Wicked Providence - Part Three

If the lone girl had a heartbeat, it would be beating through her ears.

If the lone girl had lips, they would surely be twisted in disgust.

And if the lone girl had arms, she knew their hairs would be standing on end.

“I know you can’t see it, but your spirit just changed its color. I’m assuming I have your attention now?”

“This is a sick joke.”

But separated from all of that, a child was running around a picturesque courtyard, spilling mud all over his silk doll-like dress in the process.

That girl, likely seven to eight years old, was pushing herself, running as fast as she could to catch a rough leather ball which she had kicked across the outskirts of what appeared to be a church.

Running, running, running, feeling her breaths get heavier and heavier with each rushed step, she grew a huge grin across her face as she leapt out, snagging up the ball in her arms as she snuggled it close to her chest—

That is, until her entire body flipped forward and she landed completely upside down in a bush.

“I’m assuming you remember that girl, but do you remember what particular day it is?”

The lone girl’s spirit only remained silent…

Meanwhile, children looked on in disgust at the rough and messy child. That child, obviously a troublemaker, directly opposed the beautiful and perfect setting she was in, her clothes ripped and dirty, as well as upside down in a once neatly trimmed bush.

But as for that child…

She let out a wild laugh as she threw her arms out in front of her, eyeing the ball she had caught and basking in its glory…

But again, as a stark contrast, the other little girls her age started to disperse, getting far away from that bush as they whispered and laughed in each other’s ears.

But as for the little girl, the one in a beautiful dress which was now ruined, and beautiful, orange silky hair which was knotted and thrown in front of her face, her innocent and yet devious laughter continued, as she slowly slid down the bush to the dandelions below.

This was how things always went for the little girl.

She got to do whatever she wanted, and in turn, no one even dared bother her.

And she absolutely loved it.

That is…

Until she opened her eyes again.

Standing above her looking down, a priest in white and black robes, with petite-framed glasses over his bearded face smiled towards the wild girl.

He was staring at an incredibly muddy child who now wore an uncute pout over her face, as she lay upside down in the garden—though from her perspective, he was the one upside down.

The girl wore a look of distrust as she slowly slinked down onto the grass, blowing her messy hair out of her eyes, as well as the fluffy pappi off the dandelions.

It was clear that priest was more than used to tolerating her wild behavior, but still, he continued to wear a warm smile. A warm smile which made the child recoil as she laid in the grass, feeling unfulfilled.

The old priest then offered her a hand to help her up.

And as he reached out, his lips parted to speak with her.

“I’m not watching this. If this is a Trial, and seeing this is what I need to do, I’d rather you just take a limb instead.”

In this beautiful, innocent, and picturesque scene, absolutely nothing was out of place, and nothing was particularly wrong about any of it…

But still, Arabelle’s spirit cursed it away, only wishing it could end.

And in turn—

The scene peacefully faded to black, leaving the messy haired girl, the old priest, and the garden of flowers behind as they disappeared gracefully.

Once again left in the darkness, a thought came over the lone girl’s spirit that would be similar to a sigh.

“This isn’t a Trial. And if what you’ve seen is too much for you, then you needn’t think I’m here on bad will.”

“If it was, I’d rather you just take Cobalt instead. There’s no way he could have a memory as repulsive as mine.”

“But I’m not here for Cobalt. I’m here for you.”

“…What the hell do you want me for?”

And as if to answer that very question, the scene shifted once more…

To a beautiful medieval town, with a flowing river cutting through it, turning into a canal as well as a fishing spot.

The houses laid all nice and orderly, once again fitting the very definition of “picturesque” and “beautiful”. They stood firm, all with brown bricks at the base, and upper walls of something resembling white mudbricks or a primitive stucco.

In short, everything in this town was nothing short of perfection, something that could very well have been built by Angels.

On the side of a long and wide paved brick street, a young girl sat to the side on a bench, and although whining, she wore a beautiful dress that was completely opposite of the previous scene.

And next to her, an even more beautiful girl with long red hair sat next to her, not any older than her early 20’s, brushing through the young girl’s mane.

Her face remained hidden as the young whiny girl looked away, occasionally swatting at the hairbrush.

But as her hand was swatted away, she then brought the back of it to her lips as she laughed.

An absolutely beautiful and innocent laugh, one which could easily capture the hearts of anyone who happened to hear it.

But the lone girl just looked away, pouting even further as the young woman laughed at her.

There were still several knots in the young girl’s hair, which was as smooth as silk and ran down past the seat of the bench, but adjusting the child’s large white bow to cover those imperfections, the young woman felt satisfied with her work.

“I don’t think you should try to forget moments like this, you know… That isn’t a criticism, it’s just advice.”

Still, the lone girl’s spirit remained completely silent, as if that silence spelled the welling of emotions she didn’t know how to express.

But before any of that could process…

Trumpets started to play on all sides, as horses gallantly reared up their large frames, sporting their valor and pride as they did so.

That show of human song and equestrial dance immediately captured the attention of onlookers who stood dazzled by the performance. Then following suit, enormous pikes almost six meters in length were hoisted up overhead, sporting beautiful banners of sapphire blue and ruby rose.

Unable to contain her excitement, the young woman’s legs bounced with enthusiasm as she quickly nudged the young girl to her left.

Nudging her over and over, over and over, to the point of the girl’s complete annoyance, she only then finally turned her face towards the scene which had captured the young woman’s heart.

An enormous parade was underway, barreling through the wide street as onlookers all pointed and danced under the music of trumpets and showering confetti.

The young girl hadn’t even realized the scale until now.

Easily thousands of men, women, and children, soldiers, bakers, and smiths, farmers, tailors, and people from hundreds of other walks of life alike gathered, hoisting their children up over their shoulders to view the magnificent spectacle sweeping through their quaint picturesque town.

But as if making it impossible to enjoy such a sight…

The young woman tugged on her arm repeatedly, pointing towards the horses as she periodically looked back to see if the young girl was smiling too. And not wanting to hurt her feelings, the child forced an incredibly strained smile across her usually pouty face.

This fake smile was incredibly obvious, and made a rather uncute impression which contrasted her beautiful dress and neat hair.

But still, this gesture put a huge smile across the face of the young woman, who snatched the girl’s hand and held them up together as she laughed and celebrated under the confetti. Under the woman’s other hand, she held a white sunhat close to her head as it got caked in confetti, somehow making the young woman even more beautiful.

Towards the direction she had pointed in, glorious and valorant men on horseback rode forth, sporting silk robes of red and accessories of gold.

And in the middle of spectacle, with four important riders sprouting out from his Majesty in the shape of a cross, a man with a cocky smile, a blonde beard, and a crown of gold, platinum, and ruby raised a fist into the air, laughing a hearty belly laugh with pride.

And with that laugh…

The young woman beside the doll-like child raised both their hands into the air, waving towards his Majesty as she called him by name, with a warm, and genuine smile spread across her rosy lips.

That wave…

Was one that easily silenced the bulk of the entire crowd, shining a harsh spotlight on the two girls.

“Stop. Turn it off. Right now.”

The King’s hearty laugh ceased immediately, and in its place, he looked on towards the woman with a glare bearing nothing short of utter disdain and scorn.

“You keep trying to forget things like this. But it’s memories that make us who we are, wouldn’t you agree?”

The King’s horses stopped their trot in tandem, dispersing to increase their distance from the King.

Forcing this scene to accelerate in its pace, like a piece on piano which furiously beat faster against each key.

They all made way for the King’s very own horse, which made their way over to the woman and child.

“This isn’t like that. This seriously isn’t a goddamn joke.”

The King’s eyes in that moment held a gaze of genuine hatred.

Those keys, which were played with such fury and passion in the lone girl’s spirit, were pressed to the point where either the keys or the fingers themselves would shatter under the weight of that piece, if the scene were forced any longer to continue.

“How many years have you been forcing yourself away from dealing with these thoughts?”

Upon making out the identity of the woman and child, the rest of the onlookers held a similar face.

Either harshly locking eyes, or forcing them and their children away from looking, everyone’s attention was immediately set to that scene…

“It’s terribly tragic to see you try to bury all of this…”

That scene…

No one dared make a sound, let alone intervene.

“What the hell do you know about me?! You don’t know anything, so shut up and TURN IT OFF!!!”

Footsteps echoed as they left a horse.

Rushed as they trotted across the cobblestone streets.

Accelerating a heartbeat the spirit couldn’t feel, and the tempo of a sonata she couldn’t hear.

The image of a bearded blonde man burned deep into her soul, knowing this was a scene she couldn’t possibly look away from.

“Just like this man here… Do you not find it important to remember who—?”

And just as he tore the glove of his right hand off with his teeth…

The spirit could hear the reverberations of a furious pianist slamming all their fingers to the keys.

『I SAID TURN IT OFF!!!!!!』

Arabelle’s voiceless scream echoed through this hollow expanse of Abyss, as she came to the realization that not even a world devoid of feelings could remove the pain of something this potent.

As she prayed to a God she despised for that scene to finally end, the last distant taps and traces of an echoing piano slowly trailed off, before the sight of that cruel world disappeared from her sightless eyes entirely.

“…”

She struggled to regain her composure, blindly grasping onto any semblance of it she had after that sight…

But in turn, she found absolutely nothing.

“I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot, you see… This isn’t exactly what I wanted you to do with your anger…”

“Then what did you want me to do with it?!?! Thank you for showing me something I wanted to forget?! Something I asked to forget?! Something I deserve to forget!!!!!”

“Arabelle… It isn’t just something you can simply—”

“Well I want to! Who are you to tell me I can’t?! Who are you to pretend you know a single thing about me?!?!”

Left with the hollow echo of her voiceless screams, the dying remnants of that shout reverberated through her mind a few more times before ceasing finally, leaving her sulking spirit in the soundless dark.

If she had a breath, she would fail to contain its shaking.

If she had feet, she would run away from this torturous bath of repressed memories..

But even as powerful as the lone girl was outside all of this, in this very moment, she was absolutely powerless.

And that wasn’t something Arabelle could just make herself forget.

The opposing party, meanwhile, thought to itself, wearing a face—one which the spirit couldn’t see.

“There was no one else who knew that the Tomb even existed.”

“You say that assuming I would be some sort of vagrant delinquent. Such words are hurtful to a maiden’s heart, you know?”

“There was no one else who followed us, so why…”

“Again, your assumption that I’m simply operating from the outside-in would be inaccurate.”

“…So what the hell are you?”

To answer that question, the scene changed once more…

The beautiful picturesque settings of flowers and parades and people and celebration…

Turned into one mirroring Hell itself.

The brown bricks lay scattered in the streets, as the white mudbrick-like walls lay piled into mush, set ablaze by a fire of crimson.

Scattering along the dirtied streets, not a single creature made any trace of movements.

Piles of blackened ash in the shape of bodies dotted the cobble roads. Some of which covered other, more frail and small piles of ash, others, dismembered and sent flowing into the canal…

That canal, one which had once concluded the town as a magnificent centerpiece…

Found its hue completely changed to a dark crimson, filled with rubble and litter which blocked the flow, and now rose and spilled into the destroyed and cracked streets.

The sun burned bright, and yet the sky was dark.

This horrible sight of dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of ashen human-shaped visages dotted the destroyed city, where not a single high-rise rose over two meters.

Even the magnificent cathedral and its staple of the Cross, was completely leveled to ground zero of nothingness.

“What… The hell is this…?”

In this silent desolate town, the wind carried along a low vibrating sound, chiming like the hollow echoes of a ghost, which subsequently blew the stretching flames even further into the sky, sparking their embers across the silent white ash below.

“That man, the Cardinal of this region, as well as the King of this country, the two men that you hate the most, are soon almost certainly going to lose their lives.”

“…”

Arabelle watched on, separated and detached from the once-beautiful city that had thrown her away.

“On top of that, all of these actions are going to result in something comparable to a Civil War. A bid for power involving beings this world is not ready for, and a struggle of which has the potential to kill over a hundred thousand people in just Winter alone.”

“…”

Arabelle said nothing, simply being entranced into the horrifying scene, watching mothers cradling children, men standing as a defensive shield, and dismembered parts flowing in the river of blood—all of which, encrusted in solid black ash.

“All of what I just mentioned… The catalyst of which will occur when a monster attacks the town of Sila, the setting of the last two scenes we just watched…”

Arabelle refused to say a word.

“The destruction of Sila… Will occur roughly 60 hours from now.”

“Let them burn.”

She turned away from that vision, casting it out of her mind completely…

But no matter how badly she wanted to close her eyelids, the vision persisted.

The mutilated homes, ashen families, the burning sun over a starry sky…

“You don’t mean that.”

But at the same time…

The visions that burned the brightest…

Were the blonde-bearded face, and the old priest.

“I do.”

Arabelle’s spirit remained silent, resigning herself to the fate of this place.

Fate…

If Fate is damning this world to something like this…

All of the people who threw Arabelle away, both guilty and innocent…

Then what could Arabelle possibly have left after Fate’s done taking its toll on her?

“I… can’t… I can’t.”

These were the words she told herself, but…

“Sixty hours in the future... Is the morning three days from now, at sunrise.”

“I know that…”

“Then you also know that you’re the only person in the world who has this information, and is able to stop it.”

Arabelle’s soul went silent.

“…Stop it?”

So many thoughts swirled in her mind at once…

“A monster of that caliber… Would require a team, one which includes the knights of Sila.”

“…And that’s now suddenly my burden.”

“It isn’t your burden if it’s something you can share.”

Caught off guard, Arabelle’s spirit was left in the silence.

She didn’t know what to say—or rather think—next, but it was then she realized she was unable to.

This world—this Abyss that buried her emotions and responsibilities—was collapsing in on itself, leaving her with one new variant of each of the aforementioned attributes it initially took.

The emotional pain of having those scars cut back open…

And the responsibility of making sure no one has to feel those cuts again.

“…”

Coupled with these pains, the world of false nepenthe collapsed, shattering like glass…

And as light returned, she was only left with one thought in her mind…

『It isn’t your burden if it’s something you can share.』

And as she felt her lungs fill with air for the first time in what felt like eternity, she stepped foot back into the world she despised, left with the burden she alone possessed.