A young girl sat in a wicker chair, her body relaxed in a languished pose. Stacked neatly on a small display stand beside her was a pair of books, one damaged and worn by time, and the other in pristine condition. As if attracted by An Fei’s involuntary shout, the young girl raised an eyebrow and turned her head towards its direction, and a smile revealed itself.
The dazzling countenance of astonishing beauty was one that was engraved deep into An Fei’s memory, for she acutely remembered every detail regarding its natural charm, appearance, and fluctuations. Moreover, she knew the exact feeling of wearing the same countenance herself – only, the small smile aroused a fearful chill to stem from the base of her spine.
“Oh. This seems to be the first time we’ve met, is it not?”
The young girl’s lips parted to reveal an adorable set of teeth, and the voice was soothing and sweet to the ears. An Fei’s teeth inadvertently set as her forehead creased in confusion, unable to quickly comprehend the meaning of the young girl’s words.
First time meeting? The two books that were placed next to her body, wasn’t it wrestled directly from her grasp the last time they had encountered?
“…first time?”
An Fei’s uncontrollable whisper caused the young girl to blink in incomprehension, before erupting into a peal of vivacious laughter. The young girl lightly sighed in appreciation of An Fei’s astonished expression, and her words were laced with a gentle tone.
“This is indeed the first time we meet. However, you seem to have recognized something on my person… is it these two books? There truly isn’t anything else that is so distinct and worthy of attention…”
The young girl circled the cover of the <Eternal Sanctum> and the tattered leather book with her index finger, and pursed her lips in question. Upon receiving An Fei’s muted nod, she crossed her legs and leaned into the back of the wicker chair, releasing a slight groan of comfort, or reminiscence.
“Perhaps these books were once in your possession, henceforth you recognized them? Oh, but its last owner was an interesting one,” the young girl exhaled with closed eyes.
“She was particularly weak, unable to command any Authority, nor did she excel in physical combat. Hence, to compete amongst the others, she employed the use of language to cause the listeners to tear themselves apart and succumb to the effects of the <Jolt> applied to ourselves…”
[I am you, but you are not me]. An interesting little trite, is it not?
The concluding remarks were not verbally expressed, but An Fei felt her soul resound with the words in enlightened clarity.
At the words that had caused her much conflict and confusion back then, she felt a scorching warmth of anger arise from the depths of her heart. Her fingers curled as they clenched the nearest objects they could discern, clamping down with astonishing strength.
The young girl languished in the wicker chair, continued murmuring to herself with a pleased countenance.
“[I am you, but you are not me]. What could that mean? A little ambiguous, but allows for intentional moments of clarity and introspection – causing others to trigger their fragmentary Constructs to collapse from within.”
“How can she be me, but I be not her? As long as you don’t rationalize anything, but instead attack it through brute force – it’s rather a weak argument, is it not?” the young girl released a tittering laugh.
“We share the same appearance, physique, and bodily characteristics. However, that’s the extent of our similarities, is it not? A mere fragment of a soul does not mean that all of the completed whole’s characteristics, particulars, and conclusions are reflected equally. A leaf does not represent the entirety of the roots. There’s no need to search for any other simple difference to cripple its effectiveness – what, don’t tell me you actually fell for it?”
The young girl’s monologue came to an abrupt halt and she stared at An Fei, an inquiring and shocked expression displayed on her countenance. Faced with such blatant mockery towards her intelligence and capabilities, An Fei felt a rush of heat bloom towards her cheeks and fought to keep her composure. The disguise formula forced her complexion to remain relatively unchanged, but the small twitch of her lips threatened to betray.
The young girl wouldn’t relinquish such a small detail from her grasp, and her lips drew into a brilliant curve. Tilting her head to the right, she stared deep into An Fei’s scarlet irises, a mocking curiosity crawling its way forth.
“To fall for such a weak girl’s attempts at survival, you… really don’t amount for much, do you?” the young girl sighed in disappointment.
“Smaller fragments can only rely on elegant sophistry and wordplay to fight for survival. They can’t even spare the tiniest amount of Authority to combat another’s existence given the perilous state they are perpetually forced into, so how could you fall prey to such a weak attempt that wasn’t even intended to serve much save for a minute attempt of attaining face?”
The young girl clucked her tongue and directed her gaze elsewhere, ignoring An Fei’s outrage and indignation. She glanced towards the two books at her side, and couldn’t help but release a heartfelt breath.
“A diary, and a biography. You had such treasure troves right at your fingertips, and an ant casually stomped on your head… tsk.”
“So what?” An Fei scowled, tightening her grip on the qama.
“You called me here, all to issue humiliation after humiliation?”
An Fei glanced around as she tugged at her bottom lip. The sea of people surrounding her and the young girl continued its unceasing movements, albeit at a much slower pace due to the former’s intervention. Surrounding both was a wreath of black cracks and shadowed webs that tore apart the ground, the sky, and the world, causing the civilians to completely ignore either’s existence.
“Humiliate?” the young girl paused, and displayed a rueful smile.
“My original intention was to devour, for you were the only one to repeatedly step into the trap I had painstakingly prepared. I was of the thought that you were skilled to constantly elude its destructive effects, but it turns out that not even the mechanism thought highly of the fragment in your possession…”
An Fei released a cold snort, and raised the qama’s tip level with the young girl’s lazy gaze. She knew with absolute clarity that the young girl sitting in an emboldened, almost slovenly posture on the wicker chair was taunting her with every word that left her lips, slashing at her with whips of humiliation and scorn. And yet, instead of vigorous and indignant anger coursing through her veins, An Fei felt a deep sense of unease and fear chilling her heart from the inside.
The greatest humiliation was not the scathing course of bitter words that sought to demean her existence to its fundamentals, but rather the fact that the young girl before her held a position of absolute superiority whilst appearing completely defenseless.
An Fei’s mind stung at the memory of her being tossed around by a similar young girl who shared her appearance. If even the entity that had made her so miserable and helpless had been carelessly devoured by the young girl sitting before her, what was she supposed to do then?
“Enough, you’re not being fun at all. Such a silent and helpless little girl, you don’t even look appealing anymo –“
The instant the young girl averted her gaze and peered towards the books carelessly resting against her abdomen, An Fei struck. With a nimble but powerful lunge, she drove the qama’s vicious and lethal point towards the unguarded young girl’s exposed chest. Her opened palm flickered with an eerie pale light tinged with a flicker of cyan and scarlet flush rested near her heart, prepared to deliver a crippling strike.
Though the impulse to strike remained coursing through her veins, An Fei’s lips trembled with a pervasive fear.
She stared aghast at her palms and body that seemed to have frozen in space, and the sensation of utter helplessness flooded her senses with an astonishing intensity. Her scarlet irises flickered uncontrollably as the young girl hummed with discontent, and broke her apparent daydream.
“At the end, you were also one of those who could only struggle with the physical…” she sighed with disappointment.
“You couldn’t even inspect your surroundings and notice the veil. That’s it – there’s no point trying to devour you, you’ll die even before becoming ripe to eat…”
The young girl grumbled to herself and shook her head with puffed cheeks. An Fei witnessed a pale hand swiping through the air, and her surroundings warped to reveal a sudden shift in her environment. The still image of the people in motions of walking towards their homes was replaced with an empty street, and the crisp taste of the air that once reveled of vitality reeked of a permeating humidity that sought to corrupt to the bone.
When An Fei raised her gaze towards the sky, she found it to be pitch black with not a single flickering star in sight. Instead, she was greeted with a tempestuous hailstorm of lethal droplets cast from the high heavens, filled with a malicious intent and evil seeking her ruin. Her hands scoured her body in a moment of desperation, but could not discover a single patch that was not soaked to the core with the foul rain.
“Uncle’s punishments are always so brutal…”
The faint whisper of the young girl was fleeting and tantalizing to the ear, but fatal to the heart. From the corner of her eye, An Fei witnessed the figure of a young girl fade into the surroundings liken to a wisp of smoke, and promptly fell into unconsciousness.
