Odette dreamt.

Countless memories of her encounters with the strange boy from the slums.

She would sometimes meet him in the city centre selling cores for his mother. Her eyes would sparkle in excitement, only to be dragged away by her angry father.

Suddenly, a husky but enchanting voice sounded. She found the voice very familiar.

"It seem's my life was just a toy for them?"

"Even after I got my revenge, it was empty! Because.."

"Because he was no longer there!"

A grown-up version of Odette with blazing hair made of azure flames. She could only watch the memories with a deep nostalgia and sorrow. Her life filled with loss, anguish and death. The moment she lost Vincent in that cave before being able to confess broke her spirit.

"The way to awaken my blood, I found it! Without the need of that disgusting mans body! Only he can touch me! Only his embrace will I allow! The only love I desire is his, that alone is my eternal oath!"

"I got revenge, killed all the trolls in existence, burned their totem and god into ashes!"

"But it was nothing but emptiness.. He could not praise me, nor would he speak again. I tried to bring him back from the dead! Only for it to be a twisted daemon from the nether!"

Her struggles of countless millions of years. No matter how many scars or wounds she suffered. Odette stood and fought once more. She lost her humanity slowly as each near death battle ate her remaining life. Until the day her true self awakened.

"I became an Empress, destroyed all the vile people who took him from me. Stood at the top of the world yet still.. Without him, the throne was empty and felt like a frozen void. My emotions marred with denial and regret stopped my evolution from becoming a veritable goddess." (Phoenix Empress)

Images of a massive empire of flames, a beautiful woman on a huge throne in dark black robes and huge feathered wings. They revered her as the Phoenix Empress for the most powerful existence on the continent. Yet her face was always vacant.

"My heart filled with scars and wounds. I could no longer bear to stay apart from him any longer. I sealed my love for him inside an item he gave me as a little girl." (Phoenix Empress)

"Do you know?"

"People would find it stupid to remain in love with the same man for their entire life. But what can I do?"

— Whenever I despaired?

"He was there!"

— Whenever I cried?

"He would comfort me!"

— Whenever I got hurt?

"He would bandage me!"

— When I realised my own feelings..

"He was already gone!"

The blue pendant that hung from the neck of the Phoenix Empress jangled as it swung from her animated body. She filled with flames and rage at the images of various memories. But the moment the next image showed, her flames vanished, filled with a serene and delighted smile.

'Ah! Vincent..!'

A blue pendant that Odette used to have as a little girl that suddenly vanished one day. Her father blamed Vincent and told her he must have stolen it to make money for his poor family. She learned later, after not speaking to him for over a month, that his mother was quite wealthy and a famous Dungeon Knight.

"Silly me, those days as children were so precious!" (Phoenix Empress)

The beautiful woman with blue flamed hair reached out to the image of a cute Vincent eating ice cream. Odette, who sat in his lap with a massive smile and face smudge with ice cream to coax him into kissing her cheek to clean it.

A single tear of flame dripped down the woman's cheek.

"Tell me, Odette, do you want to save him? Even if you become his eternal slave. Your love might just be a lie?"(Phoenix Empress)

She turned back to see the current blonde Odette with tears and snot that ruined her beautiful face. Her body filled with wounds and scars from the damage she incurred from the thunder. This woman seemed to be her in the future? Will Vincent really die here?

No!

"Please.. If I can save him, I will give everything. No matter what, as long as I can just stay at his side.." (Odette)

"Fufu!" (Phoenix Empress)

Odette felt shock at the woman's seductive laugh. She froze stiffly as the women slowly paced towards her. Her long delicate fingers with blue nail polish pressed onto the young girl's forehead. A gentle flame flickered as it sucked into her head. Moments later, a huge torrent of wind surrounded the pair and destroyed the young Odette's clothes to reveal a body filled with scars and wounds from the slave collar.

Clang!

Her slave collar's lock exploded and melted from the intense blue flame that seemed to be hotter than even the sun. It dropped to the ground with a clang as the image of the Phoenix Empress became blurred as if her entire existence were entering the body of Odette.

"Can you tell me? How can I save him!"

Odette begged. She didn't care about her snotty nose or ugly running makeup. Her heart, mind and soul screamed to save him. No matter the cost, the flames burned her body from the inside as she felt panic and terror. She looked towards the Empress with trembling eyes.

"I will give you my everything. My Vincent is already gone, although the one you love is the same Vincent. He is yours. Please, my only wish is you love him and carry my oath together with my lifetime of work!"

Phoenix Empress Odette held the ocean blue necklace from the images. Its gemstone filled with cracks and held together by the azure flames from her body. She looked towards the young hero with a gentle look and wished she could have broken the seal sooner.historical

'I wish you didn't suffer that pain the moment we saw him dead. Our heart already shattered, right? Even breathing it too much for you.. I know, because I felt that pain every day.. For a million years!'

The bitter emotions of regret, despair, and anguish transmitted through the necklace to Odette. She then cried even more and messed up her face up with more tears. Her own heart thumped with the desire of revenge and a resolution to save Vincent.

"I must save him! Even if I trample on your love, that lasted a million years!"

"I can only promise you to fulfil all your hope and dreams!"

"Hahahahaha!" (Phoenix Empress)

Phoenix Empress Odette faded as she bellowed in laughter. Some regular tears fell from her eyes as she looked down at her younger self. She would trample on her love? Yes, that's it! Her young self was wilful and filled with the desire to never lose.

"Mmmm, please! Make him the happiest man in the world. Don't be angry if he gets other women.. I saw your Vincent is much more advanced and is far more powerful than mine! Fufu! He should make you thrilled in bed!!"

"Eh? How did you see those things?"

An image appeared on the screen. This time it wasn't from the Phoenix Empress but memories of the young Odette who climbed out of her mansion in the middle of the night. She remembered that this was the night several Elven ministers died! Odette used a strange artefact to infiltrate the slums and climbed onto the roof of Vincent's storage room.

This lead to his window as she looked inside with a look of wonder. He and the dark elf that protected Felia were in the middle of intense copulation as the dark elf screamed like a cat during heat. Both Odette blushed as they watched the memory in silence.

"I don't remember this? Isn't this one of your memories?"

"Fufu! No, in my lifetime, Vincent only awakened the talent of a rogue. His power and stamina, even his height, didn't change. You got the lucky draw! Of course you don't remember that was me!" (Young Alternate Vincent)

"!!!"

Phoenix Empress Odette faded once more than the flames ate away and replace the flames within her young self at a rapid speed. She performed it this way so the young Odette would feel a little pain in the real world. Her fleeting eyes looked towards the distant screen as it showed the outside.

She saw the image of herself as a little girl as she danced in a frilled blue gown with Vincent. The two danced an unskilled waltz as she laughed with tears streaming down her cheeks. Her flames growing ever dim.

"He is your Vincent.. So determined!"

A boy covered in blood, deep wounds that tore down to his bones. Weak flames that dwindled his arms so damaged they can only protect the girl with only a single wound on her body, from her own flames. His eyes filled with determination, as if his will was only to protect her life.

Phoenix Empress saw his lips moved and turned on the sound.

"No...matter...what... Odette... I will save you.. Not from this, but from everything! Your family, the fate of beasts... Your love.. Please.. You must not die! Even if my entire body shatters! I make this oath to love you forever! SO don't give up now!"

He pressed his lips against the sleeping girl. Both of them blushed and became delighted. His own face filled with tears as they felt his deep affection for her. Another gigantic bolt struck his back. He collapsed onto her chest, with blood oozing from his mouth, almost unconscious.

"Ah!?" (Phoenix Empress)

Genuine tears streamed down her face. The flames were now gone as her hair returned to the blonde of her youth. Her body flickered as she stumbled towards the image. This was the only memory she could not recreate. Because she suffered damage to her ears in the fall.

'All these years.. I waited and agonised what he said!' (Phoenix Empress)

'Was he angry? Disappointed? Did he despair?' (Phoenix Empress)

An identical image played to the side with a weaker, snorted, and more immature Vincent, who repeated the same words. She could now finally hear the words.. He swore the same oath that she did on that night she killed her family.

"Vincent.. My beloved soulmate, this phoenix, has but one love. Thy shall be my only love in this lifetime. I make this oath to love you alone for all eternity! Please watch me! My beloved, as I dance our waltz forever alone!"

"No.. That's not good!" (Young Alternate Vincent)

His voice caused her body to shudder as the images mixed and formed a red flame.

The red flame twinkled, sparked embers that enveloped the empress. She felt a warm embrace and affection touch as it fluttered away, as if shy. Then formed a small boy with an immature but handsome face. He looked towards the older woman with a look of affection and apology.

"Sorry for the wait, Odette, shall we go?" (Young Alternate Vincent)

He held an arm for her to link with him. Her body shuddered and before Odette's eyes, the empress became the young girl who danced and ate ice cream with the young boy made of flame in the earlier images.

"Mm! I want vanilla ice this time!" (Phoenix Empress)

"Eh? That's my favourite though.. Well I want Strawberry, since it's your favourite!" (Young Alternate Vincent)

She looked back once to Odette with an immature smile and laugh, then hooked her arm with Vincent as they both burst into flames in a beautiful dance and scattered into the air.

Odette sat stunned as all the information she needed appeared in her mind. Her eyes filled with tears of both sorrow and happiness. Her lips curved into a smile as she whispered to herself a blue flame transformed her into a youthful-looking version of the empress.

"A Girl that waited a million years alone. Just to dance with her beloved one last time."

"The Last Waltz Of The Phoenix Empress."