Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 410: Chapter 410: I Am Ready

Chapter 410 – I am ready

{Missed me?} Tysche said with a big smile, a smile so dazzling that the sky of that Gate, which was made of golden clouds stuffed with golden coins, shone even brighter.

They turned gently, with rhythm, their movements making an endless sound of a coin turning, turning and turning.

Cassius, however, could not return the smile of the Goddess, neither could he even answer her question.

He stood there, in that divine place, and wondered if he was seeing things, or if this was truly the truth. He couldn’t help but hope for the latter, yet was afraid of its implications.

"This...this cannot be." He muttered, his heart pounding against his chest, looking at the face of Tysche as if seeing something alien and utterly unfathomable.

Never in his life did Cassius ever think that he would see this face again. Never, truly never, did he believe that a day would come when he would look again at the stunning white skin that looked like the creator had taken infinite time to make it dazzlingly spotless.

Or even at the golden hair that glowed so brightly he had the impression that it was made from divine gold melted and transformed into tendrils of hair so faint and perfect they looked like the fingers of goddesses.

Then he watched her eyes, blue and filled with warmth, and the way her lips were shaped, as if they were trying to mimic a heart — and they succeeded —, wet and glossy with something better left unnamed.

Cassius observed the woman in front of him and was supposed to find in that woman the Goddess he had been waiting for so long. The Lady Luck he had been jokingly praying to since the beginning of his reincarnation here, saying that he might be her favorite.

But no. What he saw, and could only see, was the face of his mother.

Not Sefira Hood Desdemona.

His mother from Earth. Angelina Cromwell.

"You..." he tried to speak, but found out that the words were stuck inside his throat, refusing to come out. But he forced them, using all his willpower to claw them out, "You are my...mother? No. How can it be? My mother is dead. My father is dead. Even my sister, is dead. All of them are, and they were at the same time."

Cassius’s mind was spinning, and the world around him was getting dizzy.

He was panicking.

"What is happening? Just what—!"

"Easy, Cassius." Tysche said, and in an instant she was in front of him, holding him tightly inside her arms before Cassius even became aware of it, "Take a breath, and calm yourself, darling. There is no need to panic. There is no need to be afraid."

Her voice was soothing, and oddly sounded like his mother, yet not exactly at the same time. And maybe that was exactly why it worked, his mind slowly calming down.

Cassius stayed in that position for an amount of time he couldn’t even begin to guess, trying to wrap his mind around what was going on.

Everything was so strange.

After a moment, sensing he had calmed down, Tysche broke the hug slowly, and stared at him with a small smile.

She didn’t say anything, and neither did Cassius. He watched her look at him, taking in everything of his face, as if she was trying to imprint his features into her memory.

Then she raised her hand, and put it on his cheek. He shivered. Cold. Her hand was like frost shaped into a hand, yet Cassius didn’t try to escape her grasp.

She caressed him gently, and the more she did, the more Cassius became used to how cold her hand was.

"I never thought I would see you this soon, Cassius." Tysche said, "You were supposed to meet me when you reach the Third rank and obtain your Soulblade. You have been hasty."

"I need to be hasty, when those who want to kill me are hasty themselves." Cassius replied.

"True. That’s why we should kill them all. And that’s why you should stop trying to justify yourself." The Goddess said, tapping Cassius’s cheek playfully. He winced. "Because the more you justify yourself, the more you are thinking about what you did, and the more you are burdened by it. And that, even though you claim to not want to take the burden."

"I don’t think it’s as easy as you make it sound."

"Because it’s not. But you know what you need to do, just do it. It’s not like you find delight in doing it, Cassius. You don’t. In fact, you feel bad going so far for your goals." Tysche whispered, then hugged him again, "You truly don’t have the heart of a villain. Maybe because you came from Earth, and that you were surrounded by people who loved you. Even when you lost your family, you always had people who took care of you."

Cassius nodded lightly, "Yes. I was never alone, despite losing so much back then. Every time I lost someone, another one came into my life, and helped me through it."

"That’s why you struggle to be who you need to be. You have been wounded, but your compassion has been protected by those who helped you through all of this." She said, hugging him tighter, "But just know that you can come to me when everything feels heavy. And every time you do, I will allow you to braid my hair to calm yourself."

"Huh?" Cassius exclaimed, breaking the hug.

Tysche looked at him with laughing eyes, before taking his arms, and teleported the two atop the golden coin that was constantly being flipped.

Underneath the golden coin was a large golden river, glistening under the sky paraded with golden clouds.

There, inside the river, golden swordfish, fish that were shaped like coins, golden pythons and even a strange golden snake could be seen swimming with harmony and ease, the sounds of splashing water just echoing beneath the one of spinning coins.

When the two appeared, all the beasts inside the golden river stopped. They lifted their heads towards them, and made a gesture that closely looked like a bow.

"Look at them." Tysche said, chuckling, "They are greeting you."

Cassius didn’t say anything.

The Goddess then sat in front of him, between his legs, giving her hair fully to him. The water of the golden river erupted skyward into hundreds of droplets, hovering in front of her.

In an instant, the Goddess began to sew the water droplets together with a golden needle, the sight divine and awe inspiring.

"What are you waiting for?" Tysche said as she sewed, "A goddess is giving you her hair. That’s not something you see every day, is it? Braid it."

Cassius hesitated for a moment before taking hold of her hair, sensing how soft and just perfect it was. He began to try to braid it, his juggling thoughts slowly coming down to a standstill the more he did.

This peaceful scene continued for a moment, without any kind of interruption.

A scene where a mortal was braiding the hair of a goddess inside a Gate, while the goddess herself was sewing something that looked like a golden coin.

"I just want to know." Cassius began softly, seeing the mess he was making of the goddess’s hair and still continued. He was learning. "Answer please, if you can. Is it you? Are you my mother?"

His voice was low, and filled with so many feelings that it was impossible to guess even one of them, so mingled together were they.

"Maybe I am." Tysche said, "Maybe I am not. Does it matter?"

"Yes." He replied instantly, "Yes, it does."

"Why does it matter?"

"I need to know if you truly are my mother. If you are...then...Queen’s breath, I don’t even know. What is happening? If you are indeed my mother, why are you a goddess now? Did you reincarnate into this world, too? If you did, maybe father and sister are here too? Then where is he? And where is my little sister, Stella? Where are all of them?"

"That’s an awful lot of questions, don’t you think?"

"I need to know!"

"You don’t need to know." Tysche countered, "At least, not now. You want to know, but what tells you that knowing is good for you?"

"I am honestly getting exhausted of this bullshit." Cassius said with genuine exasperation, "every single time, it’s always the same words: you are not ready. And you never tell me why I am not ready and what I need to do to become ready. You just leave me there, with my own thoughts, knowing absolutely nothing what I need to tell myself only to keep walking, hoping to have an answer one day. One day."

Cassius paused, his chest heaving up and down, breathless in his anger.

"How easy do you think it is to walk towards something when you do not know when and where you will get it?"

Tysche didn’t respond at first to his outburst. She continued to sew her golden coin for quite a while, giving Cassius the time to calm himself from his anger, before replying:

"We know it’s not easy, but the question remains: are you ready to know?" The Goddess shook her head, "You are not. But I am not like Ananke or my Third Sister or even anyone in this whole bloody situation. I am Tysche, and I do what I want to do, when I feel like doing it."

She stopped her sewing. Then she turned her head, and looked at Cassius, and spoke:

"Am I your mother, Cassius? I would like to be. Am I your mother, Noah?"

Cassius’s breathing stopped.

"Yes, I am your mother, in a way." Tysche said, and the world around seemed to disappear in the mind of Cassius, his mind exploding in a soundless scream, "Because your mother, Angelina Cromwell, was created from a part of me. Your father, Joseph Job, was a normal human born in that Gate. And your sister, too, was normal. At least, as normal as they could get."

Cassius’s heart was at his throat, and it was beating, loud and heavy. It felt like he was about to throw up.

"If you are asking me if they have been reincarnated in this world," she followed, "the answer is more complicated. Your father is not, but your sister is. But don’t ask me where she is, that’s something even I don’t know."

"My...mother was a part of a goddess?" He muttered, "and my sister is here? Why not my father then? W-Why?"

Cassius continued to mutter, trying to fully grasp what he had been told.

"And Gate...?" He whispered again, looking at her, "what Gate?"

"Oh? Earth, I mean." She said, "Earth is a Gate. In fact, Earth is the First Ever Gate to be created, and it was done by Desdemona. Her creation caused the births of many other Gates, which became a recognized Power System."

Cassius’s eyes widened.

"W-What?"

—End of Chapter 410—