Chapter 77

“Ghh…Khh…” “Tee-hee-hee! Well, that’s not nice. She gave up her life to save you, you know? What a shame. What a pity. What a wreck. I can’t believe I get to see this!” Tell me, Lucia. How did you feel that day, looking down on poor old me? Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me. Please. Please. I want to hear it all from your mouth. “Ah-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!! Suffer!! Suffer through a hell of my making, far deeper than any I had to endure!! Cry until your eyes bleed!!” And then, once it’s over, you can finally die. Ah-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! The sun set. And rose. And set, and rose, and set. Soon it would be precisely three days since it had all begun. It was just before dawn. Snow fell from the clouded sky and blanketed the land. On the first day, the village was filled with fear, confusion, and hate. On the second day, it was only hate. And on the third day, there was nothing at all. Just white. White like the snow that started falling the previous day. White like the maggots, squirming, seeking their next meal. White like the bones, stripped of flesh, undying, while the villagers’ souls were trapped within. The only one who remained was Lucia, lying flat on her back, gazing up at the sky with empty, hollow eyes. She had been thoroughly tortured. Her arms and legs were missing, and her belly was sliced open. In the cavity were irons, pots, things she had no doubt expected to use in her future life. Her eyes were gouged out, nothing now but vacant pits, and her skin had lost so much blood it was hard to see where it stopped and the snow began. Only the ruptured flesh where the maggots had bitten through still retained its color, but by now, the falling snow had covered those holes as well. She was a living corpse, and it was only thanks to Master’s barrier that she could voice anything resembling speech at all. The power of Sloth prevented certain changes from occurring in the targets while it was in effect. Within this workshop, even Death’s scythe would not save these people from eternal torment. “I’m…sorry…I’m…sorry…,” she kept repeating in delirium. On rare occasions, she would lapse into screaming, and I would feel my heart flutter. “…I suppose it’s almost time to end this. It’s been so long, yet it still feels so short.” I thought of my bedridden mother on the verge of death, repeating the same apology over and over again. They were the same words, but some of these felt so much different. Lucia’s apologies were like thick logs on the dirty black flame of my heart. Each one exploded into a shower of crackling sparks, turning the color of the fire into a deep and calm blue. “…Sorry…I’m…sorry…I’m…” I had tasted much of the villagers’ hardship over the last three days. I had seen long-time family members and spouses forcing their pain on one another. I had seen them suffer in pain, choke in agony, weep in sorrow, and be claimed by despair. I had seen them turn against me, only to be trampled; bargain with me, only to be chopped up; and beg for mercy, only to be eaten up from the inside out. I had seen it all, and it washed over me like ocean waves. “But it still isn’t enough…” It isn’t enough. It isn’t enough! It isn’t anywhere near enough!! Aaaaaaaaaaagh! Why must I be so incompetent?! Why couldn’t I make them suffer more?! “…We’re out of time. And so I must etch this face into my memory. I will remember you until the day I die, and long afterward as well, Lucia. Wherever you end up, I pray it is a place of suffering. With my whole heart.” Far away, over distant trees, I heard the sky crack. Master’s barrier was beginning to collapse. There was no time. I had to finish things with a bang. “This life is hell with you in it, and I’m sure it will be hell without you as well. But as long as I have the memories of these past three days…I can go on living.” “Forgive…me… I…just…wanted…to…be…happy… I’m…sorry…” “I know. Everyone just wants to be happy. I did, and I’m sure my mother did, too. You know, Lucia, I’m also in love. I’m bound to him more tightly than I ever thought possible. And I think now I can see why you did what you did that day.” “Please…so much pain…why…why…?” “So please accept my heartfelt congratulations! I’m sorry you couldn’t be with Kril! But you’re such a beautiful, maggot-eaten bride! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” “““Skreeeeee!!””” At my command, the swarm of maggots all descended on Lucia at once. “No…no…help…help…I don’t want…to die… I was finally…ha…ppy…” I watched her face, racked with despair, until it became nothing but expressionless bone. That instant, the barrier fell, and a single ray of light shone down through a crack in the clouds. The falling snow glistened in the sun. The grubs, gorged on nutrients, fell still as they prepared to grow their wings. “Ahhh, I see. It’s just like Master and Shuria said. The crying.” Tears streamed endlessly down my face. Exposed to the warmth of the sun, the ice around my heart was melting. But it wasn’t over yet. “Okay, it’s time to go.” There were still people left. I had to return to Master and Shuria and end this. I wiped away the tears a few more times and set off walking, turning my back on the bleached-white village. The next day, a group of people arrived in Quiquitto Village for their friends’ wedding. They had been waylaid by monsters, and ended up taking the long way around, thus arriving spectacularly late. When they got there, however, they suspected for a moment they had misread the map. There was not a single living person anywhere to be found; just a bunch of ruined buildings and snow-covered skeletons, as if the place had lain undisturbed for hundreds of years. The only creatures living there were a swarm of white butterflies. It was by all rights a beautiful sight, but the invitees couldn’t help feeling deeply disturbed. Later, an investigation was launched into the sudden fall of Quiquitto Village, but no information was forthcoming. Given its out-of-the-way location and the eerie circumstances of its demise, very few people passed through the place, and soon it fell into obscurity. Even the hamlet’s original name was lost to history, and the few who knew of its existence called it only by the name penned in the journals of those unfortunate discoverers: “The Bleached Village.”