"So, Pandora, how was the hunt?" I ask Pandora, who’s already back. She’s covered in blood.
"Not bad, I guess, but unfortunately, monsters are more like animals, so their reactions to death are pretty primitive and predictable. Not like the mortal races, who can co up with crazy ideas," Pandora says with a shrug.
"Hmm, why are you back early?"
"I finished modifying my universe. While I was hunting, I put the finishing touches on the... how should I put it..."
"You don’t have to be so cautious. I understand what you an, and it’s not your fault, or your little universe’s." Obviously, it would be destroyed if I entered it without the proper modifications.
"Do you want to go now? We’re already linked anyway. Once we enter, you’ll probably have a good chance of being free from your fusion with the Abyss... by the way, what was that trick you were going to teach ?"
"I want to go now..." I say, barely able to contain my excitent at finally leaving the Abyss. Being trapped here for so long has been a living hell.
"Great! Then, could you please shrink down a bit? Your size is... complicated. You’ll break everything."
"Oh? Is that any way to talk to your mother?"
"It’s my universe. It’s only natural that I don’t want you to shatter everything just by taking a single step."
"Good answer." I start to shrink down to a re 3 ters tall. I can go smaller, but I don’t want to shrink too much, and 3 ters should be enough.
"...Still a bit big... but okay, just watch your head when you’re walking." She pulls a sphere from the darkness and places it on the ground.
"Just 5 minutes."
"Sure. anwhile, the trick I said I’d teach you is how to fuse with sothing. That sothing could be material, immaterial, or spiritual..."
"Oh, that? I don’t want to."
"...What?"
"It’s the sa thing you and Tsukuyomi used to fuse with a place. Honestly, I don’t want to. I don’t plan on getting myself shackled to so object, place, or ’spiritual thing,’ no matter how useful it might be."
"..."
"I understand why you did it, I really do, Mother, but... forgive my boldness. There’s no situation where I would ever use this."
"...Are you calling a coward?" I ask, furrowing my brows, because I used it to avoid dying. If she says there’s no situation where she’d use it, she’s either saying she’ll never co close to dying, or that she doesn’t care about dying. And I know the ’not coming close to dying’ part is impossible.
"Not exactly... but even if I were dying, I wouldn’t fuse myself to so place... I’d blow myself up. It’s just a different perspective on life, you know?"
"...Do what you want. I can’t force you to learn sothing you don’t want to. But you know you could use it on other people, right? You could even use it to fuse matter with other matter in a way that wouldn’t be possible otherwise."
"Wait, what? If that’s the case..."
"I’m not teaching you anymore."
"..."
"I don’t give second chances to anyone. Whenever I offer you sothing and you refuse, I won’t offer it a second ti. That’s how I’ve always been. The only exception was my sister..." For a very different reason.
It’s not that I wanted to keep giving her second chances, but she would pester until I did sothing after she’d refused my help once. I even tried to see how far she’d go once, and she spent 10 years poking every single day, right on ti, asking to teach her chaos magic after she’d refused my help. And she clearly would have kept going longer.
"Okay... weird life philosophy, but I think I get it... Here, it’s ready." The core on the ground opens into a square, white portal. You can’t see anything inside, but if it’s for a chance at freedom, I don’t mind risking a little.
"Pandora, have you calculated what will happen when I leave the Abyss?"
"Hmm, yes. You can rest easy. You won’t be missed for the first few years. Your magic is so dense that even without you here, no one will notice you’ve left, because your magic will linger for a very long ti."
"They’ll only notice when the magic gets weaker. Of course, many will find it strange not to find you, sense you, or see you in the castle, but they won’t be able to prove you’re out of the Abyss. Plus, I’ve already sealed the room, so only the two of us know about this."
"That way, we prevent the information from leaking." Pandora smiles proudly, and I agree with her. My enormous amount of magic will easily make it seem like I’m still here. And since the plan is just to free and then I’ll co back to the Abyss, nothing will seem to have changed. But I won’t be trapped anymore.
"I’ll go first, Mother! See you there!" Pandora jumps into the ’door’ as I look around. At the ’fragile’ barrier Pandora left, I snap my fingers, creating a much better one, more sealed and powerful, so no one can co here.
"Ah... this is so uncomfortable..." I pace around the door, feeling an extre discomfort with sothing new. It’s been so long since there was anything ’new’ for . Life was so monotonous before my daughters.
"Pandora’s plan better work... or I’ll be very angry..." I hate having false hope. When I was alone, I thought I’d be in the Abyss forever and accepted it. Then I had the idea of having daughters who could get out.
But when Azraelith was born... all I felt was pure disgust, knowing that girl would NEVER, in her entire life, have any talent. And without talent, my hope of her getting out of the Abyss died.
And when she was sealed, all I felt was pure revulsion at having wasted ti, effort, and magic on her. I almost gave up, accepting again that I’d never leave the Abyss. But I decided to make a second attempt.
If the first was a failed, talentless daughter, maybe the second, with my greater experience, would be a better daughter. And it worked. Pandora was born. She’s talented, and she gives hope.
But if this hope is shattered again, I won’t be able to control myself. Because Pandora gave so much hope with this idea of hers.
"I guess you can’t know until you try... and... if I end up killing Pandora in a fit of rage if she fails, I could try for a third child..." I don’t want more children, so I really hope Pandora got this right.
And if she got it wrong, I hope she survives long enough for my anger to cool down. I take a deep breath and touch the door.
"Ti to go..." I start to step through the portal. The sensation is strange. It’s as if infinite hands are grabbing onto my body, pulling back.
With each step I take, whatever is holding onto starts to be torn and pulled away. The white door develops black cracks that spread everywhere like spiderwebs. But I keep walking, ignoring the resistance.
Until whatever was holding seems to snap, and I’m violently shoved forward, falling to my knees on a strange floor.
"...?" I stand up and look around. The air... it’s so pure. There’s almost no magic in the environnt. But my body, which is an absurd reserve of Mana, doesn’t feel any problems with it, nor does it grow weaker.
Although, the place seems to push any Mana that escapes back into my body.
"WELCO!!" Several girls who look a bit like Pandora shout at , bustling about excitedly, holding welco signs. I stare at Pandora, who smiles at .
My mind, which still hasn’t grasped the freedom, seems to go into shock. Pandora approaches , climbing on top of one girl to reach my height, and then she runs her hands over my face.
"You’re crying tears of joy, Mother."
"Crying?" I run my hand over my face, and imdiately, I feel as if an infinite weight that had been with for almost my entire life had been lifted from my shoulders. I hug Pandora tightly as she hugs back.
"Am I... truly... free?" I can’t believe it was so easy. That prison that, no matter what I did, would never let go, was so easy to escape that it feels strange and uncomfortable.
"Yes. Although, it was difficult, you know? While you were coming, the sky of my universe started to crack, but I already solved the problem by making all your Mana be pushed back into your body!"
"By the way, it took you over 3 months to get here. I even had ti to prepare an even bigger party than the one I’d planned!"
"...3 months?" It feels like I only took a few steps, and then I was here.
"Ha... hahaha... hahahahaha." I burst into laughter. A good, hearty laugh. I don’t think I’ve laughed like this since my sister died. How many years has it been since I last cried? I don’t know. It’s been so long, I don’t think I even rembered my body was capable of tears.
"Pandora, you’re incredible! I love you!" I hug her even tighter. I love this stupidly brilliant daughter, and her arrogantly bold, crazy ideas.
"I love you too, Mother! I have no idea how bad your situation was for you, but from what I knew, you really wanted to get out of there! In the plan to manifest you outside the Abyss using chaos, you wouldn’t have been truly free."
"You would have just gotten a pass to leave the Abyss, but you’d still be tied to it because you’d fused with it! But with my thod, you have nothing to do with the Abyss anymore! It’s complete freedom!" She speaks so animatedly.
My heart beats faster. The joy in Pandora’s voice for sothing that makes happy is truly endearing.
"..." I set her down on the ground, taking a deep breath to compose myself.
"I will never forget what you’ve done for , Pandora." Pandora was the highest-risk gamble I’ve ever taken. When I saw that soul filled with hatred and chose her, I didn’t know if it was the right choice.
Bringing a forr human back to life could have ruined everything. Pandora might never have done anything for , and I would have wasted ti and resources. But Pandora proved to be a gamble that bore the best fruit.
"I hope you really don’t forget, Mother! Now, how about we enjoy your party? Everyone here is eager to et you... well, almost everyone. Akari and Velvet are off fucking in so corner, so they didn’t co! But don’t mind them."
"That’s fine." I say, more than happy about it. I didn’t even need this welco celebration.
"H-H-H-Hello, divine mother of our goddess! I-I’m Number 3..." A short girl approaches. She bows several tis as she speaks, and her nervousness is almost funny.
"I-I wanted to welco you in person, and a-and thank you for raising our goddess... n-now, if you’ll excuse , thank you for your ti!!" The girl quickly runs off, disappearing into the crowd, as Pandora stifles a laugh.
"Pandora, what do I do? I don’t understand parties." I’ve never been to a party.
"How about we start with a al? I bet you haven’t had anything good to eat in a long ti. Co with !" Pandora starts walking as the various girls make room. They all stare at with an adoration that’s almost unsettling.
"..." I follow Pandora, looking around. Compared to the Abyss, this place is literally a paradise. Everything here seems so much better. And this puts a small smile on my face. It’s strange to smile genuinely like this. And I never expected to feel so much gratitude for a living being.
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