The Antagonist's Full Moon

43. Replayable

Melian into the interior of the Nautabu forest. It's late at night. In this forest, the trees grew densely, although the height was not like the settlements in the city. It's all dark, making him lose track of Dean and Liv.

Melian clucked in annoyance. He spread out both hands, then put the palm on the head. Slowly, both of his hands descended to the front of his chest, leaving a trail of straight lines of light in the white air. Melian blew, and the next second, the line of light floated itself pointing forward.

Not only Dean knows how not to get lost in the Nautabu mountain forest, but Melian as well. He had already memorized whatever Dean wrote in "The Wasted Prince" for reading it many times, including the way the priests led Haldir to go to Lileathhof in the novel.

The line of light led Melian along with her army towards the temple. They broke through the trees and shrubs for almost an hour, before the line of light finally disappeared in the darkness, just as it had happened to Dean and Liv.

A soldier fumbled at the empty air before him, where their line of light disappeared. Then, he bounced two meters back.

"Ah, I can't enter it!" screams the soldier. Several other warriors did the same, and bounced off as well.

Melian snorted violently and snapped, "Basically you are all fools! Of course it can't, because only those with great magic energy can enter this protective layer!"

Melian stepped over the bodies of the soldiers who bounced and plunged to the ground. With ease, Melian's hands pierced through the protective layer. The girl entered on her own without being able to be followed by her guards.

However, once it managed to step completely into the inner area of the layer, the temple soldiers were already on standby, pointing their spears towards Melian.

"Stop! No one should be able to enter the current-arghh temple!!" Melian attacked the temple soldiers who were talking to her. The other soldiers were shocked and immediately attacked Melian who had committed an act of violence.

However, even though the temple warriors had more than ordinary soldiers, all of them could be defeated by Melian. Melian in the novel is already strong, but this Melian is more than that.

"I was on my guard, in case something unwanted happened. I've trained myself to be so much stronger than what's written in the novel!"

Melian ran following the path before her for two hundred meters. He is determined to stop Dean from returning to his home world, or else all of Melian's struggles in this elf world go to waste.

***

Meanwhile, Dean and Liv descend a small staircase under two steps of the prayer hall, near the podium. As many as two rounds of stairs they went through, until finally they arrived in a dark room. One of the priests snapped a finger. At once all the candles scattered in the candlesticks on the wall lit up.

Liv spread her eyes around. The smell of sand dust caught by his sense of smell. In the middle of the room, there was a large circle. Draw the complete phases of the moon one round on the outer side of the circle. In the center of the circle is a smaller circle. Two adult human legs that are closed when standing on the inside.

Dean also looked around while nodding. Reverend Torion took Dean to a podium on the right side of the room, next to the circle. Then, the white-bearded man showed the linen sheets of paper. Reverend Torion recorded the mantra in his dream on the paper. Dean conversed with Reverend Torion for a moment, pointing at something on the sheet. The man was explaining what the translation was in the paper.

Before long, Dean left Reverend Torion still struggling on the spell paper. The man approached Liv, who was watching the phases of the moon on the floor.

"Hey .. ." said Dean. Liv looked over, smiling sweetly at the man. Wanting Dean pinched the golden cheek of the elf girl, but she was arrested.

Dean removed the necklace hanging from the neck, then gave it to Liv, saying, "Later when the ritual begins, upon hearing the cue from Reverend Torion, prick your fingertips until the blood can drip, then hold this necklace until your blood hits the surface. Can you do it?"

Liv nodded slowly, while receiving the necklace from Dean, without saying anything. Both of his eyes looked at the necklace.

However, it turns out that unexpectedly, Liv even looked gloomy as she heard the man's question. The look in his eyes turned downward leading Dean to ask, "What's wrong?"

"We ... won't see each other again?" ask Liv. The girl's esophagus felt like it was stuck to ask like that.

"Yes .. After this, I will go back to living in my home world. You're going to live your new life too" Dean said.

At once, Liv's tears trickled down, leaving Dean so shocked. "Why?!"

"Don't my story have to be changed?" ask Liv in her stuff. The elf girl looked up at Dean, displaying a purple eyeball whose fertilizer was filled with tears.

"Don't go .. ," Pinta Liv.

Dean looked at him deeply and said, "We've come this far. And behold," Dean showed his two invisible hands behind his sleeves, and said, "I will disappear if I continue to be here."

Liv's crying didn't stop. This made Dean panic at once riled up. "That's it .. Don't cry on. You're such a cry."

"But ... ." Liv wiped away her tears, but she still kept dripping. His breathing was irregular because of the whim. "But ... ."

"Hey ... ."

In one move, Dean lifted Liv's chin and warmly kissed the elf girl's lips. Liv's tears dripping down her cheeks drenched Dean's cheeks. Liv's eyes were wide open, but she did not refuse.

The elf girl greeted the kiss of her human man gently. Time seems to stop spinning. There was a different whistle flowing from within the chests of these two different creatures of this race. Dean knew, Liv also knew, what feelings had plagued their minds all this time, without having to say anything to each other.

"Dean .. " said Liv, as Dean finally let go of the kiss. Liv held the man's body tightly and said, "Don't forget me ... ."

"I love you, Liv ... ." In the end, the sentence was uttered from Dean's lips. The man did not know anything romantic. All this time, he's never had any experience with it. One thing he knew for sure, he had to convey those three words to the girl in his arms at the moment.

"The time has come." Reverend Torion suddenly came over. Dean releases his hold on Liv and wipes away the tears on both of the girl's cheeks.

"Please be good. Don't forget me, too, yeah," said Dean, who was greeted with a nod by Liv.

However, Reverend Torion cleared his throat, interrupting. "I'm sorry, it's not that I want to mess with your expectations, but, that's not going to happen."

"What do you mean?" ask Dean.

Reverend Torion sighed for a moment before replying, "When the Creator Lord changes the storyline of this world, then automatically what is already running will be played back from the beginning. That means, Miss Liv won't be able to remember you, Mister."

***