### Chapter 88: Let’s Have a Meal First
For a brief moment, I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me.
When I came to my senses, it seemed like I was back in the snowy Black Fort, nestled against the mountains and the moon.
The wind and snow outside were in a chaotic battle, slamming waves of cold against the wooden window that rattled loudly.
Where is this…
In the enormous room, the stone walls were pitch black all over. On the left wall hung several oil paintings. There was a scene of a mother and daughter with black hair holding hands and frolicking in the snow; my sister and two brothers were crawling in the snow with a silver-white little fox in front of them; a young girl with pigtails was riding on her father’s shoulders, flailing her arms excitedly; and there was a delicate young woman seated at a piano, with moonlight streaming in through the window, bathing her indistinct face… Each scene felt oddly familiar.
But everyone in the paintings had their faces all blurred, as if some strange power had warped them, making it impossible for me to see clearly.
On the right side of the room, directly opposite those oil paintings, next to a warm fireplace, was a neatly arranged row of bookshelves. The shelves were filled with various books, but upon closer inspection, it appeared none of them had titles; the leather covers were barren or adorned with colorful childish doodles. Beside the bookshelf stood a dark wood desk with a candle holder at the corner, the flickering light casting shadows on an open book with a plate of donuts beside it… Wait, donuts?
…Is this Shanter Castle?!
Seems like it…
But there are many odd things… At least, there isn’t a room laid out like this in Shanter Castle. This feels like a mash-up of my father’s study, my bedroom, and the living room…
“How are you?”
“Ah!”
I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden voice! My heart raced as I darted my gaze around defensively, reaching behind me for Captain Gray, only to grasp nothing but air.
“I’ve been thinking for ages. Thinking about what you said to me and then dreaming up something like this…”
…It’s the little girl’s voice.
Is she talking to me?
Where…
“…I call this a dream… I don’t really know if it works… Ah, it’s such a hassle… But I still made it! Hehe, impressive, right?”
Her innocent and chattery tone seemed to spring from my ears, or perhaps it was coming from somewhere far outside the window, echoing through the room, making it hard to pinpoint its source.
But it didn’t seem… hostile.
I relaxed a bit. I put away my defensive stance, straightening my slightly hunched body as I frowned in thought.
Two seconds later, I remembered that voice.
It was from that dream on the terrace… and even earlier, after battling the Gate of Truth… I had heard this voice in the end.
“Big sister, I found you!”
The voice sounded a bit too happy.
No doubt about it…
It’s the little girl who called me “sister.”
“…Who are you?” I tentatively asked her.
But the little girl seemed not to hear me; she appeared to be talking to herself: “But I can’t bring anyone in… It feels so complicated and tricky… I can only do it this way… Ah, ah~”
The little girl let out two meaningless syllables that sounded almost like singing, as if trying to prove to me that she could indeed convey sound, forgetting that she had been talking all along.
“Just like this, leaving behind what I want to say… But I can’t let my sister see what I look like… Hmm…”
She seemed a bit distressed.
But after a moment of silence, the little girl perked up again.
“Big sister, I don’t seem to have changed much since before! Really! Even though I can’t see anything in the mud, I’ve touched my face, nose, tummy, and everything, and it feels about the same size as before, my hair is the same length… I just don’t know if it still looks the same… But I definitely haven’t turned into an ugly monster! Yay…”
…Wait a sec.
Did she just say… she was in the mud…
I suddenly realized something.
Hey, hey, hey…
“By the way, big sister. Did you see my crow? I transformed it to look like goat cheese, isn’t it cute? Hehe~ It came to look for you!”
Crow…
CROW!!!
Suddenly, a wave of shock surged through me, sending chills down my spine, and goosebumps erupted on my arms and back. I couldn’t help but shiver, my mouth slightly hanging open as I stared at the empty room, speechless, my dark pupils filled with disbelief.
How is that possible…
“The crow is made of mud. Big sister, it seems like this mud can listen to me! Isn’t that amazing? I can make it turn into crows, into four-eared rabbits, into all kinds of little animals… I can make them run to very far places, see what they see, and let others see what I want them to see through their eyes… If I want someone to see my crow, then they can see it… But if I don’t want anyone to see it, it will hide! Isn’t that fun?”
What kind of nonsense…
What is this hellish ability?!
“Are you the Abyss?!” I shouted in the room.
“But there’s one annoying thing, if the little animals are too far away… it seems like they don’t work as well… The farther they go, the more they d*e. Such a pity… But it’s okay, my crow still found you! I just wanted to breathe, it’s so stuffy sleeping in the mud… Didn’t expect you to be so close! So happy…”
“You still here, or not!”
“Answer me—”
If she was still here…
Wait… something’s off…
She couldn’t talk to me… What I was hearing must be pre-recorded stuff…
“That city, wrapped in shiny eggshells, is Order Royal City, right? That’s nice… I’ve never been there… So beautiful…”
What do you want to do with the royal city…
“Where are you! Come out—”
“I was a bit scared to let the crow in, I just… lightly made it touch the eggshell, didn’t expect it to pass right through… Aren’t the royal city’s eggshells supposed to be tough? How could it be so easy…”
The little girl completely ignored my question. She babbled on in confusion, but soon tossed the question aside.
“Forget it! No matter what, I’m so happy to see big sister so soon! Did you hear the message I left for you? I’m not too sure… it’s a bit too far… The crow flew for so long… Uh-oh, something seems off… Wrong…”
Her voice gradually quieted down.
The room fell silent once again, the sound of wind and snow still audible.
I stood dazed, my breath heavy, my chest rising and falling rapidly.
Abyss…
That was the voice of the Abyss…
That black crow was her ability… She said she could let others see what she wanted them to see… That dream on the terrace… and even earlier… that strange, eerie dream began the moment I locked gazes with the crow…
I still recalled the immersive terror I felt then. Just like in this room now, everything… though absurd… was tangible.
If this really is her ability… then it’s definitely not just about “letting others see.” This power is incredibly frightening and sneaky, but the little girl seems to think simply… The things she said just now were utterly random, coming solely from a child’s whims and interests, not considering if others could comprehend it… she must be quite young.
But she actually knows me!
She knows my name is Peilo, she knows what my family looks like, black-haired father and mother, she knows I have two brothers… Perhaps she knows even more; all of those seemed to be things I had shared with her… once.
It’s clear she’s fundamentally different from the endless Abyss and from all the Abysses I currently know. She retains her sanity, brimming with emotions, and can communicate properly, using human language instead of the Abyss tongue.
Moreover, if she isn’t deceiving me…
She still retains human form, and seems to remember. She is a being like me, maybe even more advanced… because she remembers me, yet I don’t remember her.
d*mn…
What the hell…
My head was a complete mess.
“Ah, so annoying…”
After a while, the little girl’s melodious voice echoed in the room once more.
!
I first jumped in surprise, then quickly responded, sitting up and shouting, “Where are you? Can you see me? Can you answer me a few questions?”
Has she returned…
This Abyss knows me.
She doesn’t just know me; we’re apparently quite close… at least, that’s how it sounds. Her attitude towards me is friendly, and she retains memories of being human; judging by how she speaks, this Abyss is likely still a very pure little girl… which means…
There’s a good chance she is like me, someone who wouldn’t indiscriminately harm humans.
She seems eager to find me, but I’m currently trapped in the illusion she created. I want to attempt to communicate with her.
Maybe… I can learn some things from her.
Like what happened to me after I went missing. Those utensils she showed me, the surgical chair… what did they mean? Also, that wet office with the black thorn cloak hanging on the door, who does it belong to… If that’s an illusion the Abyss showed me, then she, the one who created that illusion, must know the truth!
She must know who or what transformed us like this.
But the little girl did not respond to my queries.
“There are so many people outside… My little lizard can see them… Sister, do they think of me as a terrible monster… surrounding me with glittering golden walls…”
She spoke as if to herself, her tone reflecting a childish pout, tinged with gloom.
“I’m about to go out… but I’m scared… I want to scare them off with mud, but they’re so strong, my mud isn’t working, all blocked by the golden walls… But I want to go out and find you…”
“Sister, why aren’t you coming yet…”
The little girl’s words stopped again.
After a moment, her clear, sweet voice echoed once more in the room.
“They seem to be doing bad things…”
Her whispering tone suddenly became urgent, sounding anxious.
“Can you tell them I’m still in here… Sister, do you think they’ll come into the mud? Will they do something terrifying to me… They all have weapons, looking very fierce… I-I’m a bit scared…”
“But you aren’t coming to find me…”
“If you don’t come, I’ll never talk to you again…”
“Peilo big sister…”
These voices…
Seem to not be preserved from the same moment.
It feels as though the little girl was speaking across different time periods, each with a different mood. Gradually, she began to sound more and more despondent.
“Do you know how long I’ve been in the mud, it’s been so long… I don’t want to be here anymore, it’s so dark… I want to go out…”
“Why won’t you come find me…”
“You definitely saw my crow… you saw it for sure…”
“Then I told you, I woke up…”
“Peilo big sister…”
Her innocent words were filled with anxiety, picking up a whimpering tone towards the end.
“Besides you, I don’t know who else to ask for help…”
“What should I do…”
Suddenly, I felt a pang in my heart.
She must feel very helpless and scared…
I’ve felt that way too.
That’s why she created this home I described to her before, and has hidden here, talking to herself.
“Big sister, the mud is getting colder…”
“That voice is talking in my head again…”
?
What voice…
“I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable. Sister, I feel sick…”
“Peilo big sister…”
The little girl’s originally bright and charming voice gradually turned a bit strange… as if she were suppressing something.
“I seem to be becoming a bit unusual…”
“I’m a bit scared… I want to go out… I need to think of a way to make sure they don’t find me… they can’t see my little lizard, so there must be a way to not see me either… I’ll try when the golden walls open again…”
After a brief silence.
“Sister.”
“I’m so hungry…”
“I want to go out. I want to eat something… really want to eat something…”
“Hmm…”
“I’ll leave the little snake here… I-I’m so hungry… sorry sister, I’m just too hungry… I might…”
After she said this, I waited a long time but couldn’t hear her voice again.
…She has left.
Moments later, I confirmed this fact in my heart.
No doubt about it.
She’s hungry, she thought of a way to go out. She avoided the Church’s surveillance and went… to the Royal City.
Oh no…
Recently, many people have gone missing in the Royal City, including that drunk man who wanted to do something inappropriate to me.
This isn’t an ordinary event… it’s because the Abyss is lurking in the Royal City… in the form of a human child… Yes, it must be! Why didn’t I think of that earlier… She’s in the Royal City, definitely in the Royal City… Those two vague glances were because she was watching me… She figured out how to make others not see her, and then ran to the Royal City, hiding somewhere to watch me… but…
If she really wanted to see me, why didn’t she just come find me…
Boom, boom, boom…
The room collapsed in my vision. Blinding light flashed again, forcing me to close my eyes. When I opened them again, the Abyss mud had wrapped around my body once more.
After standing in a daze for a while, I suddenly jolted awake.
I must get out…
The new Abyss… her last words were already off.
Perhaps she’s too young, maybe she doesn’t know how to restrain herself, and is unable to resist the terrifying instincts of the Abyss… that overpowering desire to devour.
I need to tell Margaret about this.
But before that…
In the darkness, the corner of the young girl’s mouth, unknowingly to her, curved into a sinister arc.
In the next moment, the Abyss mud began swirling wildly beside her.
…Before that, let’s have a meal first.
