Death did not come. Even after so much courting, lady death seemed unimpressed.
"My lady death doesn't like me." Varian muttered as he craned his neck to the right.
The sword lodged itself deep into the soft mattress he was on.
Only then did he look around. He wasn't in a prison or torture chamber one would expect to find themselves deep inside their enemy's territory.
He's placed on a cozy mattress in a small room. The air was filled with the fragrance of various herbs he recognized to be precious for a celestial.
'For a celestial ranker, this costs a fortune!' As Varian was surprised and spread his perception, he heard many people, no, many children.
"Defend! Defend!"
"Take this, sun-moon slash!"
"The final judgement!"
"Siri, heal, heal!"
"The benevolent light…."
A few abyssal children were playing in the fields outside while many more were training.
A lot of them were awakeners already. Very weak, mortal awakeners. But awakeners nonetheless.
'I never thought I'd see abyssal race once again.' Varian turned to Cyris, remembering his deep enmity with the abyssals.
He had been unconscious and fully vulnerable. If she wanted to, she could've killed him already. But she treated him with precious herbs and showed no animosity.
Ignoring his piercing gaze, Cyris pulled out the sword and retrieved a precious herb hidden in the mattress. She crushed it into a potion and handed it silently.
Varian didn't take it. He stared at her, like a fool staring at another fool and asked. "Why?"
The abyssal woman placed the potion and leaned against the wall. Crossing her arms, she sighed. "Do you remember why you saved me?"
He didn't remember it at first. Varian didn't really think much of it. It's just a casual thing he did.
Cyris sighed noticing his expression. What was so casual for him was life changing for her.
"You said you wanted to see if an individual can defy fate. I'm guessing my fate was to die without reviving the abyssal race."
Varian showed a look of realization. Yeah, that was it. Back then, he saw her fate using the powers of order and chaos. None of the probabilities indicated she could succeed.
And yet, when he saw her so determined, he was curious to see if she could pull it off.
He saved her just for an 'experiment' and that experiment now saved him. Fate, huh.
"During Jai empire's invasion, there were clashes between Genesis and Mors. I risked my life twice and saved a few life awakeners.
And then, I nearly died retrieving whatever remnants survived of the abyssal province.
I was trapped by a stronger celestial ranker for experiments and had to endure a lot to break out. It's the closest I came to death.
I almost gave up then, but I didn't want to accept my fate. So, when death was relieving and living was painful, I chose living.
In the end, the life awakeners only managed to create a few thousand abyssal children.
I hired a few helpers with whatever I can, purchased this land at the border of Jai-Genesis and am raising these kids."
Varian was amazed. This was not in her fate. In all the probabilities, she died one way or another.
"You defied fate."
"I only did my best. I almost quit halfway, but if I give up, I'd have never come here." Cyris leaned forward, looked down into his eyes, her voice grew confused and sharp. "Why are you giving up? Why didn't you fight back when I was about to kill?"
Varian grew gloomy and he shook his head. "I failed. I did my best. I failed. There is nothing I can do."
Cyris laughed. "Is that so?"
"The literal maker of the universe and the man who is as strong as a primordial god. They are my enemies. I did what I could. I can't fight anymore. There is no way out." Varian closed his eyes.
There was a painful silence in the room and after a while, Varian continued.
"I want to die spending time with my family. You too, spend your time well with the kids. No matter who wins, the universe is going to be destroyed soon. The signs you must've seen by now are merely a glimpse into what's to come."
Cyris' face paled and she clenched her jaw. She desperately hoped he'd laugh and say it was a joke. But Varian remained silent and solemn.
"I see." She finally sighed. "I'm too weak to stop it. So, I'll just live as I want until the end. But I really thought there would be a hero to save the world."
Varian looked at the orange sky and said with a wistful smile. "I wish there was a hero."
"…You were supposed to be the hero."
"Perhaps someone else might've succeeded in my place. I let everyone down."
"Haedon was a rank 2, a talented child. You went from that to this. And you're from a remote place no one ever heard of."
"I had help. It's not my brilliance." Varian was reminded of Logos. He missed her. Even though she was harsh, she genuinely wished him well.
He let her down even though she bet everything on him.
"I don't know how much of your story is true, there are all sorts of rumors. But if even a tenth is true, then you are an anomaly. You don't realize it yourself." Cyris shook her head.
As the sky darkened, she asked. "What do you want to do now?"
"…I will go home." Varian said with an exhausted smile. "And I will call them home."
"Since the universe is ending anyway, why should I spare you?" Cyris retrieved her sword once again. "Since you gave up and aren't even fighting back, wouldn't killing you be better?"
A thick killing intent filled the room.
Varian couldn't muster much strength at the moment. Even if he wanted to fight back, she should be able to kill him.
At this moment, he realized he hadn't fully accepted things. He accepted the defeat but he didn't want to die here. He wanted to see his family one last time.
As he gathered his power for one last desperate struggle, Cyris sheathed her sword.
"Looks you don't want to die. You haven't really accepted reality. That's good." Cyris said. "Because I am interested in seeing if the will of an individual can defy fate."
She was returning the words. Varian wondered if he even wanted to try. It was still a no. But not a tough no like before. He at least acknowledge a part of him that still wanted to try.
A portal to Hortus slowly opened and Cyris let Varian leave. The room was empty once again and the abyssal walked out with a complicated expression.
She wouldn't tell the abyssal children that the world was ending.
One shouldn't stop living just because death would come one day. The essence of living was in what we do in the time we have.
If the world was to end in one week, what would she do for that week?
Party? Eat? Kill?
If those were the things that seemed important, then by not doing them during her normal life, she wasted her life.
If they weren't deemed important, why should she do them now?
Cyris decided she'd teach the kids as much as she could, shape their values to make them strong and good people.
The world could end tomorrow, but at least today, they'd have lived well.