Side Story – Immortality [5]
[31]
The inhabitants of this small world began to rise.
Confronted with that sight, Johanna felt a primal fear.
Each and every one of them rising was a single life, a single personality.
No matter how insignificant their lives might have seemed, each carried their own emotions, desires, and memories. Their presence could not be carelessly belittled.
Johanna hesitated in place for a moment before once again surveying the white space around her.
At the edge of her vision, along what appeared to be a translucent boundary of the white space, an enormous chain coiled around, enclosing this small world.
That chain was both the shield protecting souls within the perpetual cycle and the shackle binding their freedom.
Johanna had to break that chain.
It was the first gate to achieve the unity of spirit and flesh.
“…”
The primal fear that had enveloped her heart did not easily dissipate.
She must succeed. She must absolutely succeed. Whispering this to herself, Johanna clenched her fists and took a step forward.
As Johanna began to move forward, the gazes of the risen inhabitants in the white space increasingly focused on her.
Their stares made Johanna feel profoundly uneasy, almost nauseous.
But she couldn’t close her eyes because she couldn’t even feel her eyelids.
Imagining clenching her teeth that she couldn’t feel, Johanna took another step forward.
Upon confirming the direction Johanna was heading, the residents of this world began to stir more violently.
In the next instant, the ground beneath Johanna’s feet suddenly gave way.
Looking down absentmindedly, Johanna met the eyes of one of the world’s inhabitants approaching her feet.
“…!!”
Johanna faced yet another unfamiliar memory.
A memory of being born into peasantry, working in agriculture, and dying from an illness.
Resisting the foreign memory forcibly intruding into her mind, Johanna tried to move forward.
But at that very moment,
A wave of the white space’s inhabitants surged toward her all at once.
“…!!!”
Johanna let out a silent scream.
Someone else’s memories, desires, and pains began to ravage her mind.
As soon as one life ended, another memory engulfed her.
An endless torrent of lives swept through Johanna’s consciousness.
She couldn’t look away, and there was no way to resist.
Helplessly, Johanna was swept away by the relentless current of lives.
“…!!!!!”
Amidst the current,
Johanna woke up in landscapes and cultures that felt eerily familiar.
She was born into and lived out alien worlds filled with unknown languages and artifacts until the end of her days.
The long history of existence etched into the souls swept over Johanna’s sense of self, trying to crumble it piece by piece.
For someone who had just reached adulthood, the history inscribed in the soul was overwhelmingly vast.
However,
Simply enduring a long life doesn’t grant strength to one’s sense of self.
What grants strength is not the length but the trajectory of one’s life.
How much dedication has been poured into life? How fervently has one struggled against fate?
The strength of self comes… from such intense traces of resistance.
Most of the inhabitants of this small world merely continued living because they were born.
They simply conformed to their fates, spending day after day until death.
Such trivial and blurred trajectories of life could not possibly shatter Johanna’s self.
“Ugh… Ah…! Ah…!! Ah…!!!”
Johanna screamed, gripping her hands tightly as if they would break.
Her head felt like it was going to explode. Her thoughts kept breaking, and confusion clouded her memories.
Even so, Johanna took another step forward, resisting the fierce current threatening to sweep her entire body away.
Kwaak!!
As the surging current failed to stop Johanna, the stronger-willed inhabitants of this world began to emerge toward her.
Once again, countless resonances occurred.
Johanna continued to face emotions, desires, and memories she didn’t know.
Sweet whispers, terrifying screams, joyful and sorrowful memories reverberated in her mind, nearly melting her consciousness.
Yet, despite all this, Johanna maintained her selfhood and shouted with sheer willpower.
“I am…!!! Johanna!!!”
Yes, I am Johanna. Johanna of Phillip’s County.
I am the foolish girl of Phillip’s County who nearly froze to death but was saved.
“That’s me!!! Remnants of the past have no right to invade me!!!!”
Johanna could not collapse here.
If she fell apart now, ending her life without accomplishing anything,
Johanna would return here after death, endlessly ruminating on past regrets.
This wasn’t rest. While it may have been a resting place for the inhabitants, for Johanna after death, this place was nothing short of hell.
Being crushed under countless histories, facing the fear of the end of the cycle…
Johanna feared more the thought of ending her life with nothing accomplished and carrying regret.
That’s why Johanna lifted her head.
“Get out of my way!!!!!”
As Johanna rose from her fall and pushed away the encroaching inhabitants,
A knight clad in brilliant and holy armor appeared before her.
“…!”
Even amidst her confusion, Johanna instinctively felt caution.
She intuitively realized that the ‘most brilliant history’ recorded throughout the long cycle of souls had finally revealed itself.
Johanna and the knight stared at each other. Strangely, there was no resonance of consciousness between them.
Instead, the knight briefly warned her.
“Go back.”
“No… I won’t go back.”
Johanna silently responded and started moving towards the chain beyond.
For some reason, the knight merely watched as she passed.
However, the other inhabitants of this world began to cling to Johanna more desperately as she approached the chain.
With every step Johanna took, her feet sank deeper.
Her barely maintained consciousness continually threatened to sink into deep darkness.
The ceaseless torrent of lives was pushing Johanna’s mental strength to its limits.
“…”
Johanna grew even more afraid.
The fear felt by the inhabitants of this small world was infecting Johanna.
Now, she could empathize with the horrifying fear implied by the “end of the cycle.”
She understood why she had underestimated the great cost of the “end of the cycle.”
But… nonetheless.
Johanna had a desire that took precedence over any bliss or fear.
That’s why she had to move forward.
“My… wish.”
Johanna clenched her fists.
In her grasp was a necklace given as a gift by someone most precious to her.
The searing pain left behind by that beloved person who had departed… now served as a guiding beacon for Johanna in this moment.
“For you…”
Johanna kissed the necklace with a sorrowful smile.
“My immortality.”
In front of any cruel resistance or terror,
Johanna’s earnest wish remained unbroken, shining brightly ahead.
Though countless histories etched into her soul reached out to hold her back, the remnants of the past could no longer stop her.
Without hesitation, Johanna began moving forward.
“…”
The knight clad in brilliant and holy armor quietly observed the scene.
He was the most brilliant history recorded in the long cycle of souls and the pinnacle of a group, known as a Paladin.
The Paladin, who sometimes foresaw the future with his transcendent blessings and senses, had foreseen since the past that this small world would be invaded by evil.
But that never happened.
One day, a miraculous radiance came and saved Johanna, twisting the destiny the Paladin had glimpsed.
And now, that radiance was about to bring an end to this world through Johanna.
“…”
Is this a fall, or a revolutionary change?
The Paladin reflected on his unseen past that he hadn’t shown to Johanna.
The Paladin betrayed righteousness (信義) for divinity (神意).
To hide his weakness, he relied on prayer and disguised his hypocrisy with sanctity.
Bound to a transcendental existence all his life,
Johanna stood alone, trying to rise.
“…”
Finally, Johanna arrived at the boundary where the chains lay.
Facing her, the Paladin stood opposite.
The Paladin silently gazed at Johanna.
After observing her for a while, the Paladin finally conjured a sword made of light in the air.
“…”
The Paladin handed the radiant blade to Johanna.
Without hesitation, Johanna accepted the sword and walked past the Paladin.
The Paladin moved his lips.
“Your arrogance will summon divine punishment.”
“I don’t care.”
Divine punishment? Overcome it, and that’s all.
To Johanna, the transcendent beings beyond the stars were no longer objects of worship.
They were merely entities to overcome and declare independence from.
The Paladin found Johanna’s retreating figure both pitiful and admirable.
Tschuk!!
Johanna raised the radiant sword toward the chains at the boundary.
There was no hesitation. The sword swung, and the sharp flash severed the ancient chains that had bound the souls.
Kuuuung!!!!!!
A massive tremor shook the white space.
The Paladin approached Johanna, gently grasping her hand holding the radiant sword, and smiled faintly.
“You’ve brought an end to our history.”
“…”
“Don’t disappoint us. And remember, even in the darkest battlefield, you are not alone.”
“…”
“The history that makes up our souls will be with you.”
Trddddk!!!
Cracks began to form in the white space that had been forcibly held together.
The residents of this small world, each carrying their own emotions, looked at Johanna before gradually dispersing into smoke.
The Paladin also left behind a single flash of light in Johanna’s grasp, slowly dissolving.
Hwaaaaak!!!
The power of the bound souls surged forth, covering Johanna’s consciousness.
Resina, who mediated Johanna’s spirit and mind, twisted her lips upon detecting this forbidden alteration.
“So, child. Let’s see how it goes.”
Resina’s distorted smile always pointed towards beyond the stars.
“Let’s see if you can destroy an apostle wielding divine power purely with human strength.”
Without relying on the power of transcendent beings, solely with the strength of human spirit and flesh.
“This is a declaration… that we can no longer be ravaged by your will.”
Heretical Chapter (1)
