Lucy's eyes wandered to the King's throne. That throne still radiated his terror and cruelty.
"It was for the Mystic Power that he committed such atrocities.,at least that's what Grandmother believed. But in truth, he had no reason at all."
The King's final words sent another shiver through Lucy's body.
Suddenly, a part of the Great Light completely engulfed the throne. In an instant, that dreadful seat of power dissolved into the brilliance of light.
Slowly, Lucy rose to her feet and reached the gates of the palace. With her weakened hands, she tried to push them open. And she succeeded because now, those gates bore nothing but light.
Elrian and the others outside gazed at Lucy in astonishment. None of them could even believe the fact that Lucy had slain the King.
In the place where the King once stood, this time it was Lucy who stood.
She had now completely turned into an ordinary human. All the supernatural energy within her body had already been lost.
From now on, she could no longer inherit anyone's anima code. Because, in order to accept another anima code, at least one must remain within her own body.
As they stared, suddenly the sky darkened. All the clouds began to blacken. They had only ever seen darkness fall at night. Not knowing what was happening, they looked up at the sky.
Suddenly, a deafening sound echoed from above. They recognized it as the roar of thunder, the kind spoken of in ancient myths that comes just before the rain.
Hope rising, they gazed intently at the sky. A cold wind blew all around them. The chilling wind bit into them, freezing them to the bone.
Still, Lucy stood in the place where the King had been.
As they watched, droplets of water, each the size of a pearl, began to fall onto their faces from the sky.
Suddenly, the heavy rain poured down from above, covering the entire island.
None of those present had ever experienced such a phenomenon before, except what they had heard from their ancestors. They recalled the name their forebears had given it.
"Rain."
They all shouted the word aloud. Some of them began to cry. Others leapt joyfully in excitement.
Lucy slowly stepped out from the palace. Her body was filled with exhaustion. As the rain poured over her, a strange sense of relief washed over her.
She slowly extended her tongue outward. She drank the water until her thirst was fully quenched.
At the same time, a voice rising from the group. He called her a name.
"Angel of Fate."
He continued to repeat it. The others joined him, echoing the name together.
Elrian's mind was finally calm. Had he lost his sister along with her, his mind would have shattered. He ran to Lucy's side and embraced her tightly.
Lucy placed both her hands on Elrian's face.
"I have kept the promise I gave you, Elrian. We are free now."
"Angel of Fate."
The name resonated louder than the sound of the rain, echoing throughout the place.
Everyone, drenched in the rain, began their journey toward the village. Since Lucy could not walk, a few people carried her together.
The old woman who lived next door to Lucy was enjoying the rain through her window. With the coins Lucy had given her and the money they had gathered, the grandmother had already obtained that wine. On the eastern coast of the island, there is an underground cave that can only be seen through the gaps between the waves. Inside that cave, beneath an ancient vine, there is a fruit that blooms only once in a century. Along with it, certain rare plants and herbs that grow sparsely on the island are also required to craft this wine.
Only if all these things were present could that wine be made. That is why it takes nearly a hundred years to create it. The grandmother called it the "Century Wine." Since it was rare to gather all the ingredients at once, a great amount of money and luck were needed to buy it. The grandmother used the savings she had collected throughout her entire life to purchase this wine. It required around 10,000 silver coins. That was why the grandmother had gathered and stored her entire wealth. It had been almost six months since she had obtained it. But she had decided that they would only drink it on the day Lucy fought the king.
The grandmother realized that there was only one reason rain had fallen on this island after 500 years. She understood that Lucy had defeated the king. Looking outside, she spoke softly:
"You have achieved it, Lucy. I feel respect for you. For allowing me to taste the wine I desired most and to witness this miraculous rain that I had only ever heard of in stories from our ancestors, I am thankful to you."
As soon as she finished speaking, she began to drink the remaining wine in the wooden cup she was holding. Even though it did not have much taste, to her it felt delicious. The joy of fulfilling her life's purpose could be seen on her face. Watching the pouring rain outside, she sat by the window frame. She longed to go outside and be drenched, but her old body did not allow her.Even though the entire island was covered with dark clouds, their god, the Great Light, was spreading light in a faint manner.
From then on, Slum no longer existed.
All sides of the island would henceforth be known as the blessed land. Only peace would prevail in every part.
There would no longer be air pollution there. The children born there would not die by catching diseases. The children of that place would have the fortune to grow up drinking their own mother's breast milk.
Since the weekly battles with the king no longer existed, the population of that place kept increasing.
No one there would ever again have to pay money to buy water. The institution that had been supplying water was shut down by everyone together. Wells were dug in many parts of the island.
Since it rained at least once a month, the water in those wells never dried up. On the western side of the shore, they cultivated on a large scale. From that, they obtained the food supplies they needed.
Because of this, all the diseases of that place were wiped out.
From then on, the operating hours of the markets and small shops were set until 9 at night. Thus, all the laws created by the king were erased.
But there was only one thing they continued. That was worshiping their god, the Great Light.
.....
Five years later.
Lucy was now past twenty four years old. Elrian had reached twenty one. It was when Lucy turned twenty four that the old grandmother from the neighborhood passed away.
Now, the law of casting the dead into the sea no longer existed. Instead, a cemetery had been built. It was constructed in the place once known as slum. But now, no region there was called by any such special name.
That cemetery was called Whispering Rest. It was there that the grandmother was buried.
After all the rituals were completed, Lucy went to the grandmother's house. It was for the purpose of cleaning it. Usually, even the grandmother's faint voice would break the silence of that place.
But since the grandmother was no longer there, the place now felt more mysterious and silent than a graveyard.
Lucy began to clean the house as best as she could.
If she had the power of an anima code, the work would have been a little easier that's what she thought.
Lucy entered the room to clean it. That house didn't have many rooms. There were only two rooms, a hall, and a small kitchen.
While Lucy was cleaning that room, her eyes fell upon a diary that was lying on the table.
Something was written on the outside of the diary. She read it.
"Gratitude of the Angel."
The moment she read that name, she understood that it was written for her.
Lucy took the diary and sat down on the nearby rocking chair. She opened it and began to read.
"If you have taken this diary, by that time itself my life would have slipped away from this world. I still have a few more things to tell you. It is not about the Luminous isle, but instead about myself. The reason I took coins from your hand was not out of greed for money. Behind it was a wish to be fulfilled. Sometimes when you hear this wish of mine, you might find it funny. Sometimes you might think I am mad. That is why I did not tell you this while I was alive. It is a wine. It can be made only once in a century. Because the ingredients for it are available on the island only once in a century. Therefore, to obtain it, a great deal of coins must be spent. But I decided to spend all of my money on this. It was only to know its taste once. To tell the truth, I did not feel it had much of a taste."
"That is why, at times, when I think about it, I feel anger rising within me. Yet, remembering that this is a fortune granted only to a few in a century, I found peace. I am glad that I was able to become a part of it. And so, I gave that wine a name 'The Century Wine.'"
There is a foolishness our ancestors used to say. Money and time are what is important in a human life. But I say, it is our life, which has the possibility of being lost at any moment, that is more important than everything else.
I have saved some wine for you. You can take it if you open my wooden cupboard. There is a chamber inside it. To open it, you must utter these words: "Lux Aeternam Porta Aperi."
The specialty of that chamber is this whatever object is placed inside it, even if time passes, it will not grow old, and its excellence and splendor will remain just as they are. That is the specialty of that compartment.
She moved toward the wooden cupboard with the diary she had been reading. After opening the cupboard, she searched for the chamber mentioned in the diary. It was on the bottom shelf of the cupboard. She glanced at the diary again.
"Lux Aeternam Porta Aperi."
Immediately, with a rough sound, the chamber opened. Inside, there was an object wrapped in cloth. After taking it into her hands, she returned to the chair. She removed the cloth that covered the object. It was a wine bottle made of wood.
She noticed the symbol carved upon it. It was a white circle. Below it, the name of that circle was written: Full Moon. She could not understand what it meant. But it bore a resemblance to the great light the sun of the island. She thought that, as the ancients said, it must represent the god who once gave light in the night. It was one of the gods who deceived the Great Light. Perhaps it was because that god had vanished that there was no light on this island at night.
Maybe those who once worshiped that god were the ones who first created this wine. That is why they gave the wine the symbol of that god. Yet, at that time, they had not imagined that the god would deceive them. And so, because the generations to come could not understand the meaning of that mark, they continued engraving it upon the wine bottle.
Lucy imagined the five hundred years of history behind this wine.Lucy poured it into the glass made of wood that was beside her. In the bottle, there was only enough wine to fill exactly one glass. Leaning back in the chair, Lucy took a sip from the glass filled with wine. As the taste spread across her tongue, her expression began to change.
"This tastes better than what Grandma said. Out of all the wines I've ever drunk in my life, this is the most delicious one. Still, I wonder why Grandma said that. Maybe, since she had spent all her savings to buy this wine, she expected it to taste even better."
Lucy finished the rest of the wine and then continued reading through the remaining pages of her grandmother's diary.
"I wanted you to know its taste as well. That's why I left one glass for you. For everything you did for everyone, I offer you my special thanks. And I especially thank you for giving my body a burial in the cemetery, instead of letting it drift away into the sea. The coins you gave me are not for nothing. In return, I give you my house. From now on, you can live here. You've always asked me one question would you like the answer now? You want to know my name, don't you? That is the last thing I have left to tell you."
She read the grandmother's name that was written there. The moment she read it, her forehead wrinkled.
"Perhaps it was because the name was so unpleasant that grandmother hesitated to tell me." A smile spread across her face. Then she burst into laughter. To make sure the name was truly her grandmother's, she read the name written in the diary once again.
"Lucy."
She closed the diary and leaned back against the chair, shutting her eyes.
"What a mysterious woman she was," Lucy thought to herself. Then, at some point, she fell asleep while sitting in the chair.
To be continued.....