NOVEL NEXT Vol.12, Ch.366 – Cooking and Merchantry With You
Cielle awoke to a sharp jolt in her body, flopping around before falling face-first back into the grass. Looking around, the army had disappeared. The battlefield was calm. Not a single sign of turmoil surrounded her.
She tried to get up, but strangely, there was something weighing her down. The feeling of fingers kneading into her back drove her into a panic.
“What are you doing to me?!”
She heard a chuckle from behind her, presumably from the person sitting on her butt to keep her still. It was the latest incarnation of the Architect, Claude Evers. Immediately, Cielle looked around for her weapon, but it was shining several meters away, out of her reach.
“Hold on. Take a breather, why don’t you? All the time in the world and still so stressed out apparently….”
Cielle felt pressure between her shoulder blades, and then, it trailed down to her lower back. For some reason, she felt unnerved by it. These gentle and firm caresses set off all sorts of alarms, even more intimidating than if he promised to stab her in the back.
“With all of those memories crowding around in your head, I guess you might have forgotten about this… but it seems like your body hasn’t…”
Cielle squirmed under his touch, wondering what the heck he was trying to pull with this compromising position. She had barely shaken off the fog from being thrown into memories of her past, the chance meeting she had with the owner of this body.
All of a sudden, things began to click. Claude had not been referring to ‘her’ memories, but those of the girl he knew, Eryn Faulkner. As she tried to recall those, another bolt of lightning traveled down the nerves in her back, making her squeak.
She felt mildly embarrassed about it, the fact that the unexpected feeling had set her off.
‘This body!!!’
Cielle’s eyes widened at the realization. Claude knew the owner’s body quite well, having lived with her for a time. Enough time to learn about each other’s weaknesses, ones that didn’t require fighting to exploit.
Another press of the finger sent a shiver up her back, making her arch it. A wave of euphoria clouded her vision, and for a moment, she nearly forgot where she was.
“It’s been a while since I did this to you, hasn’t it? Eryn never did like it when people got too close. She could never trust them, thinking that her defenses always had to be up. And here you are, putting up a tough front against me as well. The two of you are peas in a pod, don’t you think?”
Cielle wanted to fight back, to deny those statements, but everything she tried became muted by more waves of tingling and pleasure. They blew away the excuses and tailored responses she had built up all this time. Until all that was left was a single feeling – the desire to enjoy the moment without needing to worry about anything.
The back massage that Claude gave was not uncomfortable, far from it. Rather, she felt an incredible warmth that was too hot for her chilled soul that had given up hope on life. Slowly, the calculated mission that she carried began to thaw, unwinding the tight hold that she had placed on it to keep out her feelings.
It was only when she stopped fighting his touch that the surprise of his actions melted away into a puddle of companionship. It had been too long since she had felt the company of another, simply being there for her and not whoever she was imitating.
It felt intoxicating, like a drug that she would do anything to have more of.
Claude’s attention was solely on her, like what she wished for from the Architect.
That was why she was willing to be by his side, to do anything that he wished of her. The feeling of simply being wanted and not forgotten – in a sea of endless lives, those moments where she could grasp a sense of that navigated her through its vastness.
Claude began to slow down. Perhaps, his message had gotten across. And maybe, he could tell that she had given up and let him win. Either way, there was really no win or lose when it came to someone that outlived everything else.
“Good, you’ve finally become less tense. Maybe, now you’ll just listen to reason,” he said.
“Reason? What reason is there when it comes to our existences? I’ve killed you a thousand times, and here you are, giving me a backrub. Isn’t it past time for reason?”
“You say that but here I am, offering you a chance to talk it out. A chance to ‘be yourself’.”
Claude stopped his actions and stood up, letting Cielle turn around to face him. She shot him a strange look.
“Be myself? When the fate of this world and Leguardia is in the hands of your side or mine? What other way is there but to stop one or the other? To impress our beliefs and clash until one side prevails. That is how history gets decided.”
Claude brought his hand forward, a simple gesture to help Cielle up. He stood there, staring at her with hopeful eyes.
“Don’t say that. No matter what has happened in your life, not everything is bad. Even if you’ve lost them, don’t you recall moments that were fun in all your lives? Moments that you take for granted because they had come and gone. Moments that become bittersweet because they are fleeting. Take a moment and recall them.”
Claude hand reached forward and grasped hers, pulling her to her feet. And in that moment, a flicker of memories invaded her mind.
Glimpses of dishes held before her. The joyful face of Claude saying unintelligible things but with glee, nonetheless. The attention that he drew from her whenever he did something unexpected and spontaneous.
These were the feelings of Eryn Faulkner, memories that Cielle tried to push away and dissociate from when she had taken over her body. But really… she was just jealous.
Of the joy that this body felt when such simple things were before her.
They seemed pointless and devoid of meaning, but even still, the pounding of her heart grew faster. Warmth in her cheeks came from a rush of blood. These feelings that weren’t hers – she experienced them as well.
“After enduring for all these years… I know you are a fighter… well, I can be one too.” Claude looked into her eyes. A hand cupped her cheek and stroked it gently. “This is how I’ve decided to fight against you. To show you that there is never a lack of meaning in the things we do. In the things that happen to us.”
With his other hand, he grabbed Cielle’s hand and placed it over his heart.
“So, even though you have killed me a thousand times and want to do so again, I really wanted to say, ‘If given another life, I’m sure the Architect would have really liked just cooking and doing merchantry with you.”
“How-”
“I just know. I’m him after all.”
Tears rolled down Cielle’s cheeks. It took her a moment to even notice them. But when she did, she suddenly looked down and wiped her face with her sleeve. She stood here unmoving for several moments, but then, a chuckle rocked her body. Looking up, her expression looked livelier than it had ever been.
“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”
She leaned forward, right into Claude’s chest. She felt his arms wrap around her.
Finally, she understood it – why she was attracted to Eryn Faulkner. Why she hadn’t simply taken over her body once she recovered her memories. She wanted to wrap herself in Eryn’s desires, riding the wave of where it went. And slowly, she wrapped her arm around him as well.
“Well, a next life it is then. Pray that a change is all I need.”
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Just like how Eryn was, the person known as Cielle was very lonely. They had experienced a loneliness that made them kindred spirits, and that was probably why their souls became synced in the process.
But even in all the resets that happened, the knowledge that things would return to zero each cycle, I felt that none of it was a time wasted. There was joy in each one of them, even if sorrow clouded things in the end. And it was those moments of happiness that made the journey possible up until this point, even if we took them for granted.
I felt Cielle pull away, finally acknowledging that there was more to her existence than the final goal. The moments that she experienced let her enjoy what life had to offer, if only she would recognize it for what they were.
As she backed up, I saw that her body glowed white, but strangely, that glow seemed to be escaping from her body. I looked at her with a cocked head in wonder before she simply laughed it off.
“I guess that I’ve decided to cut myself free from him. From the Architect. If I don’t, then I’ll never be able to enjoy the next life.” She looked up to the sky, like she was offering a prayer. “I’ll let you be the wielder of this power. I don’t need it anymore. My path is no longer one by your side. Farewell, Claude. Farewell, Architect.”
Her body grew more transparent as the glow continued to escape her body, dissolving in the space around her. But before she completely disappeared, she turned back to me once again.
“I pray that your friends will also overcome as well. That they can make the others see that they can move on with their lives. I pray that you have guided them well, Claude Evers.”
I chucked at her statement, putting a fist to my chest in salute before waving farewell to her.
“I’m sure they’ll be just fine. They are tough people in their own right. I have no choice but to believe in them.”
With that, Eryn’s body dissolved back into Cielle’s original one. And after a few more moments, even that faded out of existence.
The battlefield became hazy, no longer stable as the person who called upon it was no longer there. She had moved on finally, her original goal incomplete but satisfied regardless. She had understood what I was trying to tell her.
One’s goals were never meant to be static. The journey itself determined how those would be fulfilled. That was the case even if the journey took one year or thousands.