Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 217: Not a qualified sister?

Olvera's body trembled, she couldn't believe what she saw. She opened her mouth to say something, but a huge sadness choked her throat and oppressed her heart, so that she couldn't say a word. The dark torrent didn't give her any room to stop and think. It continued to carry her tiny shadow, sweeping back, like tracing an invisible river upwards, rushing to the end of the world, or perhaps the beginning of the story.

The screen flickered, and a black land appeared in sight, surrounded by a dark deathly aura, rising and falling like a floating ocean. In the center of this desolate world, stood an ancient and majestic giant tree. Each gloomy and heavy branch stretched toward the sky like a pale skeleton, twisting and entangled, exuding a smell of decay, death and sorrow.

On the rough and mottled surface of the gray-white dead tree, the hideous bone tumors left over from the years gradually twisted into an ugly face, with scarlet flames burning in its eyes, but the look it gave the princess was not filled with resentment and anger, only a helpless sigh. The ugly and ferocious skeleton monster circled the twisted branches, roaming in the depths of the mist, looming, and its huge tail made a loud noise as it swept across the tree trunk.

The girl with a slender outline is holding her lamb, with a sacred golden chain wrapped around her other hand. The chain has now extended to an endless length, as if to surround the entire world, weaving a giant web of fate that covers the mortal world and provides guidance for every thread for the princess who is waiting to fight back.

However, from higher up in the void, a calm voice came: "Worthless."

The scene froze again, all the past and even the future time was frozen at the present node, and the darkness that even fate could not overcome swallowed up all the light. The old and withered bone tree turned into an illusory background, the giant beasts cruising in the mist piled up into steps of bones, and the sacred giant snake that measured the length of the world with its body gradually faded and disappeared... The girl who controlled the giant snake raised her head and stared deeply into Yuwai's cold eyes. She did not look back at Avra, but opened her mouth and said something silently.

She said, "It's destined, but you have to be careful."

After that, he gently stroked the lamb's head. She and its shadow began to break apart and were swallowed up in the torrent of death. Olvera saw one of the fragments fall into her eyes, burning the scattered star clusters with hot and stinging pain. She suddenly felt a large piece of emptiness in her heart, and the dull pain of the wound made her dazed.

The torrent rolled back again. Olvera was powerless to resist, or it was impossible to resist. She watched helplessly as scenes flashed and disappeared beside her, as if the past memories had become a black and white illustration in a book, deliberately stretched and lost. When the scene returned to calm, she found herself standing under a sea of ​​twinkling stars. The stars in the sky were like eyes, watching her every move.

Then the breath of magic came to an abrupt end, and everything in the world fell into silence. The dark magician blended into the bleak background, and the sea of ​​stars hung in the shortest distance of sight, so close that it seemed that he could touch it with his hand. The phantom of the young man began to dissipate into starlight. He stopped chanting magic, looked down at his fingertips, palms, and even arms, which all dissipated into bright stardust, as if it was irreversible, and said softly -

The dark magician stood in the ruins of the collapsed tower, with a hideous wound torn on her abdomen, blood coagulated, tiny arcs jumped and flashed, and through the wound she could see the cold world endlessly expanding forward, chasing the distance that even the wind could not touch. She had the face of a mother, and the look in her eyes when she looked at herself was full of love and regret.

Someone outside the sky said calmly: "It's meaningless."

A familiar figure stood in front of Olvera, holding up the pale blue holy sword with both hands, wanting to interpret the true meaning of courage for her with his actual actions. However, it was the same voice again, so empty that it seemed to echo in countless worlds and countless times at the same time: "Useless."

"don't want……"

Olvera's body trembled, and she wanted to say something, but before she could answer, she was swept away by the torrent and fell into the whirlpool. Her sight seemed to follow the inverted hourglass, and she saw a familiar scene: the bright moonlight, the bright flames, the ancient arena, the torn chasm, the twelve majestic stone pillars rising, and the silver giant wolf on the top of the stone pillars, looking at her with inexplicable sadness. He had tried to teach the princess of Beman what courage was, but all the things he had taught seemed to lose their meaning in the face of an irresistible will.

This look reminded Olvera of her mother, so she vaguely overlapped her with the figure in front of her. However, the speed at which the sea of ​​stars sank seemed faster than the speed at which she missed and recalled. Every star became brighter and brighter in her eyes, eating away at the aching wound deep in her heart. The phantom of the young man stood beside Olvera, holding the holy book in his hand, chanting magic, and fighting against the malice of the fallen for her.

The princess murmured, realizing what was going to happen next. She finally reached out her hand to try to stop him, but it was no use. Her weak whisper was no louder than the sound of the torrent swallowing her. Suddenly, a crystal-like flame ignited, blazingly drowning the man's back. Olvera could only see the man turning his head in the raging flames. He actually seemed to be grinning and said silently, "It's not time to admit defeat yet, Olvera."

“I just feel the same way.”

Everything was burned to ashes in the flames. The wolf, the arena, and the shadows of the pillars all melted into black ash, withering and scattering like snow. It seemed that a spark escaped the restraints of the flames, slowly and steadily falling to the floor, lighting up the cold and silent stone bricks.

Olvera looked up blankly and saw her bed and countless burning candles, shining like the stars in the sky. She realized that she was back in the room she had started in, as if she had never left. She tried to summon the Holy Sword, Holy Scripture, Holy Chain or Holy Staff, but received no response. Her mind was empty, as if she was missing many important things.

[Dark Restart·Rewind: The world is floating, memories are flowing, those experiences may just be a dream.] "There is no reason to fight anymore."

A figure appeared at the door, with long black hair that reached her ankles and a skirt that fluttered like a blooming flower. She slowly walked forward, leaned over and looked at the princess who was slumped beside the bed with a calm but deep gaze: "The reason has disappeared, so fighting is equivalent to emptiness; an empty life is meaningless, and patiently waiting is the right choice. So--"

She suddenly reached out her hand, gently stroked her cheek, and said in a low voice: "You wait here first, Avra."

"The things you already have, you will have again one day; the emotions you have experienced, you will experience again one day. But not yesterday, nor today. When our great cause is completed, you will get everything you want, and then I will come again..."

She stopped talking, as if she also felt that she shouldn't make a promise that was too far away, so she stopped talking, stood up, and saw that Avra ​​was still lost and confused, so she shook her head and turned to leave. At this moment, her trembling and distressing voice suddenly came from behind: "But...but..."

"What if I can only accept... today?"

She stopped where she was, without looking back, and was silent for a moment before answering, "Well, I'm sorry."

I can only say sorry.

She took a step and disappeared out the door of the room.

The next moment, she reappeared at the bottom of the castle. In the dark world, the cold and mottled moonlight was scattered in pieces, dim as if dead; pictures were still frozen in the night sky, telling the story of a girl fighting here and trying to control her own destiny, but it was a story that was not realistic enough.

The girl's back suddenly trembled for a while, and then she slowly raised her head and looked at everything in front of her with the same lost eyes as Olvera before. After a while, she seemed to understand something, squatted down helplessly, hugged her knees with both hands, and buried her head in the dark world. Her expression could not be seen, and only the painful and guilty voice could be heard: "Sorry, sorry... really, really... I'm sorry..."

It's the same apology, but it seems to have different meanings.

……

In the cold room, Caraboss slowly opened her eyes and saw the dull-colored ceiling. The square patterns of the same shape stretched endlessly forward until they were beyond the edge of her vision. She stared at it for a long time, and then the corners of her mouth slowly drew a self-deprecating arc.

"I am not a qualified creator, let alone a qualified sister."

"And, at least for a long time."

"It's impossible."

A faint sigh echoed in the room for a long time.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)