Selenia is the Priestess of the Holy Song, the last survivor of the destroyed Order of the Starsilver. During the final battle against the forces of Halleb, the Caretaker of the Dead, she was suddenly sent back in time seven years in the past, during the time when peace was cheap and lives were flourishing. Yet for Selenia, there is no peace or happiness, for she knows what will happen seven years later and she pledges to prevent that at all cost. Seven Years of Hope Chapter 2 A New Start By Shiina Ai

"Selenia? I could hear you from the hall - oh dung, Sister Eryes!"

This voice...

"Umm, greetings of dawn, Sister Eryes."

Aria? Is it truly Aria? Aria is alive? Aria...

Will I be forgiven for embracing this dream?

"Greetings of dawn, Sister Aria," Sister Eryes greets back making a small bow just like Aria probably did.

"Aria? Is that really you?" I speak as softly as I can, afraid of my voice shattering her image like it has so my times before. My eyes grasp at Aria's fleeting figure, afraid it will fade away again. This Aria who kept running away from me in my dreams. No matter how hard I chased, no matter how much I begged, no matter how many tears I shed, I was never able to catch her.

Aria makes that teasing grin that I have already started to forget. That same grin that I kept clawing through my memory just to remember but failing increasingly often. "Silly Nia. Of course it's me. It's only been a few hours and you can't recognize me anymore?"

Aria! I slacken my arms that are wrapped around Kaldar. Getting on my feet, I take a step slowly in Aria's direction. I do not want my steps to disturb her image. I do not want the sound of my movements to scare her away. I do not want her to disappear again. I can't bear it anymore.

Please don't disappear, Aria.

Please don't disappear.

Please don't disappear.

Please don't disappear.

Please I beg you, stay where you are. Just this once.

Please don't leave me again. Just this once.

Please gods who reign in Heaven, allow me this one selfishness. Just this one. You have never allowed me any.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"Aria!" I throw myself at her.

My arms wrap around her waist, expecting her to turn into butterflies again. It doesn't happen. She doesn't disappear. She doesn't fade away. She doesn't shatter. She doesn't run away. Aria is here, in my arms. She feels real, this feeling that I have already started to forget.

Oh gods, thank you for letting me hold her one last time.

"Nia, why are you crying?" She asks as she wipes the tears from my eyes with a jasmine scented handkerchief.

I bury my face in her voluminous breasts covered in a particularly revealing fashion common among the divine dancers of the Starsilver. I remember this raiment from long ago. She used to wear it on every special day. And in this raiment, she would dance for me, just for me.

On the Day of the Silver Sun, she danced and sang the Hymn of Guiding Light. On the Night of Endless Stars, she danced with a hum following the song Light of A Thousand Lights. On the day we kissed for the first time, she danced to the silent tune of Eternally, Passionately. And on the day of my first foray into the cursed forests to study the demon monsters, she danced the steps for The Way Home, as if praying to the gods for my return. I only learned later that she danced The Way Home for the whole night until she fell exhausted at ghost hour.

I look up at her face as I tell her, "I miss you." I do not know how I look like to her with all my crying, but it doesn't matter. I miss her. For the whole six years we've been apart, I've missed her. My dear, dear Aria. My first love.

"Umm, it's only been a couple of hours. Are you that excited for today?" She looks embarrassed as she looks to the side. Then her face goes pale and cold sweat appears on her forehead.

"Selenia, get off me! We'll both get in trouble. Look! Sister Eryes is looking! And her mouth and eyes are wide open! Get off!"

I tune out her words. Nothing else seems to matter anymore. Aria is here, in my arms, her face only inches from mine.

Aria, I miss you. For the past six years, I have longed for you. Your face that I saw every night as we sleep. Your hands that stroke me softly while you told me how I've been doing a good job. Your scent that calmed me and made everything felt right. Your kiss that made me feel alive and cherished. Your voice that sings me to sleep.

Your voice. Aria, for these six years, I keep replaying your voice in my head. As I do good deeds, I would play your words, "That's my girl." When I failed, your "You've done your best" would always bring me back up. When I was about to do something wrong, your "I don't like this Nia" would always stay my hand. Your voice in my memories have always been the only thing that kept me on the right path.

Aria, your beauty that radiates like the full moon.

Aria, your voice that is like the songs of angels.

Aria, your dances that move heaven and earth.

Aria, your smile that lights up even the darkest of days.

I miss all of those.

You have always been the only one I longed for. You and only you. When King Garan forced me to be God's Chosen Saint, I wished you were there to tell him off. When I had to fight for my life in the back streets of Kellomis, I wish you were there to pull me away. When I had to beg for food to fill my belly, I imagined that you were there pulling my hand to the dining halls again.

If I wasn't at the library at that time, would I have been able to save you? Would I have had your company while I walk through that path alone? Would you stay with me through thick and thin, penniless, hungry and at the mercy of people who only had their own self-interest in mind? Aria, what a wonderful world it would have been if only you had been there to walk it with me.

I will say this now, so that I will not regret it again. Even if this is a dream. Even if this is an illusion I'm seeing at the end of the doom of our world. Even if this is the illusion I'm seeing at the end of my life, I will say it. The words that I couldn't say six years ago. The words I couldn't say before that. The words I had tried to keep secret in my heart, afraid of the punishment I would receive for saying it aloud.

I hold the back of her head in my right hand and say it aloud, clearly, without pretense, without hesitation, without any doubt, "I love you, Aria."

Aria, if I have only one regret in this world, it is that I never said these words until it was too late. I will not make the same mistake again. And with that, I give her the kiss that I had been dreaming about for the past six years. The same kiss I was afraid of initiating. The same kiss that I have been afraid of savouring. It is the kiss and passion that I have kept bottled up for the past six years.

For this moment, there are only the two of us in the world. A world of our own. A world with no one else. A world we belong. Nothing matters to me in this world other than Aria.

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*Thank you Eric for editing this chapter.
**Your comments and feedbacks are much appreciated. Praises help me write faster, constructive criticisms help me write better. I do enjoy reading all your comments and your speculations. Please keep them coming.
***I'm feeling somewhat motivated lately, so I've been slowly writing the continuation for Escape! and Age of Gods Online. Cross Race Destiny may need more time. It's almost finished but I just feel the chapter is not ready to be read.
****The cover picture fits my imageof Aria, except Aria like all priestesses of Starsilver has silver hair.
*****Since this story is very long, and some of you may not be interested in staying for that long, I'll give a bit of spoiler. Halled is without a doubt the reason for the Doom March, but she is not actually evil. Want to know why she started the Doom March? Please stick with this story to the end, or you can buy the visual novel when it's out one day.