“See? That, is what you call a real magic trick.”
“…”
After an uncomfortable pause, he tilted his head—questioning.
“…”
I looked over to the doors, then walked through them. Nothing happened.
Walked back in, still nothing.
“…”
“You… are you looking for some kind of prop?”
Daemon's gaze met mine. As for the prop...
“Not really.”
I was just testing some things.
“Good. Cuz you won’t find it anyway, it’s gone already.”
“So there was a prop?”
“A magician never reveals his secrets~!”
With that, he comfortably held his book and made his way further in to the cathedral.
Splash! Splash!
Wrwrwrwrrrr…
The water was more restless than normal.
Wait… The water is usually completely still, isn’t it?
“You plan on acting like a security guard or something?”
“…” I swear to god, I'll end up murdering this fucker some day.
Anyways, guess this thing’s on the back of my mind too?
Whatever.
Sorting my thoughts, I moved with him.
Soon, we reached the center cross.
“…?”
Weird?
“Huh. It seems we were late.”
“How does that—oh.”
Never mind.
He turned to face me, and continued, “ Seems like we might have missed the prayers.”
“…now what?”
“You decide? I’ll just accompany you.
Oh, but if you don’t decide within 5 minutes, I’ll pull you along to my whims.”
“Hm… wait. Let’s see if the elder’s still here.”
“Elder?”
“A priest, or something of that sorts. He holds management of this cathedral.”
“Cathedral huh…”
He sure is carefree.
He had his arms behind his head, clashing with the gentlemanly attire he had put on.
Wait!
…
Leave it.
His book was gone again. Where?
How?
Shit.
My head’s hurting again.
“…”
“…”
He continued looking around, acting as if he had come to this place for the first time. His steps resounded loudly in the hall, sometimes near, sometimes far.
The water had settled down somewhat.
2 minutes had passed. It felt like an eternity, and that was annoying me. Being alone with this guy, especially after how weird he had been acting.
Yeah, not my cup of tea.
...
The 3rd minute flew away.
Where’s the elder? Normally, he’d be spooking the shit out of any random guy that enters.
I grew restless, and he could see that by how much I was tapping my left foot.
I guess I’ll sit down? Wait, today’s pray day. I should pray, at least. Who knows what the world will through at me next?
Daemon paused his random space hopping that had been normalized by the cathedral, and looked at me.
“…”
And he looked at me.
“…”
And he looked at me.
“…”
And he looked at me.
“…”
And he looked at me.
“…”
And he looked —- “OKAY WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?”
Calm down, calm down.
“Hmmm~! Nothing much, I was wondering how much staring you would handle. More or less what I expected.”
Motherf—
Hoooooooohh……
Breathe in. Breath out.
I was far too antsy today, almost on pins and needles. Unusual, and I didn’t know the cause.
The blond asshole kept looking at me for a bit more, before moving towards me.
“And 5 minutes are up!”
Huh?
Waitwaitwait.
That makes no sense, whatsoever.
Yet, my being told me, that indeed. 5 minutes had passed.
“…you distracted me with that stupid annoyance of yours.”
“Yes I did, there’s a place I want to show you you see? We came there a lot when we were younger…”
Daemon Symfora took a glance towards the statue of [The Goddess of Wishes], and then continued.
“That was a fond place for me. I don’t know what it will — or rather, was, for you.”
“Anywhere that you exist seems like hell, to be honest.”
“…and why do you think so?”
“You’re annoying.”
He stared at me.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“And you keep on doing random shit without explaining stuff."
“…”
He smiled in exasperation.
...
When did we reach the gates? Whatever.
The gate opening was a tad bit smaller than what it had been before, I had no idea what behemoth could push it to such a state. Or was it the will of the world again?
Throwing my thoughts out the window, I pried the doors open.
‘…’
The doors moved far too easily. Is the size just for show? Or is that [Pillar of Specialty] at play here? Do I have super strength or something?
“The gates are pretty easy to pry open, aren’t they?”
So no super strength.
“They tend to be like that for some people. Alas, I’m not one of them.”
Super strength or no super strength?
I rubbed my eyes. The headache’s getting worse.
“Anything wrong?”
“Headache.”
“Uh.. aside from me.”
“No, an actual headache. Feels like my head’s been put into a hydraulic press.”
“Is the press on?”
“What?”
“So it isn’t. Yet.”
Bitch, I already have a headache, stop with your cryptic mess.
Sigh…
He shrugged, and we made our way out.
The dusk greeted us.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…This is certainly surprising. I had heard that there was time dilation and other such shenanigans, but was it to this extent?”
“I’m as surprised as you are.”
“Guess I’m not meeting Uncle and Aunt then.”
He paused for a bit.
“Well, this works out anyway. Remember how I was supposed to drag you somewhere?”
And what, traffic my soul to someone?
“That place, it’s best to visit it at dusk.”
“And where is it?”
“The back of the cathedral.”
Wait.
Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait.
The back of the fucking CATHEDRAL?
“…Daemon.”
“Daimon. Don’t mispronounce or misspell it, And besides, where’s the Dai?”
“Fuck your nicknames, you realize how far off from the back of the cathedral we are? Hell, can we even get there? Does it even exist?”
I turned around, taking in the sunlight.
The cathedral, even when looking at it from the outside, was massive. It would end up hiding roughly 30 degrees worth of circle space if not for whatever magical shenanigans it did.
To go around THAT. Utter lunacy.
“Leave it, I’ll just go home.”
“…”
Oi.
How in the world are you already nearing the edges of the main wall?
“The space jumping doesn’t happen ONLY inside the cathedral you know?!?!”
He screamed from the distance.
“…”
Picking my jaws back up, I followed up after him in a resigned manner.
“I still have the headache you know?”
“I’m taking you to somewhere quiet.”
“It was quiet in my room.”
Anywhere where you aren’t, silence had a chance of existing.
“Quiet, AND healing.” With his deadpanned delivery of the final line, our discussions were cut short.
For the time being.
The sun was halfway down, and we were halfway across the side walls of the cathedral.
Who the fuck even builds a grass path around such a massive building?
Soon enough, the sun was nearing closure. Fog appeared in my vision, and we had apparently made it to the back of the cathedral.
“Daemon.”
He spun to me, looking stern and annoyed.
“…DAImon, why are we inside such a foggy place?”
“Continue moving, we will pass it in a bit.
I have a wooden bench prepared too, just got it made yesterday. It’s good for resting.”
He’s been planning this since yesterday? Why in the world would anyone plan with time dilation fucking shit up?
AHH! I’m done thinking. This place, it better be something good.
Soon enough, my prayers were answered.
With a large ledge to peer over, the valley and the mountains came into view.
The evening, it was a beautiful sight.
Daemon hummed his way to the bench placed a few steps away from us, and sat down.
The woodworking was finessed, yet crude.
As I sat down, it felt like I was leaning against a tree.
What a familiar and comfortable feeling.
“…”
Our neighbor’s face — the one who we’d passed by today in the morning — came to mind.
Flip! Flip!
Daemon had pulled his book out, and was busy scribbling away.
He was drawing something.
I tried to peer over, but was denied by a “Nope, let me finish.” from him.
So, I did the only thing I could do. Relax.
Out of sheer luck, I caught a glimpse of the drawing he was creating.
It was a doodle of a young woman, a young boy, and a little girl.
“…”
The headaches, they were trying to split my brain.
I leaned back into the chair, trying to ease myself.
Laughing a little, I looked up.
I looked up. [https://i.imgur.com/CjoT0fY.png]
…
[Yo.]
Huff. Huff. Huff. Huff.
My eyes took in the visage of a statue.
The statue of a bluish black haired man, dressed in a shirt and what was presumed to be pants. He seemed to be in his mid 20s, and was of an average build.
Like mine.
With 4 gears rotating behind him, and fog shrouding the threads that extended out from the hands behind the gears, the statue smiled.
[Nice to meet you, ME.]
“It seems the hydraulic press has finally been turned on.” Daemon continued scribbling away.
I stood up, trying to orient myself.
Tried to.
Stop.
Stop, please stop.
It felt like 17 tons of hammers were constantly smashing my head.
Dizzy… Can’t breathe.
Somebody, stop this.
[Seems like you aren’t that happy to finally meet yourself?]
“You’re a terrible actor, Eon.”
[Who are you talking to? Him, or me?]
I fell down to my knees, feeling like my heart would burst.
[Didn’t you just say that he is you, and you are him?]
[You believe that?]
[Well… when I first saw him, I couldn’t really. Had been sleeping for far, far too long.]
[At least you’re back.]
[You called me here.]
‘…’
Don’t…
think.
Stop.
STOP.
STOP!!
Daemon stood up.
[See, I had written a poem. You know how my poems go? Pure inspiration, thrust down my throat by the world itself.]
[…]
[And when I completed it, I was confused. I knew I had written it for Eon Aika…]
He looked at me.
[But I didn’t know which.]
‘…’
‘…’
‘…’
[AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HE’S SHUT DOWN!]
[He can still hear us fine, don’t shout.]
‘…’
‘…’
‘…’
‘…’
[Continue with whatever you were saying.]
The statue, it smiled mockingly. As he heard Daemon, he then continued pulling at some thing red.
Threads.
He was pulling at glowing red threads, not letting them get out of his grip.
[So as I was saying, I wrote the poem. I didn’t know which.]
‘…’
‘…’
‘…’
[So I thought, and analyzed.]
‘…’
‘…’
‘…’
[And came to one simple conclusion.]
‘…’
‘…’
“Eon.”
[And Eon.]
[ ”The poem was about Eon Aika.” ]
[…]
“…”
‘…’
[Rude Awakening.]
[The poem was about me as well.]
[But oh well, I was too tired to care much about it at that point. So I left it alone.]
Daemon sat back down, picking up his pen and —
[Hmm?]
[Something wrong?]
[It seems she’s missed something over here.]
[…? Oh. She indeed has. Want to correct it?]
[I guess I will.]
Daemon pulled out a piece of tree bark, and drew something on it with his pen.
‘…’
‘…’
Then, he threw the bark down at and angle, planting it into the ground in a way such that the contents on it could be visible.
‘…’
[Ah.. she’s here.]
The bark, it held the drawing of 3 people, looking as if it had been doodled by a child.
A young woman, a young boy, and a little girl.
‘…’
Huff, Huff. huff..
The young woman had her horns scribbled in by the pen in Daemon’s hands.
“STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO--"
…
….
—
----------------------------------------
"—OOOPP!!……..”
“…?”
A white ceiling greeted me.
“It seems the nightmare episode is over.”
I was in my bed, with 7 AM ringing on the clock.
A girl with purplish hair was seated at the side of the bed. With her head supported by her elbows, she was staring at something straight.
“Night…mare…?”
“Eon Aika.”
“…?”
I tilted my head.
“That’s your name. I’m your sister, Mananglathethalia. You call me—”
“Mana, I know that already. I haven’t forgotten.”
She paused. With a jerk, she turned her head to me.
“You remember?”
“I do?”
“…”
“Though… not much.”
She thought for a moment, and then asked.
“Do you remember your nightmare?”
“Hmmm? I think… no?”
I did not.
“I have a vague something of it, but I can’t exactly place my hand on that SOMETHING.”
“…okay.”
She hopped off the bed, and went to the doors.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“You still have your memories, so you won’t go rampaging all over. My job’s done, I had a game paused. Can I go complete that?”
Her deadpanned voice remained constant.
“Uh… Sure.”
With that, she passed through and closed the doors.
Out the corner of my eyes, I saw something.
I turned to face it, presuming it to be what Mana was staring at a few moments prior.
After all… it had changed.
[Ah… she’s here.]
A voice resounded in my head, while my eyes grew wide. My breathing had turned hasty.
It wasn’t 990 anymore, the number.
It was 991.
[Return(99X) — End.]