Girl Beyond the Rift

“Oh, Dear Xilu, did you think our story would end here?” I uttered.

Nothing exists but blackness. I wish for a table, and it materialises in the world of darkness, as a familiar individual drapes his arm over my shoulders from behind.

“Oh my, looks like I won once again. Kekekeke.” The boy, Xilu, laughed.

“I have a bone to pick with you about that. I wish you wouldn’t frame it like a game. You know everyone is important to me,” I responded, annoyed by his comments. I hated how he continually robbed me of my family, my friends, and my loved ones.

Yet I understood why he did this; he was lonely. He was very similar to me. Only he could only exist as long as I willed for him, and I could only exist if he formed the Chalice. We were in a symbiotic relationship. As our eternity existed in this endless loop, all we had was each other. My hatred for him turned to pity.

Xilu took up a seat across from me.

“Kekekeke, I thought you had me that time. Shall our game continue again?”

“What’s the rush?” I responded as I materialised a cup of tea.

“I thought you would be more in a rush to save your beloved family?” Xilu teased.

“Indeed, I wish to be with my family, Lady Scarlet, Mr. Ren and all the others. But I see no reason to rush into a new game.” I replied before taking another sip from my tea.

“Have you finally given up on hope and realised the only way you can defeat me is to give up? If so, then I must concede my existence will cease, and you will fall into the same madness as me. KeKeKeKe”

“Xilu, as the curtain closes, do you know why I am the raven child?” I responded.

“Isn’t that what I called you?”

“Why did you call me that?” I asked him, though I already knew he wouldn’t get the answer correct. I may have once been a dumb girl, but as eternity dragged on, I came to learn many things.

“I don’t know, perhaps because you were the daughter of the little birdy? Because you observe events over and over like a raven?”

“True, both of those are reasons, but I also collect shiny things for later. You see, Xilu, I am a greedy, selfish girl.” I paused and picked up an orange that had been on the table. “Xilu, would you like an orange?”

“No, that’s alright. Though, I suppose if I were to want it, you would refuse anyway,” He shrugged.

“I would offer you one because oranges are indeed very good,” I replied as my lips twisted into a smile.

“What makes oranges so good?” He seemed curious now.

“Well, I suppose it’s the good outcome, Xilu, my dear friend.”

I peeled open the orange, and inside was a ruby, a fragment that shone like a crimson dawn, and what was lost was not. The chain that had been fastened to my ankle all this time shattered. I had long forgotten it was there. Perhaps it was the shackles of my mind. Either way, I was now free. The hope and joy I desired with that shackle was simply a device to hold me back.

Now, it crumbled to have something new. Something that Lady Scarlet and Mr Ren gave me. Something I truly desired. My mind remembers:

Deception.

Deception of oneself. Of myself.

The memory I forged to forget to trick the madness of myself and Xilu. For only if I’m deceived can Xilu be truly deceived.

The ruby, the fragment of a red herring, a world that was doomed to begin with, had to convince even me if I were to break Xilu’s madness and achieve the world I sought.

I may have failed many times. Endless times. And this time, too, I may have failed, but in this failure, I found my success. The four walls around us shatter. The mirrors, double glass mirrors, shatter, and the void of nothingness opens up to a meadow.

Xilu looks surprised as Buddy runs up to us. And gives us licks.

“How? How is this possible? If you succeeded, then I would cease to exist. Is that impossible?”

“Welcome, Xilu, to my rift. My world beyond your world. I realised that I simply had to deceive even myself this time. If I had done that, I would have reached this point, and your powers would be mine, and I would have lost nothing. I am a girl, and this is my rift.”

“You are truly awful. You wicked deceiver. You greedy girl.” Xilu looked darkly at me.

“Well, now I can finally end this endless loop of despair. I can finally have a world with all my friends.”

“Then I suppose it’s goodbye,” Xilu responded glumly.

“I said it was the world I desired. A world of happiness, without pain and suffering. What world would it be without my eternal friend?”

“You truly are a demon, greedy, selfish brat.”

“Well, every God needs a Devil. I have always been a selfish kid; I remember myself as a brat and will always be your Devil, Xilu. A Devil deceives, and I deceived you to fulfil my greed.”

Lady Scarlet and Mr. Ren approached us.

“I missed you, mother and father,” I responded as I hugged them.

“We missed you too.” Mr. Ren responded.

“Elizabeth, our dear daughter. Congratulations on achieving your desire.” Lady Scarlet added.

──✩₊⁺⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧──

The End