Chương 10: Farewell, Grey Man
"Letting go is the hardest part"
<Empirical Year 1957>
3 Years Ago:
In the dimly lit royal chamber, a child's silhouette huddles in a corner, and unceasingly painful tears flow down her delicate face.
Suddenly the heavy door of her room, swings open quietly, a sliver of light slicing through the darkness. A familiar voice, tinged with urgency, pierced the silence.
"Princess, we must leave" Elise's voice, though steady, bears the undertone of concern.
"Elise... I... I can't do this anymore! I don't want to go!" the child's voice falters amidst sobs, her words strained by emotion.
Kneeling beside the distraught princess, Elise's presence offered a sense of solace.
"Princess, it's my duty to ensure your safety. The rebels will soon be upon us. We mustn't linger."
The mention of imminent danger sparks a painful realization within the child's heart.
"But what about my mother?"
Elise's expression tightens momentarily, her resolve masking the turmoil beneath.
"We haven't time for that now, Minerva. Please, we must go."
Observing Elise's reaction, a surge of bitter self-loathing consumed the princess as she felt the weight of blame for her mother's death.
Memories flooded her mind of the tender moments shared, particularly her mother's soothing embrace and her calming smile the night before.
Each recollection only intensified Minerva's sorrow, as she longed to be comforted, to feel her mother's embrace once more.
Yet, in the stark reality of loss, she faced the painful truth that her mother's love could now only reside within her memories.
"This is all my fault…" Minerva mutters under her breath, as she wailed in her room.
An indescribable scream of anguish echoed through the chamber, as she attempted to claw at her iridescent eyes, met only by Elise's firm grip.
Struggling against Elise's restraint, the princess's desperation spills forth.
"Release me, Head Maid!"
"I cannot do that" Elise's voice, though gentle, carries an unwavering strength.
"Why?!" the princess pleads, her voice laced with desperation and confusion.
"Don't you also hate me?! I'm the reason why everyone is dead!" The princess started to flail in an attempt to shake Elise off.
"I don't deserve to live!"
A single tear escapes Elise's stoic facade, tracing a silent path down her cheek. At that moment, the walls of composure crumble, revealing a vulnerability long concealed. Noticing this the princess briefly pauses her flailing.
"Why are you crying?" Minerva looked at Elise perplexed, as it was the first time she ever saw her show any sort of emotion.
"Don't say-"
Suddenly, a shadow crept up from behind Elise, startling Minerva who tried to scream but was silenced as Elise swiftly killed the threat with a decisive strike, her knife finding its mark on the man's throat with deadly accuracy.
The man fell to the ground, gargling blood, as Elise wasted no time in springing into action.
"What, Elise-" Minerva whimpered, shaken by the sudden violence.
With remarkable swiftness, Elise scooped up Minerva's trembling form, hoisting her onto her back before leaping out of the window.
This scene caught the attention of two men below who gazed upward in astonishment, their confusion evident as they watched a maid seemingly defy gravity.
"THERE SHE IS! GET THE PRINCESS!" One of the men barked, raising his rifle and unleashing a barrage of shots as they descended.
"You idiot! We need her alive!" The other man slapped the rifle's barrel away in annoyance.
Elise and Minerva landed gracefully on the palace grounds before swiftly making their escape towards the artificial forest nearby.
The frantic pursuit behind them echoed through the trees, the shouts of their pursuers mingling with the rustle of leaves underfoot.
"Where are we going?" Minerva's voice trembled with fear.
"To the secret exit in the West Palace," Elise replied, her tone resolute.
"The one where we used to play?"
"Yes, princess."
As they dashed through the shadowed forest, an eerie silence enveloped them, broken only by the sound of their own hurried breaths. Elise's senses were on high alert, her instincts warning her of danger lurking nearby.
She brought them to an abrupt halt, scanning their surroundings for any sign of danger.
"What? Why are we stopping?" Minerva whispered, her voice barely audible.
Elise remained silent, her keen eyes searching the darkness. In the distance, she spotted a figure, a creature lurking amidst the trees.
"An entity…? In the palace?!" Elise swallowed her dry saliva as she swiftly turned to another direction.
But before she could move, a group of men closed in on them, led by a figure adorned in a silver mask and crimson robe, with a golden insignia of a wolf on his hood, marking his allegiance with Geoffria.
"Hand over the princess, maid, and your life shall be spared," the masked man demanded.
"Fuck off!" Elise's response was swift and defiant.
"Such vulgar language, fine then" The man chuckled underneath his silver mask
The man's expression hardened at her defiance, and with a flick of his hand, he conjured a spear of blue light, poised to strike.
"Die."
The spear soared towards Elise, but she shielded Minerva with her own body, bracing for impact. As the spear scattered into a flurry of azure butterflies upon contact with the ground, Elise felt their sharp wings graze her skin, but she remained steadfast in her protection of the princess.
"No incantation? How did the rebels get a high-tier Geoffrian Magus?" Elise's mind raced as her skin was shredded by shrapnels of magic.
Two more spears were hurled their way, and Elise barely managed to evade, seeking refuge within the dense cover of the trees.
"You sure are fast" The magus taunted "Just like a rat"
Behind a tree's cover, Elise blindly fired her pistol killing two of the men beside the Magus but with a swift motion, the Magus unleashed another volley of spears toward them.
With one finding its mark, piercing Elise's left hand disarming her and rendering it useless.
As she struggled to recover, a barrage of gunfire erupted, tore through the air and eventually hitting Elise's limbs.
Though her maid suit was made to be bulletproof, the relentless gunfire tore through it easily, causing her to stagger under the onslaught.
But even as adversity loomed large, Elise refused to yield. Her determination remained unyielding as she shielded Minerva, ready to fight until her last breath.
Minerva, overwhelmed by shock, could only stare blankly at Elise.
"I won't let them touch you, don't worry," Elise reassured the terrified child with a caring smile.
Elise once again swung Minerva onto her back, her heart pounding with adrenaline. With a swift, practiced motion, she hurled a dagger toward the magus, aiming for his chest.
But he, in a display of almost supernatural agility, dodged it effortlessly, the dagger finding an unintended target - the skull of a hapless man behind him.
As the magus momentarily turned to observe the spectacle, Elise seized the opportunity to vanish into the dense foliage of the forest, her movements silent and swift like a shadow.
Behind his silver mask, the magus's expression twisted with a mixture of bewilderment and grudging respect for Elise's unwavering determination. He cursed under his breath, his impatience simmering beneath his controlled exterior.
"Tch, you're more trouble than you're worth," he muttered, his voice tinged with frustration.
His piercing red eyes gleamed ominously within the confines of his mask as he began to chant an incantation
<<Puparia>>
Raising his right hand towards the moonlight, the Magus conjured a cocoon of light, that unleashed an azure beam that disintegrated through the trees, relentlessly pursuing Elise's direction. Sensing the imminent danger, Elise threw Minerva away to shield her.
Disoriented by the force of the beam, Minerva's despair was evident as they regathered their senses. "No! Elise!" Minerva's cry echoed through the chaos.
Attempting to rise, Elise felt a strange sensation and looked down to discover her legs disintegrated by the beam.
As the crowd closed in, Minerva could only watch helplessly as one of her dearest maids was about to be brutally slaughtered before her eyes.
With Elise's blood staining her, Minerva's stomach churned with nausea. Yet, amidst the horror, she was rendered powerless by a numbing coldness enveloping her.
"Princess, you have to run!" Elise urged, her voice strained with pain.
"I- I can't leave you here..." Minerva hesitated.
"Yes, you can! Just-" Another spear emerged from the darkness, striking Elise's back.
"Hurry... Princess..." Elise struggled to rise once more, determined to assist her, despite the odds stacked against them.
Elise lay barely able to lift a finger, her body riddled with multiple gunshot wounds, with the crimson of her own blood started to pool around her body.
With fading strength, she managed to whisper instructions to the princess, her voice labored.
"Princess... run... follow... the... moon..."
Minerva's heart sank at Elise's final words, With tears stinging her eyes and adrenaline coursing through her veins, Minerva knew she had no choice but to heed her dying maid's request.
But before Minerva could react, the magus seized her by the hair, forcefully dragging her into the midst of the chaotic crowd.
Elise strained to resist her capture, her feeble attempts futile against her weakened state.
Paralyzed and overcome by a profound sense of shame for what she perceived as a failure in her duty, Elise felt the grip of consciousness slipping from her grasp.
Half-awake and struggling against the weight of her wounds, she managed to raise herself slightly, only to be dragged back down by the relentless agony coursing through her body.
Her mind swirled with a cacophony of voices and sensations.
"How is that damn maid still alive?"
"The royal palace sure is full of monsters huh?"
The gruff voice of another rebel pierced through her haze, accompanied by the cold metal of a gun pressing into her back, ready to end her life. But before the trigger could be pulled, the magus intervened with a brutal kick to her stomach, sending her hurtling several meters away.
"NO! ELISE! LET GO OF ME!" The distant cries of Minerva reached Elise's ears
Struggling to maintain consciousness, Elise whispered desperately, "Princess... Where are you?" But her vision darkened, and the voices around her faded into the abyss.
Amidst the encroaching darkness, a sudden commotion erupted nearby.
"What the—what the hell is that?"
The confusion in the voices was quickly followed by the eruption of gunfire and the crackling energy of conjured spells.
Through the chaos, the authoritative voice of the magus sliced through the noise, barking orders to his men to maintain formation. Yet, despite his commands, guttural screams, and the sickening sound of flesh being crushed.
Elise awoke early in the morning to find herself miraculously alive, devoid of any injuries, and with no sign of the rebels or the Magus. With a sense of disorientation, she wandered aimlessly through the forest, her surroundings shrouded in an eerie silence.
Eventually, she reached the once-grand palace, now reduced to ruins by the ravages of conflict, a sudden trickle of blood fell from above her and as she gazed above she noticed the bodies of all the rebels levitating in the air, all appearing to be crucified on crimson crosses, with blood shaped like sea creatures gliding through the air.
"What happened here….?"
An abrupt, piercing scream shattered the tranquil silence, jolting Elise from her trance.
The sound sliced through the calm like a knife, its familiarity sending a chill down her spine. Without a moment's hesitation, she recognized the voice—it was Minerva's.
"Minerva?!" Elise's heart pounded in her chest
As Elise raced towards the source of the familiar cries, an unexplainable sensation washed over her, as though the very air around her had thickened, clinging to her skin like a heavy shroud.
With each step, her movements became more labored, her limbs weighed down by an inexplicable force that seemed to emanate from within her heart.
Yet, despite the growing heaviness in her body and the pounding of her heart, Elise remained resolute, her focus unwavering as she pushed forward towards the harmonic hums that now replaced the earlier screams.
The melody, though haunting, held an undeniable allure, its enchanting cadence weaving through the air like a delicate thread, drawing her ever closer with its hypnotic charm.
As she crawled closer, the world around her seemed to blur and distort, the boundaries between reality and the unknown melting away like wax before a flame.
As Elise approached, her eyes widened in awe at the sight before her. Standing tall and majestic, a celestial being of unparalleled beauty loomed over Minerva.
Its form was awe-inspiring and otherworldly. With each movement, its wings unfurled like the petals of a cosmic flower, casting intricate shadows upon the forest floor.
The crimson halo hovering above its head pulsed with dark energy, with a dark liquid bleeding from within it. A stark contrast to the ethereal glow that emanated from its divine presence.
Its four arms moved with a grace that hid their strength, each movement deliberate and precise as they reached out to comfort the trembling child before it.
Minerva, her face streaked with tears, gazed up at the celestial being with a mixture of awe and fear, her small frame trembling under its gentle touch.
Yet, despite the creature's imposing appearance, there was a kindness in its eyes, a warmth that spoke of compassion and protection.
"Do not be afraid, child," the being spoke, its voice a harmonious blend of feminine grace and masculine depth that seemed to resonate within Elise's very soul. "I am here to save you."
Elise stood frozen in the presence of the divine being, her entire being trembling as if her very essence recognized the overwhelming power and majesty emanating from the celestial figure, rendering her incapable of even the slightest movement.
"What in God's name is that thing?" Elise thought to herself
"No….y-you killed all of those people! I don't want to go with you!" Minerva countered the being.
"Mine child," spake the celestial being in tones of ancient wisdom, "their sacrifices were needful for the longevity of this world.""
"D-don't try t-to justify your actions" Minerva could barely breathe as she replied.
The being snickers at her response and continues "Verily, thou dost possess the blood of Sirius."
Minerva could only stare at the ground as it replied, shaking in fear she averted her gaze elsewhere, eventually her gaze shifted towards Elise on the ground.
"Elise….save me" She muttered under her breath.
Elise wanted to save her dear niece, but her instincts were doing everything in their power to make her flee, run as quickly as she could. But she simply could not let her go.
"MINERVA!" She screamed out in terror.
The being was distracted by the scream and turned to look behind.
"What is this? Hath one still drawn breath?"
The creature's amber eyes gazed at Elise momentarily but that was enough for her to cough up blood.
"That soul... thine own—yet, such ought not to be possible,"
The creature approached Elise and raised her with one of its arms to inspect her.
"Thou bear no semblance to one another. Art thou truly Luden?"
The distant echo of footsteps caught the attention of the celestial being, causing it to abruptly cease its inspection and raise its head. "I must not tarry," it declared, swift as a gust of wind, it shifted locations in the blink of an eye, snatching Minerva with one of its arms. Elise could scarcely comprehend the swiftness of the action, her gaze fixed upon Minerva's helpless flailing form.
With but a snap of its ethereal fingers, a colossal black iron door materialized, its ominous presence looming before them. Slowly, it swung open, revealing a yawning void beyond.
Turning back for one last glance, the celestial being fixed its gaze upon Elise, its voice carrying a weight of finality as it prepared to depart.
"Farewell, Grey Man,"
Elise payed no attention to its farewell and remained fixed on Minerva, her heart aching at the sight of the child's tear-streaked face as they vanished into the abyss beyond the doorway.
"DONT TAKE HER-"
The door shut before she could finish.
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