I Became the Land (3)
I Became the Land (3)
Plop, plop-plop...
'Ah, it fell again...'
I returned the moving soil model back into the ground. Shaping it was fine, but the problem came when trying to make it move afterward.
'It's hard to maintain the shape when it moves. How can I do this well...'
It felt like as soon as I crossed one mountain, another one appeared, making it feel daunting, but it's okay. Like everything else so far, I'll get the hang of this with time.
Gnnh, kkeeng...kkeeeng...
'...What on earth am I going to do with that little guy.'
The real problem is that puppy making those pitiful cries over there. The creature is currently imprisoned inside a jail made of earth.
It tries desperately to struggle and escape, but since I keep applying force to the earth jail, it's impossible for it to break the soil down.
Since I couldn't think of any immediate way to get rid of it, I moved it near my residence, the Burnt Tree.
I was wondering how to move a spiritual entity like that, but I thought if I just manipulated the earth covering it, I could do it. So, I tightly sealed the puppy's surroundings with earth and then moved it.
'During the move, the form collapsed multiple times...it was quite an ordeal...'
Fortunately, the attempt worked, but during the move, my concentration wavered, holes formed in the earth, and the puppy tried to escape through those gaps several times.
Luckily, it couldn't go far due to the difficulty of moving and was quickly recaptured.
'But why is that little guy limping?'
Maybe it was a puppy with a bad leg when it was alive. Lingering Thoughts are like the dregs left behind after a living thing dies.
That's why getting rid of it was the right thing to do. There's nothing good about a Lingering Thought remaining in the world of the living.
'And I plan to find that method now.'
First, I tried burying it deep underground. The classic live burial method.
I dug under the jail holding the puppy, made it fall in, then covered it with soil.
And I observed it.
Kkeeeng, gnnh...
'...No reaction at all. Doesn't even seem to be in pain.'
The whimpering just changed from above ground to below ground; it didn't seem particularly crushed or suffocated.
'If I leave it like this, I'm just a guy who buried a puppy alive.'
Even if it is a Lingering Thought, my conscience prickled. In the end, I freed it from the live burial. Coming up to the surface, it shook off the dirt on its body and panted heavily.
Alright then, second method. A free fall from the sky.
...Even though my conscience was just pricked, this is another inhumane act, but ultimately, this is an act I'm committing to put that puppy to rest, not because I want to try it out.
Anyway, with the feeling of dressing its body, I wrapped its entire form in earth. I wrapped enough soil around the puppy's body that it could withstand even if my concentration wavered and parts collapsed, then slowly raised it into the sky.
'Slowly...with the feeling of lifting it up...'
When it seemed to reach a decent height, I abruptly released my hold.
The puppy fell rapidly along with the soil. It hit the ground at that speed, was unresponsive for a moment, then lifted its head and let out a big bark.
Woof! Woof woof! Grrr~
It looked completely unharmed at a glance. Moreover, it somehow seemed more energetic than before.
'...Don't tell me it thinks we were playing?'
That seemed to be the correct answer. Its tail, which had been drooping just moments ago, was now spinning powerfully as if it had a propeller attached.
'Haha...'
Suddenly, everything felt hollow. That little guy was a puppy through and through. Who could call that thing dangerous when it's panting happily, mistaking it for playtime?
Of course, even during this, my intuition was screaming that I should get rid of it, but what can you do? At least my reason judged it wasn't dangerous.
'Well, even if it were truly dangerous, a day or two should be fine.'
The reason my intuition judged it dangerous seemed to be because of the black sludge-like liquid it was shedding. The ground where its liquid seeped in was slowly losing vitality.
However, that speed was very slow, and more vitality was being generated than was lost, filling the empty spaces, so it didn't seem like any major problem would arise.
'So...it should be okay to play with it a little, right?'
It should be fine to offer a little joy to this pitiful and cute child, wagging its tail and panting even while limping.
'Alright, decided.'
Having made up my mind, I immediately manipulated a twig and brought it in front of the puppy.
Kkung?
'Now, I'm going to throw this. You have to watch carefully?'
After firmly imprinting the twig in the mind of the tilting-headed puppy, I threw it towards the forest.
'Fetch!'
Wang! Woof woof!
Then, as if understanding the meaning, it started running in the direction the twig was thrown. Yeah, while limping on one leg.
'Ah, right...'
...I had forgotten the fact that one of its legs was bad.
Wondering if my nonexistent brain had noodles stuck in it, lamenting my cursed-level memory, it didn't take long for the puppy to return with the twig in its mouth.
'...It looks happy.'
Even though moving must have been difficult due to its injured leg, the returning puppy was still panting happily.
It dropped the twig it brought on the ground, then barked towards the empty air.
Woof woof! Woof!
Seems like it wants to play more. Fortunately, I had an abundance of time. I had plenty of time to spend with it.
'...Let's not play fetch.'
Of course, since I don't have a hobby of abusing puppies, I excluded what needed to be excluded.
And so, I continued playing with the puppy until the sun set and night arrived.
When night came, it stopped playing, looked around, soon found a spot it liked, settled down, curled its body up, and started to sleep.
'...Are its memories from when it was alive remaining?'
Since it's a spiritual entity, it doesn't need to sleep. The reason it's behaving as if sleeping is probably because the habits from when it was alive are ingrained in it.
The limping, the enjoyment of play—all of it is merely imitating actions the puppy did when it was alive.
'.....'
Looking at it, I sank into deep thought.
'It appeared suddenly at some point, definitely.'
It was a morning like any other, but I remember the atmosphere of the forest changing in an instant. That means it can be seen as not existing until that moment and then suddenly coming into existence.
'...Was it newly born? No, there's no way such a Lingering Thought could be born in this land.'
I can assert this much. There wasn't a single reason for such a Lingering Thought to be born in this land.
Lingering Thoughts appear when the negative aspects of life cluster together over and over. And the life in this land cannot have negative aspects. Absolutely not.
'Then there's only one answer.'
That puppy must have come from outside this land, from the outside world.
But there's one problem with that theory.
'It's only possible under the premise that it's true that I'm trapped inside a barrier.'
If that hypothesis is true, it really is a troublesome matter.
Why?
'Because it means there's a barrier and I didn't know about it.'
I clearly explored here and there while moving my perception range, but I didn't find any part that made me think there was a barrier. If a barrier is truly erected, it might have been made so that I wouldn't be able to perceive it.
'How do you find a barrier you can't even feel?'
Even if I found it, the problem is, how do you dismantle that barrier? It really was one mountain after another.
'That aside, if this place is inside a barrier, what must the outside be like for such a Lingering Thought to be born...'
A moment of curiosity arose, but I soon carefully folded away the question. Now wasn't the time to worry about a barrier I didn't even know existed.
'First, it would be good to know how this puppy got across. Then I could at least know where the boundary is.'
If the hypothesis is correct, this puppy must have crossed the barrier. Then the section where the puppy crossed would be the boundary line where the barrier is erected.
'I'll have to coax the puppy somehow. I have plenty of time, so let's take it slow.'
Thinking such thoughts, I too entered sleep. The act of observing the land was the process of recovering my strength, so it was no different from sleep.
And so, the next day dawned, but...
I had forgotten the fact that time is always relative.
Kkeeeng, kkeeeng...
'...What.'
The creature, which had been full of energy just yesterday, was now whimpering, unable to even get up from the spot it lay down last night.
'What happened?'
I don't know the cause. All I could see from its appearance was that its black sludge had decreased.
'Decreasing...removal...purification?'
Suddenly, something flashed through my mind.
The black sludge touching the ground was stealing vitality, and a greater vitality was filling the void left by that sludge.
'If the negative aspect possessed by the Lingering Thought and the soil I manipulate—more precisely, the vitality contained in the soil—were incompatible...'
Then it has been dying from the moment it entered this land.
'.....'
I fell silent.
No matter how much of a Lingering Thought it is, its essence was ultimately a puppy.
Even though only a day had passed since we met, I could tell its nature was good.
And such a puppy was dying before my eyes.
'There's no way.'
I tried to find a means to save this child, but soon realized. Anything I try would only be poison to this child.
In the end, all I could do was watch over this child's final moments.
'...I'm sorry.'
At that moment, the puppy raised its trembling leg and started heading somewhere.
'That direction is...'
The direction where the Burnt Tree is.
The puppy, limping along, soon took a twig in its mouth and lay down near the exposed tree roots of the Burnt Tree.
Hek hek...
The puppy, breathing heavily with ssaek, ssak sounds, soon closed its eyes. A faint smile formed at the corner of its mouth.
'.....'
What scenery did that puppy see in its final moments?
With no time to indulge in sentimentality, a sudden, pure white light swirled around the puppy.
'What...?'
Even when I tried to zoom my viewpoint to look at the puppy, all I could see was light. In that moment of panic, the brightly swirling light began to abruptly stop, just as suddenly as it had appeared.
'...It's gone.'
Where the light disappeared, the puppy was no longer there. Only a single twig was left lying there.
As I was confused about what had happened, I felt something was strange. And that mystery was solved in an instant.
'My power increased?'
My ability had grown.