▶[Mär's Vision]
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It was the moment of absolute silence—and then, he found me again.
I could no longer feel my body.I could no longer feel anything.
I was alone.Yes, alone again.
In this darkness... endless,bottomless,soundless.
What could I even say…?
At least,I had vanished without pain.
…
Maybe I was where I was meant to be—wondering if everything I had lived before wasn't just another foolish illusion.A vivid glimpse of something tangible, too vast to grasp.
So many questions left unanswered…And I…
For—what?
I hadn't…
started anything,
built anything,
lived anything.
I had only
listened,
tried to understand,
tried to grasp.
Barely brushed—barely grazed—a world so strange it still felt unreal.
Could I really leave just like that?Without knowing anything beyond this chamber?Without even knowing where I came from?Without ever being able to master my own existence, to face destiny?
Do they really have the right to decide for me how I must die?If I appeared here… didn't I have something to accomplish on my own?Must I let my life be reduced to nothing but a worthless scrap tossed aside by others?
Don't I have the right to start again?
Don't I have the right to my chance?
…
Don't I have the right to live?
To feel…
…
Then the silence was broken by my only beacon in the night.
…
The spark that gives hope—
The beating of my heart.
"I'd like to know, Mär—Just like all the others,did you only come down here by constraint?"
Then another.
Bellian…
I think I know now why I can't bring myself to die…not yet.
After…waiting so long for that stupid moment…meeting your eyes, facing your gaze,and seeing that immense, living chamber in my turn,trying to accept its incomprehensible laws—
After seeing you wield that strange power,as marvelous as it was devastating,bending the world to your will—
After hearing you describe the greatness of what lies beyond…
Again and again.
After seeing my face in that water.After realizing this body was mine…After understanding that the laws of this world surpassed me.After those bandits came and unleashed hell—
Stronger.
And above all,when I realized my end was inevitable.
That's when I understood.
"I'd like to know, Mär—Just like all the others,did you only come down here by constraint?"
Louder now.
Since the moment I opened my eyes,I've known the answer to that question.
No—I didn't come here by constraint.
It's the exact opposite.
That's why—
...
I CANNOT DIE NOW.
...
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I couldn't feel my eyes—and yet, I saw it.
A child… a golden silhouette.
He opened his mouth,his lips moved,but I couldn't understand his first words.
"𐌕𐌖𐌍 𐌌𐌂𐌖𐌕 𐌖𐌍𐌕𐌙𐌌"
…
His eyes—blue, gold, orange—colors of the instant—lit up my very existence.
And… that's when I heard the words.
…
"This time, you'll forget our faces in a bright light—and remember us only through a white veil…"
I tried to speak, to move, to respond—but nothing.
At last, he gave me one final look,and in my feverish haze,his lips shaped wordsthat made me shiver—as if it were what I'd always wanted to hear.
Neither farewell nor goodbye.
"I can't wait to play with you for real."
⿴
And… that's when, from the nonexistent,I felt a current surge through me,awakening my consciousness.
A message urging me to believe—to make my treasure beat—hard, harder,again and again,EVEN HARDER.
I listened to the whisper,embraced its vow,and reaching for it,my hand stirred before me.
My body followed—broke its sleep—and I was freed.
Embracing that force,seeking any way out,a tiny light appeared—an indescribable handle on the future.
I took it without hesitation, without understanding,and I swore.
I thought.I made my desire beat within me.I gave meaning to my life,and I swore to reach the end of these halls—to the very last chamber of this world—and one day discover…
WHY—WITH THIS HOPE IN HAND—I EVER APPEARED HERE.
That strange glow became a vast white veil,its immeasurable warmth overwhelming mein a flood of sensations.
I heard cries,screams,birth,the pain of a thousand lives,agony,the crash of infinite endings.
In the single fraction of a second when my hour struck—the time it takes to blink—that power shattered,faded,and vanished as quickly as it had come,returning to where invisible forms sleep.
Then came stillness again—a blinding calm of immaculate light.
That's howI felt my heart beating once more on the cold ground.
As I rose, I found again those gusts, those scents,that eastern breeze I had missed—
Life.Nature.Peace.
That final jolt had silenced even the danger.No more beasts,no more noise,no more—
I heard something—and it brought back my sight.
The veil lifted—and though I stood where the great worm had swallowed me,at the bottom of a vast crater—death was no more.
It was as if a voice called out to me.
I lifted my eyes—and saw him again.Bloodied, exhausted,but alive.
He descended at full speed toward me,defying all reason.
The silence broke—and my awakening was complete.
He called out again—
"M Ä R !"