Chapter 93 : In the Dream Where the Flower of the Other Shore Blooms

The first thing Alisa became aware of in her life was a warm darkness.

Fragments of experience too few to form a personality. For her, who was merely floating in the sea of unconsciousness because of this, one day darkness came.

She first became aware of the world in the sea of dreams due to the darkness that swallowed ignorance and chaos.

A self more incomplete and dependent than others.

A patchwork crudely woven together from fairy tales read by her father and the unconscious of others.

My name is Alisa.

A being that only sleeps from the moment of birth.

A small, insignificant winter mouse.

-Alisa, Dad will tell you a fairy tale.

-Alisa, Mom and Dad are just waiting for you to wake up.

-Let’s go see a wonderful sight in Murmansk together.

-I love you, Alisa.

[I… love you too.]

-Alisa’s parents have gone missing?

-I heard they were scammers who lured desperate parents to bring money and then disposed of them.

-Oh my… then that child is now…

-Left alone.

[…]

Nevertheless, Alisa felt grateful to the darkness that enveloped her incomplete consciousness.

[If it weren’t for you, I would have been nothing.]

The darkness merely enveloped Alisa’s incomplete dream in silence.

[Thank you. Who are you?]

-The dark blue crow, I will someday devour you.

[Devour?]

-Due to a curse, my essence has become chaos that watches over and destroys humans.

[Then I’ll give you my name as a gift for waking me up.]

-Name?

[Yes. If you’re born into this world, use my name.]

-Alisa.

[It’s the only gift I can give you.]

Alisa ruminated on her parents’ disappearance and the numerous sins she had committed, which she had come to know in this incomplete world. No matter how she thought about it, she was nothing but a scrap that should quickly disappear from this world.

[I want to die like this. But I can’t do anything.]

-You don’t know death.

[No. I’m already dead.]

Alisa gratefully asked the darkness, another Alisa, who had briefly pulled her out of the sea of unconsciousness:

[Please. Let me create a dream where I can be punished.]

-I have a duty to watch over the world through you until the tea party begins.

[But I can’t see anything and don’t know anything?]

-Then this world will be nothing to me.

[When that time comes. Kill me. So that Mom and Dad can resolve their resentment towards me.]

Alisa knew this was self-satisfaction.

Even if she pathetically loses herself in a dream, it would mean nothing to her dead parents.

Even so, she couldn’t forgive herself.

When this winter ends, the Mom and Dad created by her unconscious will come to punish her.

When that time comes, even in the form of an insignificant mouse, let’s raise both arms high and run towards the two of them.

Let’s drive the nails of resentment pulled out by the two of them into this unworthy heart.

[I love you… and I’m sorry.]

* * *

“…”

“…”

Yeonseo and I were at a loss for words after hearing the story told by the dark blue crow… the magical girl of [Death], who had the exact same appearance as Alisa.

We had been sitting in the clearing for a long time, listening to the story told by the small black-haired girl.

Yeonseo had been shedding tears endlessly out of pity since the middle of the story. And in her arms was still the limp small mouse.

‘So that’s how born 3-star magical girls except [Revelation] descend.’

The reason why ordinary Emily Hopkins could act as [War]’s messenger.

And the reason why the magical girl of [Death] was indifferent to this world.

They originally devoured the personalities of the girls they inhabited due to their enormous power, and descended using the world they had observed as a criterion when the second red broadcast opened.

They couldn’t come out into the world until the girl they inhabited died.

All the cause and effect relationships fell into place. And I understood why the colorless Glass Star had prevented me from attacking Emily Hopkins.

‘I almost faced [War] unprepared.’

I felt my heart sink as I recalled the attacks on Emily Hopkins that I had hesitated over several times.

“So we waited here for the day of the tea party to arrive.”

“By tea party, you mean…”

“The brown cat, the mad hatter, the silver pigeon, and me.”

The dark blue crow.

“These four of us establishing a new order based on the world each of us has observed.”

“What happens to Alisa when that time comes?”

“She dies.”

As soon as she heard this, Yeonseo hid the mouse in her arms and glared strongly at [Death].

“You have no right to end someone’s life.”

“It happens whether I want it or not. And it’s what she herself wants.”

“There’s no way such an unreasonable thing could…!”

Yeonseo looked at [Death] with anger in her purple eyes. And the more she defended Alisa, the greater the guilt spreading from the small mouse in her arms grew.

“Asya, stop. You’re making Alisa suffer more.”

“Ugh…!”

Yeonseo could no longer say anything and just hugged the small mouse… Alisa.

I looked at the limp small mouse with a bitter expression. And I cast an illusion magic on the mouse to reflect its mental image.

Alisa’s figure, incredibly faint unlike the [Death] in front of us.

Even her self-awareness was weak.

[…]

“Alisa.”

[I want to die.]

“Don’t say such things.”

[It was a life with no difference between death and life, unable to do anything.]

“…”

[If another Alisa could live using this insignificant soul as nourishment, then…]

She would be satisfied with that.

But Yeonseo denied it.

“No. That’s not true! There must be a better way! I’ll help you make it happen!”

[A better way?]

“Yes, surely a better way than now.”

Yeonseo quietly looked at the chicken floating in the sky of the dream world.

The chicken was still laying shining eggs.

Beneath it, enveloped in light, was a castle made of cold snow.

The King and Queen.

The place where the strong collective unconscious created by Alisa’s guilt resided.

“Let’s find out where Alisa’s guilt started from. And overcome it.”

[…]

“Let’s go find the precious things forgotten in the nightmare.”

Yeonseo started walking, preciously holding the small mouse in her arms. The magical girl of [Death] just quietly watched from behind.

If.

If there was a way to coexist with Alisa without being caught up in [Death]’s great power.

If there was a way to somehow persuade those we thought were enemies.

I wanted to choose that.

‘But it’s impossible to compromise with [War]…’

[Revelation] with no purpose other than the given order.

[Death] who wanted to fulfill the wish of the girl who gave her name.

Unlike them, [War] strongly desired chaos on her own.

Why?

Her methods were too closely tied to the human world to simply hate humanity.

‘Even Emily Hopkins loved humans, just in a twisted way. She didn’t hate them.’

I was just quietly following them, lost in complex feelings.

We walked on in silence for a long time, and finally arrived right under the giant chicken.

A castle made of cold snow.

The execution ground Alisa wanted.

The soldiers made of medical charts were still searching in the forest, so the inside of the castle was quiet without any sign of people.

Whooosh

Only the sound of our footsteps echoed in the corridor where a cold winter wind blew.

“No one… is here?”

“This is the deepest part of Alisa’s unconscious.”

[Death] and I were following behind Yeonseo, prepared for any situation.

Yeonseo, holding the small mouse in her arms, moved forward.

“It’s scary. I was like that before too.”

[…]

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

When the small Alisa in her arms started trembling with fear, Yeonseo wrapped her in purple energy. And she continued moving towards the deepest part of the castle.

-We were killed because of you, Alisa!

-Such a useless girl.

-You should disappear from this world.

Whispers echoing in the corridor.

They appeared like ghosts and hurled abuse at Alisa who had entered this place.

-You should never have been born!

-Just wasting a hospital bed, you useless thing.

-Die!! Just die!! You bug who can’t even die alone!!

“No.”

Yeonseo spoke clearly for Alisa’s guilt that filled the corridor to hear, her purple energy rippling.

“No one is born into this world without meaning.”

The numerous dreams of those [Dream] had watched over.

They rose like purple mist and drove away the evil spirits spewing abuse.

“No one is born into this world to die.”

Overcoming past despair.

Desiring today’s happiness.

Believing in tomorrow’s hope.

Eating delicious food, being with loved ones, smiling at bright sunlight, sitting comfortably in a warm room, smelling fragrant flowers, drinking a cool glass of water, running in the free wind, letting your body sway to the sound of waves.

Such small but happy dreams.

The world Alisa hadn’t seen.

And the world Yeonseo once couldn’t see either.

The evil spirits born from guilt scattered due to the warm temperature shown by the dreams.

Yeonseo and Alisa moved towards the deep part of the cold corridor, using the warm dreams as a lantern.

“They’re coming from behind too.”

“I’ll handle that.”

At the casual remark from the magical girl of [Death], I took out her unique weapon, the scythe.

“…”

[Death] was looking at me with strange eyes as I was already using her weapon that should have only bloomed later.

I swung the scythe to cut down the remnants of unconsciousness rushing from behind.

The giant scythe being swung.

A silver trajectory.

Swish

They disappeared within the silver trajectory curved like a crescent moon, uttering curses ephemerally like mist.

-Aaaaah!! Die Alisa!!

-Because of you!! Because of you!!

-You maggot who can’t do anything on your own!!

The fragments of guilt that a girl had carried her entire life melted away by warm dreams and were cut by a scythe filled with firm will.

We moved forward like that, lightening the weight of life carried by a girl who had lived her entire life in the sea of unconsciousness.