[Completed] Legend of the Five Knights II: The Shadow of Justice

Episode 30: What is Love?

[Meanwhile in Xeleria]

"Papa!" a voice called out to me. It was like that of a little girl. She ran up through the field of mist around me. Her face beamed with a large smile. I found myself smiling back and held a hand out toward her.

Suddenly the girl and the mist faded, replaced by darkness.

I opened my eyes. A dream? For some reason I found myself with a tear rolling down my face.  That dream, it had felt so real...

I blinked and shook my head. I was in a hotel room. I had spent the night looking over the girl we found in the abyss. Usually one of my teammates would also be here, but none was to be seen. I assumed they all went to get breakfast.

I rose from the golden chair I had fallen asleep in and made my way to her. I pulled her long bangs out of her closed eyes. The girl's face was now gentle like that of a child's. She had been moving uneasily all night. I had even thought that she was suffering a seizure a few times. It was a miracle that she now looked so peaceful.

"Hmm?" the girl said as she opened her eyes. They were as blue as the sea. She gasped and moved away from me. "Who, who are you?"

I chuckled. "What? You don't remember your own lover?" I asked, brining a finger toward my lips. "Seemed you fainted after I kissed you."

"What? R-really?" she asked as her face reddened.

Wait, she believes that? Does she not recall what happened?

I leaned in close to her and grinned. "Yeah, I guess it was too passionate for you."

The girl moved away some more and fell off of the bed. She gasped as she realized she hadn't hit the floor.

I chuckled. "Easy there, princess! It's nothing to be too frightened off. I mean, most newbies are shy. Well, except for me." I placed her back on the bed and backed away. A laugh escaped my lips as she continued to blush. "You know, I was kidding around. I am not your boyfriend. Me and some others found you in a dark world."

The girl's redness gradually subsided, in fact it became increasingly pale. "Dark world?"

I dropped my smile and nodded. "Yeah. One called Abyssia. Do you not recall it?"

She shook her head. "It's the opposite. It... It seems to be the only significant thing I do recall," she said, sitting up. "I don't even remember my own name, nor where I come from."

"You don't?"

She closed her gorgeous eyes. "No. It's as if the darkness washed those memories away. I am lucky to remember how to even talk..."

Perhaps if she had stayed in the realm some more, she would have forgotten even that. So it's like Kuroshi said, the darkness corrupts and erases one's memories bit by bit.