A lack of illumination, an absence of visible light; such black darkness was all around me.
The darkness felt heavy, oppressive, almost supernatural. It was darker than Vantablack, if that was even possible.
Destitute of light; obscure- that true definition was what I could see. I found myself swallowed up by the nothingness, unable to see my own two hands in front of my face.
I moved my eyes around, but it was impossible for me to comprehend whether I was even moving them, since everywhere I looked, there was nothing.
I didn't know how long it had been. I blanked out for a moment after I slipped on the icy floor of the hall and fell through the broken cell.
'What a stupid and silly way to fall down,' I thought, chiding myself. 'I really am unlucky, huh?'
The message where the Nubecula 'Who Likes Cigars And Candy' commented that I was an unlucky Bast-
I felt my cheeks go limp and my expression turn cold. 'Yes, that asshole called me a bastard, didn't he?... Now that I think about it, why am I not getting any messages?'
I could almost imagine Nubeculas, like, 'Gumiho' or 'Whose Heart Bleeds For Heartbroken', commenting and being overly concerned. But I didn't get any. Where am I now?
Once again, I tried to look around, but... nothing. I tried to move my head, but I couldn't. I tried to push around... but I can't move?
'Ah-' Something transpired at this moment. I tried to feel, and the surroundings felt heavy.
I had felt this feeling before. It was just before I opened my eyes in this world for the first time.
'My eyes are closed,' I concluded.
Arthur: "Whhhhhfp."
Wheezing a deep breath, I forced my mind to focus and pushed through the sensation, trying to open my eyes. And I did.
Looking through my own obsidian-like eyes, what lay before me was not that different from what I had seen before I opened my eyes.
The absence of light and darkness was on the face of the depth. So, how did I know that my eyes had finally opened?
Because the darkness was no longer blinding but partially black. Through the corners of my eyes, I could feel a white-bluish light basking on the side of my face from behind me. The feeling on my back was also hard, but not heavy.
+
[ The Nubecula 'Dionysus' comments, "Oh, he woke up." ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Gumiho' comments, "Finally!" ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Whose Heart Bleeds For Heartbroken' comments, "So glad." ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Who Likes Cigars And Candy' comments, "Back to the living. Aye?" ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Raziel' comments, "It must be the fatigue after fighting." ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Hwang Jini' comments, "Certainly." ]
+
'Yes, I am awake now.' Seeing the messages appear, I was sure of it.
Arthur: "Mhmm."
I lifted my body, pushing through my elbow and weighing my body on it. Inside this pitch-black world, my body glowed light blue.
Well, not exactly.
Looking around, I saw that I had snow around me, only just around me, which glowed. Whether I fell onto the snow or the snow fell over me, who knows?
I pulled my legs up to my knees and, pushing through them, taking the support of my hand, I stood up. I dusted some of the snow from my pants, shirt, and hair. I also shook my shoes to get some of the snow off them.
As I did that, I noticed blood splotches on my shirt. Then I looked at my hand, which was covered in dried blood. I must have had some stains on my cheeks as well. Shifting my eyes from my blood-stained hands, I looked around.
Black. It was pitch black. The only light there was came from the snow beneath me.
Arthur: "Well, this looks scary."
+
[ The Nubecula 'Who Likes Cigars And Candy' comments, "No shit." ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Gumiho' comments, "If it weren't for the glowing snow, it would be hard to spot you." ]
+
Even though it was scary to look into the complete nothingness, I was at least sure I had something firm and solid beneath my feet.
I crouched down, touching the snow that was forming the outline of my body. Picking up some of the frosty snow, I rubbed it between my fingers.
Due to the warmth of my hand, the snow slowly melted, converting into water. I washed the dried blood away with the melted snow.
Picking up a handful of snow, I cleaned my bloody hand, and red water dripped through my fingers.
I picked some more of it to clean them completely. Then, as I picked up some snow for the third time, something brushed against my pinky finger.
Slight confusion grew inside me. More than a meter away, I scooted over and put my hand over the snow. Something hard and big was gripped by my hand. I gently brushed the snow aside, and the sharp edge of a blue, crystal-like thing came into view.
I dug at it with a hard brush of my hand, and a solid block of ice was lying there. But inside the solid ice, there was something. It looked like a long stick with engravings on it, but the weird thing about it was that there was a fire at its thicker end.
Arthur: "What is it exactly?"
+
[ The Nubecula 'Hwang Jini' comments, "An old torch." ]
+
The fire was still, motionless, frozen inside the ice. At this, one of my eyebrows raised a little as I began to frown.
I picked up some snow with my left hand, scooping it up, and picked up the solid ice with the torch inside with the other. From the looks of it, it was pretty obvious that the object inside was a medieval-style torch, as Hwang Jini had pointed out.
I stood up, brushing the snow in my left hand over my cheeks to get the dried blood off them, and looked at the frozen ice.
It was cold. I moved my hand over it, trying to gauge the cold sensation. And maybe because of my body heat, or for some other reason, the ice started to melt slowly.
At the exact same moment, when the snow on my left hand that I was using to clean my face melted, the ice that had frozen the torch also melted away.
Just as it was about to melt completely, I moved my hand in such a way that my palm was over its handle, and I gripped it tightly.
+
[ Item: Torch of Goddess Presiding Over Magic and Spells.
Description: One-time-use guiding item. During Demeter's search for her daughter Persephone, Hecate helped by using her torches to light the goddess' journey through the night. ]
+
'Woah. I would love to show it to Persephone.' I thought, smirking, since I wanted to see her reaction to this item.
+
[ The rewards for the Miscellaneous script 'Flame of the Abandoned Soul' have been processed. ]
+
[ Rewards: '4000 points' and 'Torch of Goddess Presiding Over Magic and Spells.' ]
+
So it is my reward. Both Lisa and I were concluded to be the major participants in the earlier miscellaneous script. She should have gotten the points as well, and this... this must have been inside the flame beast. It must have also fallen through after me.
+
[ The Nubecula 'Who Likes Cigars And Candy' comments, "Happy you got a good item?" ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Dionysus' comments, "It is a pretty good item. It was a very old and interesting story." ]
+
Ah, right. Dionysus and Persephone are both from Olympus. Isn't he, according to some story, her child? I pondered. But in the other story, they would be considered siblings, in which his mother died.
I shouldn't ask Persephone about it, though. I am sure she will leave me devoid of air again. Remembering what she did on the island, on the first day we met, although it was almost more than two months ago, the thought sent a slight shiver down my spine.
+
[ The Nubecula 'Whose Heart Bleeds For Heartbroken' comments, "It is really good. It would be helpful to you right now." ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Hwang Jini' comments, "Such an item. It is a pity it has to be used now." ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Gumiho' comments, "That's true." ]
+
Arthur: "True. It is a pity, but there is no other way to get out of this nothingness."
It was not that I was using this as the only option. I think if I searched my storage ring, I would find some guiding item, but this will lead me exactly where I want to go.
'This script, the hidden one at least, hasn't been cleared yet.' Holding a deep breath in my lungs, I thought that.
The previous script was a miscellaneous one, not the hidden one. With the back of my left hand, I wiped my cheek and used the item in my hand.
+
[ Item 'Torch of Goddess Presiding Over Magic and Spells' has been activated. ]
+
With the message, the small flame flared at its thicker end. Its orange, red, and yellow light, mixed with some of the snow's blue light, basked on me, and the fire's color overshadowed the white light. But nothing around me even took the hint of it. Nothing reflected any light, not even the solid ground that I could feel underneath my heels. My surroundings remained black.
The flared flame gently swayed on the torch. I held it with my hand stretched out, letting it sway with the mystical, invisible wind that was moving it, though I couldn't feel it.
The flames moved and tilted to one side, between my left side and the front, like a wind was moving in that direction. I moved the torch in different directions, but the flames kept pointing in only that direction.
Without thinking much of it, I moved, lifting my foot and putting it down in the darkness beneath me. There was certainly no promise that my step would land firmly, but it did.
Believing that I certainly had solid ground beneath me, I marched ahead. The flames of the torch remained tilted in one direction, and trusting the item, I walked, gradually becoming more relaxed with time.
Arthur: "Walking through the darkness like this makes me almost feel like a blind person."
A blind person certainly experiences something akin to this every day of their life. I got a glimpse into that, only partly though. It is quite uncomfortable and scary.
+
[ The Nubecula 'Dionysus' comments, "Being blind is scary." ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Raziel' comments, "That is why sight is one of the primary senses." ]
+
I agree. For those who have never seen the world, it must be a wish to see. But it would not be scary for them, certainly because they don't know what they are missing. They didn't have the luxury of sight, and only those who could see could envision how scary it would be to lose it.
Once you have something, you take it for granted—
Arthur: "Only when you lose it do you understand its worth."
+
[ The Nubecula 'Hwang Jini' is nodding. ]
+
My words died into nothingness, without even echoing. Shifting my eyes from the message, I took another step ahead when—
Fushhhhhhh.
Arthur: "Ah—"
It happened unexpectedly as I just shifted my vision. The torch's flames flared high, and as I felt its warmth, I put my free hand over my closing, frowning eyes, trying to shield myself from it.
I blinked only for a second. Then I tried to look at the torch, opening one eye and peering around the side of my arm.
Arthur: "What—"
One half-closed eye soon opened, and what perplexed me was my surroundings.
A royal-blue shade. Walls of the same color stood on my sides, with dark-blue tiles at their bottom, separated by white engravings.
With my arm halted in front of my face, I raised my head to look over it.
Polished blue tiles with white diamond shapes formed patterns across the floor, hidden beneath a carpet of dark-blue color.
Awestruck by the sudden, beautiful sight of the hallway, I almost forgot that I had been taken off guard by the sudden flare of the torch, but its warmth pulled me back.
The flame dimmed down, seemingly allowing the mystical beauty of the place to take over.
+
[ The Nubecula 'Gumiho' comments, "Beautiful!" ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Hwang Jini' comments, "Certainly." ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Who Likes Cigars And Candy' comments, "Indeed, very beautiful." ]
+
It really is. The sight also took my breath away.
+
[ You have made contact with Hekate's Palace. ]
+
With the message, I recalled the paintings that were in the hallway when I entered through the door on the sixth floor. The bright room in that painting was the one that one would hope to find in a palace like this.
'It makes sense, since the woman in the painting was the human form of Hekate, and this place is her palace.' I concluded.
A single whistling sound came, passing my ears. Confused, I lowered my half-raised arm, and my head moved around.
A second whistling sound came, carrying wind with it. A whiff of wind blew over the torch, and my attention shifted to it. The flame swayed sharply in one direction and was plucked out of existence.
Looking at it with uncertainty, I put the extinguished torch over the desk that was on my side, attached to the wall. It was unneeded now. The whole hallway was lit with blue light particles that were on the ceiling, shining like crystals, mingled with the arched roof that seemed to stretch towards the sky.
Whistle. Whistle.
Whistling sounds came again, and moving my head around, I tried to follow the sound, looking for its source.
Whistle... whistle...
Soon, I realized—
Arthur: "The wind itseslf is making the whistling noise."
The wind gently swayed my hair, and I felt it against my body like it was pushing me to move forward.
Whistle. Whistle.
It came a little harder this time, like it was directing me. I took steps gently forward, looking around.
+
[ Some handful of Nubeculas are looking at you. ]
+
The place held a mysterious feel, and the hallway was big and long. After walking through it for some time, soon a door to my side, a meter or two ahead, came into view.
Walking closer to it, I eyed it curiously. It had a beautiful lever handle, and the door was made of glass, with a thick border around it, as if the glass had been placed inside a hollow tree cut from the middle.
Looking through it, I saw a majestic room with a bed, shelves, tables, and tall mirrors inside. I felt a craving to go inside, but—
Whistle.
The whistling wind pushed me forward yet again. I gave the room a glance as I stepped further. Many other doors leading to other rooms came into view, but the wind kept pushing me whenever I tried to go inside.
Walking and walking, after a while, as I tried to take in the beauty of the palace, an end to the hallway came into view. I could see it from afar. It looked like a window, but only from a distance.
Reaching closer, I realized it was also a door, with a thicker border making patterns, as if it were clutching the glass. It had a mystical aura, and I felt sad looking at it.
Looking through it, I saw another room, with a queen-size bed, polished wooden tables, shelves filled with statues and books, a floor covered with carpet, and a chandelier on the ceiling.
It was definitely more majestic than the other rooms, but what caught my eye was a big, closed window that showed a starry night sky. It also had a cushion attached to it, so that one could sit there and enjoy the scene, and it was occupied.
?: "You can come in."
The voice resounded from inside, tired, lonely, devoid of any interest or hope. Looking at the person intently, I gripped the lever handle and pushed it, walking inside.
Treeak. Click. Tuk.
With a soft sound, it opened.
Swooshhhh. Whistle... Whooshhhh. Whistle...
Despite the closed window, the sound of wind blowing came harder and harder with the whistle. The sound of the wind was strong, but it felt light against my skin.
'Looks like I found the source.'
With that thought in my mind, I went inside.
The door shut on its own. Ten or twelve steps inside the room, I was still far from reaching the middle of the room, and the person was even farther.
Gazing through the window, I saw a woman. Through the side of her face, I could see her deep blue eyes, with pure white hair and white eyelashes.
She had a single piece of white cloth draped over her body without any visible hold. Through the light, transparent cloth, I could see that she wore nothing underneath, completely bare, and her pale skin was apparent. She looked in complete contrast to me.
+
[ The Nubecula 'Dionysus' is sipping his wine. ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Who Likes Cigars And Candy' comments, "Hehe. You lucky Heroboy, looks like your good deeds are being compensated." ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Whose Heart Bleeds For Heartbroken' comments, "Can you shut it?" ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Raziel' is looking in your direction. ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Hwang Jini' is looking at you. ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Gumiho' is looking at you. ]
+
Looks like there aren't any other Nubeculas. They must have left while I was unconscious.
Ignoring the messages, I didn't let my gaze leave her.
Arthur: "You must be—"
?: "Abandoned soul."
Her voice cut through mine, answering me. It was tired, like she was sighing.
Abandoned soul: "That name must be easier for you to understand me."
So she says, her tired eyes didn't leave the starry night sky. Taking in her beautiful appearance as a whole in one intense gaze, I spoke.
Arthur: "You—"
Abandoned soul: "—look hopeless, despairing, forlorn, lost, forsaken—"
Her gaze didn't leave the sky, but after saying so many words, she took a slight breath, and her eyes left the sky for the first time, moving toward me.
Abandoned soul: "—abandoned?"
Her eyes were as deep blue as the clear sea. They reminded me of Hekate's cat eyes, which were always filled with curiosity, but hers felt devoid of focus.
Arthur: "—are not what I was expecting, is what I was going to say."
Her eyebrows showed a hint of rising, but her eyes remained the same. They were lost, even though they were looking at me.
A sigh left her mouth, which felt like a hollow chuckle.
Abandoned soul: "Acceptable. Fighting through the flames, you would expect a furious soul, not someone looking as hopeless as me."
Well, that was rational reasoning, but that's not all. I saw in my Dreams a soul, certainly furious, blowing high flames everywhere, berating the whole world, cursing it, killing everyone in sight or not.
Abandoned soul: "Abandoned."
She pushed her bare white legs from underneath the light cloth toward the floor.
She moved her hands under the cloth to clutch it from inside, wrapping it a little around herself. She moved toward me, soon sitting facing me, and then pushed herself upward to stand.
She crossed her arms in front, the cloth sheet hanging on her shoulder, making a cross shape. Leaving her neck, half of her breast, and half of her stomach exposed, closing at her belly button, the cloth covered her intimate parts down to her thighs and fanned out again, falling to the ground.
I focused on her movements. Even though she looked completely defenseless in every sense, she was the one who had generated the miscellaneous script earlier, which had been a tough fight for me. And she was the one who brought chaos to this school in my Dreams, so I couldn't help but remain vigilant.
Abandoned soul: "Cautious. Wise. But I have expended myself to the limit. Pity."
She said, her eyes still unchanged, just lost. But her words brought a thought to my mind.
'Did she use all the power of Alteration?'
It was possible. She generated a miscellaneous script without the help of a higher existence, and the grade of it was also B. The flame beast was very strong as well.
Abandoned soul, oblivious to my thoughts, took a step toward me. It pulled my attention, but I was not as on guard as before. Keeping the feeling underneath my stoic expression, with an intent gaze, I observed her curiously.
Abandoned soul: "Abandoned—"
She picked up again from where she had sensed my caution. Maybe this time I masked it well, or maybe she didn't care.
Abandoned soul: "—or rejected. What do you think would hurt more?"
I didn't speak, just stared. She didn't continue either, just stood defenseless, like a beautiful homeless person, seemingly waiting for my response. After a while, when the silence was starting to become awkward, I spoke.
Arthur: "Being abandoned."
Instead of becoming content or taking my response just as an answer, she lifted her tired eyes, with a hint of a pitying smile.
Abandoned soul: "Are you saying that to make me feel better? Towards the Abandoned soul."
I didn't show much reaction and stood still, back straight, head tilted up, eyes on her, observing.
Abandoned soul: "There is a little pity in your slightly frowned gaze."
'It is because I understand,' I thought, and didn't say it out loud.
She took light steps toward me, and my eyes simply followed.
Abandoned soul: "Regardless, being abandoned hurt at first. Maybe now I have become numb to it, if that is possible."
Arthur: "If it was, why would you gather so many people?"
A small curve formed on her lips as she walked, dragging the sheet behind her.
Abandoned soul: "Undeniable. Maybe. I have been here for a long time. Accumulating enough power, I used the fire inside my heart to lead people to me, but they longed for people outside. So I tried harder and gathered more."
She walked up to my side and looked at me, lifting her head. It reached just above my shoulder, and her deep-blue eyes met mine.
Abandoned soul: "But everyone had someone else outside. Ones they considered special to them, they considered someone other than them special."
Her lost eyes seemed even more lost. They stared into mine, asking, 'What should be done then?' But the answer was that nothing could be done. That's how the heart is. That is why love is rare, because it is rare for someone you care about to care for you in the same way.
Abandoned soul: "I lured them here. I was alone for so long. I lured more so that they wouldn't leave. I even locked them up, thinking they might accept it and stop resisting."
She admitted it without leaving my gaze. Only desperation grew more and more in her eyes. She was asking, 'What more could I have done?'
Whistle.
Abandoned soul: "Just like I did."
She spoke in a whisper at the end that I couldn't hear. It was drowned out by the whistling wind.
+
[ The Nubecula 'Dionysus' comments, "Doesn't that story seem familiar?" ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Raziel' comments, "It does. Where have I heard it before?" ]
*
[ The Nubecula 'Hwang Jini' comments, "It seems similar to an old Yokai tale." ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Gumiho' comments, "Oh, yeah, I know that story. That old-school story." ]
+
Yes, her story sounded similar to an old japanese tale. There was a rumor of a yokai cat inside an old school, and naturally, it was famous among the students. They talked about how, if at night you roamed the highest, darkest part of the school, you would hear a cat's meow. And if you chased that sound, an Onibi, known as a ghost light, would appear and lead you to a mirror, in which your reflection would talk to you. But no matter how tempted you feel, you shouldn't talk to your reflection, because the moment you did, it would swap places with you, leaving you trapped inside the mirror for all eternity.
Anyway, that is what the story says, and it does, one way or the other, kind of align with the present situation.
The hold of her hand around the cloth sheet covering her bare flesh tightened, covering her stomach more. But her eyes were searching for an answer in mine.
The one who stood in front of her, the only one she could ask, the person who stood just an arm's length away after she had been alone for so long. I opened my mouth as a sigh left me.
Arthur: "I understand."
+
[ The Nubecula 'Raziel' is confused. ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Raziel' comments, "How is such an action, holding against one's will, understandable?" ]
+
I ignored his message. A half-told story can be viewed in many ways. As her mouth opened slightly, I felt like she would say, 'How could you understand?' so I spoke before she could.
Arthur: "I understand your extreme actions. I understand your desperation."
Her mouth curved upward as she listened to me, paying attention to my words. Her jaw tightened a little. She seemed to want to roar her desperation at me, but she held it back, like she had done all this time.
Arthur: "But you are at your own fault. The desperation, the sense of loss, the sorrow—you brought all that upon yourself."
Abandoned soul: "I brought it upon myself?"
Her eyes didn't change but became more hopeless, her voice breaking from tired to husky.
Abandoned soul: "You say I wanted to feel this, like someone clutching my heart?"
Her eyes showed betrayal, like I had betrayed her expectations. Her voice was not one of shouting, but it was louder than before.
Abandoned soul: "Longing, searching without knowing, for all this time?"
Arthur: "What are you searching for?"
I spoke, remaining calm and stoic. I felt bad, obviously. It was like seeing a kid crying.
Abandoned soul: "I—"
She was stuck, unable to answer. This time, I really looked at her with pity.
Arthur: "Hasn't it been the third time for you now?"
She looked at me, confused.
Arthur: "The third time you've felt this—this clutching feeling, being lost, abandoned."
Her eyes shook a little and widened for the first time. The color flared slightly in those lost eyes.
Arthur: "Haven't you learned anything, Gale?"
Her eyes widened, her mouth hung slightly open, and disbelief was all over her face.
Now it is time to indulge in the real story.
+
[ The Nubecula 'Dionysus' comments, "I think I have heard that name before." ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Gumiho' comments, "I have as well. But where?" ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Hwang Jini' is looking at you. ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Who Likes Cigars And Candy' is snorting. ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Whose Heart Bleeds For Heartbroken' is sighing. ]
+
[ The Nubecula 'Raziel' is looking at you. ]
+