How would one define birth ?
If an existence that was like a machine , that fulfilled a precise goal mechanically and terminated itself the same way after said goal was completed, suddenly achieved sentience and became a being with its own thoughts and ego, what would that being do ? Would that qualify as the birth of an individual ?
If that question were to be posed randomly to someone walking on the street, they would probably answer that such a thing was impossible. And even if they were pushed to give another answer anyway, they surely would declare they didn't know.
After all, was such a event ever noticed, felt, or recorded by someone ?
Certainly not. Even if it was, the experience would likely be beyond what random people could understand, even written down. So ,the answer wouldn't change much. It was to remain a question without an answer.
...
...
...
Or at least, it was supposed to be that way.
The answer came. In a shape most unexpected.
...
50000 years ago, the end of the Previous Era Civilization
The Final Herrscher laid HER massive body on the moon, its mission complete. It had destroyed this Era, which was another failure. HER mission had been slightly delayed due to the remaining humans of that Era fighting against HER on the moon, but nothing problematic, for they only stalled HER for half a day. However, SHE couldn't reset the cycle, due to the Herrscher of Origin's actions. As such, there was one single action left for HER to do now. SHE activated HER self-termination, and began to cut HER connection to the Cocoon.
Just like any Final Herrscher before HER, SHE mechanically started HER end.
...
...
...?
...And yet ,why ? Why did SHE suddenly want to have a look at the Earth ? There was no longer anything to see there. The Cocoon hadn't ordered that, and there was no point to any further action, to HER vanishing existence, now that what SHE had been created for was accomplished. The surface was ruined, she made sure of it.
Even with all of that, for a misterious reason, SHE chose to take a last look at Earth anyway. The ruined world where no life could be seen, or could even thrive in that state. The failed world. Nothing more. This failure had been terminated as it-
HER dimming body twitched.
It happened suddenly. SHE got visions : memories of that Era recorded inside the Cocoon.
Of Humanity.
Of the Beginning. Of the End.
Of Everything.
And for the very first time, she thought : 'Aah, how...
Something trickled down HER cheeks. SHE picked it up with her now-purple right arm's finger. It was a tear. It parted from HER hand, and instead of falling on the moon ground, it flew towards Earth.
'How...
She weakly extended HER arm towards it. Infortunately, the arm soon fell. Indeed, HER entire body was purple already, without any sign of HER previous vivid colors ,of vitality...of life.
'...beautiful.'
And thus, that is how the Final Herrscher's last moments happened.
Or should have happened. It would appear that such an ending didn't seem to sit well with a certain pink Herrscher.
"I know, right ? Now come here ! Let me show you many more beautiful things~!"
Her fading consciousness was suddenly pulled into a beautiful space with two seas: one of stars above her, and one of water below her. Quite fitting for the resident of this place.
The Final Herrscher turned her head towards the only other being present.
"...You are Origin." she stated. She was dumbfounded by the realization that she could talk.
"Not wrong, but not correct either ! Retry~!" Elysia joyfully declared.
"...You are pink ?" retried the girl. Was that the right answer ? ...Probably not, judging by the look she was given.
Elysia watched her, taken by surprise by the answer, before bursting out laughing, amused by her bluntness. "Alright, you pass." she managed to say, holding her sides.
...
She was overwhelmed and fell silent.
Her first discussion, Her talking. Feeling her own thoughts. Having a sense of self. The person before her and her energetic behaviour. All of these new experiences overwhelmed the girl. She froze up, unable to deal with it.
Noticing this shift in her behaviour, Elicia stopped talking and walked closer to her. She took her hands into hers and uttered one sentence.
"My name is Elysia. Welcome, new and pure soul."
Just like that, the girl's emotions calmed down. Seeing the smile of the person in front of her reminded her of the particular emotion that she first felt moments ago.
"Beautiful." The recent experience linking up with the current one was probably the reason why that word escaped her lips.
Elysia's eyes widened in surprise. "You're welcome. Geez, I'm gonna blush if you keep doing that." she giggled.
The person in front of her looked nothing short of happy that she was here. But why ? Out of all Herrschers, SHE indeed ironically killled very few humans, but that was because the majority of them were already dead by the time SHE descended, killed by 12 Herrschers before HER. The ones that SHE killed were her friends, she knew that from the visions Elysia sent her earlier.
Realizing this ,she experienced other emotions. She suddenly felt...what was it ? Fear ? No, not really. Regret. Guilt.
She lowered her eyes and searched for what to say. "I'm sorry" she squeezed out. "For your friends. I'm sorry."
Elysia looked at the girl before her. She could feel the trembling of her hands. Any doubt that she previously had on the girl in front of her vanished. 'That's right, this child is...'
She embraced her. She didn't know what to make of it."...Elysia ?"
"There's nothing for you to apologize." Elysia declared. "That's because, you're no longer the End."
She widened her eyes, and felt something hot coming. "But I... Because of me, they..."
"Do you think that SHE would have apologized to me ,trembling like this ? All I see now is just a cute, poor human girl in front of me~." Keeping one arm on her back and putting one hand on her face, Elysia leaned back to look her in the eyes, smiling all the time. She was speecheless.
"And as a human girl, you absolutely need a name ! A beautiful name, to go well with you~ !" Elysia was visibly excited.
"A name...?" she muttered. Her reaction at the perspective of having a name surprised her : she very much looked forward to it.
"Yeah, I've just thought of the perfect one ~! From now on, you'll be named Fiana !" Shouted Elysia with her brightest smile yet.
...
...
A name.
She had a name.
"Fiana. I'm... Fiana." She slowly spelled her name, enjoying the sound of it. She began shaking.
"How is it ? Do you like it ?" asked Elysia.
"Yes...Y-Yes ,I really do. T-Thank you Elysia." Fiana thanked Elysia with a shaking voice.
"You're welcome, Fiana."
Maybe those words were the trigger. That or she simply reached her limit. Noticing the early signs, Elysia pulled Fiana back into her arms. The latter hugged her with all her strength, buried her head in Elysia's shoulder and...
...Fiana, for the first time in her life, cried.
Author's note:
It took time to figure out how I wanted this to be, but I'm satisfied with how the chapter went. Didn't want to mess up such an important one. And yes, Fiana = Kiana + Finality. I felt that this was an appropriate name for this peculiar girl.
Drop a like/comment if you liked the chapter, follow for more and thanks for reading. See you next time :).