Subject Girl turned pale. She had just fallen in love and was expecting a final love proposal to the ballroom dance, and now, she had to face the reality that the one that she finally truly loved, was going to be gifted with a scary, painful death.
The tone of my voice shook her, she lost all her strength and just collapsed to the floor. Mucus and tears poured from her face. The realization kicked into her fast. Witnessing the sad state, Subject Boy went to comfort her, but it made the pain of knowing the "truth" even worse for his head.
I stood there in absolute silence. Witnessing the experiment that I had spent so much time on just disintegrating in front of my eyes, was certainly extremely disheartening. This pure emotion of raw anger and hatred towards the world's order could be easily seen in her eyes. She wanted to end the world's order then and there to make sure that she was fine with her loved one. I took it as a task to manifest as a somewhat misty figure and carry her to a more comfortable position.
Then I turned to the Subject Boy.
I questioned him, on how he managed to encounter this truth of this world. It is not easy, since the nature of this world wants to keep minimal casualties. Mass extinction events have occurred quite frequently on this planet, making it very harsh for the experimenters to experiment with this planet. Manifestations roam this planet and supernatural order was always present as the hidden society on this planet.
The truth of this world.
A power to gain access to the secret society after losing a portion of yourself.
Be it a physical sacrifice, a psychological one, or a mental one.
Failure to do so would result in a slow and painful death of the individual as they succumb to the divine forces that bind the entire planet.
Sacrifice, or die, that is the name of the game once you realize the truth of the world…
It is painful.
Something that only individuals who are ready to sacrifice the rest of their lives for servanthood should take up.
Not for the faintest of hearts.
That was the game that was set up by my masters on this planet.
This was regrettable… I could alter the metaphysics of the world to my decree, but that would upset my masters, and I am in no mood to do so, especially when I have a task from them at hand. I do not want to disobey them.
After all, they were the ones who granted me a second chance.
I looked at the man. His heart must have shattered upon telling such grave news to his lover. Anyone who has been together for so long would be angry at their circumstances.
"You are strong, my friend."
"I know… I am trying to keep a smile so that she can recover from this news faster."
"There may be a way around it. Let me think about it for a while", I reassured him in an attempt to ease the pain within.
I looked at Subject Girl again. She kept muttering the phrase," Why me?" again and again.
It had reached a point where it started to affect me. I had spent months with these individuals in an attempt to learn something from the side quest, and in the process, I had formed some sort of emotional bond with these two individuals.
I knew of a way to relieve the pain that he was going through, but it would require him to sacrifice something that he holds dearly.
I went to the balcony to stare at the horizon. Pondering over the various strategies I could incorporate to ensure no one is heard. Nothing came into my mind though.
"Sacrifice"
"Nope, that also would require some degree of sacrifice"
"That hurts to even think about…"
Ideas kept floating around my head, but nothing that I could think of would give me a conclusive happy ending.
Unless…
There was an idea, but it would go wrong if my master decided to retaliate with the small experiment that I had conducted.
By this point, Subject Boy had taken a sleeping position on the bed next to him. Subject Girl slowly walked towards me. He kept hearing me muttering the term 'sacrifice' and brought herself to me.
"I'll do it…"
"Do what?"
"I will sacrifice something if it means that he will be alright. I do not know what happened to him, but it seems to be giving him constant pain. You say that it is not recoverable and it would lead to a painful death. I love that man. He gave me hope and life in my darkest times. You are one of the people I trust the most, and therefore, I know whatever decision you make will benefit us both. But if you're worried about the sacrifice that I will make, do not. I will make the necessary sacrifice if it means that I will not see him in pain anymore."
"By sacrifice, you will give up something precious to you, to gain something that you might not end up liking. Are you sure about the decision you are about to make? You may not be able to stay with him if you continue down this path."
"If I know that the man I love will continue to exist and be happy, that is enough for me. That knowledge and that happiness will make me commit to anything. I have been with that man for three years, and he has been nothing but supportive of me and was ready to sacrifice a lot of himself to become closer to me. If this means that I can save his life, then I shall do it."
The determined look on her face scared me at that instant.
I took a deep breath…
"You are about to enter a world which is the true nature of this planet. You will attain gifts that are beyond your control. Are you really sure?"
"Yes… please don't make me second guess myself here, the man I love is dying right now, and it is all god's fault."
I let out a heavy sigh for the task I was about to undertake.
"The world… the truth of the world is the following…"
A blinding light came ushering from my mist-like body and as she sat listening to the entire thing, she had something clear. She wanted to make her lover free from sickness.
"The world… is not what you think it is –"
I continued and told her the entire truth. She stood there shocked. Then a voice entered into my head.
"Who are you to tell this creature the truth of this world? I will not be tolerating such insolent behaviour from someone I don't even recognize."
Turning into my primordial form I answered the voice. "You dare call me that, you brat. The freedom that you enjoy right now can easily be taken by my master, just remember that, foolish gods"
My primordial state awakened the slumbering gods present in that world. They all began to peek at the location.
There was one god in particular who took an interest in Subject Girl. Minerva herself peeked at the girl and questioned me.
Minerva: "Is this why you shared with her the truth of the world? She would be a fine next candidate for the third generation. I would gladly take her as my servant"
Subject Girl stood up.
"My name is Clara, and I want to attain the power and free my lover of his sickness. In return I sacrifice something special to me.", she spoke.
Minerva: "So be it. I shall grant you this dream you want. You shall become my servant in this experiment of ours. In return, I will make sure that your lover forgets about the truth of the world. However, the sacrifice is something that I choose then."
Clara replied," Alright, and what would that be?"
Minerva: "You shall sacrifice your fertility for the power you're about to obtain!"