Since "The First Encounter", the Heart of the World has talked to many souls who have passed through it. But out of a billion souls, only the soul of that person who came to it in 1403 of the Age of Hatred interested the Heart.
For more than a hundred years It had waited.
For more than a hundred years It had hoped.
Until, for the first time in 300 years, the soul itself started a dialogue (and 300 years ago it was some sassy dragon).
And here he is.
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And here my end is. It doesn't matter who I was before I died, who I was before I was reborn, it doesn't matter. In the face of Death, all are equal. But wait a minute... Am I still self-aware? It can only mean one thing!
— I welcome you again.
This voice... I haven't heard it for so long, but it's still as indefinable as if it resists to be perceived. How should I reply? Maybe...
— Yeah, it's been a while.
— A hundred years is "a while" for humans, huh?
I want to die again... Okay, this isn't the best time to joke. Hear continued:
— I am sincerely glad to meet you again. I want you to answer my question: do you regret...?
I know that it is not polite to interrupt elders, but sometimes it is necessary.
— I do. My whole life has been made up of nothing but regrets. I realized this only now.
I lied. In fact, I was constantly regretting. [1] And that was really infuriating me.
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「LIAR.」
Do not remind me of this, please. Not again.
— *...THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP...*
Oof.
— Well, that was awkward.
— *...THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP...*
— When the other person is silent, it's a little annoying, you know.
— I know. Not only do I know this, but I want to know more. In particular, about you, anomaly.
Again for its own... However, I just have something to tell about myself! Although the way the Heart builds sentences sounds quite strange...
— Where to start... I've learned a lot about the part of me that I got from the Observer and... from Him...
— What, from whom, and ... from whom...?
Haha, that sounded kind of funny, to be honest. Although, the voice is still undefinable.
— Well, I still have a lot of time before I disintegrate...
— ...So you can tell me everything from the very beginning.
It used my own move against me! I wish I could sigh, but I don't have any lungs right now, as well as my eyes. Well, I don't have anything, actually.
— Just like that get started right away?
Heart didn't even ask, «How are you doing? How is life, I mean, death? Was it painful?»! How tactless...
— Is there any problem?
I am surprised it had to ask.
— Why don't you just absorb my memories?
— What for?
If I had my lungs, I'd sigh in a way that could be heard on the other side of the world. Answer a question with a question to get the question as an answer... When I first came here, was it really so difficult for me to have a constructive dialogue with the Heart of the World? Oddly, I don't remember...
— Should I start now?
— Please.
— Like, right from the beginning?
— Please.
— Are you sure?
— *...THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP...*
You asked me for it!
「BEGIN.」
— Okay.
Having collected my thoughts and sorted out my memories (how did I even do this?), I begin to tell my story about a Man Led by the Heart of Another World from the very beginning... No, it was all happening before the beginning... Oh, of course!
— Even before the beginning of Everything, there was Nothing... — and as soon as I began...
— Isn't that too far off the beginning of the story?
— Isn't that what you asked me for?
— *...THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP...*
— ...
— Please.
Is it mocking me? This is the second time I have not been allowed to meet my end in peace! Actually, I'm not complaining. It's always pleasant to just think freely.
「PLEASANT?」
Oh, so You didn't know, did You? Know more: I hated thinking while I was locked up in Nowhere. Let me get started.
— At the very beginning, there was Nothing...