An unknown place.
My vision slowly returned to me, revealing the effects of the Noble Phantasm. Golden specks of light, like stars in the sky, shone softly in the surroundings, hovering and creating an ineffable fairytale-like appearance. And the newly risen moon lent the sky and the earth its calm, cold glow.
Down below, amidst the desolate craters of gigantic size, mountains turned to dust, and rivers and lakes that had evaporated, lay the body of a spirit. Wounded and exhausted.
The blood on the spirit's wounds had caked under the onslaught of the Noble Phantasm, its wings had almost completely turned to dust, its tail and two paws were gone, its mane was burned away, two of its three eyes had left the eye sockets, and gaping holes covered two-thirds of the spirit's body. A faint, barely perceptible, breath left the deformed mouth, and the chest grew and shrank uncertainly and heavily.
But, even with all this, its only remaining eye looked directly at me. There was no anger, hatred, or contempt in it - just a calm and acceptance that was, to put it mildly, at odds with his essence. He just looked at me and as if he was waiting for his fate... as if he had accepted his fate and resigned himself to everything.
In addition, I felt that the order to attack, which the spirit had given to the fauna of this world, had been canceled. And by him. That finally convinced me of his intention to just walk away as the final nail in the coffin.
- And... You're not going to say anything? - I asked with a raised eyebrow - No threats, no claims of injustice or anything like that?
- It's pointless," he said after a few seconds of silence, "Everyone has a purpose. We all have a purpose for being... And I haven't achieved mine.
- That's... a very pessimistic view of life, you know.
- But it doesn't stop being true. - said the spirit calmly.
- Well, maybe so," I shrugged, "Since you've accepted your fate, why don't we have one last talk? I'd like to hear something about you.
- A rather... strange wish..." he murmured measuredly and looked in the direction the still living local gods had been cast off to - "I was born out of my brother's thoughts, where nothing existed but them and us. Like a child, I absorbed what my parent gave me. All the hatred and anger for the gods that imprisoned us in darkness, and for the humans that gave them power. I became the embodiment of his desires, born for one single purpose. A goal I couldn't fulfill.
I chuckled.
Looking at his situation as a whole, you couldn't blame him. Like he said, he was like a child. He just couldn't "grow up" any other way, as he basically had no choice. When the only thing that surrounds you is negative emotion and its source, you want to not want to, but you will come out the way the spirit came out. Oh, and by the way.
- Hey, what's your name? I've never heard it the whole time I've been here. Not even from Anma.
- Name? I don't need that kind of nonsense. - said the spirit calmly, to which I frowned.
Okay... Now I feel sorry for him. A name is a very important detail in life. When you get it, you begin to identify yourself as a person, to distinguish yourself from the gray mass. And it also means that someone, no matter who, spent their time and minor, but still, effort to give it to you. That is, you are important or useful to someone, and your existence is neither unwanted nor pointless.
- Your look... I've seen it before... It reads pity and sympathy... - the spirit said without changing his tone - But I don't need either of them. They are the lot of pests, nothing more.
I closed my eyes.
He doesn't even see it as a problem, does he? I want to do something. It might be imposing my will on him, but I just want to do what I want to do. I'll give him the choice that I unknowingly deprived him of Anm. If his views persist, so be it, but he will have something to choose from. After all, he is like Solomon in this, and what I give him will be appropriate.
- Have you ever wondered how your life would have turned out if you had had different circumstances? - Opening my eyes, I asked.
- No. There was no point, no time for that. Why the question?
- You know," I began and, opening my eyes, met his gaze, "I have always been, am, and will always be in favor of the right to choose. Everyone should make his own destiny, even if it is unfavorable to him. Listening to you, it's clear that you basically didn't have one. Anma's thoughts and emotions "grew" you and molded you into who you are now. You weren't asked if you wanted it, and most importantly, you didn't ask it of yourself.
The 3rd magic filled the space around you. Kilometers of land scorched by Noble Phantasm glowed with a soft, soothing light, covered in a kind of fairy blanket woven of ether and gold.
Tiny white flowers with a hint of gold began to sprout slowly and carefully, shining in the light of the moon's sun and magic. Meter by meter, the land of death turned into an endless white and gold field that stretched all the way to the horizon. A light and cool breeze appeared and pumped up the flowers, breathing life into it and creating a truly beautiful landscape.
The flower petals picked up by the breeze, twirling and dancing, flew towards the giant wounded spirit's body and formed a shining cover around it, then gently sat on top of it, covering its wounds.
- What are you doing? - The spirit asked incomprehensibly, looking at the white and gold mantle of petals covering him.
- 'You are immature,' I replied, quoting him, and his body began to glow, 'When you open your eyes next time, everything will change. I will leave some of your powers with you, and some of them will be sealed away. And if you choose to follow the same path, so be it. But now you'll have a choice. A real one.
- Nothing will change. The pests will meet their death.
I looked into his slowly closing eye, as if he was about to go into a long hibernation.
- And I would be genuinely happy about it. Not because this world will be spattered with blood, I don't care about that, but because you chose this for yourself.
- Why would you do that? Why give me another chance? - he asked in a more distracted tone, and I could tell with certainty that he was almost asleep.
- You're a lot like my predecessor. The one whose power I use, and the one I truly feel sorry for. To summarize his life, from its very beginning to its very end, he did only one thing. The thing he was born to do. All that power, all that might he gained, was used for anyone but himself. It wasn't until centuries later, through magic that bypassed the laws of the world, that he finally began to make his own destiny.
My gaze turned to the side where I could sense Tia.
- I'm the same way, too. I don't remember what my past life was like, if at all. I don't know what the past me would have done if I had those memories. And I don't know what I've been given another chance for. You're better at this than the gods, the humans, and me. You'll always have a path to follow if there's nothing else.
A soft and warm smile appeared on my face.
- People like her give me the desire to go on with my life, putting aside all doubts. It's an addiction of sorts. I need the emotions that are born in me from being with her. Her happy smile that she gives me. Her soft and silky hair that feels good against my skin. Her voice that inspires peace and a sense of home. And her gaze, full of need for me," I grinned, "I'm afraid that I'll never be able to feel all that again, so I keep living. I don't know if you'll feel the same, but it's worth a try.
- You are... very strange... Romani Archaman....
And at those words, his body, covered in flower petals, disintegrated into golden particles of light. And a light breeze picked them up and headed into the sky, forming a white-golden dance and carried into the unknown, as if symbolizing the fate of the spirit.
After seeing his soul with a glance, I took a deep breath and sat down on the ground surrounded by an endless white field.
So... peaceful... Just me, snow-white flowers, and the night sky.
- Impressive, mortal! Really impressive! Would you like to be my apostle?
It didn't last long, though. I turned towards the cheerful male voice that interrupted the idyll, and saw the gods shuffling towards me, accompanied by a man in full black armor.
There are still some of them left, eh?
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