Alma 88 Sweeter Than Victory

"Mama! Look, look! The sky! Two shooting stars!"

No one could have expected it. It wasn't their fault.

"Hey, look! What the hell is that? Someone order fireworks or something?"

It was not supposed to have even happened in the first place, but that was how life often was.

"I-Isn't it getting brighter? …What the hell is going on up there?"

Unpredictable. Ephemeral. Unfair.

"Who cares? Let the conquerors take care of it. Come on, let's go."

There was nothing they could've done, anyway. It had happened too fast.

"…H-Hey, it's not stopping! I don't think——"

They had all disappeared, in the blink of an eye. Reduced into dust.

It had been nigh-instantaneous — swift and painless.

An in-depth investigation would later conclude that approximately eighty-five kilometers had been affected by the unexpected event.

The entire city of Lei-en had vanished along with everything around it in a thirty-five-kilometer radius.

Despite their best efforts, the search and rescue teams never ended up finding anything… or anyone. The only thing they found was barren soil and a thin layer of hardened, brittle glass. Nothing more.

1.7 million people had vanished over the course of a single night…

A new page of history had been written that night and many would consider it the most tragic event in modern times since the Unification War. The Final Night of Lei-en would be remembered…

A shroud of silence filled the lifeless plain that had once harbored the living.

Two shooting stars fell from the heavens, harbingers of the end. They hurtled down toward the ground on a skewed trajectory and had avoided the destructive flood of light and heat.

One of the shooting stars quickly moved toward the other as they fell and the two became one as they descended upon the earth. They, together, crashed into an unknown forest and caused an enormous explosion when they landed.

The inhabitants of the forest, frightened out of their minds, scurried deep into the woods when they heard the deafening sound of the impact. No one wanted to find out what had crashed into their home, be it predator or prey...

She had been very, very fortunate. Had she not finished in time, he would have died. That had been too close of a call, even for her.

The girl had been badly hurt by the flood of light herself, but not as bad as the person in her arms. There was barely anything left of him.

Despite her efforts, he had still suffered the most. A limbless, charred marionette of an upper torso. He had become a lump of burnt, torn flesh and shattered bone.

The sight of what he had become was too much, even for her. She burst into tears and bit her lip so hard it bled. Here he was, on the brink of death, because she had not been fast enough.

Because she had not been strong enough to support him, again.

A stubborn, flickering flame had not given up within the battered mess that once was the boy. Whether by providence or some other means, had not died, just yet.

There was still some time left. She carefully picked him up and hurriedly set off to the only place where he could still be saved.

Home.

...…He slept.

…Darkness ruled eternal in the realm of death. It was a strangely comforting feeling, no longer worrying about the incessant quandaries of life. Here, it was peaceful and quiet. None could disturb him here.

Although it was slightly boring, it was not painful. He had no longer had to worry about anything. Worrying was something reserved for the living.

Reed did not know how long he had been in this perplexing state of limbo.

Minutes? Hours? Perhaps even days, or weeks? Months? Years?

He couldn't keep track of time in here, where darkness ruled supreme. That was how it was in the land of the dead. Time was a concept designed by the living — the dead had no need for it.

Once you were dead, you were dead. Forever. Until the end of, well…

Is there an end to death? I don't know. That's a very important question…

Reed let out a large yawn as he aimlessly floated around in the dark. Every time he slept, it felt as if an eon had passed. But at the same time, he couldn't be too sure — after all, time was a useless concept in here...

He could have been asleep for five minutes or five thousand years.

In any case, does it even matter? It's not like it'll do anything for me, even if I figure it out. It's better to just sleep and forget...

Still, he couldn't help but wonder how things were going in the land of the living. Did Lu'um succeed in the end or had they failed? He had done his best, but it had not been enough. Not even remotely.

His encounter with the Grand Swarm had opened his eyes. He finally understood the kind of enemy that the world had been facing all along. It was not one that petty mortals could ever aspire to win against.

They ate whole multiverses from the inside out. That was what the living were up against. A pancosmic force of destruction.

Reed hoped that everything turned out well, though. He'd hate for his death to have been for nothing. In reality, though, he just wanted to have denied them of their victory. Even if it was futile, in the end.

It was a matter of principle. That was what Reed had justified it under. He'd valiantly defended the dignity of the small and the weak with his life.

It was worth it. Better to die than to live forever as one of the Infested. As an eternal slave, forever damned to pillage and destroy…

Thinking and floating seemed to have its own toll though, even in death. Eventually, his fatigue caught up to him. His heavy eyes slowly dragged themselves down and his mind faded into obscurity…

Unbeknownst to Reed, fate would have different plans for him.

An eerie force suddenly pulled the sleeping boy through the realm of death toward an unknown destination. It hauled off its unwanted guest to the edge of what could be described as its domain and tossed the boy onto the other side.

"Save us all in due time, Fifth Heir. Before it is too late…" said an old, withered voice. It sounded weary and desperate.

But there was nothing it could do. It had lost the majority of its strength long, long ago when it had been robbed of its rightful job.

All it could do now was watch and pray for the boy's success. Hope that he would set things right for everyone's sake.

The faint spark floated off into the light and back toward the realm of the living…

And then, after another eternity of waiting...

...He awoke.

He took a large, deep breath and opened his eyes, only to find that he was no longer floating in the dark. Startled, he raised himself up but found that he could not move.

Bandages, wires, various tubes, casts, and restraints covered him head to toe. Mysterious devices beeped and recorded data. Long, clear tubes had been shoved into his mouth, down his throat into god knows where. Reed stared at his body in shock as he observed himself.

The bright ceiling light above hurt his eyes so he quickly shut them.

I-I'm still... alive? Does that mean...or is this…?

He had felt himself die. The numb, hollow feeling of his body turning into dust. The release of pain and the embrace of the dark.

A sudden racket outside caught his attention and he heard the sound of loud footsteps. Voices overlapped on top of each other, but Reed couldn't make out what they were saying. They sounded concerned from the tone of their voices but it wasn't as if he could respond back, anyways.

The tubes in his throat wouldn't let him. He opened his eyes after much deliberation and got a good glimpse of the people in the room.

It was Lu'um along with many other people. Old men gathered around the machines hooked up to Reed and spoke amongst each other with serious expressions.

Oh, for the love of... This girl, I swear…

Reed looked at Lu'um and slightly shook his head when she started speaking. She looked like she was about cry and had a smile of relief on her face. He wanted to tell her that he would be fine but couldn't, so he wriggled his fingers back and forth in order to catch her attention.

She held Reed's hand and looked as happy a person could be.

It only took my death for her to make a face like that, huh…

He had survived. That was all that she needed to be happy.

I guess it was worth dying once, I suppose.

Victory was sweet, but she was sweeter still.

Reed grinned. He had won.

Chapter end