It was a particularly beautiful evening in the Tranquil Woods. The wind is gentle, keeping the atmosphere cool but not too cold. The tree leaves ruffled against each other, distorting the rays of the setting sun in various colorful patterns, while making calming sounds that blended in with the noises of water flowing in the river and birds chirping.

Laphicet Crowe closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, taking in the peaceful atmosphere around him. It never ceased to amaze him how this place made him feel so relaxed and liberating no matter how many times he had come here. No wonder why everyone else in his family love it so much here. This place has that magic touch of nature that only a few places in the world had. Whenever he felt like he needed some time to be by himself, to be away from the world for a while, he would always come to this place.

A few minutes later, Laphicet was right where he wanted to be: a cliff overlooking a vast open sea. He closed his eyes as he takes in the sea breeze and the gentle warmth of the setting sun. He and his sister Velvet often came here for some fishing from time to time. The sediments from the inland river flowing into the seabed below attracted various kinds of fish to make their home, and thus it was a perfect fishing location. He could never really beat his sister at it, though. Velvet has way more experience with this sort of thing than him, and he would often get distracted by the view to focus on the fishing itself.

There was a quite large ruins sitting nearby, and in the middle of it used to be a huge hole that covered up quite some time ago. Laphicet always got a strange chill running down his spine every time he did so much as glancing toward it slightly. He had a lot of bad memories with that place, one that he was terrified, and even ashamed, to be reminded of.

It's ironic. This place was somewhere that held some of his most cherished memories and some of the worst ones.

Even though it was almost a century since then, he could never ever forget what he did that night.

"Nice sunset, huh?"

A voice awakened Laphicet from his deep thoughts. He turned around towards the ruins and saw a young boy who looked around a few years younger than him. He also looked just like him, too, to the point that most people wouldn't be likely to tell apart from the distance and assumed both of them to be twin brothers.

But upon closer look, former Malak Number Two is anything but that. Although they shared similar appearances and are technically a part of each other, as individuals they couldn't have been more different, a fact that made Laphicet both detested and somewhat admired him, even if he would never admit it out loud.

"If you stay out this late, Velvet is going to worry, you know?" The newcomer continued with a gentle smile: a smile that Laphicet used to hate with every fiber of his being. That meaningless display of emotion, an empty gesture without purpose and reason. After all, what good are smiles when they never lasted? Why do people smile to make someone feels good about themselves even though nothing has actually changed? It's such a baffling thing.

And yet…why does he always feel so good seeing Velvet smile? Why does every genuine smile he saw always seem to calm his mind and make him feel at peace with himself?

"Speak for yourself, Maotelus." Laphicet replied calmly, "You do realize Seres and Artorius are going to worry with you being out here by yourself, right?"

"Celica and Arthur, if you would." Maotelus corrected, which caused Laphicet to snicker a little. As if changing how someone is called would make that much of a difference when it's still referring to the same person, "And Celica actually knows that I'm out here. In fact, she wants me to check in how you're doing. You're her little brother, after all."

"Laphicet Crowe is gone. My name is Innominat." 'Laphicet', or rather Innominat, immediately corrected with a stern voice, "That boy was merely a vessel for me to reside in after he was sacrificed. Nothing more."

"And why do I see so much of Laphicet Crowe in you, I wonder?" Maotelus spoke, a smile once again sporting on his face, "Didn't you enjoy all these years living as him with Velvet and her family? Living the life that he was denied of having? The life that you wish you could have?"

"I…" For once, Innominat has no retort. He averted his gaze away from Maotelus and turned his attention back to the sea. Noticing the obvious attempt to dodge the topic, Maotelus decided not to pursue it further. He slowly approached Innominat before walking up alongside him, watching the sunset over the sea together.

"Shepherd Eleanor Hume just passed away yesterday…" Maotelus finally spoke, his voice uncharacteristically somber, something that Innominat was not used to hearing.

"Eleanor Hume?" Innominat spoke, trying to recall the name. He remembered meeting an 'Eleanor Hume' once when he, as Laphicet Crowe, was travelling around the world with Velvet, "Oh, you meant that traitorous exorcist."

Maotelus almost looked offended, "You'd never stop calling her that, huh?"

"Well, she was a traitor to our cause. It's a fact, no matter what either of us think," Innominat insisted, though there was no malice in his voice. Seeing the dejected look on a fellow Empyrean's face, he continued.

"My condolences for her passing. She was a good woman."

Maotelus's expression changed to that of surprise, then one of curiosity. Then he smiled a little, which puzzled Innominat. Even after all these years, he just couldn't figure Maotelus out. He remembered the times when he did everything in his power to break this young upstart malak, but he stood firm and resist his attempts every single time with nothing that could make him lose his cool. And yet, a few simple words or mundane acts such as this were enough to move him emotionally. Why is this so, he wondered?

"You've mellowed out a lot." Maotelus commented, "A few decades ago, you won't even bat an eye when I told you that Rokurou was slain fighting daemons."

"What do you expect me to do? To care about every single person that died? Those people were your friends, not mine. I have no reason why I should care so much about them beyond what was necessary. I never understood the point of it, anyway."

"You don't have to truly know someone to care about them, you know?" Maotelus replied, "Back then, when I was just an empty shell of a person, Velvet didn't have to care about me at all. After all, I was nothing more than a tool to be used and discarded. And yet, she gave me a life that I never had even when she didn't even have to. The same can also be said about you. After everything you did to her, all the nightmares that you put her through, she's still willing to save your life. To make amends with you. To give you a chance to live a life you never had here in this eternal dream, even if she has to seal herself away with you forever."

"She did it to save your life." Innominat retorted, turning to face Maotelus. That frustrating feeling returned again. How naïve could this boy be? "Remember that your life is tied to mine. If I die, you will die with me, and the Empyreans will run rampant and destroy the world and everything she knows. Do you honestly think that she saved my life for no reason? How naïve of you. If my life wasn't necessary for yours and the world to live on, do you truly believe that I'd be standing here right now talking to you?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I do believe that." Maotelus answered without missing a beat, surprising Innominat once again, "I do believe that even if the world and my life aren't a priority, she'd still try to save you anyway. That's who she truly is."

"Because I happen to have her brother's appearance," Innominat argued. This time his voice sounded more irritated. He was sure about this because after all, he made the most out of Velvet's attachment with her deceased younger brother against her. The emotional sentimentality was such an illogical thing, but it served his purpose effectively, for a while, anyway. "She loved this…this shell that used to be her brother's. She believed that I am him. Was that not the same reason why she saved you in the first place? Because you looked similar to her brother as well?"

"I won't deny that…that I used to be annoyed when she treated me as if I'm her younger brother," For once, Maotelus agreed, "I eventually let her know how I felt about it, though, and she eventually comes to see me as someone who's more than a splitting image of her brother. I'm my own person, and I don't need her to protect or babysit me all the time as I try to live my own life on my own terms, by my own choices."

Maotelus paused as he turned to look at his fellow Empyrean, who apparently was trying his best not to look back, almost as if he's trying to avoid continuing the topic. Maotelus wasn't just about to let it slide yet, though.

"What about you, Innominat? Was it not your choice to play the role of Laphicet Crowe? Of someone who should be beneath you just like all the humans you looked down upon? Was this eternal dream not something you created to be a place where you, as Velvet's younger brother, could live the life that both of you never have?"

Once again, Innominat did not have any retort. He sighed, deep in thought. As insufferable as Maotelus was, he was right about this.

This dream world, fantasy, whatever it was, it was something that he created not long after he and Velvet were sealed in an endless cycle. It was simultaneously the best and the worst thing that could have happened to both of them. On the plus side, neither of them had to die, and thanks to Maotelus rising to become a new Empyrean, the world didn't have to end. At the same time, both he and Velvet are forever entrapped in this eternal seal, locking them both away from the rest of the world, unable to live their lives freely again.

Then again, as if their lives were free in the first place.

"I created this world…as a way to escape." Innominat admitted with a sigh, "An escape from this 'duty' that I had been tasked with, this endless cycle of death and destruction. Do you think I actually enjoyed this dreadful existence as a being whose only purpose is to feed on this ugly substance that turned humans and malaks into daemons? Every thousand years, I am awakened for that sole purpose only, and that is to cleanse the world of malevolence. After that, it was back to slumber until the malevolence runs rampant again. Every thousand years, I had to do it again…and again…and again…until the end of time or all the malevolence is extinguished from the world somehow. As if that will ever happen."

Maotelus observed his predecessor's face as his expression grew somber and somber, each word spoken in a resigned and almost depressed voice. Suddenly, it dawned upon him just how tired Innominat must have been from purging malevolence and preventing the world from tearing itself apart again and again for eons. Ever since his creation, he had to endure this vicious cycle, just because he was the only one who could do it. When Artorius Collbrande showed up and offered him a way to break this cycle for good, it made more sense why Innominat would agree to it and will go to any length to break free from this cruel task given to him.

"That's all I ever was. That's all I ever will be." Innominat continued. "I am the Empyrean of Suppression. I exist only to feed on malevolence. I have no future as anything else."

"So that's why you created this world. You wanted a chance to be something…to be someone else." Maotelus added, finally realizing the extent of just what his predecessor went through that drove him to do what he did, "And you chose to be Laphicet Crowe."

Innominat nodded with a small sigh, "The young human boy's fate reminded me of myself: his life was sealed to a cruel fate since his creation. He had no future ahead of him. In the end, all he could ever be was a tool to serve a greater purpose, desperate to leave his mark on the world before the inevitable and to make his sister happy. And yet, in the end, he couldn't even achieve even that."

There was a brief pause as the weary Empyrean just sat down and stare at the setting sun, which almost disappeared beneath the horizon. Yet another day has ended, and nothing has changed at all.

"I'm just tired of it all. Tired that nothing has ever changed. That people will always live in fear and pain. That the world will always be as it was: chaotic, merciless, and corrupted, and that nothing we do really makes a difference. A static existence that won't ever change even if millennia have passed. What's the point in living in a world like that?"

"One could say the same about this dream world of yours, don't you think?" Maotelus began, "This perfect utopia, where everyone could live their lives freely and never have to worry about dangers at every turn, a world with everlasting peace where you never have to say goodbyes to your loved ones and experience the pain of loss. Such a world is a paradise, no doubt, but it's a static existence all the same. After all, there's no progress to be made in a world where everything is already perfect, right?"

"The difference is that I still have power over it. I can change this world as I see fit." Innominat noted, pointing at the setting sun ahead of him, "I can make that sun rise again from the water right now if I wish for it. I do not hold such a power in the real world."

Maotelus nodded. "Indeed. That's why this is a fantasy and not a reality. There are just some things in the real world that will never change, no matter how much we wish it to. It's just nature running its course. That's something we all have to learn to live with."

"Just like the birds flying above, huh?"

Innominat spoke as he looked above at the sky and saw some seagulls flying along the cliffs, making their way back to their nests after a long day of flying, doing whatever it takes to survive and live another day.

"Birds fly because they must. That's what I and Artorius had believed. It's in their nature." Innominat finally concluded, "I guess we were fools to try to forcibly change nature, then. Ironic that it takes me this long to finally understood it now. We were trying to change things that can't be changed, and we were all punished for it. If I had known, maybe things might have turned out very different back then…"

"Heh. You really still know nothing, don't you?"

A new voice spoke from behind.

Innominat and Maotelus turned to look. A fair young lady dressed in a proper white-and-purple dress showed up. Her raven-coloured ponytail hair flowing along with the evening wind. There was a gentle, warm smile on her face.

"Seres."

"Mother?"

Innominat and Maotelus spoke simultaneously. They turned to look at each other irritably for a moment, annoyed at how each of them referred to the newcomer differently. The lady, for her part, just giggled it off before she continued.

"Please, call me Celica Crowe." She spoke kindly, "That's the name I've chosen for myself in this place."

Maotelus nodded enthusiastically, while Innominat just snickered. "Why are you out here? Weren't you supposed to help that woman and your 'husband' prepare dinner before we get home?"

"Laphicet, that's a rude way to talk about your family, you know?" Celica said with a frown, "Also, Velvet and Arthur could handle themselves in the kitchen for a while longer. Since you two take your sweet time being out here all evening, I have to come out here looking for you. What took you two so long to be out here anyway?"

"We're just having a friendly chat. Right, 'Uncle Laphi'?" Maotelus replied, winking at Innominat with a playful grin, who huffed in annoyance, "Y'know, stuff about how much he hates the world for the way it is or something…"

"That's not what I actually said, you little…!" Innominat protested, but hesitated once Celica gave him a stern glare. It's weird. As Innominat, he shouldn't have to be scared of anyone, but somehow Seres…Celica… always seem to have a controlling effect over him. Not that he minded it that much.

"We…might have been discussing something of that sort." He finally admitted.

"Yes, as I've noticed." Celica nodded as her expression relaxed, she walked over to Innominat before kneeling down in front of him. She put her right hand on his shoulder as she looked into those cold icy eyes, her face forming a gentle smile once again.

"You must be tired, Laphi. You've been through so much." She began. Even though she realized that she's not really talking to her younger brother; just a being that wore his body, she didn't really care. As far as she's concerned, he's still her brother, "You tried so hard to change the world. You really wished for a place that everyone can be happy, that we can be together and live our lives in peace."

Innominat avoided her gaze, couldn't bear to look her in the eyes. His body began shaking a bit as he felt his face heating up. It's as if he's about to break apart at any moment.

"It's…an impossible dream." He said, struggling to get each word out, "Such a world goes against nature. Nothing can change it. I was a fool for even trying."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong, sweetie." Celica said kindly, "Nature is always about change. At every single moment, something happening in the world is steering all of us towards a new direction, little by little. And though it's true that not all changes are for the better, it's still a sign of growth and an opportunity to learn from our mistakes., and that's something you should be proud of.

"I…I don't understand."

"What she's saying, dummy, is that you did change the world, and for the better." Maotelus added as he walked toward Celica and standing next to her side by side, "Sure, what you did was misguided and horrible, but it gave the rest of us motivation to push for a different, better solution. Before that, you and Artorius intended to suppress the emotions to purge the malevolence, a solution that most of us have problems with, so Velvet did her best to find another way that doesn't have to end with all of us becoming emotionless dolls, and she succeeded."

"By sealing herself with me forever and you becoming a new Empyrean," Innominat spoke, "I still don't see how it changes things for the better."

"Uh, excuse me? Silver Flame?" Maotelus almost looked disappointed, which Innominat found a bit amusing. He cleared his throat before he continued, "The power of the Silver Flame means there was no need for the great suppression anymore. Now, if the malevolence ran rampant once again, my silver flame power could purge the world of it and giving those people a chance at life once more. And you, my old man, can finally take a rest from your duty, living the life that you always wanted."

"Last I checked, the world is still full of malevolence just like it always does," Innominat argued, "You didn't do much of a good job as my replacement, Maotelus."

Maotelus was just about to retort when Celica raised her left hand up, signaling him to stop before she continued instead.

"Laphi, what was your answer to Arthur's question about birds?" She asked.

"Birds…fly because they must?" Innominat answered with a confused look on his face, "Why are you asking me this?"

To his frustration, Celica's replied was yet another question, "Do you think they started out that way?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course not. No bird is capable of flight right after they're born."

"And there you have it! That's your answer!" Celica's cheerful reply took Innominat by surprise. Seeing the confused look on his face, she explained, "Birds cannot fly until they're ready to fly. They might get it wrong time and time again. Sometimes they might never be able to, but that's how it works."

"So? What does this have to do with Maotelus?"

"Seriously. For someone who had lived for thousands of years, there's so much you don't understand." Maotelus sighed, "I know that this silver flame power of mine isn't perfect. It couldn't remove all malevolence from mankind, not by a long shot, but at least it's progress, right? Mankind might take a very long time before they all get their acts together, but at least they're free to learn from their mistakes on their own without you having to take their destinies into your own hands."

"Bold words, coming from a young malak who hasn't even lived past his first century," Innominat frowned, "That's quite a gamble you're willing to take with the fate of the world, Maotelus. How long do you think it will take for the world to finally get their acts together?"

"Nobody knows." Maotelus shrugged, "Maybe I'm not really the one to save humanity. Maybe one day I might succumb to malevolence just like everyone else. Maybe what I'm doing right now doesn't really mean anything after a few thousand years later, but what I know is that I'm going to do what I can do, to watch over mankind and malaks as they struggle against the darkness in their hearts and learning to overcome it. My journey with Velvet and all our friends had proved that it is possible, and I have hope that one day, the rest of the world can achieve that as well, even if I'm not there to see it."

"He's right, Laphi." Celica added, "Nature can change for the better, as long as we let it to run its course. Let life finds its own way."

"I…"

Innominat paused, not knowing what to say. This is all something very…new…to him. For as long as he had lived, all he knew about is control. Control of malevolence, of emotions, lives, destiny itself, all to ensure a safe, peaceful world under his protection, one where nobody has to suffer the pain of succumbing to malevolence ever again.

But if that isn't the solution anymore, then what was his purpose?

Does his life have no meaning anymore now that he wasn't needed?

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore. Who am I supposed to be?"

"That's easy." Celica replied, her face forming yet another bright smile, the happiest he had ever seen coming from her, "You're Laphicet Crowe, and you're my brother."

For the first time since that day eighty years ago, Innominat found himself crying into someone else's shoulders.

Only this time, those were tears of relief.

"Laphicet! Phileas! It's time for a bath!"

Velvet's commanding voice echoed from inside the house. Laphicet and Phileas Crowe, now back into their 'dream world' personas, were playing with Niko and her dogs just outside the house just after they finished their dinner ("That mabo curry was AWESOME!" Niko screamed out, startling Arthur who was sipping a cup of tea and ended up spilling himself). As soon as they heard Velvet shouting, Laphicet immediately responded.

"Alright, I'm coming! Stop being such a mom, sis!" He joked, though he willingly went inside the house anyway. He knew from his numerous firsthand experience that it's not wise to make Velvet upset, "And please, don't take a bath with me again today, Velvet! I'm too old for that now! It's so embarrassing!"

"That Velvet sure hasn't changed one bit, huh?" Niko noted to Celica, "You sure have raised her to be a proper lady, alright. You should be proud of her, Mrs. Crowe."

"Please, call me Celica." Celica replied with a smile, "And you're too kind, Niko. Velvet is just being who she is. She took after our mother a lot. Lucky me, right?"

"I'd say you both took a lot after your parents!" Niko agreed, "Both of them would be proud of you all, Celica."

After bidding farewell with Niko and she went back to the village with her dogs, Celica and her son Phileas were doing final checks around the house to make sure they didn't leave any important tool outside.

"So, I guess things turned out quite well today." Phileas commented, "Laphicet's finally starting to learn to take things easy for once."

"Speak for yourself, Phi. Velvet told me you were quite a handful back when you were a malak, you know?" Celica giggled, while Phileas just pouted at her.

"You know, mom, of all the names you could pick for me in this world, why do you have to make it so that my nickname got confused a lot with Laphi? It's kinda annoying!"

"Well, I like the name Phileas! Plus, you get to keep Velvet's nickname for you." Celica explained.

"Ugh, I don't like Phileas…Maotelus sounds so much cooler…" Phileas complained again, "Everybody but me gets all the cool names…Velvet, Laphicet, Celica, Arthur…"

"Alright, let's make it fair for you, then," Celica offered, "If you have a chance to rename my new malak identity to replace Seres, what name would you pick for me?"

Phileas took a while to think as he took a glance around him, hoping to find some inspiration. Eventually, he looked up to the night skies above, blanketed by a sea of stars.

Night, huh?

"I think I'd call you Lailah." Phileas said with a wide grin on his face.

"Lailah?" Celica noted. She also looked to the night sky, her left hand stretching upward as if to touch the stars above her.

Lailah, the lady of the night. How appropriate, Maotelus.

"I like Lailah. I think it suits me nicely." She said with a smile.

Author's note: My 2nd Tales of Berseria fanfic! Though really it's less of a fanfic and more of an exploration on ToB's philosophical ideas and meaning of life for beings like the Empyreans lol.

This story is somewhat of a sequel to my first ToB fanfic 'Until the Day I Die' as you can see from a couple of nods to that story (Rokurou was slain in an epic battle with daemons, while Shepherd Eleanor Hume passed away from old age eighty years since the game's events). To continue the theme of exploring deep ideas about the game I began in that story, I choose this story to focus on Maotelus, Innominat, and Seres, the three significant malaks in ToB, and it's intended to be somewhat of an epilogue for all three characters.

At first, I planned for Maotelus and Innominat to be the only two characters, but I really wanted to have Seres/Celica plays a role in the story as well since she had so little role in the game when compared to other characters. The last we saw of Seres, she was encouraging Velvet after Laphicet pulled her out of her despair that Innominat put her through in the earthpulse, and since we don't know what happened to her afterward, I assume that Seres still exists in some form inside Velvet, and it makes sense that she would be there as well in Velvet and Innominat's shared dream after the story, finally getting another chance to live a peaceful life with her family that was tragically ripped away from her.

And yep, at the very end, I decided to make her Lailah from Tales of Zestiria all along xD, since I though that both characters are pretty similar to each other: from their appearance, their elemental powers, their personalities (Celica is mentioned to have loved telling horrible puns by Velvet at one point in the game, which is what Lailah really loves doing as well) so I guess "why not?". It'd also open up lots of potentials for her character should I decide to continue this story as well.

So yeah, that's it for now! At this moment I have a plan to write one more oneshot set in Berseria/Zestiria world. Next story will be a Zestiria epilogue featuring two major characters from that game. Look forward to it! As always, any and all constructive reviews are very welcomed, and thank you for reading! :)

PS. 'Lailah' actually means 'night' in Hebrew. Guess I got lucky there!