Trying to Save my Favorite Character from His Tragic Fate

Phanes jumps off and lands on the busy streets. From the impact, an electric current runs up through her body from the bottom of her feet. She walks away, blushing without turning back her head to look if Erebus is following. She should have landed on the first floor balcony. For some reason, she wants to act cool in front of Erebus, but until now, reality has yet to meet her expectations. Phanes quickens her pace as the embarrassment starts to build up within her. She does not stop to wait for Erebus to catch up because she knows that they both share a common goal. They are looking for those missing people.

On the roof, watching silently while Phanes walks away with a blush rising on her face, Erebus turns back to stare at the black mana stone that he took away from Kyrie. He lets out a breath of frustration and takes out from his pocket a pendant. If Kyrie sees it, he would be so surprised that his eyeballs could pop out. Both mana stones are the same replica of each other, just that the one he took from his pocket looks newer. The design and attributes of the pendant are the same as each other.

'Coincidence or fate?'

Erebus ponders while putting both of them into his pocket again. He gets off the rooftop and quickens his pace to reach Phanes.

---

Leaning back to the carriage seat, Kyrie looks out at the scenery as they rapidly move towards the farm. For the entire morning, they have been walking around the city. Sitting back down after a long walk, Kyrie becomes aware of his swollen feet throbbing. 

Maya shows the two what she has been doing for all these years alone inside this illusion. Before she got interrupted by the fallen saintess and her minions, she used her time on crafts and farming. 

She waited patiently for a visitor. Although more of them could have come into the underground city if she made the dungeon less complicated to travel, Maya feels that Udarr's city should remain only for those who still remember him. After all, the only way to know how to navigate through the tunnels is by knowing the ritual that commemorates his ascension to godhood.

Maya looks at the couple in front of her, and she is glad that she has met them. Even though she has suffered a little bit under Cynthia's hands, through the memories given to her by Udarr, she understands that not everyone is like that fallen saintess.

Kyrie senses a gaze on him; he turns back to look at Maya, staring at them with her sparkly eyes. 

"Maya, you have done so well throughout all these years here," says Kyrie, using his instincts to guide his tongue.

His heart feels for Maya. After being created with the sole purpose of maintaining an illusion of other people's good times, she has been able to live a life for herself despite spending her time alone watching these beautiful moments.

These words touch Maya's most delicate parts of her heart. Like filling a part of her that has been unconsciously waiting for those words to come from someone else. She promised Udarr to keep this place alive and beautiful. She silently waited for someone to acknowledge her existence and achievements, so she endured the loneliness, working hard for that someday. 

"Do you like it here?" asks Maya, bracing her heart for the answer. 

Kyrie exchanges glance with Ian because they know where this question is leading to.

"Yes, we do," says Kyrie. 

Maya lifts her head towards the two, who smile sincerely at her.

"But, Maya…" The words fade her smile.

"Is this place not enough?"

"That is not what I mean, Maya…"

"Then, why would you want to leave? Is it because you have a home that is better than here?"

"Maya… Ian and I have to finish the game back in our own time, or else we could die."

"But this is a different time period. I don't think that witch's magic could reach you."

"... You know that this is a different time period?"

"Yes, of course, I do! I brought you here."

"You brought us here?"

Ian narrows his eyes at the sudden influx of new information. He is not aware that he was in another time period, but why is that Kyrie knows about this? Again, he feels the same tightening feeling in his chest. The mysteries of this man keep growing each day.

"Well… Not exactly… I just followed someone's powers this time, and then... Poof! I saw my past self, and our bodies combined into one. Then, I noticed that a lot of the stuff that I made in the years have disappeared! That is when I knew I traveled back in time! I was a bit disappointed that all my crafts are gone!!!"

"Do you know how to get us back?"

The corners of Maya's eyes drop. She knows, but she just does not want them to leave her. They have so much fun together. Why can't they stay with her?

"We have people still waiting for us, Maya," explains Kyrie.

"Is it because their homes are better? Or do you have more fun with them?"

"A home is not a place, Maya. It's a person," says Kyrie.

"A person?" Maya tilts her head to one side in confusion.

"Yeah, a home is someone or a group of people," Kyrie's eyes inevitably turn towards Ian.

Although Ian seems to be in a daze and not aware of his gaze, Kyrie still quickly turns his eyes away shyly.

"Then… I don't have a home…" Maya's body slumps. The corners of her eyes feel wet.

"You can come with us," says Kyrie, "But our journey will not be as peaceful as your daily life. We are going against something that might be even too big for us to handle. However, your powers might give us the help we need."

Ian's eyes walk back towards Kyrie. He is determined to stay with this man, yet he has no idea what kind of road he will walk on. How could he protect someone when he does not know what he is fighting against? Is he going to stay under his protection forever? 

That does not sit well with him. He knows that the dangers in the future will be much bigger than his imagination can lead him to. One question remains in his mind, and has not been able to get a satisfying answer.

'Why does Kyrie keep hiding information from me?'

It's not like he has never overheard anything before. At first, Ian suspects that Kyrie cannot say the information because he has something stopping him. However, this only happens with him. Why only him? Why can't Kyrie tell him? What is a reason big enough for Kyrie to hide this information? What good can it bring?

Maya smiles at Kyrie's proposal. 

Back then, Udarr tells her that if she finds herself somewhere that brings her more happiness than the city that he left her with, then she can go where her heart leads. 

--

'Why?' she asks.

'Because… That is how I made you. I let you gain consciousness because the happiness that I felt in my city was always chosen by the people who inhabited it. That is why I wanted to preserve these memories… Maya… I am sorry to leave you behind, but I have committed so many sins. I am selfish to leave you here. I am sorry.'

--

Maybe she has found her happiness, more specifically, her home. 

Suddenly, electricity runs all over her body, and her mind connects to a view of three people going into a cave.

"They should not be there…" Maya says, trembling.

Kyrie gets flabbergasted at Maya's sudden outburst of fear. 

"What do you mean? Maya?"

Maya stands and opens the door of the carriage as the carriage is still in motion.

"Maya!" Kyrie fails to grab her when she jumps out of the moving carriage. 

"Maya!" Kyrie holds onto the door frame and leans outside of the carriage, looking at Maya, running towards another direction on the plane of grass. 

Ian rushes to take Kyrie back into the carriage since it is dangerous.

"What happened?"

"I am not sure! I just saw how Maya turned pale and then jumped off the carriage!"

"Something must have happened…"

Kyrie nods.

"Let's go after her!"