Credits to MJ Longos for the anime opening theme~

You always respond once,

You are always vague

Never can I leave my heart

I'm lost in the same place

Waiting for you to hold my hand

----∞XIII∞----

36 - Offering

For what seemed like hours I watched him sleep. I kept thinking that everything that happened was a dream. With his one arm under my head and the other around my waist, it could only be a dream.

His slow, steady breaths sounded to me like a song. I was afraid that if I closed my eyes for a minute and fell asleep, I would wake up from all of this.

The moment it started to get light, I carefully got out of bed and got dressed. The hallways to the baths were still empty. After last night, everyone else would probably wake up late.

When I entered the baths, I was surprised to see Belial at the far end of the pool. Her long hair floated in the water like black serpents. Her back was turned to me but I could tell that she was looking at the sky.

"Seems like a great day to make an Offering, ain't it?" she said, her tone all but encouraging.

I dropped my robe and went to the showers. Letting the cold water awaken every muscle in my body, I closed my eyes. Once I opened them, I realized everything might as well be a dream.

Yes. The dream was over. Now, I had to face the nightmares again.

Wordlessly, I headed to the end of the pool right across Belial. The warm water brought back feeling to my limbs. I looked up to see what she had been staring at. All I saw was an endless stretch of cloudless blue.

"What's going to happen to me?" I asked her. "During the Offering."

"It ain't the Offering you should be worried about, Hun. It's what happens after."

"What do you mean?"

She began to gather her hair into a bun before finally looking grimly at me. "The Offering is just an appointment ticket to Eldest' office. Once you're inside don't mean you'll get what you want. Eldest ain't a genie, Hun. She would test you. She may even want somethin' in return for helping us."

My breaths became shaky despite the warmth of the water. I stared at my empty hands.

"B-but, what could she possibly want from me? I have nothing to give her!"

She threw me a pitiful look. "There's always somethin'."

"It's not over until it's over," I murmured to myself, echoing the words she said last night.

"Come to the arena when you're ready," Belial told me as she climbed out of the pool.

Blankly, I nodded.

Panic began to overwhelm me. What little spark of courage I thought I had began to dwindle. I thought the sacrifice ended with witnessing a friend die. But it was just the beginning.

----∞XIII∞----

Belial was hunkered in front of the lodestone when I arrived in the arena. She was drawing symbols on the ground with what looked like blood. The symbols formed a triangle, three feet wide.

"Great timing," said she, eyes still on her work.

She pushed herself up, wiping the crimson stains on her fingers with a washcloth. Eyeing me from head to toe, she raised a brow.

"You could've dressed a little better, Hun."

I looked down on the white frock I was wearing. It was maybe too plain for a meet and greet with the oldest, possibly most powerful creature on the planet but I couldn't afford to worry about that now.

"What? It's not a job interview," I retorted.

Surprisingly, she chuckled. "It might just turn out sorta like that, Hun. But what the heck?"

Pressing her lips together, she gestured for me to step in the middle of the triangle.

Clenching my teeth, I did what she told me.

She took my left hand--the one with the triangle marking. "You ready to meet your maker?"

"Of course I'm not ready," I choked out, forcing my lips to smile. "But what the heck, right?"

"Right."

Belial began chanting low in the ancient language. I think I used to know that language before, that if I tried hard enough I would remember what every word meant. But that wasn't a concern as of the moment.

It wasn't even ten seconds and the triangle started to glow. All of a sudden, the symbols lifted off the ground, floating around me. Fighting the urge to cower, I watched the symbols get sucked into the triangle drawn at the back of my hand.

My hand felt like it was burning from the inside out.

No matter how hard I ground my teeth, the scream I was holding back still escaped. I tried to withdraw my hand, but Belial didn't let go.

Only then did I realize that Belial was gone. In fact, everything was gone. Even the arena. And all that was left was an empty white space. No building. No floor. Just white.

"Belial?" I called out, but my voice only bounced on the non-existent walls.

For some reason, I felt woozy. Like that feeling you get when you stand at the balcony of a very tall building. It didn't make sense. I couldn't see what was below my feet, but it only fed what anxiety I already had.

"Help!" I cried out. "Help me!"

Just then, I saw a tiny figure emerge from not too far away--it was hard to tell distance here, really.

It was a child around seven. From the white, shoulder-length hair, the soft features of the angelic face, to the gray loose robe, it was hard to tell if the child was a boy or a girl.

"Help," said he (or she) in a tiny gentle voice that strangely rang of matureness. "You only remember me whenever you need help."

My mouth opened and closed twice before I could form the word, "Eldest?"

Once the child was right in front of me, I couldn't help but stare into his silvery eyes. Instead of replying, he reached for my left hand and touched the middle of the triangle on it. As he did, the tiny ball of light that was Carter's soul emerged from it and floated on the palm of his hand. He simply slipped it into his pocket and met my stare.

"You seem tense," he noted. "Have a seat, Aramis Rayne."

"W-where?"

He waved a hand behind me. "There."

As I turned to look, I saw a very familiar grandfather chair. The same chair Vincent threw at Amyr and me when we first sparred at the training room. That one he really "hated".

With my knees shaking, I flopped down on it.

Behind the child, the air shimmered into different colors of pulsing lights that began to form a room. But not just any room. As the child seated himself on the padded chair that had somehow materialized right across from me, I looked around: ceiling-to-floor windows, embroidered tapestries, carved wooden furniture, gilded chandeliers, granite fireplace and all.

Somehow, we were transported into what looked to me like the drawing room in Sinclair Mansion. At least before it had been destroyed by Sentries after we had abandoned it.

Dangling his feet over the chair, Eldest smiled at me. "I thought this place would make you feel at ease."

"T-thanks... I guess."

"So tell me, Aramis," he said. "What brings you here?"

Holding onto the armrests, I tried to shake off the daze and regain my bearings. How should I begin explaining it so that I would earn Eldest' favor?

I lifted my gaze. "I think you know exactly why I'm here."

"You're right," he chuckled, nodding. "I do know why. But I don't think the same goes for you, Aramis. Do you know why you're here?."

"I do," I answered firmly. "I'm here because if you don't help us, the world you created will be destroyed."

Passively, he traced with his fingers the wings of the angel figurine on his sidetable, looking disinterested. "Really? By who?"

I looked down. "The Scarlet Woman."

"And the Scarlet Beast," he added as if trying to make a point. "Do you want me to destroy them for you?"

"No!"

He leaned closer to me. "Then what is it that you really want?"

I couldn't answer. He was right. I didn't know why I was here.

Eldest jumped down from his seat and looked around the room with his hands joined behind him. "You can't even see the answer when it is so simple."

"And what is that?" I asked.

"The Woman is trapped. She cannot do anything without the Beast's help. It's still several hours before the eclipse transforms the man into the Beast. If I end him now, it will solve everything. I can do that for you."

It felt like I was choking, like a rope was tied around my heart; slowly strangling it. "F-for me? Why do you make it sound like it's all up to me?"

He gave me a rueful smile. "You made the Offering, remember? To kill or not to kill; that is the question... Shall I do it?"

I tightened my fingers around the armrests until my knuckles turned white. "Y-you can't!"

He blinked. "Then, will you do it?"

"I... can't."

He paused in front of a painting as if admiring it. "What can you do then?"

Again, no answer came to me.

Eldest spun on his heels to examine my reaction. "See? You are torn between saving the world and the man that owns your heart. But the thing is, you can't have everything."

My whole body was shaking when I abruptly stood. I couldn't breathe. I didn't think I could listen to him anymore, even if he is the most powerful creature on earth. My frustration was just too much to contain.

"That's why I came to you in the first place: because I need a miracle."

The tiny smile on his face disappeared. "I've stopped making those long ago."

"Where have you been, Eldest?" I asked, my voice papery.

This time, it was him who was unable to answer.

Slowly, the walls around us melted like paint being washed away by rain. With it, everything else disappeared, leaving the two of us standing in a room of endless white.

"My mother never stopped believing in God until her last breath. But no matter how I tried to believe like she did, I just didn't feel like you were with us anymore. So where have you been?"

He tried to smile, but failed. Despite the innocent appearance, his eyes betrayed sorrow so ancient I couldn't even begin to understand it.

"Perhaps, I got tired," was his answer.

"That's it?" I scoffed. "You got tired and abandoned us just like that?"

Looking down, the child let out a heavy sigh. His face was difficult to read.

"When I created the world, Aramis, I also granted humans free will so that they are able to decide how they should live. I've watched them use it to fluorish and to destroy. I can't even remember how many times I've interfered with them. I've sent floods and earthquakes to tell them, 'hey, someone's watching so you better be good'. And miracles and blessings as reminders that I have chosen them over the most loyal of my comrades."

"I tried to hear all their wishes--it seems I'm only remembered when times are hard--but whether I have granted these wishes or not, humans remained as beings of violence and greed. I have no need to cause catastrophies. They had already managed to bring it upon themselves. No matter how I try, humanity will do what humanity does."

There was a sinking feeling in my chest as I tried to digest what Eldest just said. Could it be that he had given up on us?

"But you made us this way," I managed to choke out.

A mix of pity and remorse took turns on his face. "Then, it was my mistake."

"Is that all we are to you? A mistake?"

"Aramis, if you can't kill the Beast, spare him and let the world be. Perhaps, it is time to wipe the slate clean and start all over again."

I faked a laugh. "You throw the world away so easily, Eldest."

He answered me with the saddest smile I had ever seen. "What has the world ever done for you?"

It was the same question Sharifa had asked me before.

"Nothing," I replied without hesitation. "It's not perfect. It's not even a good place but everyone I care about happens to be in it... . It's a difficult world to live in, but we keep on surviving every day. Everybody just wants to live the life given to them."

"So what if I want everything? So what if I want to keep the world and the man I love? I wouldn't just throw away one just so I could keep the other without a fight. With or without your blessing, I will find a way to save both and I will have everything!"

Maybe I was being arrogant, thinking I could accomplish something. Maybe I had overstepped my boundaries, causing me to loose the one great ally anyone could ever have. But I couldn't just give up.

As he stepped closer to me, I was almost sure he would turn me to dust after everything I said. I braced myself for it. But instead, Eldest laughed aloud. His childlike mirth was so infectious I just found myself smiling for no apparent reason.

"I'll be waiting for it then," he said, still smiling.

"Huh?"

"This 'way' you're trying to find; I'm excited to see if it will let you have everything like you wanted."

All I could manage was a very insightful "Oh..."

"But if you fail, you have to take full responsibility; is that alright?" he added with a wink.

"Y-yes."

"It's a deal then."

He reached for my hand and pulled it towards his forehead, murmuring something under his breath as he did. The marking glowed as soon as it had touched his skin. The second he let go, our surroundings began to fill with a whorl of colors that went round and round. It was making me dizzy.

"W-what did you just do?" I asked, struggling to keep my balance.

"I gave you my blessing," he answered. "With your own two hands, try and have everything, Aramis Rayne. Prove me wrong."

As the colors gradually settled down, Eldest started to walk away.

"Eldest!" I called. "A-are we going to win now?"

He didn't slow down but I saw him shrug. The air around him glittered. I knew that soon, he would disappear just like the way he had arrived.

I tried to follow him, but it felt like I was walking on a treadmill. I wasn't moving from where I was standing.

"Eldest! Wait!" I panted. "How can I tell that we have won?!"

This time, he stopped but didn't turn around.

"When the moon starts smiling!" was what I think he said.

He raised an arm and waved. Then he was gone.