The Abyss and the Burden of Trust
The Abyss.
Not a living creature — what in the world was that supposed to mean? I was the very man who had skinned it, carved through its flesh, and cut it down, and he tells me it was not alive? The fishy stench and texture that had soaked through my entire body had been thick, heavy, and viscous — but they were, without question, blood.
Still, there had to be a reason he said it. And so,
"Then explain it in a way I can understand."
He had to make it comprehensible to me. Only then could I do anything about it.
"The Behemoth was never a creature that picked and chose its prey. It devoured whatever crossed its path... something like a scavenger, you might say."
A scavenger, was it... Well, given that bulk of its, I suppose it would have needed to eat a monstrous amount. It had been at least three times the size of an elephant. Its prey would have been ten times that, no doubt.
"And its blood used to be red. Not something ominous and viscous like that."
Yet no matter where I cut it or how, the color had always been the same. Every last drop of its blood had been black. Which meant the Behemoth that attacked us was not the same thing as the original.
The same appearance, perhaps. But a different species. A different creature entirely.
"Then what in the world happened?"
"You are aware that the world faced its end, are you not?"
"Do you speak of the blizzard?"
"The blizzard... yes, that is part of it. But there is something more fundamental."
Something more fundamental, is it. That blizzard alone ought to be death enough for anyone. To think something more dangerous than an endless winter existed?
"Everything began when the Abyss first appeared in this world."
"The Abyss appeared?"
This was the first I had heard of an Abyss. Though I suppose there had been few opportunities to hear of it at all.
"It would be unfamiliar to you. Not many people know of the Abyss's existence. They simply cannot bear to know."
A secret that cannot be borne, is it. But what did this Abyss have to do with the Behemoth?
"That Behemoth, and those monsters, are beings that were devoured by the Abyss. Their defining traits are black, viscous blood — and the fact that they eat nothing at all."
"Black, viscous blood... and they eat nothing..."
So every creature I had encountered thus far had been consumed by it. And yet — the blood of those spiders had been distinctly blue, and they gave no impression of feeding on anything either. There had been far too many of them for that, and the surroundings had been far too barren for me to believe any food existed nearby.
"They have already become part of the Abyss itself."
"Part of the Abyss?"
"Yes. Life consumed and discarded by the Abyss... beings reduced to its leftovers. Where they appear, and how, we cannot know. But—"
It was a claim beyond all belief. I would have to see this Abyss with my own eyes before I could understand it.
"Once a creature is consumed by the Abyss, you must never expect to see its former self again. Even if it was once human."
Even humans... Then that was... that was hardly different from a jiangshi. A jiangshi. A jiangshi, of all things.
"What in the world is this Abyss?"
An Abyss that turned living beings into something like the hopping dead. And yet I had heard that even a jiangshi was no simple thing to create. He had witnessed it firsthand, so his word was certain. Those monsters were worth at least a hundred apiece by any rough measure — a thousand, even. Add to that the spiders and the Queen, whose nature remained unclear, and if all of them had indeed been consumed by the Abyss...
It was a catastrophe beyond all comparison.
"As for what it actually is... now that I think of it, I heard that the woman you brought with you was once the queen of the old kingdom — Amsia."
"That is so. She said as much herself."
"The Abyss first appeared in Amsia."
It first appeared in Amsia?
"The land where the old Amsia once stood is now a place where no life exists."
Impossible... Then how was that woman still alive? She had even been able to hold a conversation.
"I know very little about the Queen myself. All I know is that she was praised as a queen sent down by god."
"A queen sent down by god, is it."
"They say the place where Amsia's capital once stood still retains its form. Except that a massive gate has appeared there."
It still retains its form, does it. Was that not only natural? In a land where no life could survive, what else would remain but the wind blowing through?
"Then what does any of that have to do with rushing about as we are?"
The Abyss was dangerous — that much was clear. Consumed by it, one became little more than a puppet. I understood all that. But what did it have to do with moving this frantically?
"This is the first time the Abyss has ever attacked us so directly."
With those words, we finally arrived at the meeting hall. There, people of all ages sat gathered around a round table.
"We greet Her Highness the Princess."
As the assembled rose from their seats to bow, Princess Sila made her way to her own place and sat.
"We will dispense with the formalities. How far has the council progressed?"
"The subjugation plan for the Winter Lord and the Impure Knight is under discussion."
Hmm. A headache of a matter indeed. I had never cared much for meetings like this. The sight of men securing their own comfort even in the face of crisis was sickening — something to be endured only because one must.
Here, the debates seemed to proceed chiefly as a clash between the young men and the middle-aged ones.
"We must take down the Winter Lord first."
"If we strike at the Winter Lord first, the Knight will come. Then would an exhausted, wounded subjugation force possibly withstand it?"
"There is not enough time to kill the Impure Knight first and then subjugate the Winter Lord! The Abyss will not wait for us!"
But this hall seemed rather different from the ones I had known. Perhaps because the end of the world hung in the balance.
Listening to them, they needed to capture both the Winter Lord and the Impure Knight. Yet if they hunted the Impure Knight first, they would lack the time to prepare against the Abyss.
Which was, in the end, merely another way of saying they lacked time.
"Let me ask one thing."
"You... are the one who slew the Behemoth?"
"Let me hear it."
The moment I intervened in their heated quarrel, the argument gradually cooled, and their attention gathered on me.
"Of the two — which would be harder for you to face?"
"What do you mean by..."
"The Winter Lord, or the Knight. Between the two, which is the more dangerous opponent? That is my question."
As my words settled in, one of the middle-aged men grasped their meaning and struck the table.
"We know you faced the Behemoth. But we cannot stake one side or the other on you alone."
"I agree. If you were to fail, the consequences would be beyond reversing."
Hmm, so that is how it is. Even if I declared I would face one of them myself, the question was whether I could actually subjugate it.
"In other words, you lack trust."
"Hmm..."
They cleared their throats and averted their gazes. Well, it was not a charge I could entirely deny. Not merit, not self-interest — possibility. They had come to this because they could not place their trust in mere possibility.
"Sila. Let us subjugate the Winter Lord."
I met the gaze of the blue eyes that had been watching me for some time now, and around the table came gasps of open disbelief.
"How dare you address Her Highness!"
That one came from the young side, this time. He seemed fiercely loyal to the imperial house. Loyalty was nothing to fault.
But had he not chosen the wrong opponent? In the end, the Princess would take my side.
"It is quite all right. He is not a man required to show me deference."
"But still—"
"Very well. We will prepare the subjugation of the Winter Lord."
Once more, the sound of swallowed breath filled the hall. Amid the turbulent atmosphere, Princess Sila declared the meeting at an end.
"Then I will go and fetch the Queen. Where might she be?"
"I will escort you myself."
I followed behind Princess Sila as she led the way, ahead of the stares now fixed on me as though they meant to bore holes straight through me.
"I trust you."
It was spoken quietly as she slowed her stride, came to stand beside me.
"Then trust me. I am a man utterly sick of sacrifice."
"Yes..."
So long as I stood, no one here would be sacrificed.
"This subjugation will... mobilize the greater part of our remaining forces."
"Your shoulders must feel rather heavy, then."
She was wondering, no doubt, whether I could truly bear that responsibility.
"I, you see, am rather used to carrying things on my back."
"......"
She seemed to want to answer, but no words came.
"You need not answer. Only listen."
Princess Sila gave a slow nod at that.
"I am a greedy man... I cannot bear to let go of what comes into my hands, and so I keep holding it."
Because I had failed to do so before — because I had lost so much. In the end, those who flail and lose their grip are the ones who lose everything, are they not...
"So long as it rests in these hands, I will defend it with every ounce of strength I possess."
I turned my head and met Princess Sila's eyes.
"You and your knights. Clara. Jake. Johanna. Kan. And your people."
They had looked happy. And they had carried pride.
"In a reality this grim, how many are there who can hold their heads high in a small place called the Sanctuary, and make the salvation of mankind their purpose?"
And how many were there who could embrace that purpose with their whole heart?
"This is a place that must be protected. I have decided it so. Trust me, and set your heart at ease."
"...Yes."
Her answer was short. But it was enough.
Were those eyes not already saying everything?