Глава 14

Together forever... in your cage?

Shining shuts her eyes.

She strains to imagine... the time she spent together with Liz.

They run in the woods, hand in hand.

They cross the ice-cold creek together.

With Liz worn out on her back, she walks the road home.

Liz makes a small flower wreath and places it on Shining's head.

A small blue fowlbeast follows them the whole time, chirping a cheery tune over their heads.

It hovers, searches—and lands next to the sleeping white demon.

It does not know why Liz is sleeping, and anxiously pecks at her cheek with its little beak.

Until a black arrow pierces it.

The fowlbeast vanishes, leaving only a blue feather that lands on Shining's shoulder.

Enough.

You know very well those are not her dreams.

Even if those memories were fabricated...

They <i>are</i> fabricated, so why not accept your own power, and reshape her memory once more?

Liz... is Liz.

She should be free. I will never shape her soul as I please ever again.

Wishful thinking... Qui'saršinnag, my fragile child indulging in fantasy. You are that blue fowlbeast, thirsting for freedom, yet imprisoning yourself.

I prepared everything for you, a perfect body, an ancient power, all you needed is to accept—

But you betrayed me, you abandoned everything that belongs to you, and then? What did you gain?

You sorely disappoint me.

...A new life.

I was reborn into a new life after leaving you.

Not as the Confessarius Qui'saršinnag, nor a puppet of my bloodline...

But as Shining...

...As a member of the Followers.

Blue feathers prick her wounds.

The slightest of stings momentarily rouses her from her bloodline-induced paralysis.

Come.

Now... is the time.

Find me. Find this tree.

If it were you...

...You would certainly make it.

An opening pierces through the crimson clouds.

The sunlight pours down—

Everything around her becomes increasingly brighter.

That's—

It doesn't matter what it is, just hold it back!

The ceremony has already begun, we can't let—Ugh! We can't stop it!

Light.

Light and fog fills the air.

The sun descends from the sky to repel the clammy moonlight.

Sorry, the storm was too intense, so I took some time to locate you—

Are you alright?

Do you need a hand... Shining?

...I'm fine.

But we have to save... Liz.

And... stop Qui'sartuštaj.

Lend me your strength—

And dispel the darkness before my eyes.

Of course.

Let's go together.

The road ahead of us... I'll illuminate our path.