Side Story: Myth 4

It’s been so long, everyone!

Oof, my joints. I’m aching all over.

I only just woke up from a long slumber, and I still haven’t fully recovered yet. But I’ll be healthy again soon enough since the world is peaceful again. Don’t worry about me!

There isn’t much more of my story left to tell.

Well, shall we get started then?

~~*~~

Ro told me about everything that had happened.

She said that she was at a loss for what to do about her child and unable to make a decision after I’d told her about the new life inside her tummy. And she said that she was scared about how Roygen, who’d gone crazy, would react.

Ultimately, Ro used her power of Judgment to find some place where Roygen couldn’t find her, and the Balance guided her to the Akashic Records after consuming a vast amount of her divine power in return.

That was where Ro gave birth to ‘Laos.’

Laos was the small child whose hand she was holding right now. But Ro looked grave as she said to me,

“This child’s power is extraordinary. He has the power of ‘Law’ and can rewrite all the Laws that govern this world.”

I was a little surprised to hear that. Ro continued,

“And a child named Kandemayon, who takes after Roygen, also appeared out of nowhere when I gave birth to Laos. She has a very ominous aura about her, and she possesses the capacity for infinite destruction. She’s being quiet for now, but there’s no knowing what she might do in the future.”

Ro said that she had decided to raise Laos inside the Akashic Records until he was a little older before she returned to the world.

“I’m so scared, Phaemdra. I’m so scared that I’ve made another horrible mistake! But I love this child so much. What do I do if Roygen does something to this child? If he were to die…….”

Ro seemed unstable as she rambled incoherently. She looked really depressed again.

“Please see the future for me, Phaemdra. What am I supposed to do?”

I didn’t think that our future was a particularly bright one. What would I do if I looked into the future and learned that it was bleak? But I had no choice but to see because that was what Ro wanted.

But I needed the spirits’ help in order to convey the future that I saw to Ro. And the spirits were unable to be summoned into the world right now.

“I can hear you. I can hear you, so……,”

Ro said urgently as I wondered how I should go about this. I was so surprised. It was like Ro had read my mind.

I wasn’t able to ask Ro how she was able to read my mind at the time. She was so anxious, and I could clearly see that she didn’t have the leisure to explain anything to me.

I activated my power and focused on Ro’s future. Short and fragmented scenes of the future began entering my vision.

Huh?

The future I saw was so unique that I could have never anticipated it for the life of me. The world in the future was completely different from the Holy Age. It was overflowing with life, and the cycle of death and birth was happening ever so naturally.

I began seeing visions of a child who was like Roberstein but was also unlike Roberstein growing up little by little by a tree trunk that I assumed was me.

Then, I saw two people wearing black cloth calling each other ‘Ro’ and ‘Ann’ as they fought their enemies. They felt faintly of Roberstein’s and Roygen’s auras.

But they looked so different from Roberstein and Roygen. And they felt so different too.

I also saw the two of them looking back at each other and laughing without a care in the world. They looked so, so truly happy that it left a deep impression on me.

I had to stop seeing the future after I saw a vision of the girl named Ann holding up a sword that was like the sun because my head hurt too much. Then, I told Ro exactly what I had seen without fudging a single detail. I also told her that I didn’t think the people I saw were the present day Roberstein and Roygen.

“Ro and Ann……. Ro, Ann. Ro and Ann, was it?”

“Roananne……anne.”

“Not Roygen and Roberstein, but Ro and Ann…….”

“Roananne……?”

Laos tried to mimic Ro’s tenacious muttering.

Ro looked down at the beloved child in her arms. It looked like Laos was trying to learn how to speak.

“Roaaaaanne.”

“Yes, my baby. Ro and Ann. That is my future.”

The child didn’t know how to speak well just yet and mispronounced the words. He was beaming happily, maybe because he liked how the words sounded in his mouth.

Ro looked quietly down at Laos.

“A world that is different from our current world. I suppose this child, who has power over the Law, will change the world. Right? And Roygen and I will be reincarnated as different beings in that world.”

Reincarnated?

Something like reincarnation exists in this world?

It looked like Ro had learned the secrets of the world while she was inside the Akashic Records.

Ro’s eyes grew colder and colder, like she was resolving herself to do something, while she listened to what I had to tell her, and now her eyes were as cold as ice. Ice that would never melt.

The future that I saw isn’t determined, and it’s only the most possible one of countless futures that can come to pass, Ro,

I said urgently, but Ro seemed to have interpreted what I said in a way I hadn’t intended.

“You’re right. That’s why I have to make absolutely certain that it comes to pass.”

Ro went missing again after that. I met her just one more time before she disappeared, and she was with Lebony, her faithful follower.

Then, a few years passed…….

“Waaaaaah!”

The Holy Age had finally come to an End.

“Mom! Mom!”

Roygen was dead, and Ro, who was leaning against my body, was not moving. The beating of her heart was growing quieter and quieter.

Goodbye, my friend. So in the end, this is how we part ways…….

I figured that I was soon to follow Ro into extinction. My consciousness was hazy.

“Don’t die, please don’t die! Don’t die! Waaah!”

But Laos was crying so sorrowfully that I couldn’t help but keep waking back up because my heart ached. How could I possibly leave behind this child who had lost his parents and was left behind all alone?

Oh, but I suppose he technically wasn’t all alone. There was also the black lizard that Laos was holding in his arms.

“Stop crying. You’re making my head hurt.”

The lizard jumped out from Laos’ arms and transformed into a girl who could have been Laos’ twin but felt like his complete opposite. Oh, is she Kandemayon?

Hmm? What are you doing, Laos?

Laos was sealing Ro’s heart away inside my body!

I finally lost consciousness as I felt the seal being pushed inside my being.

A long time had passed before I woke up again.

Beings with pointed ears who looked like the gods were devotedly watering me and taking care of me. How was I not dead? It was a mystery.

A grown-up Laos came to find me once I’d woken up.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Laos’ soul was still a young child as he apologized to me in tears.

“Um, Phaemdra? What was your prophecy about?”

Laos and I spoke about a lot of different things.

“And what is Roanne?”

It’s not ‘Roanne’ but ‘Ro and Ann.’ Laos began crying about how much of a fool he was when I told him the truth.

“Was I wrong? Should I undo the seal, even if only now? Do I need to send my mom and dad to their deaths? But I, I want to see Mom again. Am I being greedy?”

There was nothing I could say to him. I didn’t know the future well either. It wasn’t possible for me to use my power because my soul had grown too weak. No, I had resolved to never see the future ever again even if I was able to use my power. I couldn’t help but feel like all of this had happened because of my prophecy.

I continued falling asleep and waking up over and over again after that. Decades passed every time I woke up.

Then, eventually, Arhad was born.

Roberstein’s soul reacted to his birth, and her instinct to kill Roygen forced open Laos’ seal. But that also had the effect of undoing Roberstein’s hidden seal that Lebony had been sealed inside.

“Lebony was here?”

Laos looked like he was at a complete loss about what to do with Lebony, whom he hadn’t seen in a very long time.

According to Laos, Ro had apparently wanted him and Lebony to be friends. But Laos said that he was on terrible terms with Lebony. It seemed like Lebony had said things like, “I hate seeing Lady Ro grow so haggard while taking care of you,” and, “It’s all your fault that Lady Ro’s so sickly,” to him often.

She had apparently called Laos a rat and cornered him with her abuse like a cat cornering a rat. But she had pretended to be on good terms with him when Ro was watching.

“What am I supposed to do? I have no idea what’s going on. And things will probably only get more tangled up if I try to interfere…….”

Laos was frightened, so he eventually decided to take a wait-and-see approach with Lebony. But, what kind of twist of fate was this? Lebony eventually made her way to House Roberstein after wandering, and then she gave birth to Ianna.

Ianna was born!

Oh, Ianna! Ann!

She was the child whom I had seen in my prophecy!

I did my best to stay awake because things were happening so quickly, but I ultimately lost consciousness again after my willpower was exhausted. I saw an older Ianna standing by my old trunk when I finally woke up again.

And I realized something as I watched over that child as she laughed and cried all day long. She had undeniably been born with Ro’s soul, but she was not Ro. She was just a pitiful child who was being mistreated by her household.

Ianna was made to pay the full price for every burden that Laos had forced House Roberstein to bear. Everything, including Lebony’s rage…….

Laos, who still wanted to see his mother again, was at a loss and was rolling his feet, but he ultimately decided to watch and do nothing.

Many things happened after that.

I wasn’t able to see the two of them finding happiness like I had prophesized. Ianna suffered in unhappiness every day until she finally slaughtered the Roberstein Clan and left the Roberstein lands. Arhad came to find me a few years later and tried to bully me, and then he set by body ablaze. I bitterly figured that this was how I died as I lost consciousness.

But once again, I wasn’t dead. Tough, aren’t I?

I was surprised to find that time had been rewound when I woke up again.

Laos came to find me and explained everything. He had also resolved to stop trying to find his mother in Ianna. I had a premonition that something was about to change. And my heart was excited as I watched over my friends’ lives with everything I had.

Ianna was different from before.

She was very strong, but she was so emotionally parched that she no longer craved love from anyone. It made me so sad. I wished that someone could be there for her.

Laos still seemed unsure of what to do about Lebony. He considered letting Lebony know about my existence, but he was also afraid that he might end up meddling with Ianna’s life if he did.

He finally seemed to make up his mind as she died so wretchedly, and he retrieved the particles of Lebony’s heart. He brought Lebony’s soul back too a little while later, and she was reborn as a cat named Nissi.

“You used to harass me and call me a filthy rat. So, I’m going to have you be a cat for the time being.”

Nissi, the baby kitten, screamed in alarm when Laos hid his true intentions and pretended to be cross with her, and Laos eventually came clean and told her everything. And, once she had learned everything, Nissi meowed……and she began sobbing sorrowfully.

“I’m hoping that you won’t trouble Ianna anymore. I’m sure you don’t intend on troubling her anymore either, but I’d like for you to stay this way and watch over her life with me, just like this.”

It was only then that Lebony —no, Nissi— finally quieted down. Laos transformed his body into ‘Elly,’ entered an orphanage, and looked after Nissi there —though he also pestered her a bit.

Many, many things happened after that. It was truly so many things, as I’m sure you’re already well aware…….

~~*~~

And, that’s how my story ends! You probably know more about the rest than I do. Right?

Laos came to find me as soon as I awoke from my long slumber. The child told me some truly wonderful news as he showed me the two eggs. Roberstein and Roygen can be born again?

I’m so happy! I really hope they’ll find happiness in their next life!

“Phaemdra,”

Oh, now this is a voice that I welcome!

It’s Ianna and Arhad!

Ianna came to find me a few days ago to apologize. She apologized even though she really didn’t need to. Arhad apologized to me too. He said he was sorry for burning me down.

Hmm, both of them are really something else personality-wise, now that I think about it.

I mean, both of them have set me on fire.

But I’m a good tree, so I’ll forgive them.

“Bye. See you later.”

It looks like they were only here to check on me today.

I waved my branches and Ianna and Arhad grew farther away.

Shaaa.

The green leaves growing on my body rustled in the wind. Ianna and Arhad heard them, turned around, and smiled.

Mm, this is nice. It was so nice to see.

Oh!

Do you remember……how I once muttered to myself about whether I should’ve prevented Roberstein and Roygen from ever meeting?

The answer is no. Never!

After all, Ianna and Arhad would have never existed if Roberstein and Roygen had never met.

That’s what I think now.

I think that I was right to introduce Roberstein and Roygen to each other back then.

—“Myth 4” End