Kincsem had died. Both metaphorically under the zone and from this pathetic loss, yet also literally. With her body laying lifeless on the track, clutching at the ground, her body in those last moments still wanting to continue, to go after Eclipse.
Yet a forty length lead stood between her and Eclipse. A seven second difference between the first and second place in a one kilometre sprint. Yet Eclipse simply watched at the fleeting life of Kincsem, her face indifferent and abstaining from showing any sense of emotion as she turned away. Poor fate had taken its course due.
The cold breeze flowing through the air, as the sombre melody of the trumpets sounded through the sky. Kincsem had fallen from grace, and had dropped from her throne. A title which she could not reclaim, as her soul drifted, departing from her ruined state.
The goddesses had betrayed her, stabbing her through the back. However, not everyone had betrayed her will. Her will to persist, to remain alive, as she woke up on a blank slate. In her original body, as Dezso clasped onto his surroundings.
He sat at a desk, seated in a chair that directed his vision to what had been laid on it. The scenery before him was currently devoid of colour, with only what remained being the accents of shades of grey in the direction of where he faced. As three individual tarot cards sitting on the table. Their backs turned, as all he could do was to turn them over, one by one.
A figure slowly walked into view, and he instantly understood who had called him to this place. It was the true version of Kincsem. His predecessor and the one who sat on a realm alike of the Gods. She had after all been the person that set this story and record up, the one who remained undefeated in fifty four races.
She began to glance down at the figure of Dezso, a figure of mortal flesh who had reincarnated into her own body, and the descendant who had once been her owner in another life. It had been more than three years since they had met, as she sat across from him at the table.
A low sigh came from this true variant of Kincsem. Was it a sigh of relief? Or a sigh of disappointment? That was what had conflicted him. Yet she simply crossed her arms and gazed upon his body. Her stare gazing beyond Dezso, and instead at who he was beyond the structure of his flesh, to his soul.
Whilst doing so, she flipped over one of the tarot cards before beginning to speak. Inscribed on it was Death, a figure who was clad in knights armour who sat atop a horse. Tarot cards inherently predicted a person's past, present and future.
"This is your past, Dezso. Just like myself, we both have experienced death and rebirth. Yet with it we have to let go of the understanding and sensation of what we were before. However, do not forget about the memories of these lifetimes. Embrace them. To remember about our past is to remember who we are at our core. You are still a human, though now in flesh that creates a different entity."
As Kincsem then took a sigh, the area around them still and unchanging in mood. "The world has forsaken you. Cursed you, and the Goddesses can no longer keep you safe even at the pleas of your ancestor. Thus, you should let go of the preconceived notions that assure you that the name we share will keep you from suffering from the loss caused from others. And I believe that the meeting with her has helped you understand."
"I am unable to save you once again if this were to occur once again. To save you from erasure from the world was too taxing on my body. Thus, this is the final chance we both have to survive, and we can not turn away from this." As she turned over the next card.
Shown to Dezso was the present. The Tower, and yet it had best illustrated his current state. His ego, destroyed. His pride, rid from the world, as he now became a frail figure of the past. A failure. One that could've become great, but one who was consumed. The person that died on the track that they should've claimed for themselves.
"This is who you are at the current moment, Dezso. Weak, pathetically so. Though I am to respect you since you are a descendant of the person who owned me in the original world you come from, I can not yet accept you as my other self. Ownership does not collude with respect, and I can not come to terms with respecting you as of now. We are simply two entities owning the same name, and the same body. However, we can't ever be the same person, especially not with who you are right now. Your mental and physical fortitude is not yet up to standard."
His grip tightened at the table from hearing her insults directed to him. It had been true that he was weak. He knew to himself that he was in this current state unworthy of holding this title, unworthy of even bearing her name. But what could one have done against one of the greatest Uma Musume that had stepped on this world?
As he then smacked the table, seething from within. "So what should I have done? What can I have done better to win against that monster? In one fell swoop I had lost with no way to rebel, so HOW can I have changed my fate from dying that way!" As he shivered in fear from the recollection of such a zone that was created. A zone that grazed upon other racers like grass that was cut down by the lawnmower.
Yet all Kincsem did was shake her head. Rejecting his rhetoric's in its entirety, because there was nothing he could've done to win, and she knew that. Kincsem didn't hate Dezso, but rather felt cold to everything surrounding herself due to having lived for much longer than him, and anyone in general. She had lost most of her emotions, dulled now over having been alive for centuries, made to explore the same places, made to commit to the same races.
But behind this frigid personality was one of hope. Hope that he'd be the one to break through on her behalf. Though she was strong, the world's will was omnipotent, and could only fight against Dezso via enlisting fighters on its behalf. Fighters that only fought to race by the standards of Uma Musume.
First she had displayed his past, and then his present. Finally, she'd present his future, who he was to become next. The future of the fool. He was but the sole chess piece she held. But she had to ensure that he wouldn't fall. An unknown path would be set before him, but he would create a future. A future that neither Kincsem, Dezso, or the world would know.
"...It seems as though my time is running thin. Dezso, understand that even if you are but a mere human at heart, you still are yet to be foretold as the next Kincsem. You are the torch bearer and the one that holds my name. I hope that you do not disgrace my name. I only have the strength to send you back to six hours prior to the race. The world can not enlist the forces of Eclipse once again, not yet."
As once again, the mindscape of this world was to depart, to disappear. The True Kincsem was to take slumber once again. To revert time was a power that was too taxing. Yet it was required. It was a risk she'd take. Else both of them were to disappear.