"Renasir?" Adira frowns. "Who is the Renasir?"
Ari doesn't say anything. She returns to Little Ai's side. Her face is expressionless, completely hiding the painful feelings in her chest.
"This is not your awakening, Dark God." Ril'Yah doesn't answer his questions. "The Renasir freed you a long time ago. A lot has happened since then. You went to Qeshaya because of a situation that involved God Cina and Lady Amara's reincarnation."
Adira furrows his brows, confused.
"If you don't believe us, ask the Dragon God." Ril'Yah urges him with a desperate voice, "Ask anyone."
But none of the gods except for Noras are currently on Iravan. Adira stares at Ril'Yah. There's only one person -- God Noras. That's the last person he wants to see.
"Ril'Yah." Ari places her hand on the girl's shoulder. Ril'Yah turns around and looks up at her anxiously.
"Take us away from here." Ari meets Adira's gaze. "There's no point arguing with someone who doesn't want to believe anyone. I don't have time anyway. Kresi isn't the only one who can help us."
Before Adira can say anything, Ril'Yah grabs Ari's and Ai's hands. In the next instant, they vanish from the corridor, leaving Adira behind.
He clenches his fists. A nameless creature. A strange woman. And even the third moon. What is going on here?
***
Kresi stirs on the bed. Her eyelids flutter. She raises her hand, murmuring something inaudible. Her head hurts badly. She slowly opens, touching her forehead. Feeling that something is wrong, she looks at her hand.
It's gone.
There's no change in her golden eyes. God Cina. Forest. The rune that nearly killed her. All the memories surge back in her mind. Her lips tremble. She inhales sharply.
She's still alive and this room is Amara's room. Why is she here?
She sits up. Every cell of her body is aching. She realizes that something feels different. The air around her has a soft familiar pressure.
Isn't this ehr?
Kresi uncurls her left hand, ingesting the ehr. It fills her veins, flowing like a raging river. She blinks her eyes. To be able to feel magic again… How was it possible? Did the Renasir heal her broken veins? Then, Ari must have been able to draw a name for Ai.
How did Renasir learn it by herself? She climbs off the bed and heads toward the door. When she pulls the door, she finds it locked. "Why is this locked from outside?"
Did they lock her here because she attacked God Cina? Kresi absorbs the ehr from her surroundings and directs it toward her left hand. She draws a rune on the door swiftly. The bluish rune glimmers in the air before turning into dust.
"It's rejected." Kresi mumbles to herself, "There's a stronger seal on the door."
Just then, the door is opened. Adira is standing before her. He looks at her with a penetrating gaze. Kresi knits her brows and takes a step back. If the Dark God is angry with her, she deserves it.
However, it's awkward standing in front of the man who was her husband once, even if it was her previous life.
She sits down on her knees and bows her head. "Lord, I know that my sins can't be forgiven. I have betrayed you in my past life and caused the great war. I am ready for the punishment that you have for me."
Adira stares at her. "So, you remember your previous life, Amara."
Kresi creases her forehead. Why is he addressing her with that name? And why does he sound surprised? She raises her head to look at him. "You were the one who gave me those memories, God Adira."
Did he? He scrutinizes her face. She seems to be telling the truth. "How did you end up in Qeshaya?"
"God Cina attacked me." Kresi chuckles, "Gods know how to hold a grudge. I summoned Qeshaya to imprison him. You must be wondering how I learned that. Before I died, I had studied your heart inside me. Well, it was not difficult because my entire body was filled with runes. I was determined to free you. So, I studied the rune's imprint on your heart. It took me ten years. I didn't know that the rune needed a lot of ehr that I couldn't give it. I wonder how I am still alive."
After hearing her words, Adira realizes that Ril'Yah has been telling the truth. He must have woken up a long time ago. If he had gone to Qeshaya again, there's a chance that he lost some memories. But why does Amara remember everything?
"I guess I have committed great sins again." Kresi grins at him. "God Adira, you have a good reason to kill me now."
He studies her for a long time. Everything about her has changed, even the way she talks. It makes him feel lonelier. Somehow, he's stuck in the past and this woman is not the same. His memories are fresh as if it only happened yesterday. Her blood was on her hands. She gave him a cruel smile when she died.
"Why did you give me that command?" Adira asks her with a mechanical voice. "You made me fight the other gods and destroy Iravan. You forced me to kill my friend's children and countless innocent people. You even corrupted the dark ehr with your dark desires. Even after everything, I still couldn't think of killing you. I had every right to hate you, but I, a god at the mercy of a mortal woman, couldn't find the strength to hate you back then." Until he felt her blood on his hand.
That memory is also fresh in her mind. Amara's emotions come alive on her face. It's been thousands of years; and yet, she still doesn't regret that decision. Perhaps, dying at his hand has been a kindness.
"You are still hung up on that." Kresi meets her gaze with the same cruel smile. "I did it because I hated you. I knew that it would destroy you. Even after you became a puppet god, you still loved me. Dark God, I didn't hate you because you were a god. I hated you because you continued to love me when I hated myself. It hurt me every day."
Adira feels heaviness enveloping his heart. A lump emerges in the back of his throat. He fists his hands, forcing himself to listen to this.
"Why did you trust me like that?" Kresi continues, "You should have trusted me. I married you, but we never consummated our marriage. You were fine when I told you that I wanted to become immortal before we did it. You let me find my own way to immortality when you clearly knew many quick methods. You held me like I was the only thing that mattered in the world. How could you do that?"
She pauses for a moment. "That was painful."
"I didn't know that loving and trusting you was making you suffer." Adira says to her, "You must have loved fooling me."
"I hated every second of it." Kresi looks at her wrist with a quiet gaze. "You were so good to me. I hated myself more with every passing second that I spent with you. I wanted to forget everything and fall in love with you, but I don't know why I couldn't forget Jase. In this lifetime, I don't care about him as much as I cared about him back then. He got reincarnated as the son of the dragon god and now, he already has a true mate. I feel somewhat happy for him. I was glad when I found out that you have Ari now. I saw how much you love her. I am not Amara anymore, but I am not Kresi either. I want to pay for the things that I did, but I don't know how to."
Ari? Adira curves his brows, surprised. That woman's name is Ari. He loves her?