Egg World

Chapter 4 - Exclusive Reality

Illustration credit goes to Konomi at https://www.instagram.com/konomidrawz/

SYLVIE POV:

"And what are you supposed to be?"

His words resounded in my ears, blocking my hearing from the background noise. I stood there with what must have been a shocked expression on my face, not having expected Grey to be able to see me. I opened my mouth, grasping for words to respond with, when a man dressed in a red tunic with a golden tree embroidered on it walked up, followed by a company of soldiers.

"My king, we are here to escort you back to your residence in this city." Grey's attention turned away from me at the man's words to converse with him, but I stayed glued to my spot.

He can see me. This had only happened one other time, when my mother in her giant, armored form had spoken to me in the cave. My heart began to pound as Grey faced me again.

But this time, his eyes did not meet my own. Instead, they scanned over the area where I stood, and I recognized the same unfocused stare that I had seen in everyone else that couldn't see me.

"No, it's nothing." With those words, Grey walked off with his royal guard.

"Wait!" I shouted as I grasped at his back. As I should have expected, my hand passed through his armor, and he continued his exit off the stage without any indication that he had even heard me.

I followed him for a few more steps before my feet came to a stop. Uncertainty crept into my heart in regards to what I ought to do, now that Grey couldn't see me anymore.

"Why did you stop following?"

I whirled around at the new voice, assuming a defensive stance in my alarm. A beautiful woman stood in front of me, with long hair flowing down a simple, white dress. A soft, golden light surrounded her frame, making her look ethereal, like me, while what looked like glowing runes ran down her neck and arms. Her lavender eyes had a tender look in them as she smiled at me.

"Who are you?" I asked suspiciously, frustrated with how little I knew about everyone and everything in this place. The woman continued to smile. She walked towards me, and for some reason, as she drew nearer, I didn't feel a need to move away from her. I was still in my defensive crouch, however, when she knelt in front of me.

"Sylvie." The single word released all of the tension in my body, as my mind flashed back to the giant that had spoken to me as I had left the cave a while ago. I felt myself relax out of my stance.

"Mother?" The woman smiled more brightly in response.

Without hesitation, I flung myself into her arms, not even knowing whether I would be able to touch her or not. But for the first time since I had gotten here, I felt another living being as I buried my face into her shoulder and wrapped her hands around her neck. I felt her gently embrace me back in response, and I soaked in the experience of being able to feel the warmth of someone else again.

"Mother..." I felt tears fall from my face onto her shoulder as I continued to cling to her in the middle of the now-empty stadium. She held me silently while I cried.

I pushed back from her slightly to look at her face. "You were alive?" I asked.

My mother shook her head. "No, little one. My life ended a while ago," she said, still smiling. "This is just a bit of my will that moved over into this world when you gave Arthur your body. A part of an asura still continues in one sense through its will, but you can not call it being alive."

"This world...where exactly am I?"

My mother gazed up at the sky above us. "This is an exclusive reality, a world formed around your soul when you lost your body. It's made from Arthur's memories, but also your own. The world itself fills in the gaps in his memories or perception."