Chapter 779: [The Rewritten Lost Past] [19]
"Sirius Anox? That is an incredibly suspicious name."
Lisandra frowned the moment Amael finished saying the name.
"You really shouldn’t judge people by their name alone," Sylvia said, shooting her a stern look from where she leaned against the rocky wall of the cave, arms folded across her chest.
Amael knelt near the campfire, focused on the meal simmering over the flames. As usual, he had taken over dinner, and the rich smell drifting through the cave was enough to make Lisandra nearly lose track of the conversation entirely.
Still, she forced herself to stay on topic.
"Wait," she said, blinking as the name settled in her mind. "Anox? As in Nox? The Holy Guardian?"
Amael looked over his shoulder at both of them with a deeply unimpressed expression. "You two really don’t know anything outside your own little bubble, do you?"
Lisandra and Sylvia exchanged a glance, both of them equally puzzled.
To be fair, neither of them had ever cared much about Eden, its rulers, or the endless history surrounding divine betrayals and ancient wars. Until recently, their lives had been about survival, freedom, training, and the strange fragile happiness they had carved out together. All the rest had seemed distant, like stories from another world.
Amael let out a quiet sigh and returned his attention to the pot. "A-Nox," he began, "is... the easiest way to explain it would be to say she was Nox’s companion. Or partner. At least, she used to be. Then she betrayed Eden, betrayed the others, and left with Lucifer when he turned against his brother."
Lisandra tilted her head. "So Eden had two brothers, and both of them betrayed him?" A crooked smile touched her mouth. "Makes you wonder whose fault that really was."
Amael gave a faint huff. "It’s complicated."
He poked at the fire with a stick, and for a moment the only sound in the cave was the crackling of burning wood.
"Samael betrayed Eden because of Elysia," he said at last, more quietly. "Eden caused her death. I still don’t know every detail, no one ever tells the whole story clearly but whether he struck the final blow himself or not, he was the one responsible. That much is certain. And Samael..." He paused, eyes lingering on the flames. "Samael loved her. Before that, he didn’t seem to hold any hatred toward Eden at all."
Sylvia raised a brow. "So it was for a woman?"
Amael’s expression shifted, just slightly. "For love," he corrected.
The firelight danced across his face as he stared into it, and for a brief moment his voice lost its usual ease.
"If it had been Ephera..." he said softly, "I think I would have gone mad too."
Silence followed that.
Neither Sylvia nor Lisandra spoke. They only looked at him silently.
Amael did not look back at them. He simply adjusted the pot over the flames, as if he had not said anything important at all.
Sylvia was the first to break the silence.
"And Lucifer?" she asked. "Did he betray Eden because of Elysia too?"
Amael shook his head. "No. Lucifer’s fall came much later, thousands of years later, after Samael." He frowned faintly, searching for the right thread in a history too tangled and old. "From what I know, he openly rebelled several thousand years after Samael’s fall. Maybe he had already turned in his heart long before that, I don’t know. The reasons are unclear."
He glanced at them both.
"Some say he never recovered from losing his younger brother. Others say he always wanted the throne and finally acted on that desire. Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe grief. Maybe both. My father probably knows the truth. The other Guardians and the Khaos Princesses likely know too." His mouth twisted slightly. "But it seems to be one of those subjects no one likes to touch. Too much blood tied to it. Too much history."
Lisandra swallowed. "Lucifer is still alive, isn’t he?"
Amael looked up at her and smiled, though it was a smile meant more to reassure than amuse. "Don’t worry too much. After Eden defeated him, Lucifer was left heavily wounded. He’s been recovering for ten thousand years."
Lisandra still did not look comforted.
Sylvia, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes. "Recovering for ten thousand years still means he could recover," she said. "And if he does, then what? Won’t he come after you?"
Amael was quiet for a moment before answering. "Maybe."
He said it shortly, without dramatics, which somehow made it worse.
"From what my father told me, Lucifer wants the Sins. Samael’s power too, perhaps. Or maybe..." He stirred the food absently, gaze distant again. "Maybe what he truly wants is Samael himself back. So the two brothers can stand together against Eden."
Sylvia stared at him for a beat, then let out a dry breath. "Your family is seriously twisted, Mael."
Amael grimaced immediately. "It is not my family."
"So you feel nothing toward Eden or Lucifer?" Lisandra asked.
Amael glanced up from the fire. "I’ve never met either of them."
Lisandra stared. "You’re serious?"
"There was never any reason to."
"But you’re the Vessel of Eden’s dead brother," Lisandra said at last, still sounding unconvinced. "Wouldn’t that mean something to him?"
Amael gave a small shrug, stirring the pot with quiet movements. "He has probably seen hundreds of Vessels by now. I doubt he cared much about any of them." He paused, then added more quietly, "And being a Vessel doesn’t mean I’m Samael reborn."
That only deepened the silence.
When Amael finally looked up, he found both girls staring at him in a way that made his expression soften. Then, noticing the concern plainly written on their faces, he let out a short laugh.
"Don’t look so worried," he said. "Because of what I am, I also happen to have powerful people around me. More than enough."
Sylvia did not look reassured. She pushed herself off the cave wall and fixed him with a serious gaze.
"Are you sure about that?"
Amael blinked. "Hm?"
"You said it yourself," Sylvia replied. "You’re one Vessel among many. Just another one that happened to appear. If you die, they’ll simply wait for the next one, won’t they?" Her voice stayed calm, but it had a hard edge to it now. "As long as you don’t fall into the wrong hands, you’re useful. And if you do, some of them might decide it’s safer to kill you themselves."
Lisandra turned to her, startled. "S—Sylvia..."
Amael exhaled through his nose. "That isn’t very comforting."
"It isn’t meant to be comforting," Sylvia said. "It’s meant to be honest."
For a moment, Amael said nothing. The firelight flickered across his face, throwing gold into his silver hair and shadowing the thoughtful set of his features.
Then Sylvia spoke again. "And Sirius A-Nox? What does he want?"
Amael’s expression shifted into something harder to read. "I don’t know anymore," he said. "For a while, I thought he had finally chosen to live for himself. Maybe he still is." He stared into the flames. "But I don’t know what he wants now. I don’t know what he’s planning."
Lisandra folded her arms and frowned at him. "You really should stop befriending the worst possible people."
Amael smiled faintly without looking at her. "That’s a bold thing to say while sitting there with the two of you."
Lisandra narrowed her eyes at him, though the corner of her mouth twitched.
Sylvia, however, didn’t smile.
She stayed very still.
"Are we really just friends to you?" She asked.
Amael looked up.
There was no teasing in her face, no softness to hide behind. She was watching him with a serious face.
Across the fire, Lisandra had gone silent too. Her shoulders had stiffened. She didn’t look at Sylvia. She didn’t look at Amael either. She only waited.
Amael glanced between them, then gave a faint, uncertain smile.
"Best friends?"
Sylvia stared at him with a disbelieving stare. Her sapphire eyes did not soften in the slightest. Without another word, she turned and headed for the cave entrance.
She barely made it two steps.
Amael moved in a blur and appeared beside her, cutting her off before she could leave. Sylvia stumbled backward from the suddenness of it until her back touched the stone wall. She looked up sharply, breath catching as Amael leaned in close enough to trap her there without even needing to raise his voice.
For a second, neither of them said anything.
He simply looked at her.
That alone was enough to send her heartbeat racing.
The fire crackled behind them. The rest of the cave seemed to disappear into stillness.
Amael lifted one hand and placed it gently against her cheek.
"Close your eyes," he said softly.
Sylvia hesitated, then obeyed.
The moment her eyes shut, warmth flooded through her.
It came suddenly, like a current of living heat pouring straight into her, and her whole body trembled under it. She kept her eyes closed, fingers twitching faintly at her sides, feeling something move through her in a way she could neither stop nor understand. Time stretched strangely in that silence. A minute. Maybe two. Only the sound of the fire and her own unsteady breathing filled the cave.
Then Amael’s voice came again, quieter than before.
"Open them."
Sylvia did.
At once she felt the difference.
The world sharpened.
The cave, the fire, the stone, the shadows, the flicker of every tiny movement in the air, everything had become clearer, cleaner, more vivid than before. Her eyes widened in shock. She lifted a trembling hand to her face and touched her right eye, now glowing with a pale silver radiance.
She stared at Amael.
His own eyes, once holding that same divine silver hue, had dimmed.
Understanding hit her right after.
"W—Why..."
Amael lowered his hand from her cheek and held her gaze.
"That," he said quietly, "is my answer to your question."
