Unable to understand, Sarah asked,
“W-What?”
Her brother was getting rid of his emotions. She couldn’t understand what it meant.
Was it possible to get rid of one’s emotions?
Isis sighed as Sarah looked confused.
“I don’t know either, but what is certain is that little by little Jamie Welton is becoming hollow. I am telling you this because I don’t want you to be disappointed after meeting him.”
If she met the current Jamie without knowing anything, Sarah would feel the greatest loss in her life.
There was no hope.
Even if it gave sadness to the child right now, in the long run, this was for the best.
“…”
As Isis expected, Sarah’s face darkened.
It must have been too much for this little girl to accept. She only swung her sword with the thought of uniting her family, but now it felt like all her hope was for nothing.
Isis thought that this would be a huge turning point for Sarah.
‘What choice will you make here?’
Would you step forward or wait?
To be honest, if Sarah chose to wait, she couldn’t blame the child. No matter how strong a person was, if her family was a mess, she could easily break.
Rather, it was good that she had endured it at such a young age.
“Wait. I want to be alone.”
“Sarah.”
Mayatrey called for her, but Isis shook her head.
She had no choice but to just look at Sarah, who was walking away. Mayatrey spoke only after Sarah was completely out of sight.
“Why did you say that?”
She didn’t like it.
“She is just a child. A child whose family has been tormented. What will you do if she breaks from what you said?”
“The only difference is whether she finds out about it now or later. And it would be more painful if she met her brother not knowing anything and realized it just then.”
She wasn’t wrong, so Mayatrey couldn’t say anything.
Instead, she asked about the situation.
“Jamie, that kid. To what point has he gotten rid of his emotions?”
“Hmm. When I last saw him….”
Isis had just a brief encounter with Diablo before she went on this mission, and his eyes, which were filled with hatred back then, were still vivid in her memory.
“All he had left was anger and hatred.”
“Anger and hatred… any other feelings?”
“They don’t exist. Even joy and sorrow. Right, what Jamie Welton so longed for….”
‘You are a member of the Resistance.’
‘You are my colleague.’
Isis finished recalling the words that Jamie said the other day.
“Love too.”
Don’t exist anymore.
Sarah ran.
She didn’t know where she was running to, but she continued to run.
She always did this when she felt frustrated.
It was because her sadness would subside a little when she was out of breath.
But why?
‘Despite being out of breath…’
Her heart ached.
It hurt like hell.
She was overjoyed when she heard that her brother wanted her and her mother to be protected.
But that brother no longer exists?
She wished it was all a lie, but it didn’t seem to be.
“Brother…!”
Sarah sat down on the ground and cried.
“Why… why?”
Why make that choice?
Why did you do that?
Even if he said it was for her and their mother, could he just abandon his emotions like that?
“Cough!”
Nausea began to settle in. She hadn’t had anything, but her stuffy chest made it feel like her stomach was churning.
She wasn’t sure if what was falling down her face was either tears or saliva. She just slumped down on the ground.
Sarah gripped the ground with her hands as the soil turned dark with her tears.
And then she lay down on the ground.
Chirp. Chirp.
She could hear the sound of birds chirping. She just wanted to give up everything now.
She had this strong desire to just go back to her mother and live the rest of her life in peace.
The reason she held the sword was just for one reason.
She wanted to be stronger and be with her brother. But even that seemed meaningless now.
Her brother had abandoned his emotions and stopped thinking about his family. How would their mother react if she came to know about this?
At the very least, she was certain that her mother would be sadder than she was.
“Jerk.”
Even when she thought her brother was neglecting them, she never cursed him.
But now she was angry, very angry.
If that was the case, he should have just abandoned them right from the start.
“You are a jerk!”
Sarah shouted into the air.
“Do you know how long mom has been waiting for you?! If you cannot even show your face, you should at least feel sorry, so how could you do this?! Aren’t we family?! Family! You fucking Jamie!”
As she finally let go of the anger she had endured for three years, Sarah cursed Jamie as hard as she could.
“You bad guy! Bad bad guy! You jerk! Father from heaven will cry when he sees you! What is the point of having a strong position now?”
Sarah pointed her finger at the Black Tower and yelled.
She tried to understand him, but she couldn’t.
“Can’t you trust us? Did our family feel like that much of a burden to you?”
It could be.
Sears, their mother, never fought, and Sarah, who held the sword, didn’t take it seriously until recently.
But still, being a family meant being happy with each other’s presence. That was what having the same blood meant.
“Are you afraid of Ra? Who is he for you to be afraid of? You said it was to keep us safe! Then you should have done that until the end!”
She knew.
How did her brother not even visit them? When she thought of that, she felt pain and sadness, as if her heart was breaking.
“I too! How much pain I… went through!”
Sarah no longer blamed Jamie. She didn’t even know what to say. As her emotions ran high, she blurted out the words that came to her mind.
“The first time I killed someone, I couldn’t sleep. Still, I thought of Mom and Brother and that I should help too, so I continued and tried so hard.”
Thinking that her brother was in more pain, she swung her sword so hard, thinking that she shouldn’t have collapsed at her current level, and she didn’t hesitate to kill.
However, the person she worked hard for didn’t care even about their family.
If she hadn’t known, it wouldn’t have been more painful.
‘I shouldn’t have asked.’
Then Isis wouldn’t have told her the truth.
If she hadn’t listened to anything, she would have just trained to be strong.
So what now?
What would she do after becoming stronger?
In the end, becoming stronger was just one step higher, right?
It was then….
Woong.
She felt a vibration run down her back. She grabbed it and pulled it out.
The golden stick.
It was the keepsake left by Shiva.
“I don’t need this anymore….”
Thinking that she didn’t need to raise the sword, she threw the stick to the ground.
‘Hehe. Success is not the only thing in this world. You might fail several times along the way. When you keep failing, your self-confidence will go down, and there will be times when you want to give up everything in deep frustration. And that is the most important time for you to push harder.’
The words of Shiva passed through her mind.
She put the stick down.
She looked at the stick and bit her lower lip. Success is not the only thing in this world.
The path she would take could be wrong, and there might be a situation where everything she thought was wrong and she might have to start from scratch.
If she won’t give up, then someday…. Right. One day, she might reach her goal.
Shiva meant that.
“Shiva… I think I have a weak heart.”
She prided herself on being strong, but she broke down too easily. She held the stick in both hands.
A faint glow began to flow. A warmth touched her cold hands and filled her body.
-You are a child who can do it.
She suddenly heard a voice.
Sarah got up. Her chest was still enraged, and she was in pain as if she was being torn apart.
When she thought of her mother, she felt like crying, and the thought of her brother made her angry.
She thought it would be better to stop. But it was just for a second.
So.
“It is very difficult to rise from failure.”
Woong.
As if responding to her, the stick vibrated.
Sarah laughed and put the stick back into her waistband.
“Sure, I need to do it.”
After a failure, there might be another failure. Actually, this may also end up being a failure.
She might not end up being successful at all, and the ending she might get could be bad or sad.
But she would still move forward.
She wasn’t sure if this was right, but crying wasn’t going to change anything.
She learned from Shiva.
“If I don’t give up, then someday.”
Sarah was at a crossroads.
And she walked forward.
The first place she had to visit was already decided.
“Let’s go to Teacher.”
Isis was brewing tea.
Shiva’s funeral would be tomorrow morning, so she wanted to use the free time she got. Mayatrey also went out to look around, so she was alone.
She said that she wouldn’t meet anyone until tomorrow, so no one came to visit her.
No. There was one person, but she might not come today.
‘It’s very likely she won’t come.’
It was normal to fall apart.
Rather, it would be amazing if she would rise up instead of collapsing. Isis wanted Sarah to be a great person.
It was because if she could stand up after such a setback, she would have the power to do anything. But she had never seen anyone like that in her life.
‘One of them is Jamie.’
Can the Jamie of this day be that kind of person?
She didn’t know.
Isis put the tea on the table and sat down. With a suffocating feeling, she looked at the Dragon Slayer ‘Gram’ across the room.
On the day the Dragon Lord was beheaded, that sword also lost all its power and turned into a normal sword.
But it will be revived now. She didn’t know why, but she just felt it.
It felt as if their souls were connected—probably because she has been wielding it for a long time—and it felt like the weapon would regain its life again.
‘I hope Sarah does it too.’
Like the will of that sword, she hoped Sarah would also find a reason to get up.
And didn’t she take her as her first disciple?
At first, she cared because Sarah was Jamie’s sister, but now it wasn’t like that.
After leaving Jamie, she now respects Sarah.
That child felt so precious.
“Phew.”
Isis sighed briefly and took a sip of tea. Then, she put down the cup as she heard the sound of distant footsteps.
Her lips formed a smile.
“Teacher!”
A light brown-haired girl came in through the door.
Contrary to her appearance, her eyes were filled with passion.
To the point where Isis wondered if this was the same child who just ran away looking lost.
Sarah said,
“How to be strong. Please tell me.”
