There Is This Type Of Little Bedtime Story... (3—Last Part)
"!!..." The moment Heian Ciemnosc stopped reading the story, as it had ended, he felt his eyelids shut down. He didn't notice when his darkest eyes moved, nor when they had closed to a full and continued reading with them as if he could see through his eyelids just because he is himself. His mind suddenly twirled, and he felt his dark Soul simply... remaining immobile, numb. And whatever was now happening had nothing to do with it, but Heian Ciemnosc could tell something was coming out from the darkest corners of his dark Soul.
‘...!!’ Heian Ciemnosc couldn’t form any thought inside his head at these moments, but he felt his hands let go of the smallish book, letting it fall to the ground. Yet, as that happened, he felt the book dissipate into nothingness. Heian Ciemnosc rapidly lost feeling to his everything, including his skin against his head as he clenched it hard with his dark claws.
A trillion different thoughts entered and permanently took residence within Heian Ciemnosc’s brain and dark Soul. However, after a mere instant, with another batch of ‘thoughts’ drilling into his head from his dark Soul, Heian Ciemnosc recognized them all. These weren’t thoughts… or images. These were… memories!!
“Haah?” Heian Ciemnosc barely managed to utter an incoherent exclamation, with his darkest eyes opened and looking into the night. At that instant, he felt as if his vision went over this Kingdom, and that the world before him was bare. The other Kingdoms, even countless millions of kilometers away, were placed together before his sight.
While this happened, the memories continued surging into Heian Ciemnosc’s head. He was going crazy, losing it, and helpless against the situation. But Heian Ciemnosc didn’t feel danger. Instead, his instincts prepared him to continue, and he wanted to continue… These were his memories!!
The sensation from earlier, when he felt his memories were missing something, finally eased up after countless nights. He was no longer missing those things because he was recuperating them… Heian Ciemnosc was… returning?!
“...!” Heian Ciemnosc’s body insanely trembled. His dark claws were stuck on his face as he used utmost difficulty to lift it and stare upwards. His head felt as if countless stabbing Soul attacks permeated around his head. Trying to siege and turn him into a convulsing corpse until nothing else remained. But… Heian Ciemnosc just wouldn’t die because of it. He couldn’t!
Heian Ciemnosc’s mouth opened wide, so much his overly pale cheeks parted apart, and dark blood tickled from the torn skin. But before Heian Ciemnosc’s face could disfigure further, darkness took place in the empty spot between his torn cheeks. It spread to his ears. Then, as his face and neck commenced being flooded by darkness, his eyes became wholly dark…
Heian Ciemnosc’s painful roars from the deepest corners of his heart and dark Soul were silent. Or, it could be said that they were changed, different… released from all restraints.
… An unknown number of hours went by. Heian Ciemnosc’s body lay on the grass as it was peaceful and lifeless as before, without a mere insect in a 500 km radius. His body was wholly darkened, and he was bare. Every instant of this event, Heian Ciemnosc’s being has been drilled with memories returning to him from his dark Soul. One could only imagine how much it was since several hours passed before the horrendous, endless, constant pain finally stopped.
He was in a semi-fetus position, lying on his right with his arms sprawled slightly before his abdomen, and his legs were crossed, extending forward. The layers of darkness finally let go of his toes, fingertips, and the tips of his hair like a bout of pure energy caressing his body for the last time before dissipating into who knew what.
However, this was no pure energy, or any energy for that matter. This was… simply… pure… darkness.
Rustle, rustle…
“...” Heian Ciemnosc moved his body. He first tested his arms. The grass before his face danced as he heavily lifted his overly pale eyelids. Then, he twisted his waist and did his best to move his legs, moving them back and forth until his groin faced the ground. Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes finally opened at that moment. He looked at the grass before him under the dark sky for minutes before lifting his torso.
His body slowly got up from the ground, softly and gradually, without any hurry, exuding immeasurable calmness and ease. Heian Ciemnosc’s bare body wobbled slightly before his feet stabilized him on the ground. Heian Ciemnosc looked ahead without any intricate or intensified emotion, intention, or sentiment.
He was simply… calm, serene… as if life was nonexistent within him, and ultimately cold.
“Sigh…” Heian Ciemnosc heaved a blow from his mouth, but it was hoarse, dragged-on, and soul-snatching. Yet, a wisp of dark, fog as if the environment was too cold, escaped his overly pale red lips. Then, under one of his thoughts, dark energy covered his body from his shins and neck from the back to the rest of his body.
His body was quickly clothed in brand-new, just made clothes with a dark origin so unique it could be considered the only one in the world. However, it was only clothing and didn’t have any defensive capabilities like a Sky grade armor. Nonetheless… they had an unusual characteristic… they shared Heian Ciemnosc’s bodily capabilities and were as tough as even his eyelashes or open, darkest eyes.
“Come out,” Heian Ciemnosc calmly ordered. Several seconds later, during a silent, brief waiting, the grass 30 meters before him moved. The dirt around that spot warped as a silly little thing peeked out. It was a… worm.
It stopped after looking at Heian Ciemnosc, but it was clear it came to the surface with Heian Ciemnosc’s orders and not just out of curiosity. As it wriggled its body towards Heian Ciemnosc, Heian Ciemnosc could feel the worm start shaking, seemingly trembling the closer it came to him. Heian Ciemnosc also noticed the worm’s appearance, making him feel familiarized with it.
It had shrew, thin, extremely spread, large eyes with its contents as much as the darkest emptiness of the world. Its length was approximately half of Heian Ciemnosc’s arm, and for someone of Heian Ciemnosc’s stature, it wasn’t that little. It was brownish, and had a bump-like meaty body from head to tail, as if it had been strangled with different ribbons all over its body until it became permanently deformed.
Its body was viscous, and had strange, deep, nose-diving steeps that made it look like a fat sausage. Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes looked down at it as it came closer and closer. Finally, it stopped just 30 cm from Heian Ciemnosc. It measured the distance well. But before Heian Ciemnosc could react, it made some noises and spoke.
“Sniff, sniff!...” The worm stood on its tail-end and looked at Heian Ciemnosc with its shrewd, thin eyes threatening to spill tears like a little girl. “Wuaah, Father. You’ve come, wuaaaaaah~!”
“...?!” Heian Ciemnosc lost it. His neck gave in, and his back bent a little as he hung his head rightwards. His mouth grimaced, confused. The worm’s voice was high-pitched but enjoyable, making one feel appeased when listening to it. Yet, Heian Ciemnosc only felt baffled when the worm continued to speak.
“I… I can finally see you! You’re so alive, wuaaaaaaaah!” The worm threw its head backwards again, opening its empty, hollow, toothless mouth. Strangely, it had a tongue the size of its head, but it remained within its mouth… thankfully. “Have you met Mother already? Ah, damn it. You haven’t?! No… she’s going to be very mad with me! You met me before her… ah! She’ll also be mad with you. How can you take so long to find her? You’re 60 already! So old!”
“You…” Heian Ciemnosc interrupted it, but he wanted to ask it what or who it was. However, before he could think of asking those things, he came up with this thing’s origins… He… had created it… Somehow… As a means of something… Heian Ciemnosc only knew he had no idea how it happened, but he knew it was because of him.
“...” The worm looked at Heian Ciemnosc with an innocent expression. It seemed to process a few things before deciding on what to say. It spoke with its high-pitched voice, “Father has finally recuperated his memories, but the strength is still… like a baby. I understand… Ask me things! I’ll help father recognize his memories more easily!”
“...!” Sara’s eyes were roundly opened, nearly falling off their sockets as she threw her arms forth as if she was hugging Heian Ciemnosc’s head from behind. She was astounded, and her heart beat like thunder. But after this worm showed up, she no longer felt alerted or worried.
“How did I create… you?” Heian Ciemnosc asked as he kept his back straight and looked at the worm from above. His pitchest-blackest eyebrows slightly frowned. The worm floated up until it arrived at Heian Ciemnosc’s waist level before responding, “Remember well, Father. You only needed to think, or feel like something was missing, and you created all of us.”
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“???” Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head to the right and pressed his lips together. He couldn’t help but feel alienated as he heard the worm. The worm seemed aware of Heian Ciemnosc’s reaction and wasn’t surprised. It continued, “When you felt it was dark everywhere, for too long, you wanted the darkness to be special, so you formed colors. Red was the first, she formed far from you, and colored a part of the darkness.”
“Then, Blue, Green, Gray, and Dual-pal formed more colors around you!” The worm excitedly spoke, moving its tail as if it were enjoying the story itself. “But you were bothered by their closeness to you, so you made the world bigger. So big until you could no longer see any part of them!”
“...” Heian Ciemnosc fell utterly silent. The worm didn’t stop for longer than 2 seconds and continued. Its high-pitched voice turned rough, but it was somehow comfortable to hear, “When you created Little Dark, she was made below you, and you took care of her for a long time before sending her away. She was still too little, and wanted to spend more time with you, but she had to grow, and you really wanted to see that.”
“The pro- COAUGH- KAKAKAAAGGH!” The worm continued with what Heian Ciemnosc believed would be Light, according to the same order, and not to what the worm was saying alone. Heian Ciemnosc still didn’t dare believe everything. But then, the worm choked on his words, brutally, before continuing as if it was nothing. “Gulp, ahem. And when you wanted Light, you also formed Life.”
“Light was ‘taught’ a little before you sent Light towards Little Dark. You didn’t want Little Dark to feel like you, so you sent her someone.” The worm said, feeling contented as it continued. “But Life was already around, and unlike what you could identify or understand, Life was… alive. She floated everywhere, all at once, as she grew with every passing moment. But you felt insulted by her isolation decision, as it went away as soon as it was created.”
“Thus… you made the world even bigger so that Life could be far away from you and never find you… Time later!” The worm’s shrewd eyes became slightly lost. However, he suddenly beamed with extreme joy. “You created meeee~!”
“Although you could travel the whole world in a matter of me wagging my tail as an inch-long twerp, you wanted to jump around nonstop! Nonstop!” The worm excitedly said, narrowing its already thin eyes. Heian Ciemnosc felt suffocated… he felt all those words… they were true!
“Thus, I was created as the second lifeform in the world, all thanks to Mother!” The worm excitedly said, becoming shy and expelling more viscous liquid from everywhere around its body. Heian Ciemnosc interjected, asking the unnecessary question to let the worm continue, “Life is… that Mother Tree… isn’t it?”
“MHM!” The worm cutely shouted its exclamation like it was the greatest thing it had done since forever. It rapidly elaborated, “Mother Nature continued floating in space as you kept thinking. Whenever you fluctuated and expanded, the World Tree’s existence would connect with you and form life across the darkness!”
“That’s how the world came to be… But after discovering this, Life didn’t return. She continued to travel through the darkness until she found a little planet and a new Race born there. Mother decided to stay with that Race after observing them. She became their Mother, too. That Race was growing and becoming mighty, when an older Race that was birthed long prior to them arrived and… exterminated Mother’s people.”
“Since then, Life found the love of being worshiped and caring for lifeforms. But she also knew hatred. After the older Race exterminated the newer Race, she exterminated the former in return. Afterwards, as Mother continued moving through the world that became bustling with life, nothing ever seen before in the darkness, and as Father’s other children were idolized and became part of the darkness… Mother was constantly targeted by the living beings you both reacted…”
The worm became visibly saddened. Its body lumped as if its back slumped, feeling tracing. Heian Ciemnosc felt a wrath that had been sleeping for too long return to every fiber of his being.
“And then…” The worm continued in its high-pitched voice, “Mother found her way to you, the center of the darkness, after a very, very long, long time. She wanted to eat you, Father. The rest, you should be clearer about those facts, am I right?”
The worm looked up at Heian Ciemnosc like a scared son from his parents, but whose greatest desire was to be praised by them more than anything else. Heian Ciemnosc became silent as he looked down at it, and his frown deepened. After several minutes, Heian Ciemnosc loudly acclaimed, “Those are just your thoughts, and only sensations… emotions and memories put into my mind. It might just not be like that, ever. You might be wrong. Why would it be like that?”
“...” The worm’s face became impassive. It looked at Heian Ciemnosc with silence between them. Then, it parted its lips, making a slightly viscous noise. “Because, Father. When you created me, you wanted me to not leave you like Mother, although I never would’ve. But there was no way for you to make me stay. Thus… you created time. With time, you put memories into me to know how you created everything. Time also came to know, and he chose to forever remain beside you.”
“However, time couldn’t just do that. He needed to be around me. But that worked just fine. That’s how we came to know the world’s limits. I remember it well… Do you, Father?” The worm spoke without fear or trepidation. Meanwhile, Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes looked ahead as reminiscence flashed across them.
“It was like a cube made of water from the outside. One could cross it, but whatever I sent outside that wasn’t part of my body would never return. They would disappear, die, and collapse in my grasp. The only way for those things I sent out to ‘come back’ was to devour them. But nothing could be brought out of my darkness… It was all… nothingness… extinction.” Heian Ciemnosc recalled in a low voice, softly, quietly, and calmly as he extended his right arm and grasped with his hand.
“Father…” Listening to Heian Ciemnosc’s words as if in a trance and remembering the past, the worm’s tears poured down on his shoes. When Heian Ciemnosc stopped, he looked down at the worm and fell silent. The worm nodded slightly, “You wanted to contact the others, and Space was needed for that… You decided to send Time and Space off. They could only return after telling the others to come back to you… You wanted them to be together… with you.”
“You never cared about the world, but you could always see everything… Seeing that Mother was looking for you, you wanted to make it feel like home and introduce her to the others… When you saw her targeted, you didn’t understand, but I could tell you didn’t like it, so I thought Mother would be good to you.”
“I didn’t dare to help her arrive earlier because I was too young back then and feared she would take you away from the others’ attention and mine. But when she returned, and she failed to devour you at one go, you created Hell… And when you started dying, you created the Abyss… Father… I could feel it. You weren’t feeling god… sniff…”
“...!” Heian Ciemnosc’s darkest eyes widened as he heard the worm. He could remember everything, every single little tiny movement he made and emotion and thought he felt and had! The desperation he felt when seeing Life trying to absorb him broke parts of him that weren’t supposed to exist. But he let it happen, this was his Life, which he created and longed to return to him.
And when she stopped, pained and regretful that she couldn’t stop the notion, he felt empty, vacant… with only fury, tragedy, hollowness, and that caring was never a thing that could exist. Depressed.
He remembers eating a world that was so much larger than the world he now knows… Heian Ciemnosc suddenly felt flabbergasted, and his current, visibly depressed expression flared up. He looked down at the worm and grasped it with his left claw. The motion was swift and severe, but the worm felt a gentle grip.
“What… happened… after?!” Asked a silently growing furious Heian Ciemnosc. The worm trembled, but it could only comply as it explained, breaking Heian Ciemnosc’s heart. “Red, Blue, Green, Gray, Dual-pals, Light, and Little Dark lost their ability to think and feel like you could, Father. They lost themselves in the eternal emptiness you and Mother left, where they… Everyone! Targeted them…”
“It was as if they couldn’t understand what was missing, so they went for my siblings, abusing my brothers and sisters until they became lackluster and dissipated from the knowledge of the world, leaving only a contaminated pool of their vestiges behind before drifting into nowhere.” The worm explained. Heian Ciemnosc’s expression released. Yet, he was everything but calm.
“Time wasn’t even left alone as soon as he was discovered among the people. He was urged on his journey and finished, disa-... disappearing from the world… Space… She was never seen again since trying to find the others… Everything became… a mess… Father.” The worm said, crestfallen. Heian Ciemnosc’s left hand released the grip, making the worm fall on the ground, but it didn’t move and leaned its head on Heian Ciemnosc’s feet.
“...” Heian Ciemnosc remained silent for an unknown amount of time. Everything… it was all…
Heian Ciemnosc lowered his head. It no longer mattered. He couldn’t do anything, and even less as a puny Third Step cultivator. But… now… there was a new hope in his heart, in his head… in his dark Soul!
He… after all this time… after long eternities… he has finally returned!!
Grip- squelch. Swish… Heian Ciemnosc crouched to pick the worm up. It softly changed its expression to a presentable one, quickly recuperating from remembering the old times. Heian Ciemnosc lifted its body until its face was before him and looked at the worm with the darkest eyes the worm had only seen for the first time. But the sensation from back in those days returned. This was his Father. He was alive now!
“What have you been up to until now?” Asked Heian Ciemnosc, in all tranquility. The worm softly wagged its body in Heian Ciemnosc’s hands, as if to show care. Its high-pitched voice echoed, “Father, after Mother made you both alive, there was nothing else keeping peace in the world. I couldn’t compare to any of my brethren, so I turned into a ball and went around the world… ahem, around the world with a disguise.”
“I see,” Heian Ciemnosc flicked his hand to gesture the coughing worm. He quietly exclaimed after hearing it from the worm itself. Indeed, it was this fella who almost killed him and his people. Of course, since he was Shadow, then he couldn’t have died because of being caught unprepared. Heian Ciemnosc slightly shook his head and the worm continued.
“Hell fell not long after time. As for Abyss… although Abyss was the rarest kid among us, Abyss was also the most hateful of the world and closed all ‘gates’ to the wo- world.” The worm said, feeling a little bad still.
…