You jerked with the carriage as it hit against the bumps and holes in the road. A heavy sigh forced from your throat as your head spun.
For reasons beyond your comprehension, you'd brought the knife. Why on earth you'd take a weapon into a god's domain was beyond you. What you did know was that it was strangely comforting. You held the knife in your hands. And rubbed your thumb against the blunt of it. And it was really, truly comforting.
The world passed you by, and you stared. The sky was red, as beautiful as a renaissance painting. It was getting late. The party would begin as the sky's red became encapsulated within the dual moons and the stars shimmered behind it.
Essentially, nighttime.
People here didn't know how to speak in simple terms, it seemed. The phrases swirled around in your head. Their customs so complicated it gave you a migraine. You loved how passionately Huíshēng spoke of it all, but it was too much to soak in.
A sponge could only absorb so much, and in the past year or so you'd absorbed plenty. Between news of gods, dimension hopping, magic, Magi, and so much more... It was a lot to keep track of.
But you had to keep up.
One last life is what you'd promised Satia. And then you could be done with this. One last life— one you wanted to make a good one. One you wanted to...
Your breath caught, and you squeezed your eyes shut.
One last life, one you wanted to spend peacefully with Huíshēng. Perhaps, over time, he'd drop the formalities and you could grow past friendship. Maybe it could be a long life this time. Maybe you could be... Happy here?
The idea threw you off. In every world you'd just wanted to be happy there. Though that happiness always seemed to be bested by your drive. You hadn't even wanted this life though, you had given up on answers.
Of course now they were throwing themselves at your feet.
The inscription on the knife, it was a bible verse. The bible didn't exist in this world at all, but Chava had never insinuated the knife belonged to this world either.
You leant your head back and stared out the windows.
Such a clear sky lay before you. You'd never seen such a clear one in any of the previous worlds you visited. How gorgeous, how serene. How the moon reminded you of Huíshēng's eyes, how he glowed under its light.
What a connection he harbored with the moon. You wondered if there was something that called to you like the moon seemed to call to him.