Chapter 201: Reuniting the family (2)
I wasn"t certain whether this hunch of mine was correct. Given how this was supposed to be a dangerously difficult mission, there was a chance that pulling this stone out in the open would suddenly transform this jade beauty into a monstrosity just like in a popular franchise of books, games, and online tv series from the earth.
Thankfully, outside of the girl"s eyes widening to the absolute limits of her psychique, nothing of that sort happened. No fangs grew out of her delicate fingers, no blackness took over her majestic-looking, perfectly white wings.
"Is that…" Barely capable of uttering any words with her trembling lips, the girl reached for the sacred core, unknowingly making a pose that was even harder for my sanity to resist. But once her fingers touched the glowing surface of this strange stone, my vision cracked once again.
"I can no longer be on her side. The opposition is just too strong. Dear… I know you will be hated, I know everyone will misunderstand… I know you will be branded as the traitor of all the humanity, winged or deprived of wings…" The same, elderly girl that I saw in my previous vision had her face now torn in tears. Right on her knees, she appeared to be apologizing to the man who sat just a few meters away, with his back turned to the female.
"You know I don"t care about such stuff." The voice of the man who appeared to be quite similar to Teria"s father, at least in terms of body structure, was even deeper than what I expected. Filled with grief and exhaustion, it gave me a nearly full picture of what the man was going through. Even though in a vision like this, my emotion-sensing abilities were completely and utterly useless.
"But you know that we will have to lie to her? You know that she will believe you betrayed her as well?" The elder woman asked, still speaking to the back of the man rather than to his face.
A sigh followed.
"I know." Rather than elaborating, the man simply stood up before turning around. And his face…
Was that of Teria"s father. Or at least, it was looking almost the same.
"But that"s the burden I need to carry. You have your own weight you will have to lift for the rest of your days… Miss Queen of all men." To say that the man"s voice was ironic would be a gross understatement. Yet, as I finally got a chance to look at his face from my stationary point of view, I could tell that there was no ill intent in his soul at all. Just an endless sea of grief and power capable of shouldering it.
"To think that this prophecy would end up like this…" Lowering her head as if unable to withstand the look of the man, the elder woman shook a little. "It seems that we were all fooled by that man." Tightening her hands into a fist, the saint that Longinus" group spoke of cut the inner side of her palm with her fingernails, causing a few drops of dark-red blood to fall on the stone tiles making up the floor.
"I don"t think we are in the right to blame him." Shaking his head, the huge man turned around once again, this time directing his eyes towards the sky. "I know you might not believe me… But I met him. Heck, my entire lineage doesn"t come from this world in the first place. If not for him, I would never be born in this world." Lowering his previously raised head, the man shook it in a gesture of powerlessness. "I know that it might seem like he played all of us out, but I want to believe that there is actually some sense behind his actions. Something that we are not capable of seeing. Something, that only a G.o.d like him could foresee and prepare us for."
Crack.
The vision went away just like it came, forcing my mind back into my body in this previous illusory state. For a moment, I was unable to say or do anything. Stunned by the scene I just experienced, I just stared blankly ahead, trying to process what happened.
"Mother…?" The frail voice of the girl was the thing that broke my momentary stun. Turning my head towards my palm, I realized that the sacred core was already gone from it. And right in front of me, the same older woman I just saw in my vision was standing while intensely staring at my face.
"So he was right, after all." A gentle smile appeared on the old woman"s lips as she turned around and looked with clear affection at the teary girl. "Dearie… I"m sorry. I never wanted to leave you all alone like this, but we had no other choice." Taking a step forward, the saint placed her head atop her daughter"s head before rustling her hair a bit.
"Mom? What do you mean? You finally came back so why is your face so sad?!" In such a reunion, one would expect both parties to be happy for the additional time they received with each other… But the face of the girl in the white gown only reflected the greatest degree of worry.
It seemed that I wasn"t the only one with a bad premonition right now.
"Dearie… I"m sorry. I wish I could explain everything to you, I wish I could tell you about the reasons, the dangers… But my time is limited." Moving her hand from the top of the girl"s head, the older woman then placed it on her daughter"s cheek. After caressing it for a short moment, she then turned her head towards me with her face tensing up.
"I guess you are the promised one. The man not of this world. Am I right?" As the elder woman said those words, the look in her eyes turned empty. Then, she looked to the side, unwilling to keep direct eye contact with me. "I hope you won"t mind offering this child a helping hand. Well, I was told you would understand your purpose here… So I can only apologize in advance."
This time, the saint didn"t avert her eyes but lowered her entire head and upper body in a bow. "Please, whatever you will think about it once you understand… There is no other way to free the two of you from this s.p.a.ce. While it"s not my doing, I can"t do anything but ask for your forgiveness." Refusing to make any sense or actually explain what the heck she meant, the old woman turned once again to look at her daughter.
"Dear… Dearie, I need to apologize to you too. As much as I wanted to surround you with love, to let you experience the world at its best, to have a fun life you wouldn"t regret at your deathbed… I was not allowed to. This world refused to acknowledge my wishes." This time, the saint didn"t bow her head. She didn"t even bow her upper body. She outright fallen to her knees before striking the ground with her forehead. "That"s why I beg you. Only the two of you can change this world. I know I should never ask this of my child…"
As if something snapped, the body of the saint suddenly started to turn bleak. As if the colors that made up her appearance started to lose their intensity, the saint started to vanish right in my eyes.
"But please, will you sacrifice your own happiness for all of those who put faith in me, those who put faith in your father… Those who put faith in you, even though you were only born?" At this point, the face of the girl on the ground turned teary. Not because of what the female was speaking to her. In this strange s.p.a.ce, with my witch abilities intact, I could tell that she was too overwhelmed with her emotions to hear anything the woman was saying.
"I know I can"t ask for this, but I have one more request for you." With a smile appearing on the old woman"s lips, tears appeared in her eyes as she looked at her daughter"s face. "If you even find it in yourself, please do forgive your parents. Please, forgive us for how cruel we were to you."
As soon as those words escaped the saint"s lips, her appearance was no longer distinguishable from just a bucket worth of mist. Then, as her voice gradually faded away, so did the last stray bits of the illusion that made up her body from the very beginning.
I couldn"t tell how much time has pa.s.sed ever since this even concluded. With the girl on the ground breaking in tears, I was unable to move for even an inch. The green light of the mission name only continued to weigh on my mind while I watched over the sobbing girl.
Once I finally came back to my senses, I obviously attempted to free myself from this place. Yet, no matter what I threw at this white s.p.a.ce that surrounded this one room where the girl was waiting, nothing changed.
Not even Sander"s recurring fireball stone, something capable of burning entire cities if not continents… Was completely and utterly powerless.
"It seems that the saint really was speaking the truth." Muttering to myself I didn"t expect the girl to even hear what I said. Yet, as if the prolonged time she spent on griefing was coming to an end, she suddenly appeared behind my back, placing her hand on top of my left shoulder.
"What do you mean?" Turning my head around, I saw the beauty of this girl in all its glory. Once she stood up, her clothes no longer wrinkled and bent. Now that her outfit was freely falling to the ground, it no longer even pretended to cover her charms. With its white colors and structure and adding all the other hints I already received, it wasn"t hard to tell what was this outfit designed for.
"It"s like your mother said. We cannot escape this place unless we fulfill certain criteria." Still unwilling to digest the information I just said out loud, I refused to pa.s.s any more hints to the girl for the moment.
Right now, I was not yet ready to face the truth. The truth which was quite obvious from how the "bridal night" side mission continued to shine in a bright green.
Even if this woman were to be far more beautiful than Ayda, something that I would refuse to believe before actually seeing her… I wasn"t ready to cheat on my girl. Not even with her approval.
"I see." Out of nowhere, a voice I really didn"t want to hear appeared. A voice I didn"t expect to hear here as well. "I didn"t expect this kind of development."
The air stalled. The girl stopped moving. Even the tears on her cheeks suddenly froze in their place. At the same time, from the whiteness that surrounded her room, a figure appeared. A body and a face I already saw in my life, back when I climbed that steep mountain in order to let Ayda move to earth.
"Sadly, there are too many things set in stone to change the scenario. Right now, the one thing I can offer is to completely wipe your consciousness before the act, and then your memory after the act." With a wide smile on his face, this b.a.s.t.a.r.d refused to acknowledge how deep this topic actually was. If it was only about willingness or memories…
"No." Even if I could get it over with while unaware of my actions and with a perfect memory-wipe after the deed, it wouldn"t change the fact that I would commit adultery. And if I was going to do so, I had to at least have the b.a.l.l.s to face this while fully conscious. Only in this way, I could grow up to reach Ayda"s expectations.
Then, my eyes moved on top of the girl"s face, still ridden with tears. And as the figure of that G.o.dly b.a.s.t.a.r.d disappeared, the tears on her cheeks started to flow once again.
"Fulfil the criteria? What do you mean?" Clearly trying her best to keep up her strong appearances, Dearie cleaned her tears from her face with an ending of her long sleeve.
"For G.o.d"s sake, can"t you see what you are wearing?" Hearing my words, the girl looked down. Then her face turned red.