A Sprout in the Abyss

Long before the boundaries of the present were anchored in the memory of the living, a man dared to seek the truth hidden behind the veil of Creation.

"... This is... So ironic..."

His mind—brilliant and unburdened by the shackles of common ignorance—began to unearth secrets that should have remained buried in oblivion.

"... The threads of fate... No, that's wrong... They were prayers... Right...?"

However, no matter how vast his wisdom was, knowledge did not bring him peace, but a sentence.

(...Clack... clack...!)

Upon peering into the depths of reality, his eyes beheld the primordial abyss, and the Truth he found there horrified him to his very core.

"... If this continues... The damage will be..."

That revelation dragged him instantly into a downward spiral of madness and despair, a vortex that triggered a tragedy of devastating proportions.

"... Haaah... I suppose there is... No other choice..."

In the process, the world around him fractured, stripping him of absolutely everything he possessed.

"... All was lost... Save for two fragile sparks..."

Among the ashes of devastation, only two small newborn lives survived; two pure, innocent existences crying in the midst of the disaster.

"... That tiny light... Now shines... Brilliantly..."

However, when the man gazed upon them with those eyes that had already been branded by the vision of the abyss, he saw no salvation.

"... Shining lost in the darkness... Wandering... And searching..."

In that moment, with a chilling terror, that man understood the inherent sin he would commit by raising them and the horror he would inevitably turn them into.

"... But what is it... That you are searching for...?"

Crushed under the unbearable weight of that future guilt and desperate never again to behold the shadow of what he had discovered, the man chose to blind himself, tearing out his own sight before allowing the darkness to consume him completely.

"... The cycles... Always demand their continuity..."

The hollow sockets of the entity—deep and abyssal—glowed with the serene light of purple flames that burned with a compassionate tranquility.

"... What is born of pain... To pain is destined to return..."

That ancestral gaze, devoid of malice yet heavy with the unalterable weight of fate, descended once more upon the still waters of the pond, murmuring in a voice that drifted like the distant echo of a bell in the middle of the void.

(...Clack... clack...!)

Upon the surface of the dark water, the reflection of the chimeric beast that Mireya had become thrusted violently.

"GWRAAAA-SHWIIIING-GROOOOOOOOO-GWAARRRGHHH-AAAAAAARRRGHHH!!!!!"

Beneath the gaze of authentic death and the little fairy, the beast raised its head, unleashing an agonizing roar that seemed to warp the pale ripples of limbo.

(... Ma... ma...?)

Watching the scene, the small sprout of green light began to tremble violently in the twilight air.

"The thread of his mind has snapped..."

Although the figure reflected in the pond was a chimeric mass of tearing claws, beastly fangs, and draconic wings, the essence emanating from that being was unmistakable to the fairy.

"Huh...?"

It was the energy of the one who had harbored her inside, gestating her with the warmth of his very soul.

(...Clack... clack...!)

However, what the tiny fairy felt now upon beholding the vision reflected in the pond was an overwhelming pain and suffering, as a colossal torrent of pure, dense, and blazing vital energy crushed the beast against the ground in agony.

"... Walpurgis..."

It was life itself transformed into a punitive weapon, a crushing weight against which the chimeric entity fought desperately to stay upright, driven by sheer rage and the raw instinct for survival.

"... That was the name etched into history for the endless night... The event in which a primordial witch emerged from the ashes of suffering."

... It was in that figure clinging to life... Fighting to live... To exist... That memories surfaced, returning one by one from that time long ago...

(... Mama... Is suffering...)

Yet none of that mattered to the little fairy at that moment as she watched the scene unfold.

"... It hurts... It hurts so much..."

Flora understood it in a single, gut-wrenching instant.

"KHRAAAAAA-OOOOOORRRRGGGH~!!!"

... That devastating roar... Was simply... A cry of rejection...

"... Walpurgis... And that world... Ky'lar... How deeply ironic..."

Life, turned into a punitive weapon, collided with a crushing weight against which the chimeric entity fought desperately to stay upright, driven by sheer rage and the raw instinct for survival.

"... The name bestowed upon it... Upon the endless night... The event in which a primordial witch emerged from the ashes of suffering..."

As the water distorted the battle, the thoughts of Death deepened into past memories.

"..."

Back then, from the event known as Walpurgis, a calamity was born—engendered by the accumulation of sins and the anguish of a single existence.

"... I wonder if you are aware... Descendant of chaos..."

That entity simply marched forward, scourging countless worlds that collapsed one after another before its unstoppable advance...

"... Even now... Bereft of memories... Unconsciously..."

... Until finally, an equal entity stood against it, attempting to halt its torment.

"... You are smiling."

However, in the present, that existence was no longer there.

"... Yet... It seems you forgot something... For pain... Never travels in a single direction."

In that moment, the entropic shockwaves in the material plane continued to resonate across the twilight pool, causing the quiet surface to fracture into concentric circles of grief.

(... She... Is crying too...)

As the reflection in the water distorted, the madness did not hold its epicenter in Mireya alone; instead, his shadow propagated like a subtle, devastating poison throughout the surrounding area, dragging others into the depths of suffering.

(¡...Ssssshhhhhh-fwooosh...!)

The water shifted in hue, turning murky and gelid as the image revealed half of the forest entirely frozen beneath a sheet of ice-cold frost.

"... GRRRR.... ARGHH...!!"

There, amid the winter silence, snow fell slowly upon the dying earth, settling over the ruins of crystal trees.

"Ggh... a-ahg...!"

And on her knees in the midst of the frozen desolation, a silhouette remained collapsed in a posture of pure agony.

"... Forged from the sparks... Of hope... The silver guardian..."

On her knees, the silhouette of a tiny valkyrie with long, majestic silver hair gripped her own head with bare hands in a desperate pressure, attempting to hold back the collapse of her own mind.

"... Flora doesn't understand... What's happening...?! What's wrong with Silver?!"

At the sight, the tiny fairy fluttered in the twilight air with frantic panic, desperate as she watched the valkyrie writhe beneath the cloak of black flames.

"... Small sprout of life... Her memories are unstable..."

In response to the horror in the fairy's voice that shattered the pond's silence—blinking in erratic spins as Silver's figure continued to lose its silver radiance before her eyes...

"... Her soul wanders on the threshold between existence and dissolution, and the bond with her 'mother'... Broken and overflowing with grief, distorts... Her perception..."

The voice of True Death emerged low and measured, echoing with a quiet calm beside the little fairy.

"... And she..."

Directly after, with a smooth, fluid motion, the entity's skeletal foot touched the still surface of the black pond once more, interrupting the frozen image of the valkyrie...

"... Is not the only one..."

Thus revealing through new concentric ripples expanding across the water—dissolving the scene of snow and dark flames to yield to a new corner of the battlefield.

(¡¡¡BOOOOOOM...!!!!!!)

As a result, the distorted water of the pond creaked in a series of violent waves that shook the twilight stillness.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA~!!!"

Through the reflection, the picture of panic was stained a deep crimson and incandescent red.

"... She who bears the divinity of an angel... Yet... At the same time carries the pain... Of a demon..."

Amidst a landscape devastated by fire and explosions, an unhinged, euphoric laughter echoed—utterly devoid of reason.

"... Golden guardian."

A demonic silhouette, wrapped in voracious blazes that consumed the vegetation and surrounding space, charged blindly, laying waste to everything in its path.

"I-Is that...?!... GO-GOLDIE...?!"

Completely beside herself, the creature unleashed a rain of blind, savage blows against a Great Spirit that could barely defend itself, reducing the imposing spiritual mass to scattered fragments with every uncontrolled, merciless physical impact.

"NOOO...!!!"

The scene was such that Flora screamed in absolute shock.

"... Do you wish... To behold more...?"

At that point, the little spirit princess vibrated with such panic that her outline almost dissolved into the void of limbo, shaking her head frantically.

"Flora doesn't want to look!! Flora doesn't want to feel these emotions?!"

Her mind refused to process what she was seeing.

"... So... Even here... You can feel them...?"

Her heart ached at being able to feel them.

"Sniff... It hurts...! It hurts so much!!"

Although the figure before her looked terrifying and consumed by madness, the underlying essence of demonic energy was unmistakable... She could feel it... And because of that...

"STOP IT!!"

Incredulity and horror crushed the little princess, helpless as she witnessed the being she knew destroying itself in a spiral of blind violence... It was then, in denial...

"... Very well."

... That she turned her gaze away from the pain.

"... You may turn your gaze away... But..."

With a soft whisper, True Death acceded to her prayer.

"... Truly... By doing so... Will you be satisfied... Little one...?"

The jet-black pond submerged once more into a smooth, motionless darkness, erasing the mirror of the physical world in an instant.

"Hic... hic...!"

However, even though the image was cut from the water, the violent emotions did not disappear.

"I DON'T KNOW!!"

Flora collapsed onto the frozen surface of the black pool, curling into a tight ball as she clutched her tiny chest with both hands.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO...!!"

Great tears of phosphorescent green light welled from her eyes, dripping and breaking the water's calm with brief flashes that dissolved into nothingness after causing small sprouts to bloom upon the surface.

"It hurts...! Sniff... Flora hurts so much...!"

Enraged and desperate, the little princess wept with a completely broken voice, trembling with the panic and confusion belonging to a child for whom the world has grown far too large.

"Mama... Mama...!!"

Among all the existences accompanying Mireya, she was the youngest, the smallest, and the most inexperienced—yet also the one who possessed the greatest hidden potential among her peers.

"... Sniff... Flora... What should Flora do...?!"

And still, that magnitude of power did not protect her from the agonizing weight of pain burning inside her.

"Buaaaaah... hic... uaaaah!!!"

She could only cry out in a suffocated whisper, unable to process the tide of suffering that threatened to drown her.

"...."

Beholding that scene, Death simply waited while the fragile spirit princess released the pressure.

"¡¡...Aaaaahhh... hg... uaaaaaaah...!!"

Yet despite feeling the madness of her mother and her sisters, at the same time, due to the origin bond connecting her with the Spirit Queen, she was equally incapable of hating the spirits attacking them.

"... The weight of empathy... Is far too heavy a burden... For a sprout that has not yet learned to bloom..."

She understood the agony of both sides, remaining trapped in the center of a tragedy where no true enemy existed to blame.

"... Yet... Precisely that..."

From above, the imposing skeletal silhouette observed the creature's ceaseless weeping...

"... Is what it means to live."

... Gazing down at her with gentleness.

(...Clack... clack...!)

And immediately, with a slow, measured movement that caused not the slightest noise, the imposing skeletal silhouette leaned slightly over the surface of the dark water.

"... Flora..."

The voice of True Death emerged like a warm breeze in the midst of the gloom, uttering the name of the little princess with absolute serenity.

"Uuuuuh...! WHAT?!"

Slowly, the entity extended its long finger of polished white bone toward the center of the lagoon.

"... Cry no more... Little sprout..."

Directly after, it gently rubbed the side of the tiny figure lying curled up, caressing the faint green light that would not stop trembling between sob-riddled breaths.

"?"

Death subtly raised its gaze toward the vastness of the twilight before fixing it once more upon the fairy.

"... You feel the pain of both sides... Because you were conceived by both..."

In that moment...

"... You must know... That there is still a way... Something you can still do..."

... Flora was on the verge of making a gamble.