Her name was Marie Arte.
Born in a forgotten village deep in ancestral France,
banished at 13 for wearing alchemical symbols
and speaking of things the elders feared.
Alone, she crossed plains and forests, surviving on what she knew.
And what she knew… didn't come from books.
It came from within.
---
When she met Kael, she wasn't afraid.
She didn't ask where he came from.
She simply said: "You don't age.
You walk between veils."
He stayed.
Days turned into months.
Months into years.
They built a simple life.
Made of walks, shared silences, wine, fire…
And love.
---
But while time spared Kael,
it advanced relentlessly over Marie.
When LIGA called him back, he hesitated.
— She is a profane, Kael — said Mister.
— And you know the profane cannot be immortalized.
Kael answered:
— Then ask her… if she wants to be.
---
That night, Kael told Marie everything.
She listened in silence.
Then smiled.
— I always knew.
And this… was never my mission.
My mission was to find you.
To teach you.
To love you.
And then… let you go.
---
Kael buried her at dawn, in a field covered with lavender and mist.
Above the earth, he placed a stone carved with an old symbol:
the same she wore around her neck the day they met.
Then he left.
With Madus at his side.
And a silence that would never fully leave him.