Chapter 357 Volume V - Chapter 75: An Offer from Beauty Itself
For a moment, everything was silent. I looked with a blank expression towards the woman who was chained, no matter how charming or beautiful she was.
Break the chains?
With this body?
After a short time, the woman must have realized this too, because she opened her mouth again. Her voice was equally beautiful, but... strange.
"Ah, you are a weak person... you cannot move."
What...?
Yes, I am a weak person, maybe...
Yes, I can't move...
But is there really someone or something that can move even if almost all of their bones are broken in some way...?
"Pity..."
This time, her voice echoed not in my ears, but in almost the entire space, and my eyes widened.
The woman's rainbow-like eyes twinkled slightly after her words, looking directly at me.
No, not at me... she looked into my eyes, into my body... into my soul.
A pain spread through my body that was very different from any pain I had ever felt. As if... as if I had been thrown into a blazing flame.
But I still didn't scream. I didn't care.
What if it was a different pain...? In essence, it was still the same... and equally unimportant. But, then, the chained woman's lips parted again.
"Oh, you're more... different than I thought."
Different...? Different how?
"Interesting... how did you escape the webs of fate? You should be dead."
The webs of fate? I don't remember escaping anything like that... I don't even remember who I am!
But, well... she's right that I should be dead, I guess.
Though... I don't know why, but I feel as if it's not this situation she's talking about. As if... this is not what I should have died of, but something else.
"I see, I see... Oh, that's even more interesting."
The sparkle in her eyes faded as her eyebrows rose slightly. Yet, she remained just as beautiful.
Although... why am I thinking like this now, when just a few seconds ago I was completely mesmerized? I could have even committed suicide for this woman without even realizing it...
"Because I let you."
Oh...
So she can read minds, too?
"Such questions are trivial."
For a moment, I didn't think anything, I just looked at her. Then, I don't know why... I felt like laughing.
Of course, it's trivial... does anything matter at all...?
"I didn't think you had a connection with that man... that's really surprising."
That man...? Which man? Who is she talking about?
"Then... let me ask you a question."
All my focus shifted on her. My eyes, my ears... all my senses focused only on what she was going to say next.
"Do you want to remember who you are?"
I paused for a moment. This time, I didn't really think about anything. Everything in my mind just reset. Then, from the depths... one thing slowly surfaced.
Can... Can I really remember?
"With a small favor you can do me, yes. You can remember."
Who I am, why I'm here, what I'm doing...?
"And more. And not only will you remember..."
Even though she was quite far away, I saw her lips curve slightly upwards. Her eyes, which resembled a rainbow, were narrowed a little.
"I am intrigued, human. At first, I was thinking of using that half-elf, although the weapon he would have brought with him would have been useful too... But you... You are different. So not only will I make you remember, I will free you from the 'mediocrity' you have hated all your life."
The last sentence replayed in my mind. I didn't really care about the rest of what she said, I had no idea what half-elf or weapon she was talking about. But... getting out of the mediocrity... for some reason, it stirred something inside me.
"All you have to do is reach out to me. Then, you will remember, you will no longer be 'ordinary'. Once you wake up, you'll break my chains... and I'll get you, and your friends, out of here. What do you say?"
I thought about it for a while, replaying what she said over and over in my mind, over and over again.
To be able to remember who I am... that's something I desire.
And I'm not going to be ordinary anymore, which I've actually hated all my life, is that it?
Maybe... Just maybe, that's why I came here in the first place?
As I thought about these and other things, I became aware of the desire growing inside me.
I want... I really want to listen to her words and move toward her... And, yet, there is a hesitation in me. A tiny doubt that I can't make sense of.
There's something wrong, something I'm missing...
What could it be?
I looked at the woman again. Her eyes were on me, but she didn't look like she was going to say anything. She was just... watching. Silently, expressionlessly...
I looked at her face, I studied her body... and then... I stopped on something... on one of the chains wrapped around her body.
Really, now that I think about it... why is this woman chained here?
"Your questions are pointless, human. I've had enemies like everyone else, of course. Are you too stupid to think that?"
Well, she's not wrong...
But why can't I get rid of this uneasiness inside me?
Am I... am I really going to do the right thing?
"My patience is wearing thin. I'm the only reason you're still alive, human, despite the condition of your body. And you are not my only choice. If I wait a little longer, there are others who will get here... You're nothing special, you've just managed to attract my attention and that's why I'm giving you a choice. Make your decision quickly."
If I could, I would have clenched my fist and teeth. It was hard to fight against the hesitation inside me. No matter what the woman said, no matter what she did, I couldn't get rid of it. On the contrary... it seemed to grow bigger.
But...
Yet...
I...
I've finally made up my mind.
So what if I'm hesitating...? So what if there's an uneasiness inside me that I can't shake?
I've come this far, I've even come back from the dead... at least in a different way. I don't even remember who I am!
Even if she's deceiving me, even if it won't end well for me... does it matter?
Worst case scenario... I die, like I should have in the first place.
Right?
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her lips curve upwards, but I didn't care, because it wasn't a smile with any emotion. It wasn't sly, it wasn't really happy... it was just a simple smile.
And so... I threw my right elbow forward, pushed my chin slightly ahead, and then used the two to pull my body toward her.
The pain radiating through my body multiplied, I even... actually felt some of it.
But I didn't care, I dragged myself further and further. Again, and again... and again.
The seconds ticked by. Minutes turned into more minutes.
Step by step, inch by inch, I kept getting closer to her.
She didn't say anything, nor did I think anything. All I could hear in this space at the bottom of the endless darkness was the sound of water drops falling from above and the sound of my crawling, but I kept going.
The closer I got to the woman, the more light fell on me, and with it... heat. I felt a sense of relief as the cold that had been steadily seeping into my body slowly receded, it would have been nice to get some rest...
But no, I didn't stop. I kept going. I crawled and crawled... for my memories, for my 'desire', which I didn't even know why I desired it.
As I got closer and closer to the woman... this time, I started to feel something different.
It was a kind of pain I had never felt before, different even from the burning sensation I had just felt. It was like... something was trying to stop me. No, her 'presence' was so superior that I was forbidden to even be around her... It was as if the world was refusing me to be here and to approach this woman. It was as if it was slowly tearing me apart, punishing me for every inch I got closer to her...
But I didn't stop.
And, finally... maybe after hours of effort... I managed to reach her.
She was truly gigantic. I could see that even more easily when I was this close to her. After all... only her toes were as big as my head. I would have had to bend my head abnormally to see her face.
But I didn't need to. Because I could still hear her voice.
"Touch me, you don't have to do anything else."
I didn't bother to nod. I just stretched my right elbow, the one I had been using to drag myself up until now, as far as I could, then... I touched the tip of her big toe.
For a while, nothing happened, literally nothing... Silence enveloped my body again, the uneasiness inside me grew greater than ever.
Just when I was wondering if I had made a mistake... my eyes widened and my mouth hung open.
Memories flooded my mind one after another. My childhood, my experiences, my name, why I was here... Adrian and Lucia, that one-eyed creature, the bottomless pit...
"Ah..."
In the end, that was the first and only word that came out of my mouth in this whole time that I've been in this place.
And then... everything suddenly became bright. First, the woman's body, and then this whole place...
"Well done, human."
The thin layer of water covering the ground rippled, as if it was being pulled toward me. The moss-like plants here and there stirred. They approached me like... vines.
"You managed to reach me. Now, I have to keep my promise... right?"
Each of the water droplets gathered around me, enveloping and enveloping my body as if forming a gigantic water droplet... The vines reached me at this very moment. They surrounded the water droplet, moved under my body, and lifted me into the air...
"It won't take long, don't worry... I'll see you again in a few hours."
My vision darkened, the water went into my nose and mouth as the vines wrapped around me like a cocoon.
"For now, sleep well..."
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