Глава 13

I gave you time, but you disappoint me again and again.

We were supposed to produce the next me. We would have created the most intangible bloodline in the last hundred years.

Ugh...!

Hm.

Sharp, but so impure. What's happened to your soul?

Did you think you still had hope to cling onto, after leaving us?

Liz!

Come back!

I won't...

Let you manipulate me!

Oh...? You're a creation that has surpassed my expectations.

You're supposed to be just a shell, and yet you can touch 'me'?

Now, Shining!

I... I can't hold on much longer!

A strange feeling surges from within Shining.

Nightingale is resisting the Confessarius, and even suppressing him—the ancient devil's soul has never manifested in such a vulnerable state before.

Bloodline. The word itself sounds unreal, but at this moment there only seems to be an extensive crack of blood right in front of her eyes.

But Shining hesitates.

Why is this so simple?

How could it be this simple?

Nightingale, stop!

It's a trap! He's waiting for your Arts to resonate!

Time slows down.

Mon3tr fights with Salus as Kal'tsit yells out. Everything flows past like streams of light.

Both you and I know where fate will lead us, but those without self-awareness will only trap themselves in their own pitiful cage.

It's futile to despise your bloodline and resist your fate. No one can deny the natural gifts bestowed by our bloodline.

I will do for you what you're hesitating to do, to crack an opening in the cage... Enter it with me, and I will bring you back onto the right track.

Think it through before you make your choice...

*Ancient Sarkaz name*.

A white sword pierces though a heart atop a stone platform covered with dead branches.

Shining remembers the first time she cried, she remembers just how amazing it was, the birth of an unexpected emotion.

A brand new soul is carved anew under the blade.

I've seen... pain... your... tears...

Accidents are bound to bring surprises. You could have stopped your explorations here and now, but you just can't bear to destroy the ignorant consciousness in that hollow shell.

And so you sew memories into the empty husk instead.

She's Liz. She shouldn't...

You did this of your own free will, filled up this consciousness with a name, with 'Liz'.

'Liz' is afraid of the completely silent person sitting across from her at the long table.

They agreed to sit here every night at the same hour for dinner together.

But the white-horned Sarkaz opposite her with a sword in her hands no longer speaks or moves outside of recording her every action she can remember today.

'Liz' always asks herself, have I done something to upset her?

'Liz' misses the beautiful memories, of how their lives were before...

I keep having the same dream every day. I dream of us as children, walking in a stream hand in hand...

Then I flew upwards, and kept going higher and higher. You couldn't hold me back, and I saw you crying from the clouds.

Every time, when I wish to return to your side, I always wake up in pain.

I ache from your suffering, and I want to bear it for you.

I just need you to tell me why you feel like this...

Qui'saršinnag.

Qui'saršinnag. This name means 'inseparable hope'—our destiny.

Poor 'Liz'. She think it's all her fault, because of the momentary kindness you showed her.

I've already abandoned that sinful name. I'm called Shining now, and will always be.

Is that so? Are you sure you can resist your family's destiny that has carried on for a millennium?

I'm looking forward to it.

'Liz' holds the blue fowlbeast rescued from the river in her hands.

The indigo feathers are trembling, and the cold river water makes her shiver.

She thought Qui'saršinnag would get angry at her, but the sorrowful Sarkaz merely weaves a brand new birdcage for 'Liz'.

'Put it inside, and it'll stay safe always.'

I'm sorry, Qui'saršinnag. I didn't mean to endanger myself by going into the river to save it...

But I just couldn't watch it die.

I became fond of it the moment your family gifted it to me.

It likes to fly freely, but once it gets too far away from me it seems to lose its life, and falls into the river...

You say I did something similar yesterday... but I have no recollection of that at all.

But I'll listen to you, and put it inside the cage. I'll keep it safe.

Please don't get angry. I promise you something so foolish as this won't ever happen again.

The cage has finally accepted their own duty, and you have also realized your own destiny.

The more fragments and lies you fill her up with, the more confusion and suffering she goes through.

I've lifted those dusty fragments for her. There's no undoing her awakening, and eventually, she will suffer as her rootless consciousness crumbles.

I won't let that happen, Father.

I'll end our sins with my own hands, and Liz will be 'cured'.

And what next? Isn't her regaining the truth the very thing you fear, my dear sister?

This is the source of your woeful hesitation.

I tolerate you wandering around with this receptacle, continuously strengthening this fragile cage...

Because I trust you to cherish it with your all, and you never disappoint me.

Eventually you'll come back to my side with the cage in tow.

That's what you've done. Look, She even tried to cage <i>me</i> in, to create an opportunity for you to defeat me.

Your rebellious love for her, and her fate resisting conscience have sadly only become another catalyst together.

You—

—Even want to use the hope she found herself?!

Shining? Are you here?

I can sense your breathing, but I can't see you...

I'm here, Liz!

She can't hear your voice. We're walking within her tattered consciousness—

—Inside the cage.

Shining sees the blue fowlbeast, huge enough to fill her vision.

Giant gray eyes look down on her, she is unable to see herself reflected in those eyes.

The fowlbeast's sharp beak opens and closes, a mellow voice trails in from nowhere.

Shining... there's a vague question echoing in my head together with a name that stings me, but I can't recall it at all...

I might be able to remember it after we leave this place.

I've found I can share the pains of others and slow down their lives withering away.

You said we'd go to faraway places to find a way to cure me, and maybe I can cure others in pain along the way too.

She's submerged in those disorderly and fragmented memories, and will eventually lose herself in them.

Or perhaps she'll go mad, or maybe she'll end her own life before that happens.

But you know how to solve this, Qui'saršinnag. I've taught you.

Draw your sword, and cut down your blood relatives here and now.

Our souls will reconnect with your sword as a bridge, and you—

Will give birth.

To ancient power.

This is your inescapable destiny.

Become one with me, and use the remains of your bloodkin to nourish her consciousness that will stay shattered otherwise.

Forgive me, Liz.