What's Real In The Unreality

The girl looked at him with a peaceful smile and gentle eyes, like she just found a lost kitten and now she was wondering what to do with it: it seemed like she held his future on the palm of her hand, and it seemed like she was happy about it. Akira replied with a cold glance, wondering what she was going to do with him: she didn’t seem like a normal person, but neither she seemed to be aggressive to him, more like she was ready to play with him like a baby with a new toy. That was the feeling that struck him when he asked her if she had brought him where he was now: if she was there and considered him her toy, then that meant that she had to know that he had just arrived there, and that meant that she probably knew something about why he arrived in this world – or better, as he was the one deciding to leave his reality, WHY he was the one chosen to be able to escape reality. Now they only needed to start the dance, and the signal was given by the girl in front of him, which started the music and so the waltz between the two, even though it was more similar to a duel.

“Oh, come on, don’t look at me with those eyes. I have done nothing yet to deserve this treatment, haven’t I?” asked she, contemplating Akira like he was an exotic animal. A feeling which Akira didn’t like.

“You didn’t answer my question. I will repeat it once again: who are you and why did you bring me here?”

“Why do you think I was the one to bring you here?” replied she, with her smile now also transmitting an idea of malice, like she was really toying with him in order to see if he could fulfil her expectations.

“Maybe because you said it yourself? You said that I proved myself to be better than you expected. That means that you had a role in why I arrived here: pretty stupid of you to say that.”

The girl looked at him with the same expression as before, but now she seemed to have had another change of spirit: now she seemed to be amused by his words, but at the same time to be a bit disappointed. He did not understand if by herself or by him.

“Perhaps it is like you say, or perhaps not: who knows?” she replied, still smiling. “But I can only say this: I knew you were coming, and, well, I took a personal interest in you, let’s put it that wa-“

“I don’t fucking care if you are interested in me or not. For god’s sake, I literally just asked you two questions: who-are-you and why-am-I-here. Now, answer me, or we do not have anything to talk about, whoever the hell you are” erupted Akira, irritated by her way to just overlook his questions, like he was really her toy to play with: a feeling that Akira hated, hence why he kind of exploded.

“Oh my, you are not very well-mannered, you know? You shouldn’t talk like that to your protector. Mmmh…. Maybe a punishment would be good enough to make you understand your situation. Kneel before me, pretty please” said the girl. Immediately, a force started pushing Akira to the ground, just like if gravity force started to get more intense just because that girl said it. Still, it wasn’t enough to make Akira kneel, but it was enough to make him lose his breath for a second and to make him feel an insane pain in the point where he was hit by that monster before: he probably had something broken and the pressure that was exercised upon him was probably doing him some internal damage, with bone splinters that could have perforated some of his internal organs putting him in danger. Plus, she was just trying to break more bones, just to make him suffer more. But after a while the pressure returned to be normal and Akira could stand up again, even if he felt an intense pan that was slowly debilitating him. That being was clearly not human: a power like that, those strange clothes… who the hell was she? 

“Amazing! Even though you were put under such an intense pressure, you still managed to stand, with even some broken bones. You really are something special, Akira Demoni, 22 years, with a past as dark as that famous dark wood in which Dante woke up. Maybe you are one of the three beasts that he encountered?” said she, between a serious amazement and the will to just toy with him more. 

“Shut the fuck up!” screamed Akira, totally losing his temper, “The fuck do you know about my past, about me?! WHAT?!”. 

“Oh, I know all of it, Akira. That’s why I find you so interesting, so… amusing. Do you want me to start exposing what you did in your previous life, like what happened with Ma-“.

“Stop. Right. There” said Akira, with his lowest voice possible, looking towards her with the same murderous eyes that the beast before showed him when he killed his partner “I don’t care if you are a divinity, an immortal being, even God: tell that name, and you are finished”. He knew he couldn’t stand a chance against a being who clearly was not human and with capabilities far greater than his, but still, he wasn’t going to make her toy with him anymore. Not now, at least.

“Oh, my, you haven't learned anything from that punishment. But... I guess this time can be considered my fault, maybe I went too far with it” excused she “But, you are such a funny creature to play with: if only you were also a bit younger, I think I would have taken you as my personal pet for everything – a really good image, don’t you think?” Then, she laughed, as to dismiss that as a silly thought, but which was still creepy indeed. Then, she returned to her peaceful expression, which Akira could say was as fake as her harmonious aura, and said “But I think that, after this rambling of mine, it is right that you at least know some… vital info about who I am, at least. You see, my name is Meilìs, and I am one of what you humans call gods, even though it is not technically correct to call us like that”.

At does words Akira’s eyes narrowed, making his expression look even more truce than what he normally was. “For fuck’s sake, a god, really?” thought Akira “Well, at least that would explain why she consider me as a toy, and why she seemed to had a role in me being here, but the amount of people affected by god’s complex in my world are a lot, so she could also be one of those people, a human who believed too much into her power that she gave her humanity away and thought about becoming a god, even though she is still a human. Maybe she studied medicine, I don’t fucking know. But that would also explain why she has those inhuman powers… or maybe it is much simpler and magic really exist: if that is the case, then, yeah, she could be only a megalomaniac.” Following this line of thought, he was going to say that he didn’t believe that she really was a goddess, just to see what her reaction to that would have been, but before he could even spit a word that self-proclaimed goddess called Meilìs started laughing of a crystalline yet terrific laugh. Really, it is strange how some things can be beautiful yet at the same time dreadful: these are the moments when humans really understand what the sublime is, just the expression of the reality being itself, following the principle of “deinòs”, a Greek word which can be considered the real expression of the term “sublime”. She laughed for a brief period of time, before recomposing herself and saying “Oh, Akira, I know you too much, really… Just to show you that I am really what you humans call a goddess and to show you that I mean no harm to you, I will perform a… special action that maybe could be enough to make you believe me”. Then, she slowly walked past me, towards the corpse of Priscilla, which was still a bit warm, even though it was slowly starting to get cold, also thanks to the environmental conditions: then, when she got close enough to her corpse, Meilìs took her hand and put it against her heart, then she only said a word

“Mellè”

Just like what Priscilla said before dying, she also pronounced words that were totally unknown to Akira, but this time, a voice in his head immediately translated it into Japanese, just like he had an automatic translator installed in his mind that he hadn’t before. Thanks to that, Akira understood what she said: it was only a word, which normally would have been pointless to say to a dead:

“Breathe”.

Then, she let Priscilla’s hand go and made some steps back. After a while, what could be called a miracle happened: Priscilla’s chest started going up and down, like if she was breathing for real. At the same time, her face started gaining more colour and from the pale complexion that she had she started regaining her natural aspect, until her skin got a bit rose-coloured, making her appear just like she was sleeping.

“Did you just bring back a person from death?” Akira asked, completely astonished: after all, she had just defeated one of the fundamental law of the human life, how could he have remained calm after seeing such a thing?

“Does this prove to you that I am a goddess and that I don’t want to hurt you too much?” asked she, while still being near to Priscilla’s body, which in the meanwhile looked even more and more alive.

“The answers are: yes to the first one and no to the second one” replied Akira, still surprised by that turn of the events. Then, as if thinking back to what happened until that point, he asked out of the blue “Hey, goddess, or… whatever you are. Can I ask you three questions?”

Her eyes glowed with expectations “You, asking question? Have you finally accepted to talk to me in such a confidential way, rather than only swearing and badmouthing me?”

Ignoring what she said, condensing all of that phrase into a simple “okay”, he asked “First, and probably the most important answer I need: where are we?”

At that question Meilìs covered her mouth with her hand, probably to hide her smile, which would have probably irritated Akira more, and she understood that now it was her turn to answer some questions instead of playing an S&M game with him “Well, we are in a cave, where else should we be?”. But, apparently, the consciousness of this didn't make her stop playing with him.

Akira sighed, comprehending that getting angry and shouting wasn’t going to resolve all his problems and questions “No, I mean the world: we are not in my reality anymore, correct?”.

“Yes, you’re right”.

“So… in which world are we?”

“Oh, you need to discover that yourself: I can only say that this cave is a creation of mine, it is not real. You can consider it an optical illusion, or something along those lines”.

“Why, you little…” whispered Akira, but then a greater truth hit him in the head. “Wait a second, if this place is a creation of yours, and so you willingly summoned me here, does that mean that Priscilla and the monsters were also summoned here by your will?”

“Yep”.

“So… you are saying that what that girl passed through was prepared by you so that you could intervene and show off your so called goddess powers by reviving her… and also to test my strength in combat?”

“Bravo! And I didn’t really need to tell you anything at all: you are really greater than any of my predictions”.

Cold sweat ran down Akira’s body: he was in front of a person that literally set up a homicide and unbearable suffering for a casual person of that world just to follow her plan. There was only an adjective that could have described her at that point: wicked. She was wicked to her core.

In order to hide his thoughts, Akira went on with his questions “Second one: why did I understood what you and Priscilla were saying? What language does this world speak?”

“Oh, I think I can tell you that: this world has two dominant languages, a strange form of your language called Damoya, which you are totally able to understand and is the universally known language, and an ancient one, called Irgundàh, which can be literally translated to “the speech of the sky”. However, this is a very rare form of speaking which nobody really speaks in this day and age. What you heard me saying was a variant of the Irgundàh, a language that only us gods know. Ah, before you ask, you understood what I said because I made you temporarily understand that language: it wouldn’t have been fun if you didn’t understand what I was saying, would it?”

That strangely exhausted all of Akira’s curiosity on the point, at least for the moment. He had only a question left, like the last of the wishes that a genius grants to its owner.

“Okay, then third question: why did you say that you were my protector?”

At that question Meilìs returned to what he presumed to be her usual self, with a smile on her face that at this point could have only described as ill and wicked and eyes that had lighten up like a house on fire.

“Why, you ask? Because I will be watching over you, darling… I won’t interfere in your life anymore after this encounter, but I will be watching closely your progression. You should be grateful: many people would be happy to have a God watch over their life. It makes them feel important, wanted”.

“People like that are only weaklings: you don’t need to live your life for the others, otherwise it becomes a spectacle, it is not your life anymore, it’s anyone’s property” replied Akira.

“Oh, a bit philosophical, aren’t we? Well, I’ll leave you to that: however, know that I will be watching over ALL of your life, okay? Don’t disappoint me”.

After saying that, Meilìs turned her head towards Priscilla, observing her like a scientist examines a mouse that was used in an experiment. She was breathing more lightly than before, which meant she could wake up in any moment.

“Well, our little guest here seemingly is going to wake up soon” stated Meilìs “So I guess it is time to end our frivolous yet entertaining conversation”. After having said those words, the goddess started slowly walking towards the exit of the cave, a dark tunnel that had appeared behind Akira’s back.

“Hey, Goddess… for the last time… Why the hell did you give me a second occasion?” asked Akira, wanting to know at least why he was given this chance, the chance to live a different life in a better or worse world.

Meilìs slowly turned her head towards him, but this time her face was serious, glacial. She hadn’t more the pacific aura that she emanated before; rather, she literally just emanated nothing, no emotion at all. Like she didn’t feel anything.

“As I have said before, who knows if I was the one to give you that chance. I can’t say anything to you at all: this is a thing that you have to discover yourself.”

Then, she turned her head away, and Akira understood that the conversation was over.

“Ah, after I have left, this place will disappear and you will appear in a forest near that girl’s city. So just stay still until then, got it? Oh, plus, as a last gift, your wounds will disappear together with this place and your bones will be like they were before, but I’ll leave you a little scar, just to make you forever remember this encounter, okay?”

Then, she started adventuring herself in the dark tunnel, with the dignity and the outfit of a queen: but surely, she was in the shoes of a mad queen, not of a sane one. Then, darkness started eating her figure, until nothing of her remained visible. That was when the cave suddenly started fading away, like it was made of lines, reassembling those landscapes that Akira saw through his journey in the dark before entering the door. Then, after a few seconds, Akira found himself in a luxurious forest, made of a lot of pines and with some small pieces of terrain covered in snow, making him presume that he was in a northern region, or at least near some mountains, which, if there were, unfortunately weren’t even visible because of the pines’ height. Still, the light of the sun succeeded in getting through them, illuminating the forest with a red-tending light, which meant that the sunset wasn’t that far in terms of time. Grass was still growing on the ground, as green as it could be, making him ask how could such vigorous grass survive to that cold, and he could even see some flowers between it. Firstly, he looked down where he should have had some broken bones: there was effectively a little scar, no longer than some centimetres, and, when he tried to touch it, it made him feel no pain, pointing out that his bones weren’t broken at all. “At least she did a good deed” was his reaction, even though he didn’t want to think about her for a while: he needed to rest a bit, and then he could have probably tried to elaborate what the hell happened there, even though there was really nothing else to say, at least from Akira’s point of view. Then, he turned his head to see if Priscilla was with him, and he found her sat against a pine, still sleeping. Thanks to that he could observe her again, getting a better understanding of her looks and of her body, which wasn’t that muscular but had no fat whatsoever in every part of its visible parts, which made her look slim but not in a bad way, like a sick person, but like a healthy girl who had a healthy routine. Her legs were long and well-proportioned with the rest of her body, as well as her thighs, not too thick yet not even too thin, and her chest was exactly like that, not too big nor too small. Plus, her face had aristocratic features, that, combined with her oval face and her long red untied hair, made her really look like she came from the nobility. As he was contemplating her features, an eye started twitching, then also the other, and, in not time, she had started slowly to open her eyes, seeing a light that she should not have seen anymore, if it wasn’t for that wicked creature that supposedly wanted to look over Akira’s life and used her as a pawn on her chessboard. She yawned a bit before fully opening her eyes, and, when she did, she saw a person right above her, looking at her with cold eyes that at the same time were hiding a hint of kindness and interest. That was when she started remembering what happened in that cave, where she mysteriously found herself after taking a dark alley in the city, and looked down at where she should have been mortally wounded: no sign of it remained, even though her tunic was ripped apart exactly where it should have been. Then, she looked at the person above her and recognized the one who fought in that cave, and, before that person could even spoke a word, she asked him, with a mix of both admiration and horror

“Where are we, sir? And how… am I alive?”