This chapter will partially explain many of the issues raised in past chapters . Of course, in the following chapters the issues discussed in this chapter will be developed , continued or other issues not yet addressed will be addressed .
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( Kurumi pov )
I did not hear any gunshot but I felt some kind of liquid spill over my temple and then forcibly invade my body. The world around me darkened as I felt myself sinking .....
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With difficulty I opened my eyes . The only thing I saw then was the image of a massive golden clock with Roman numbers on its face shackled in chains preventing it from moving , floating in a black void . In the void in which I too, floated as if in water . No , not water . Because of the difficulty of movement I had and the consistency I would say it was not water but tar or thick liquid.
Leaving aside the sudden shock of the change in environment , being in this place I had a strong feeling of déjà vu . Just like I have already experienced and seen something like this , I felt that I had seen this before , it was this feeling of déjà vu and fear that made me freeze . After all , how could I , ever see something like that ?
In my stillness instinctively , I wanted to catch my breath which was a stupid idea . When I felt the tarry liquid moving in my throat I felt as if I was drowning , which caused me a momentary panic , but just as quickly as it appeared , it disappeared the next moment when my eyes saw something .
When peace of mind returned to me , with great effort I turned my head to look around and surprisingly I was not alone . Unfortunately, perhaps it would have been better if I had been alone . What existed in this place besides a huge clock in chains and me , were hundreds if not millions of bodies , which after a good look at looks like girls identical to me .
They were floating in this space just like me . Some seemed to be deeply asleep , their naked bodies were generally to varying degrees wrapped in chains that just as thus chains on the cloock , descended to their hitching point , which must have been ..... No one knows where because the possibility of observing how deep the chains descended in this space was impossible .
Other girls , those not entangled with any chains , like me , dazed and afraid looked around in search of answers . An answer that seemed to arrive in the form of a whisper , so quiet that even in the complete silence of this void it almost escaped my ears. Focusing my eyes on the golden clock, which apparently whispered to me, I noticed that the chains holding the hands of the clock from moving , seemed to be partially absorbed im the red-black foog .
I thought I heard his voice ... His indistinct scream . That golden clock seemed to be calling me . Unfortunately before I deciphered the voice , a distinct cracking sound caught my attention . Looking at the chains , which simply broke , I saw the minute hand of the clock moved from 12 to 1 . And at the same time the bells wailed ..... It was then that I understood ... ... My life ... It's a lie .
My decisions , goals and plans never mattered ..... Because everything up to that point was decided and directed for me . However, even that was nowhere near the awfulness of knowing what I am and what my purpose is .This sudden flash of information in my head overwhelmed me enough to not react , when many pale hands began to pull me to the " surface ".
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' Now I understand ..... I already had a dream about this place ... Maybe it wasn't a dream but I was really here , albeit for a short while ... They back .... The memory of that one nightmare that for some reason , now known reasons , I forgot right after waking up has now resurfaced ... '
Like an image from a movie recorded from the first person . The life of a nameless , innocent boy , who along with millions of others died in an explosion , which was led to by the bad decisions of other people . I remember the conversation with him , I remember the questions I asked him and which he never answered . Questions that I just received the answers to .
I also remember the life of a girl who had the same appearance and name as me ..... And yet , her life situation and the world itself , was different from mine . Spirits and angels , a confusing world in which this girl herself was a spirit . Kurumi Tokisaki , the girl who was my prototype . No , not just my prototype . Our prototype , on which we were based and copied in many aspects .
.... The last memory , the shortest but most important , because it is a memory not of the soul but of the body itself . A memory of a child , a memory that confirms what a lie is the life I now live . I was never abandoned , I just died ..... This body , died and resurrected with three souls ... What was the connection between all these memories was that all the people who owned them died .
The soul of the child , the owner of this body born in this world , serves as an anchor for two foreign souls . The soul of the boy , melted by the fire and fused with the shadows of his fellow victims serves as the perfect glue for Kurumi Tokisaki's soul . Because of his connection to the shadows, he was a perfect fit for the delicate structure of my soul .In this way, three souls exist in a small body that was previously not ready to know this truth .
Just as the fading consciousness of the boy , the burned body said . Now all three consciousnesses of the three souls , returned , faded and united im my small body and mind. He was also right about the person who would arrive to explain the rest to me. The other one who will explain the rest to me is none other than Kurumi Tokisaki , he didn't say which one though , after all my adult copy , which is me too ! , also has Kurumi Tokisaki's soul in her . All of us have it ..... This adult and mature me came and explained everything to me .
Three souls , two adult souls , two souls not belonging to this world , two female souls , two souls with life experience . Two adult souls help to regenerate the aura and increase the aura . Everything since the accident at the museum I had counted times two . It was also then that I awakened additional sembelances in my body . This is exactly what the burned body of the boy meant !!!
' HaHaHAhAhaHAha ' .
It all really ... makes sense .
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When I was finally thrown up on the " surface " , the liquid in which I was floating early on , came out of my mouth and nose like a living thing and after blending into the rest of the liquid below me , the whole thing turned into solid matter allowing me to stand on , or rather lie on it because I was not even able to process the information given to me .
My eyes despite the absence of mind focused on the sky above me . The whole sky was created from millions , no not millions ... Of an endless number of golden gears . At the very top of the sky , at its zenith like the sun , hung a single outer part of the clock face containing Roman numerals .
In every possible sense of the word, this sky was majestic and beautiful, but I did not have the mood to admire it. Gathering my thoughts , I rose from the ground . The nudity and the abnormal maturity of my body , which now seemed to be about eighteen years old did not bother me .
Certainly not now ... After all, what did it matter with the knowledge or at least part of the knowledge I now had . Really the state of my body didn't matter , because emotionally I was a mess . I didn't know whether to laugh or cry .... So I just decided to go back and save Neo ..... At least now I saw that I have any chance of doing it. At least this goal temporarily was able to move my thoughts to something else .
Looking ahead I noticed that the space around me seemed endless . The floor I was standing on now seemed to be a blackish red "liquid" . which contrasted strongly with the pure gold of the sky . Just as I was about to think what to do next I suddenly felt something grab my ankle . Looking at my caught leg I saw a pale hand emerge from the black solid liquid below me. Immediately afterwards thousands of hands began to emerge from the liquid , reaching towards the golden sky , as if hoping that the gold of the sky would pull them out .
The whole floor was full of them . Not seeing what to do about the situation , I could only bend down to gently stroke one of them , which also seemed to work when the hand let go of my leg . Then my memory was struck by a monologue , which I thought was once told to me by the burned body of a boy . The memory of the bodies from which leaked a shadowy substance which then merged with my shadow gave me some frightening possibility as to what was the " liquid " under my feet .
' Is it " time " ? '
It was a vague thought that went through my head just for the fact that the memories of the flashback of the original Kurumi were still unstructured and fresh . Thinking no more about it because of the increasing mental pain , gently so as not to hurt any of hands I moved ahead . I did not have a goal, I just walked and looked for what I was supposed to find here. And of course at some point from between the "forest" of hands I noticed a piece of floor not covered with hands.
It was standing out so I knew that this was the place . Walking into the empty space, I noticed that exactly in the middle, from the black floor below, a few hands emerged. Hands that, like a table, on their palms held a levitating black crystal from which leaked a reddish-black tar, that flowed down and merged with the floor .
' Sephira Crystals '
At that moment I again recalled memories of the original Kurumi ..... I knew what it was ..... I also knew what the consequences of existing and accepting , the object in front of me.
' However, is it perhaps already a part of me ? If it is not yet a part of me , do I really have a choice ? '
When there was confusion in my head , my hand involuntarily reached towards the crystal . However , something was wrong with this crystal .... Was it surely an sephira Crystals ? Because of my uncertainty and this question I suddenly stopped , and yet the crystal itself , as if aware of my hesitation , flew into my body . And then the world went dark again ..... But for some reason , I was sure that Neo was safe .
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