Reasons to Protect the Witch's Son

To give her even just a little bit of warmth, he held her. Giving away all the warmth beyond his shirt.

Please, just once, no, several more times. If only he could see her light green eyes gently turn toward him and her smile that bloomed like flower petals in the spring sunlight.

His fingertips trembled at the sound of her breath and heartbeat slowing. Even when he saw that night of slaughter in his hallucinations, and when he realized that the blood flowing through his body was more terrible than anything else, he had not hesitated, but now he was shaken by her, lost.

He wiped the tears from her cheeks with trembling hands. The tears flowing down her cold, pale cheeks were hot. Ash slowly lowered her to the ground and stood tall.

Hundreds of eyes like beams of light were directed at him. He met their stares and raised his sword. Then, one step at a time, he walked towards them. At that moment, the Specters rushed in all at once.

Kyaaaaaaa!

The monsters tried to cling to them, flashing blood-red eyes. Purple mana blazed from his cold sword. Ash directed his sword energy towards the monsters that surged in like a wave.

For a moment, the wave of monsters receded. Then another wave rushed in, then another, and another, over and over again.

This was the only way to wake her up. Unless they disappeared, there was no telling how much longer she would wander through her nightmare. Maybe she’d never wake up. He didn’t want to imagine that.

He stood by her side and faced the monster tide alone.

 

* * *

 

‘I will give you my heart.’

They were the same words she’d heard once before. Blood-soaked mud, burning flames, the city of death dyed red. In it, the woman who cut out her own heart was both smiling and crying, looking at Elaine.

She could no longer tell if this was a dream or reality. These were memories that made her crumble at the mere thought of them. The suffocating despair was so vivid, she couldn’t think of anything else.

Elaine shook her head frantically over the pool of blood. The woman held out her beating heart to her, just as she’d done that day in hell. Elaine begged and pleaded with the woman.

‘Please, please don’t do that. Please, I…’

‘If you have this, you can live.’

However, the words didn’t stop. The voice was so heartbreaking it’d brings tears to your eyes, but at the same time, the words were more cruel than anything else.

The woman moved her hands and the nightmare continued on. That moment felt like an eternity. And this time, just like the last time, all Elaine could do was watch.

A vividly revived nightmare covered her vision like blood. Bella, having lost her heart, collapsed like a doll whose strings had been cut. Her body lying in a pile of mud.

“Ahhh…”

Elaine was lost and sounded like an idiot. Her whole body was shaking, from her fingertips to her toes.

It was a sight she never wanted to see again. The sight of the person who was everything to her, bleeding and collapsing before her eyes. An unbearable pain tore through her.

Gasping for breath, she moved her shaky body toward the corpse and reached out a trembling hand.

Bella’s corpse, which had been lying still, raised its head. She twisted her neck in a bizarre way. Bloody tears were flowing from her eyes as she looked at Elaine. Her mouth moved as the corpse spoke.

‘You killed me.’

‘You took my heart, consumed my life and survived alone.’

Bella’s corpse stood up, red blood pouring from the hole in its chest.

‘Now, look here. An empty hole. This is the price I paid for your survival.’

Elaine shook her head frantically. No, that’s not what she’d wanted. She didn’t want her to die.

‘Really? Are you sure?’

‘Then why didn’t you come to save me?’

Bella shook her head. The bodies lying behind her rose to their feet. The bodies of Lloyd and Espel, walked out from between them, approaching her, shedding the same bloody tears.

The corpses spoke together.

‘Why didn’t you come to save us?’

‘You could have saved us. If you had come a little sooner, you could have stopped it.’

‘What were you doing while we were dying in pain?’

‘Where were you while we were bleeding and looking for you?’

“I, I…”

Bella laughed as Elaine stumbled backward, extending a bloody hand to her.

‘It’s because of you that we died.’

‘So now give me back my heart.’

The corpse, clinging to Elaine, screamed, and she slipped and fell on the blood. In an instant, the blood turned into a slimy swamp. Elaine was sucked right into it.

The feeling of being immersed in an endless nightmare. Bloody hands pulled her ankles down. Elaine did not resist them and closed her eyes helplessly. Suddenly, she thought that it wouldn’t matter if she never opened her eyes again.

She wondered if there was any point in living anymore, if she even deserveded to live, in a world where she had lost everyone she loved. Maybe, as they said, they would have lived if she had been there sooner. Whatever the reason, she hadn’t been there when the people she cared about needed her most.

‘If I give you my heart, will you be able to come back to life? If it were possible, I would be willing to do that…’

‘…In, Ella…’

Then, she heard a faint sound, like a thin ray of light. Someone was calling to her from above the murky surface of the swamp.

A familiar, nostalgic voice. It was a voice she knew she shouldn’t forget.

But it was hard to hear. Who was it? The moment she tried to focus on the voice, her ankles were pulled deeper into the darkness where not a single ray of light could enter. Like an endless hole.

Was there death at the bottom of this abyss? Will she be able to meet Bella when she got there?

But will Bella even want to see her? Wouldn’t they all blame her? She was the one who survived by becoming a parasite, taking away her eternity. She survived and couldn’t even keep the promise she’d made. Would she have the strength to look at her?

…Promise? What was it? Did she have a promise to keep still? Something to live for?

‘Is there really no reason to live?’

‘Yeah, there’s nothing. Because I lost everything. My life, the people who made up my world, everything. Bella, Espel, Lloyd… and…’

‘What happened to the other one? Did I lose them too?’

No, that’s not right. Not everything. There was still the one left who she hadn’t lost yet.

Who was that person?

The person that gave her life purpose. The person who makes it possible for her to never give up, even when she’s standing at the edge of despair. The one she must protect.

That person.

 

‘Him and my child… Please protect Ash.’

 

The moment she thought of that name, a voice broke through the surface once more, a voice she knew all too well. The sound grew louder and louder, until it became a clear.

“-Elaine!”

The voice echoed through the abyss, waking her. Her vision cleared and brightened, and the heavy swamp cracked open. The darkness all around her shattered. Light poured in through the shards. At the same time, what she saw beyond was…

One person she could never forget. Ash was watching her with a distraught face she’d never seen before. His purple eyes, filled with her own reflection, shook slightly.

“Elaine! Are you with me?”

The shattered darkness disappeared into the snowflakes and blew all around. Looking at the man in the hazy landscape, she had a distant thought.

‘Ah, how could I? How could I have forgotten you, even for a moment? With you here, how could I ever think of giving up this life?’

“Fine… It’s okay. I’m fine, sir.”

And then she came to a realization. The fact that he was the one who rescued her from her nightmare. That the man she always thought she had to protect had saved her this time.

Without realizing it, she reached out her hand and touched his cheek. His face was pale with an expression she had never seen before. He looked uneasy, anxious, and she didn’t want to make him look like that…

She was about to speak.

“Your Grace… Ah.”

He pulled her into a strong embrace. Elaine’s eyes widened a little, and she reflexively grabbed his shoulder in surprise.

“… Your Grace?”

But the arms wrapped tightly around her didn’t move an inch. If anything, he pulled her tighter, burying his forehead in her shoulder and muttering in a cracked voice.

“I…  How much of you…”

Relief was evident in his voice, as if ice was melting. Elain heard that and slowly blinked her eyelids. His trembling hands wrapped around her. Only then did she realize how much he cared about her.

The tension drained from her body.

The crushing embrace, as if he would never let go, didn’t hurt. On the contrary, his arms made her feel more secure than ever before…

She wanted to stay like this just a little longer. Putting aside all other thoughts for a moment, she leaned into his arms and quietly closed her eyes.