With the madness-filled self from the novel as the last scene, the scene shifts once again.
“Haah—!”
Clutching his pounding heart, Abrisius looked around. The self from the novel and Seianes who had been right before his eyes just moments ago were nowhere to be seen.
“Urgh… *gag*… *retch*…!”
As he recalled their appearance again, he began vomiting up the surging disgust.
Memories of the past, memories of the future. The scenes he had seen while crossing between reality and the future jumbled his mind, making his stomach churn.
Was this reality? Where did reality begin, and where were the memories? Like a panoramic memory, he had seen the past of this life and experienced his previous life. He had seen someone extremely unfamiliar who was himself yet not himself.
However, that was also Abrisius himself.
“*Sniff*… N-no.”
He still couldn’t believe it. To think that his future self would covet and torment his most beloved Seianes like that. He tried his best to deny reality, but the more he did, the more the terrible reality strangled him.
“Why are you denying it so much?”
The giant hand that had been enveloping him disappeared, and Amina’s voice was heard.
“You’re the one who committed all of it.”
He was smiling while making the denying child face reality.
His pure white pupils were as clear as a mirror. Abrisius with his black hair and red eyes reflected in his eyes looked like a sinner.
“Mm, you don’t look… okay. Still, a lot should be coming back to you. Right?”
His hands and feet grew cold, and he felt all the blood draining from his body. The other party’s tone as if it were nothing got on Abrisius’s nerves.
“What is this… what have you done? All of this right now is a prank you pulled, isn’t it? Just who are you?”
“If you want to believe that…? But, child.”
Soothing the confused Abrisius, Amina smiled languidly.
“There isn’t a single lie in the words of gods. And I should introduce myself, shouldn’t I? I am the God of All Emotions, Amina. Honesty is included in that as well.”
Gods do not lie.
This becomes more pronounced the closer that god’s domain is to the essential nature that constitutes the world. Just as time, nature, and life cannot tell falsehoods to humans.
And Amina, the God of Emotions who is closest to the essence…
“Ah…”
At Amina’s gaze, Abrisius hung his head low. He couldn’t fully understand the things Amina had said, but what was certain was that what he said wasn’t a lie.
Why did he show him these memories?
Why did he reincarnate as such a being… one who happened to attempt to violate Seianes… He had a lot to say, but his throat was so choked up that words wouldn’t come out.
“Don’t cry. I merely showed you the truth. It wouldn’t have mattered if I hadn’t shown you, but anyway.”
How pitiful. Muttering that, Amina stretched out his giant hand and stroked Abrisius. Abrisius quietly glared at his large hand that wasn’t very scary anymore.
“If it wouldn’t have mattered not to show me, then why did you show me?”
“Well…? Does there need to be a reason?”
Brushing it off vaguely, Amina shrugged his shoulders.
“If I had to tell you, it’s a kind of impulse…? I just found you fascinating when I saw you…”
As Amina said, gods do not lie. The closer to the essence, the more this is true. However, Amina, the God of Emotions, was an existence where lies also functioned as essence alongside honesty.
“There just wasn’t a reason. I simply wanted to do it.”
Because ‘lies’ are also included in emotions.
For that reason, Amina could answer questions and responses directed at him by mixing truth and lies.
“Because a lot of things were mixed inside you.”
Like now, when he didn’t want to tell the truth about why he did that, he would mix up the truth and lie like this.
“So I was just curious.”
That said, it wasn’t as if truth wasn’t included. By mixing lies and truth, he concealed his true intentions.
Naturally, Abrisius, who didn’t know what his purpose was, was flabbergasted.
“You’re saying that’s the reason…”
“Well, anyway, isn’t it better than nothing? Honestly, you’re the first one this unique, so I was also interested…”
This was the first time a soul from another world, not of this world, had clung on and come. For Amina, who had existed since the beginning of time, it was an unprecedented experience.
“Anyway, living with those memories won’t be bad. If this world is nothing more than a single novel that your past life saw… knowing the ending of that novel, you can now become the author of this world.”
In other words, you’ll become the new creator of this story.
Eyes that had no radiance were filled with excitement.
How long had it been since he felt this interested? Light swirled in the eyes of the bored god who had mastered all the comedies of this world after thousands and millions of years.
Knowing and changing the future… Even knowing the prophecies recited by the three goddesses who see the future, one couldn’t alter the predetermined fate.
In the end, everyone faced the fate set within their framework.
“However… will you be different? Can you, a soul from another world, create a different story?”
A soul that knows the future and has the will to change it might be different. At Amina’s words, Abrisius’s fingertips trembled.
“Still, I didn’t want to know…! I would have lived well even without knowing this!”
“Really? But isn’t it better to know? Experiencing in advance what you’ll do in the future isn’t bad either. No, it might be a chance to change the future, you know?”
This is the truth. Of course, believing it is up to you.
“How do you know I’ll follow that fate as it is…!”
A single tear flowed down Abrisius’s cheek.
Because he knew nothing, he could receive Seianes’s affection completely. But the moment he learned of the vile deeds committed by another self—perhaps his future self—Abrisius could no longer return to being the innocent young child he was before.
“Now that I know this, I can’t look at my adoptive parents… no, my family as they are.”
“…”
As he finished his last words with trembling lips, Amina looked down at Abrisius with an expressionless face.
Gently lifting Abrisius’s chin with his giant finger, he met the child’s red eyes.
Long ago, I saw a man with eyes like these too. A man with an appearance similar to the child before me…
“If I wronged you, shall I do this?”
Back then too, Amina hid his purpose slyly in this way and spoke.
“I am the strongest emotion and desire in the world.”
Completely forgetting what he had done long ago.
Wicked emotions and desires whisper to take root inside Abrisius.
“I’ll grant you the desire you want.”
“…What does that mean?”
Showing suspicion, Abrisius tilted his head.
Instead of answering, Amina looked into Abrisius’s eyes for a moment.
Evidence of a promise he made with a child in this way long ago was clearly displayed in Abrisius’s eyes.
So does it mean that even though the essential soul is different, parent and child are the same? How could his words and actions from that time all match like this?
Setting aside sentimentality for now, Amina whispered while looking at Abrisius.
“This is a contract. I’ll gift you desire. So that you can achieve the desire you want most.”
“What’s good about that?”
“At least, you can achieve one thing you want.”
You just have to show me something other than the future I’ve seen.
Whatever it is, as long as it’s a future where the promise he made with someone who resembled him in the past—that achieves his purpose—would do.
“Even if what I want is to change my predetermined ending?”
“That’s possible too. I can grant the desire you want most. Whatever kind it is.”
To be able to change the future—right now, there was no sweeter proposal than this for Abrisius.
But could he place much possibility in his words?
Though he was slightly uneasy, Abrisius right now had no other choice.
“Then I’ll do it.”
As soon as he finished thinking, Abrisius extended his hand toward him.
Abrisius was placing his hope in the words that he might be able to change the fate he had seen. Just like his father long ago.
“Good.”
Naturally, Abrisius had no reason to refuse Amina’s proposal.
I wonder, can you go in the opposite direction of your father? What’s certain is that his father hasn’t yet succeeded in his essential desire either.
“I believe you’ll show me a different possibility.”
Amina reached out his hand toward Abrisius, who was covered in small hope and anxiety. A brilliant light headed toward Abrisius, and it penetrated deeply into the child’s red eyes.
“Ahhh—!”
Abrisius screamed at the stinging pain.
The light that pierced his pupils gradually burrowed into his eyes and absorbed his power.
“Good… Your desire is black.”
Amina, who had muttered incomprehensible words, withdrew his power. When the power was completely withdrawn, the light disappeared from Abrisius’s pupils.
Sharp pain deeply pierced the pupils that had lost their color.
“Urk… ahhh, ngh…”
“What kind of ending will you show me?”
Amina, who whispered toward Abrisius writhing in pain, smiled with satisfaction.
Looking at Abrisius who now had black pupils instead of red ones, Amina, having fully achieved his purpose, left.
Abrisius, left behind, blankly watched where he had departed. Tears flowed down along the corners of his eyes.
“Ahh…”
Empty black desire that had lost its red light surged within Abrisius.
‘I want to escape my miserable fate.’
Looking up at the blue sky where Amina had disappeared, Abrisius voiced the desperate wish inside him.
He wanted to escape the fate of violating Seianes, hurting him, and causing him pain.
Perhaps because of Amina’s power. For some reason, he felt he could change that fate. Recalling the words that he would grant a single most desperate desire, Abrisius repeated the desperate desire inside him.
‘I want to escape my miserable fate.’
