Chapter 2396: Determination

Chapter 2396: Chapter 2396: Determination

A brand-new scene appeared once more in the mist, and the black light in the image even threatened to dye the very edges of the white fog black.

This time it no longer showed the Little Mermaid’s actions step by step; instead the scene went straight to a patch of darkness, where the "Witch" Old Lady Sianod was hiding behind a table, speaking with the Little Mermaid, whose tail was flicking nonstop.

The flicking tail conveyed the Little Mermaid Princess’s unease and panic.

Old Lady Sianod’s features were those of a typically kindly old woman, yet now, wrapped in a black robe, hood drawn over her head, a black cauldron beside her boiling and constantly bubbling up green foam, she could not look like a good person no matter how one saw her.

The two of them seemed to be talking, bubbles constantly rising from their lips. But Shard, sitting by the campfire, could not hear their voices, so he said:

"The Little Mermaid Princess, having steeled herself, prayed to the omnipotent Witch for the Magic Potion that could give her legs; she wanted to walk into the Human World and see that Prince. Yet the Witch, grinning grimly, named her terms for the bargain—what I want is your sweet voice.

After only the slightest hesitation, the Mermaid longing for Sunshine agreed to this condition. Before the trade was completed, the Witch gave one final warning—if you fail to gain the Love you desire, this Magic Potion will make you turn into foam beneath the first ray of Sunshine at dawn."

In the image within the white fog, the grim Old Lady Sianod groped under the table and brought out a filthy green Potion. She and Miss Sander conversed for a while longer, and only then did the latter, with a resolute expression, take the Potion.

The "Witch," meanwhile, stretched a hand with long black fingernails toward her own throat.

The image froze once again, then shifted into the Little Mermaid, alone, swimming upward through the Ocean.

Shard, sitting alone by the campfire, continued:

"Having obtained the Magic Potion, the Little Mermaid Princess bid farewell to the sleeping parents and sisters in her dreams, then swam alone once more toward the surface. On a bright sunny morning she reached the shore, and after drinking the Magic Potion and suffering the agonizing Transformation, she shed her fish tail and gained a beautiful pair of legs."

In the image, Miss Sander stumbled out from among the reefs; she seemed quite unaccustomed to the Human form.

"She met a kind-hearted fishing family, and rode their cargo wagon to the Royal Capital of the Human Kingdom on the coast. The Human World dazzled her eyes; under the Sunshine, the World was so wonderfully new.

But in the Human Kingdom’s capital, she was stunned to hear the rumor that the Prince was about to wed the Princess of a neighboring Kingdom."

In the scene, Miss Sander followed Shard’s narration all the way from the seashore to the bustling Big City ringed by walls. She looked this way and that, and then, from a town crier surrounded by crowds, she heard this "bad news."

"She lived in the city and, on the third day, entered the Royal Palace with the Kingdom’s residents, joining in the celebration of the Prince and Princess’s wedding."

Miss Mister finally appeared. In the nighttime image, the bright Starry Sky held only a single full Silvermoon. Miss Nate, dressed in a tailcoat, held the hand of Miss Mister in her golden ball gown, and, to the sound of the people’s celebration, they walked across the sand along a red carpet, passing beneath an archway adorned with flowers.

It had to be admitted, once she shed that dancer’s costume and put on proper formal dress, Miss Mister looked even more beautiful.

In the image within the fog, Miss Sander in the crowd showed a "sad" expression, yet that expression was still so stiff; her soul remained a stone.

"At night, the newlywed Princess and Prince boarded a cruise ship with representatives of the citizens and sailed out upon the Ocean. The Little Mermaid Princess, who had also come aboard, heard a familiar Call in her dazed confusion.

Following that sound to the edge of the deck, she saw six heads poking up from beneath the surface. They were her sisters, the anxious Mermaid Princesses, who gave their pitiful little sister a blood-red Dagger."

In the scene, the cruise ship, made unnaturally bright by gas lamps, sailed across the sea. A banquet seemed to be taking place in the cabins, so on the darkened deck, only Miss Sander was present.

There were still no voices in the image, so when Miss Sander seized the blood-red Dagger borne up to her by the spray, Shard continued:

"’Our poor little sister,’ the six Princesses said together, ’we heard of your wretched plight, but we cannot allow you simply to die. We offered up our fairest scales to the Witch, and in return we received this Dagger. Drive it into the Prince’s breast; let his hot blood spray upon your legs, and you will become a free Mermaid once more and return to our side.’"

The six heads in the Dark Waters withdrew beneath the surface, leaving only the expressionless Miss Sander, staring at the Dagger in her hand, its blade soaked by the sea.

The story had reached its end, and Miss Sander’s soul still showed no sign of being touched.

"The ball aboard the ship lasted until dawn. Just before the first ray of Sunshine rose, the Little Mermaid Princess saw the Princess and Prince on deck, ready to watch the sunrise together."

On the great ship in the mist, Miss Sander stood together with Miss Nate and Miss Mister. Miss Mister wore a flower crown upon her head—the very one Old Lady Sianod had brought out from the Illusionary Realm—and this too was within Shard’s design.

He did not go on to speak the ending of the tale, but instead wanted to see whether everything in the image would proceed to evolve on its own.

But the three of them only stood together, and though the sky looked as if sunrise was imminent, the first ray of Sunshine still did not appear.

Shard could only begin to speak:

"The Little Mermaid Princess endured the pain in her heart to give her blessing to the Princess and Prince’s wedding, and so that beautiful Human Princess gave her own flower wreath to this innocent, carefree girl; the handsome Prince in turn offered an art-like stone heart to thank her for her blessing."

Miss Mister took off the wreath and placed it upon Miss Sander’s head; Miss Nate set that Heart of Stone brought out from the Illusionary Realm into her hands as well.

"After that, the Little Mermaid Princess did nothing more, but turned to bid them farewell. She went alone to the deserted stern of the ship; this stubborn girl always clung to her own ideas. She had already beheld the Sunshine she longed for, and even if she were to die at the break of dawn, she would not regret it. Just as, even if she ventured deep into a perilous desert to seek Treasure, she would never stop short of her goal."

Shard paused, listening to the sound of seagulls and waves drifting through the mist. He did not hear that blue?haired girl stirred by the tale, so he added another line:

"She threw the Dagger into the Ocean."

He paused again, and seeing on the image that Miss Sander was still staring blankly at the now?reddening clouds with no reaction, he went on:

"The wreath rests upon her head, the Heart of Stone lies in her hands. Her stubbornness will not lose to the Elves of the land, still less to the Humans of the land. The young Princess may not understand what Freedom is, what Love is, but since she has chosen to act thus, she will not regret nor hesitate. Until she reaches the End Point, she will not stop. The Sun is about to rise; the scorching Sunshine may be an End Point, yet it may also be Hope—she, in the end, must make her choice."

Shard let out a soft sigh:

"And so the Sun rose from beneath the horizon of the sea, and when the first ray of Sunshine fell upon Miss Sander, then, amid the cheers of the people on the bow, she alone turned into multicolored foam."

Sunshine passed through Miss Sander’s body, and she vanished in solitude, leaving only the wreath and the Heart of Stone lying amidst those bubbles that, facing the Sunshine, shimmered with seven-colored Glimmer.

Shard pressed his lips together as he watched that scene, but he was not about to give up so easily:

"Again, the story begins from the start. Let us go through it once more."

He did not hear Miss Mister’s voice, but the dense fog closed in around the image until only Shard remained, sitting alone beside the campfire.

Thus the story replayed; Shard once more narrated and watched from the side the tale of the Mermaid Princess.

Though the details differed somewhat, when the second telling also reached its end, when Miss Sander sat alone at the stern, looking toward the first ray of Sunshine about to emerge from behind the clouds, no matter how Shard paused, she still did not move.

In the end, within that first ray of Sunshine in the early morning, Miss Sander still turned into multicolored foam. The wreath and the Heart of Stone fell among the bubbles, and together they faced the newly risen Sun, glimmering faintly.

"Once more."

The loop continued. At the end of the third cycle, Miss Sander still remained motionless, and in the final outcome, the wreath, the Heart of Stone, and the multicolored foam still faced the rising Sunshine, sparkling with light.

The fourth telling, the fifth telling, the sixth telling... Even though this time the Tree Father had granted him a full hour, even though his previous actions had not consume too much Time, Time was, after all, slipping away.

Even the bored cat curled in Shard’s arms stuck out its head during this period to see what exactly Shard was doing, but after watching the story play out once, it lost interest.

Shard kept hoping that Miss Sander might, from the story of the Little Mermaid Princess, think of herself—think of how she had step by step finally come to this place, and of that same stubborn resolve.

Yet even though the wreath and the Heart of Stone, just as Shard had foreseen, kept resonating ceaselessly with those bubbles, Miss Sander never once lifted a hand, for the sake of her own Life, to stop that first ray of Sunshine from falling upon her.

Shard could feel that with each replay of the story, her expression was gradually becoming more natural, and the emotional shifts described within the tale were gradually becoming real. But even if stone gains warmth, in the end it still fails to fully turn back into living flesh.

When the thirteenth re?enactment of the story was nearing its end, the Time Shard had left in this Sand Sea was already almost exhausted.

He finished narrating the conclusion of the tale, then watched the first ray of Sunshine fall upon Miss Sander’s face. Thus the multicolored foam and the flower wreath and the stone once again fell together onto the deck, and the story once more returned to its original ending.

This time Shard did not ask to start from the beginning, but sat facing the campfire, frowning in thought. After a moment, he murmured to himself:

"To try to rely on Miss Sander’s stubbornness to stand against the already?manifested Fate and the Divine Power of the Ancient Gods—am I truly being somewhat proud?"