Chapter 405: The Past That Defines Us… 2
A World on Fire.
And in this world, a woman in a white dress was hanging from a wooden pillar while her whole body burned along with the world.
"What a surprise." A man's voice resounded in this world, and soon his appearance began to form in front of the woman.
"...." The woman opened her eyes and looked at the man.
"You're not Jeanne D'Arc, are you?"
"Once... I was called Jeanne D'Arc." The woman spoke.
Victor looked around and saw images of the same woman talking to a child.
"Was that your decision...or your God's?"
"Mine."
"Why?"
"No child should have such a heavy fate to save their country."
"A child should just laugh, play with other kids and live a carefree life... Something heavy like saving a country should be placed in the hands of an adult."
"Therefore... I stole her fate."
The flames displayed the woman's eyes glowing an almost holy gold, and soon the little girl passed out.
'One of the saint's abilities…' Victor realized.
"And by stealing her destiny, you became Jeanne D'Arc?"
"Yes, from that day forward, the nameless Saint who was blessed by God at a time when even the Saint herself forgot… She took on a new identity and a new destiny."
"Jeanne D'Arc, the Maiden of Orleans."
The fire showed all the life this woman had as Jeanne D'Arc.
"Being burned at the stake by my companions was not something I expected..."
"And being saved by a Progenitor Vampire was also not something I expected. I think fate had something more in store for me... After all, from the moment the bonfire caught fire, my destiny as Jeanne D'Arc was over..."
"All I should have had to do was just 'die' there and go on my next journey... But that didn't happen."
The fire showed the image of a tall man reaching out to the woman who was burning in the fire.
"Just how long have you been alive…?" Victor looked at the woman.
"... Who knows?"
"The human mind was not made to support immortality. Wrong, I don't think any mind was prepared enough for this. I forgot my real name a long time ago.
"Who was I?"
"Why did I become a Saint?"
"Why did God choose me?"
"But... In the end... Are these questions really necessary?"
"The past doesn't matter."
"..." Victor's face twitched slightly.
"I see... That's why your soul looks like this, huh." He spoke as he looked around.
"Something completely empty, whose most striking feature is fire."
"The fire was the most defining moment of my life, and it exists here because of that."
Victor flashed a small smile and asked, "…Does that hurt?" He pointed to the fire.
"Hmm, not particularly, I don't feel anything."
"I see..." Victor began to sit down, and at that moment, a throne of fire appeared, and he sat on the throne calmly.
"Come here." He patted his legs lightly.
"..." The woman looked at this gesture with curious eyes, she wondered for a moment what she should do, but since it was just the two of them here, she decided to listen to him.
Soon she disappeared from where she was and appeared in front of Victor.
Her body was still on fire, and her face couldn't be seen, as if she was covered by some strange veil of fire.
She slowly sat on Victor's lap and rested both her arms around his neck.
"... How does it feel?"
"Oddly... comfortable."
"Doesn't the fire hurt?" the woman asked curiously.
"Nah." Victor stroked her head.
A moment of silence fell around.
This silence lasted for a long time.
At first, Jeanne felt strange receiving affection like this. It was something she had never felt before, this feeling of comfort.
She was at peace…something she felt she never had before.
Eventually, she curled herself closer to Victor's body, closed her eyes, and enjoyed his caresses.
"Even the brightest flame will one day go out, and that's a common thing... Everyone needs rest, even the flame." Victor's voice came out like a melody to Jeanne's ears.
Until after an indefinite time, the fire stopped burning.
A silence fell around them, and the woman seemed to have fallen asleep. And in that moment, Victor's blood-red eyes faintly glowed, and his voice was heard:
"The past matters, Jeanne."
"Hmm?" She opened her eyes and realized that she was no longer in a world on fire.
In fact, she was in a big tree, she looked around and saw that she was in a forest, and that forest was full of small, cute animals.
Victor was no longer sitting on a throne of fire but leaning against the root of a tree.
"The past is what defines who we are in the future."
"..." Jeanne looked at Victor.
"What is your 'persistence', Jeanne?" Victor asked the woman, who still had a blurry face.
Looking into his eyes, she felt that any lie she told would be seen by his eyes.
And unconsciously, her mouth moved, forming the sound of words, and a wish she had forgotten was revealed:
"...I wanted a family..."
"Even after all this time, that desire has never changed."
"Adam... The boy I named after the Progenitor of Humans, my hope that I could have a family."
"But unfortunately... I put my trust in the wrong person, someone who never even fully understood me... or even tried to understand me at all."
"...." Victor smiled gently and stroked Jeane's cheek.
"I have a story to tell... Do you want to hear it?" Victor asked softly.
"...Sure, it's not like I have anything to do anyway."
Victor gently laughed, "A long, long time ago..."
"In a time forgotten even by the eldest Gods." It was as if he were reading a book to a child.
"There was a pure woman, a woman unsullied by Supernatural Beings."
"...?" Where does he want to go with this tale? Jeanne wondered.
"She was tasked with protecting a tiny seed by a being of great authority..."
"For thousands of years… She fulfilled that duty… She sat beside the little sprout that was born and waited…"
"Until she was no longer needed to protect that seed."
"That seed that became a sprout grew into a great tree…"
"A large tree that would acquire consciousness."
"And upon acquiring consciousness, the tree was tasked with granting a wish from its guardian."
The woman's job had been done, a job she did without much regret since she was so pure and kind that she did it all without question.
"What do you want? Asked the great tree to the woman."
"Do you know what that woman replied?"
"..." Jeanne was breathless. Her heart felt like it was in her hand, and she couldn't think straight while she was only listening at this point.
"It was a very simple wish, something that was unconsciously born from spending thousands of years alone, something that all beings sought in one way or another…"
"The woman replied to the big tree in a gentle and slightly sad voice."
"I want a family..."
Jeanne opened her eyes wide.
"A very simple wish for the tree's powers, it was so simple and easy to grant that wish… But unfortunately, he couldn't fulfill that wish."
"Why...?"
"He couldn't force a relationship with another being, it would go against his nature..."
"Because of that, the tree decided... The tree spoke to the immaculate girl who was about to cry when she heard that the tree could not grant her wish." Victor caressed the woman's eyes, and when he finished wiping her tearful face, he looked up.
Jeanne followed Victor's gaze, and she saw an immense gigantic tree whose height seemed to have no end. Its branches were huge, and they seemed to stretch to infinity.
"I will become your family."
Tears began to fall down Jeanne's face, and her tears only intensified when she heard an aged voice.
A voice that carried a sentimental weight that Jeanne didn't know existed inside her.
A voice that made her whole existence tremble with nostalgia.
"I will become your family. You will be my sister, and I... I will be your brother."
"What do you think, my dear, @#%$#?" The last word was said in an unknown language, a language that only made sense to the two involved.
Jeanne's face began to blur.
Soon a beautiful face appeared, the face of a woman that could be described as pure beauty, her eyes were bright golden, and her golden hair seemed to be blessed by the sun itself.
"Do you accept?"
"...Yesss..." She wiped her eyes detachedly as if trying to hold back the tears in her eyes, but this was an action that proved too difficult.
She couldn't stop crying, and for a long time, the only thing that was heard was the woman's silent crying.
Until the woman broke that silence with her trembling voice:
"H- H-How could I forget about you…"
"It is inevitable... with the time you lived."
"Boredom would kill you, and your mind would break. Nothing would make sense like it did to you..."
"B-Brother..."
"Shhh, you need to rest. Everything will make sense when you wake up."
"Mm…" Her eyes started to get heavy, and slowly she fell into the dream world.
"And... This is how the pure woman remembered her past... And now that she knows herself, which end will she go to?"
"The good old happy ending?"
"Or the evil and hated bad ending."
"... Unfortunately, the continuation of this story is something that even I don't know." He laughed to himself.
The moment Victor said this, Jeanne disappeared from his arms.
"Even one of the oldest existences needs a purpose to sustain their eternity. If that existence doesn't acquire a purpose, eventually time will break them."
"Like an empty shell that has lost its essence." Victor continued.
"... Indeed." The amused voice resounded through the place.
Soon that same voice became incredibly serious:
"...You really took a risk this time, Progenitor."
"Why? Why go so far for two women you don't even know well?"
"A strong woman..." Victor turned to the tree again.
"...."
"A woman who walks her own path, a woman who knows what she wants, a woman who smiles freely no matter what the situation is…" Victor thought of all his wives and their moments together.
"Isn't that the most beautiful thing you can find?" He smiled like an innocent child who had successfully done his homework.
"…you did all this…why do you want to see those two women at their full potential?"
"Isn't it clear?" His response was instantaneous.
'How could I fight them if they weren't becoming a strong woman?'
"Pfft... HAHAHAHAHAHA~" A laugh like an old man's laugh was heard.
The world around them seemed to shake violently from the gigantic tree's laughter.
"You... Pfft... You're really something else."
"People say that." He laughed.
"You're really stupid. You didn't have to do this." His amused voice slowly changed to a contemplative voice:
"...But... Yes... Even the most random gestures of will can be considered a gesture of kindness."
"As thanks for making that girl remember me."
Victor's body glowed faintly in white:
"Oh?" He looked at himself curiously.
"Consider it a favor from an older brother."
"Your soul damaged by the constant use of your power has been repaired."
"Thanks... I really tried not to use it too much, but sometimes... I just use it anyway." He smiled to himself. He really was incorrigible in this aspect.
"I never thought she was so special either..."
"And even knowing the consequences, you didn't stop."
"After all, I wanted to see her real face. An expression like that doesn't suit strong women." He shrugged as if he had no choice.
"Hahahahaha~, if those brats had balls like you, the world wouldn't be in this shit like today."
'Brats?' Victor asked himself curiously.
"Take care when using this power, Progenitor."
"Messing with souls is a very delicate thing, and it can lead to very serious consequences."
"I know..." Victor didn't ignore his warnings, "Because of that, I haven't explored this power much yet, even though I feel it has so much potential."
"Just wait a little longer, eventually, your existence will bear the brunt of that power, and…"
"You have my troubled daughter with you, so I'm sure you'll be fine, HAHAHAHHA~."
"Daughter? I don't remember getting a tree like..."
"Oh..."
"Take good care of her." He warned him in a serious tone,
"Of course." Victor smiled gently:
"A being of your caliber knows my personality, right?"
"I think everyone close to you knows your personality, you are an open book after all."
"...." Victor flashed a thin little smile.
"It's time to go. People are worried about you."
"Umu? Shit, I have to get back, I'll see you another day, old man."
"Yeah, we'll see you another day, Progenitor."
Crack, Crack.
…
Victor opened his eyes, and he saw the faces of several women who were wearing black armor.
"Well, that's definitely a nice sight."
