Gambit (4) - The Crow Saint's Nightmare
Raybie Elysium. She was a human bearing the traits of a crow, a being gifted with holy power capable of completely annihilating demons and monsters. She could mend the bodies of the dying and even compel lifelong sinners to repent before her. In the Holy Kingdom she held a rank equal to the Pope herself, the daughter of the celestial god Aurea. Despite such pious titles and abilities, moments earlier—when faced with near-certain death—she had twisted her lips into a smile.
‘…Finally, I can die.’
In her joy, the Saint had clenched her fists tightly at the prospect of death. When the Cardinal transformed into a colossal form of flowers and vines and moved to swallow her, Raybie felt relief, knowing the attack was unavoidable. Thus she began to dream inside the Flower Dragon’s stomach. Solitary Gu. The nightmare of an earthen jar where countless screams and wails continued until only one remained, each killing the other.
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Sistina. LX. That was the alias I bore before I was chosen as Saint and granted the name Raybie Elysium. After all, I was merely the sixtieth child among the hundred gathered to become the Saint.
I still remember my parents’ voices, yet after being sold for a pittance to a church on a remote island, I never saw them again. I held no resentment. I knew they had been starving, unable even to afford a bowl of porridge. They traded the guilt of selling their child for a few silver coins against the hope that I might find greater happiness away from them.
“If you come to our church, you’ll eat your fill of delicious bread and sleep in a warm place. I promise in the name of the celestial god Aurea. □■□.”
The nun with the gentle voice had taken my arm while saying such things. Hearing the name of Aurea—the god said to have created the world alongside the Lord and bestowed light upon it—had brought me relief. But then—
“□■□. From now on your name is Sistina. You must strive to become the world’s hope that will slay the Demon King.”
Only after arriving at the island did I learn it had all been a lie.
“To become like the First Saint, one must discard everything precious. Your name is merely practice for that.”
How strange. This nightmare perfectly reflected my past memories, yet I could not recall my true name. I must have tried to forget it because the memory was too painful, or perhaps it was washed away along with everything else I had to abandon.
“This island is called Eden. It is a place where you and the other children may become clergy according to the teachings of the First Saint.”
Now that I thought about it, they had always called the place Eden even then. It seemed humans never changed—usurping a name created by the gods to trample and mock other humans.
The salty scent, the cool sea breeze, the waves washing over the sandy shore at my ankles had looked like paradise. “Here, Sistina. I’ve brought your daily rations. Make sure to chew every bite and eat it all.”
“……”
Its true nature was more horrific than hell. The porridge contained strands of hair, fingernail clippings, or dried scraps of skin. I had sensed something was wrong from the very beginning. Born blind, my other senses were sharper than most.
“What’s wrong, Sistina? Not hungry?”
Of course, refusing to eat or leaving anything behind brought the sharp crack of a whip. Forcing a funnel into my mouth to make me swallow, or tying me to a wooden post and leaving me outside in the cold, were everyday occurrences.
“Alpha, Beta. Sistina has left behind the rations the celestial god granted us today. You know her mistake is partly your fault as well, don’t you?”
There were even days when I was made to beat the children I was close to, or forced to listen to their screams while they were tortured.
- Aaaagh!! Aaaagh…!!
- I’m hungry… Mother… Please get me out of here…
In the darkness where I could see nothing, the screams and pain rang out clearly. I offered prayers, calling the god’s name hundreds—no, thousands—of times. Yet no answer ever came. It was only natural. I was an ordinary golden-haired girl who had never heard the celestial god’s voice and was far from divine.
My parents had always praised my hair, saying it was as beautiful as sunlight, but after entering Eden I never heard such words again.
“Look, Sistina. Your eyes have finally turned red, just like the First Saint’s. A wonderful change. Let us nurture your faith today by reading the scriptures that contain the celestial god’s words.”
“……”
“I’ve specially translated the book into braille for you. Among the children here, you are the most devout, closest to the First Saint.”
The other children. Hearing those words, I could only swallow my screams.
“Hm? Sistina. What’s wrong? What happened to Alpha and Beta?”
Day after day, the children around me died. As though a plague had struck the island, one by one they collapsed and were never seen again.
“Those children have left the island for a while to receive treatment or meet better patrons. They said they wanted to see you again later, Sistina.”
It was a lie. Since arriving on the island, not a single child had escaped. Only supply ships came and went at regular intervals; I had never once heard the footsteps of a child leaving.
“So if you endure patiently, Sistina, one day you too will become a fine clergyman like the First Saint and leave this island.”
Carrot and stick. The nun who had killed the five children I had been closest to at the orphanage beside the church spoke those words to me.
- So this attempt failed as well? No. They said feeding the children pieces of the First Saint’s body from a young age would cause changes…
When I tried to escape the island, I overheard those words while passing through the church corridor. In the end, this island was not the Eden from scripture. It was merely a massive laboratory created to replicate the First Saint.
- To slay the Demon King or keep the imperial family in check, a Saint is indispensable. No one naturally possesses both that level of healing power and holy power simultaneously. No one chosen by the celestial god Aurea like the First Saint, wielding immense holy power, had appeared since.
Politics, romantic rivalries, the end of the world, the Demon King—adult circumstances like these had caused children to die one after another.
- Raybie’s eyes have turned red, and the other children are showing changes as well… White hair like snow and red eyes… If this record were wrong, none of the previous Saints could have existed.
While fleeing the orphanage, I came to understand the truth of the basement that had always been locked. The stench that stung my nose and the chill that felt like no living person could endure it—that was where the children who had been close to me, or who had suddenly vanished, were kept.
Uni, Alpha, Beta, Trian, Five… I later learned those children were stacked like books.
“…You noticed, didn’t you?”
For a blind girl to escape from an island secretly operated even within the Holy Kingdom of Elysium was nearly impossible.
──Clang!
Thus I was locked inside a large metal cage, unable to move, like a canary.
“Well, it’s fine. In fact, it’s fortunate. Now we can finally decipher the documents left by the old Papacy perfectly.”
The nun who had brought me here spoke with an unpleasant laugh.
“After all, most of the children except you have died, so there was no point hiding it anymore. You’re special, aren’t you?”
Unlike me, the other children had transformed—white hair, red eyes, and pale skin like the First Saint—before dying. I alone had only changed in eye color and speech; my personality and golden hair remained the same.
“…It seems that trying to make them perfectly resemble the First Saint causes the children’s bodies to break down. Here.”
Thud. The nun offered me a small creature with feathers embedded in it. A horrifying food that squelched when chewed and leaked blood.
“They say they mixed in animal factors. That’s why the previous Saint had cat ears and a tail.”
“…I don’t want to eat it.”
“Oh? Wouldn’t it be better to eat the crow while it’s still alive? The holy power should prevent infection, and it’s the fastest way out of this cramped cage.”
A crow still breathing. Inside a cage even smaller than my previous quarters, without proper food or water, I endured an entire week. But there was a limit. Eventually, while I slept from hunger, the nun forced me to consume part of the First Saint—or the crow.
“Caw. Please… don’t eat me…”
After that, I could understand the crows. Wings sprouted from my waist, and small wings grew on my face to cover my eyes. It was as though I had truly become a crow.
“…Understood.”
I suppressed my hunger as best I could and secretly nursed the crows before releasing them. Those became Hugin and Munin. The children I saved that day simply continued to circle around me. I was no savior of lives—merely a horrific murderer who had eaten other children to survive.
“If there is a god, please…”
The younger version of myself wept while calling out to god. Blood flowed from my fingertips as I scratched the floor and tried to pick the lock; my body was already nothing but skin stretched over bone. Yet the holy power filling me prevented me from starving to death. Instead, I grew more vibrant by the day. Even when my mind screamed that it was hungry and thirsty, tomorrow always came.
“…Save me.”
Please, if there is a god, take me out of here. Please, if there truly is a hero, save me from this human more wicked than the Demon King. I hadn’t realized it when I was completely blind, but that was the face I had worn then. Still, it would be all right. According to my memories, if I endured just a little longer, the hero Damian would come to rescue me.
“…Huh?”
It happened in that very moment. A strange scene appeared before my eyes. A hero with white hair and wearing armor should have come, yet standing before that younger version of myself was a boy like a black shadow. Even though this was my memory, a nightmare recreating the past, the one standing before me as I watched my childhood self was not who I had believed.
“Hello, Raybie. Or should I call you Sistina right now?”
It was a boy wearing a white mask, skillfully unlocking the cage.
“I came to save you before it was too late. I tried to get here as fast as I could, but it didn’t work out so well.”
The man, wearing the same mask as Shade and a hood pulled low, created a cluster of pure white light in his hand.
“This should serve as a temporary measure. Even without fully assimilating with the crow or the First Saint, you’ll still be able to become the Saint.”
Copy. That was clearly Shade’s ability—Copy. The power to replicate another’s strength or ability, granting holy power to my younger self. I knew this because I had previously shared vision with Hugin and Munin. But how could that man exist inside my nightmare?
“Faith has always been inside you. You don’t have to become exactly like the First Saint. Just believe in yourself and move forward… This small light will grow endlessly and protect you.”
The dream of him gently stroking my head with a warm hand, lifting me up, and carrying me out of the cage and off the island was—
“None of this was your fault. So… I hope you won’t hate yourself too much.”
—so realistic that I never wanted to wake from it. Ah. From the very beginning, it hadn’t been Damian. It had been you.
* * *
“…Cardinal August. I’ve come to take back the Saint you abducted.”
Having reached the floor of the underground city, I spoke those words to the massive dragon formed from clustered flowers.
“Doing this not once, but twice, was a bit much.”
Even facing his grotesque form—no longer worthy of being called Cardinal August—I felt no fear, only a smile.
“This isn’t the ‘real’ R’lyeh. It hasn’t sunk beneath the sea, has it? It’s merely the influence of a single meteor that fell here.”
I could not borrow the powers or abilities of my other companions right now. But the reason I had grown stronger until this moment was to witness the end of this damned world.
“So endure my full strength, you flower-headed bastard.”
I bit down on my trembling fingers and set my entire bloodstream ablaze. Then—
──Fweeet!
—I whistled. Perfect Copy, the ability to replicate myself. The trump card that had made me a war hero and allowed me to survive the slums as the Empire’s shadow. Humans identical to me began to manifest from the darkness, as though taking form from shadow.