Chapter 18: Goodbyes

When the vision ended I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was the mother on the ground with Arismis kneeling close to her. While getting close to them I asked

“Is she ok?”

Arismis nodded “She just lost her senses.” he then looked at me “Did she show you something?”

When I was about to say something my head felt light and for a second I had forgotten what I wanted to say. Arismis asked me if I was ok and I simply nodded.

“She just said we’ll soon meet…did you know her perhaps?”

He looked at me “She’s…just an acquaintance.” He got up and said “Let’s stop with small talk now. Let’s go to Japan.”

“What? Didn’t I have to kill her?” I pointed at the mother.

"There is no need for that anymore since she transferred her powers to you when you two hugged”

“How?”

“That’s her power. Stealing and sharing powers from others and now you have her power and the husband’s ice-based power. Now let’s go, we have to-”

“No.” I interrupted him “I can’t leave her here…I made a promise and I want to respect it.”

Arismis remained in silence for a moment, looking at me in the eyes and we stayed like this for some seconds, then he said

“Very well. Do what you gotta do. I’ll wait here.”

I nodded and took the mother’s body in my arms, she was sleeping peacefully with a little smile on her face, at that sight, I smiled too but it was more sadness than anything else. I entered the house and went into her room upstairs, the father was sleeping and Emily was in the middle of the bed, sleeping too.

While gently putting the mother on the bed, the daughter woke up and looked at me with sleepy eyes

“Big sister…what happened to mom?” she asked with a low and soft voice

I smiled and patted her on the head “Nothing, don’t worry. Mom just wanted to tell me something but she was really tired and I brought her here” I patted her on the head

“Go back to sleep, you have school tomorrow…” One tear slowly flowed down my left cheek.

Emily was looking curiously “Why are you crying?”

“Uh?” I immediately dried it with the back of my hand “It’s fine, don’t worry ab-”

Without the time to finish the sentence, she jumped off the bed and hugged me.

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“Mom always says to cry if you need to.”

“But I wasn’t going to cry-”

“Yes you were!” she raised her voice a little more and hugged me with more force.

I smiled while hugging her back “You don’t have to worry ok? Remember that your big sister is really strong!” I said while also thinking “To be honest, I’m having a difficult time not crying…”

Shortly after she fell asleep, I put her in bed with her parents. While doing that, I noticed that the father was awake, but he wasn’t saying anything and just staring at me, probably knowing what would happen. He simply smiled at me, kindly like I wasn’t a stranger but someone he knew…like her daughter, and then he closed his eyes.

I slapped both my cheeks trying to compose myself and then sighed, cold vapour came out of my mouth. I removed my shoes and the floor started freezing under my bare feet. I looked one last time at that family, that accepted me even though they knew who I was

“Goodbye…and thank you for everything.” After saying that, not only the whole room but the whole house froze up in an instant.

I slowly went out of the house without looking back, remembering every single detail wouldn’t have been of any good and took that time to reflect.

Meanwhile, Arismis was still waiting patiently and when he saw me coming out the house, a blue portal appeared near him.

I looked at him “You said our next destination is Japan, right?”

He nodded “This will be our final destination. Killing the guy that lives there will greatly improve the state of the world. You will be a saviour.”

“I see.” I didn’t really care about this. I started this whole thing because I wanted to create a better world but I was basing that objective on memories that I don’t know if they are mines and I can’t ask about it without the risk of dying. Now, I still want revenge, not against the world but against the god who put the curse on them.

“The god that cursed that mother, are they still alive?”

He shrouded his shoulder “I don’t know. They are all in an eternal slumber now.”

I looked at him, something was telling me that he was hiding more, but as usual I didn’t have any proof so I just stayed silent. While walking towards the blue portal Arismis said

“You will appear in an apartment, wait for me there. I have to do something important now.”

“What do you have to do?” I asked but he brought his index finger to his lips and didn’t say anything else. That’s not the first time he does something like this and it basically means “It’s a secret”, after doing that, having him answer becomes an impossible challenge.

Without saying anything else, I passed through the portal, which closed itself when I arrived at the apartment.

—Meanwhile Arismis…—

After the portal closed, Arismis went into the frozen house and then into the bedroom upstairs. He went close to the mother and put a hand on her chest, the ice on that spot melted and as he removed the hand a tiny white flame was coming out of her chest. He left the flame in his palm and observed it while a huge and maniacal smile formed on his face from ear to ear

“I finally found her…The last piece to complete the council’s plan…”

He then started laughing in excitement and when he stopped, only after a solid minute, a blue portal appeared behind him.

“It’s time to finish this game of hide and seek, -̷̧̛̞̤̥̩̆̓̔̈́̋̀͐̇̓͝͝-̶̧̫̞͉̩͇̝̀̈́̾͂́̈́̊͂̅͋͊̿͑͝͝-̸̛̞̦̟̜͓̭̤̜̟̬̉͛̆̈̍̈́̂-̴̢̛̞͔̟̝̟̲̥̲̞̯̤̘̽͂̾ä̵͎͔͖̖́̿͘-̶̨̟͉̮̖̹̤̬͕̘̼͖͉̘̺̹̓̿̑̎̐̿-̶̛͇͕̐̏̈́͒̆͒̆̅̕̚-̸̢̲͎̤̩͍͎̼͛̆̑̕-̴̺̽̋̍̈́̿̒̀̀̾̚-̶͇̣̮̥̤͎̮̮̝͕̬̎͂̆-̸̧̡̗͔̜̝̖̰͍̞̫̇́̉-̷̩̞́̏̈̊͋͂͂͘̕ͅy̸̢̢̟̺͉̰̝̲̘̺͈̓̇̌̽̊̑́̀͘͠͝-̴̡̗͚̣̝̳̣̬̦̞͇̊́͜-̵̧̠̈̎͑̈́̇̿͒̒̎̎̒̓̒̚͠-̶͈͐̽͐̃͐͝-̴̧̢̡̛̗̠̯̰͕̟̥͍͙͓̤̩̮͐̓̅̃̀n̶̛͈͈̘̤̦͒͗̈́̎͗̾̎͠-̸̢̙̻̲͈̘̩̟̅-̷̧̥̻͓̦͈̮̠̹̖̟̪̓̇͂̃͂͊̀̈́̓̚͠-̵͍̘̺̔̂-̴̢̢̥̩̗̗̞̫̬́̌́̿̾̐̔̽̈́̉̌̂͑̉̉͜͠ļ̶̨̜͍͚͍̜̝̺̽̈́̽̇̀̈̈̀̀̃̇̾̀͘͝”

He extinguished the white flame by closing his palm and went through the portal, which closed behind him immediately after.