“Cough! Cough! ─Huff… Huff… Ugh…”
As soon as I regained consciousness, I was preoccupied with nothing else but vomiting the excessive amount of seawater I had swallowed.
For about an hour, I continued to heave, purging the contents of my stomach due to the incessant urge to vomit.
Only after expelling everything, including stomach acid, did I finally begin to calm down slightly.
“Haa… Haa… Ugh, I thought I was going to die.”
A hundred years ago,
I had visited this Storm Island alongside Apollo, riding the Sun Chariot.
Back then, although the area around Storm Island was indeed engulfed in storms and whirlpools,
the presence of those phenomena seemed more like a faint barrier meant to deter human approach.
Thinking it would pose no real obstacle to a god’s power, I decided today to navigate towards Storm Island alone, reviving the memory of that journey a hundred years ago, steering the ship with the utmost effort.
But, what happened?
A formidable storm, far stronger than what I had encountered a hundred years ago, tore the sails of my ship apart,
and the whirlpools, scattered like mines, dragged my vessel towards the rocks.
I tried to harness my divine power to steer clear of the rocks as best as possible,
but due to their ever-shifting positions, my expensive ship was wrecked before it could even reach the vicinity of the island.
Now, I could vividly sense that Storm Island barred not only humans but also the gods from approaching.
“Ugh… Argh! So frustrating! Just wait until I find one of the Three Sisters—I’ll torment and make them cry until they’re good and sobbing.”
I was convinced this was the Three Sisters’ cunning scheme to get me into trouble.
With wobbling steps, I finally reached the center of the island and looked around.
A small village with a few cottages, no fences, and very little changed since last time.
Moira’s island was exactly as it was before.
“Hmph!”
An unexplained irritation crept over me, worsening my mood.
I immediately headed towards one such humble cottage,
and with a loud bang,
kicked the door open violently.
Slightly past the door, in the middle of the kitchen sat a woman tranquilly drinking tea.
It was none other than Clotho!
The first thing I noticed was her face. Clotho, who had been blinded while attempting to stop me, had her eyes covered with a light cloth.
Moreover, her pink hair, untamed and uncut for a hundred years,
hung lank and lifeless, reaching all the way to the floor.
“Why are you just standing there? Come and sit. Artemis.”
Clotho gestured towards a seat opposite from her.
As she fumbled around the table with her hands, she eventually picked up the teapot and carefully poured some hot tea into her empty cup.
Watching her, I felt an inexplicable barrier, preventing me from moving easily.
“…How did you know it was me?”
“Ahahaha! Your smell is absolutely atrocious. No matter how much the storm tries to blow it away, it doesn’t disappear.”
“That sarcastic tongue of yours hasn’t changed, has it?”
With a slight sneer, I sat down opposite Clotho.
Since kicking the door open, something unsettling had gnawed at my throat, but I made sure not to show any reaction, fearing Clotho might catch on and ridicule me.
“Hey, if you have a guest, why the poor hospitality?”
I lightly tapped the empty table in front of me with my fingertips, mocking her.
However, Clotho merely smiled faintly and took a sip of her tea.
“You’re the one who should say that, Artemis. You’re no ordinary guest but a nuisance that barged in uninvited. Besides, why should I offer anything to someone who rendered me blind?”
“Hmph! You sure are one to hold a grudge.”
“—Artemis? Losing eyesight is quite fatal for a human.”
“You’re a goddess, so it must not matter much to you. Besides, it was your own fault you lost your sight. I did nothing wrong, did I?”
I crossed my legs on top of the table and folded my arms behind my head.
I intended to irritate Clotho as much as possible,
but she smiled sardonically, indicating that such childish tactics wouldn’t affect her.
Her face partially covered with cloth made her smile even more noticeable, and it unsettled me.
To be honest, by now, I was already tired of even hearing her breathe.
“Blaming me now serves no purpose. Artemis, thanks—or despite you—I’ve gained the ability to see fate after losing my eyes.”
“…So you plan to live pulling threads of human birth and making predictions now? Getting into the fortune-teller business?”
“Fortune-telling… It’s not a bad idea, is it.”
“What?”
Clotho’s earnest response to my mockery slightly irked me.
She then pointed at my chest with her finger, as if confidently reading my mind.
“Shall I guess why you’ve come?”
“Hah! That’s hilarious. My only reason for coming here is to mock your pitiful appearance—”
“Another light has arrived, hasn’t it? The Savior.”
“—Not true.”
Her statement directly hitting the mark made me immediately deny it.
However, Clotho effortlessly picked up on my hesitation during that brief pause.
“So the Savior has indeed arrived…”
“Not true, I say!”
“Not true? But the scent of the Savior clings to you strongly. Have you appointed him as your priest?”
“Enough with your nonsense. That person is the one I must eliminate, so why would I employ him as my priest?”
“Ah! So the Savior is male, Artemis?”
My outburst in response was a mistake.
Trying to refute Clotho led me to inadvertently confirm Arc’s descent and leaked information unnecessarily.
“Who is this individual? How old are they?”
“…”
“Is he handsome?”
“…”
“Why don’t you say something?”
“Do you enjoy deducing the truth from my answers?”
“But Artemis, the harder you resist defying fate, the deeper you sink into its grasp, isn’t that why you’ve come here?”
“…!”
Even the unease buried deep within me was read by Clotho.
Even without eye contact, her presence loomed over me like an endless, oppressive force.
What is this girl?
While her job is merely pulling threads that create human birth and fate,
how can she read everything about me so thoroughly?
“Hmph…”
I let out a sigh, conceding defeat.
Then, Clotho relaxed her rigid demeanor for the first time with a gentle smile, slightly easing the tense atmosphere of the room.
At that moment, there appeared a warm cup of tea on the previously empty table in front of me.
“Drink. And if there’s anything you’d like to ask, feel free.”
“Before we proceed, I have a question about you. Clotho, what are you? How can you read everything so thoroughly? Is it mere deduction?”
“Fu hah hah. Deduction? I’ve already told you, I can see fate now. Though, concerning the Savior, I can only perceive fragmented glimpses of his destiny…”
Despite being the Three Sisters of Fate,
does it mean you can see the destiny of individuals from other dimensions?
Is it because the lost thread of fate pointed to Arc?
Whatever the case may be, currently, I have no choice but to believe Clotho’s words.
“Then, let’s go back to the basics.”
“Sure, ask anything.”
“Why do you Moirai make those threads of fate? Even if father forbade interference in your work, can you just create threads laden with destinies of great heroes?”
“Those weren’t created. They grow on their own.”
“What? Grow? That’s nonsense!”
“It’s true. It isn’t as if we create every human’s thread. Occasionally, threads naturally emerge when someone becomes conscious of their own destiny. However, such threads rarely last long. Most are cases where life begins and ends almost immediately.”
At Clotho’s statement, which clarified a known phenomenon, I found myself unconsciously frowning.
The case of birth accompanied by immediate death refers to only one thing.
Stillbirth.
“When someone is already dead inside the womb at the time of birth.”
“That’s why we don’t particularly manage such threads.”
“Because they die at birth? Ha! It’s infuriating how irresponsible and shameless you are. So what’s the case with him?”
Regarding the identity of Arc brought by the thread that disappeared into another dimension,
even Clotho seemed to lack understanding, hesitating to say something as she absentmindedly chewed on her lower lip with her front teeth.
“…We don’t know either. It seemed to vanish, but then it grew endlessly in both volume and length. Seeing this, we decided to safeguard the thread of fate.”
“Ch! Fine, I’ll ask outright then.”
“Sure, go ahead with anything.”
“Why has the Savior come to this world? Why is he trying to take the sun and the moon?”
“…Artemis, you’re still interpreting the other light as the sun and the moon, aren’t you?”
“Of course! What else could it be?”
Enraged, I slammed my fist on the table, overturning the teacup and soaking the wooden surface with tea.
“No, he isn’t fixated on trivial matters like those.”
“What?! You want to die? Are the sun and the moon trivial to you?”
“Yes. Because the Savior is here to guide everyone from despair. Even the gods…”
“Guide the gods? Ha! Cerberus-level nonsense!!”
“That person will always be by your side. You’ll come to understand soon. The true essence of the light that person carries is salvation!”
“…Salvation? You’re not just trying to overthrow my divinity?”
“Yes. I swear this on the name of the Goddess of Fate…”
“But you—”
Thump!
As I was about to rebuke Clotho for teaching me all this,
my otherwise normal heart began to race once again.
The Goddess of Fate guaranteed that Arc is not my enemy.
Then who is he?
So, Arc isn’t here to eliminate me, as if plagued by the Lionheart disease, by becoming my priest?
Whenever I studied under the moon at night, he sometimes murmured my name.
Could all those small things… perhaps, truly mean he likes me?
But I never did anything he could fall for, did I?
No, no.
That’s not important.
The fact that I don’t need to be hostile towards him is what matters,
not my enemy…
Could he truly be my priest?
A priest devoted solely to me, thinking only of me?
Could the true savior, surpassing the great hero Heracles, really be mine…?
The realization that he isn’t my enemy made the days of tension seem foolish, flooding my body with laziness.
Thinking back,
he was kind of cool when dealing with those hoodlums…
Should I allow this tiny seed of emotion nestled in the corner of my heart to grow?
“Ugh! What…?!”
I was shocked at the absurdity of my own daydreams.
I thought only my heart was malfunctioning, but today, my head feels strange too.
Am I a fool? Artemis! I am the Goddess of Purity!!
Even if it’s not romantic love, but something—
“Ah, Artemis! I forgot to mention one thing: the Savior will return to where he originally came from once their mission is done.”
“…What?”
“Fu hah hah!! Did you think I wouldn’t know your heart? …Didn’t I say so? Because of that person’s existence, you’ll suffer eternally!”
As the seed about to sprout on the ground under the warm spring breeze halted its growth,
so did my sky crumble.
