BVGW 21

Yuri stepped forward and said,
“It’s a mechanism. To open the door you have to know the combination rule.”

“How?”

“You multiply this by that here, divide by the square root, then compute the value—”

The moment a technical topic came up Yuri slipped into full explanation mode, and the youngest two’s eyes glazed over instantly.

‘Can’t we just smash it?’
‘I want to go home.’

Those thoughts came from Lirian and Jeril, respectively.

“Done.”

The youngest, who’d been listening with one ear, suddenly snapped to attention at Yuri’s declaration. At that instant—

click, grrrr-

The heavy iron door that had been firmly shut opened.

“Oh.”
“I can’t see anything!”

It was pitch dark beyond the door, so Lirian shouted. Jeril cocked his chin arrogantly.

“Knew that would happen — I brought something.”

He flashed something from his pocket.

“A magical crystal orb?”
“…Isn’t that your father’s?”

Yuri gave him a suspicious look. Jeril avoided the gaze and whistled.

“Ah, that’s not important. C’mon, let’s go.”
“But my mother gave that as a first present; father treasures it—”
“Bah, I’ll just borrow it for a bit and put it back.”
“…Not my problem.”
“We’re collaborators now!”
“Not collaborators — accomplices.”

They bickered as they went into the darkness. The faint light of the orb lit the kids’ path. Watching her older brothers ahead, Lirian thought, I need power.

Power to save Illei and the temple people.
Power to protect the family she loved.

A strange violet glow shimmered in Lirian’s eyes where the orb’s light touched them.

“Lirian, come on.”
“Tiny one, if you don’t move, we’ll leave you behind.”

Their brothers’ calls snapped her out of her thoughts.

“Let’s go together!”

Lirian ran toward her family.

“Is this a maze or what? Why’s it so long?”

Just as Jeril grumbled, a faint light appeared ahead.

“Oh, finally the end?”

He strode forward, then flinched at the scene that met him.

“What’s wrong? Ah…”

A beat later Yuri emerged from the passage and sighed. They had assumed the shocking sight would be the earlier room, but reality exceeded imagination once again. Bars of iron stretched endlessly on both sides, and behind them people were trapped. Jeril ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“…Looks just like a prison.”

The people barely breathed; their eyes were dead, completely void of light. You’d expect them to react to footsteps, but they showed not a shred of hope. Yuri cautiously stepped closer to the bars. The man sitting dazed within had many scars on his arms — like thin, sharp puncture wounds. On the inside of his wrist were two black dots.

‘What’s that?’

“Brother, wait a second.”

As Yuri voiced his question, Lirian moved in quietly beside him. He paused at the sight of his youngest sibling’s profile.

‘That feeling again.’

The sensation was similar to before. Although the face was Lirian’s, the atmosphere felt different. He thought about why he felt that way and realized: she’s calm. The little one he’d always felt he had to take care of now felt almost adult-like. Lirian murmured as she looked at the two black dots on the wrist.

“Fang marks.”
“Fang marks?”
“The Abyssal Serpent devours the darkest corners of the human heart. If that’s present, some abnormal phenomenon has occurred nearby.”

The Abyssal Serpent was a legendary creature, the sort you only hear of in the empire’s founding myths. While the two were startled by the sudden explanation, Lirian rose from her place and stared into the distance.

“…It’s already started, it looks like.”

Beep—reeeee—reeee—

At that moment a sound was heard.

“Ugh!”
“What’s that?!”

Yuri and Jeril clapped their hands over their ears and staggered. Lirian watched black energy ripple up from the bodies in the cages and coalesce into a snake-like form.

Kraaah!

A black snake slashed the air with long fangs; the space tore and a dark-blue rift opened in the void. When the rift completed, the snake-form dissolved, and the bodies in the cages were covered in filthy darkness.

“Gaaaah!”
Grrrk…

Those who had barely been able to blink now howled. Something no longer quite human reached out its hand between the bars. The sight was chilling. Deep in Lirian’s eyes something sank.

‘Ghoul-ification.’

Those consumed by the abyss were called ghouls. They feel only endless hatred for life and insatiable hunger. If the rift hadn’t yet fully swallowed the area, the victims could sometimes return to normal, but in the future the rate of encroachment far outpaced any cure. Humanity eventually had to fight the abyss for the last habitable lands.

“I want to live.”

Lirian lifted the hand that had touched the red letters.

—I want to live.
—I want to live.
—I want to live.

The ghouls on either side, screaming as they reached for her, seemed to be saying that, over and over. They wanted to live. She clenched her fist tight. A hand still weak and small. In her present state she could not save everyone.

Powerless.

That overwhelming helplessness washed over Lirian again — the despair of losing family and rifling through ruins, the hollow feeling of failing to save those who’d become ghouls. She had wanted to save the world but had failed. In resonance with that powerless feeling, pitch-black shadows seeped from Lirian’s silhouette like ghouls crawling out. They coiled around her like a serpent and whispered:

—Everything
‘Everything…’
—It’s your fault.
‘It’s my fault.’

For failing to save her family, for failing to save people, for failing to save the world — it was all her fault. Lirian’s eyes darkened completely. The latch on a wound she’d buried in her young heart — one that hadn’t healed — flew open. Immediately the world was shrouded in darkness.

‘…Where am I?’

Out of the darkness a brilliant violet crystal bloomed. Looking at the scene reflected there felt like a dream. Lirian stared blankly at the crystal. She saw a seven-year-old girl running excitedly down a hallway, clutching tightly a new doll she’d gotten for her birthday to show off. She stood before a familiar door, rose on tiptoe to knock, but blinked in puzzlement when she saw the small gap in the slightly opened door. She then opened it without suspicion — after all, it was the room of the mother she loved most in the world. And then—

‘…Mom?’

The blonde doll fell from the girl’s hand with a soft thud. The child was Lirian. A crackle of noise flickered at the edge of her vision, as if her soul strongly resisted recalling the memory. Because of that, the exact events in her mother’s room wouldn’t come to her clearly.

“Lirian, please, please… open your eyes. Dear God, take my worthless breath but please—my child, our child…”

After that day Lirian was sick with a fever for more than a month. She saw her father wailing and clinging to her, then the image blurred and faded. Maybe she was in so much pain.

“Lirian, how old are you?”
“Huh? I’m five!”

Even after waking she couldn’t remember anything. That fact was soon forgotten too.

“Excuse me for saying this, but the young lady seems to have returned to the happiest time in her life to forget ‘that incident.’”
“…What does that mean?”
“Mentality-wise she’s reverted to five. She won’t recall the seven-year-old memories; she might not grow older anymore.”

At the doctor’s words, her father crumpled. He sobbed and hugged Lirian tightly.

“It’s okay, dear. Daddy’s here. I’ll protect you. Stay an innocent, lovely child. I’ll always protect you.”

Lirian blinked. ‘Lies.’ Her father—

‘My father isn’t invincible. He couldn’t stay by my side forever.’

No — that was because she had failed to protect him. It was all her fault.

Fsssh—

At the same time the crystal scattered into shining particles. The old memory that had surfaced was cut out from her mind as if by a clean slice. When Lirian came to again she tilted her head.

‘Where is this? How do I get out?’

Just then, a strange sound came from behind. grr—