Chapter 7
Sacrifice
"Do I… know you?"
Goldie opened her eyes to see those wonderful crisp blue irises staring back. They surprised her, but she reached out and touched her soft cheeks.
"M-Madalyn?!"
"Tsk, I do know you… don't I?"
Goldie held her and fell to her knees, sobbing.
"Madalyn! Something's wrong! We don't have time; we don't have time!"
"Get off me, kid!"
She pushed the golden child away. At first, Goldie was confused but remembered they weren't ever close. It was slightly embarrassing as she took to her feet. This world was still dark, stars flowed all around, and Madalyn still wore the same clothing… despite several decades since she last left in her time by this point.
"That's right… you're that Kingsman girl. Golden or something. Anna's daughter."
Madalyn pondered.
"I wrote about you quite a while ago. I… couldn't even remember your face after so long."
Goldie pointed to her choker.
"I have the choker… I can see the pages like mommy and you. I-I don't know what's going on but… but…."
She sighed.
"Calm down… I'm still tired. But… I think you at least realize that the Overlord still corrupts your world, am I right?"
Madalyn began walking to her home. She was calm, yet the child was still terrified by the recent events.
"I don't get it, though. I thought you were the Overlord. I-I thought mommy and daddy sealed you here. What… what's going on? Why is this happening?"
Madalyn slumped over on her bed. She was exhausted, but Goldie could tell that all of her energy was far more wasted this time. She looked as though speaking was tiring to her.
"Your mother and father did seal me away here… because Anna and I were the only two who could bind the Overlord spirit within us."
Madalyn lay down on her bed and put her hands on her head like a pillow. After calming down, Goldie walked over and sat on the bed. The fear that the guards could come in and take her and Madalyn away scared her. This spot behind Madalyn made her feel at least a bit protected. The young girl curled her legs up and looked out of the window.
"I… I don't understand. Magic… is hard for me."
Goldie complained like the child she was. Her pride was gone, and she was a confused mess. Noticing her fear, Madalyn tenderly spoke.
"Shh… I'll… I'll explain as best as I can."
Calmly, Madalyn said.
"We don't have time. The Kingdom of Nora's soldiers will come here and take us away. I… I don't want to die. I'm…"
"We have time, dear. So, calm down, Golden Child."
Goldie's eyes went wide. Amid her fear and chaos, she forgot that time slows within this world. If it took the guards a minute to get it, she had at least a decade to be safe. Praying they wouldn't be able to get inside for a million-bazillion years, she calmed herself down and listened.
Madalyn turned over and faced the golden child. Tears were still rolling down her eyes in fear. When she reached over and touched the child, her body was hot, and her breathing was labored.
"Hey… I think… you do look like your mother."
"I-I do?"
Coldly, she sighed.
"I can't remember. It's been… too long since I made this promise. So long… that I hate the Kingsman because they trapped me here."
"Madalyn…"
Those icy blue eyes melted to Goldie's brimstone as they looked at one another.
"I'll tell you the story… that I wrote an eternity ago. It's… how I remembered what happened."
Madalyn took a deep breath…
"Anna and I… we both were magicians who could harness the power of the deadly sins. We were the only two who could ever do that of the Kingsman."
Madalyn explained.
"We shared… the responsibility to hold the Overlord's power back. That's why your mother was always sickly. We knew… that one day if either of us died, the Overlord would return. So, one of us decided if that day came, the other would be trapped within the Grimoire of Reason, and the Overlord would have no way to escape."
Madalyn reached up and petted the trembling girl's back. Maybe the fondness set in when she didn't see the golden child for all those decades. Or perhaps the memories of her mother were bringing in emotions Madalyn hadn't felt in years. One couldn't tell as she continued her tale.
"I've been holding off the Overlord's full power… since your mother died. But… it's waring inside me long before you visited me."
Goldie put her cheek to her knees and held her body close.
"Mom died… around three days ago from now. You… must have been fighting for a long time, Madalyn."
Coldly, she looked up at the ceiling.
"Sacrifices. That's… what sacrifice is."
Those words caused Goldie's ears to grow warm. Just minutes ago to her, she believed that she knew what the meaning of that word was. But with such an extreme example, her little worries couldn't measure up to such a feat. In a way, Goldie once again became enamored by Madalyn.
"But… I don't get it. If the Overlord is within you, how did it get out? Mommy's notes said it was out… before she died."
She shook her head.
"Something must have gone wrong. Maybe… just maybe, the Overlord's power didn't just go inside Anna and It… It…"
She moaned.
"It might have retreated into Arnold too. At a lower scale. Not large enough to cause damage to him but enough to lie dormant."
Confused, Goldie asked.
"But… wouldn't it have been best… for one person to take on the full power and go with the Grimoire?"
Madalyn shook her head.
"If the Overlord was placed in this world too soon, it would break free and be able to ravage the world again. I… needed to be here to extend the duration of the world."
"You were the sacrifice… I see…"
Goldie thought about her mother, constantly in pain until the day she died. Little did she know what sacrifice she made for their world to be at peace.
"But… if mom would have died…."
"We made it… so the rest of the Overlord's soul would come to the Grimoire when she passed."
Madalyn gave the golden child a stern look.
"And then I would be killed, but the spell would be complete, and there would be no way for the Overlord to be free. Well, at least for the billions of years that I sat here, entrapped in this world for."
The level of sacrifice was too great for the child to truly comprehend. To live out their lives in solitude and pain for the sake of the world she'll never be a part of. Such a selfless endeavor. This was foreign for a girl who was raised to be selfish.
"So… when your mother died…."
"Because Daddy had a piece of the Overlord in him, it melded with that piece… and Daddy became its new vessel?"
The recluse shrugged.
"I guess. It… would make sense why the Overlord hasn't come here. Its other side… is waring against my body, trying to break out of the Grimoire."
The child got off the bed, paced, and put her foot down.
"Why didn't you two tell anyone?! What were you thinking?! Why… why did you sacrifice yourself and stay here all this time? Who would do that?! Who would-"
"Isn't it obvious… dumb kid."
Madalyn rolled to the side and looked the golden child in the eyes...
"It's because I loved your mother. I… was madly in love with Anna."
"What?"
Trying her best, she sat in bed and looked at the stars through the window.
"Annastella was my childhood friend. We learned magic together, and I grew to love her over time. We were both Kingsman, and we knew our role was to fight against the Grimoire of Reason. We never realized that our generation would get the closest to winning."
Goldie quieted down and listened to Madalyn. Amid her pains, she confessed her true feelings.
"We were assigned… as our final mission to work with our group. Arnold was the head, and Anna, I, and three others were to help him defeat the Overlord."
In pain, she sat up.
"Hey, don't push yourself."
Madalyn shook her head.
"No… I… I need to tell someone."
A tear rolled down her cheek as she grabbed Goldie's hand.
"I've been alone for centuries upon centuries. I… I need to tell someone my true feelings... even though I have no feelings for anyone anymore."
Goldie's stomach felt as though it was dropping. She closed her eyes, nodded, and decided it was best to listen.
"I… I realized days before our final battle that your mother liked Arnold. I… I never dared to tell her about my feelings."
Those crisp blue eyes watered.
"I knew… she would be happier on that side… with the person she loved. And… and it was selfish of me to want more of her."
It was then that the golden child connected the pieces. She held her chest and spoke timidly.
"You… knew she was pregnant with me, didn't you?"
It all came together in Goldie's head. It… would have been selfish of Madalyn not to be the one to trap themselves within the Grimoire.
"Before I went away… I gave your mother that choker. I asked her to look at all my belongings when I left. They… shared my feelings for her using a magical ink that one can only see when wearing this."
Madalyn looked as though she was falling asleep. Goldie caught this and rushed over to her. She sat on the floor and… took her hand.
"Mom kept all of them. She had a folder full of blank pages; nobody was ever supposed to touch them, Madalyn. My mom… knew your feelings and cherished them!"
"That's…"
She sighed before closing her eyes.
"I… wish I could say that I'm happy. But… the fact is."
Her cold eyes opened slowly.
"I don't remember your mother at all. Just what I wrote about her… Goldie."
It was then she fell asleep. Likely tired from holding down the power of the true Overlord. Goldie stood up and made her way to the blank pages. They were full of writings.
Entry: 105831
I remember the first time we met, Anna. I was too much of a coward to tell you that… I loved you. Well, love was probably too strong of a word anyway.
...
Some time, somewhere.
Entry: 157932
I ripped up a bunch of pages. I… I wish I had kept them. I can't remember what happened to them. My memories are growing foggy.
...
Some time, somewhere.
Entry: 205831
I can't remember your face anymore, Annastella…
….
Some time, somewhere.
Madalyn, a woman who suffered love so profoundly, was willing to sacrifice her life... for the person she loved. All these entries are reminders of why she was here and why was she forced into this prison. But as the centuries ticked by, feelings changed, and resentment and anger set in. The cold recluse couldn't remember the reason why she fought. Only pages of the ignorant self from the past reminded her of her shallow reasons.
Goldie realized she wasn't the Overlord. She was just a woman madly in love, willing to sacrifice everything for the one she loved. This woman sprawled into self-loathing and loneliness. She suffered for centuries upon centuries.
"And I… wanted to play and frolic around… while others were fighting for my happiness and freedom."
Goldie was ashamed. Her pride was so enormous that she never wanted to say the "w" word, but it had to be said.
"I was wrong."
Goldie confessed.
"My mother realized at the end of her life… that something was wrong.
She understood that the Deadly Sins, the Overlord was still alive somehow within the world.
In her last message, she wrote…."
He has never left this world…
"Mom, you knew… but it was too late to find a way to give this message to Madalyn. She must have…. realized that Daddy held the Overlord in him too..."
Goldie swallowed.
"Madalyn… what do I do? How… how am I supposed to help?"
Her eyes open slightly.
"There's only a matter of time before the Kingdom of Nora opens the Grimoire of Reason by breaking the spell Anna and I created… to capture you."
She exhaled.
"I'll likely be killed to release the remains of the Overlord."
"No."
Madalyn clenched her bedsheets. She was in pain and had been fighting the battle inside her for all this time.
"T-There has to be something we can do. Please, anything!"
Madalyn's cold eyes opened.
"I… have an idea. One I thought about but never tired… because I'm too weak to do it alone."
"What, what is it?! Tell me, and I'll do anything!"
The magician held her hand out to Goldie.
"We release this part of the Overlord… and defeat it inside this world. That way… we have a chance to defeat the other half in the real world."
Goldie's legs began to shake. The reality of everything was coming all too fast. She shook her head, scared, terrified of the idea.
"I…I can't do that. I don't know how to do anything. I don't know anything about magic or spells or… or…."
"Do you think we have at least a minute, Goldie?"
The child thought back to the chase. The soldiers saw her enter. She wasn't sure how long it would take them to open it. But even with the best of witches and mages, it would take at least a minute.
"Maybe… maybe less."
"At most… ten years. At least… who knows? But we know that we at least have time. I can train you… to be the best witch you can be."
"A… witch?"
That was all the time she would get to become an expert witch, worthy of fighting against the demon her mother couldn't win against. Goldie got to her knees and put her hand on the ground. Her pride was shattered from this day on. She wouldn't be the princess any longer if she wanted to survive. Her only hope… was Madalyn.
"Please, Master Madalyn… teach me! H-Help me become… a witch!"
Madalyn sat up.
"It's going to be tough because I'm not at full capacity."
Goldie sat up too. Time was barely on her side. Before today, she knew not what sacrifice was. But to hear the story of one lone woman, willing to battle for centuries, showed her that she needed to change. That she was wrong…
And that was okay.
"I'll fight and live… I'll… I'll work hard to make sure you stay alive too! I want to protect you, Madalyn! You've fought enough for me!"
Her golden brimstone eyes shined, and it was then that Madalyn captured what was within her.
"You…"
Her eyes shined that crisp blue.
"You're not just the child of Arnold and Annastella… there is a piece of the Overlord within you, Goldie..."
"Huh?"
Madalyn stood up. She reached to the side and brought out her Grimoire.
"You have the power to master a deadly sin. I… won't allow that to go to waste."
Madalyn reached her hand out to Goldie. The little child took her hand too. It was warm and soft, and Goldie then realized the importance of who she was.
"I'll work hard to protect you in this battle."
Her heart pounded for the beauty she found herself enamored with. She would spend years training under this woman who, for some reason…
Made her heart throb with every touch.