Blood of Desire

"Looks like you've recovered quite a bit since coming here."

Samael glanced at the Hunnic king beside him, who had shed her regressed infant form and regained the figure of a young girl. He gave a faint smile, lost in thought.

"It feels like I've remembered many things, yet also like I remember nothing at all. Like a long dream..."

Attila murmured in reply, her eyes filled with confusion.

"Was it a beautiful dream, or a nightmare?"

Resting his chin on one hand, Samael looked at Attila with quiet interest.

A beautiful dream... a nightmare...

As Attila murmured, she thought of the burning earth, of lives crumbling apart, of the first ray of sunlight shining into the stone chamber, of the breeze carrying the scent of grass. Lowering her head, she looked at the Sword of the God of War beside her. Her voice gradually faded.

"Perhaps... both..."

After a moment of silence, the white-haired girl gazing out at the Sea of Oceanus turned to Samael.

"Did we know each other before?"

"I suppose so. It really has been a long... long time..."

Samael paused, then looked toward the now-calm sea, his heart filled with emotion. He soon laughed freely, pulled out the wooden stopper, and poured the crimson wine down his throat. Then he tossed the wineskin to Attila beside him, inviting the Hunnic king to drink with him.

Attila took a deep drink and casually wiped the wine from the corner of her mouth. A faint scent of blood bloomed across her tongue. She froze for a moment, then kept drinking. Catching sight of the thin red mark on Samael's palm, an inexplicable urge to speak rose within her, and the question slipped out.

"Do you hate Seferu?"

"Hate? Not really..."

Samael rubbed his chin and thought for