That's how I met him.
Can't say I was glad to see a stranger in my home. But can't say I was so shocked by his appearance that I gasped and clutched my head either.
Rather in between, between the familiar and the impossible.
After all, no one had access to my abode. Or so I thought, or I didn't notice the hole dug by unfriendly moles.
Too many "or's," which means too little truth. In any case, I knew, he couldn't just come here. Probably should tell what happened next? After that very first meeting.
Much changed after it. The stranger, who called himself Avaley Le Fay, told me, no, rather even advised me to create mass life.
Though even without him I'd been thinking about it. Expand the boundaries, not settle for one creation. But it seemed to me I couldn't repeat the miracle. Create something so beautiful, so perfect, so close to me.
"And? What next? Is that really all? All the beauty of your narration?" her laughter sounded like wine long hidden in the cellar.
Exactly that long she held herself before losing the game of "Who Laughs First."
"You again, damn witch," a voice without joy, as if Monday lies ahead.
"I may be a witch, but you're cursed far worse, ih-khi-khah!"
Laughter.
The same hateful one, if there existed an award for the most irritating cackle, she'd receive it in the first minute.
All of this is deception.
Not the illusory kind. But the kind unpleasant to remember. Now it's clearer, this whole theater was created by the witch. Shards of memories, our shards.
But why? Wants me to cry? Funny. Doesn't seem like by her rules the crying survive. So the best way to understand a riddle is to ask the one who posed it.
"What's this whole circus for?" I asked.
"Circus? Do your memories really mean nothing more than a circus to you?" she smirked venomously.
"(What a bitch.) I'm not talking about the memories. I'm asking why you need them. If you wanted to get me emotional, congratulations, it worked. So what's next?"
"Ykh-khykh, you have such an unpleasant face... One look at you already makes me sick! But so be it, I'll tell the rules of my game."
Tsk. Here we go.
(Who has it easy right now?)
"The rules are simple. This is a game of endurance, whoever withstands against me, wins."
"And if not?" I interrupted her, as if trying to knock the pride from under her feet.
"Then even your already useless tears won't help you!"
So that's how it is. She was watching me all this time. Watching me wander in my own past. Watching memories stab into me again with sharp edges.
A good move. Too good to call it bad. But the point? Where's the point? "Endurance." A word that sounds like a sentence.
And suddenly she disappeared. Why? Did she get lonely? Want a date? No, impossible. Then maybe she decided to explain the rules of a new game? Also no.
Maybe death affected me like this. Since I can't answer even a simple question. Though... who said it's simple?
My memories remained. As if everything that just happened was merely a commercial break before the film.
After the conversation with the mysterious person, though... how mysterious was he? Giving your name immediately isn't very enigmatic. Rather, he was just getting used to a new image. Or I'm digging too deep into emptiness.
But his words stuck in me.
'The world cannot be colorful if there are no those who give it colors.'
A simple phrase.
A painful phrase.
A phrase that made me think about myself.
Too many phrases.
Who am I? What am I? Why did I appear? If I can create life... then who am I?
Creator.
It was then I understood, I am the one who gave birth. The one who became king of his creations. With one movement of my hand I created a world. A world that called itself boundless.
Boundless. A word with no end, only a beginning. But the world is empty if you don't endow it with colors, and I looked at her face, either surprised or proud. Proud of her father.
And I told her she wouldn't be alone.
A lie.
!?
Question.
Surprise.
Absurdity.
Cruelty.
Thoughts swirled into a point, digging straight into the brain.
"Didn't you consider me the most important? Didn't you say you'd never leave me alone? Tell me..."
Quiet crying. Tears cutting the heart.
"Father!"
...
Ai...
I wanted to embrace her, with all my strength, and never let go. Wipe the tears and say something warm.
But... I took a step and felt pain. Sharp, piercing every bone. I lowered my gaze, my stomach was pierced by a katana. A Japanese sword, but without a hilt.
Blood gushed from my mouth. I tried to inhale but choked on my own blood. Burning pain. Blood boiled, ready to incinerate the body.
"Eh-kheh-khe-kheh-kha-kha!"
Laughter. Long as the Great Wall of China.
"There it is! The most delicious part! The beginning of my magnificent game!"
Her face twisted, as if ready to crack.
Now it's clear.
Witch.
Game.
Memories.
Meaning.
All of this for one thing — to catch me and finish me off. And then present it as suicide.
Wonder how he's doing there? Wonder when all this will end.
Ai... forgive me.
The game has begun. The witch made the first move. Will Enua be able to withstand and respond?