“….Oh?”
Click, clack!
The gentle click of her heels echoed softly, each step breaking the eerie silence as her features emerged from the faint shadow cast by the towering tree above. From her soft brown hair to her matching eyes, she bore a striking resemblance to me.
However, if there was one different thing, it was the smile that hung on her lips.
It carried hints of surprise, and at the same time felt mocking.
“You recognize me?”
“…I’ve never been told about having a sister. Logic tells me you’re my mother.” “Hahaha.”
Covering her mouth, she laughed gently.
Her crips and melodious laugh quietly reverberated through the surroundings. It felt soothing to the ears, and yet, listening to the laugh, I felt the back of my scalp tingle.
‘Something about this woman doesn’t feel right.’
I knew nothing about her.
Leon never told me anything about her besides the fact that she was ‘dead’, however, she clearly wasn’t.
In that sense, there were only two possible scenarios that could explain the current situation.
One, that she wasn’t actually dead or two, this was an illusion.
‘I would like to think that this is an illusion, but…’
Looking around, staring at the gently rustling leaves, I licked my lips which had gone dry. ‘…This is no illusion.’
“Look at you.”
Something cool touched the bottom of my chin, lifting it up faintly.
My heart almost stopped beating then.
When did she…?!
“It’s been so long since I’ve last seen you. You’ve grown so much. You…”
She paused, bringing her face closer to mine while examining it carefully.
“…You look just like your father.”
Her deep brown eyes suddenly turned hollow at the mention of ‘my’ father. I could see her demenour shift for a brief second, briefly shifting into that of a new person. I could only stare at her from my position with my breath held.
Though I couldn’t quite tell how powerful she was, I could feel an invisible pressure enveloping every part of me.
“Not just his looks, but his demenour. You’re quite calm despite the situation that you’re in.” “…Is that so?”
I was indeed calm.
But not because I wasn’t scared or anything like that.
Swallowing my saliva, I forced a thin smile and looked around me.
“You’re hosting quite the party over here. Care to tell me what you’re planning?”
Staring blankly at me, ‘my’ mother suddenly smiled.
Her smile was wide, almost enchanting as she let go of my chin and moved back.
“So not only do you look like your father and your demenour is similar, but your cunning is not that much different.”
“What could you-“
“Do you think I don’t know what you’re trying to do?”
Looking directly at me, her deep brown eyes pierced right through me. I suddenly felt stuck, as several more vines appeared from out of nowhere, grasping my body and pulling it further into the tree.
Before I had any chance to react, she turned around and directly placed her hand against Leon’s chest.
nn
Bang-!
His body flung away rapidly, crashing towards the distance.
“Uekh!”
As a pained groan escaped his lips, Leon collapsed onto the ground and held himself up on all fours, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
Then, my mother looked at me, her smile carrying a hint of coldness that seeped right into my body.
“Do you think I can’t see through your tricks?”
“…..
My heart sank as I slowly turned to look at the struggling Leon.
“…..You should’ve been more subtle with your actions. Do you think I can’t tell who is under my control and who is not? Just because you’re pretending to be under my control doesn’t mean that I can’t tell the difference.”
Click, clack-
Slowly walking towards Leon’s direction, she bent over and lifted his head up gently.
“While your appearance wasn’t within my estimation, it made things easier for me. I never would’ve expected that you would’ve taken it upon yourself to break down the Northen walls directly, but you did a good job.”
She slapped Leon’s face a couple of times.
“It’s unfortunate that you stood out a little bit too much. In any case…”
Squelch Squelch~
With a sharp snap of her fingers, the ground trembled as roots slithered upward like serpents.
They writhed and coiled around Leon, their grip tightening as they locked his limbs. In a swift motion, the roots hoisted him into the air, suspending his body in a rigid ‘T’ shape.
The sound of creaking wood and strained flesh filled the air as Leon’s face twisted in pain.
“Ukh…!”
It was a sight that left my stomach churning, and shortly after, her attention turned towards
me.
“Son.”
She gently said, her voice filling my ears with a strange sense of allure that made my mind
grow sluggish.
“……It’s been a while since I last reunited with you. How about the two of us have a nice reunion? Since you’re part of my blood, I won’t use you as fertilizer for the tree. Instead, I’ll
let you see the scene that I want to build.”
The more she spoke the more I felt my mind blank.
Her voice was extremely soft, and my mind grew alarmed with each word that came out of her
mouth.
‘Something is wrong…’
I knew it.
My mind knew.
…And almost every part of me knew it.
And yet…
“Unfortunately, you will only be able to see the end product, but I’m sure you’ll come around once you see the end of it. You’ll see that I’m not crazy, and by then I’ll be able to make up for
all the neglect that I’ve caused you.”
I could do nothing about her voice.
The more she spoke, the deeper I sunk.
I wanted to seal my ears and stop her from invading my mind, but I knew it was futile. For an individual who could control so many monsters at once, there was no way that I could easily
escape her control.
Thankfully, my mind was strong.
Her words were soft, melodious, and pleasing to the ears, but my mind was strong enough to
see through the illusion of it all.
I clenched my teeth and resisted her control.
“Hmm.”
Of course, she quickly saw through my resistance as her brows furrowed. Her voice only grew
softer and more pleasing from that point.
Thump! Thump!
Like a powerful hammer, she tried to break through the resistance that I built in order to
avoid her control, but it wasn’t easy.
Thump-!
The more I tried to resist, the stronger her attacks became.
My mind quivered and I felt a massive headache coming. Even so, I knew I had to resist.
I couldn’t let her take control of my mind.
Especially since she still didn’t know I wasn’t her real son. The moment she took over, I was
almost certain she’d free the real one and seal me away.
Thump, thump-!
The hammering persisted and my face grew numb.
She was getting the better of me and my resistance was quickly waning. My entire body
started to feel weaker, and I felt the blood drain from my body.
Noticing the changes, a faint smile tugged at her lips.
“You’ve grown a lot. A lot more than I expected. It looks like Aldric wasn’t neglectful in his
parenting. It’s pleasing to see.”
She spoke as though she was on the verge of winning.
As though everything was under her control.
“Haha.”
But it wasn’t.
“Laughing?”
Lifting my head up to stare at her, my left eye twitched due to the pain.
Squelch!
A root suddenly manifested from behind me, tangling over my body and pulling me back.
“Hm?”
Squelch, squelch~
Several more roots appeared from behind me, clamping onto my body while pulling me deeper back. My mother’s expression changed as she mumbled, ‘What’s going on?’ with a
frown.
But it was useless.
Turning to look in Leon’s direction, I saw him glaring in my direction.
“….From the start, Leon was never meant to be a spy.”
How could he be a spy?
What would he even be able to do with his power?
He’d at most try to backstab her, but given her power, how would she fall for such a trick? I
also knew that there was no way for her to fall for such a trick.
Still, the more obvious it was, the more likely she’d let things go in order to see through the
scheme.
The only problem with her thinking was that I wanted her to act that way.
I had only one goal from the start.
Squelch! Squelch~!
…That goal was none other than getting Owl-Mighty close to its real body.
Because only then would Owl-Mighty be able to regain control of it.
For once the visions were able to help me. Knowing that a scenario like this was likely going to
happen, I understood that there was a high likelihood the situation was going to unfold like
this.
It was for that reason that I had explained the vision to Owl-Mighty.
From that point, even though I had lost connection with Owl-Mighty, I knew it would proceed
like the two of us discussed.
“What’s going on?”
Seeing the situation turning, I saw my mother’s face change. Her demenour was no longer
sweet, and her face started to contort.
I saw a different side to her.
A creepier and colder side that made my entire body shiver.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Stepping forward, she raised her hand in an attempt to stop me from moving back, but it was
too late.
Squelch~
The roots pulled me deeper back into the tree, and right as her hand was about to grasp my
body, my vision grew dark.
“Haa…!”
A sudden cool sensation washed over me, gripping every inch of my body. It was an intense, bone-chilling cold, and for a moment, it felt as though I was floating weightlessly in the vast emptiness of space.
…My mind cooled and I almost felt myself lose track of time in this weird state.
But the sensation was short-lived.
Rustle~ Rustle~
The color red soon devoured my vision, and my feet touched something hard.
By the time I regained my bearing, a massive tree loomed over me, directly staring down at
me.
Standing next to it was a small Owl.
I smiled at the sight and was just about to speak when Owl-Mighty’s voice echoed within my
ears, sounding a lot more hurried than I expected.
“Don’t look.”
“Uh?”
I stopped, blinking my eyes.
The coldness that I thought disappeared suddenly returned and roots started to climb from all
around me.
Before I even had the time to understand, Owl-Mighty spoke again.
“…You look, you die.”
It was then that I understood. Owl-Mighty…
Something had gone wrong during its integration back with its main body.
My heart squeezed.