NEVERGLOW

  LUTHERFORD, AETERNUM - 10:53 AM

  A huge missile strikes the flower shop from afar, creating a massive hole. Luke and Celeste, who are on the second floor, stay unscathed but are caught off-balance. The two jump out the balcony to find a large black mech, twice the size of the silver butterfly mechs, soaring above them. The mech locks on the two as it fires several missiles, which Celeste stops mid-air.

  “It’s too far up for me to hit it!” States Luke, staring at the mech situated almost forty-feet in the air. Just as he finishes his sentence, several lasers and rays of light hit the mech’s left shoulder blade, pushing it back. It was the first time Zack and Elena’s attacks failed to pierce an opponent; how tough was this mech’s exterior?

  Elena uses her threads to restrain the mech as Zack fires off tiny lasers. His energy had been depleted from the massive laser he fired at Jason earlier.

  The mech shrugs off Zack’s attack as it frees itself from Elena’s threads. It begins charging at the four as Elena creates a barrier, stopping it in its tracks. Celeste tries holding the mech in place, struggling as the robot is far too heavy. Luke uses the moment to jump upwards, striking the mech with his energized rod, creating an explosion that scrapes a few bits of metal off the mech’s right arm. The mech flies back, lighting up as it fires a humongous blast of energy from its core. Elena creates a huge barrier to block it, but the mech fires on relentlessly, burning the countless bushes and trees with its blast. Luke looks on, dejected as the plants he had worked so hard to grow and maintain were incinerated in an instant.

  NEVERGLOW

  LUTHERFORD, AETERNUM - 10:53 AM

  Nick spots the mech from afar, sprinting towards it to assist his allies. Before he is given the chance to arrive at the greenery, four elite soldiers corner him in the middle of the street. Nick separates his bow into daggers, ready for a melee.

  The four charge at him simultaneously as Nick quickly parries their assault. He kicks one soldier away, crashing him onto a car. He continues keeping up with the three’s attacks, blasting one away with electricity after parrying the other two’s blades. The remaining two charge at him, spinning as Nick connects his daggers to make a chakram. Nick spins his own weapon, keeping the two away as he hurls his chakram at one. The soldier blocks it, but Nick teleports behind him, disconnecting his daggers and stabs the soldier in the neck. The other soldier launches a fury of attacks with his blades, but Nick dodges them with ease. Nick manages to impale the soldier with one edge of his chakram as he was too focused on attacking instead of defending. Nick pulls his weapon out of the man’s torso, decapitating him soonly after.

  The two other soldiers he had initially blown away recover and begin charging towards him. Nick repeats the process he used to defeat the previous two, hurling his chakram at one soldier who blocks it. The soldier looks behind, anticipating Nick’s attack, but Nick instead goes for the other soldier. Nick grabs the elite’s face, sending currents of electricity throughout the man’s body, frying his insides. The last soldier tries slashing at Nick to no avail as Nick teleports behind him, splitting the soldier in two as he hurls his chakram from behind.

  Nick continues making his way to the greenery, where he is stopped once more by six armored cars that arrive at his location. He sighs as he realizes he needs to continue fighting, already gassed from the huge lightning bolt he summoned earlier. Dozens of foot soldiers step out from each car as Nick readies his blades, unsure if he still has enough energy left to teleport around.

  NEVERGLOW

  LUTHERFORD, AETERNUM - 11:04 AM

  Elena continues blocking the mech’s blast as the three devise a plan.

  “How the hell do we beat this thing? We still haven’t pierced through its exterior!” Luke exclaims, already stressed at the prospect of his garden getting obliterated.

  “Then we damage it from the inside. Unfortunately I won’t be much help anymore. I spent everything I had on one attack earlier.” Answers Zack, who sits on the ground as he observes the mech.

  “Look, his core’s exposed while firing this laser. If we could just get to it, then it’d be a done deal.” He points out.

  “Luke, you can fire explosions from afar, right?” Asks Celeste, who had come up with an idea.

  “Well, yeah. I can’t hit it from here, though. It’s too far up.”

  “I can make you fly towards it. From then on, it’ll be up to you.” Celeste replies as Elena visibly struggles keeping her barrier intact. She had been fending off a powerful, destructive blast for six straight minutes at this point.

  “Come on. We don’t have much time.” Says Celeste as Luke readies his arms for a massive blast. Celeste manifests her rings, attaching one to Luke’s wrist. Luke flies upwards as Celeste guides him from below with her ring. Celeste brings Luke close to the mech, who continues firing at Elena. Luke pushes his arms forward, having charged a blast while flying through the air.

  “Eat this, motherfucker!” Luke yells, firing a huge explosion at the mech’s core, stopping its laser. Celeste brings Luke back down as the mech shakes rapidly in midair before bursting into pieces. Elena blocks the debris from above with a barrier as the four look at each other, relieved. Elena’s relief soon turns into worry as she notices the missing presence of a very important person.

  “Where’s Nick?” Elena asks as Luke shrugs.

  “Last I saw he was fighting the blue-haired guy.” Replies Celeste as several gunshots can be heard, coming from the west.

  NEVERGLOW

  LUTHERFORD, AETERNUM - 11:06 AM

  Nick runs through a wave of soldiers, slicing them while trying to dodge bullets from every direction. He tries using human shields and vehicles for cover, but ends up getting shot in his left forearm nonetheless. Not only was his energy depleted, he himself was tired from killing four elite soldiers directly after fighting a demediom.

  As soldiers continue shooting by the vehicle he took cover behind, Nick closes his eyes, contemplating his life. This was the life he didn’t desire, yet he chose nevertheless. If he were to face his end now, he would feel indifferent. A part of him was happy that he found a new family after losing his initial one, as well as getting to experience several joys in life. He had participated in the Aurus festival, gotten closure from his family and trained hard enough to be worthy of becoming an A-Rank Palladium officer.

  Though with satisfaction also comes regret. He was not able to achieve his dream of joining the demon hunting force as he was too occupied with repaying Zack’s kindness. He was unable to avenge his family as Damon still rests in Evernight, alive and well. He had not told Elena how he felt about her, terrified after getting rejected the last time he attempted to get into a relationship. All of these he would never get to experience, as he starts to accept his death.

  He opens his eyes, ready for one last stand as a ray of light approaches his area. For a brief second Nick believed heaven was real as he stared at an angel descending from the light. Coming back to his senses, Nick realizes that the angel was in fact, Elena, sporting white, feathered wings at her back. Summoning pillars of light from above, Elena takes out the soldiers firing towards Nick. She looks back at him, in awe at what he just witnessed.

  “Did it hurt?” Nick jokes as Elena softly smiles.

  “I always hated that pick up line.” Elena replies, retracting her wings. The two are interrupted by a huge missile as they look up, staring at another tarantula mech. Far too tired to continue fighting, the two opt to retreat as Elena grows her wings once more, grabbing Nick by the hand as they fly off. The mech tries chasing them, but fails to catch up with Elena’s speed.

  “What about the others?” Asks Nick while in flight, concerned about the rest as he stares at the carnage from afar. The garden was completely incinerated, the flower shop crumbled into pieces.

  “They’ll be fine.” Elena assures Nick, having witnessed them in combat herself. Surely they were intelligent enough to retreat as well.

  ETERNAL TOWER - 50TH FLOOR

  EVERNIGHT, NAZENDEL - 2:46 PM

  Damon and Jason stand in the room where the latter had been briefed mere hours ago. Damon looks at the monitor, showing the Neverglow garden on fire.

  “I’m disappointed, Jason.”

  “Apologies, sir. Trent gave the order to retreat.” Jason meekly replies.

  “But who gave you the order to retrieve Zack Evergreen at all costs?” Damon retorts, turning towards Jason, who hangs his head in shame.

  “I trusted you with this mission, and you have failed me. 250 of my best men and 1 tarantula mech, gone for nothing!” Shouts Damon, bringing his fist down onto the table.

  “Take a good look at how much they were struggling! If you stayed a bit longer, then you would have-” Damon continues, swapping the picture to reveal Elena blocking the tarantula mech’s blast. Damon zooms in on Elena’s face as he inspects the image. He grins widely, realizing what just fell into his hands.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Nevermind. Just don’t fail me again.” Damon tells Jason, who notices his quick mood change. Just a few minutes ago the dictator was fuming, why did he turn so calm all of a sudden?

  ALTAIR RESIDENCE

  ROSCHER, GRATA - 9:07 PM

  Fleeing to his former home, Nick and Elena spend the day cleaning the dusty, old house. After spending hours cleaning, the two decide to take a break, getting breaths of fresh air on the balcony just outside Raymond’s room. The stars and city lights illuminate the night sky just behind Elena, who was leaning on the railing.

  “Ugh… My back’s aching…” Nick comments as he stretches in the background.

  “I told you not to overexert yourself. You should have just let me do the cleaning.” Elena replies as Nick approaches the railing, leaning beside her.

  “Cleaning? That was a restoration project, if anything.” Jokes Nick, prompting Elena to let out a smile that she hides by turning towards the stars. The two take a moment to stare at the Roscher skyline; a brief moment of repose after their stressful encounter with Eternal Drive earlier in the day.

  “Nick.” Elena softly calls out before turning to him.

  “...What is it?” He answers.

  “I’m sorry.” Elena apologizes, catching Nick off-guard.

  “...What for?”

  “I haven’t been very honest with you. I haven’t been honest with anybody, really. Not even myself.” Elena admits, tears starting to swell in her eyes. Nick returns silence, allowing Elena to further explain herself.

  “I’ve been lying about my identity.” She continues.

  “I know.”

  “...What?”

  “I’ve had my doubts from the start, y’know. Hell, I was even beginning to become wary of you at one point.” Nick explains.

  “But then I started to give it some more thought. I realized that whether or not you had an agenda of your own didn’t matter. What matters is the countless times you went out of your way to help me.” Continues Nick. A flattered yet humble Elena tries to speak up, but Nick carries on with his praise.

  “I…”

  “Maybe you planned on using me. I planned on using you, too. We had a two-way deal, after all. But even though things didn’t go our way, you still stood by my side. You still helped me clean this- sorry excuse of a house.” He says as Elena chuckles.

  “I’m not so sure you’d look at me the same way if I told you who I really am.” Elena comments.

  “Then who are you, Elena Lune?”

  “Well… For starters… My full name is Elena Lune Mordegarde.” Elena states as Nick’s eyes widen.

  “Mordegarde? Like… The Adiran Mordegarde?” Nick curiously asks, referring to Esper’s national hero.

  “Yes… He’s my father.” Replies Elena as Nick stares at the wall in disbelief.

  “Wait, so…”

  “I… wasn’t originally from Lavia. I grew up in a nearby nation called Esper, where he raised me to be a royal knight.”

  “Hold- hooold on, this is far too much information. Please tell me you’re joking.” Nick says as Elena shakes her head.

  “This is what you asked for, right? It’s been eating me up inside too, ever since I got you involved in the bombing situation. So please, listen to my story.” Elena pleads.

  “Okay, okay… I’ll listen.”

  “Since you know my father, you must also know how he came to be the Hero of Esper, right?” Asks Elena as Nick shakes his head.

  “I never listened to that stuff in class. I thought it was pointless trying to learn other countries’ history.” Nick answers as Elena looks at him disappointedly.

  “He helped the king of Esper conquer hundreds of nations, including Lavia. While they were partaking in their conquest here, my father fell in love with a Lavian woman. They secretly had me, as it was taboo to copulate with someone from a warring nation.”

  “Taboo? Do you mean to say that massacring thousands is alright, but that’s where they draw the line?”

  “War brings out the worst in men. They hold century-long grudges, even after wars conclude. To them, starting a family with someone from a warring nation was treason.” Elena explains.

  “The Lavians found out about my mother’s relationship with my father, and they executed her for it. My father found out, and as you’d expect, he was enraged.” Elena continues.

  “Do you have an idea where the demons originated from?” Asks Elena as Nick shakes his head.

  “No clue. Everybody just treats them like animals with unique abilities.” Nick replies.

  “I… The reason I don’t ever want to leave South Lavia is because my father created those demons.” States Elena as Nick looks at her with a mix of shock and confusion.

  “When he found out about my mother’s death, he headed straight for Valcove, the center of North Lavia. He turned half of the population into grotesque, mindless demons that now roam that portion of the country.” Elena informs Nick.

  “I can’t even stomach the thought of facing them. Yes, they killed my mother, but was a genocide warranted?!”

  “You say war brings out the worst in men; I say love does. One moment you’re completely ecstatic, the next you’re completely heartbroken. People in relationships are fueled by emotions instead of logic.” Nick replies, giving his perspective on the ordeal.

  “...Do you think so?” Asks Elena as Nick nods.

  “Yeah. I believe love makes people operate differently from how they normally are. So how’d you find out? Did he tell you himself?”

  “I found out when a Lavian assassin tried to take my life one night. He told me his intent for killing me, so I questioned my father who… admitted to the crime.” Answers Elena, her voice beginning to tremble.

  “I… was heartbroken. My father was a genocidaire who felt no remorse. The man I thought I knew my whole life was an entirely different person. I felt so much betrayal and rage that I ended up going back to the captive assassin… and murdered him myself.” She continues.

  “Your first kill.” Nick comments as Elena nods.

  “I ran away and fled to Lavia, where my mother lived. I couldn’t face my dad, or any of the others in the Royal Family for lying to my face for years.” Elena concludes.

  “That’s… Wow. That’s a lot.” Nick responds, heavily sighing at the bombshell Elena dropped.

  “That’s not all. I… I don’t know why he’s here and why he’s the President of Lavia, but what I do know is that Damon Estreval was originally the prince of Esper.” Elena continues as Nick looks even more bewildered.

  “What…? I… Maybe… He was sent to watch over you?” A dazed Nick theorizes.

  “Just the thought of that disgusts me; he caused a friend of mine so much agony while we grew up in the castle. I wanted some way to get in contact with him to find out why he’s in South Lavia in the first place, so I decided to become a rebel to get Eternal Drive’s attention.”

  “And because of my selfishness, I ended up dragging you into this mess. I’m really, really sorry, Nick.” Elena apologizes, turning to Nick with tears in her eyes.

  “Hey… I had so many chances to back out, but I never did. I chose this path out of my own volition, Elena. You even tried to convince me to turn back, but I refused, didn’t I?” Nick emphatically replies, trying to assure Elena.

  “But… after you told me all those stories, and after spending so much time with you… I just feel so bad involving the four of you in my antics.” Elena says, having thought about the destruction of the flower shop and the garden during the entire day.

  “Laine… You told me that we’d see this through together, right?” Nick says as Elena starts tearing up. It was the first time anyone had called her a nickname. In Esper, she was always used to being called the “daughter of the hero”. She had never truly formed her own identity, but for once in her life Nick made her feel like an actual person.

  “You’ve saved my life countless times. You aren’t a heartless person, like your father.”

  “I… I’m the daughter of a true demon, Nick… You should just stay away from me from now on. I’ve already done enough damage.” Elena replies, curling up as a tear falls from her left eye.

  “Elena… Could you do something for me?” Nick requests as Elena looks back at him with curiosity.

  “Show me your true form.” Nick says as Elena turns around, staring at all the lit windows outside.

  “Out here in the open?” She asks as Nick tilts his head.

  “We can head back inside if you want.” He answers as they both enter the room. After closing the balcony door and sliding the curtain, Elena unfurls her wings as white feathers drop to the floor.

  “Tell me… Are those the wings of a demon?” Asks Nick as he picks up a feather with a golden aura emanating on the ground.

  “...” Elena remains speechless as Nick hands her the feather.

  “Y’know, I have something to confess as well. Back in Aurus, whenever you were away, I’d go in your room and snatch your book for a bit.” Nick admits as Elena’s sorrowful mood changes.

  “The Angel of South Lavia?”

  “Yeah. It was a nice read.”

  “Ugh, that was you messing up the bookmarks! I even scolded Zico twice about it…” Elena mutters as Nick laughs, cheekily rubbing the back of his head.

  “Hah, sorry about that. Anyways, I really did appreciate the stories included there. Mayor Faye sounded like one hell of a person.” Responds Nick.

  “She was. The stories are true, I witnessed everything she did.”

  “Huh… That reminds me, how old are you, Elena?”

  “I… um… 24, in Lavian age?” Elena answers half-heartedly.

  “What about your Esperian age?” Nick continues prying.

  “...88” Elena replies, taking Nick aback.

  “Lavians age super quickly compared to Esperians!” Elena says, quickly making an excuse for her surprisingly old age. She had lived for nearly a century, yet had the body and maturity of a young adult.

  “It’s just… kinda weird, you know!” Nick defends his violent reaction.

  “Why? It’s like how dogs are actually 60 when they turn 10!”

  “But you’re not a dog! And it just feels weird being in love with someone old enough to be my ancestor!” Nick retorts, continuing to debate Elena regarding age.

  “That’s so ru- Wait, what?” Elena hesitates after she processes Nick’s sudden confession.

  “I, uh…” Nick murmurs, realizing that his true feelings had slipped in the moment.

  “Listen, what I’m trying to say is, you aren’t a demon. Far from one.” Nick says, changing the subject. Elena still dwells on the confession, however.

  “Like, these feathers are the feathers of an angel, not a demon! And who cares? You shouldn’t carry the… burden of the sins of your father. That’s on him, not on you!” Nick starts going on a tirade, flustered while trying to make Elena forget about his feelings. He struggles to find the right words as shame and discomfort fill his head.

  “Nick…”

  “If people have a problem with you and who you are and where you came from, then I’ll be glad to kick their asses. They don’t know just how great of a person you are! Everybody’s too busy sulking ab- about life to enjoy the actual few good things about this place, like people like you!” Nick continues, ignoring Elena’s call. She begins approaching him, retracting her wings as Nick resumes his tirade.

  “People need to be more appreciative of the people around them! A humble woman tries to sell flowers on the street to make a living, and you ignore her to do what? Buy beers and get piss-drunk? Everybody’s focused on the wrong things nowadays and society’s falling apart because of it! Maybe if they took the time to actually appreciate what they have and cherish all the little moments, then-”

  Nick is forced to shut up as Elena brings his head towards her own, their lips touching as they kiss for the very first time. Nick is taken off-guard, but returns another kiss just as Elena begins pulling back. He had finally calmed down after going on a rant about Elena’s imaginary adversaries that quickly derailed into off-topic social commentary.

  The two continue sharing an intimate moment while the moonlight shines through the window, illuminating their faces as their shadows dwell in the background. Nick and Elena’s shadow mirror Raymond and Rose’s wedding picture framed on the wall. Tonight, Nick could finally cross one item off his bucket list; he finally told Elena how he felt.

  To Be Continued…