『AICELYN』

This must be the end… no, it is the beginning of a never-ending agony.

All of a sudden, the once vibrant shades of the plants of the Divine Continent became nothing more than just a vivid illusion, obliterating the memory of the harmonious day that had just been. The sweet smell of the air became dreadful as if the existence of the plants, the life with the land, had disappeared into a speckle of dust.

“Lyn, okay ka lang ba?”

Sabrina’s voice entered and exited my ears, yet as the sky began to howl, my attention was immediately stolen. The wind twirled around, dancing as it slowly became humongous—a deadly hurricane.

My eyes laid on the manly silhouette in the middle of the chaos of this utterly dark world. The eye of the storm. He stood and gazed his forest green eyes upon us, his gorgeous face and mossy green hair—no, his entirety seemed to be out of place as if he did not belong to where he was standing right now.

“Greetings, demigods,” Mammon muttered. Seryoso akong tumingin sa mga mata niya, iniiwasan na magpakita ng kahit anong kahinaan. “I am not here to cause any bloodshed. After all, it is not needed.”

Dahan-dahan siyang naglakad papunta sa direksyon namin, at sa bawat hakbang niya, ang lupa, ang mga damo ay mabilis na nanakawan ng buhay.

“The contract ends now,” Mammon stated. I know. “The choice must now be made, Cursed Child.”

“No…” I mumbled. Mariin kong pinikit ang mga mata ko’t mahigpit na hinawakan ang kamay ni Sabrina.

Not yet… I am not ready to let go.

Mammon laughed, making me look at him. “This is what makes you the best vessel for Samael. You are undoubtedly the house of the seven sins.”

Samael, huh?

“Lyn…” I heard Sabrina call.

But… my eyes remained enticed by his forest-like eyes. In his eyes, greed reflected like an endless loop, repeating over and over again. It showed my most hideous, disgusting cravings—my greed.

“Let’s end this quickly so I can go home peacefully,” Mammon puckered. He took an Indian seat in our front, and he lazily rested his chin in his palm while impatiently waiting for us.

“No, you’ll never hear anything from me.” Diretso ang mga mata kong tumingin kay Mammon. I am a greedy being, but why is something holding me back? “Never…”

Mammon smirked. “Yet, someone will still die, someone who’s not supposed to… because someone will always need to pay the price of meddling with life and death.”

No… Dahan-dahan na namuo ang mga luha sa mata ko nang lingunin ko si Sabrina. Walang halong pagtatakha ang mukha niya, nakatingin lamang siya sa akin, nangungusap na tila sinasabing alam ko sa sarili ko ang desisyon na dapat gawin.

“Not just a single life will pay,” he added. What a fucking torture.

“Why grant something so precious?” I asked bitterly.

“For fun, I guess.”

A bitter smile slowly curved in my lips. Fun… there is nothing fun about this shit. Yumuko ako’t pinagmasdan ang nangingnig kong mga kamay. Hindi ko na kayang tingnan si Sabrina dahil alam ko sa sarili ko na kasalanan ko ang lahat ng ito.

“Lives or life?” Mammon asked.

I forcefully shut my eyes, letting the tears stream down my cheeks. This never-ending agony appeared to be a fate written down for years—right, this is my prophecy. After all…

The fight of the cursed child will be tangled with grief.

Sabrina gently hugged me from behind, resting his on my back. “Lyn…”

“Humans, demigods, all beings will only grieve when it is too late. The biggest mistake that one could make,” Mammon said with a mellow, dull voice. “Failing to cherish every moment, and will undeniably hurt themselves when the moment becomes a mere memory of the past.”

“It applies to your kind as well.”

“Grieve?” He chuckled. “We are not the who’ll grieve when it becomes too late, your kind will along with the other beings, Cursed Child.”

Marahan na sinuklay ni Sabrina ang buhok ko dahilan upang mas lalong bumilis at bumigat ang agos ng mga luha sa mata ko. I am too late. All of this time, I failed to realize what was Belphegor was doing. That stupid Kin of Sloth was always trespassing my dreams, helping me over and over again in order to remember Sabrina.

At habang tumatagal ang sandali mas lalong sumisik ang dibdib ko. Alam kong hindi tumitigil ang oras ngayon pero kahit anong pagkumbinsi ko sa aking sarili, hindi ko magawang maibuka ang bibig ko.

The forbidden key.

Sabrina slowly let go of me in order to hug me properly. I rested my head on her shoulder and wept silently, “Lyn… it’s time to let go.”

“I…”

“Aicelyn Hailey Lean.”

I pursed my lips and let myself be swallowed by the sea of silence. I know. I fucking know, but I can’t.

“I’m so sorry, Sab.” Mahigpit ko siyang niyakap habang pinakikinggan ko ang sarili kong umiyak kasabay ang ingay ng buhawi sa aming paligid. “But… I can’t let go. I still want to—”

“Matagal na akong wala, Lyn.”

“No! You’re here! You—”

She smiled and kissed my forehead, “You really to stop lying to me, and especially to yourself.”

“But I can’t let go of you, Sab…”

Hinaplos niya ang likuran ko saka bahagya akong binitawan. Pinagmasdan niya ako kasabay ang pagtulo ng mga luha namin, ngumiti siya sa akin na tila ba’y dala niya ang saya ng buong mundo’t malambing na pinunasan ang mga luha ko.

“I am long gone, Lyn… I already died. Being with you for the last moment of this borrowed life is a blessing. Lyn, you need to let go. You are no longer alone… it is not just me, Serena, or Celine. You now have to Primus.”

My tears wouldn’t surrender. Her words stung… stung a lot. I don’t want to lose her. I don’t want to.

Sabrina Anderson… the one who referred to herself as the second of all time, the one who signed the contract with the Kins—the contractor. I was blind. I was blind that I always saw her as the best, not knowing the people around me, including her, believed that I was.

Sabrina… the dead.

And Sapphire Mendoza… the living one. The one whose life was borrowed in order for the one who lost life.

“Lyn… before anything else, I want to tell you something. Bristol had never taken part deep inside my heart. My love was always for you, not just as a friend… and there isn’t a word big enough to describe what you mean to.”

“Sab…”

She suddenly smiled, “I know. Who would have known that the one who once liked me would be my greatest rival?”

Muli ko siyang kinulong sa yakap at saglit na pinakalma ang sarili ko. Dahan-dahan kong pinikit ang mga mata ko’t inalo ang sarili sa katahimikan.

“Thy stolen must be returned. Thy dead must perish, and thy living must crawl her way back to the world of mortals. Thy price must be paid; thy contract must now vanquish.”

The sea of silence became a heavy silence of storm, wrecking and destroying within me. And as my throat burned with a silent cry, my hands slowly lost their touch with her.

“Sab…”

And when I slowly opened my eyes, I saw myself hugging her ashes.

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