At the night before the Ritual, the Witch Queen gazed at the window with sorrowful eyes.
"You seem different than usual, my queen. Are you worried of tomorrow's Ritual?" Worried, the Hive queen's Ghost Immaru asked.
"The Guardian got her, too. Which means I'm the next. Of course, tomorrow's Ritual could be…risky a bit, but we do not have a choice." Savathun sighed with a gloomy foreboding.
"But we won't let that happen. The Traveler chose us and it wants to come over here to avoid the Darkness!" Immaru shouted to her.
"You already know that the Guardians are very dangerous, formidable foes, my dear. They got Oryx before, and even the Witness got his eye on them for the new disciple."
As Immaru stayed silent, Savathun opened her mouth, breaking the silence.
"Just...even myself feel gloomy sometimes after I got everything."
"Then...what could I do for you at this moment, my queen?" The first ghost politely asked.
"Hmm...then, could you listen to my stories?"
Savathun told her story once again to her ghost, with more details this time: the feeling of slaughtering countless of lives to provide offering to the Worm Gods, neither pleasure nor despair, but of exhaustion and void – though it doesn't feel anything now after too many kills; how she had to check the moods of the Witness and his first disciple; how hard it felt to go through when her brother Oryx died for real but had to show fake calm look in front of them; and how much she desires to free herself from the grasp of the Darkness and this endless tiring reality...
"Yes, the Darkness, not the Light, chose us in the end. Although it was quite surprising that the Traveler gave us the Light – probably because it took my offer. In fact, sometimes...I question if even myself was tricked by the Darkness. It's true that I learned a lot from the Witness, however, I've been searching for solutions while avoiding his and his red long legs' eyes for a long time. At the same time, offering countless tributes to the Worm Gods and faking loyalty to the Darkness. Pretending not outward and holding onto the weight of the crown, it's not easy, you know that, too, right?"
Of course, it was him who ordered the Hive in strong tone.
"...You were lonely, too, my queen." As his answered, Savathun faintly smiled as she insists bitter fact.
"Of course I do…my siblings are all I have now."
"My queen, by the way...I haven't heard much of your story before the encounter with the Worm Gods." Immaru asked.
"Oh, you mean young Sathona?"
"Yes, your childhood story. Were you close to your sisters? How was your hometown, Fundament?"
"Yes we did, my dear. We were inseparable and cared each other with heart... You seem curious a lot about this. Thankfully I still remember them; I've been memorizing them myself not to let them go of the time."
The witch queen told the first ghost the story of Sathona and Fundament as much as she could remember: Giant green cloud ocean and chipped pieces of continents floating above – it was not an ideal environment to live, her race and kingdom on the continent, her father and a big palace, garden and library where she spent more time than in her room; the incident when she "studied plants" for too long outside without notice and her father was mad at her; when she got scold from her tutor by reading too many books without sleep – and from chef by sneaking in a kitchen at night and eating snacks with her sisters – and also her recommending, favourite snakes; when she had to blame her younger sister for eating her saved pudding, when she got blamed for finding a suspicious top-secret-looking notebook at the library, but turned out to be her older sister's secret diary; some plays the sisters enjoyed, and her favourite books and flowers...
"The three of us often played in the garden. Picking flowers, making flower neckless. Mine was the best of all, though." Savathun approached to a plant pot with a small flower and picked few stems from it. She then made a poor flower ring and hung it on her finger.
"...Now I even forgot how to make this." She chuckled, looking down at a poor flower ring.
"No, it's beautiful..." Immaru seeing this beside her blurted out.
"Oh, is that so? I thought you were uninterested in flowers and such. Seems like event the great Immaru has emotional side, I guess?" Savathun pulled a flower ring out of her finger and gently hung it on Immaru's shell.
"W-whoa- I didn't meant for this!" Immaru, feeling blushed and not knowing what to make of it, startled and backed out.
"Why? It's cute!" Savathun laughed hard to him. "It is the flower bestowed upon you by your Queen, would you refuse?"
"N-no..." Immaru confirmed in a faint voice.
"Haha! I'm just joking, it brings my old memory back. I will remove it if you don't want that." After a burst of laugh, Savathun approached to Immaru to remove a flower ring back, but he stepped back.
"Oh, you actually liked it, didn't ya?"
"No, it's not like that, but...it still means a lot as YOUR bestowment..."
Folding her arms with a child-like smile, Savathun just watched him blushed and enjoyed this moment.
"Ahem, A-anyway...my queen, do you feel much better now?"
"Very much... Thank you, you are all I've got."
"Anytime." Immaru bowed.
After that, however, there was nothing but a silence between the two; they knew they cannot change this impending reality.
"...Immaru, could you promise me one thing, then?" Savathun opened her mouth again, breaking silence.
"Your wish is my command, my queen."
Savathun embraced Immaru closely and said, "Tomorrow, if I lose against the Guardian in the end...if I die...do not resurrect me. Just run for your life."
"...!" His green eye was shaking. "B-but..."
"Please lead the Hive and this palace for me, alright? I leave that to you."
"My queen, why are you saying such thing as if you are surely going to die tomorrow?!" Immaru shouted in anger, but was settled down again as he saw the queen's frightened expression. "I-I'm sorry, but... No, I'd rather die with you in their hand."
Savathun was surprised once more with his answer but calmly explained again, "That's not a good move. I meant to revive me later when the right time comes."
"Yes, I know that, too, but still... Damn, if that's my queen's order, then I must follow it, I promise." Immaru promised reluctantly. "But...is that really like to happen tomorrow? No other Hive but the Queen yourself?"
"I am no exception. Even Oryx was gone like that." Savathun exhaled a deep sigh and mumbled with a faint smile. "Hah...who knows, maybe...if I wake up once again like that, I may get away from the Darkness and finally become free. I may even water my plants and take care of my garden as usual. No need to worry of others watching at me even I go outside as I want."
"..." Immaru wanted to ask her, "but then, what about the Hive's influence and command, and all of our hard accomplishments?" but remained silent not to excuse his queen again.
"Yes, I know what you mean, my dear... Apology if I made you uncomfortable. Let's end our day before the night is too late, we must prepare for tomorrow." Savathun showed her painful smile as she read his mind.
"...I'm fine, thank you for your kind words. Tomorrow we...we'll be fine."
"As you say, yes... Immaru, just one last thing I want to say, just in case, you know..."
"...Yes, my queen?"
"Thank you for choosing me."
In the next day, the Ritual failed in the end, and the Hive Queen was perished by the hand of the guardian. As her last order, Immaru managed to run away instead of resurrecting the queen.
The ghost left alone returned to the white palace. The view of Throne World without his queen, nor the Traveler at the green sky felt void. As her loyal subject, he now must hold the weight of crown she went through. But before that, he had something important to do first.
After returning to the queen's room, Immaru started to scan some plant pots she used to like one by one. Usually, he wasn't interested in such stuff, however, it felt quite different after he lost his queen.
After he finished scan for plant pots, Immaru lastly scanned a poor flower ring made by Savathun yesterday. Despite of being hung on his shell and was finally removed in the morning, the flower still had her faint trace. It happened last night, but felt like a long time ago.
'The Queen's body in front of the Guardian will be handed over to humankind and they will insult her in disrespectful way.' Nevertheless, they will reunite someday, and he promised himself to bring her back no matter what.
Immaru talked to himself, cherishing a faint trace of the Witch Queen on the flower ring to the very last.
"Let us reunite someday, my queen…"