Chapter 126: Unwanted Ending 5
This same dream...
Was it a memory or a fragment of my imagination?
The scene before me was indistinguishable from the murky realms of a dream.
The soft, ethereal light that enveloped everything made the figures seem more like wisps of smoke than tangible beings.
Among these apparitions was a blurry woman, her features obscured yet unmistakably familiar, lying on what appeared to be a deathbed.
Her voice, though faint, carried a note of tenderness as she spoke. "Their names... That's right, mommy should give you your names at least, right?"
Her words were filled with a bittersweet fondness.
"My little boy, you shall be called Ryan, and my lovely girl, from now on your name shall be Roxanne... Hehe~ now our names all start with R's. It's quite the lovely thought, isn't it, Riley?"
Even as she spoke, her image flickered like an old film reel, and the details of her face remained frustratingly out of reach.
I could barely make out the warmth in her voice, the love she expressed, but it was as though I was listening from a great distance, separated by a veil of fog.
"You know, Riley... Do you regret it?"
'Regret?'
The word seemed to hang in the air like an unanswered question. How could I come to regret something that has never happened to me?
The concept of regret was as alien to me as the woman's face.
"If only I had allowed you to pursue your goal... Would anything have changed? If only I wasn't so greedy, then maybe none of this would've happened?" Her voice trembled with a mix of sorrow and self-reproach.
No words came from my lips as her questions felt both profound and incomprehensible.
I was at a loss, unable to connect the fragments of her anguish to anything concrete in my own experience.
Her gaze seemed to pierce through me, but the reflection she saw was not me—at least not the me who was present now.
It was the Riley she once knew, the one who was perhaps a different person or a version of myself from a time that now felt distant and alien.
The original Riley, the one who might have been here, might have been able to provide some words of comfort or understanding.
The emotional weight of her questions pressed down on me, stirring up a storm of confusion and discomfort.
I felt as if I was merely a spectator in someone else's story, trying to grasp at fleeting glimpses of a past that was both mine and not mine.
"Riley... if you can turn back the clock... Please abandon me then."
The plea hung in the air, weighted with sorrow and an almost unbearable sense of finality.
Her eyes, dimmed by a pain that I couldn't fully grasp, looked at me with an imploring intensity.
But how could I turn back the clock? How could I even begin to understand what she was asking of me?
The enormity of the request felt insurmountable, a chasm of impossibility that I couldn't
cross.
Why does she look at me with such hurt?
Why does she wear her regret like a shroud?
If you're going to give me all your emotions, at least let me have Riley's memories!
Allow me to live his life, to see through his eyes, to understand the mistakes that were made.
Don't leave me with more unanswered questions. I need to know what went wrong, what choices led to this agony.
My frustration built with every fleeting scene in this disorienting haze. Each memory, like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces, only heightened my helplessness.
If you're showing me these fragments, why not let me speak, let me act, let me change the course of events?
Why present me with a narrative that I cannot influence?
Why show me the past if I cannot interact with it, if I cannot alter its trajectory?
'What's the point of showing me all this?'
.....
"What will we do now, Dad?"
Ryan's innocent question drew my attention back to the present.
He was still looking at the unconscious elf queen sprawled on the throne, his small face a mask of confusion and concern.
The situation was bizarre-Vanessa, the elf princess from the game, now looked strikingly different. In the game, she had deep green hair like the leaves of the World Tree, symbolizing her connection to nature.
Here, though, her platinum-colored hair and more mature features seemed to hint at a deeper complexity.
Her attire, a revealing white dress that clung to her form, made it even harder to focus on anything other than her current predicament.
Roxanne, ever practical, spoke up with a tone that brooked no argument. "Well since she's making things hard for us, why don't we just get what we came here for?"
Her suggestion was straightforward, but it left a sour taste in my mouth. I wasn't comfortable with leaving Vanessa like this.
"But... is it alright if we leave Aunt Vanessa in this state?" Ryan asked curiously his eyes finding concern for the passed-out queen.
Roxanne's response was blunt. "W-Who cares, right Dad? She's the one who attacked us
first!"
Her frustration was evident, and it mirrored my own conflicted feelings.
Vanessa's role in the game, her significance, and her current vulnerable state all mixed into a tangled web of uncertainty.
Then, as I glanced around, my eyes unintentionally lingered on Vanessa's attire.
Her white dress was cut in a way that seemed deliberately provocative, showcasing more of her form than was appropriate given the circumstances.
My eyes were drawn to it, but it wasn't intentional-it was a natural reaction to her outfit. "Dad..." Roxanne's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, her tone edged with irritation. "Hm?" I looked down, caught off guard by her sudden shift in focus.
"Stop looking at her chest!" she protested angrily, her small hands reaching out to grab me.
I was taken aback. I hadn't meant to make Roxanne feel uncomfortable or to draw attention to Vanessa's attire.
"I wasn't trying to," I began, but my words fell flat.
How could I explain to a child that my gaze had been involuntarily drawn to Vanessa's revealing dress? It wasn't something I wanted to get into with them.
Realizing that any further discussion would only complicate things, I decided to move us out
of the throne room. "Let's get going," I said, guiding Ryan and Roxanne towards the exit.
"Since Aunt Vanessa will probably wake up the moment we take it, we should hurry. Ryan, cast your celestial spell now!" I urged, urgency dripping from my voice.
"On it!" Ryan's response was immediate, and I could see him focusing intently as he began to chant the complex incantation for his spell.
I quickly grabbed hold of the twins, their small forms pressing against me as we prepared to make our escape.
The queen's guards, alerted by our presence, were already closing in on us, their footsteps echoing through the hallways.
The tension in the air was palpable, and I could feel the surge of mana from Ryan's spell
weaving through the space.
....
As Ryan's spell completed, the world around us seemed to warp and shift. The familiar throne room melted away, replaced by a new, strangely ethereal environment.
Before us floated an object that sent a chill down my spine-a large, glass-like sphere
suspended in mid-air.
The sphere's power was far beyond anything they could contain.
The entire world seemed to tremble under its influence, the fabric of reality itself bending
and warping in response to its dark energy.
I felt a crushing despair as I realized the scope of the impending doom.
The world was collapsing, unraveling under the weight of the sphere's power.
There was no escape, no way to alter the course of events.
The impending destruction was not just a possibility but a certainty, and I was trapped in the
midst of it, unable to intervene.
As the darkness enveloped the room and the ominous power of the sphere reached its peak, I
began to understand the full extent of the scenario I was witnessing.
This was not just a nightmare or a vision-it was one of the worst possible endings in the
game, a grim and original bad ending that had haunted the game's lore.
The interface flashed with unsettling messages:
[Note: You are under the presence of ?????????]
[Note: Level Gap is too high] [User stat has been forcibly removed]
[Note: Blessings shall be provided] [Note: Mission success!]
[You have freed your lord!] [Congratulations, you have leveled up!!!]
As these system messages appeared, the sphere's darkness coalesced into a monstrous form.
Emerging from the blob of shadows was a figure of profound malevolence.
She was a woman with jet-black hair and eyes devoid of any white-a living embodiment of
demonic essence.
The darkness around her seemed to pulsate with a sinister life of its own, tendrils of black
energy trailing behind her like a nightmarish cloak.
Her appearance was both mesmerizing and horrifying, a stark reminder of the world's most terrifying forces.
She regarded me with a cold, knowing smile.
Despite her demonic appearance, there was a strange sense of familiarity in her gaze.
As she approached, she knelt down and placed a hand on my head, her touch both chilling and
oddly comforting.
The contrast of her touch against the overwhelming darkness only heightened the surreal
nature of the situation.
"You have done well, Riley....." Her voice was eerily monotone, almost mechanical in its
delivery.
It was devoid of warmth, yet it carried a certain twisted satisfaction.
As she gently lifted me from my kneeling position, I felt a strange blend of relief and
trepidation. Her gaze then shifted to the twins, who were cowering behind me, their faces etched with fear and confusion. "Are these your seeds?" she asked, her tone laced with a cruel curiosity.
I could only nod in response, the weight of my helplessness and the gravity of the situation making it difficult to muster any words. The twins, once so full of hope and innocence, were now the objects of her scrutiny. "They have grown... that is good." Her words were cold, but there was an undertone of
satisfaction in her voice.
The way she spoke about the twins as if they were mere objects rather than living beings filled
me with a deep sense of dread.
The room, steeped in darkness, seemed to compress and expand with an almost sentient
malice.
The black-haired entity's voice cut through the suffocating gloom as she extended her hands
towards the twins, her eyes glowing with an eerie light. "Tell me, young babes... what is it that you wish?"
Her voice echoed with a chilling calmness, making her question sound almost playful amidst
the looming terror.
Despite the menacing setup and the palpable danger, the twins' faces began to show a
glimmer of hope.
Their trust in this twisted version of Riley, who had guided them here, seemed unwavering. It
was both heart-wrenching and unsettling to witness their fragile optimism.
The twins exchanged nervous glances, their small hands clutching each other.
They took a deep breath, their young voices trembling but resolute. "We wish to have our mommy back!"
The words, spoken with a mix of desperation and sincerity, seemed to reverberate through
the darkened space.
The entity's expression remained inscrutable as she raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
In an instant, the world was engulfed in absolute darkness.
The oppressive void swallowed everything, leaving no trace of the once-familiar
surroundings.
As the darkness thickened, a series of notifications flashed in my mind, starkly contrasting
with the chaos around me:
[Note: Bad End No.?????] [COMPLETED!]
[Note: Memory transfer complete]
[Note: Effects of skill [Forgotten Scenario] had now been nullified]
[Note: Energy of a Lost World has seeped within you]
[Note: Congratulations! New unique skill unlocked!]
[Note: Congratulations! New skill unlocked!]
[Note: Congratulations! New skill unlocked!]
[Epilogue: The Great Evil] (Broken) Completed!]
[User mental capacity Limit exceeded.] [Applying emergency measures!] [Proceeding user return] [Note: An Evil God's gaze has now lingered upon you]
[Special abilities] [Crazy Magnet] [Activated!]
[Affected Beings: 3/00]
[Note: An Evil God's blessing has been gifted.....]
[Do you wish to accept?]
[YES/NO]