◈ 408. [Side Story] The other side of the other side
… The feeling of emptiness subsides.
Recognizing my hazy mind, I opened my eyes.
shoot it… … .
What unfolded in front of me was a wide beach.
The white sandy beach and the clear, colorless waters that wash up… .
Looking up at the sky, I saw a curtain of colorful light unfolding. is this aurora?
While observing the curtain of light as if possessed, the rolling waves soaked my shoes.
I muttered blankly.
“here… The other side of the horizon?”
This is the spirit world… … ?
While taking in the obviously heterogeneous scenery, I suddenly recalled the situation just before coming here.
“Salome… !”
I call out urgently, but Salome, of course, does not answer. The surroundings are empty and I am alone on the deserted shore.
Salome sent me to the spirit world and remained in this world.
I laughed dejectedly. You risked your life for me on the subject of a monster.
My life, my flag, how much debt am I going forward with?
“… .”
He clenched his fists tightly, then slowly released them.
I don’t know if we can meet again.
If I could meet her again… … At that time, I thought that I wanted to say hello properly, not hit me.
I think I really want to return my thanks.
I started walking along the beach.
I didn’t know where to go or what to do in this unidentified space.
When I saw the scenery reflected not far away, I had an intuition that I had to go there.
“that… .”
At the end of this shore—a black thorn.
Everblack’s branches were reaching down from the sky to the ground.
***
I walked silently along the vast stretch of beach.
My footprints were left on the white sandy beach where the transparent sea water came and went.
We finally arrived at a destination that seemed impossible to reach forever. I stopped in front of a branch of a black thorn tree.
“Why is this tree here… ?”
The national tree and guardian tree of the Everblack Empire.
Everblack Thorns – Everblack Everblack.
A magical lighthouse that only four ‘Guardians’ can use in the Empire.
I can’t believe that this tree is here… … .
“Did you come?”
Then a low voice was heard.
I had guessed to some extent, but I had no idea that I would actually be here. I smiled bitterly and looked in the direction where the voice came from.
“You’re the one who always runs around weird places and gets into accidents, but I never thought you’d come here to the spirit world.”
A man was sitting on a simple chair on the beach.
A human being made by God not of clay but of gold.
Even here in the spirit world, he is the absolute ruler of the world who does not lose his dignity and prestige.
Golden eyes gleaming through her disheveled black hair-
“… father.”
Emperor of the Everblack Empire.
Traha ‘Peacemaker’ Everblack was there.
“No matter how much this place is the spirit world, located between life and death, not royal tax, I am the emperor. ash.”
The emperor clicked his tongue.
“You should call me Obama, not father.”
“… .”
“Well, when did you ever properly observe such etiquette?”
Even here in the spirit world, the emperor, who had been arrogantly babbling, nodded.
“Anyway, what are you doing here? Without Everblack’s guidance, even Jim couldn’t find his way. It seems that he did not come to Everblack’s India… … .”
“… .”
“Can it be that you lost your way and drifted away?”
I hesitated, then nodded.
The emperor laughed haha and snapped his fingers. right!
Then, the twigs scattered on the shore weaved together and made a small chair. The emperor put the chair in front of him.
“Sit down. You must be tired from coming a long way.”
I sat in front of him without hesitation. He looked carefully and asked.
“Aren’t you scolding me more?”
“Isn’t it the privilege of young people to get lost and wander? You have to wander to your heart’s content while you’re young so you’ll suffer less later.”
The emperor smiled bitterly as he leaned back on the chair.
“Anyway, I think it’s a bit too much to roll into the spirit world and wander around.”
“… What exactly is this place?”
I looked around and asked.
A place where aurora rains down in the sky and transparent waves come and go.
Here in the spirit world… … What place is it exactly?
“This is not a space for the living. It’s not even a place for the dead… … If you have to say it, you can say it’s a gap between life and death.”
“The gap between life and death… ?”
“If both the living and the dead are here, the boundaries become blurred and eventually float to the other side of the waves. In the end, those who remain here… … .”
The emperor gestured towards the beach.
“Those who have escaped life and death and attained divine status. Or only those who transcend the standards of the soul.”
“… !”
Looking that way, I saw four gigantic figures moving slowly over the sea – cutting through the water.
thud… ! thud… !
Four giants of overwhelming size were approaching, emitting obvious hostility. It was enough to make me feel dizzy just looking at it, but the emperor was still calm.
“A battlefield of specters who fight for their own race or country even with only their souls left. That is the spirit world right here.”
A meeting of the guardians that was held in the ecliptic in the past. There, he recalled the explanation he had heard from the emperor. I stuttered and asked.
“Then they are… Are you a different god?”
The emperor nodded.
“Yes. They are the ancestors and guardians of the different races.”
Each of the gigantic shapes was different in appearance.
Short and stocky, long ears, long limbs, hairy body, fish with streamlined lower body… … .
Dwarf Elf Werebeast Mermaid.
They were the guardian spirits of the 4 different races.
“In this world, as their own race was driven to the brink of destruction and their respective guardians were uprooted, they came here to fight back.”
The emperor glanced at the thorns growing behind him.
“To get rid of Everblack, the guardian of mankind.”
“… .”
“Okay then. Jim, let’s prepare for today’s battle soon.”
Saying this, the emperor stood up and drew a longsword from his waist.
This is the Ishin Electric Wire.
It is one of the four fronts of the empire, where the emperor directly fights the gods with his sword.
‘huh?’
However, the emperor was not in the same condition as talking coolly and raising his body. His posture is slanted and his legs stagger.
“Are you okay? You look a bit unwell.”
“Um… You can’t lie about your age.”
The emperor, who hit his waist with his fist, confessed with embarrassment.
“… In fact, Fernandez disconnected Everblack right after Jim came here.”
“yes?”
No, is Fernandez here again?
“I knew he was ambitious, but I never thought he would rebel against me like this.”
“… .”
“Thanks to that, the passage between reality and the spirit world was cut off, and Jim could not return and was isolated here.”
The emperor calmly recited the story of being stabbed in the back of the head by his second son.
“Since the flow of time here is different from reality, it is impossible to know exactly how much time has passed outside and how much time Jim has spent here… .”
“… .”
“Since Jim is a living being, the longer he stays in the spirit world, the more he suffers. Besides, we fight every day… … Don’t deny that it’s been consumed. Maybe I won’t last long.”
The emperor laughed.
“But even so, this is a burden fight. As long as there is breath, it is a wire of burden that must be continued.”
“… .”
“If Jim starts sword-to-sword with them, soon this place will be destroyed. Leave soon.”
The Emperor, who was walking to the beach, looked back at me.
“If you have any last questions, ask them. Actually, at the point of drifting here, there must be only one question you need to ask.”
“… .”
What do you want to ask?
The emperor had more than one question. But, as the emperor said, if I had to ask just one question, it would be… … .
“Abama.”
… This is all.
“Who am I?”
The emperor laughed at my question.
“No matter how busy you are, do you live without looking in the mirror?”
“… .”
“You are Ash. Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack. Jim’s troublemaker youngest son.”
I asked again with a trembling voice.
“The fact that I am Ash, the son of Obama… Are you sure?”
Then the emperor scanned me with his golden eyes shining like in the zodiac.
“However, you still do not recognize your son. Jim’s eyes don’t look wrong. You are unmistakably my son.”
Said so.
“Go now. This is not a place for the living to stay for long.”
thud… ! thud… ! thud… !
The deities have already reached their noses. The emperor pointed his sword at them and said.
“Remember, my prodigal son. If you have the will to find a way, the way is everywhere and everywhere.”
“… .”
“So, feel free to wander around. The road will surely be at its end.”
Taat!
The emperor kicked the ground and flew through the air and was shot ashore. Towards such an emperor, four different gods raised their respective weapons.
The light explodes and the sea evaporates.
Leaving behind the scenery of the mythical battle, I turned around.
Not far away hung the trunk of a black thorn tree.
Intuition guided me. I took a step there.
***
There she was.
The ends of the branches of a black thorn tree entwined like a net.
At the end, she was tied up and hung.
Blood flowed continuously from all over the body pierced by the thorns, and the flowing blood dripped down and set fire to her body.
bleeding from wounds. burning alive at the same time.
She had a calm face.
“… .”
The mythical battle on the beach was surreal, but the woman in front of him was also surreal.
She smiled softly at me as I opened my mouth in bewilderment.
“It’s been a while, Ash… … no. Was this the first time we met in this ‘episode’?”
Hearing your voice for the first time, seeing your face for the first time.
I got used to it for some reason.
I unknowingly spit it out.
“… mother?”
Dustia, Ash’s mother.
Because it was a woman just like her.
Then the Hanged Woman laughed brightly.
“Whoa, Dustia looks like me. That would also be true, because that child is my descendant… … just like you do ash.”
I had goosebumps all over my body.
I gasped for an unknown thrill. I trembled and asked.
“you are… Who are you?”
“I’m ashamed to say it with my own mouth, but there are quite a few nicknames.”
The woman was shy, but continued to recite her nickname.
“The thief of the flame, the first witch, the thorn tree, the death row inmate, the angel of the ashes, the returning regret… .”
It was just a name I couldn’t understand.
When I noticed that I didn’t notice at all, the woman was embarrassed and told me the next title.
“These are all names that were called in the past, and nowadays people in the world undeservedly call me… .”
And it
was a name I couldn’t help but know.
“… They called me ‘goddess’.”
