…Sadness? From Nir’a?
Seiyad, who had detected the strange emotion, focused even more intently. Then, beneath the shroud of roiling fear, he could indeed sense sorrow. Yet it didn’t feel like it originated from Nir’a itself, but rather flowed from the depths of the forest and seeped into Nir’a.
Nir’a was originally said to be a servant of the Devil. And these beings in the forest were said to have come into existence after the Devil was sealed by the moon… Just what are these things?
Holding on to that question, Seiyad sent more of his consciousness outward. Eventually, his power reached what he deduced to be the forest’s core. There, he found a colossal tree harboring a core, guarded by high-ranking Nir’a that stood like statues. That part wasn’t so different from what he’d seen of the forest so far—except for the place where the tree had taken root.
The tree stood in a clearing filled with sorrowful silvery lights, drifting like fireflies. It was hard to believe it lay at the center of the forest—its faint outlines suggested a space so beautiful it felt almost unreal. The core of the tree wasn’t red but glowed with a blue light, illuminated by tiny specks of light floating in the darkness. It sparkled like a night sky lit by a blue moon.
And right at the heart of it, a sword was embedded.
“Yes, I believe I know where it is.”
The moment Seiyad saw it, his eyes snapped open. As the power he had sent out returned to him, a brief wave of dizziness washed over. The backlash, something he hadn’t felt in a long time since growing used to Ressas staying close to him, felt unfamiliar. Pain, solitude—those things he had lived with so long, he had completely forgotten at some point. The moment he recognized them again, he reached out and grasped the hand of Ressas, who had been silently watching over him. Ressas, who had been smiling sweetly, blinked in surprise.
“Eid? Are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine. But I think I’ll need Purification. Don’t let go of my hand.”
The more moments he accumulated by Ressas’s side, the more comforting their time together became. Ressas was the only one who made him feel like simply existing together made everything better.
“…Alright.”
Like always, his Guide obediently followed his words. Seeing Ressas’ shy, blushing face made him want to kiss him, but doing that would make it harder to walk away. Only now did he truly understand what Ressas had once said—If something becomes too precious, it might tempt you to abandon your duty.
“Hey, you do know there’s one more Tither here, right? You better not forget. I might need Purification later too, you know.”
Cecilia, who had been watching them, teased him with a hint of mischief in her voice. At that, Ressas flinched slightly, startled. His ears turned red from embarrassment, but he still didn’t let go of Seiyad’s hand—endearingly so.
“I’ll try to resolve this without using too much of your strength.”
“Pretty sure you liked me more when we were younger…”
She murmured it jokingly, and Seiyad gave a faint smile before setting off, following what he had seen. He moved quickly, chasing the remnants of consciousness cloaked in shadow. Slashing through overgrown branches with his sword, he sped ahead at a pace no ordinary person could match.
In the Forest of Night, the towering trees obscured the sky entirely, making it impossible to navigate by stars. The dense darkness rendered even growth rings and moss useless for orientation. Unless one was like Zion or Seiyad—able to blend into the forest itself—finding one’s way here would undoubtedly take a long time.
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense why Aster would choose the Forest of Night as the perfect place to hide a sword. As Seiyad’s Guide, it was only natural for him to come north, and ever since the harsh winter had begun, the sword had always been in Aster’s hand for the rituals. Hiding it would’ve been easy. Seiyad himself was probably the only one who could search the forest thoroughly—and until recently, he’d been acting on Aster’s behalf…
Their silent journey continued for a long stretch, thoughts swirling through Seiyad’s mind. As the pre-dawn dimness crept in and their eyes adjusted to the darkness, the thing they’d been fearing finally appeared before them. A red glow split from the Nir’a guarding the core, and a dormant Nir’a began to stir. It was far larger than any they’d faced before, its oppressive presence suffocating enough to set their nerves on edge.
“This is… way bigger than the ones we saw in the South.”
Cecilia faltered and stopped in her tracks. There were only three of them. While they might manage against a few high-ranking Nir’a, facing over ten of them with only two Tithers was practically a death sentence.
Even though they had experience fighting powerful Nir’a in the South, Cecilia still lacked confidence. Her faint fear showed through—and emotions like hesitation, fear, and doubt were excellent triggers for the Nir’a. Just like now.
A chilling sensation struck the crown of his head. Seiyad looked up toward the direction the killing intent was coming from. From within the pitch-black leaves of the giant tree, something flew toward them in complete silence.
“Cecilia!”
A bird-like creature made entirely of sharp bones—large enough to cover the clearing—swooped down. With four wings and a pointed tail, it was unnervingly fast despite its size. They had fought countless Nir’a, but this was Seiyad’s first encounter with one that soared through the air. He erased the brief surprise in an instant and snatched his sister away just as the creature’s wings slammed down where she’d been standing.
Kugugung—the sound of the earth cracking rang out, and Nir’a began to surge at them from every direction. Their attacks came in a relentless flurry, threatening despite their massive forms, forcing the trio to scatter. A giant, its arms trailing all the way to the ground, rolled toward them. From a fissure in the earth, a centipede-like creature with eight legs came crawling out. It was a ruthless ambush, every movement brimming with lethal intent—compared to this, their previous battles had felt almost monotonous.
“Your Highness, how could you…! You really expected me to take these things on alone?!”
Even in his past life, Seiyad had never encountered Nir’a like this. As he fended off the wave of grotesque monsters, each in a different form, attacking without respite, he shouted in frustration toward Ressas.
“You can do this, Eid. They’re still just Nir’a. Use the power you did back then…!”
Ressas didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence. The Nir’a hadn’t attacked him directly, but its sheer size alone could crush him if it moved. As soon as Seiyad confirmed that Ressas had safely retreated from the advancing monsters, Cecilia let out a scream.
“Oppa, I can’t find the core!”
Cecilia was caught in a loop of halting and dodging the Nir’a that kept trying to pounce on her. Perhaps the scale of reversing time was too great—she could barely manage to defend herself. Gritting his teeth, Seiyad called forth his power as Ressas had urged, but there wasn’t even a moment to stand still.
Finding and destroying every single core was impossible anyway. It already took time just to locate the core of a single high-level Nir’a, and with the constant barrage of attacks raining from sky and earth, there was no room to breathe.
“Cecilia, even if only for a moment—stop everything around you!”
“Your Highness, they’re too…!”
The Nir’a, sensing that Cecilia was the most agitated, swarmed toward her. Seiyad glared at the bird circling back toward her, then bent his knees and launched himself off the ground in a burst of strength. Leaping high into the air, he drove his sword into the surface of one of the nearby roiling Nir’a, using it as a momentary platform. He then vaulted again, landing on the torso of another charging Nir’a before finally reaching the monstrous bird diving at Cecilia and plunging his sword into its skull.
KEEEEEEK!
He hadn’t struck the core, so it didn’t die—but the bird let out a horrific shriek. As it twisted and writhed, Seiyad clung to the embedded sword, his body jostled by its violent thrashing. Mounted atop the creature’s skull, now rising again into the sky, he gasped for breath.
Having drawn power from every fiber of his body in such a short span, his heart pounded in his chest. As his body trembled with exhaustion, he drove the sword deeper into the bird’s crown to avoid being thrown off. The creature began to spiral, and then—descended again.
As the bird plummeted toward Cecilia, Seiyad clenched his teeth and forced its head to veer in a different direction. His forearm bulged with veins, his pallid face slick with cold sweat. At that moment, red light surged through his sharp gray eyes, and Seiyad unleashed the same power he had once summoned before—radiating it in all directions.
“Cecilia, now!”
Just as the bird missed Cecilia and slammed into the ground at an angle, Ressas shouted. The pressure of Seiyad’s blade pinned the bird’s head, causing it to crash and roll, slamming into other Nir’a with its massive body. Seeing this, Cecilia clenched her eyes shut and flung her arms outward.
“AAAAAH!”
Her scream, shrill and agonized, tore through the air—and with it, the very atmosphere shifted. The sensation of time slowing down around them became starkly vivid. Even the wind that brushed against their skin, the rustling of leaves—all things affected by time came to a halt.
With a shiver running up his spine, Seiyad sensed his consciousness connect to every Nir’a in the area. Just like the first time he’d used this power to save Ressas, he gripped the darkness-wrought beings with his mind. He poured his power into the darkness that filled their insides, further inflating their cores.
More… more—just a little more…!
As if pushing against the suffocating sensation of being trapped in lightless void, Seiyad inhaled sharply.
The instant he opened his eyes wide, time resumed its flow—and the overwhelming darkness that had surrounded them erupted. The bodies of the Nir’a scattered into black dust, dissolving into the air. At the same time, Seiyad was flung from the bird’s skull.
Tumbling multiple times across the ground, he gasped and wheezed as he struggled to rise. Having poured so much power into a fleeting moment, his body felt as if it were being ripped apart, a crushing headache setting in. Swallowing the dizziness, he scanned the area to check on Ressas and Cecilia. The clearing, now rid of Nir’a, was softly bathed in the blue light emanating from the core—but something was off.
Though he felt that time had resumed, the world remained eerily still. He immediately turned toward Ressas. Thankfully, Ressas was standing and uninjured, but he remained frozen in place as if petrified.
“Ressas?”
An ominous unease crept into his voice, when suddenly, a mysterious voice came from behind. A gentle breeze swept by, brushing the nape of Seiyad’s neck.
‘It’s alright, child.’
The voice echoed inside his mind. He turned quickly—and found himself staring at Cecilia, eyes glowing silver. Her face wore a soft smile as she looked at him. It was undeniably Cecilia’s face—but at the same time, it wasn’t her at all.
‘Time has paused briefly because I brought you into my realm. But don’t worry—everyone is safe.’
The being possessing Cecilia’s body didn’t exude hostility, yet Seiyad was not someone who easily let his guard down. His face hardening, he demanded coolly:
“What did you do to my sister? Who are you?”
‘I cannot exist in this world on my own, so I’ve only borrowed a vessel that bears my imprint. Your sister is fine. You are all my children—why would I ever harm my little moons? I only created this moment so I could see you.’
It sounded like nonsense—yet a certain presence stirred in his heart. Seiyad narrowed his eyes at Cecilia, suspicion thick in his voice.
“…Are you the moon?”
The silver-lit eyes shimmered with joy, then curved into a gentle crescent, like a waxing moon.
‘Indeed. And you, who have long aided me in protecting this land, are the child who inherited my soul. Before I leave this world, there is something I must give you—something meant only for you, who resembles me more than anyone else.’
Ah, the moon is so bright.