For a mont, everything was silent. I looked with a blank expression towards the woman who was chained, no matter how charming or beautiful she was.
Break the chains?
With this body?
After a short ti, the woman must have realized this too, because she opened her mouth again. Her voice was equally beautiful, but... strange.
"Ah, you are a weak person... you cannot move."
What...?
Yes, I am a weak person, maybe...
Yes, I can't move...
But is there really soone or sothing that can move even if almost all of their bones are broken in so way...?
"Pity..."
This ti, her voice echoed not in my ears, but in almost the entire space, and my eyes widened.
The woman's rainbow-like eyes twinkled slightly after her words, looking directly at .
No, not at ... she looked into my eyes, into my body... into my soul.
A pain spread through my body that was very different from any pain I had ever felt. As if... as if I had been thrown into a blazing fla.
But I still didn't scream. I didn't care.
What if it was a different pain...? In essence, it was still the sa... and equally unimportant. But, then, the chained woman's lips parted again.
"Oh, you're more... different than I thought."
Different...? Different how?
"Interesting... how did you escape the webs of fate? You should be dead."
The webs of fate? I don't rember escaping anything like that... I don't even rember who I am!
But, well... she's right that I should be dead, I guess.
Though... I don't know why, but I feel as if it's not this situation she's talking about. As if... this is not what I should have died of, but sothing else.
"I see, I see... Oh, that's even more interesting."
The sparkle in her eyes faded as her eyebrows rose slightly. Yet, she remained just as beautiful.
Although... why am I thinking like this now, when just a few seconds ago I was completely srized? I could have even committed suicide for this woman without even realizing it...
"Because I let you."
Oh...
So she can read minds, too?
"Such questions are trivial."
For a mont, I didn't think anything, I just looked at her. Then, I don't know why... I felt like laughing.
Of course, it's trivial... does anything matter at all...?
"I didn't think you had a connection with that man... that's really surprising."
That man...? Which man? Who is she talking about?
"Then... let ask you a question."
All my focus shifted on her. My eyes, my ears... all my senses focused only on what she was going to say next.
"Do you want to rember who you are?"
I paused for a mont. This ti, I didn't really think about anything. Everything in my mind just reset. Then, from the depths... one thing slowly surfaced.
Can... Can I really rember?
"With a small favor you can do , yes. You can rember."
Who I am, why I'm here, what I'm doing...?
"And more. And not only will you rember..."
Even though she was quite far away, I saw her lips curve slightly upwards. Her eyes, which resembled a rainbow, were narrowed a little.
"I am intrigued, human. At first, I was thinking of using that half-elf, although the weapon he would have brought with him would have been useful too... But you... You are different. So not only will I make you rember, I will free you from the 'diocrity' you have hated all your life."
The last sentence replayed in my mind. I didn't really care about the rest of what she said, I had no idea what half-elf or weapon she was talking about. But... getting out of the diocrity... for so reason, it stirred sothing inside .
"All you have to do is reach out to . Then, you will rember, you will no longer be 'ordinary'. Once you wake up, you'll break my chains... and I'll get you, and your friends, out of here. What do you say?"
I thought about it for a while, replaying what she said over and over in my mind, over and over again.
To be able to rember who I am... that's sothing I desire.
And I'm not going to be ordinary anymore, which I've actually hated all my life, is that it?
Maybe... Just maybe, that's why I ca here in the first place?
As I thought about these and other things, I beca aware of the desire growing inside .
I want... I really want to listen to her words and move toward her... And, yet, there is a hesitation in . A tiny doubt that I can't make sense of.
There's sothing wrong, sothing I'm missing...
What could it be?
I looked at the woman again. Her eyes were on , but she didn't look like she was going to say anything. She was just... watching. Silently, expressionlessly...
I looked at her face, I studied her body... and then... I stopped on sothing... on one of the chains wrapped around her body.
Really, now that I think about it... why is this woman chained here?
"Your questions are pointless, human. I've had enemies like everyone else, of course. Are you too stupid to think that?"
Well, she's not wrong...
But why can't I get rid of this uneasiness inside ?
Am I... am I really going to do the right thing?
"My patience is wearing thin. I'm the only reason you're still alive, human, despite the condition of your body. And you are not my only choice. If I wait a little longer, there are others who will get here... You're nothing special, you've just managed to attract my attention and that's why I'm giving you a choice. Make your decision quickly."
If I could, I would have clenched my fist and teeth. It was hard to fight against the hesitation inside . No matter what the woman said, no matter what she did, I couldn't get rid of it. On the contrary... it seed to grow bigger.
But...
Yet...
I...
I've finally made up my mind.
So what if I'm hesitating...? So what if there's an uneasiness inside that I can't shake?
I've co this far, I've even co back from the dead... at least in a different way. I don't even rember who I am!
Even if she's deceiving , even if it won't end well for ... does it matter?
Worst case scenario... I die, like I should have in the first place.
Right?
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her lips curve upwards, but I didn't care, because it wasn't a smile with any emotion. It wasn't sly, it wasn't really happy... it was just a simple smile.
And so... I threw my right elbow forward, pushed my chin slightly ahead, and then used the two to pull my body toward her.
The pain radiating through my body multiplied, I even... actually felt so of it.
But I didn't care, I dragged myself further and further. Again, and again... and again.
The seconds ticked by. Minutes turned into more minutes.
Step by step, inch by inch, I kept getting closer to her.
She didn't say anything, nor did I think anything. All I could hear in this space at the bottom of the endless darkness was the sound of water drops falling from above and the sound of my crawling, but I kept going.
The closer I got to the woman, the more light fell on , and with it... heat. I felt a sense of relief as the cold that had been steadily seeping into my body slowly receded, it would have been nice to get so rest...
But no, I didn't stop. I kept going. I crawled and crawled... for my mories, for my 'desire', which I didn't even know why I desired it.
As I got closer and closer to the woman... this ti, I started to feel sothing different.
It was a kind of pain I had never felt before, different even from the burning sensation I had just felt. It was like... sothing was trying to stop . No, her 'presence' was so superior that I was forbidden to even be around her... It was as if the world was refusing to be here and to approach this woman. It was as if it was slowly tearing apart, punishing for every inch I got closer to her...
But I didn't stop.
And, finally... maybe after hours of effort... I managed to reach her.
She was truly gigantic. I could see that even more easily when I was this close to her. After all... only her toes were as big as my head. I would have had to bend my head abnormally to see her face.
But I didn't need to. Because I could still hear her voice.
"Touch , you don't have to do anything else."
I didn't bother to nod. I just stretched my right elbow, the one I had been using to drag myself up until now, as far as I could, then... I touched the tip of her big toe.
For a while, nothing happened, literally nothing... Silence enveloped my body again, the uneasiness inside grew greater than ever.
Just when I was wondering if I had made a mistake... my eyes widened and my mouth hung open.
mories flooded my mind one after another. My childhood, my experiences, my na, why I was here... Adrian and Lucia, that one-eyed creature, the bottomless pit...
"Ah..."
In the end, that was the first and only word that ca out of my mouth in this whole ti that I've been in this place.
And then... everything suddenly beca bright. First, the woman's body, and then this whole place...
"Well done, human."
The thin layer of water covering the ground rippled, as if it was being pulled toward . The moss-like plants here and there stirred. They approached like... vines.
"You managed to reach . Now, I have to keep my promise... right?"
Each of the water droplets gathered around , enveloping and enveloping my body as if forming a gigantic water droplet... The vines reached at this very mont. They surrounded the water droplet, moved under my body, and lifted into the air...
"It won't take long, don't worry... I'll see you again in a few hours."
My vision darkened, the water went into my nose and mouth as the vines wrapped around like a cocoon.
"For now, sleep well..."
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