The pair floated in the darkness as the silence enveloped them both. Neither of them spoke after his question was said. There was nothing else left to mutter or ask—she knew that there was only one way to conclude this final trial:
To answer his question.
A question that even she couldn’t fathom answering.
Soren watched her coldly—his eyes darting like a scanner, as if to pry the answer out of her reaction. And as this continued, she could feel the weight of the fog surge… Twisting and shifting around her, growing tighter and tighter by the second. Even her breathing had slowly beco a laborious task.
“I am hiding nothing.” The words rang through the abyss. Then, the fog’s weight increased again, causing her to sink even faster than before—the distance between them expanded by the second.
Soren’s lips curled once again into a pompous smile. Julie however, didn’t mind his reaction. Her eyes were glued to his as she continued:
“I an that literally—there is nothing in to hide. No secret talents, no distinct features, no amusing facts.
“I am completely ordinary. And that is my biggest flaw. The one thing I had tried to hide—the absence of anything worthy of value.”
As they drifted apart, she watched as Soren lifted his arm to rub his chin, as if to contemplate sothing profound. And yet, the question he asked was just as callous as he usually was:
“So you’re a talentless hack? That’s what you were trying to hide from everyone?”
She took a deep breath, before nodding to his question. “Yes. I am a useless person. A waste of space. And for the longest ti, I blad you for that.” She smiled toward his fleeting figure. To many, this would be seen as a sign of acceptance, and yet, the fog only beca heavier with every word:
“Don’t you rember, Soren? Every ga I introduced to you… It would take no longer than a few matches for you to completely master their chanics. It didn’t matter which genre or what the ga entailed—you would always find a way to instantly understand its inner workings and turn into an expert at it.
“It would get to the point where each match between us would devolve into a coaching lesson rather than a ga… And when you finally realize that all of your efforts at teaching were for naught, all I would see on your face is abject disappointnt.
“You couldn’t fathom why I was so inadequate… Why I could never match you in anything we did together. And eventually, even that disappointnt turned to simple boredom. You gave up on trying to teach .”
She chuckled as she rembered that past.
“It’s strange, really. I can still recall all those hours I would beg my mom to buy sothing new for us to play with… Eventually, even she got sick of it—saying that I was becoming too spoiled.”
A strand of mist wrapped tightly around her neck as the words continued to flow out:
“And she was right. I was very spoiled back then. I deluded myself into thinking that there might be sothing out there that we hadn’t tried together… Sothing that even I could learn to do well.
“Sothing… That I was talented in.”
Her lips twitched for a mont. She didn’t know whether it was anger, sadness, or self pity that was clouding her eyes. Or perhaps, the tightness around her neck was causing her eyes to water.
“But I was wrong. There is no skill, no hobby, and certainly no interest that I was ever good at. Nothing.
“And once I learned to accept that reality, life beca a lot easier.” She crossed her arms as her smile widened. “There was no need for to be honest after that. If I couldn’t deceive myself, then I would deceive the world instead.
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“My failures beca bad luck. My enjoynt ca from things that didn’t require much skill. Even my struggles in college… I tried to find the easiest major I could find—it was between history or communications. And to top it all off, I made sure all my friendships remained surface level at best. That way, they would never find out about the true .
“The point is, Soren,” The words ca with a tinge of salt, “I live underneath a shield of excuses because the real is even more pathetic than the persona others perceive through. Are you satisfied with my explanation?”
He glanced at her montarily then smiled once again. Then, as his figure drifted further and further away, the tangled mist shaping his form slowly ca undone… She watched as he slowly vanished into the abyss, but not before hearing his parting words:
“I’m Satisfied. Though, it does make wonder…
“Are you really asking that question to , or yourself?”
Sitting in the cold darkness, Julie’s erald green eyes fluttered to life. Her skin was damp—covered in a pool of her own sweat and her breathing had hitched, as if she had just awoken from a very long nightmare. And yet, at that mont, she couldn’t help but smile…
Even in this dark hellscape, relief can reach even the most desperate of souls…
“Congratulations, child. You’ve finally beco a Sentinel.” Solomon’s voice was like a beacon of hope reaching through the darkness.
She smiled softly as the flow of anima raced across her body. She glanced down at herself in awe.
“So this is a Soul Fra…”
“Indeed, child… But I do wonder… That young man you spoke to within the void… His final question—what is your answer to it.”
Hearing this, Julie couldn’t help but laugh. The fact that a being as powerful as Solomon was eavesdropping on her private mont… It seed utterly ridiculous. And yet, it felt rather comforting at the sa ti…
She leaned back from exhaustion, but the feeling of being weightless overwheld her still.
“Soren… It seems I really was right about myself being talentless. Even in the skill of lying, I was outclassed—he saw right through …”
Her lips curled up into a wide smile. “He was right. I was speaking to myself in that mont. It’s funny, really. Once I admitted to it, my body descended toward my True Self instantly… I was becoming my own worst enemy…”
“And what was it that you found down there?”
She looked up at the distant dark ceiling. Her eyes which were once dim had begun to glow in the dark in a gradient of bright greens…
“A broken star…”
“A… broken star?..” He was left stunned for a mont. This wasn’t in HIs expectations.
Julie nodded. “That is my True Self. A star that is broken. One that has no potential to shine brightly.” She chuckled to herself with her hand over her face. “As if that changes anything—it only confirms what I already knew about myself.”
“And that is what makes it special.” Solomon’s words rang in her mind. She glanced up, as if to try and glance at the imaginary voice inside of her.
“What do you an?”
“It seems you still haven’t figured it out yet… Julie, a person’s True Self cannot be understood until it is revealed… Even I could not see it completely—for it exists in a jumbled state until it is observed.”
Her lips sank into a frown. “I don’t get what you’re hinting at…”
“It ans that you already knew what your True Self was from the start.”
“What?...”
“A rare phenona indeed… One that usually ans that your belief in yourself is truer than most. Even if that belief was built on a foundation of self doubt…
“Your True Self being a broken star… It indeed is accurate. Regardless of its form, a star is still a star, after all. You should be proud to know you are special in this regard.”
His words left her stunned. She sat there in silence, as the droplets of water coming from the dungeon’s ceiling ford a rhythm.
“However,” He said with excitent, “It could also give us a hint as to what your Inherent Ability is! Quickly, channel the anima through your body and try to sense for any abnormalities.”
Hearing His words, she imdiately regained her focus and began to do as she was told. A layer of her willpower slowly flowed from within her heart and into the rest of her body. It was as if she was coated in a strange and weightless material.
“It’s fluctuating…” She said plainly as her erald green eyes shifted slowly.
“That is because you have yet to fully comprehend your own body. The Fra must be slowly built and grown with training. Do you feel anything else?”
She channeled the anima for a while longer then shook her head disappointingly.
“No. I don’t sense anything.”
Solomon waited for a mont before sighing. “That’s fine. We will take our ti to slowly discover it.”
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