"I'm not sure, but Ammamora, from your father's words, has True Fallen like him as the normal citizens, and then there are the true royalties called Angels..." he explained as Morgaine shrugged.
"My Mom said something similar."
"It all sounds cool, right, but have you seen your father's Fallen form before? Like his true form?" Ryuk asked as Morgaine's eyebrows furrowed.
Her mom had told her about Fallens and Angels, and that her father was a Fallen, but she hadn't seen him in his true form before.
"What's wrong with the form?"
"It's rebellious. It's literally a grinning devil, whose entire body screams, 'I'll never give up until you're crushed to death.'"
"And somehow, they all gave up and became second-class compared to the Angels. I don't think they gave up nicely. There must be something that makes them accept their place as ordinary citizens."
"And I'm not 100% certain that they're fine with that."
"That's the first problem."
"The second: Ammamora is a First-Grade World, and not an Upper Realm, due to some position that leaves them unfortunately beneath the Upper Realm—and that's not something they can change. But I'm 90% sure they're not okay with it. They're definitely going to challenge some Upper Realm world to prove they deserve a place above, or fight with similar First-Grade Worlds just to show the Upper Realm they're not to be taken for granted."
"I don't think they're just a First-Grade World that agreed to that and simply sat on their world doing nothing."
"And these aren't Dominion Stage experts or Cataclysm Stage experts. These guys are at the Eternity Stage, the Apocrypha Stage."
"They're ridiculously strong. A single attack could ripple through grades on Enderths and turn them all into ashes."
"So, in short, the various races are fighting for dominance, and power struggles between worlds are constant."
"Imagine seeking peace in such a world, Morgaine?"
"Imagine trying to raise a family in a world where two experts having a skirmish could send millions of unlucky souls to their deaths..." She stirred to argue, but his hold faintly tightened.
"To me, Morgaine, trying to 'settle down' and thinking 'fighting is empty' may only be delaying future pain," he concluded, as Morgaine gritted her teeth.
"So... that was... too much to ask for?" she whispered. But her gaze soon lifted back up by Ryuk, who whispered,
"It's true that it's hard to live a peaceful life in a violent world. But it is still possible. Even in this chaotic world, people come together, create loving families, and still live life."
"Me, you, and the billions of growing kids in the world are proof of that. But if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that peace must be protected. Your mom had you, but that never stopped her from going from the Cataclysm Stage to the Eternity Stage."
"Maybe she was just like you—just wanting peace—but she knew peace wouldn't last unless someone defended it. And she fought every day, growing stronger just to better protect the peace she had."
"She never walked away from battles. If anything, she embraced them."
"And you're different, Morgaine..." he said, drawing her attention.
"Because many people in this world are fighting for reasons even they don't understand. Fighting to correct someone's wrongs and mistakes, and guess what? They don't even have a say in it."
"But you at least have clarity about the reasons why you fight. For the peace of all you care about, you included. And that's quite a noble aim."
"We'll have a family of our own one day and enjoy all the peace in the world... just, not now, okay?" he said as he kissed her forehead before settling by her side.
"Goodnight, Morgaine..." he whispered, and she gently nodded, soon watching as his breath slowed down and he drifted into peace.
Silence lingered in the room, the filtering rays of moonlight dispersing gently across it, illuminating the golden irises that remained open.
Morgaine slowly raised her gaze, staring at the side of his face.
It was perfect—the only one she ever knew to be perfect. Almost... free.
"To me, Morgaine, trying to 'settle down' and thinking fighting is empty may only be delaying future pain."
"Because many people in this world are fighting for reasons even they don't understand. Fighting to correct someone else's wrongs and mistakes, and guess what? They don't have a say in it."
She could tell that the perfect, free expression on him might not come from simply being so free inside.
Perhaps it was the only way not to burn the world down from the chaos within.
Her hands moved outward as her fingers gently brushed his white hair back behind his ears, before wrapping around his arm.
"I'll find us peace, Ryuk. Even if I have to burn the entire world down to ashes. I'll find peace for us," she muttered as a golden illumination faintly filled the room.
A runic pentagonal tattoo that reappeared in Morgaine's eyes and on her forehead, brimming with an aura seemingly out of this world—but it soon faded as quickly as it appeared, and the breaths in the room became unified, reducing everything to silence.
A pair of eyes blinked open as dim light returned to the room. Ryuk stirred, feeling motion return to his limbs as he sat up in bed to find something beside him.
"Isha?" he unconsciously muttered as he looked at her, noticing cubes of ice on the side of her face.
She seemed to sense he had awakened as her eyes opened to the sight of him sitting up.
In an instant, she lunged into his embrace, and Ryuk felt cold tears drip down his shoulders.
"She... she left. Aster has left," Isha forced out through trembling lips, as Ryuk's eyes gleamed with light, before softening.
He hugged her in return, gently patting her back.
"It's okay." Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novᴇlfire.net