Darkness Rising

EPILOGUE : BEGIN AGAIN

Lenore was leaving this city.

She was putting all of the chaos and pain behind her. There was an entire world out there waiting for her to explore it. The past couple of weeks—were something she didn't want to linger on. If she lingered on it too much then she might lose herself to the aching void that had formed at the center of her heart.

It wasn't a new void. It was the one that she'd carried since childhood. Lenore had tried to fill it with hard work and academic achievements but that only isolated her from the world she desperately wanted to be a part of. When she learned the truth of her family, she'd tried to fill the hole with revenge. That only made her feel emptier than before.

Then Lenore thought the hole in her heart was the perfect shape and size for her friends to fill it. That creating a new family, finding people who could love and accept her—was the answer. But they had betrayed her, too. Just like her previous family.

And that's when she realized that maybe there wasn't a place for someone like her in this world. But that didn't change that she still had to live here. If she had to live here, then she wanted to live her way—live in a way that maybe her parents wouldn't come to hate her.

"Train for City C is now boarding on platform 2." 

Lenore glanced down at her ticket. The past couple of days she'd expected Kaiser to show up and drag her back. But that never happened. He was letting her go. She should be happy about that, but it only left her more unsettled.

He told her before, 'nothing happens that he doesn't allow to happen.' If he was allowing her to walk away with ease then what was he planning? Because she understood best, even if everyone tried to deny it, that he had a plan. It irked her that she might be doing exactly what he wanted her to.

Lenore didn't want to make things easy for him. Not after what he had done.

That's why she was going to City C.

Of all the cities it was the most dangerous, and not necessarily her first choice on sights to see. But when she had swallowed those Blessings—when she had fallen into darkness, Lenore had seen one of Kaiser's memories.

It hadn't made much sense to her, then. Just a conversation between him and a woman, on a rooftop. The landscape of a city in twilight as a backdrop. However, after everything Lenore gathered from the conversation between Arkaydian and Kaiser. She'd seen the memory in a new light.

That woman wasn't some random fiend. She was someone like Kaiser; like Arkaydian. Which meant she must know more about the things Lenore had helped set into motion. Even better, she might know a way to escape the bond with Kaiser. To escape the debt of the favors she still owed him.

It was a long shot that she would find her and a desperate hope that she'd be willing to help Lenore if she did find her. Still, there was no reason to give up on the idea. The worst had already happened to her, Lenore had nothing left to lose.

"Last call for the train to City C!"

Lenore stepped forward and handed her ticket to the man, boarding the train. She paused for a moment, glancing back over her shoulder. This was the last time she would see this place. The bond clenched her heart and she grimaced at the sensation.

"Goodbye and good riddance," she muttered.

So, to City C she would go—to hunt for a fiend.