Priscilla returned to Zae-Rin''s garden with a beaming smile. Zae-Rin stood near her with a soft smile, welcoming the girl.


    The girl, having returned from her trial— as tired as she may have been, leaped up and hugged Zae-Rin. Her arms wrapped tightly around, unwilling to let go. "I did it, Rin! I did it!" Priscilla spoke happily.


    "Good, child," Zae-Rin replied, her hand caressing Priscilla''s head. The soft touch relieved much of the fatigue that had built up within Priscilla. "How did it feel witnessing the Tyrant King''s presence?"


    "Strange," Priscilla uttered instinctively, "The previous creatures you''ve shown me, there had been a certain logic to them and how they came to be, but Azzi-Dahka was something far stranger." She added, collecting her thoughts.


    "Especially in the end there... There was nothing logical about that form."


    "Yes, it would be hard to comprehend his form. He''s a demon from the Dominion of Death, one of the kings that rule with ferocity and fear. Compared to those of the Dominion of Life, the difference truly is night and day, isn''t it?" Zae-Rin chuckled.


    "Does it disgust you, that form that''s neither human nor beast?" Zae-Rin asked.


    Priscilla thought for a moment, "Not really. It was strange and— had been a fight for the trial''s sake, but I didn''t feel much besides a desire to win. Compared to some of the nobles I''ve met in life— he''s hardly a demon."


    "But, Rin! I''m so tired!" Priscilla added with a playful whine.


    Zae-Rin laughed, her voice warbling like a summer bell through the garden, "Alright, child. Rest for now. You deserve it." With a wave of Zae-Rin''s hand, the garden shifted, bringing Priscilla into the warm embrace of the cozy bed she had met previously.


    Priscilla lay flat, her thoughts actively swimming. She would return to the empire soon; it was incredible to know that she would be back to life, but at the same time, it was melancholic. In the empire, she had no friends or family left, but here she had Zae-Rin at least. That thought alone made her saddened at the thought of leaving.


    ''I wonder if I can do something to help, Rin, get out from here... Can I use this power?'' Priscilla wondered as her eyes began to shut, ''Maybe if I can fully master the final elements... I hope so...''


    Priscilla opened her eyes in an all too familiar slumhouse as a cressel butterfly flew past her hand, "Now, my child. Do you remember what I taught you? If someone does good to you, you must always repay the favor!"  Her mother lectured as she rubbed Priscilla''s cheeks fondly.


    "But, mommy! What if Prissy doesn''t know what to do?" The girl asked with a torn expression, her hands lifting grubbily as they latched onto the hem of mother''s skirt.


    "You''ll keep it close to your heart until the time comes when you know. Those who cherish you enough to help you in your time of need won''t fight with you if you don''t repay the favor straight away; they''ll wait until you''re ready." Priscilla''s mother replied.


    Priscilla churned in her slumber, latching onto the blanket. The warmth of Zae-Rin''s kindness and support radiated off it as her power resonated with Priscilla''s. Rest was such a simple thing, but one easily forgotten. When you are alive, you find yourself constantly busy, preoccupied, and unable to slow down. When you bridge the gap between life and death, time seems to slow down, and one can finally be at peace with the world and themselves.


    Such are the seasons constantly changing and the days fleeting. The nine-hundred-ninety-ninth year of the millennium came, and the time for farewells with it. Two years since Priscilla''s execution passed like a winter tide; besides the six years she spent with her mother, these two years proved to be the most memorable years she ever had.


    <hr>


    Priscilla stepped out of the cabin, spotting Zae-Rin immediately, sitting in the gazebo with a goblet of wine in hand.


    "You''re up, child," Zae-Rin said softly, "Good, the time has come, child. Your return to the Dominion of Life is now."


    "Rin... Is there genuinely no way you can come with me?" Priscilla asked hesitantly, her eyes wavering as the thought of separation passed through her mind.


    "All things must come to an end, child. Farewells may come, but memories will remain forever. When you find yourself at the top of this world, maybe you''ll have the strength to change the laws, but until then. Don''t feel sadness for departing; feel the joy of life and a second chance to do things better." Zae-Rin said, the warmth of her words causing Priscilla to tremble.


    Zae-Rin downed the glass of wine before walking out of the gazebo with light and airy steps. Her dress billowed behind as the energy of her world swirled around her, condensing rapidly as the garden shook. "You must do one thing, child. Close your eyes and don''t reopen them until you feel the weight of the stars carrying you away. Promise me this." Zae-Rin said in all seriousness.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Priscilla merely nodded silently, shutting her eyes firmly as she allowed Zae-Rin to do what she had to do. She trusted Zae-Rin wholeheartedly, so she would do as told.


    Zae-Rin began to hover as the power carried her; she lifted into the sky of her manifested world as her hair fluttered aggressively behind her. Each strand latched to the space nearby as it formed a resonance with the world. As her powers focused and condensed, they could not keep up the facade of the space around the two women, which began to silently crumble and fade.


    The once beautiful garden turned into ruins of dilapidated buildings with corpses strewn across the ground. Their bones were bent and broken in gruesome ways, a clear display that not a single one of them had a peaceful death. Beyond the gazebo, as it faded, a palace emerged equally in ruin. Steel pikes stabbed into the ground with a series of skulls atop them, lined from small to large.


    As the facade of the landscape unraveled itself, so too did the shroud that veiled Zae-Rin. The space she hovered in was actually her prison; there she hung, chained to the void. Her haunting form was a drastic comparison to her once glamorous appearance. Her hollow eyes caved in visibly through the decaying bandages that wrapped around them. Her skin was shriveled and frail. The only vitality in her form proved to be the hair that intertwined with the abyss and became a part of it. Zae-Rin''s nightmare was more a reality than anything, a testament to the ages she had spent trapped.


    ''Goodbye, child.'' Zae-Rin muttered in her heart.


    As the surging tide of power culminated around her, Zae-Rin screamed, slamming the energy outward and aimed behind Priscilla. The space began to unravel and shatter rapidly; the void struggled to resist and reform, but the cracks could not heal fast enough. It continued to shatter, widening the gap as Zae-Rin pushed out all the strength she could muster until it was enough to push Priscilla through it.


    Before Priscilla could react, she felt her body jolt, weight burdening her body. She opened her eyes to see streaks of light shimmering past, heading into the ether. Priscilla looked back in an attempt to get one final glimpse of the woman who had saved her, but she could only see cracks in space closing up and healing behind her. ''Rin...'' Tears began to flow uncontrollably down Priscilla''s face. It was too late now to regret it, but it pained her nonetheless. Would she ever see Zae-Rin again? The thought flashed through her mind as the sadness weighed on her heart more than the weight of the stars shooting around her.


    "I''ll be back, Rin. Some day, I promise!" Priscilla yelled as she let her emotions out, "Wait for me, Rin; if anyone tries to stop me, they''ll rue the day they messed with me!"


    Parting was painful, but it was a necessary pain for Priscilla to condense all of her teachings thus far. She had to be strong, independent, and fierce. A fact that would not have been possible had she remained under Zae-Rin''s care eternally.


    After she yelled out her emotions, Priscilla gazed at the space that surrounded her. She soaked in the sights, realizing just how wondrous they were. It was surreal and other-worldly. Marbles of light filled her sight; they blurred into the space, congregating into ones and twos, sometimes even threes. They were big and small, multi-colored and magical. They came off indistinct, shrouded in a fog that obscured her vision, yet despite it, they contained a strange magnetism that drew her eyes.


    The further she got from purgatory and Zae-Rin, the weaker Priscilla felt for some strange reason; it was like whispering behind closed doors as the suppression weighed on her heart. But Priscilla shook her head, reaffirming her beliefs. Nothing would stop her; if the world tried to shackle her and her powers, she would simply destroy the shackles until nothing remained to stop her.


    Instead of focusing on things she could not control, Priscilla focused on the stars around her. It was indescribable to her that such a thing existed in the world; she could not comprehend it, but she could almost feel in her heart what it was.


    Priscilla''s travels continued ceaselessly through the streaking road of stars, paved purely for her. The stars flowed without end, and so too did she. She did not know how long time had passed, but she finally saw one distant marble calling to her. Its decorative hues of gold and violet swirled aloofly, wafting a primal mist that beckoned her forcefully to approach.


    Her body began to gravitate toward the marble freely and unimpeded. But before she could arrive, the space around her quaked as darkness blanketed and the lights proceeded to flee and scatter. Overhead, a monstrous entity loomed behind a veil of darkness that shrouded its form.


    Five gigantic pillars rushed at Priscilla with indescribable fury. The rush shook Priscilla to the core as her eyes burst into a vibrant glow; lightning crackled and struck at the pillars, but the once serpent-like bolts were now comparable to worms in the mud. They phased through the pillars that continued toward Priscilla, unfazed.


    "YOU SHALL NOT HARM HER." Zae-Rin''s voice roared out of nowhere as space cracked with thunderous wrath; light erupted, blasting into the pillars with incredulous force. The once-scared stars blazed gloriously, swirling around the darkness and streaking through it as they clashed with the dark hand that held the cycle of death within its grasp.


    "Is that you, Empress of Parthia?" An emotionless voice stirred from the depths of the darkness, "To think you would breach the contract. How foolish."


    Zae-Rin merely huffed as the stars stormed into the darkness, illuminating the path before Priscilla once more. Her body gravitated fast toward the swirling marble below, her gaze pulling back as she witnessed Zae-Rin''s powers colliding with that towering figure. It was not something she could participate in, not yet anyway.


    The marble below pulled her intensely, giving Priscilla no option to resist as she fluttered down into its embrace. The time had come for her to return to the world that she once knew. It was an inescapable moment; her body became wrapped in energy and flame. Primal force surged with intensity as the marble enlarged in her vision.


    The world came to her; it enveloped her and brought her into itself. She fell with careful delicacy as the power of the dominion protected her body. Life awaited her, and the world was blissfully aware. Priscilla turned back, resisting the pull as much as she could. ''Farewell, Rin.'' She muttered, unable to do much else. Priscilla did not know the price Zae-Rin would need to pay. But one day, she would return the favor.


    ''Life, here I come. Father, wait for me. I will correct everything wrong, one by one. Mark my words.'' She thought resolutely as her gaze chilled and narrowed at the world before her.