Gais walks forward, blazing the ground with his spear.
Next to me is Lyla.
This time, it was just the two of us.
Melia stayed behind.
Lethe’s boundary was not a place anyone could cross.
Lyla looks around.
An endless expanse of mist.
Countless memories floating on the water.
Someone’s laughter.
Someone’s regret.
Someone’s last words.
But they all disappear, unable to be grasped.
"This place…”
Gais says.
“Is this the place of the dead?”
Lyla shakes her head.
"No."
"It’s not a place where only the dead come."
It’s where the forgotten things come
She looks at the small harp.
“A being that has lost its name.”
“An event erased from memory.”
Everything that has become no longer important to someone
"Where such things stay one last time."
The two keep walking.
Gais looks forward.
Far away.
A door can be seen across the river.
An old stone gate.
But there were no words on the door.
A door whose name hasn’t even remained.
Lyla says quietly.
"If you go beyond there, you might never be able to return."
Gais asks.
"Are you scared?"
Lyla falls silent for a moment.
And then answer.
Maybe a little. I went ahead without caring
To the point of retreat.."
"But…”
"Better than going alone."
Gais lets out a short laugh for the first time.
I see
At that moment.
The waves of Lethe ripple.
The vanished memories respond.
As if looking at the two of them.
And I hear a voice in the mist.
"Why come all the way to the forgotten place?"
Gais grabs the spear.
But Lyla raises her hand.
"Wait."
She plays the harp.
A very quiet melody.
A small ripple forms on the water of Lethe.
Legato.
An unbreakable memory.
The fading afterimages briefly regain their presence.
Someone, family.
Someone’s hometown.
Someone, a lost name.
Gais looks at that sight.
And I realize.
This is not merely a place of death.
It was a place where I held on to things that were disappearing one last time.
Lyla says.
"Gais."
"Let's go forward."
"It’s not over yet."
They walk again.
A human holding a spear.
A dryard holding a harp.
Though they were different beings.
Between the rivers of Lethe, they were looking in the same direction.