Chapter 478: The Sea Was Still There

Jian Yue appeared before the passage opened, but to Damon’s surprise, she wasn’t carrying a backpack, an extra sword, or anything else that suggested an attempt to secretly accompany them.

She simply stopped near the wall, crossed her arms, and looked first at Damon, then at Neria, who was carrying a small bag containing water, food, a change of clothes, and the medication Ester had practically forced her to bring.

"Come back in one piece."

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"That’s your entire farewell?"

Jian Yue thought for a moment.

"Don’t do anything stupid."

"Now that sounds more like you."

Neria smiled as Aria finished stabilizing the Transfer.

On the other side was a narrow road surrounded by low hills, still covered in the morning mist. The sea wasn’t visible from there, only a stretch of fields and a distant line of higher ground.

Neria remained in front of the passage for a few seconds before crossing.

Not out of fear.

Damon realized that immediately.

She was simply paying attention to how her body reacted to leaving Eir again.

She took a deep breath, touched the center of her chest, and then took her first step.

Damon crossed shortly afterward.

The passage closed behind them, and for a few moments, Neria stood motionless in the middle of the road.

The regulator beneath her skin reacted almost imperceptibly, while the alternative pathway her own body had constructed began increasing its activity.

She noticed it too.

"Faster."

Damon nodded.

"Your body already knows what to do."

Neria flexed her fingers.

They were warm.

"It still feels strange."

"You said that last time."

"It’s still true."

She looked around at the hills, the empty road, and the mist beginning to disappear beneath the sunlight.

"How many hours?"

"Aria said three, if we maintain a normal pace."

Neria began walking.

"Then three."

Damon followed.

"Ester said we need to take breaks."

"I know."

"I’m just putting it on record that I warned you."

Neria glanced sideways at him.

"So you can say ’I told you so’ afterward?"

"Exactly."

"You’re getting old."

Damon remained silent for a few steps.

"That was unnecessary."

"Aurelia taught me."

"Even worse."

The first hour passed easily.

The road descended gradually between cultivated fields and small clusters of trees. There were scattered farms, a few isolated houses, and the occasional wagon.

Neria looked at practically everything.

Not with Eir’s curiosity, which turned ordinary objects into conceptual problems, but with the attention of someone comparing what she saw with memories that could no longer serve as a map.

Some crops were familiar.

Others weren’t.

A house built from pale stone caught her attention because its roof sloped differently from buildings in her time.

She asked why.

Damon didn’t know.

"You’re surprisingly useless as a guide."

"I came to stop you from falling off a cliff, not to explain rural architecture."

"Aria would know."

"Don’t say that around her. She’ll want to come next time."

Neria continued walking, satisfied for some reason.

Their first break happened before Ester would probably have demanded one.

Neria stopped near a small stone bridge, sat on its wide parapet, and drank some water without Damon having to say anything.

He remained standing for a few seconds, looking at her.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"That expression means something."

"I’m impressed."

"Because I sat down?"

"Without arguing."

Neria made a face.

"If I exhaust myself before we arrive, Ester will say she was right."

Damon sat beside her.

"Excellent motivation."

"It works."

They remained there for almost fifteen minutes.

Neria didn’t try to shorten the break or pretend she had completely recovered.

When she started walking again, her pace was slightly slower but steady.

The smell arrived before the sound.

Neria stopped in the middle of the road.

Damon took two more steps before noticing.

She stood motionless, her face slightly raised.

"Do you smell that?"

Neria didn’t answer immediately.

She inhaled again.

"Salt."

Damon looked toward the line of hills ahead.

The ocean still wasn’t visible.

"Yes."

"I remembered."

There wasn’t enough sadness in the way she said it to turn the moment into mourning, nor was there exaggerated joy.

It was simply surprise that an old memory still corresponded to something real.

She began walking again, a little faster.

Damon allowed it for a few minutes, until he noticed that her pace was becoming excessive.

"Neria."

"I know."

She slowed down on her own.

"I didn’t even have to say anything."

"You would have."

"Naturally."

The sound of waves appeared shortly afterward.

At first, it was faint, almost indistinguishable from the wind.

Then it became clearer.

Neria grew quieter as they advanced.

By the time they reached the small village marked on Aria’s map, it was already late morning.

The place was simple, perhaps forty houses clustered around a main street and a small harbor sheltered between rocks. There were hanging fishing nets, wooden boats, and a strong smell of fish that immediately made Damon reconsider the quality of their chosen route.

Neria, however, barely glanced at the harbor.

"The cliff?"

Damon asked an older fisherman, who pointed toward a trail beginning at the edge of the village.

"About forty minutes. Maybe longer if you take it slowly."

Damon thanked him.

Neria was already looking toward the trail.

"Food first."

She turned around.

"I’m not hungry."

"I am."

"You’re lying."

"That doesn’t invalidate the plan."

Neria narrowed her eyes but accepted.

They found a small inn that also served meals.

They ate something simple and remained there for nearly an hour.

Damon noticed that she was beginning to tap her foot against the floor near the end.

"Anxious?"

"No."

"You use that lie far too often too."

Neria gave him a look that closely resembled Jian Yue’s.

"Bad influences," Damon muttered.

When they finally followed the trail, Neria made no attempt to hide her impatience.

She still respected her limits, but her attention was entirely focused on the sound growing louder beyond the rocks.

The trail climbed at first, then continued along a stretch of land covered in low vegetation.

The wind grew stronger.

So did the smell of salt.

Damon saw the ocean before she did because he was a few steps ahead when they reached the final bend.

He stopped.

Neria noticed.

"What?"

Damon simply stepped aside.

She moved forward.

The sea filled everything.

The cliff wasn’t particularly high, but the view opened unobstructed onto an expanse of water that seemed endless.

The sky was clear, with a few distant clouds, and the sun transformed parts of the surface into white reflections.

Far below, waves broke against a narrow stretch of rocks before retreating, one after another, entirely indifferent to what had happened in Vermillion, to Eir, to Serik, or to a hundred and seventeen lost years.

Neria said nothing.

Neither did Damon.

She remained like that for several minutes.

Then she sat down.

Not because she was tired.

She simply sat.

Damon stayed a little behind, giving her space.

He didn’t know exactly what Neria expected to feel, and he suspected she didn’t either.

Perhaps a clear memory.

Perhaps relief.

Perhaps nothing.

After some time, Neria spoke.

"It’s different."

Damon approached and sat a few steps away.

"Bad?"

"No."

She looked toward the horizon.

"I remembered it being bigger."

Damon stared at the absurd amount of water before them.

"That seems difficult."

Neria chuckled softly.

"I was smaller."

"That explains it."

She continued looking.

"The last time I saw it, I was with my mother."

Damon remained quiet.

"Before Vermillion?"

"Long before."

Neria rested her arms on her knees.

"She didn’t like this place."

"Eir?"

"She said the sea was difficult."

"Why?"

"It didn’t belong to her."

Damon smiled.

"Naturally."

Neria smiled too.

"She could sense rivers, rain, water in the soil. But the ocean was too vast and didn’t respond the way she expected. I think that irritated her."

"I would’ve liked to see that."

"She stayed silent for hours."

"Definitely irritated."

Neria laughed again, but her smile diminished shortly afterward.

It didn’t disappear in a heavy or sorrowful way.

It simply became quieter.

"I thought it would feel like getting something back."

Damon waited.

"But it doesn’t."

She touched her fingers to the stone beneath her.

"The sea still exists. I still remember it. But that time didn’t come back."

Damon looked at the water.

"Good thing."

Neria turned toward him.

He continued.

"If it had come back exactly the same, you’d have a hundred and seventeen years to explain."

She stared at him for two seconds before laughing.

"That was terrible."

"It was accurate."

"It wasn’t."

"A little."

The wind picked up.

Neria returned her attention to the waves and, after a while, stood up.

"I want to go down."

Damon looked toward the narrow trail leading to a distant stretch of beach.

"That means we’ll have to climb back up afterward."

"We can sleep in the village."

"You’ve already decided?"

"Maybe."

"That means yes."

She smiled.

"I want to touch the water."

Damon stood up.

"Then we’ll take it slowly."

The descent took almost an hour because Damon made Neria stop twice.

She complained during the first break.

During the second, she sat down on her own.

When they finally reached the beach, the sun was already beginning to set.

There was nobody nearby.

Only rocks, dark sand, and waves rolling in along diagonal lines.

Neria removed her shoes.

Damon looked at her.

"Cold water."

"I know."

"You’re going to complain."

"Probably."

She walked toward the shore.

The first wave touched her feet.

Neria immediately stepped back.

"Cold."

Damon began laughing.

"I warned you."

"That doesn’t help."

Another wave came.

This time, she didn’t retreat.

She remained there as the water covered her ankles and withdrew.

Then another.

Neria closed her eyes for a few seconds.

No energy reacted.

No structure changed.

The regulator continued functioning.

Her body remained nothing more than a body standing in the sea.

When she opened her eyes, she looked at Damon.

"I’m going to tell her about this."

"Eir?"

"Yes."

"What are you going to tell her?"

Neria looked toward the ocean again.

"That it’s still cold."

Damon smiled.

"And deep."

"She knows that."

"That I still liked it."

That probably mattered more.

They stayed until the sun had nearly disappeared.

Afterward, they slowly returned to the village and rented two rooms at the small inn.

Neria was exhausted by the time they arrived, but there was no dizziness, change in body temperature, or any sign that would have worried Ester.

Before entering her room, she stopped in the corridor.

"Damon."

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

He looked at her.

"For walking?"

"That too."

Neria held the key to her new room between her fingers.

"For not trying to turn today into something bigger."

Damon thought about the cliff, the cold water, and the silence.

"It was just the sea."

Neria smiled.

"Exactly."

She entered and closed the door.

Damon remained in the corridor for a few seconds before heading to his own room.

The following day, they would return to Eir.

Neria would tell her everything.

Liora would probably ask about the food before anything else.

And the ocean would remain exactly where it was, indifferent to all of them.

Damon liked that.