Ch.238Report on the Downfall of Restraint (3)

The broken string crumbled. Elisabet lowered her arms and then slowly raised them up again.

A barrier of black fire rose following her gesture. It seemed she was trying to block out distractions.

“Ash tree, firm and steadfast ash tree, your daughter beseeches you. Hold the cracked and dry earth with your roots, shield us from the blazing sun with your spread leaves, draw up what has seeped in, and let what cannot fade away bear fruit.”

The ground trembled. The demon sword, Hope’s hilt, became covered in green moss.

New shoots grew from the pommel’s end, and the crossguard spreading to both sides became two branching roots.

As if time were rapidly fast-forwarding, the tree grew quickly.

The light green of late spring turned into the deep green of midsummer, and as autumn approached, it changed to a healthy, solid brown.

When winter came, it seemed to shrink back, but when Elisabet gently waved her hand, spring winds blew again.

Now the tree had grown to about the size of an average person. Yet it didn’t stop.

Kairos tensed slightly when he saw its roots sucking in the darkness of the earth, but he observed that the more it absorbed, the more vigorously it grew, sprouting more glowing leaves.

“Seeds fallen on rock cannot sprout. Those fallen among thorns cannot grow properly either. Light can only grow fully when embraced by shadow. Darkness is sufficiently wide and light peacefully deep, so please let the sprout emerge.”

Branches extended from the tree. They carefully approached Laios and Ismene, gently wrapping around the two lovers.

Soon, the stakes were pulled from the apprentice knight’s body and rolled onto the ground. Ismene’s open wounds healed rapidly.

Her frowning face gradually relaxed, her closed eyes opened, and tears returned to her withered body.

“We…”

Laios struggled to speak. Elisabet shook her head.

“Children always get into trouble like this. But what can you do? Even adults were once children and made the same mistakes.

But each time, some adults would roll up their sleeves and help. That’s how it was for me and him. So now I must give to you what I received.”

“What are you giving us?” Ismene asked cautiously. Elisabet gently stroked the apprentice nun’s hair.

“Life.”

At those words, Laios bowed his head.

“…Do I deserve to receive it?”

Ismene took his hand. Elisabet watched them for a moment and then smiled gently.

“Why don’t you ask yourself? If you owe something to the world, you should repay it before you go.

If there’s something to receive, it’s good to receive as much as you can. And if something is knotted, it should rightfully be untangled.

A terrible curse circulates within your bodies. An unholy cycle. A cycle of terror where evil begets evil. You understand, Laios. How evil begets evil.”

With belated shame, he bowed his head. Ismene silently but firmly held her lover’s hand.

“We were in so much pain,” she asked Elisabet. “Must we still continue living?”

“If you stop with only pain in your hearts, wouldn’t that be too cruel?

You’ve struggled your entire lives until now, so you deserve some peace. For example… how about a life where you can be with your loved one forever?”

Ismene’s eyes widened. Laios moved his lips silently as he looked at Elisabet.

The priestess of shadows embraced the lost, wandering children tightly with both arms.

“Take root in this land, and reap what you have sown yourselves.

Wait for the world while in this land, until they come to apologize to you. Give the world a chance, just as you give yourselves a chance.

It’s harsh and difficult. Especially alone. But if there are two of you, or three or four, eight or ten, a thousand or ten thousand… countless others together, how would that be?”

“Would it really be all right for us?” Ismene’s eyes gradually moistened.

She had been counting the days, waiting for this moment to come. But she thought it would be much later.

She believed that to become like that, she would need to be better than she was now, that she couldn’t remain in her current miserable state.

So when the moment actually came, it was hard to believe. She had yearned for it so desperately, waited for it so long, that when it finally arrived, she couldn’t recognize it.

Instead of answering, Elisabet looked up.

Laios and Ismene followed her gaze. They looked at Kairos in his black armor, standing firmly with sword and staff in hand.

“What do you think, Kairos? You who have come a long way to find them, what would you say? You who have wandered the world looking for them longer than I have. Would it be all right for them?”

“I cannot answer that,” Kairos said.

“It’s for them to decide. But whatever decision they make, I will respect and accept it.”

Elisabet’s face was filled with apology.

“Then, just as you arbitrarily asked me for a favor, I must ask you for one too.”

“I know. Since I asked a witch for something, I must repay it threefold.”

“Protect everyone. Until they settle in. Me, my daughter, these two here, so that those outside this veil who cannot make a decision can make up their minds.”

Black fire spread from beneath Elisabet’s feet. Her lips trembled slightly, but she forced a smile as she greeted them.

“Thank you.”

“Thank you.”

The veil surrounding them gradually subsided.

Elisabet placed her hands on Laios and Ismene’s heads. Dark, warm fire flowed down from their crowns, along their cheeks.

“Before the Tree of Life, I ask. To those who have searched for each other for so long and finally found their companions, I ask.”

Laios tried to say something, but Ismene pinched his hand. Elisabet tried hard not to laugh. As an apprentice priest, he would have known the marriage ritual well.

“Will you overcome all the world’s sufferings together? Even if everyone turns their backs on you, will you entrust your hearts to each other and move forward?

Will you offer what is righteous to heaven, let what is unrighteous flow into the earth, and walk side by side on the long, distant path of living and breathing eternally with the world?”

“Yes,” Ismene answered. Laios hesitated a little, but soon blushed and answered, “Yes.”

Elisabet smiled brightly.

She knew it should be solemn, but the thought of looking after children who had only grown physically, the memory that she and Heinrich had been exactly like these two when they secretly married, came to her.

“Then solemnly declare to each other.”

This time Ismene waited. Laios placed his hand on her chest. Unintentionally, it was the same place where he had inflicted and torn wounds.

“My heart is your heart.”

Ismene embraced him. She caressed, smoothed, and comforted each and every wound that had been pierced by stone stakes.

“I entrust my heart to you.”

Choked with emotion, the two could barely speak.

The barrier of fire lowered further, and the beasts with rising spirits growled, but Elisabet and Kairos waited.

Finally, the two declared in unison, holding their trembling hearts steady.

“We who have become one heart are happy.”

The two kissed. At last, the ash tree that had been holding its breath grew. It embraced the kissing couple protectively with its thick trunk.

Their fragile and soiled skin gradually hardened. Their anxiously trembling bodies slowly became firm.

Though the snowstorm drove against them more fiercely as if jealous, they no longer shivered.

Like babies who cry at birth and finally fall asleep, they breathed quietly.

They who had become one heart, after wandering apart, took root and wove their lives together.

And so they became trees.

Elisabet closed her eyes and gently placed both hands on the trunk. The tree stirred and moved.

As it had done until now, it absorbed the deepest shadows and returned the hidden light to the world through its leaves.

Hopes that spread from the demon sword Hope stirred.

What the beasts held in their hands grew as if they were seeds.

The entranced beasts each dug into the ground and planted them.

They too, like Elisabet, like Laios and Ismene, placed their hands gently and waited.

Soon, sprouts vigorously rose from the ground. Though not as large as the great ash tree, various trees resembling it grew.

Eventually, glowing trees took root in the ground.

The trees that embraced the beasts guided them to peaceful sleep and silence.

What needed to be released was released, what needed to be settled was settled, and what needed to flow away was allowed to flow. What was not yet ready remained within the trunk.

The things that would eventually emerge when the world finally breathed as one with them would stir inside the trees, waiting for their time.

Suddenly, Maria fell to her knees. Kairos tried to support her, but he saw the stirring beasts.

Those who had thrown away hope early were confused, scratching other trees, even trying to pull out other beasts, but the trees did not let them approach.

So the beasts gathered, gnashing their teeth. The ritual was not yet complete. Kairos stood in front of them to block their way.

Fortunately, Maria grabbed the tree and stood up. But she still seemed disoriented. Then the large ash tree emitted light.

A long shadow fell behind Maria. Black fire blazed fiercely, then slowly walked out from the shadow. Eventually, it transformed into a human figure.

She resembled Maria but looked younger. Her eyes were larger, and her face was full of mischief.

“I think I’m prettier. Don’t you agree?”

Maria snapped her fingers.

Sweaty and trembling, it didn’t work properly at first, but eventually she managed to raise a tiny light. But the shadow, the black fire, did not rise.

The woman of black fire gently covered her hand. It was warmer than expected, and Maria, startled, tried to withdraw her hand before relaxing.

“Heinrich doesn’t have a handsome face. He’s rather rugged. From what I can see, hmm, you look more like Haspel.”

Maria could only let out short gasps of “ah, ah.” Tears blurred her vision, making her angry. The woman of fire shrugged and laughed.

“That’s definitely like me. The quick temper.”

“M-m-mom. Mom…”

Maria opened her cracked lips. A word she hadn’t used much since growing up. A word still awkward to say.

“I’m sorry, my daughter,” Elisabet embraced Maria. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I never got to hold you.”

“Mom. Mom.” Maria collapsed, unable to hold herself up. Elisabet couldn’t steady herself either.

“I’m sorry for giving you something bad. Was it hard? I’m sorry. Mom will take it away.”

“D-don’t go. Don’t go.”

“Appreciate me while I’m here. You cursed me so much when I was inside.” Elisabet tried to roll her eyes, but it didn’t seem to work well.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Mom, I’m sorry… I’m sorry… don’t go. Please…” Maria flailed. She held on desperately. Surprised, Elisabet patted her as if soothing a child.

“It’s okay. Mom’s not going anywhere. Mom’s not going anywhere.”

But Elisabet’s flames gradually diminished. Maria tried to hold onto her body, but there was nothing she could do about the flames cooling from her toes.

But Kairos saw it. The end becoming a new birth.

The cooled ashes curled up, and eventually tore through a cocoon. It was a black butterfly. A butterfly that scattered faint but definitely bright light.

“Mom.”

Maria wailed. Elisabet embraced her daughter tightly one last time.

“I love you, Maria.”

“I-I love you, Mom.”

Soon, countless butterflies rose from her body. They circled around Maria for a long time, then flew to the beasts that had become trees.

Flying between the trees, the butterflies transferred embers. From this tree to that one, from that one back to this one.

Maria raised her head. She no longer shed tears. Instead, she put her hands together. Light quietly gathered in her hands, rippling.