280 – The boy’s true feelings
The place the boy headed to with Eterna was a small lake in the forest.
“Wow…”
The goddess could not take her eyes off the scenery so beautiful that she was filled with admiration.
The boy spoke to her, feeling proud of her expected response.
“I really wanted to show you.”
Even though we have to say goodbye now, I hope she can cherish the memories of her meeting with herself.
So, I hope that one day, if fate guides us again, we can meet again.
The moonlight shone on the surface of the lake, casting a soft glow.
The two sat down lightly on the grass and began to absently admire the beauty of the lake.
Even though they didn’t say anything, the two shared their feelings for each other more clearly than ever before.
Then the boy cautiously opened his mouth.
“I know very little about you.”
“······.”
It has to be that way. Because I deliberately withheld as much information about myself from her as possible.
When the two talked, the boy always spoke and the goddess listened. The questions sometimes asked were all about the boy.
So the boy knew virtually nothing about her.
“Still, I know a few things. You have a habit of clasping your hands together when concentrating on a story. When I smile, a dimple appears on my left cheek. And when she’s surprised, she covers her mouth with her hand and lets out a cute exclamation.”
A boy who talked to her about trivial habits that she didn’t even know about.
Afterwards, she realized too late that she was covering her mouth, and she had no choice but to convince herself that what she said was all true.
“···This is probably the only information I am allowed to have. I’m satisfied with this too. But it is also true that I am greedy.”
The boy hesitated for a moment and then approached her, asking her a favor.
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“Could you at least tell me your name…? Please allow me to remember you for the rest of my life.”
Eterna, who almost answered without realizing it to her sorrowful eyes, managed to cover her mouth.
It was a wish that she could never come true.
She is the goddess of time. In her land, there were humans who served her. If you tell me her name, I will definitely find out her identity at some point.
The fact that God came down to earth should not be revealed. Therefore, the boy remembers her as a mysterious woman with a secret.
‘···I can’t help it.’
Repeating this with great effort, I tried to refuse her boy’s request.
But before that, the boy jumped up from his seat and she shouted animatedly.
“Why don’t we go on the lake? “There’s a ferry here!”
In response to her reaction as if she had already anticipated what kind of answer she would give, she could not bring herself to get the words out of her mouth and responded to her change of topic.
“Yes. Great.”
The man and woman boarded a ferry boat anchored on the lakeside.
There was a subtle silence inside the boat, holding the oar and slowly rowing toward the center.
The boy rowed her oar in silence, then looked at her and spoke in her calm tone.
“In the end, you didn’t tell me.”
“···I’m sorry.”
“No. Actually, I kind of guessed it. “I couldn’t have known from the first time I saw you that you were of a special status.”
I did not necessarily deny her guess.
Based on the atmosphere, it seemed like the boy, who understood the gap in social status, would relent on his own.
Even though that cold fact pierced Eterna’s heart painfully, she couldn’t deny that this was the best ending for both of them.
But the situation unfolded in a completely different direction than she had predicted.
“I am… I think you are special. A being greater than humans.”
“···Yes?”
“Fairy, dragon, devil, angel, or… God.”
At that moment, I was shocked, as if her heart had dropped.
Regardless of that, the boy continued his speech.
“Actually, there is no logical basis. Simple instinctive intuition… Maybe it’s just a stupid delusion. Nevertheless, my thoughts have not changed from the beginning until now. “In fact, the longer we were together, the more confident I became.”
Her heart was pounding wildly.
However, it was not a pleasant excitement like before, but closer to an urgent and dangerous tension.
“Am I right?”
I barely calmed her down and answered as calmly as I could.
“No. “I am an ordinary human being.”
“···I see so.”
The boy, who seemed to be lost in his thoughts with his head down for a moment, eventually took his hand off the oar.
“I’m sorry. I guess I’m just seriously stubborn. “To me, you still only look like a beautiful goddess.”
The boy stood up after saying that.
Eterna, feeling strangely anxious, stopped him.
“It’s dangerous. “I’m sitting down.”
“I believe that if you had special powers and if you liked me at all, you would save me from this cold lake.”
“What are you talking about! “If I were an ordinary person, I would just drown to death!”
“If this proves your innocence, that is enough.”
“···Even if I am a special being, then why are you so sure that I will save you, who is just a human being?”
The boy answered with a smile.
“I’m not sure. “It’s just better to die than to be ignored by you.”
With those words, the boy jumped out of the boat without any hesitation and fell into the lake.
There was only calm silence on the surface of the water, without any splashes.
The boy felt that he was falling endlessly downwards.
The water was so cold that I felt like I would freeze at any moment and fall asleep.
Continuing down toward the dark floor.
At last, when my blurry vision became completely dark.
Someone grabbed the boy’s hand and pulled him upward.
Just before the boy lost consciousness, he saw the figure of a goddess covered in pure white light reaching out to him.
Splash-!
Eterna, who rescued the boy and returned to the ferryboat, frowned and muttered to herself.
“Why… “To the very end…”
I believed that if I didn’t save him, he would eventually be convinced.
Jumping into the lake was just an act to test himself, and he waited until the end, believing that he would swim up on his own.
But the boy did not move at all and continued to sink. It was only when the last breath of life was about to escape from the boy’s mouth that Eterna finally unleashed the power of God and saved him.
The boy really wanted to die.
He thought that if he could not save him, it would be better for him to die.
Eterna cried while stroking the hair of the fallen boy.
“Why are you so stupid…?”
Our fate cannot come true anyway.
At some point, the moon began to slowly decline, but the Goddess of Time did not even notice the passage of time and focused all her attention on checking on the boy’s well-being.
And around that time.
Another goddess who was waiting for her younger brother to come out from the field outside the forest became increasingly anxious.
‘It’s too late…’
She was so close yesterday that I warned her once, but today, even as time runs out, she shows no sign of coming out.
But she waited patiently, believing that her brother would return.
‘Where on earth are you doing?’
As the world became brighter, the goddess’s heart became more anxious.
And in the end. The moon completely disappeared beneath the ridge and dawn began to rise.
Time is so short that even if you run to the door right now, you might be late.
The goddess, stamping her feet, eventually went into the forest to look for her younger brother.
Now I am worried. Wondering if something happened to her brother.
Of course, there was no way that the goddess would suffer harm on earth, but she was still worried about her older sister.
Also, the only time they can move freely in this land is at night.
After the moon sets and the sun rises, they cannot move around as freely as before.
“Eterna! Where are you!?”
The goddess, searching through the forest, finally found her younger brother.
The image of Eterna holding a boy on her boat in the middle of a lake shining with bright dawn.
“···Human?”
I couldn’t believe it.
To see with her own eyes the sight of her younger brother embracing a human like a very precious treasure.
The sun has already risen. It was no longer possible to go up to the sky right away.
The goddess’s eyes became increasingly grim as she realized her situation.
***
“Ugh…”
Her whole body felt like it was creaking in pain, and a groan escaped her.
As she came to her senses and forced herself to lift her heavy body, her memories slowly began to return.
Yes. I definitely saw her on her stomach…
Where is she?
The surrounding scenery was the same as the cabin in the forest, but strangely, it felt like an unfamiliar atmosphere.
It’s as awkward as an elaborately decorated theater stage.
More than anything, it was too dark. Even though the fire was burning, the darkness did not retreat.
Someone’s voice called to me from within the dark shadows.
“You seem quite immersed.”
I asked, completely cringing at those unknown words.
“···Who are you?”
“I am you. “An extra in the story, a romantic thief, a genius scientist who made it all up, an old man who waited for eternity, and a boy who dreamed of a love that could not come true.”
Finally, the shadow was lifted and the man hiding within it was revealed.
A young man wearing a black suit, top hat, and holding a cane with a crow-shaped handle.
“Call me Phantom Thief Raven now.”