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1052. Need A Hand?
🕑 Added 2025-08-15 13:39:04 +0000 UTC“Were you aware that your presence was enough for her?”
… No, Amalgam. I didn’t. Because my presence has only brought misery.
“If you were to hear it from Ber, then will it change anything?”
“Do you hope that it will?”
“What I hope is for you to walk again than to resign yourself at the crossroads.”
“Even if misery follows? Even if the path forward means we must cross misery again?”
“There is not one soul who will not encounter misery at some stage of their life.”
“Then what is the point? My presence brought Ara to ruins. I killed my mother. My involvement with the twins led them to being thrown onto the Leviathan!”
“Have they ever told you that they regretted meeting you?”
Raoul’s voice froze in her throat.
Excluding what she had done, there was not a single instance where this was true. If anything…
“… They kept trying to come back to me.”
“It’s impossible to change the past. It’s impossible to tell the future. Misery is an inevitability, as is death. But the people who surpassed it before you did not let it stop them from finding their footing to walk again.”
Cer, Ber, Res… The triplets who had been tethered to the past had grown to embrace their current lives. Their fear of being separated in the future seemed like a hallucination to Raoul. They were once inseparable, but they were now living their own sperate lives.
“It was not an easy decision for them. Misery and death came for them all the same. There is not one person in this world, whether you, I, or the everyman, who will be spared by it.”
Raoul was brought to the twilight region of this world. The light, as warm and inviting as it was, would shine light on every sin and shadow she had ever committed. Remaining in the shadow was morbidly comforting, because it was all she had ever known. The light of the ‘truths’ Raoul had found were the source of much of her misery.
“We can at least make it bearable.”
“If not for you, then please, make it bearable for the twins.”
The voice of the Amalgam asked for this one small favor. Raoul was left ruminating in the twilight, and after what felt like hours, she answered with a nod.
“… I’ll try. If it’s for them… But… I’m unconvinced this will matter.”
The world began to shrink into a singular dark particle before her eyes. But in that small instance, her foot had moved by a single step into the world of light.
*
Raoul snapped back to reality. Small hands diligently worked on her thighs, and a cold prosthetic tightened her stitched wound.
“Did you sleep well?” Orth asked.
“I didn’t know you can sleep. Was it nice? Any nightmares?” Thras tilted her head.
Raoul’s instincts urged her to push them away. But her talk with Frost caused her to rein it in, and so, she lowered her head and sighed.
“It was an unpleasant dream.”
“Oooh? What happened?”
“Raoul, will you tell us?”
She glanced over at Frost, expecting her to grin, or make some kind of uninsipired remark. However, Frost wore a solemn expression as she clasped tightly onto Joy’s hand.
Raoul had to wonder if the person she met was Frost or was the voice which had accompanied Elysia during her half-Corruption.
Finally, Raoul answered the twins.
“I met an annoying mother bird.”
The corners of their lips curled. For an instant, color returned to their eyes before they tended straight back onto her wounds.
“I want to hear that bird.” (Orth).
“What did it sound like? Tick tock? Or chirp chirp?” (Thras).
“Have you met the morning bird before?”
“Never. I’ve only heard stories from Beholder Galia.” (Orth).
“Beholder Galia said the bird is kind.” (Thras).
Of course it was Galia. She was the only one who had crystalized their Ego. Raoul wondered what it meant for a Beholder to have their Ego crystalized, and what this newfound phenomenon was beyond being the opposite of a Corruption.
Galia had far more demons than Raoul ever did. For her, misery may as well be her lover.
“Can you stand?” (Orth).
“Try standing.” (Thras).
“Yeah, I can stand. Amalgam. How long has it been?” Raoul asked once she rose to her feet.
“Fifty-three minutes.” Frost answered.
“Twenty-two seconds.” Orth added.
“Shouldn’t we start moving? Eight minutes should be enough for your daughter to reorient her senses. Acedia. If you’re going to be my boss, then I expect you at least show some dignity and stand up.”
Res detached herself from the wall. She had been using this hour to sketch the maze. The artistic flame inside of her could not be quelled. Surprise washed over her. The last person she expected to speak up was Raoul.
She instantly turned to Frost with eyes that said: “What did you do?”
She responded with a smile that said: “You already know the answer to that.”
It was unclear whether Frost had directly intervened with Raoul, or if it was her Will that had taken matters into its own hands.
Whatever the case was, it left a lasting impression on Raoul.
“Get up Acedia. My body doesn’t need to rest.”
“Metabolic reset… I’ve required it… as ‘Acedia’. I’m exhausted Mother.”
“We all are.” Frost emphasized ‘all’. “We need you at the front. Please don’t let us down.”
Acedia clasped at her own shoulders. Her fingernails nearly pierced flesh. The accursed reverence she once had was no longer on her face. Pure dread had replaced it, and she yearned to take off her skin, like her body was right underneath Frost’s.
The group moved again, and this time, they were invigorated. Joy was still a little drowsy, but she could tell that the atmosphere had changed significantly.
“Gam?” She asked, running alongside her.
“You can sense it too, right? Joy? The change?” Joy didn’t know what this change was, but she could tell that the air was much lighter now.
Just as she was about to inquire again–
“FROST!?”
“GAM!?”
“Mo…ther…?”
–Her left arm was blown off. An orb-shaped projectile whizzed through the wall and removed the hand that Joy had been holding. Shock filled her eyes as the arm flopped around in her possession.
“I’m good… It knows I have precognitive abilities. It set up an ambush…? Keep… Keep running! My HP is fine!” Frost wasted no time and grabbed Joy’s hand with her only remaining hand. “Go! If it wanted us dead, then it would have sent more than just one!”
Despite her injury, she did not scream like Acedia. Her voice was still in control, and she had not lost any cohesion.
“Res, bandage me. Acedia, do you know to control those flames?”
“… Mother…”
“Please, Acedia. Focus. Do you know how to control it?”
“Marginally… May I know the reason why?”
Acedia could not hide her confusion. Had the same happened to her, then she would have been writhing on the ground. But to Frost, this level of pain was barely an inconvenience.
Frost pointed her stub at Acedia, as if offering a matchstick to an unlit flame.
“Cauterize it. Also, Nav… Now isn’t the time to be making jokes.” She grumbled at her invisible companion.
Comments
Syringe
This should be fixed, thank you! And thank you for reading!
Dawn cat
Thanks for the chapter Also "We need at the front." ➡️ "We need you at the front."
