Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 217: Ch215. The paladin, the survivor, and the sleeping salamander

Chapter 217: Ch215. The paladin, the survivor, and the sleeping salamander

Sarissa found Miles sitting at the very edge of the [Dark Forest], where the twisted trees gave way to a sparse clearing, and the ruinous battlefield lay behind them like a grave they had just barely climbed out of.

He was hunched low, elbows resting on his knees, a tiny creature nestled in his gloved hands.

The salamander.

She’d seen it breathing fire and emanating light during the battle, had watched it with suspicion and awe, but never got a proper look until now. It looked... Small, almost fragile, cradled in Miles’ callused palms.

The creature was curled up, tiny legs tucked under its belly, its bright golden eyes half-lidded with exhaustion. Its scales shimmered faintly, still glowing with a soft silver-blue hue.

Sarissa stepped quietly, her boots crunching against the brittle undergrowth. Miles didn’t look up.

"Didn’t think you were still here." She said quietly.

"Neither did I." He replied. His voice was quiet, almost lost in the breeze.

"Is it... Safe?" She crouched beside him, looking at the salamander.

"Yeah. Just tired." He gave a short nod.

"And it’s yours?" Sarissa tilted her head.

There was something cautious in her voice. Not fear, but an edge of curiosity laced with disbelief.

He didn’t blame her. Nothing about the little beast looked like it belonged to anyone, and certainly not to someone like Miles, who had come back from the forest looking like he’d fought gods in silence.

Miles glanced down at the salamander again and ran a finger along its back. The little creature gave a contented trill, then nuzzled his thumb.

"It’s Dee." He said, giving her a faint smile.

"What?" Sarissa blinked.

"It’s him. Or what’s left of him. Maybe a piece, maybe everything. I don’t know, but... It knew me, and I knew him."

She stared at him for a long moment, then at the creature again. The weight of what he said began to sink in, little by little.

Dee. The boy-savior, the child that walked beside Miles and fought like the world was made of paper. Who had died in the [Mouth of the Abyss], sacrificing himself to give Miles a chance to kill [Aardvark].

And now he was this? A tiny salamander?

"That’s insane." Sarissa murmured. Then, softer, as the creature snored faintly. "That’s... Beautiful."

She reached a hand toward it, slowly, and Miles didn’t stop her. She ran a finger along its snout, and it shuddered once, before curling tighter into sleep.

"That’s his charm for you." Miles chuckled through his nose.

"He helped us win." She said.

"He always does."

They sat in silence for a while. The forest behind them creaked and shifted, never truly still. The battlefield ahead was silent now, aside from the rebuilding noises, a place where too many had died, but no one had time to grieve them.

Eventually, she asked the question that had been circling her mind since she found him.

"Why did you stay?"

Miles didn’t answer right away, his eyes were on the trees, distant.

"Shinji’s gone. You have your weapon, your strength. You could’ve gone after him, or waited for your next chance." She continued.

"I know." He said quietly, heavy.

Another beat of silence passed, and then he said.

"You were right. Back then, when you told me that we can’t save everyone. That we have to rely on our strength, our will. That if we’re lucky, we find people beside us who share those things."

She turned to him, surprised. She remembered saying that, half-spat during a meeting, before she even knew how grander this world was. Before they even knew what the [World Quest] would take them to.

She’d said it out of frustration.

She hadn’t known he remembered.

"I thought you didn’t agree." She said.

"I didn’t want to. I wanted to believe we could do more, that we could save everyone. That just trying hard enough would be enough."

He looked down at Dee, fast and heavily asleep.

"But we couldn’t. We can’t. Cass, Alric, Elise, Riven, and so many others... They’re gone."

Her chest tightened. Even though she didn’t know them closely, the names still hurt.

"But we lived." He said. "Not because we were better, not because we deserved it more. Just... Because."

Sarissa said nothing in return. She couldn’t. The words were stuck in her throat.

"But that’s not the only reason I stayed." Miles went on. "There’s something else, something I saw in the [Dark Forest]."

"What did you see?" Sarissa frowned, turning toward him more fully.

Miles drew in a slow breath, and when he spoke, it came like a confession, piece by piece.

"It wasn’t a vision, not exactly. It was more like... Walking into someone else’s story. A memory, ancient, half-buried, but not mine."

His voice dropped.

"There was a thing in the forest, a thing that reminded me of the sensation we had in the [Mouth of the Abyss], but different. It felt like it wanted to help us, somehow. It sat on a throne deep inside a temple in the middle of the forest. And it showed me that memory after I touched a sword stuck on the floor before the throne. Do you remember that?"

Sarissa tilted her head, and then she blinked.

"When we were heading towards the [Mouth of the Abyss] through the weird passage that the Archivist showed us... The painting, there was a throne, chains, and a sword before it." She gasped. "You’re telling me you actually saw the thing?"

Miles nodded.

"There was a woman. Red-haired, green eyes. She reminded me of you. And there was someone else, a boy. He looked like Kurt. I can’t be sure, but..."

She said nothing, but her mind was racing with countless thoughts.

"I think the memory belonged to someone else entirely." Miles said. "The Blind Dreamer, the thing in the throne. Whatever that is, whoever that is, it showed me their beginning."

Sarissa stared at him. She didn’t understand all of it. but her chest felt heavy for some reason.

"So, that’s why you stayed?"

"I need to know what that sword is." Miles nodded. "Who those people were, what the Dreamer wants. If this is connected to you, to Kurt, then maybe it’s all connected to this world and the Horizon, to the Crawling Chaos, to Shinji, and to Wonderland."

He clenched his fists gently, careful not to wake Dee.

"I don’t know what I am in all this, if I matter, if I’m just some coincidence caught in the middle of a bigger story. But I’m going to see it through."

Sarissa felt something shift in her chest.

She looked at him.

She really looked at him. Not just the fighter, the killer, the ender, the survivor.

But the boy beneath all that, still chasing answers, still fighting for something even if he didn’t know what it was yet.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. He flinched a little, but didn’t pull away.

"Then we see it through." She said. "Beginning and End, together."

They sat in silence again, the three of them. A Paladin, a survivor, and a sleeping salamander who used to be a boy.