Even so...
He had no desire to move away.
Burying his face in her hair, he breathed in her sweet scent to his heart's content.
Was this what it would feel like to sink into a marsh filled with belladonna sap?
The heat gripping his lower body remained.
Yet the warmth filling his arms slowly lulled his mind into drowsiness.
Holding her securely with both arms, he gradually sank into sleep.
* * *
He was walking across a desolate wasteland.
Before long, an altar built from stacked human skulls appeared before him.
Looking up, he saw countless decapitated corpses hanging overhead.
Blood poured endlessly from their severed necks, soaking the earth before flowing onward like a crimson river.
"This is the sin flowing through your blood."
He turned at the hand gripping his shoulder.
His father's face, pale and rigid like wax, stared back at him.
The empty sockets of his eyes glowed with an eerie crimson light.
"Our people must atone. By serving the Empire, we must repay the slaughter committed by our ancestors."
Varkas violently shook off his father's hand.
The hand instantly transformed into chains that wrapped themselves tightly around his body.
He struggled to break them.
But the icy, heavy chains only tightened further.
"Why are you resisting?"
A gentle voice echoed through the wasteland.
Looking up, he froze.
Bernadette stood before him, smiling kindly.
The hand that had pulled him from the grave gently cupped his frozen cheek.
"Was life not meaningless to you? If you live only because you happen to be alive... then why should it be so difficult to dedicate your entire life to the promise you made to me?"
As she whispered those words, she embraced the back of his neck with quiet affection.
Her pale white arms slowly hardened as well.
Before long, they too became icy chains, weighing heavily upon his shoulders.
He struggled desperately to cast them off.
Eventually...
He stopped resisting.
Then the river of blood swallowed him whole.
The thick, metallic liquid flooded endlessly into his lungs and throat.
Little by little...
He sank beneath the black-red current.
Someone suddenly shook him violently by the shoulders.
Varkas's eyes flew open.
He frowned as brilliant light flooded his vision.
A moment later, his sight cleared.
A pale face came into focus before him.
For several seconds, he simply stared blankly, unable to understand where he was.
Then he noticed the tears glistening in her eyes.
He immediately pushed himself upright.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell—"
"You weren't breathing."
She whispered the words in a frightened voice.
Varkas remained frozen for a moment.
Then he let out a quiet sigh.