◈ 689. [STAGE 40] Ice Fortress (2)
The last memory I had was the moment my heart was pierced for the second time by the Night Bringer.
Dusk Bringer calmly explained what happened after that.
I stood up with her help and looked around blankly.
“…So you came all the way here to find me?”
A world in ice.
Nightmare Slayer [Light and Shadow] Inside… a stuffed archive.
Did he come here directly looking for me?
“Because it’s just you.”
Dusk Bringer stretched out his cold fingertips and caressed my forehead.
“Because you are the only one who can brighten this world again and who can entrust my flame to do so.”
“….”
I, who had been silent, carefully raised my voice.
“grandee. “I am not the Ash you loved.”
“….”
“That Ash is already dead. “I am nothing more than a backup… a clone of Ash’s memories.”
I let out a self-deprecating laugh without even realizing it.
“In the first place, Ash was a clone, so I am a replica of a replica of a replica of a replica of a replica of a replica. It’s just a fake among fakes. How could I…”
“It’s okay.”
My trembling voice stopped at one word of Dusk Bringer’s firm faith.
Dusk Bringer lifted his frozen white mouth and smiled.
“Because it’s you too.”
“….”
“Because it’s your life too.”
Slowly stretch out your hands and hold my hands together.
“And because your life is beautiful.”
He said it with such sincerity.
I was speechless and bit my lip.
“ash. “You have a heart stronger than anything in this world… you have the courage not to hate.”
I blinked at the unfamiliar expression.
“The courage not to hate…?”
“okay. Knowing how to embrace others instead of hatred and anger. A person who knows how to embrace a divided world and heal the wounds of others. Truly strong… good intentions.”
“….”
“As long as you have that good will, you are still you even if you are copied tens of thousands of times.”
Dusk Bringer continued speaking to me as I stood there in a daze.
“My mother Daybringer said I had that courage too. So he believed in me and passed on the throne to me… but as I was swept away by the storms of the world, all the courage within me disappeared before I knew it.”
“….”
“During my reign, my country was covered in blood and ashes. “I killed a lot, hated a lot, and was hated again.”
A bitter look appeared on Dusk Bringer’s face.
“In the end, I did not live the way my mother wanted. “He just cowardly and shamelessly lived as one of the common kings.”
Her gripped hands gained strength.
“Then I met you. “You who never let go of the courage I lost.”
“….”
“It is easy to fight and kill an opponent. Conversely, it is difficult to communicate and understand. But even though you were always worried, weren’t you willing to go down a difficult and arduous path? That’s why your journey was great.”
I reached this place by stumbling, falling, and crawling, as if I was being pushed around.
Losing, losing, losing, losing again – Now the world is on the verge of destruction, and I have fallen after defeat over and over again. If you hadn’t come, I would have been frozen here forever.
“Trust me, Ash. “I am saying this because I once had the same dream as you, but eventually gave up in the face of harsh reality.”
Why do you look at me so preciously, as if I were the last remaining candle in this world?
“You can light up this world.”
Dusk Bringer slowly let go of his hand and put his hands together in front of his chest. He then pulled out a red flame flickering inside his chest and gathered it between his hands.
Dusk Bringer looked down at the flames in silence for a while and slowly stretched out his hands forward.
“Will you accept it?”
“….”
As I hesitated, Dusk Bringer’s voice trembled.
“I know. This flame is not pure. “I was unable to maintain the integrity that my predecessors maintained.”
Her cheeks turned red.
“My mistakes are engraved in this flame. “The will of our great ancestors has been tainted, corrupted, and made ugly by my shortcomings.”
“….”
“But this is all I can give.”
Seriously, she was embarrassed.
As if he thought that his polluted life had polluted the pure flame that had been passed down from his ancestors.
“You think this flame is ugly… so you can’t accept it?”
Dusk Bringer’s gaze, voice, and the flame in his hand… all trembled slightly.
“….”
I, who had been silent, slowly opened my mouth.
“It’s okay to be ugly, Grand Duke.”
I smiled at her as she opened her eyes.
“You can’t help but hate someone, sometimes cause harm, get harmed again, and live with soot… we call that kind of life normal.”
Where in this world is perfect goodness?
Just like my flag, which was covered in blood and ashes after passing through the battlefield.
Suppressing the hatred and anger that inevitably builds up, and despite that, trying hard to live as a normal person, not a monster… Because every day covered in such grime is the great battle that everyone in this world has always fought
.
“Sometimes you may make mistakes. Sometimes you may hurt others. A momentary mistake will leave a stain and a defect like a scar. “If you look back, you might only see wounds and soot all over your body.”
“….”
“But it’s okay. “Because the Grand Duke did not forget what was important in the end.”
Because in the end, I remained human.
Because even though I lived in the mud of political domination, I was looking at the stars until the end.
“I will not forgive your mistake. I won’t make your mistake go away. But like this… I will embrace your ugliness.”
I slowly hugged Dusk Bringer’s small shoulders and hugged him again.
Tears flowed from the amber eyes of Dusk Bringer in my arms. I whispered sincerely in her ear.
“Thank you, Archduke. For coming to save me. “For telling me that my life has value.”
“Ash….”
“Now I will take over. “Your ugliness, your wounds, your karma and regrets, everything.”
The reason I hesitated was not because her life was ugly.
It was because I knew that the moment I inherited this, I would have to break up with her.
But if you truly care for this person… you should accept it.
Her will too.
Breaking up with her too.
Saaaaa….
The flame held in her hand slowly began to be absorbed into my chest.
Dusk Bringer whispered as he carefully pushed the flame into me with his small hand.
“People also call what they fear what they do not understand a dragon. Now you will be ignored, feared and pointed at by people. Because that is the dragon’s fate.”
“….”
“But I love you, Ash.”
Tears continued to flow down Dusk Bringer’s cheeks as he tried to smile.
“The love I received from my ancestors… I will give you all the love I have left. Please love me too.”
“I will love you.”
I grinned.
“Just like the Archduke said.”
All the flames moved into my heart.
“My future generations.”
Dusk Bringer’s strength suddenly drained from his body. I gave strength to the arms that held her as she was about to collapse.
“My flame, my will, and my name will be carried on… my son.”
And a name that is passed down from generation to generation.
He gave me that name that keeps repeating itself.
“Dawn-Bringer.”
The moment you hear that name.
A surge of heat swirled from the flame that moved into my chest, and at the same time began to melt the frozen world around me.
As the ice and snow melted and disappeared, the charred, soot-covered earth was revealed. I intuitively realized that this soot-filled world belonged to Dusk Bringer.
likewise.
In the center of this pitch-black world that has burned all the way to the horizon.
I discovered that there was a small hill covered with green grass and weed flowers that she had carefully guarded and cultivated.
That was where I stood.
From all the ugliness, all the hatred, and all the corruption that hung over her heart, she was able to protect her in the end… a very small hope.
It was me.
“After dusk, night falls…”
I slowly laid her down on the floor as she slowly collapsed.
Dusk Bringer smiled faintly while lying gracefully on the weed flower.
“After a long night, dawn must come.”
“….”
“So, Dawn Bringer. Bring sunshine back to your world. “You can do it.”
I whispered, holding back my tears.
“…The Grand Duke’s tomorrow will definitely be sunny too.”
Just because yesterday was ugly doesn’t mean it will be ugly tomorrow.
As she said, after dusk falls and the night begins,
dawn will definitely come again.
“…okay. “I have already found such a brilliant tomorrow…”
The Archduke stroked my cheek once more with his weakened hand and smiled brightly with his darkened eyes.
“According to the legend my mother told me, the red dragons who have reached the end of their lives gather on the shore at the end of the world… and wait together for the world’s last sunrise.”
“….”
“So this is not a farewell… We will be able to meet again on that last morning.”
Dusk Bringer’s breathing died down in an instant. She tried to smile at me until the end.
“See you again my….”
She couldn’t finish her sentence.
I caught her hand as it fell to the floor, gently put it down, slowly closed her tear-filled amber eyes, and quietly kissed her white, smooth forehead.
“See you again. grandee. no.”
It was corrected right away.
This is the title given to the woman who inherited her blood and will from me.
“…mother.”
Looking at her deeply sleeping face, I whispered with as much kindness as I could.
“I’ll definitely see you again.”
After saying goodbye, I slowly got up.
After roughly wiping the corners of my eyes with the back of my hand, I suppressed the sobs that threatened to burst out.
I turned back.
Her world full of black, burnt soot. A long sura road covered with a carpet of flames.
Just as she willingly marched to find me in the frozen world, I also walked the long path she lived… with a willing heart.
***
At the end of a long road.
The appearance of the world has changed.
Standing at the border between worlds, I looked around.
“…This place.”
It was an endless desert filled with white, burnt ash.
Something that I couldn’t even tell what it was in the first place was all burning and burning, turning into white ash and flying around.
In this dry, dying desert of ash filled with only the sound of crunching sand.
“Hey buddy.”
A voice was heard.
“Do you need help?”
When I turned around, there was a man sitting there.
It was a man sitting with his back against a sandbar that looked like a sand temple because of the shimmering haze.
Strangely, even though this was a spiritual world, the man was unable to maintain his original form.
The entire body was broken into pieces like broken pottery, with the empty insides clearly visible. He himself had white ash flying all over his body like this desert.
A face with cracks and holes in it had an inexplicable, relaxed smile on it. He was staring at me intently.
“…It looks like you’re the one who needs help.”
I laughed and called the other person.
“Bonhater.”
Then the man – ‘the real Ash’ – laughed.
“Let’s just say we need each other.”
The real Ash stood up with a sound. As he lightly shook himself off with his hands, white ash was sprinkled like sand from all over his shattered body.
The real Ash awkwardly pointed at his broken body.
“It’s a bit of a joke, but I think it would be more helpful to you than nothing…”
“…”
I quietly looked at him.
“There are only fragmented memories of the strategy and fragmented combat experiences… but wouldn’t it be much better than nothing? How about it?”
The real Ash extended his hand to the fake me.
His broken, flowing hands were trembling with difficulty every time the dry, cold wind blew through this desert.
“Why don’t we join forces to save the world, Dunbringer?”
“….”
I let out a quiet sigh.
I reached out my hand and grabbed his hand.
“When did you stop putting it together?”
Our overlapping hands went up and down heavily.
The next moment, the world of white ash and the world of black, burnt soot began to vibrate violently and mix with each other.
