Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Chapter 13: The Epilogue

—

“You experience no pain.”

“It is obvious that bliss overwhelms you. There is no nobler or more rewarding act than giving oneself for the well-being of others.”

“…”

“To sustain the existence of this environment, how frozen has your being become? How deep and heartbreaking is the winter that pierces to your marrow? It is a sensation that undoubtedly defies any description.”

Dale addressed the Queen of Winter using a serene tone, emulating the patience with which one calms a stubborn child.

“While you remained plunged in your lethargy within the frozen domain, I took charge of building this winter sovereignty through countless eras.”

It was Lize’s retort.

“Charlotte, the two infants, Lady Sepia, our progenitors… None of these presences is an illusion. I built this domain of frost expressly for you and for each of our loved ones. That which you yearned for so much in the midst of your desolate reality is gathered here.”

Lize raised her voice, which vibrated with notable emotion.

“In the confines of this territory, suffering is non-existent, and everyone possesses the ability to share bliss together with their close ones eternally. It constitutes the only way to guarantee collective happiness.”

“I am aware of that.”

“That being so, what is the reason you despise this environment?”

“The reason is that you are not part of it.”

“I am present right here!”

Exclaimed Lize with vehemence, causing gusts of wind to roar forcefully and freeze the surroundings immediately, plunging everything in existence into the most absolute vacuity.

“Contemplate the panorama, Lize,” pronounced Dale with utmost gentleness.

“Outside of this illusory reality where the rest remain in lethargy, you have chosen to assume the role of protector of desolation for the rest of time.”

“As long as it ensures your well-being, mine, and that of those we esteem, I possess the fortitude to tolerate this frozen environment. Even until the cosmos comes to its end.”

“Such renunciation you do not make for us. It represents an oppression that you have decided to carry in strict solitude.”

“That is far from reality.”

“I understand perfectly what your fear is, Lize,” manifested Dale, reflecting the affection characteristic of the brother she kept in her memory.

—You are invaded by the dread that, upon assimilating the certainty that your surrender lacks a real purpose, the time to amend the situation has run out. You are horrified by the perspective of facing a future dominated by a perpetual gloom and cold without any justification.

“…!”

Dale sketched a bitter grimace, fully aware that the reflection of his own actions corresponded to the Lord of Shadows.

In the event that Dale yielded to the domains of the winter sovereignty, Lize would find a validation for her surrender. Nonetheless, he refused to capitulate.

Upon concluding a happiness built on mirages, only the lack of authenticity prevails.

“No chimera prolongs itself indefinitely, Lize.”

“…”

“The moment has arrived to return to reality.”

The affirmations issued by Dale caused a slight tremor in Lize’s diminutive silhouette.

“Fix your gaze on my shadowy reflection, Lize.”

The Queen of Winter and Shadows shifted her eyes there. In the gloom projected by Dale lay the true essence of her brother. The reality that he guarded in his hidden facet.

Paradoxically, it was the firm resolution to surrender everything in favor of his esteemed sister.

“What is it that has experienced a transformation?”, inquired the Queen of Winter.

“Do you intend to tolerate my ravings and remedy my failures by giving yourself to sacrifice once again, brother?”.

For her, the logic behind this was incomprehensible.

“In what sense does this action differ from your usual behaviors? You repudiate the idea of self-sacrifice in front of me, but simultaneously you show yourself willing to execute it again!”.

There was no distinction whatsoever. Faced with such certainty, Lize gathered fortitude and raised her voice again. However, Dale maintained an unalterable posture.

“Lize, I give you my word. We possess the capacity to reverse the situation completely.”

Return to the point of origin. Upon perceiving such a statement, the determination on Lize’s face faltered.

“We can bring back both you and our loved ones, rescuing them from the chains of this winter domain.”

“Time has run out,” asserted Lize, denying with a movement of her head.

“Unless one of us accepts the surrender, it will be impossible to amend my mistake. I refuse to allow you to continue experiencing this torment. It is preferable that winter extinguishes the heartbeats of my own chest before witnessing your own suffering.”

“We are still in time. Observe my gloom with attention, Lize. Do you still maintain the idea that I am deceiving you?”.

“The authenticity of intentions does not always translate into tangible facts,” replied Lize.

“No matter how fervent your request turns out to be, the pact established with her is of an irrevocable character.”

“It must have represented an extremely overwhelming experience for you.”

The eight circles and the structures of gloom that guarded Dale increased their rotation speed. Immersed in the frozen environment and the reigning darkness, Dale took the floor.

“Despite everything, nothing that occurred is your responsibility.”

He managed to dimension the ordeal that Lize endured due to her selfless and unilateral surrender and affection.

“From the beginning, everything derived from a mistake of my own, a fault that corresponded to me to remedy.”

In the present, Dale’s determination to amend Lize’s failure turned once again into a source of affliction.

─ Let us participate in a dynamic. A challenge oriented to safeguard that which you consider valuable.

─ I am seized by intrigue. Which manifestation of certainty possesses greater validity, the one you defend or the one she maintains?

Both Lords of Shadows remained firm on the spot, displaying their respective realities in the midst of the gloom.

Despite this, the panorama suffered no alteration whatsoever.

“The dynamic has concluded, Shub.”

Sentenced Dale with a tone devoid of warmth.

─ Under what argument do you affirm that it has finalized?

At that precise instant, the young girl stationed next to Dale inquired. A girl endowed with horns similar to those of a dark goat tilted her face, evidencing bewilderment.

Diverse filamentous extremities agitated beneath her clothing.

“In this place is manifested the purest certainty that the earthly plane possesses.”

─ I will refuse to give it credit until I verify it with my own eyes.

Shub emitted a slight laugh loaded with rejoicing.

─ Allow me to contemplate the structure that such certainty possesses.

“In that case, receive it.”

Indicated Dale. Lize held her breath, unable to decipher the background of the words, at the same time that a series of filaments projected swiftly from the lower part of Shub’s vestment.

Bang!

The filaments impacted with force, directed explicitly toward the positions of Dale and Lize.

It was not a matter of an individual surrender. A single renunciation lacked the magnitude required to satiate the interrogation of the Mother of Ancient Darkness.

“…!”

Gazes capable of unraveling the authenticity in both Lords of Shadows. Gazes that met with the most genuine certainty of existence, acting in the manner of a reflector.

─ It is correct, descendants of certainty.

Manifested with enthusiasm the Mother of Ancient Darkness.

Multiple filaments of dark tonality agitated chaotically, causing the structure of the winter sovereignty to begin to fragment.

─ Throughout endless eras of existence, it turns out to be astonishing how ingenuous and touching human beings can become!

Nonetheless, unfortunately, Dale was unable to contemplate the outcome. A limitation that he shared with Lize.

“I have lost the capacity to see…”.

In that interval, an acoustic manifestation made itself present.

“Visibility is null… Brother, in what place do you find yourself?”.

It corresponded to the lament of Lize, who sobbed emulating a defenseless creature. Faced with this, Dale proceeded to stretch his arm.

“Lize, I find myself by your side.”

He deployed his extremities in the midst of the gloom, seeking to establish contact.

The absence of light possessed an unusual and overwhelming density. Despite the temporary blindness, he experienced the sensation that the totality of his perceptions dissolved into the vacuum.

The helplessness of remaining in absolute isolation within the gloom.

He perceived some muffled groans. They were Lize’s tokens of affliction.

Guided by the sound in the midst of the darkness, Dale directed his extremity toward the source. He managed to perceive a surface. It possessed an extremely frozen touch, a low temperature that threatened to paralyze his own emotions.

Lize continued shedding tears silently next to Dale.

The remnants of the winter sovereignty had dispersed and, in the midst of the scene in ruins, Dale pressed Lize between his arms.

Through the frozen surface of her skin, he managed to perceive a faint trace of warmth.

—

“Have you returned to the state of wakefulness?”

I recovered consciousness in the midst of the gloom, at the same time that an intense clarity began to bathe my being.

“Clarity…?”

Dale sat up abruptly, experiencing a perception that he considered foreign to his current situation.

—Uncle Dale!

He heard the alarmed exclamation of Yufi calling him. Upon rotating his head, the clarity filtered through his eyelids. Such luminosity hindered his visual capacity for a brief instant; however, the silhouettes of the surroundings did not delay in defining themselves before his eyes.

Yufi was there, accompanied by the leader of the insurrection, the Golden Lord… Ray Eurys.

“What is the reason for this?”.

Expressed Dale in a whisper, remembering that from which he had detached himself upon crossing the threshold.

─ This represents merely an interval of rest.

At that moment, an acoustic response came from the vicinity. Dale turned his face with celerity.

The girl with goat features remained on the spot.

─ Until the moment arrives to claim that which I must legitimately custody, traverse the earthly plane according to your will, descendant of certainty.

The Mother of Ancient Darkness emitted that murmur with benevolence, adopting the appearance of a creature of short age.

“… Default.”

After perceiving such affirmations, Dale stood up without showing any hesitation.

“Have you managed to find the resolution to the enigma?”.

Inquired Ray Eurys.

“What level of knowledge did you possess about it?”.

“I lack familiarity with certainty. I only have a notion of deceptions. And the environment in question….”

Manifested Ray Eurys.

“It was saturated with innumerable falsehoods. That constituted the only certainty I harbored.”

“…”

Dale chose to maintain a silent posture.

“Were the scientific advances of the ancestral civilization a benefit obtained by contemplating that plane dominated by deceptions?”.

“That is so. Nonetheless, in the present, such items of knowledge lack relevance. The insurrection, the golden wealth, the glooms, and even the Ninth Empire.”

“To what is this due?”.

“Because the Empire of Black Gold has emerged newly from the annals of the past.”

Asserted Ray Eurys. Upon hearing the statement, Dale interrupted his breathing for a fraction of a second, to then interrogate with total serenity.

“What will your actions be from this moment onward?”.

“Despite having assumed the leadership of the insurrection, the initial impulse did not originate from my authorship.”

Explained Ray Eurys.

“In the same manner in which my progenitor shaped the events through the movement of the crimson structure, I choose to remain on the margin of the facts, documenting the process through the use of force,” he manifested.

“The events linked to my person have concluded. The situation of the Black and Golden Empire holds the same condition,” replied Dale.

“Consequently, as a counterpart, the annals you custody will harbor no more records concerning our figures.”

“Under an honest perspective, I harbor the hope that it will be so,” expressed Ray Eurys sketching a gesture of sympathy, while Dale proceeded to withdraw, giving him his back.

“However, will the facts truly unfold under those terms?”, inquired the Golden Sovereign, fixing his gaze on the retreating silhouette of Dale.

“Do we initiate the march, Miss Yufi?”, consulted Dale.

“Toward what destination?”, articulated Yufi with certain hesitation, reincorporating herself with promptness.

—Back home —dictated Dale.

The option of the insurrection or the figure of the monarch. Distancing themselves from the cogs of human events that advance in a perennial shape, Dale and Yufi gave start to their relocation.

They directed their steps with direction to the confines of the known geography, seeking the vestiges of an ancestral civilization relegated to oblivion by the course of time.

As they reduced the distance toward the northern limit of the continental mass, the environment became impregnated with implausible tales and speculations diffused by travelers.

Dale remembered the instants of his initial settlement in this reality, bringing to memory the wild and desolate aspect of the northern ocean, a marine extension plunged in a perpetual gloom beyond the visible.

Nonetheless, in the present, the presence of an uninhabited and hostile ocean had dissipated.

In its place, firm surface existed.

The territories belonging to the alternate plane, which kept silence while awaiting the opportunity for a redress, the northern demarcation.

The territory under the jurisdiction of Duke Saxon, the core of the ancestral civilization, administered under the tutelage of the Black and Golden Emperor.

In an identical manner to what was previously experienced by Dale, the winter season of those soils gave way to the thaw, allowing the chronological course, suspended for a long period, to recover its habitual dynamism.

The man and the girl entered into the territory, causing the frozen surface to receive the comforting and temperate impact of the spring season.