Chapter 16. Where Did This Memory Come From?
* * *
...
"We're dead… should I use it?" Ran bites her lips, feeling conflicted, hoping for a clichéd thing to happen that would swoop in to save them from this dire strait.
Kneeling to meet Nore's eyes, Sill raised his eyebrows in amusement.
"Hihihhihi, look at this one. So eager to suffer, I see. But you..." he shifted his gaze to Gill, who struggled to maintain a facade of bravery.
"You little prick. Countless times, you almost exposed me. But don't worry, as I am a magnificent, compassionate being, I'll kill you last. I hope the quality of your skull will be big enough to be our bowl," Sill spat in irritation at Gill, who turned even paler.
Yet, unexpectedly, Gill swallowed all of his fear and shot back with a contemptuous glare.
"Ha! You must be so desperate to kill and use someone's face as a mask because of your own ugliness, right? No matter which way someone looks, you all indeed look disgusting!!! Even a rat is way prettier than any of you right now!!!"
"…"
"How dare you. How dare you insult us who were born from our mother's ashes? We are the children of the great goddess, Kaylessa. The one who protects nature itself. Our beauty. Our perfection, is something you humans who destroy the land you step, can never comprehend!!!"
The transformed Leo barked. His whole heart felt like it was burning, driven predominantly by his belief in his goddess.
Zeke also shows anger across his face―except, Sill, who looks at Gill with interest instead.
His anger was gone, replaced by a smile and a glimmer of curiosity, if only blood and saliva had stopped falling from his mouth, it surely would be less scary for the poor Gill―who braved himself once more to use his flair and dexterity in this 'battle of spite and insult' against these three creatures, while eyeing Ran occasionally, since he knew about her secret and all.
"Kaylessa? What Kaylessa? For the one and only god, Origin, I'm sure across the four empires, no one ever heard about such a goddess. Maybe you remember it wrong or it just your imagination," Gill retorted, making an offhanded remark that usually used by the fanatic follower from the Church of Origin, in hope to waste time and to dig more information of what they actually were, especially intrigued when he heard the phrase "born from the ashes."
'Great!!! On top of The Cursed, we have other creepy things around now,' Gill thought to himself, while deep inside, he was rather scared that they would be provoked instead, and kill him outright the next second.
"Ha, so funny. Of course, none of you humans knew her name. All of you were ignorant of the past. To the truth and lies spread for generations. All from that…" Leo replied.
"Enough… we're here not to preach. We're here only to kill…" Sill interjected and looked at Leo, who immediately shut his mouth and bowed his head.
He turned his sight back to Gill. With a grin so insidious it could curdle milk, Sill leaned in, his tone soft and syrupy. There was a manic gleam in his human eyes. "I've had a change of heart, hmmmm," he purred.
"We won't kill you just yet. No, no… You'll make a perfect sacrifice for our queen. It's not every day chance someone gets the honor, becoming one with such a divine being! Right???" he narrowed his eyes, pleased by his last-minute decision.
Gill shivered, gulping nervously, wondering what he meant by that.
Nore interrupted, trying to divert the attention away from Gill.
"Don't take it on him. Take it on me, you devil. Let me go right now and fight me instead. Let's see how I'm going to bash your head…"
Sill casually lifted his hand and said, "Annoying flies!!!"
*Crunch*
Ran and Gill left stupefied as they saw Sill's finger lengthen.
Like an arrow with its swift, brutal motion, he pierced Nore's head in a single strike, killing him instantly.
The two breaths became shallow. They sweated purposefully, watching the real horror unfold before them. Ran bit her lips, her hand reached into her necklace.
"Mother… Help us…" she whispered. Her voice was barely audible over the pounding of her heart.
"Damn it, I can't find it. How did I do it that time?" El suddenly broke the tense silence as he complained loudly.
He racked his brain, trying to dig into his memories. But what he found was only those annoying, incessant ramblings about wanting him to die. 'Can that thing be more creative, though?'
What he wanted to reach was something that perhaps could save them this time.
Previously, just as he noticed how he and Ran struggled to free themselves from the net, in that short period, the severity of the situation they were in hit him like a bull.
The sight of the creatures before them, their cheeks splitting grotesquely, made it clear to him: they were unluckily in the deepest trouble possible.
It was bad. It was really-really bad.
So, he subsequently tried to reach something that he recalled once saved him in a way he didn't even understand, as to how it worked. But well, beggars couldn't be choosers, could they?
So, he took the gamble. Trying to recall the elusive sensation that saved him and the villagers from bandits, even though he couldn't recall the details of that night.
And that gamble―proved he was out of luck. 'Goddamnit, my luck is such a damned when it finally time to matters…'
El opened his eyes.
Yet, what his sight found for the first time was Sill, who looked at him menacingly as the latter pulled his hand back from the head of the tragic, lifeless Nore, splashing blood and bits of flesh across the ground. Nore's body fell with a thud under his sight.
A chill ran down El's spine.
The sudden fright prickled at his skin.
Seeing the blood, El widened his eyes. His heart thumped, racing uncontrollably.
His consciousness started to slip in and out of his grasp. El clutched his chest in agony. His vision gradually blurred. Within his mind, countless pieces akin to fragments of fuzzy scenes emerged, alternating, vaguely hinting at something important he had lost.
Something he wasn't supposed to forget.
"Arrgggghhhh…" El clutched his chest even tighter. His nails dug into his skin, drawing blood.
His mouth gaped open, drool escaping as his head fell forward. Veins bulged on his forehead, arms, and neck. It was getting harder for him to draw air into his lungs from the torment of repeated stabbing pain in his heart.
Even the act of screaming felt like an insurmountable task to him.
But what he couldn't understand was…
This overwhelming ache was not caused by physical injury, but by something else entirely. Stemmed from something far deeper than words can describe. A memory that made him choose to forget, cause it was too painful for him to confront.
It echoed the anguish he once glimpsed in 'that man' when he spoke of his daughter. But this was different. It was purer, stripped of all pretense and barrier, leaving nothing but raw, unfiltered pain that came to his very being.
It was…
Sorrow.
Yet, what exactly was he grieving? What kind of torment could carve so deeply into his heart? What was this hollow absence that clung to him now, leaving him adrift in confusion?
Where?
Did this memory come from???
…
"Wha – what's happened? El…" Ran exclaimed in worry.
* * *