Side Story – To You, Waiting at the Ending (4
by Afuhfuihgs
Side Story – To You, Waiting at the Ending (4)
As the Magic King warned, the Labyrinth was a dangerous place. Walking along the compass, suddenly a wall would open and a monster I imagined under my bed as a child would pop out, or the perfectly fine floor would turn into a swamp, and an unknown sound would echo from the ceiling, distorting my sense of direction and vision.
“Alright, another light clear this time.”
It seems the words asking to be called Magic King weren’t just bluster. Every time he moved his staff, the monsters would freeze and disappear, or our bodies would float in the sky, and my ears would go numb, preventing me from hearing strange noises. Was my big brother’s advice that I shouldn’t trust talkative men wrong?
“Judging by the increasing number of bizarre phenomena, it seems we’re almost at our destination?”
“Is that so?”
“We might suddenly meet him. I don’t know what kind of place we’re arriving at either. Well, it’ll probably be a design that reveals his eccentric personality, leaving something as unfitting as a 100% throne.”
The Magic King, who approached me without any sense of distance, bringing his masked face close, looked at the compass I had placed on my palm. “As I thought, it’s broken in my eyes.” Judging by him muttering those words, it seems the compass, which appears to be pointing straight at the target to me, looks broken to the Magic King.
After moving again, following where the compass pointed, we soon discovered a bizarre creature that seemed to be a door.
“This is…?”
Turning my head and sending a curious gaze, the Magic King observed the creature with a serious face.
“A being that is alive but not alive… A creature of chaos, perhaps. It seems we’ve arrived after all.”
The Magic King, creating a mischievous smile beneath his mask, said.
“I can create a path so you can pass through for a moment. However, I don’t know what’s beyond that door. Illusions, or monsters, might be waiting. Or we might see the horribly changed appearance of the friend we’re looking for. How about it, do you need to prepare yourself?”
“I’m already prepared.”
I’m the type to throw myself into the abyss of the canyon without hesitation. I think the timing to act coy and stomp my feet has already passed.
“Alright, then… shall we open the gates of hell?”
*Hwik, hwik.*
I can hear the sound of the staff moving back and forth. A pure admiration flows out at the never-before-seen formula structure, wondering how that’s possible. Unlike before, the Magic King, who spent quite a long time completing the magic, finally aimed the staff at the door, and a pure white light created a hole in the door. To explain it accurately, the door wriggled to avoid the part where the light touched, creating a hole, though.
“Let’s go!”
At the Magic King’s shout, I immediately crossed the door. I felt a moment of dizziness. Something, it felt like it completely rummaged through my head. A feeling of my vision darkening… Ah, it seems I really did lose my sight for a moment, not just a feeling. What I see with my vision slowly regaining light is a place like the inside of a giant temple.
“As expected.”
As the Magic King predicted, there was a throne there. Someone was sitting on it. It was an existence wearing black armor that continued to ripple throughout its entire body. I could feel the Magic King beside me raising his vigilance to the extreme, so I also approached the throne slowly with a cautious posture.
“…Ah.”
There was something I could see only after getting somewhat closer to the throne. It was the appearance of a person with a gruesome appearance. Can I even call that a person? Almost no skin remains, and it’s a figure that barely maintains a human shape. It’s clearly a figure that has been subjected to terrible torture. Only the faint moans flowing out from what is presumed to be lips occasionally let me know that it’s still alive.
“Luna.”
I could come to my senses at the Magic King’s voice calling my name. While exploring the Labyrinth, I spent most of my time with difficult interviews, but I also received separate advice and warnings. Surprisingly, the Magic King seems to have a very considerate personality. Though that might just be my own thought.
Anyway, recalling the previous warning, I checked the compass. The place the compass is pointing to is… the direction of the person who is barely maintaining a human shape. The Magic King, confirming where my gaze was staying after I checked the compass, gritted his teeth, making a *kkeudeuk* sound. He was about to swing his staff at the existence sitting on the throne at any moment.
“…My friend comes first.”
Fortunately, the Magic King was a rational person. Nodding my head, I headed towards where the compass was pointing to regain the precious thing I had lost, which I had been searching for all this time, while the Magic King protected me. As the distance gradually decreased, I could feel the throbbing of my heart spreading throughout my entire body.
I missed him every single day without fail. It was even sadder because it was a longing for a reason I didn’t know. But now I’ll be able to remember everything again. Thinking that way and narrowing the distance even more, I couldn’t help but stop walking at the chill I felt down my spine at that moment.
“What, what’s wrong?”
“….”
The Magic King tilted his head, looking at me like that, but I couldn’t react at all and just stared at the thing in the shape of a person. I feel strange. It’s not just that I want to deny that it’s the person I loved that I can’t remember because it has such a gruesome appearance. What I’m feeling right now is a similar nature to what I felt when I met the man my parents introduced me to.
Something, it feels like this isn’t it.
It’s an unexplainable feeling, but that’s why it’s even more trustworthy. Hesitating for a moment, I turned my head towards the throne. The existence sitting on the throne isn’t doing anything. Why is it just standing still when an intruder is acting as they please? I turned my body and walked towards the throne.
“Uh, uh uh…?”
Suddenly, when the direction of my steps changed, the Magic King, who was following me to protect me, made a fuss and turned his head back and forth, comparing the throne and the thing in the shape of a person.
“I, is this right? That’s not my friend?”
“…I don’t know either.”
I’m just acting as my instincts lead me. Actually, I didn’t feel any of the intense feelings or attraction that commonly appear in novels at all. I thought it was the timing for it to appear, of course. I was just curious about the existence sitting on the throne right now.
“….”
No, the timing was accurate. Was it a novel based on experience, perhaps? As I got closer to the throne little by little, I could feel a bizarre feeling. The joy of regaining something I had lost. A feeling of realizing something precious… An intense feeling of happiness tingling all the nerves in my body made my steps even faster.
“…Lu, na….”
Even at the pathetic voice coming from behind, shaking my heart, I didn’t stop. Approaching the existence sitting on the throne, I grabbed the helmet with both hands and said, raising my trembling lips.
“I wanted to see you, I wanted to see you.”
As soon as those words ended… the face I wanted to see so much appears.
“Ross.”
No sooner had that word been spoken than a huge explosion erupted from behind. The Magic King swung his staff, blocking the surprise attack, and shouted in an angry voice.
“You sly bastard! You switched him out in the meantime?”
The fierce sounds coming from behind no longer reached my ears. Looking at the blue eyes that didn’t focus even when I called his name, I slowly lowered my head. Our lips overlapped. My soft lips were placed on his cold, rough, and dry lips.
It was such a happy moment that I didn’t want to cry, but tears started to well up on their own. I’m also slightly disappointed. I was expecting him to hug me tightly as usual and comfort me like a child when I was on the verge of crying.
“Ross, didn’t you want to see me?”
When I pouted my lips slightly and whined, I could see Ross’s eyes shaking. I bent my knees slightly to match his eye level and looked straight at Ross. Why did I forget? I could now desperately feel how precious what I had lost was. I had been as good as heartless all this time. I had forgotten that my heart could react so intensely.
“I’m, I’m… sorry for remembering so late.”
I apologized with sincerity. I should have found him sooner. I should have remembered sooner. For me, for everyone… I had to remember the idiot who sacrificed himself for me. My vision, which had become blurry with guilt, barely blocked the flowing tears with my sleeve.
“Luna….”
It was a very small voice that was cracked and hard to understand because he hadn’t spoken for a long time, but it was definitely Ross’s voice calling me. Slowly lowering my sleeve, I met Ross’s gaze, who was looking straight at me. The blue gaze that was looking straight at me.
I suddenly became afraid. I wondered if he would resent me for coming so late, if he had regretted his choice in the endless pain… I wondered if he would be disappointed to see me like this, and I had so many worries like that.
But Ross,
The Ross I know… is a very kind person.
And I didn’t doubt that he sincerely loved me.
Finally, Ross smiled with great difficulty and said this.
“…Didn’t you get too pretty while I wasn’t looking?”
At those very Ross-like words, I cried like a child and smiled happily again… I couldn’t decide on too many answers and worried like an idiot, but eventually chose to overlap my lips with Ross’s.
Even though a fierce battle between the Magic King and Nyarlathotep was taking place right behind me, the two of us didn’t care about anything but our overlapping lips.
I’m sorry, but it’s the moment I regained the whole world, so please understand. Mr. Magic King.
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