The Legends of Anigma: Ethiel Archer | ONC 2023

PART XL

"I saw... skeletons..." Ethiel spoke as he recalled. "I heard whispers... and... I felt someone was beside me..."

The spirit giggled.

"Explain to me... now what was that..." Ethiel asked for an explanation, sitting lifelessly with a pale face as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Did you think you're the only one who wants that fragment? People have come before and will keep coming. Some have even died trying. As for those presence you feel. They're people from other universes. I don't know really?" The spirit winked, implying the last part was a lie. It did know. That smug expression was a testament of that.

"Every time I get used to one thing, there is always another... Is this trial even possible?!" Ethiel suddenly snapped. "How is anyone supposed to do this?! That forest was one thing, but this is completely something else!" He looked out at the black space. "Why are you doing this to me?!" His attention came back to the spirit. "Why?!... Why..." sorry whimpers burst out of his mouth. "I feel like I'm losing my mind... I no longer even know... for how long I've been here..."

"Tch." The spirit scoffed, an annoyed smile flickering on its face. "I can't believe you passed the Cave of Truth. That credulous spirit really gets impressed by just anyone. Know this. I'm not like that. This is the real trial. And if you can't succeed in this, you don't deserve the fragment — leave alone the Pyramid of Lomeyin. And you're asking me if this trial is even possible? You little crybaby, you thought no different of the forest either. Now the forest seems better? In that same forest, your friend, the one you call Lord Veer walked as if it was a stroll in some park. This is possible; but not with a pathetic, untamed mind like yours, nor with such a feeble, hopeless attitude."

Those words hit as stones.

"Those Anigmans trust you, your Lord Veer trusts you, your little sister looks up to you, even that red parrot; and your mother entrusted you with this quest mainly. What a waste of time. They are all fools to have put their trust on you."

Self-confidence broke like glass inside Ethiel.

"I will tell you what is impossible: you defeating Rak Sharas." The spirit sat up and ogled him with disappointed eyes. That smile remained but it wasn't amused anymore, it was just smiling as if its judgement was right — maybe its judgement of him. "You don't got it in you, lover boy. You might as well just leave."

Ethiel looked down with shame; deep down, he believed the same. However... he wasn't going to walk out on everyone's trust. He couldn't. He wasn't going to abandon his dream of seeing his mother again.

And so, he clenched his fist, dusted off the devil on his shoulder that said he couldn't do it, pieced together his self-confidence, and got up on his feet, determined eyes looking into the eyes of the spirit.

"I will not leave. I will rather die trying. Those people were not wrong to entrust me with hopes. None of them." His voice shook, but he wanted to say that, not only to the spirit but also to himself.

"Empty words mean nothing. Actions make things happen. Prove it." The spirit replied.

Saying anything more was indeed a waste of time, an empty promise. Ethiel turned on his heels and once again walked to the cosmic field, but this time, he wasn't hesitant.

The merciless cosmic field attacked him, but he walked through it, faster than before. He cried. He bled. He got wounded. He hurt, inside and outside. Memories ambushed his head. But he didn't stop. He took one firm step in front of the other briskly and boldly, not willing to turn back. He went beyond his previous record, way beyond. Skeletons appeared under and around him and disappeared as quickly. Whispers from the other people in the other universes bulleted him from every direction. He tried not to bother any of it and continued, but his body was nearing his limit once again.

He closed his teary bloodshot eyes, clasped his head, and took heavy steps forward, his mind on the border of conscious and unconscious. The realistic wounds made him bathe in his blood. Images flashed past him and through his head. If he continued, he knew he was going to die, but he didn't want to turn tail or call out to the spirit... not again...

Some more distance and the pain became unbearable. He dropped to his knees, holding his head and chest, his teeth too tired to grit.

He got into a memory again... but it was choppy...

His mother was in front of him, tears in her eyes... They were sitting at some place and there was chaos around them... and it felt they were in Anigma... And it seemed to be going up in flames, getting destroyed in every passing moment... There was a war happening... A monstrous voice laughed, but it seemed to be in pain... It felt intimidating... and that intimidation... he only felt that in his dreams of... Rak Sharas...

He could feel Tifa by his side, crying. His own face was twisting and turning with sadness.

"We failed... I'm so sorry... This is all my fault..." He heard himself say in the memory, tears running down his cheeks in streams.

His mother took him and Tifa in her hands and hugged him tightly. "Shhhh...It doesn't matter... You did great... I'm always proud of you. And... I love you... my children..."

The peace in that chaotic melancholy was like anesthesia. The memory stopped there.

His consciousness started fading slowly and he couldn't hold it anymore. It became water that couldn't be held, and then it became air, leaving him altogether...

Everything became black. Voices faded into a numbing silence, interrupted at intervals by a messy clarity of words from new memories. His body felt lighter, as if it was afloat.

Soon, there was nothing. He was just there. Somewhere. Black all around. No words. No whispers. Just an "om" like sound extending infinitely. He felt nothing. He became nothing. And when he became nothing, he suddenly became... everything...

In the darkness, he saw an orb light, tiny glowing particles floating about it. The orb of light expanded and engulfed what he thought was him — a body he couldn't even feel. Surrounding him, once again, was the black and green cosmic field. In it, he saw himself, floating... dead...

Maybe that was how afterlife, he thought. And he couldn't understand why he no longer felt sad or guilty or overwhelmed. He could feel and see everything, but yet nothing.

He saw memories of his actual past. Memories of Tifa, of his time in Anigma, of Lord Veer, of Maya — and even Red Wings? — and then he saw his childhood memory, one with his mother. She smiled at him as he hugged a toy. That smile made him sad and happy...

His body flinched in the cosmos.

He was alive... or at least, he wasn't dead yet...

However, any effort he made to get back into his body failed. And so, his consciousness remained in the cosmos, looking at his memories, reliving them, those good times when his family was complete...

But then...

"Ethiel..." He heard a familiar voice of an adult girl, but it wasn't his mother's. It was in agony and pain, just like he was, a few moments ago, when he was in the cosmic field. "Ethiel..."

That voice... it maybe... It belonged to Tifa!

She was in trouble! He couldn't understand why she sounded like that... but he didn't bother about it.

His concsiousness gathered all his will and everything he had, every fibre of his being, whatever remained of it. His body flinched again in the cosmos. He put more effort into it, and focused on controlling his body. After strenuous effort, his eyes opened in the cosmos. His consciousness flashed through the cosmos, strams of neon colours shooting past it.

Ethiel gasped for breath and opened his eyes. He was in the field again, lying on the dark grass.

Beside him, a girl lay sprawled, spirit- like in form, spirit dust coming out in ribbons from her and fading into the cosmos. Her hair were blonde and her eyes were green, just like his own.

She was fainting, her face grimacing in pain.

She strained and whispered, "Ethiel, my little brother... I will make... everything... alright... hang... on..."

"Tifa?" Ethiel whispered her name, stretching out his arms to her.

"Et... Ethiel?..." She recognised him.

Ethiel's heart sank and tears sprung up his eyes.