669,

“Feng'er!!”

Elyse cried out. In the end, she still couldn't accept it.

The agony of watching your own son leave was beyond words.

Feng'er was going to disappear. She believed she'd never see him again.

At the thought, Elyse couldn't help crying again.

But this time, through the hands Feng'er had brought together, Cyclone pulled Elyse into a tight embrace from behind.

Cyclone knew people were greedy.

After finally getting the chance to hug Feng'er, Elyse would surely long for a second time, even a third.

But fate had decided otherwise. It had given Elyse only one chance.

“Mom~”

Up in the sky, Feng'er called out once more.

His voice truly reached Elyse's heart.

Perhaps it was those words that finally stopped Elyse's tears.

One second after mother and son exchanged a look, Feng'er turned into pure light and flew toward the other side of the world.

“Goodbye, Feng'er...”

Unlike Elyse, who whispered her farewell, Eileen chose to shout it out.

“Bye-bye~”

Eileen raised both hands high. To send Elyse's words Feng'er's way, she waved as hard as she could.

“Goodbye...” x2

Little Dragon and Hilmirya silently watched Feng'er leave, murmuring their farewells.

Cyclone and Yuna said nothing, but they watched in silence too.

After Feng'er left, the sun finally came out.

With sunrise, a new day dawned upon the world.

But the sun wasn't the only thing to arrive.

A fine, cold rain began to fall, as if the heavens were adding to the sorrow of Cyclone's family.

Countless raindrops fell from the sky. Beneath the sun and rain, Cyclone's family stood quietly in the middle of the church.

Inside a roofless building, they let the rain beat down on them.

Perhaps these were the heavens' tears. Or perhaps they were an expression of care.

Amid the raindrops, Cyclone felt the power of nature.

This, too, was a part of Feng'er—and the final farewell gift he had left for everyone.

Day had broken. The monsters that appeared at night would no longer come.

Onigashima had finished his work. To keep pace with his big sister Sophiel, he took a step forward.

He patted Cyclone on the back twice. Without a word, the two men exchanged a look, expressing the only comfort he could offer.

Onigashima left too, and the night of the infant corpse demons that had come with him finally came to an end.

“Maybe that's all there is to it...”

Holding Elyse's hand, Cyclone looked up at the sky.

“But my mom once told me...”

Rain ran down his cheeks as Cyclone looked toward the far side of the sky and spoke.

“Goodbye...really means that one day, we'll meet again.”

The rain dripping from his face became part of all things beneath heaven.

“I heard those were the last words my dad left me...”

Cyclone looked at Elyse beside him—his wife.

With a smile that came from the heart, Cyclone spoke with conviction.

“I'll do my best. And one day, when I see Feng'er again, I'll make sure he sees a father he can be proud of.”

Attersass, Year 503.

Winter had only just begun, but Cyclone's family had already experienced its coldest moment.

After parting with Feng'er, life went on.

Cyclone once again continued his work as a doctor, taking part in the Water Shrine's medical outreach.

As he saved patients, Cyclone also tried to let the wound in his heart heal, little by little.

With the year 503 drawing to a close, the head of the shrine finally left Kakarl.

At the same time, a number of politicians from Allen City began pouring into Kakarl.

But none of that had anything to do with Cyclone. From his work as a doctor at the church to the medical visits he made from home, he was gradually becoming a full-time physician.

Still, as the days passed, Cyclone couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing from his heart.

What did it really mean to be a father his son could be proud of—the promise he'd made to Feng'er that day?

After thinking it over countless times, Cyclone still couldn't find the answer.

Cyclone had grown up without a father. Whenever he imagined what a father was like, he used Big Brother Gudas as his reference.

And then, a child arrived—and a new story was about to begin.