Chapter 28: Returning Your Immortality (Part III)

"It's alright, it's over now." Alastor held me, patting my back as if comforting a frightened cat.

My eyelids drooped, my mind still somewhat in a trance.

Everyone was looking at me, yet no one noticed that Malachi had already stood up and was staggering out of the underground palace.

"Malachi is escaping!" someone suddenly cried out in surprise.

Escape? Where could he go? It was broad daylight outside; he wasn't like Sol—he couldn't withstand the sunlight at all.

I struggled, the silver ring on my right index finger emitting a soft glow, but I couldn't muster an ounce of strength in my body.

"Pursue him!" Her Majesty the Queen barked, shooting me a somber glare.

I watched helplessly as they went after Malachi. Despite my desperate anxiety, I simply could not find any strength. Alastor looked down at me once, then carried me up the stairs we had come from to give chase.

The thicket of brambles at the entrance had been destroyed. I could see a secret passage on the other side; the Queen and the other vampires must have used it to reach the underground palace. Outside the thicket, warm sunlight was blanketing the earth.

Her Majesty stood with her followers on one side of the palace, staring coldly at the passage beyond the brambles, yet not a single one dared to step forward.

To the Blood Kind, the gentle sunlight was a deadly poison.

"Malachi!" I screamed.

I saw Malachi standing at the entrance. Just one more step, and he would enter the sunlight.

Malachi stood still and slowly turned his head to look at me.

"Divination?" He curved his lips slightly. Against the backdrop of the sunlight outside the door, his pale face was incredibly beautiful.

I remembered our first meeting at the Splendid Candy House; he had asked me the same thing. That time, I let him perform a divination but didn't heed his words, and in the end, I was turned into a vampire anyway.

But this time, I slowly shook my head.

Malachi looked at me, appearing somewhat surprised. "Why? Are you not curious about your origins or your past?"

"If Sol knew that the only reason he was abandoned was because you divined that he would die, he would have preferred death over four hundred years of separation... Knowing things too clearly becomes a shackle instead. I don't want to know my past or my future. I am just Aurora, the Aurora who is trying her best to live in the present."

"Knowing things too clearly becomes a shackle..." Malachi seemed a bit lost.

After a long silence, he slowly smiled. I had never seen such a beautiful smile; it was as if he were using up his entire life to bloom with the beauty of this single moment.

"Thank you, Aurora." He slowly took a step back, now mere inches from the sunlight.

"Stay back!" I shrieked.

He tilted his head slightly, squinting as he gazed at the warm sunlight beyond the door. "It’s been a long time since I’ve basked in the sun..."

The corner of my mouth began to twitch. After basking in the sun, you, old sir, will be departing this world forever.

"Sol said the sunlight is warm, feeling just like 'Flaming Fire'." He spoke as if murmuring to himself, a smile hanging on his lips, looking as though he were filled with infinite longing.

I stared at him fixedly.

Georges Bataille said that feeling joy in the face of death belongs only to those who believe there is no afterworld.

"Are you happy?" Looking at him, I murmured the question.

"Yes," he smiled.

"You are so selfish."

"Yes," he continued to smile.

"Through hundreds of years of life and waiting, you might have grown weary of this endless existence. But... what about Sol? You have given up on waiting. You know he exists within your body, yet he will have to continue searching endlessly for a person who has already vanished..."

"Yes." Smiling seemed to be the only language he had left at this moment.

"Taking him in, abandoning him, even killing him—you never asked for Sol's opinion, never thought of his feelings. And now you’ve decided on your own to harm yourself. Even after living so long, how can you still be this willful!" Seeing his calm, carefree smile, my anger flared uncontrollably.

Thinking of the lonely and eccentric Sol, I suddenly felt a surge of pity for him. How could he depend on such an unreliable person...

"I took him in because of loneliness; I abandoned him because I couldn't bear to let him die. In the end... it was still I who killed him with my own hands..." Malachi smiled faintly. "In that case, I shall return his immortality to him."

Taking one small step backward, his tall, slender body cast a long shadow under the brilliance of the sun.

Slowly closing his eyes, a warm smile rippled across his lips. "So, the sunlight really is warm. So, I do have a shadow after all. I am finally... no longer lonely..."

I stared at him, tears overflowing from my eyes bit by bit.

"I’m sorry, Sol..." he murmured, collapsing to the ground.

His slightly curly wine-red hair emitted a beautiful, eerie luster in the sunlight.

I broke free from Alastor’s arms and, amidst a sea of astonished gazes, rushed to his side and covered him with my cloak.

Back then, when Malachi was teaching me to mix drinks, he said he had divined that he would die.

And then, he truly died.

Was it the divination that foretold his end, or was he subconsciously moving toward the outcome the divination had set?

I didn't understand, but I knew for myself that I would certainly never resign myself to fate.

Long eyelashes flickered slightly, and the person lying on the ground slowly opened his eyes.

"Aurora?" He blinked and sat up, then realized he was covered only by a cloak. With a lazy wave of his hand, he snatched an unlucky vampire standing nearest the door. Before the victim could even scream, the vampire turned to ash under the sunlight, leaving behind nothing but a pile of clothes.

Under the angry and terrified eyes of the other vampires, he performed a personal dressing show, putting on the clothes with extreme elegance and straightening his collar.

I watched him foolishly, utterly dumbstruck.

"Why am I here?" He finally looked at me, raising an eyebrow in inquiry.

I opened my mouth but didn't know how to tell him.

"Hmm..." He drew out his voice, tilting his head slightly as he pressed a hand to his chest in confusion. "Why does it feel so empty? Like... something is missing..."

What was missing? Another soul was missing.

The existence of Malachi was missing.

Four hundred years of never meeting, yet depending on each other. And now, even that desolate companionship could not be preserved. Malachi had destroyed his own soul under the sun, leaving the body to Sol.

Returning his immortality?

Sol didn't even have a chance to refuse such an immortality.

Narrow phoenix eyes blinked, and a tear slid down that exquisite face.

That tear was the color of blood.

Sol raised his hand, touched his cheek, and froze for a moment.

"What is this? A tear?" Grinning, Sol laughed in disbelief. "I can actually cry?"

This was the second time I had seen Sol cry. The first time was when he was delirious and mistook me for Malachi. This was the second.

Malachi, did you see? Sol is crying.

Malachi, you said I was the first member of the Blood Kind you’d seen who could shed tears.

But do you see? Sol is crying.

The blood-red tears grew more and more frequent, impossible to stop. Sol looked at the crimson tear on his palm in confusion. "What... what on earth is wrong with me?"

Subconscious tears—he didn't even know who they were shed for.

Malachi, you are a willful and selfish idiot!

"I shall tell you why." Her Majesty the Queen's voice carried a hint of a smile.

My heart skipped a beat. If Sol knew that Malachi was dead, given his personality, would he destroy himself? Was that the Queen’s intention?

"Don't believe her!" I hurriedly grabbed Sol.

The Queen curled her lips and made a light gesture with her porcelain-white hand. A mirror appeared in the air before Sol.

The mirror reflected a silhouette.

The pale cheeks, the slightly curly wine-red hair, the narrow eyes—everything confirmed who the owner of this body was.

Facts speak louder than words; I remained silent.

Sol stared blankly at the mirror.

Various emotions flashed rapidly through his narrow eyes.

Shock, confusion, anger, agony...

He lowered his gaze, suddenly masking all his emotions.

After a long pause, he slowly looked up. "Eh? Oh! I’m quite beautiful!"

I nearly tripped and fell over in sheer disbelief.

"The Demon Realm is boring; I really am better suited for hanging out in the human world." He blew me a kiss. "Aurora, you are welcome to visit the Sabbat anytime." With that, he turned to leave.

That kiss gave me goosebumps all over.

"Hey! You—" I couldn't help but call out. Sol’s behavior was far too unusual.

"Hmm?" He turned back to look at me.

"You’re... just going to be like this?"

"How else should I be?" Sol laughed. "Should I play along with what that old woman wants and immolate myself like that selfish ghost?"

Old woman? I looked at the Queen; her expression was extremely unsightly. Er, although she was indeed an old woman, calling her that while looking at such a charming young face was truly bizarre.

"I am different from that selfish ghost. He wanted me to live, so I shall live. I’ll listen to whatever he said. Return my immortality? Then I’ll nag him every single day of this immortality, making sure he can’t even rest in peace..." He waved his hand with a smile and walked away with a certain flair.

Though he was smiling, I watched a lonely soul crying.

Those blood-red tears had merged into a vast ocean.