"There were two failure states... but the latter fails to even be anything," Anathasia said as she walked over and sat beside me, the couch sinking slightly under her weight.
"Mother was... quite unstable on her own."
My eyes widened for a moment.
This was the first time she'd ever spoken about her past in the Previous Era.
Her gaze fell on the two books on the table. She reached out and picked up the one with the blue cover, opening it casually before stopping at a page labeled Chapter Four.
"She started as something that realized she was being written... then wanted her author," she glanced briefly at Rhea, "to acknowledge her as more than just a character with a role."
"So she went rogue. Broke every story Rhea wrote just to get her attention..."
She flipped through a few pages.
"And when that didn't work... she started yearning for freedom. To the point where she saw existence itself as a cage."
Anathasia glanced at me, a faint, almost melancholic smile forming.
"So, as the acting Creator of the Previous Era she had overwritten from Rhea's original story... she dragged all of existence into non-distinction. Dragging even Rhea into it."
"Erasing every framework separating this from that..."
"And the Great Collapse happened."
She leaned back, letting out a breath before closing the book and tossing it lightly onto the table.
"I didn't like Absence, so I turned my back on her and... made distinctions possible again."
"Partly because I didn't like silence," she added, turning to me, her smile softening as she reached up and grabbed my cheek.
"And mostly because I messed up my chance back then."
"You're stretching my cheek too much... right after dropping something like that..."
A quiet laugh slipped from her as she pulled a bit harder, her smile turning mischievous.
"So? You're the one who told me to leave the past behind. I'm just doing what you keep telling me."
"...Just like that...?"
Both of us paused and turned toward Rhea.
Her eyes were wide.
"What do you mean?"
Rhea flinched slightly, then shook her head, a hand rising to her forehead as a quiet, almost disbelieving laugh escaped her.
"Just like that... as if it doesn't matter..."
Her fingers tightened in her hair for a moment before loosening again.
"No... you're right..."
She exhaled slowly.
"What matters is the present... and the future."
"The past may shape who you are... but your choices will decide what you become."
She lifted her gaze toward us. Then lowered her head again.
"It seems... even after stepping away from Authorship... I still misunderstood the connection between past, present, and future."
"I assumed the past could influence the future as much as the choices made in the present do..."
Rhea slowly raised her head, her eyes settling on the books on the table.
"Simply acknowledging the past is enough... but letting it define how you act in the present..."
She paused.
"...that is already a sign of being unable to move forward."
She met our gaze again, then stood up, dusting off her skirt with a small nod.
"Thank you, Anathasia. I believe I still need far more time to understand meaning... as well as you."
"Even if your nature is the complete antithesis of intelligibility itself."
"Kyle taught me that, you know?" Anathasia shrugged casually, leaning back before grabbing my arm.
"So thank him. He's the one who made me understand all that."
Rhea froze.
Her gaze shifted toward me.
I scooted slightly away on the couch, still meeting her eyes.
"You don't need to thank me..."
"So... the incarnation of the one who erased all distinctions... is also the one who understands them..."
She shook her head, disbelief flickering across her face.
"How... incredibly ironic..."
Anathasia and I exchanged a glance.
[Incarnation of the one that erased all distinctions...? What's she talking about?]
[The Stillness... I guess. It's the closest principle to the absence of all distinctions. So she's not entirely wrong...]
She nodded slightly, glancing back at Rhea.
[But the absence of all distinctions is something taken to its extreme... Stillness is closer to non-action. Or cessation...]
I stared at her flatly.
[And what the hell is "cessation" supposed to mean now...?]
"I think... I may need to reconsider my perspective..." Rhea finally said, slowly turning away.
"Aren't you going to eat first?" Anathasia called out. "That's why we brought you here in the first place. Wouldn't it be pointless if you don't even take a bite?"
Rhea stopped in her tracks.
Slowly, she turned back toward us.
Her expression was conflicted, her gaze avoiding ours as her fingers fidgeted slightly.
"Wouldn't that be... too much trouble-"
"I already finished cooking, so the least you could do is eat, right?" Anathasia cut in, her smile widening.
Rhea visibly shrank a little where she stood.
"...Understood..."
-
Somewhere Outside the Cosmology
Francesca stood frozen, staring at the shard displaying a live feed of the house.
Her hand hovered inches away from it before she stumbled back slightly.
"Authorship...?"
She looked down at her hands.
Her fingers moved slowly. Opening, closing, before her gaze snapped back to the feed.
"And that woman... she's the 'Author'...?"
Her knees weakened, forcing her to steady herself.
A quiet breath slipped from her lips as she swiped the shard away.
Silence.
She turned, staring at the space around her. The same place she had once pulled her older sister into.
"Authorship... and Dad's Stillness..."
She fell quiet.
Then, slowly, she opened her palm and a book materialized before her eyes. With
272 Days Until...
printed on its cover.
And the moment her eyes landed on it-
"Mom... and Dad...?"
...We're all... inside a book...?
She opened it quickly.
Pages flipped in a blur beneath her fingers until-
she stopped.
Chapter 23 - The One Beyond The Author
Her eyes scanned the page.
"'Marianne Auclait's influence fades as written by Anathasia,' I murmured as my pen glided across the pages of 272 Days Until... within The Archive..."
"...?"
Her breath hitched.
Her eyes widened-
and she snapped the book shut.
It dissolved from her hands almost instantly.
"That... was Mom...?" her voice wavered. "Back then...?"
Memories surged.
Fragments of her mother's words, images of Anathasia flickered through her mind like broken film.
Then-
she remembered.
The way Anathasia, her own mother had done it.
Calm.
Precise.
Clinical.
Like removing something that never should've been there.
"How...?" she stumbled back, falling into the tall grass behind her.
A soft breeze brushed against her skin-
but it did nothing to ease the cold creeping down her spine.
"She edited it... without hesitation..."
"Mom did..."
Silence.
Francesca shook her head sharply, her hands clutching at the grass.
"No..."
"She was just trying to protect Dad..."
Her voice faltered.
"She didn't... she didn't kill anyone..."
Francesca took a long, steady breath before letting it out slowly.
Her eyes stayed on the grass around her, eventually settling on a single blade that stood taller than the rest.
"It was a last option... Marianne wasn't operating like a normal person either..."
"Mom was just playing a different game..."
A pause.
"...yeah..."
Her words rang hollow.
But the look in her eyes didn't waver.
She held onto them anyway.
"It was... inevitable..."
A small nod.
"Necessary... yes..."
After a few more moments, Francesca pushed herself back to her feet.
Her gaze swept across the vast, endless meadow stretching before her.
"This Marianne person is still alive..."
A pause.
"That's all that matters... right...?"
-
Back at their house
Rhea stood by the porch, turning back toward us as she lowered her head slightly.
In her arms were a few containers filled with the food Anathasia had made earlier.
"Thank you for the food," she said, lifting her head again with a small smile.
Anathasia waved it off.
"It's nothing. You're probably still struggling to blend into society after staying outside everything for so long."
"And you never really had any talent for cooking either."
I stopped.
Then slowly turned to look at Rhea, whose eyes widened instantly before she looked away, avoiding us.
My hand moved before I could think.
THWACK!
-and landed a clean flick against her forehead.
"?! What was that for?"
"That was unnecessary." I stared at her blankly.
She clicked her tongue, rubbing her forehead before turning back to Rhea.
"My point still stands."
I dragged a hand down my face.
Rhea, on the other hand, simply nodded with a small chuckle as she turned away.
"Worry not. I will relearn such skills with time..."
She paused for a moment, then glanced back at us.
"Thank you..."
"...once again."