Chapter Text
The ocean is loud this morning.
Waves crash endlessly against the shore, swallowing everything they touch. Foam curls over my ankles as I knelt in the wet sand, tracing symbols that disappear almost as quickly as I finish drawing them.
A circle.
Two stars.
A crown.
Nothing remains for long.
My scribbles fade just as quickly as the memories I'm trying to illustrate. I stare at the waves, following their motion, and wonder, not for the first time, how much of myself this world has already taken.
“So,” the floating creature beside me says slowly, as if she herself is trying to piece the story I had relayed to her, “ what you’re saying is…”
She pauses dramatically, tiny face scrunched in concentration.
“You fell here from another world.”
I nod once.
“But when you wanted to leave and go on to the next world, your path was blocked by some unknown god?”
Another nod.
Paimon points at me accusingly. “See!? That part still sounds fake!”
“It happened.”
“She introduced herself like a villain in a story book!"
I sigh through my nose. “You ask question. I answer question.”
Paimon huffs loudly before crossing her arms. She hovers over me as she demands: “Fine. Tell Paimon again.”
I glance towards the horizon.
The memories return with far more ease now. Easier than I want them to.
༘ * ✩ •°. *࿐
“Outlanders, your journey ends here.”
The voice did not come from the sky. But from a tear in the fabric of reality. Crimson cubes tearing through space, consuming all in their way. I remember grabbing Aether’s arm instinctively, both of us halting mid-flight.
A goddess.
“Wh- who are you?“ I demanded.
She gazed upon us utterly indifferent.
“The sustainer of heavenly principles.”
A cold chill spread through my spine.
“The arrogation of mankind ends now”
Then the world came apart.
He called my name, but he was far gone before I could reach him.
And just like that, the god took away my brother.
Some kind of seal was cast upon me, and I lost my power.
So while we used to travel from world to world, we are now trapped here.
༘ * ✩ •°. *࿐
“You know,” Paimon interrupts, “that title is WAY too long.’”
I blink.
“What?” Surely I’ve misheard her words. After all, her language is far too different from mine. We have reached a level of mutual comprehension, but our understanding has its limits.
“The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.” Paimon waves her hands dramatically. ‘If you”re gonna be evil, at least make your name easier to say.”
A laugh escapes me before I can stop it.
A small one. Brief. It hurts my cheeks, muscles rusted from disuse.
Paimon gasps loudly.
“You can laugh?!”
I nod repeatedly, a hand instinctively covering my mouth.
“Paimon can’t believe it! You always look like you’re attending a funeral!”
“My brother stolen by sky god.”
“...Fair.”
The silence that follows is far gentler than before.
I look back towards the sea.
“I couldn’t reaching him,” I say quietly.
The words still hurt.
“Aether call my name, and I—”
My throat tightens.
His hand slipping from mine.
The sound of screaming that I only later realized belonged to me.
“I see her take him.”
Paimon’s expression softens immediately.
“Oh.”
“And then…” I flex my fingers slowly. “Nothing.”
Not exactly nothing.
Pain.
Falling.
Dreams that stretched so long they stopped feeling like dreams at all.
“When I wake up,” I murmur, “my powers.. poof. My wings... my memory…” I shake my head. “Pieces of I, missing.”
The waves continue their endless assault against the shore.
“How long were you asleep?” Paimon fidgets awkwardly.
“I not know.” That frightens me more than I care to admit.
.
.
.
The first time I met Paimon, she nearly drowned.
To be fair, she insists that is “not technically what happened.”
Personally, I think floating unconscious face-down in the sea counts as drowning.
“Paimon was not drowning!”
“You in water.”
“Paimon was just swimming.”
“You unconscious.”
Paimon points at me accusingly. “And YOU fished Paimon out with a stick!”
“Effective.”
“You poked Paimon like a dead fish!”
“You float in water like dead.”
“Paimon hates you.”
“Then why you stay?”
This is the part where she usually calms down in our argument.
She shrugs and refuses to look at me.
Back then she had cried for hours, clinging to me like a child. Lost and alone. Just like me. Maybe that's part of the reason we ended up sticking together.
“... Paimon was going through a difficult experience.”
I smile faintly.
“You bite me.”
“That was self defense.”
“You think I eat you.”
“You have the eyes of someone who might.”
“I is offended.”
.
.
.
The first few weeks after meeting Paimon were… difficult.
Mostly because neither of us could understand a single word the other was saying.
Communication became a bizarre game of gestures, drawing... A lot of terrible drawing was involved. And increasingly aggressive charades.
Paimon turned out to be very animated and expressive.
Unfortunately, she was also terrible at explaining things.
“No, no! This means city!” She exclaims as she begins to wave her arms up and down, hovering closer and closer to my face.
“Paimon move arms, not look like city.”
“It’s a windmill!”
“It look like you attack bees”
Paimon groans so dramatically she nearly falls out of the air. She compensates our miscommunications by becoming louder. As if that will solve our problems.
Meanwhile, my own attempts are apparently no better.
According to Paimon, my method of pointing at things silently while expecting comprehension makes me look “haunted.”
I can see it.
Still, over time, understanding became easier.
Words settled strangely in my mind at first. The language of this land became familiar far faster than it should have. Paimon said that is how it’s supposed to work. The “common” language was established to unite all nations. It was designed to be simple, yet effective for communication across borders.
Of course, like any other world I had been to before, there were words from both our tongues that did not exist in the other.
My name, for example. Did not have a direct translation, nor did they have the phonetics to pronounce it. Paimon referred to me as “traveler,” their word for one who wanders from place to place seeking adventure.
I suppose it is accurate, but it's a title, not a name.
.
.
.
Those two months passed quickly.
we remained near the coastline at first.
I was too weak to travel far, and Paimon refused to let me wander off alone after I nearly collapsed trying to climb a cliff.
Which… she still brings up constantly.
“You fainted halfway up!”
“Cliff’s fault”
“You walked directly into the ocean yesterday.”
“Once only. I were distracted.”
“By what?!”
I stare blankly ahead.
“Despair.”
Paimon snorts so hard she nearly chokes.
Somehow, despite everything, we settle into something almost comfortable.
Mornings spent gathering fruit.
Afternoons exploring nearby ruins neither of us understood.
Evenings beside small campfires while Paimon talked enough for the both of us.
Sometimes she asked questions about the stars beyond this world.
Sometimes I answered.
Sometimes I lied and said I did not miss home.
The strange thing is… I think Paimon always knew when I was lying.
Eventually, the road began calling to us both. It was just a matter of time.
“You’re looking for your brother,” Paimon says softly.
“Yes.”
“And somebody in the big city might know something!”
I raise an eyebrow. “That optimistic assume.”
“Optimism is important!”
“Is it?”
“Yes! Otherwise you get all…” She gestures vaguely at me. “Like this.”
“Paimon, rude. Rudest of anyone I have known me.”
Paimon grins.
“You’ll survive.”
I look toward the distant hills beyond the coastline.
Toward the unknown.
Toward answers.
Still…
After so long alone, the idea of walking beside someone again no longer feels unbearable.
Paimon places her hands on her hips proudly.
“So! Paimon will do her best to be a great guide!”
I cannot help the small smile that follows.
Paimon has brought back a glimpse of hope into my life. Her company is my sole source of comfort in this strange world.
I am lucky to have her by my side. I make sure to let her know every passing day.
“We shall… moving.”
“Yep!” Paimon spins excitedly in the air. “Let’s go!”
And for the first time since this world stole everything from me—
The road ahead does not feel quite so empty.