Alma 89 Lottery Winner

This makes it the second time I've been denied. I am really that undesirable of a person? To have become despised by death itself…

Reed laughed weakly. He tossed out another scrap of bread onto the ground and said, "I'm so unwanted, I've been given a third chance at life! I've must have broken some kind of record…"

A pair of doves strolled beside Reed as their heads bobbed back and forth like pendulums, hell-bent on eating every last scrap of bread on the ground. They seemed delighted, unlike their gracious masters…

"Can you not, Ka'an? You're alive — be grateful that the lifeweavers were able to save what was left of you. Had they not succeeded…"

"Whoa there, it was just a bad joke! Relax! I didn't mean it, of course. Which idiot would ever choose death over life? I'm glad," said Reed, startled. He cursed himself and instantly regretted his words.

I've already won this lottery once. Winning it again feels so…

"Look… I'm just a little surprised. I had come to terms with myself back there, so it feels really weird right now, uh, being alive. I'm happy that I'm alive, sure, but I don't feel like a million-credit man. I can't explain it properly, even though I want to…"

Reed turned around and looked down at the fountain that'd been behind him. The gently rippling waves on the water's surface reflected an ever-so-slightly distorted image back at the boy.

There he was, clear as day as if he had never even been hurt in the first place. Not a single scratch on the paint, so to speak. It didn't feel real. He remembered the pain. He had not forgotten what had happened to him.

White-hot and relentless. Drilling itself into his skull, preventing him from even thinking properly. The smell of his own charred fat and skin wafted into his mind. The sight of his contorted, maimed figure before he blacked out...

It didn't match up. Reed stared at the boy on the water's surface — it felt as if he were looking at a stranger.

"It's you, Ka'an, same as you've always been. The Royal Lifeweavers labored for an entire month without rest, you know. Had it not been for their herculean efforts, you would have surely died."

Reed had unwittingly become the Royal Lifeweaver's greatest masterpiece over the course of the last month. The difficulty of the assignment and the amount of work they had to perform proved such a monumental task that they had nearly given up hope that a successful recovery would happen.

Too much had been lost and what remained of the boy barely counted as living. Most of him had been unsalvageable. Less than 20% of what had been brought in was still alive, the rest had already died. The slow and extremely methodical process of regrowing what had been lost was the most troublesome aspect of the process.

The regrowth process had been prolonged even further because of the special nature who they were healing, in addition to their own concerns about the consequences any mistakes could have on him…

"To have revived fragments of a corpse back into… this," said Reed as he stared at his reflection. "Truly astounding. Even with the assistance of Anima and technology, this is still an awe-inspiring feat of skill. This place is like almost like a land of miracles…"

Lu'um nodded and said, "That is the kind of the power we used to possess during our prime across all reality. We were capable of doing anything. Entire universes for us to use as sandboxes. Creation and destruction on an unimaginable scale as we prodded our reality's deepest secrets — the fundamental governing laws of this entire multiverse."

Reed threw another chunk of bread out to his pals and said, "Yeah, well… that isn't the case anymore. The only thing we have now are two dingy, little cages to keep the monsters out. One for the rich few, and the other for the poor masses."

He stood up, threw the rest of his bread on the ground and said, "Where's Lacrima? You haven't told me what happened to her ever since I've come around. Did she survive, or is she…?"

"She's still alive, but she's out of commission. I don't thin—"

"Stop. Don't even begin with that nonsense. Just… take me to her."

Lu'um sighed and said, "So be it. If that is what you wish…" She stood up and said, "Follow me. She is being preserved in the Shrine of Succession."

The Shrine of Succession existed deep beneath the original royal palace that the ancestral family had once lived in. It was a sacred place reserved only for the true heirs of the family — they who would carry the royal family's long and painful burden for the sake of the empire's prosperity…

It was not a place for the unworthy.

There was something about the place that made Reed feel uncomfortable. Something in the room felt uninviting as if he wasn't supposed to be there. Uncontrollable goosebumps formed on his arms the moment he stepped inside of the damned place like a malicious pox.

His body was reacting to something and he knew it.

"What was this place used for, by the way? I think you forgot to mention that on the way here, sweetcheeks," said Reed.

"This was where the true heirs of the royal family would… forsake what made them mortal. They would offer it and in return, were given an incredible opportunity. This place is also where… she was born."

"Is that so… Sounds like a terrible trade, if you ask me."

Lu'um shook her and head and said, "She's over here, past these doors. Listen, before you ent—"

Reed brushed past Lu'um and opened the doors. He had heard enough.

Oh no. No, no, no, no, no...

There was barely anything left of her. Scraps of what had once been a complete mantle hovered in a place, enveloped by a soft, golden halo.

He silently gazed at the floating scraps, completely lost.

"She's still alive, Ka'an, but in her current state, she's powerless. Asleep. She redirected all of her Anima in order to protect you — at the cost of bearing the majority of the damage herself. Had she not, you would have very likely died long before I even finished closing the tear…"

Reed clenched his fists in anger as he struggled to keep himself in check. He understood what she had done and why she had done it, but…

That old, familiar feeling had returned again to torment him.

That feeling of powerlessness. Of weakness. Of worthlessness.

Lu'um grabbed Reed's shoulders, looked at him right in his eyes and said, "She made the choice herself. She knew what'd happen to her, make no mistake. It's not your fault, Ka'an."

It is.

Reed forced his feelings back down and said, "Will she recover? Why has she not been repaired? If you can bring me back from the dead, why haven't you brought her back?!"

"It's not the same, Ka'an. She… she is unique. Not something that we created. We don't know how to repair something like her, which was made by the Great Will. All we could do was bring her here and hope for the best…"

He didn't understand. Why did it have to happen like this? This wasn't supposed to have happened at all. Not like this. This was wrong.

It was his punishment. That was what Reed thought it was. For his own overconfidence and weakness. He had been living in his own little happy world for too long — enough that he'd let his guard down.

Anima. Becoming a prince. Being the so-called chosen one. All of this bullshit had distracted him, lulled him into a state of drowsiness.

The guy who lived in the slums would not have gotten himself in this kind of a mess. He would have waited patiently and bided his time until the time was right. Would have never gotten full of himself or carried away.

Because he knew that he was a miserable weakling. He had neither the strength, nor courage of his enemies, but he was patient. Endlessly patient like a damn mountain.

The guy from the slums would have considered every variable in the equation before acting because he knew that there were no second chances.

That was when it all clicked for Reed. He finally understood why he had found it so... disconcerting that he'd been given another chance at life.

A second chance at living? Not only that but a third chance?!

What kind of fucking joke was that? A goddamned street rat like himself had been given these opportunities, these inconceivable luxuries!

It had blinded him. Thrown him off his natural pace.

"People really are blind to the things closest to them, don't you think?" said Reed.

"Huh?"

He suddenly grabbed Lu'um, brought her into his arms and held her. It scared the living hell out of her at first and had caught her unawares.

"But I can finally see, again. The fog has lifted around me. Don't you see?"

Lu'um shook her head in confusion and said, "W-What are you talking about, Ka'an? …Are you okay?"

"I'm more than okay," said Reed. He leaned in close to her face and then...

She dumbly stood there like a deer in headlights as she struggled to process what had happened, looking like she'd been struck by lighting. 

"I'm free, sweetcheeks, and there's more where that came from."

Chapter end