Chapter Eighteen: My sins and my promises

It was the afternoon when I fell asleep, and now the sun was slowly setting. I walked down to the dining room. It was empty. This would typically be the time we would eat dinner together, but Annabelle has been arrested, Father is dead, Mary is missing, and the others are looking for them. It's unsettling...

Kate barged through the kitchen door. "Lenka..." She bowed her head. "I'm sorry, I don't have dinner ready. Mary and Annabelle were the ones who usually cooked." When she stood back up, I noticed that the skin around her eyes was red from crying. Then her ears stood up like they had been shocked. "Lenka! What happened to your neck?!" "It's nothing you need to worry about, Kate."

"But!" "Kate, listen to me." I grabbed her shoulders and looked directly at her. "I need you to do something very important." She looked concerned, but nodded her head. "Okay, Lenka, what do you need?" "I need you to investigate my father's office, and make sure you wear gloves and keep your mouth and nose covered." "You don't mean..." Kate said in a shaken tone. "I do. After you've done that, gather Leon, Rodger, Miss Evergreen, and Godfrey here." She looked at me for a moment and nodded her head. "I understand, Lenka. I'll do it at once."

She started heading for the front door, but I called out to her. "Kate." She stopped and turned around to look at me. "Thank... You." I tried to say it as genuinely as possible. Kate looked shocked, but it then turned into a warm smile. Once she left, I was all alone in the empty dining room again. I took a deep breath. It's time to find Mary now.

I grabbed a lantern and left the manor and started heading for the coast. Annabelle was clever, so I have no doubt that she had an escape plan for her and Mary. Annabelle entrusted me to protect Mary, which is why she let only Mary escape; she knew I would be able to guess where she was. She was cunning, but I still don't know if her trust in me was real, or if she just had no one left to turn to. Either way, I won't abandon her. After all, I hate myself for only seeing her as some pawn.

Judging by the maps I have seen of the area, she most likely will be hiding in one of the caves not too far from the city. It was quite a long walk, and the sun had already set. Despite it being night, it was easy to see, thanks to the full moon and clear sky. I stopped, looked up at the thousands of stars in the sky.

Then, out of nowhere, a bright blue glow illuminated around me. I was in a field of blue roses, and I suppose they had just begun to bloom. The seeds from them danced around the night sky much like the stars in the sky. This view reminds me a lot of Dustka. I remembered walking away from a battle one night, all bruised and broken. I stared up at the night sky, surrounded by fire and ruined buildings.

What was so important for me that night to continue like that? Then I remembered that night I was carrying a vial of insulin for my brother. Right, I wasn't fighting for my survival, I was fighting for his. I didn't want to remember it because, in the end, my actions are what eventually led to his death. This time... I can change... No, I will change that fate.

Unlike my past life, I am not alone in this one. This time, I'm not some pawn being manipulated. I am a leader and will build up an army, no, a nation, and face whatever hell comes our way. I will show that damn devil, and this world, what the Angel of Death is capable of. I owe it to those who have placed their trust in me, and more importantly, I'm doing this to atone for my sins. I'm aware that nothing I do can change my past, but I can use my past to shape the future of this world.

I walked through the field of glowing blue roses and ended up near the side of a cliff. Looking around, I saw a small walkable cliff face that led to a cave entrance. I carefully followed it down and entered the dark cave. The cave wasn't very big, meaning I had to climb and crouch through some areas. After some traversing, I finally found her.

Mary was curled into a ball with a blanket around her. Once the light from the lantern hit her, her head popped up in surprise. Her face was full of fear and sadness. Her face and eyes were red from crying. She was also shivering from the cold of the cave. "It's me, Mary." She quickly buried her face in her knees. "What do you want?" Her voice was quiet and hoarse. I walked over to her, sat down next to her, and placed the lantern between us.

"I... Just wanted to say that I'm sorry." She looked at me, completely surprised by what I said. "What happened to Annabelle and my father is my fault. I know there is nothing I can do to change what has happened, but I made a promise to Annabelle that I will protect you. I have also made a promise to fix everything and build a future for not only you but for everyone in this city. I know that you may hate me and despise me, but I will need your help, Mary." I stood up and reached my hand out to her.

She looked at me reluctantly, then reached out to me, but stopped midway. "Do you really need someone like me?" Mary asked in a somber voice. "Without you, I doubt Kate and I will survive cooking for ourselves." She gave me a soft smile. "Was that an attempt at a joke?" "Well, it's more of a statement than a joke." She let out a small laugh. "You know, you were such a wild child back then that I would always have to chase you around, and my mother would always scold me for you causing trouble. Then one day... everything changed and mother..."

Her eyes started to tear up. "I know. That's why I need you to come with me. If there's anyone I owe an explanation to, it's you. I won't hide from my past nor my future anymore. So, Mary, let's face our past and build a future together with everyone." Mary's tears started to flow down her face. She wiped them away and smiled, then reached out and grabbed my hand.

When we arrived back at the manor, I let Mary go into the dining room while I went upstairs to the study to grab a few books and documents. After grabbing everything I needed, I headed back downstairs to the dining room. The table was surrounded by everyone that I told Kate to get. They all stared at me as I entered the room. I took a deep breath, then placed all the things I had gathered on the table.

The silence in the room was deafening as everyone was anxiously awaiting what I was going to say. "Everyone, I know a lot has happened recently, but we need to come together and push through it. Our enemies have already made their move, and we can't sit idly by while they make their next one, which is why I called all of you here today. I need to come clean with you about the reason why they are coming after us."

"Right now, we have possibly three factions getting ready to take us down. First is the nobles, who are after us for taking their citizens and belittling their power. And as proof of this, Kate, what did you find in Father's office?" "I found an unmarked letter that had some odd powder in it." "I see then Father really was poisoned by them."

There was silence at this revelation, but I needed to continue. "We also have the King, who was after Annabelle and Mary. However, I believe he will soon have another reason to go after us. The King is a chosen one, just like me." Some of the people looked shocked, but others looked confused.

"Allow me to explain. The chosen ones are people summoned by the gods to supposedly help the world, but as all of you know, but as you know from the King's actions, that isn't true. I, however, chose to defy those false gods, which is why the gods will soon come after us. This also brings us to our last faction." I throw the letter I got from the army onto the middle of the table. "The Church of Humanity is most likely going to come after us since I defied the gods. Our only saving grace is that these three factions are not working together, and I believe that we may have allies working within them. However, we do not have the time to find out who."

I looked around the room, and it seemed that everyone was puzzled by everything I had just said. "I understand that you all probably have many questions, so go ahead and ask away." There was an awkward silence in the room until Mary stood up. "Lenka... when you were summoned, and what happened to the previous you?" Mary asked. "To put it bluntly, she's gone. My memories overrode all of hers. The Lenka you knew back then no longer exists."

Mary looked gloomy. "I... see. Then mother..." Mary was fighting back tears. "Yes, Mary, Annabelle was right to be worried and suspicious of me. After all, I can only assume what the King did to her. However, I am not the King. My past memories may have shaped who I am, but they don't define what I am."

"Chosen one, are not, I made a promise not only to Annabelle, but to myself. To charge towards a better future regardless of whatever enemies we may face, and that's why I need all of your help. Our enemies are numerous, and we are unprepared; we lack manpower, weapons, and defenses. However, we do not lack willpower. People came here to seek a better future and are more than willing to fight for that future. Remember what my proclamation was."

"The freedom to not only survive but to live, the freedom to choose your family's future, the freedom to prosper regardless of status and class, the freedom to take on the world and show it what we all can create together. With hard work, determination, and grit, we together can build a city, no a nation that will survive whatever comes our way."

They all stopped looking gloomy and had a determined demeanor. Leon then spoke up. "Lenka, how are we going to deal with our enemies?" "That's where all of you will come in. Rodger, here are some plans for defenses that can be constructed in a quick timeframe." I handed over a map of the city, along with a drawing of a trench network outside the city. "I see, this is doable with our current workforce." "Good, now, Miss Evergreen, what do you know about dwarves?"

Evergreen looked a little flustered to be called on. "Well... My family had traded with them before... but I had never spoken to one before." "Well, you should read up on them." I handed over some books that I had gathered about them, which I never got around to reading. "We will need that mind of yours as well as your merchant skills." She slightly panicked. "But I..." "I know you're more than capable of it. For we are going to ally with the dwarves."

Leon was the first to ask. "Why?" "Because we will need weapons, and as of now, we don't have the capacity to make them on a large scale. From what I know of the dwarves, they are very good at metalworking." "Even if we do make weapons, we don't have a large enough army to face them." Godfrey chimed in. "Normally, you would be correct, but with the new weapons I'm going to build with the dwarves, we won't need a large army, since anyone will be able to use them with very little training."

"That's why I need you, Godfrey, to gather anyone willing to fight for us and then have them gather in front of the manor tomorrow evening. Rodger, gather your crew at the start of digging the trenches first thing tomorrow morning. Mary, Kate, Leon, and Miss Evergreen, you all will be accompanying me to meet the dwarves, so pack your things because we will be leaving tonight."

I know the entirety of this city's future relies on a gamble. It's a gamble that the dwarves will work with us, it's a gamble that they won't attack soon, and more than anything, it's a gamble that I will be able to give anyone in this world a better future. But if I do nothing, then I'm no better than my past self, who refused to change anything and only did what was necessary to survive. That's why, if I want to save them, I have to not only face myself but also change myself.