Chapter 11 The Secret of The Chamber of Elders.
"...Horrible..."
Startled back, I looked down at the integrity knight"s face.
Her eyebrows that had always maintained a graceful line were pressed together tight, drops of water resided in the corners of her eyes, and she had bitten down on her lips hard enough to draw blood.
Those pallid lips trembled and let out disconnected words once more.
"This is... horrible... To have not just my memories, but my consciousness, too... be manipulated by... someone else..."
Gripping my shoulders, Alice two hands strongly shook with grief, or perhaps anger.
"The one... who burned these red sacred letters into my eyes... was it... the highest minister...?"
"No... I don"t think so."
I unconsciously shook my head.
"It"s an existence that created this world and observes it from the outside... one among the "G.o.ds" that had not made an appearance in the creation of the world lore."
"...G.o.ds..."
Clear drops flowed down from Alice"s eyes without a sound.
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"So the G.o.ds would not trust us... even after we, the integrity knights, spent these countless days fighting without end to protect this world they had wrought. Taking my memories of my family, and my sister, and on top of that, performing such a seal upon me... forcing me into obedience..."
I couldn"t begin to imagine how much shock, confusion, and despair Alice who had lived as a knight of the G.o.ds must be feeling now. Alice"s eyelids suddenly flashed open as I looked on without saying a word, unable to breathe.
The mirrored, horizontal words on the blue iris of her right eye shone vividly even now. However, Alice appeared to pay it no heed, merely staring at the skies in front-at the bluish- white moon floating among the black clouds.
"I am not your puppet!"
However hoa.r.s.e it might have been, Alice still shouted with dignity.
"Certainly, I might be an existence created by someone"s hand.
But I have my own consciousness too! I want to protect this world... I want to protect the many people living in this world. I want to protect my family and my little sister. That is the one and only mission I wil strive for!!"
The glow of the text in her right eye increased in intensity while letting out a piercing, metallic noise. The bar code etched onto the outside of her iris, too, began to rotate rapidly.
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"Alice...!"
Expecting that phenomenon to happen any time now, I cried out.
Without turning her eyes towards me, Alice whispered in a stifled voice.
"Kirito... hold me tight."
"......Sure."
I couldn"t do anything but nod. Taking my hands off Alice"s face, I moved them to the armor on her shoulders. Strongly holding down the knight"s body trembling in small jolts beyond that golden armor.
Alice shrugged her long, golden hair once, before proudly gazing up towards the skies and took in a deep breath.
"The highest minister, Administrator... and you nameless G.o.ds!! For the goals I must achieve... I wil fight against you!!"
An unbounded proclamation that had a refined echo.
The moment it faded off, a deep crimson shaft of light left Alice"s right eye.
A warm splash of blood stained my cheeks.
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2.
Eugeo.
Eugeo...
What happened?
Did you have a nightmare...?
An orange light ignited within the lamp with a soft sound.
Standing in the hallway, Eugeo had the lower half of his face buried in the pillow his two arms wrapped around and peered into the room through the slightly opened door as though he was hiding away his body.
There were two plain, wooden beds in the room that certainly couldn"t claim to be s.p.a.cious. The right one was vacant, with a freshly-washed bedspread laid folded there.
And a single, slender silhouette was upon the left bed, looking at Eugeo with her upper body raised. Her face couldn"t be seen too wel due to the light from the lamp her right hand carried.
From her glossy, pure white sleepwear, a somewhat opened dress with a low-cut neckline, peeked her bare skin that appeared even paler. Her long hair flowing onto the bed seemed as soft as silk.
Those glossy lips, just noticeable beyond the orange light, showed a gentle smile.
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It"s cold there, isn"t it? Come, come closer, Eugeo.
That softly lifted bedspread seemed fil ed with a viscous, warm darkness, making him all the more conscious of the freezing chill streaming through the hallway. His foot stepped across the doorway before he knew it and Eugeo headed towards the bed with uncertain steps.
The lamp strangely dimmed as he approached, concealing the face of the woman sprawled over the bed with a creeping darkness. But Eugeo"s thoughts were simply fil ed with the desire to snuggle into that warm darkness and hungrily moved his feet. His steps became gradual y wider as his viewpoint became gradually lower, but he didn"t feel it to be strange.
The bed he final y arrived at was absurdly tall and Eugeo threw down the pillow he held onto, stepping onto it in an attempt to climb up.
In that moment, a soft cloth fluttered over him from the top and sunk his vision in darkness. As though urging on his craving, Eugeo crept deeper and deeper into that darkness.
His extended fingers came into contact with warm and supple skin.
Eugeo embraced it in a daze and buried his face into it. The silky skin gently squirmed, as though it was enveloping Eugeo.
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Led around by that enthralling sense of satisfaction and a longing several times as potent, Eugeo fervently clung on.
Feeling a smooth arm hugging his back and another rubbing his head, Eugeo asked in his small voice.
"Mother...? Is that you, mother?"
The reply instantly came.
Yes... I am your mother, Eugeo.
"Mother... My mother..."
Sinking ever deeper into the warm and damp darkness, Eugeo murmured.
A doubt floated up like a bubble, from a corner of the bog that was his mostly numbed mind, and popped.
Was my mother... ever this slender and soft? Why do these two hands that should have been working in the fields day after day not have a single sc.r.a.pe on them? And... have my father who should have been sleeping in the bed on the right went somewhere? Where are my brothers who always got in the sleep whenever I tried to get mother to pamper me...?
"Is it really... you, mother?"
Yes, Eugeo. It"s your one and only mother.
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"But... where is father? Where are my brothers?"
Hehe.
What a strange child.
Everyone have already been kil ed by you, haven"t they?