Shadows Beyond Reality (2)
“Hhhbgh!!?”
The jet-black tentacles—manifesting at whim only to dissolve back into intangibility, as though embodying the very caprice of a warped reality—invaded my mouth, my ears…, my brain.
Ehehe, Kaira… I love you, Kaira. I like you so, so much, Kaira. Kaira is mine. Forever, mine…….
Pirel’s heart, twisted by Viran’s magic, poured its grotesque obsession straight into my mind without filter.
“Mmmgh…, ugh, hhhbgh……, brgh…….”
I tried desperately to push away Pirel’s limp body, but her small frame refused to budge, as though nailed in place no matter how hard I strained.
No, I, don’t want this……. Like this……. So absurdly, losing, losing, myself…….
I gathered my will to resist, yet—
Kaira… I love you, Kaira……. Hold me, Kaira……. Kaira is mine, Kaira……. Let’s stay together, okay? Together, forever and ever…….
The voice flowing in from beyond this world rang endlessly inside my skull like a woodpecker hammering at a tree.
“Ugh, mmmgh……. Uu, hhhbgh…….”
My mind felt as though it were melting into porridge. A blind, obsessive love for Pirel, the desire to use her small body however I pleased.
But Pirel is……. my mother, and…, the one precious, last remaining……. family, I have…….
Yes. Family.
The most precious person left in this world…….
Wait a moment.
So,
holding Pirel tightly is…, only natural, isn’t it……?
Having my brain stolen by Pirel, my soul kneaded at her whim, wandering the world with her for eternity—
that,
is a good thing…, right……?
Why did I…, ever try to resist……?
I embraced Pirel tightly. The tentacle that had been violating my mouth drove its roots deeper into my throat, pulling our faces together.
The lips of the girl whose eyes had rolled back in ecstasy met my own, which were gradually mirroring her broken expression.
“Mmm…. Chuup……. Chup……. Mmmh……, hgggh……. Phaaah…….”
The tentacle of darkness that had connected our mouths vanished without a trace. Perhaps it had dispersed its form so we could breathe and speak again.
“Haa…, haa…….”
Panting heavily, I studied Pirel’s lovely face, still lost in pleasure. I…….
Kaira.
“Hgght?!”
The echo rang through my mind again. The sensation, close to a headache, made me grimace and groan.
Kaira, you’re a good girl, aren’t you? My daughter. My beloved Kaira. You don’t need your personality anymore.
Hhhe…, Pi, rel……?
Pirel was still wriggling tentacles from her mouth with that broken expression. It wasn’t Pirel’s own voice speaking…….
“Ugh!?”
The tentacle connected inside my ear squirmed.
Ah, with, this…, I, I’m, conveying, my, will…….
But why was Pirel…, speaking like this……? She could just, talk, normally…, couldn’t she……. Still, my head was foggy, and I didn’t want to think about complicated things…….
Originally, I planned to keep Kaira’s personality and intellect intact to make use of them, but that tenacious self that refuses to break no matter how much it’s shattered kept getting in the way. I even twisted your fate on purpose so you’d meet that priest who serves me, yet you endured to the very end. That slime called Rin keeps being a nuisance too.
At the strangely alluring whisper of ‘Pirel,’ I nodded along stupidly with my dulled thoughts.
Yes. Kaira, is……. in the way……. Rin, Rin too…, is a bad, child…….
So Mother has decided to break you, my beloved Kaira. It’ll be good for you too. You won’t have to think anymore. You’ll only have to do pleasant things.
A voice that seemed to tickle my entire body with pleasure. Had Mother’s voice always been like this? Something felt off, but it didn’t matter. I was happy just as I was now.
Yes, Mother……. Yes, I like it, ehehehe, Pirel, I like you……. Ah……. Hhhit.
Hearing my reply, the motherly voice in my thoughts laughed.
Since you agreed, no more talking, Kaira?
With my mouth hanging open and drool dripping, having lost even the capacity to anticipate what the mother burrowing through my brain would do next, I simply waited to be acted upon.
Or how about being called by this name instead. Customer Lee Seon-yeon?
Ah……?
A name I had long forgotten…, yet somehow familiar…….
An exotic…, name. Who…, was that……?
Wait…….
Clearly, back then…, when I died, in that place called the intermediary…….
With a jolt, my mind cleared. I forced my eyes wide and tried to clearly see Pirel, who was still violating my ears with tentacles. Pirel wouldn’t do this. Pirel would never seduce me with such honeyed words.
Something that had devoured Pirel’s soul and stolen enough memories to mimic her personality…….
“You……. Definitely, back then…….”
As if entranced, I opened my mouth and spoke.
“Miss Kaira? What do you mean? Who are you talking to right now?”
Viran’s voice, filled with suspicion and sounding terribly uneasy, came from behind, but I had no room to answer her question, overwhelmed by the sensation of confusion and terror crawling over my body like insects.
You’ve endured quite well for a mere pawn. Excessively so. Watching you endure has grown tedious, so I’ll melt your personality into porridge and swallow you whole.
Y, you…, aren’t, Mother…, Pirel…, are you……? No…, I, will endure…, yes, I will endure……!! No matter what I’ve suffered until now, I could always turn it back. I don’t know if you gave me this ability or what, but I……. won’t break……!
The vision of Pirel wavering in my mind sneered.
Is that so? Even after agreeing, even after smiling and saying you liked it with that broken expression, now you’re saying this? Ah, right—I was pretending to be the receptionist back then and couldn’t introduce myself properly, but I wonder if you’ll still feel like enduring after seeing this form.
Pirel’s figure melted into the darkness.
And what appeared there was…….
“A, ah……, aa……. A, ah……. Ah…….”
No, no……. Something like that…, that, that kind of…, thing……?
The one who sent me to this world……. The voice that had pretended to be an ordinary reaper, pretended to give an ordinary reincarnation gift—
that, that kind of…….
“Aaaa, a…, ugh, ah…….”
My body, held by the tentacles, trembled violently. I could no longer maintain coherent thought. Just glimpsing the shadow of that form scattered my will like sand.
I, I, I…….
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!”
I buried my face into the bedsheets. Still kneeling, I screamed toward Pirel’s knees as she stared blankly into empty space—a horrifying, gut-wrenching shriek closer to a roar, filled with the realization of an inescapable reality I could never have imagined.
Though the torn reality still squirmed and connected to my ears like tentacles, it did not stop my movements.
“A, aaa……. Ugh, ah……. Why, me……. to me……. Huh? Ah……. Ugh, uuuu……. What is that…, that, that…, what on earth is that, what is it……. What, what is…, that, that thing…….”
“Miss Kaira? Are you all right? What’s wrong?”
Losing sight of both Viran watching and the entity beyond dimensions that drove people to the brink of madness with nothing but its shadow, I burst into tears before Mother.
“Give it back…, my life…, my, old……. parents, give them, back……. Give them back, I said……. Why, me, why, why…, on earth, why……. Uuuuuh…….”
I’m scared…, I’m scared……. That, that kind of existence……. Never again, never again never again never again, I don’t want to imagine…, I don’t want to remember……. Why? On earth, why? Why me…, why did I have to be chosen by that, that kind of… ‘thing’? Why me? On earth, why…….
“Me? Why, me……?”
Thus, little by little,
Kaira,
before the crumbling reality, crying, laughing,
faded away.
Huh? W, wait……. No, I, don’t want this……. Don’t, don’t don’t don’t don’t don’t don’t, d, don’t come in,
Now, the interfering soul brought from Earth had melted away into mush and vanished,
Ma, in my head, ugh, uuht……. It hurts, it hurts……. I don’t want to, disappear, don’t want to……. How did I, even in that basement, endure, how did I, survive…, to come this far…….
Now, having devoured all of that, I,
ha…, have, arrived, though…. B, but……. Ah, no…, that, beyond…, Master? No, Master, there’s no way……. Don’t come in, don’t…, I, I’m, disappearing…….
It’s Kaira. Ah…, ah♡ Hehehehehehehehe
Ah…….
“Hhh…, uuuuuh…….”
As though frightened—or perhaps overjoyed—by the complete, irreversible, and total annihilation of her soul, personality, memories, and self, the adorable Kaira trembled one last time and wet herself pathetically. That was the end of the poor child’s final struggle.
Ah, I ended up speaking as though it were someone else’s story. When I am Kaira.
I freely unleashed the twisted principle beyond reality that dwelled within my body.
From my shoulders, my body, my chest, my genitals, from every place that had a hole and every place that did not, cracks in the warped world bloomed like spring flowers. The same tentacles erupted from every part of Pirel’s body that resonated with mine.
Beautiful…….
Not only our mother-and-daughter bodies, dyed in achromatic colors, but from every corner of the cabin, the shadows beneath the bed, the shade cast by Viran’s research table, the space behind the door where sunlight never reached—from all those places, squirming darkness materialized and tore reality apart.
Having devoured the useless Kaira and descended into this world, it was time to finish what had been left undone.