Ashes and Kingdoms

Fully satisfied, Finn raised his face, then took the sword and stood.

There wasn't a set mould in training for beast exorcism, but one of the warriors in the barracks was helping me with my ancient swordsmanship in my free time. We talked about continuing to train in those aspects before joining the Legion.

Finn, of course, was not given enough time to get to know it, but still, the basis for practicing alone was laid. Connect various movements and postures so that they flow.

Nerves are delivered to the tip of the sword and each trivial movement is consciously performed. Concentrating on that, I was heartless. The silence and moonlight of night stain my empty mind like water.

I've even had the illusion that I can melt and be one with the world as I am, it was then.

Something appeared at the edge of my vision. At first, Finn, who was in a state of selflessness, did not realize it. but one breath delays awakening consciousness to that fact, turning you around a little bit.

- People.

Finn stood guarded quietly as he raised and lowered his shoulders and chest.

As always, there is no cloud in the night sky, and the moonlight lights the earth pale. The shadow of a collapsed building is short and thin. Some dreamy night in the village, at some point a white figure stood up.

- No, that's not a person.

Finn corrected his first perception and frowned. If you're human, there's no way you're fluttering in the middle of the night by yourself. That too...... Finn and a girl who doesn't seem the same age.

Towards the vigilant Finn, the girl approached her naughty. Little footsteps. He wears flimsy white clothes, as if he were peeling silk clouds out of the sky and wrapping them around his limp body. Long hair, like melting gold and silver together, was just as fluffy and wavy.

"... Kon, Ban Ha"

reluctantly the girl greeted her and opened her eyes as if surprised by her voice. Then I tend to hesitate to say "Um".

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

There seems to be no malice or hostility. Finn lowered the sword he had erected for a moment, but he still did not resolve the tension. There are numerous old stories of demons deceiving people under the guise of being harmless.

Unlike the Dark Families, the demons are not necessarily enemies, not to mention evil. Sometimes they work in exchange for food, while others make travelers who just wanted to go through the streets have the experience of being done for the rest of their lives. It is a creature that belongs to twilight, if you say so.

The girl tilted her little neck and stared at Finn with an amber eye close to gold. Finn wandered unexpectedly at the purity of his sleaze. To his reaction, the girl seemed to panic again.

"Oh, oh, I'm sorry. Um, uh. I haven't talked to many people. So, uh."

You, but take care not to wake the sleeping, or keep your voice down. Does this girl know she has company in the barn? Finn was surprised and glanced behind his back.

"Don't worry."

I said it like a girl read Finn's mind.

"I just want to see you."

……

Only, even if they say so.

Finn was bewildered and at the same time somewhat embarrassed and weird looking. The girl blushes in a growing hurry, letting her hands slap against the groan.

"Oh, uh, me again, was there something wrong with the way you said it? Um, I don't know what to say... I don't know. I just wanted to see it nearby. That's all. But in the way?

That obnoxious look smiled, and Finn finally lost his shoulder strength and grinned bitterly. Then the girl seemed relieved, spreading a full grin.

"For now, what's your name?

To Finn, who asked softly and whisperly, the girl finally said "Oh" with her fingertips properly aligned with those of her hands in a sense of realisation.

"Right, you have to say it first. I'm Diaerfalena."

"Diael......"

He thought Finn was out of line after reciting it, something he couldn't remember. The girl grinned and said.

"My family called me Lena."

"... Lena"

Repeat flashly, Finn stares at the girl.

“Dia” is a word that stands for the Almighty God Deia and is occasionally used for place names like the country name Diatius and the imperial capital Diakte, but not for people's names. Because it's too unscrupulous.

If it was a god other than Deia and Audia, it's not strange. Naena, the goddess of the earth, is particularly popular, and if Neris' name, Nanais and Winnea follow the source, Naena will emerge. But who is Deia?

(I knew I wasn't human.... Spirit?

Surprisingly, Finn named according to Lena's expectations.

"I'm Phineas. Finn is fine."

Finn, and the moment his name was repeated, he was sober. I felt like I was touched directly in my heart with an invisible hand. I intuited that it wasn't forced into it, but to the point of being knocked lightly, but still, if normal, suddenly touched out of reach, wandering.

Apparently that was passed on to the other person as well. "Ah," she panicked again, and Lena apologized.

"I'm sorry, I, I seem really bad at talking to people. Um, I won't bother you anymore... just can I watch?

"No, it's okay, I'm just a little surprised. I don't mind... watching, what?

As Finn answered in confusion, Lena spread her grin softly.

"Take you. Because it's so pretty."

………………

It was such an unexpected word that Finn got weak and crouched at once. I can't even afford to create a sense of indulgence.

"Oh, that? Um, oh, you're in trouble, you said something I shouldn't have done again. What shall we do?"

From the top of my head again, my voice comes down with warmth. Finn looked up at Lena, thinking he was going to be unable to stand like this.

"Beautiful is a word I usually use for women like you."

"Eh."

As soon as she did, Lena turned her eyes round and blushed. As for Finn, I didn't mean to flatter him, I just meant to state objective facts, but apparently Lena's took it somewhere unmeshed again. It turned brighter and brighter red and boiled slightly from ear to neck.

"No, uh... Lena? I'm not just talking about appearance, it doesn't mean anything more."

"Mi, look? That's outside, isn't it? Oh, really? Oh, right, right, you don't see people. Oh, I'm surprised."

"... I was surprised, too"

I didn't think I'd be so tired of talking to the outside stuff. Finn pukes one sigh and manages to get back on his feet.

"You wanted to tell me what's beautiful about me? You don't look it."

Finn also knew that his appearance, however praiseworthy he tried to be, would only come up with words as' tough 'at best. I haven't looked in the mirror much, but in light of the general aesthetic standards, my face is... somehow a little too sharp and harsh. To the extent that I can't help but give up when Nellis calls me a headstone.

Only once in my life have I been told that it is beautiful, when Fianella the priest peeks into Finn's eyes and says that it is the same colour as the sea of Nanaith.

But Lena's senses still seem different from people's, to look at Finn and say if he tilts his little neck.

"I'm not sure what people's standards are, but I think Finn is pretty on the outside, too. But... the first thing I said was inside the fin"

Finally raise your hand and touch Finn's chest properly with your index finger. Around the heart. At the same time Finn tasted the feeling of being touched by his invisible hands earlier.

"People, on the inside, are coming out where we can see them. Especially beautiful people. I can tell from afar. So I came to see you flutter..."

"Wait. I mean, do you see people's hearts?"

"The part the person is putting out is right. If you want to see it to the essence, you have to get inside. But you don't have to do that, you know, pretty people."

"I don't know," Finn grinned bitterly. "I'm not that pretty of a person. Well, if you want to watch it, I don't mind him watching it until he feels like it."

That's it, he looked up into the sky.

"But you should go home within the moon. I don't know where your house is... but when the moon sets, the stars alone will not prevent the beast of darkness. I'm sure they'll come."

I don't know if the Dark Beast strikes the Spirit, but if the Spirit once gave man in the fold of the Great War, he would still be hated by the Beasts. In such a fluffy girl, you must be torn apart by their nails without warning.

But Lena didn't want to worry about Finn. Without fear at all, he leans his neck and asks.

"Are you fighting the Dark Families?

"If you don't have to fight, I want to. But they hate humans more. Now the Empire is rattling, so the Legion can't function properly, and we can't keep the Dark Beast under control like before. So wherever you are, they attack you at night."

Finn replied quickly. I didn't know if they would understand what I said properly, but I remembered it wasn't if we were chatting forever like this. This side of the barn is fine, but on the back, maybe the beasts are approaching lurking in the shadows. I'm totally familiar with it, I can't hear that xyxy...

"I'm not coming here tonight."

As if to tell even an acquaintance's plans, Lena said softly. Finn gets a little tight, eyes round and stares at the girl.

"How do you know?

Seeing as Finn's surprise, Lena just said it was more surprising that she didn't know.

"Because something so bright. As far as I can see, there aren't any of them around here... and besides, there's nothing here to call them in anymore. People's lives, bright flames, people's desires."

But now I have company with my family.

"Yeah. But they don't know because the power of Master Audia and Master Naina is hiding you. Besides, you're not here all the time, are you?

"That's right..."

"It's okay. They won't come. If you're worried, I'll be here till nightfall. Sleep tight."

Fluffy and Lena touch Finn's forehead. As soon as he did, Finn was struck by a difficult sleeper to fight.

"No, you can't."

"It's okay. Rest. Because I'm watching."

The whispering voice is gentle and encapsulates Finn's consciousness. After all, the suspicion that some demon had fooled me blurred the back of my brain, but deeper in my consciousness, I knew it was instinctively safe.

Lena hugs the nearly fallen fin and makes him lie down softly. Even though I lay down on the ground once, I didn't feel solidity or cold. I imagined it would feel good to look up at the sky as a child and be able to get on that cloud, that's the feeling.

Apparently, Lena was giving me a knee pillow, and the last time I felt blurred, Finn fell into his old happy dreams.