopeful sometimes?"


    "See enough failures, and you will began to understand that there is no hope in this world."


    "YET... W- TrY TO... ChaNgE..."


    A broken voice echoed in the room.


    "I haven''t heard your voice in ages, but I guess it''s impossible to hope for more. Yes, indeed, we try to change the end result. Those predictions, that I hate so much, needs to be changed."


    "That''s why we constantly monitor Orion, right?"


    "Yes. But let''s hope his next challenge will not be the last."


    The room suddenly grew darker, making the two figures vanish inside of the darkness once again.