At the sight of Harold, the young girl's eyes widened in recognition, confusion, and fear. She seemed to struggle to speak, her words faltering in her clear distress. Finally, she managed to utter the word "brother" in a tone suggesting she knew him.
Harold was puzzled. This small, adorable, and pitiful girl was not someone he remembered. Despite her frail appearance, she gripped his wrist with surprising strength, desperately pulling herself up.
"Who are you? Do you know me?" Harold asked, but the girl's eyes, filled with earnestness, did not respond directly. Instead, she spoke urgently, as if in a dramatic scene from a play, and released her grip. A bright white light began to emanate from her hand.
"Please, take this... It's very important," she urged, holding out what appeared to be an indescribable, almost abstract substance, floating weightlessly above her palm.
"What is this? And why are you giving it to me?" Harold asked, perplexed. The girl, having seemingly completed her mission, allowed herself to succumb to exhaustion and closed her eyes peacefully, whispering something inaudible as she fainted.
"Hey, kid! Kid! Wake up!" Harold tried to rouse her, alarmed by her injuries. The severity of her condition made him fear the worst. Fortunately, the young girl was still breathing, merely exhausted and having fainted. Harold, concerned, gently lifted her in his arms, deciding to take her to the hospital despite not knowing her identity or what had transpired.
Despite her fragile appearance, she was heavier than expected, likely due to her racial characteristics. Harold wondered who she was and what circumstances led her to this state.
A few hours earlier, at the gathering of gods at the academy, the deities were preparing to return to their respective domains after discussing the recent events. During this time, they exchanged updates and well-wishes, a rare occasion given their usual seclusion in their temples.
Morione, the Goddess of Destiny, was particularly happy and proud of her knight's significant involvement in the recent events. Another god complimented her on having such an excellent follower.
As the gods departed, Morione prepared to return to her temple. However, she suddenly sensed something amiss and frowned in concentration. Abruptly, her expression twisted in anger, and she quickly started casting a teleportation spell, intending to return to her temple immediately.
Upon arrival, Morione found herself in her temple, which was supposed to be inaccessible to others. Rushing up the stairs, she muttered to herself in confusion and alarm, wondering when and how someone had tampered with her sacred space.
Reaching the altar, she quickly unlocked a securely locked box, revealing its contents. The story hints at a deepening mystery involving the Goddess of Destiny, her temple, and possibly the young girl Harold found. In the temple of Morione, the Goddess of Destiny, a shocking discovery unfolded. Upon opening her vault, Morione found it completely empty, a stark contrast to her expectation of it containing something vital. Overcome with disbelief and anger, she realized that Harold's memories, which were supposed to be secured in the vault, were gone. Someone had stolen them.
Consumed by a mix of despair and intense hatred toward the unknown perpetrator, Morione scrutinized the vault further. She noticed traces of a dark aura, a sign of an insidious presence. This discovery heightened her fury, as she identified it as a remnant of "time's byproduct," hinting at the involvement of a being she held in contempt yet kept close.
Meanwhile, Harold had rushed the injured, mysterious black-haired young girl to the hospital. The girl, whose origins were unknown to him, was badly hurt but not fatally so. The doctors confirmed that the injuries, while severe, were not life-threatening, and began treating her immediately.
Relieved at the doctor's assurance, Harold took a moment to inspect a peculiar orb the girl had given him before losing consciousness. This orb, handed over with urgency and importance, seemed to change size based on its contents. In its expanded form, it resembled a large crystal ball, the kind often associated with seers.
Harold tried various methods to understand the orb's nature and purpose - lifting it, shaking it, examining it closely - but its true essence and why the dragonkin girl entrusted it to him remained a mystery. As he pondered over this enigmatic object, questions about the girl's identity, her connection to him, and the significance of the orb lingered in his mind. "이게 대체 뭐지... 이걸 왜 그렇게 중요하게 준 거지?" Harold wondered, unable to discern the purpose of the mysterious orb. Its abstract nature and almost ethereal appearance left him questioning its reality.
Suddenly, a member of the Morione Order approached him, his face concealed by a hood, typical of the Order's mystique. "Harold Wicker, correct? The Goddess Morione urgently requests your presence at the temple," the figure informed him.
Harold, slightly bewildered, confirmed, "The Goddess?"
"Yes, immediately. She mentioned that if you possess a white orb of unknown origins, you should bring it along."
Realizing the goddess must be summoning him about the orb the young girl had given him, Harold quickly agreed to go. What could the Goddess possibly know about this orb, he wondered, but without any clues himself, he decided seeking answers directly from her would be best.
"Please follow me," the Order member beckoned. Considering the injured girl was still receiving treatment, Harold decided to follow the Order member to the temple.
An hour earlier, a young girl with black horns, darting through dark, narrow alleys to evade detection, suddenly cried out in pain as she was struck by a spell, wounding her back grievously. Collapsing to the ground after rolling several times, she looked up to see a radiant goddess approaching from the direction of the spell.
Though outside her temple and therefore limited in her powers, the Goddess of Destiny, Morione, was intent on retrieving something from the girl. "The byproduct of time... if you have an orb emitting light, hand it over now," Morione demanded, her eyes filled with a dark intensity and a threatening aura. The young girl, despite being in unbearable pain from the Goddess of Destiny's ruthless assault, refused to give in. "I don't have anything..." she attempted to plead, only to be brutally silenced by the goddess stamping on her chest, causing her to scream in agony.
"Enough with the lies... Hand over Harold's memories now," the goddess demanded, intensifying her punishment. The girl, a member of the dragon race, was still too young and her limits were clear against such overwhelming force.
In a desperate act, the girl unleashed a blinding flash of light to obscure the goddess's vision and escape. As the smoke cleared, the Goddess of Destiny realized the girl had vanished. "She can't run from me," the goddess muttered, using teleportation magic to disappear from the alley.
Despite her grave injuries, the girl named Miru pushed herself to keep running, determined to right the wrongs she had caused. Clutching the orb containing Harold's original memories close to her chest, she whispered, "Just a little longer, Dad..." Despite her wounds worsening, she didn't slow down, driven by her resolve to deliver the orb to Harold, her father. Even though she didn't know how to use it, she was determined to get it to him. "I mustn't let it fall back into the hands of that goddess..."