“Depending on the steel being used, the shape of the future given to it can lead to an even greater future,” the Mermaid said, accepting the offer from Sian.
A newcomer receiving a personal request from the King Major was unheard of. A crowd formed in the Throne Room to catch a glimpse of this swordsmith. In the presence of many watching eyes, the Mermaid faced King Rawhide, rose to the stage at his invitation and touched the God Tree with their own hands.
As the Mermaid stood there firmly, a shudder ran through them. And then…
The Mermaid’s expression turned to one of surprise, and a strange whisper left their lips.
“You too… You’re waiting, too.”
At that moment, the Mermaid had felt the God contained within the sword tree.
“Waiting…for the Reason.”
The king’s two faces widened their eyes in disbelief, and this unusual sight made every hair on Sian’s body stand on end. No one in the audience noticed anything out of the ordinary.
The ceremony continued without a hitch, and the king’s two faces announced that the Mermaid was inducted into the castle as a swordsmith. Sian, however, shuddered as he saw the Mermaid standing there. It was a reaction that came from the fact that, in a way, God feared them. Sian could never grasp the essence of the God residing in the sword tree, but this Mermaid had instantly been able to intuit it.
Sian didn’t know why, but it made Sian feel like he should take the Mermaid and flee the castle as quickly as possible. He felt like if he didn’t… What would happen? He didn’t even know, but he definitely felt a sort of terror at the thought. But since Sian couldn’t escape the Thema of the castle, he couldn’t possibly flee. There was no way to escape this country’s God.
Through sensing this danger, Sian came to understand the form taken by God’s will to control. God expressed that it wished to keep the Mermaid in the castle by making her the Queen Minor.
It was the form of total domination.
“Dranvi was a woman who appeared and gave form to the idea of Paradise Shift,” Sian said. “But it was all too quick, too soon. The world was still gripped by the dreams of the present, far too infantile to accept the possibility of awakening to the future. No one understood her true techniques or sympathized with her desires.”
He smirked, looking down on Adonis who lay face up on the floor.
“And you are a blessed child enchanted by that devil.”
And with that, Sian left.
It was the first day Adonis had failed to shatter even a single sword wielded by Sian. Biting his lip, Adonis got up with Rusty Nail in hand. He ate as always, took a bath, and got into bed, hugging his sword. The blade still hadn’t revealed its spell to Adonis. He could tell there was something written there but couldn’t clearly read what it was. The sword wasn’t yet his.
Suddenly, he felt a warm sensation beneath his body.
“That sword will not become a part of you so long as you reject it,” Dranvi whispered, appearing before him again.
“I’m afraid,” Adonis whispered back, his eyes on the sword. Dranvi’s hands gently brushed his hair. “I’m afraid of accepting it. Afraid I might lose it after letting it in. Afraid of the emotions that would torment me when I do. I’m always a victim to my own feelings.”
At some point, Adonis’s manner of speech around Dranvi had become frank and carefree. When he realized that, he felt incredibly frustrated. But even so, Adonis couldn’t find it in himself to move off her lap.
Changing topics, Adonis smirked sarcastically and raised his eyes to look at Dranvi.
“I never knew my mom. Are you trying to play the part of a caring mother toward me?”
Dranvi smiled wordlessly, a gesture that neither confirmed nor denied his question but invited Adonis to interpret it however he pleased. In other words, her goals were set higher, and she would take any means to make them happen. Dranvi wouldn’t hesitate to put on a motherly act for Adonis if it meant achieving her goals faster. That was what her smile communicated.
Adonis could tell he was being taken in by her smile. The thought that he was falling for her act crossed his mind, but it hardly seemed to concern him.
“I want to hear it… The rest of your story.”
“Men always try to learn from the past,” she said teasingly. “I was always one to anticipate the future but not pursue it…”
The Mermaid hugged Gibson. The man they had met on the road to Park, lived with ever since, and whom they both had hoped would be the one to help them awaken their femininity.
“I hope you find happiness,” Gibson muttered in good-bye.
Their words were brief and contained little emotion, with neither expressing the full range of their feelings toward each other. Hoping to part while they were both still smiling, the Mermaid on the cusp of femininity turned their back on the man and left, so the future could bloom.
Turning around once, they found Gibson standing there all alone and waved.
“Are you sure?” Sian asked, standing at the Mermaid’s side.
They couldn’t stop their tears, but they nodded. “I always knew the day would come when I would have to betray either the person I love the most or the feelings I cherish the most.”
After leaving Lower East Town, they turned around once again. The landscape of the city the Mermaid had lived in for so long stretched out beneath them, expanding out into the same Yellow Brick Road they’d once arrived on.
Sian gently embraced them from behind. Their body was swinging between masculine and feminine, slowly beginning to take on a more womanly form. They peered into the future by giving shape to steel, yet this was the one moment the Mermaid always thought back on.
“Take me away from here. To where I will give shape to the future.”
They felt Sian nod against their ear. Yet even the Enola hadn’t realized the truth of what the Mermaid was gazing at.
Heresy.