The two wandering spirits moved through the wondrous fields at a quick pace, their goal being the city in the distance.
While it would certainly result in the erasure of ego for most souls that entered its gates, certain exceptions existed, ones that the Wanderer himself began to explain to the girl as they hiked up a hill.
"If you can create a strong enough tether to your homeland, for you, the Dimension of Waves, then it is possible to restrict the memory loss to a minimum. Furthermore, if you are someone with extraordinary power, or if Death himself takes interest in you, then you can also resist it."
He paused, noticing the blonde child's face contort slightly upon the mention of the deity who governed the land.
"Do they not recognize Death as a true god in the Dimension of Waves anymore? When I was still alive, I remember the Phantom Order's preachings during the weekly temple services…"
As he spoke, Eleanor furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Sir, I thought you said that you had no memory of your past life?"
She continued forward as she replied, getting momentarily distracted, which caused her to slam into the now frozen man.
Taking a step back, a tinge of annoyance built in her chest.
"Why did you stop?"
There was no response for a second before a chuckle broke from the man's lips.
"It seems that I said something that I shouldn't have… Forgive me, but I really mustn't dwell on my history, or else the pain will come."
Not waiting for her response, he picked up the pace once again, not daring to slow and waste further time.
How odd…
Shifting the thought to the back of her mind, staring blankly at the scenery as she tried to focus.
The white and pink flowers that coated the greenery fascinated the priestess as she rushed behind him, their untamed beauty something unfamiliar to her.
Sea Fallen never had such gardens… Nor did it have this much space!
Cracking a small smile, she sped up, not allowing herself to fall behind the strangely quick man.
After an hour, Eleanor began to feel time slipping away from her, overwhelmed with the urge to simply follow her instincts and enter the city without any regard for the consequences.
Every so often, the Wanderer shook her shoulders, making sure she wasn't locked in the trance of the city's magnificence.
Whether it be steep slopes of mountains, valleys as deep and vast as gaping wounds, or rivers as fast and unforgiving as terrors, they never once stopped.
Throughout the universe itself, only five hours passed; however, in the Great Beyond, such a thing had no meaning.
To the girl and the man accompanying her, it felt like they had journeyed for an infinite time, while also none at all.
Only after they began to approach the gates did she snap back to reality, fascinated by the sight of the illusory figures walking straight through the walls surrounding the large settlement.
A mother and her child, a small dog, and a horned monstrosity—regardless of what it was—all took refuge within the walls, sacrificing their memories for a new life.
"Shouldn't we stop them? If they are going to lose their memories, then wouldn't they want to at least have the freedom to choose, as I did?"
She looked up at the man with a frown, an expression which was also reflected on his face, albeit with a sigh attached.
"It was already a miracle that I was able to stop you from entering mindlessly. Normally, no matter what I do, they cannot be stopped from their pursuit of Death. Your soul is exceptional, likely due to the method by which you departed."
Waiting a moment, he realized he had forgotten something essential.
"Dammit!"
He searched through his ragged pockets, throwing out various herbs, sachets, and even bones in his attempt to find what he needed.
Paling in the face, he slowly looked up at the girl, a wry smile coming over his lips.
"It seems I have forgotten my ceremonial blade… Now, unless you happen to have a powerful medium on you, it would be nearly impossible for you to bind your soul."
Eleanor froze, gazing at him with frustration that seemed to grow by the minute ever since she had met that man, slowly boiling into rage.
"Excuse me? You told me that—"
He raised his hand, silencing the girl before she could finish her accusation.
"Let's see… Do you have any intent on becoming an Angel? If so, then that might be a way to bind you."
Rubbing his beard, he watched as the girl's eyes settled on a patch of dirt behind him, obviously contemplating the choice.
"What would I need to become one? And what would I need to sacrifice in the process?"
Behind her, a group of wandering souls disappeared through the gate all at once, causing a ghostly roar to emit from the wall.
The Wanderer said nothing as he tried hard to remember the commandments of the Angelic Reformers.
"Celibacy is a must. Furthermore, you must have excelled with Holy Magic during your lifetime and been taught in the ways of a Church."
He paused, another piece coming to mind.
"Oh yes! Other than the exceptionally low chance of being chosen, you must have died from natural causes to be considered! Now, how did you die again?"
The girl was left stumped; the mental checklist she had been making was rendered irrelevant by the last criterion of an otherwise relatively promising list.
"W-what is considered natural…?"
The blond man gave her a weird look, as if she had asked something that should have been obvious.
"Is it not referred to that anymore? Well then, I'd say anything that pertains to the natural environment, such as disease, hunger, climate, age, or, of course, in the case of the Dimension of Waves, sea terrors."
Eleanor pursed her lips, her eyes soon closing.
"What about being erased by a deity?"
Not even wanting to see the man's expression at what she had said, she waited for his response like that, without looking.
"Huh… Well, that's a new method of death that I haven't come across down here yet…"
Unbeknownst to the blonde-haired girl who had her eyes tightly shut, the man rubbed his forehead hard, thinking with the utmost of his brainpower.
There's no way they would even allow her a chance if she enraged a deity to the point of erasure… Have I picked up a miscreant worse than a Devil on my journey?
Wary of the small girl, he took a step back, his hand falling onto a strange golden pistol he had gained a long time ago during a hazy memory, blotched out in a pitch-black darkness.
Watching the girl from afar, he waited for her to open her eyes, his next actions to be swiftly determined based on what she said next.
"Sir…?"
As her eyelids began to lift, the man prepared to unholster the weapon and fire at her, which would likely send her frail figure spiraling through the gates and into the memory void.
A criminal who enraged a god cannot be sane. She must be a witch from the depths of the Abyss! And that would mean that she angered the God of—
Instantly, a pain worse than death overwhelmed the man, forcing him to contract sharply, his pistol discharging from the sudden movement.
BANG!
The noise startled Eleanor, and she jumped backwards, right onto the barrier between the Kingdom at the End and the plains.
"AGH!"
The man screamed in pain as he clutched his skull, the bone itself breaking into two jagged pieces that peeled apart like the opening petals of a grotesque flower.
His brain matter oozed out like a flood, draining onto the grassy and oily, instantly killing all surrounding greenery.
"Sir!?"
Rushing forward to try to help the man, Eleanor stepped too close and got struck in the stomach by one of his failing hands, knocking her backwards with a force strong enough to pierce her flesh.
A hole the size of a fist opened in her body as she fell to the ground, crimson blood exploding out like a geyser.
The white cloth wrapped around her bloomed with red stains before flashing with a luminous hue of golden light.
Then, as if her injury had never happened, she was standing again, her eyes darting around in confusion as she watched the scene before her.
Eleanor's legs wouldn't move, a side effect of the instant regeneration that all deceased spirits had, which forced her muscles to contract involuntarily even after the healing had finished.
Therefore, as she stood there, unmoving, she could not help but stare as the Wanderer's skull began to mend vein by vein, fiber by fiber.
His mouth dripped with blood; however, after only a brief time, the liquid dried and fell off in clumps, his body back in pristine condition, barring his missing eye and multitude of scars that she had noticed already during their first meeting.
"Hck…"
Coughing up a ball of black phlegm, he steadied himself, furrowing his brow in confusion soon after.
"I-I apologize…"
His breaths were heavy and fast, the horrific rupture of his skull leaving him visibly weakened.
The girl didn't know what had happened as one moment he was standing fine, then the next, his head was splitting in two right before her eyes.
"W-what happened to you?"
She watched as he cracked his neck, the sound sending a chill down her spine.
"My memories bubble up from time to time, and whenever I try to remember something important, they do that."
He pointed towards the ground where the brain matter sizzled like a boiling soup, causing the formerly clean green soil to rot away.
As an unusual soul that had wandered these lands for eons, the man had long figured out the ailment that plagued him and knew that the only solution was the one offered by Death himself.
If he so wished, reincarnation could satiate his woes—it was a choice he had nearly made over a millennium ago.
Standing before Death with a smile, he had decided to remain, and ironically, the headaches, soul tears, and meltdowns that tried to erase his very presence kept him sane among the lost spirits of the Great Beyond.
"What happened to cause your memories to become so potent? When I remember my past, I can visualize it clearly without such pain."
Recalling a clear image of Aaron's face, she paused, wondering why he was the one who came to mind out of everyone she knew.
Odd…
Shaking her head, she noticed the man curl his lips.
"Perhaps I'm just special."
As he said the words, he shrugged his shoulders, restraining a humourless chuckle that burned him deep in the throat.
Taking a deep breath and observing his body language for a few hesitant seconds, Eleanor prepared to speak again, the issue of her soul bind still weighing on her.
"Well… to get back on topic—"
She was cut off, a strange flicker of turquoise erupting inside her head, just behind her eyes.
The Wanderer saw it as well, spilling out around her eyeballs, his face instantly crumpling in dismay as that light began to wrap around her entire body.
His heartbeat spiked to a new high, his single turquoise eye popping with blood as he collapsed to the floor.
Without even attempting to remember where he had felt that strange feeling before, he was struck with yet another wave of torment.
Eleanor wasn't in much better shape herself—she couldn't even process what she was seeing, a mess of pain and color suffocating her mind.
Before she could gather her fragmented thoughts, voices streamed into her head with a cool, icy tone, and the sheer power emanating from one particular, masculine voice left her gasping for air as if there was an anvil pressing down on her chest.
"Your friend, Eleanor—lovely girl by the way—"
That painful voice cut out, a long pause following before another indistinguishable yet less agonizing one surfaced.
"I have restored her body to pristine condition; however, her mind is fractured, and her soul is trapped in a limbo between the Great Beyond and your—"
This time, she recognized it, though her eyes widened as she watched the Wanderer convulse on the ground, without actually seeing him, still too thrown off to process the reality.
That voice…
A memory tugged at the back of her mind—the Mausoleum of Dreams, the core, that voice that granted her wish.
T-that must be the God Killer…
Listening in again, she felt the link begin to fade, a jolt of pain surging through her temples.
"A deity? I-Is there any way to save her?"
Her chest tightened, that one, the voice that she had just heard, that was not one she could forget simply.
The savior who had brought her back to her home, Aaron Grimstall, and he was speaking with the man who addressed himself as the God Killer.
It was an absurd pairing of people, one that nearly made her chuckle aloud, for what could that idiot boy possibly discuss with a man capable of executing deities?
Yet, for some reason, she didn't dismiss the possibility entirely, considering that she had died to an outrageous being appearing inside his very head.
Now, though, silence emerged within her mind, her legs nearly giving out as the crushing pressure of the conversation vanished without a trace.
For a moment, she stood still, not quite understanding what had just occurred.
However, the last lines spoken by the man she could only assume was the God Killer stuck at the front of her mind.
Noticing the blond man on the floor beginning to regain consciousness, she muttered something under her breath, a feeling of certainty seeping through her pale flesh.
"M-My body is alive…"