The rest of the road leading up to the lakes was simple, until the wind moved in again, which caused loud breaths from Chyuuichi, stopped by a sudden focus on distant noises which sounded among the trees. Rowan and Atomu continuously told him to stop running to search for the sound, yet, their warnings went over his head, as they lost him for an hour.

Standing in one place, as Chyuuichi left Bancho's body on the ground, they waited, impatiently. Rowan started picking out the Malva nuts from the nearby shrubs and observing strange, red fruits.

Chyuuichi finally appeared, holding a Lignorian squirrel in both hands, as it bit on the sides of a nut and hid a couple more in its big cheeks. Rowan told him to stop this foolishness, but the Mirillian vowed to take it to Prope Portam, even though Atomu suggested that the animal would be better off where he found it.

Despite their pleas, Chyuuichi continued his stroll with a new friend resting on his shoulder which he called 'Skirel'. It ran off five minutes later.

***

The navy blue sky turned a thick orange, before bathing in black, slowly mixing into what the night was to entail, and it seemed that the roads continued to wind back and forth, among the oranges and yellows. Up until now, Atomu underestimated the simplicity of Shimori's landscape. Snow was always snow, and you could predict what would happen, at least, most of the time, but it turned out that earlier theories were full of lies, as it wasn't the bushes treading the path towards the lake, but the vista fruits which seldom and sporadically stood high above the ground.

They were red, massive, petal-like and thick berries, but unfortunately for their rumbling stomachs, poisonous, which Rowan spotted when Chyuuichi was on his adventures. They didn't even have to believe in the Tributal's words, as Skirel momentarily came back, sweeping in from above and biting into the fruit, before dropping dead on the ground.

Chyuuichi laughed. Atomu started to consider that a psychopath might be walking alongside a demon and a Tributal.

The Mirillian sighed loudly, stacking more sorrow to everything that had already happened in the Epi Forest. Fortunately for him, he wasn't constantly reminded of the things that once were. Whenever Atomu's eyes moved to the corpses, stress and a stinging sadness would rise, and then it would create another voice in his mind which grew louder with each step he took.

Glances at Rowan didn't suggest anything, it seemed the Tributal was in their world of suffering, constantly hiding it under a stern expression. Moments of joy were adjacent to those of awkward silence, and that's when Chyuuichi's expression finally unearthed an unsure frown.

Everyone grieved differently. Despite the smiles, a tear might've come.

***

Stepping out of Epi, the first sights of the magnificent Dumdun Lakes were revealed. Although the moon sat where the sun once stood, guarding and tainting the lands of Lignoria, everything around the Klakunhoi was illuminated with a thick white, which earlier suggested the path they were to take from the beginning.

The hue came out of the mentioned ponds. It was a well-known fact that if you dove deep, you'd find a stash of neatly laid pearls, generously splattering the darkness and gleaming a new and refreshing light to the monotony of the scorching Gorro.

Despite the darkness, it was still, relatively hot, and with no power in their legs, the Klakunhoi decided to rest by the lake, in hopes of nothing catching them at night, not too far from the red groves of chestnuts making their way out of the Epi Forest.

Atomu mentioned that the most dangerous of places in Lignoria was the woods, but only at night. Demons and alike came out when the sun wasn't protecting its people, but with hopeful determination, the two set camp, overlooking a rather mesmerizing sight.

Across the massive lake, stood mountains, creeping over the bushes and orange Gorro grass. In the back, the remnants of Epi moved uphill and down into different valleys, with waters of the Dumdun Lakes flowing into the vast rivers, carrying small rocks or seeds which were later thrown into the ground, further enriching nature.

With a loud sigh, Atomu laid down on the grass, his eyelids moving slowly, while Rowan and Chyuuichi enjoyed a rather modest feast, combined with the Mirillis fruits soaked in the sweet tree sap.

"Agh." Rowan barely managed to bite into food that was normally very soft, much like meat in Prope Portam. With furrowed eyebrows, they took a part of it, chewing it loudly, glancing at the Paladian, drifting off and at the Mirillian, whose attention seemed to be held captive by something else.

"Wow." Chyuuichi pointed.

"Never seen the stars?" Rowan said, before coughing loudly, choking on the soft fruit. A small spat-out part landed near Atomu's eye. The Paladian shot up, washing his face with water.

"Not the stars, ya idiot!"

"Excuse me," Rowan said, in a deeper voice.

"That there!" his hand started shaking a little bit. "That wall, or whatever it might be!"

Atomu looked at his reflection for a while, before clenching a fist and moving it back into his pocket. "You mean the-"

"The Wall of Life and Death," Rowan spoke, folding their arms.

"Huh?" Chyuuichi swiftly turned, landing on both legs and sat, peering into Rowan's eyes demanding answers.

Atomu put his hands in the back, as the rather dry grass wrapped around his fingers, steeped by the calm wind with a tinge of breeze. He missed this feeling but surely didn't expect the stress that came with the things he once loved. Staring up at what Chyuuichi described, the Paladian took the next few words out of Rowan's mouth. "I remember hearing about it as a kid. It supposedly protects us, Paladians, Erans, from something deadly."

Rowan quickly nodded. "Although, as guessed from our interactions a year and a half ago, they seemed to omit the details of what it exactly tried dividing. The name, once again... it couldn't be simpler." Rowan's long nails reached into the dead skin on their thumb. Turning to the massive wall, which matched the lower levels of Mount Aria, they ground their teeth momentarily. "It separates Morta and Lignoria for a reason."

"Morta?" Chyuuichi blinked a few times.

"The eastern land. It saves humans, freely roaming the fields from the filthy demons lurking in the grey shadows of these foggy mountains." Rowan breathed in. "To this day, no one knows who stood behind its erection. It just... appeared one day, didn't it?"

"Mom," Atomu mentioned, struggling for half a second. "...told me it appeared after the Second War had ended."

"A few days before. One of the key factors to ending the things that went on for far too long." Rowan put their knee towards their other leg, looking down.

"How so?" Chyuuichi asked.

"After it appeared, Paladians were finally saved from the undead, and Shi Hon disappeared into the mountains," The Tributal explained, and Chyuuichi curiously observed their expression, before peering at the two covered bodies which lay behind the Tributal.

The people they couldn't save. Rowan quickly caught on to his notions, and Atomu gulped, breathing out.

"I think you should be glad that you weren't to witness the horrors of what happened back then. Bancho and Elton." they struggled, tongue searching for the appropriate words which were so hard to utter. "Ace, Damien, Kukhi. That they didn't have to suffer through and see it either. That they died a better death." they stopped, digging one hand into the ground.

Chyuuichi's glance moved back to Atomu's unsure expression.

"Even if they came out of sorrows, they would never rival the things people had to experience back then. I'd say, it was better to die like this." Rowan explained, looking into the white illumination of the faraway wall. "Why would you want to live to see others suffer?"

"Man," Chyuuichi whispered, taking a glimpse at the others, understanding the seriousness of the words they carried. "But ya didn't see it, did ya, Rowan?"

Rowan's eyebrow shifted. "I didn't, and I'm thankful. I'm also glad that no people were citing these stories, that it was never written down."

"Why?" Atomu asked.

"What if all those filthy demons managed to get their hands on history? Wouldn't you say that the smarter ones would desperately try to repeat the most heart-wrenching, brutal of events just for the sake of their glory? Just to scratch that itch they seemingly can't control." Rowan scratched their head, and Chyuuichi gulped, his eyes shrinking.

Atomu quickly glanced at his reflection again.

"Then, the things I did see. They could've been much worse than they already were." Rowan muttered, before sighing. "I hope you understand I'm not going to tell you that story at least... not now." They overlooked the terrain.

It was eerily quiet. The red subtly reflected off the various, smaller ponds, as if it were the fresh blood pouring out of their wounds. Atomu squeezed the Clavis Crystal hidden deep inside his pocket.

"Like you said." Atomu finally broke through. "They could've died a worse death," Atomu said.

"Celebrate their life," Rowan muttered. "People will cry rivers upon learning that one of the Wise had fallen. At least you'll get to bury his body."

A subtle smile tugged on Chyuuichi's lips. "So, that means we should be happy."

"Chyuuichi," Atomu shook his head. "I don't think this is-"

"Yes." Rowan nodded. "It's because they never learnt that cruelty that we slipped through. It's because of them," Rowan glimpsed at the bodies. Atomu brushed off a tear that rolled down his cheek. "That we survived."

Chyuuichi clenched his fists, beaming, sticking his teeth out.

Atomu sighed once more, in great worry. Home was close, after all. The burden of the burial weighed him down amongst other things.

"Now that I look at it." Atomu gulped. "The Wall of Life and Death. I never ventured outside of Prope Portam into Lignoria itself. I gotta say, we haven't seen a demon since we stepped out of those caves."

"You could guess it's doing its job." Rowan chuckled. "But I wouldn't put every bet I have on that theory. Let's get some sleep."

If the Wall of Life and Death saved people from those filthy demons, why wasn't Atomu saved? Were the words that teased and lured him in destined to be heard with his ears?

He often recalled such moments in his dreams, pinpointing the exact hour, of that unfortunate day when the light blue gleam turned into a dark frown, which later transformed into a devious smile.

In moments when his mind wasn't occupied, he longed to come back home, where everything was safe, but that idea brought stress that pinched his neck and weighed on his frail shoulders.

Why couldn't he be just another demon in Shi Hon's army, ready to die at the hands of the Demonears? What was so different about him?