Nefeshé, Hope Sibyl 

It had been over a thousand years since the power of hope was bestowed upon this world.
The Hope Sibyl Nefeshé grieved for humanity more than anyone.
The power bestowed upon her by the Demiurge Idea has always been handled in a righteous yet distorted way.
If unstable humans continue to wield great power, they will eventually become unable to endure it.
After centuries of splendor, the distorted world revolving around the Hope Sibyl suddenly came to an end.
It all started with a very small discrepancy.

God, humans, and Sibyls.

Though they were all the same kind of doll, they were not identical.
More specifically, even if they were the same species, nothing identical could exist in this world.
To fill that gap… that missing something, people seek others.
Nefeshé simply could not understand even such a simple fact.
Even that future, even its end, was determined by God.
And that was the exact reason Nefeshé was chosen by God.
From among countless dolls, she alone received God’s favor, and the Sibyl was born.
It was God’s whim.
A hopeless, selfish act to satisfy her own desires.
But… The doll had no way of knowing that.

Idea desired a perfect world.
She was the one and only deity who created this world, its Demiurge.
She wanted to create and nurture everything according to her will… but that plan would soon fell apart.
The world she brought forth rejected her.

Why?

Idea finally understood then.
It was a wedge ordained by God.
Even a god could not defy the greater will that stood above.
She lamented.
Day after day, she simply watched what she had created.
Her own desires, never to be fulfilled.
The tedious world she must accept as it was.

Yes.

It was merely a whim.
But only in God’s eyes.
In the world where the dolls dwelled, it would bring about a great change.
Idea had altered the very nature of the world.

Hope is attraction, despair is repulsion.

The four elements used to create the world, and the various vessels that became dolls when souls were placed within them.
The power granted by hope grows with each wish received, while despair tears it away, eventually returning it to God.

Yes, it will come true. Everything will come true.

She would transcend herself into another being using the power gained from the world.
The observer would rewrite herself…
Not into a god, but something greater.
And she needed was…

I found it.

In her long boredom, only one vessel met her eyes.
The name of that vessel, of that doll… was Nefeshé.
She was the one possessing the form and consciousness closest to Idea.

Haa.

Idea sneered faintly.
Her beautiful yet twisted smile resembled a child who had finally found a plaything.

To interfere with the world she had created, the Demiurge Idea created a cycle of power born from hope and despair.
Life was born regardless of God’s will, filling the world.
It deviated from the world Idea had envisioned.
It would one day manifest into the world.
The vessel to receive the divine grace enabling this did not appear immediately.
Over the long ages, Idea continued to interfere ever so slightly, ever hinting at her existence, and became revered as a goddess within the world itself.
However, a doll capable of receiving the power of the Elementals and possessing high affinity with Idea… The possibility of such a convenient being being born was almost a miracle.
And yet, she was born.
The Sibyl of Fate… Nefeshé.
The world’s outcast child, possessing the form and soul closest to Idea.

I am you. You are me.

Heaven bestowed her the power to make the world more pure, more beautiful.
To Nefeshé, this was a miracle in itself.
They never spoke to directly.
But oracles came to her in her dreams.
She became dependent on them.
To that divine being, on her power.
The Elemental powers bestowed upon her, guided by Nefeshé’s philosophy, blessed the world.
But limitless abundance corrupted the dolls.
More, more, more… Driven by endless desire, the world began to warp and change shape.
Yet Nefeshé alone remained unaware. She did not realize.
As the sole vessel in the world, she was perfect for Idea, but not perfect for the world itself.
Even though God fell in love at first sight, she too was a being beyond human capacity.
Though she could comprehend her will, she failed to grasp the obvious truth… That she was different from the other dolls.

Why doesn’t she understand?

Nefeshé’s doubts continued to accumulate.
Unaware of the creaking within her heart.

For the first time, Nefeshé was acting for herself.
It all started with the betrayal of her servant in Luthra. And the loss of the power she thought was granted only to her.
She was innocent, knowing nothing.
Therefore, she finally realized it.
The doubts she had always been feeling… The wicked side inherent in humans.
And then Nefeshé no longer understood.
Whether God’s words… Her own words had reached anyone or not.
She believed she could bring blessings and the gospel to all the life in the world.

God… Idea the Demiurge.

She wanted to hear God’s voice.
But there was no answer.

I must find her.

God… The one and only being who could understand her.
With that resolve, a single tear fell from her eyes.

It was the first time Nefeshé had experienced sadness and pain.
It was like a baby crying, desperate not to be abandoned.

Because of her pure soul, she could become a vessel for God… But the moment Nefeshé would realize this would never come.

Now, Nefeshé had a duty to fulfill.
She had only one goal… To find Idea, the Demiurge.
Not just because of faith. To protect her own heart.

Leaving human dwellings behind, Nefeshé set out on a journey in search for God. The first place she visited was Luthra.
The town she arrived in, filled with anxiety, was no different from before.

God, am I truly unnecessary?

Though it brought happiness to the people, it had deeply hurt Nefeshé.

Next, she visited Tioquia, where a revolution had just taken place.
As the water capital, it showed greater vitality than before.

I should have been the one to master it the most.

The water power that had peeled away from Nefeshé guided many more dolls to happiness.
Witnessing this caused her heart to waver even more.

Nefeshé’s disappearance had begun to change the way people existed in this world.
More accurately, it had reverted to how it was before she was born.
While retaining the distortion of the Elemental power bestowed by God.

Huh?

And then, suddenly, an oracle descended upon her.
Far north of Agidis, at the edge of the horizon… God was waiting for Nefeshé at the Primordial Void.
Then, Nefeshé had no choice but to go.
The only one she could believe in was the Demiurge.

And so… her pure faith stepped into madness.

Alongside the dolls, the primordial race, Nefeshé headed for the Primordial Void.
Before long, Nefeshé’s madness spread, and all the dolls began to go mad.
At the end of that tragedy… The Fire Elemental was born.

Why are you leaving me behind?

How much pain must it have been for Nefeshé to see her apostles so changed?
Yet even so, she could not stop moving forward.
No matter how sad, bitter, or envious she was.
Answering God was Nefeshé’s true purpose.
Even if she lost everything and faced judgment, she had no choice but to go.

She’s calling me…

Each time the oracle descended, Nefeshé’s world became filled with color.
The voice of the great being seeking her gave her courage.
It gently pushed her forward like a holy mother.

Ah, Lady Idea. If possible, please give me proof. Proof that you are waiting.

Before she realized it, Nefeshé had wished.
It was an emotion far removed from her own understanding…
She didn’t even realize that it was a greedy, human wish.

But the Demiurge granted it.
In exchange for the power of wind, the divine gospel brought new life into her womb.
And what remained was an empty shell, a mere remnant of the former Sibyl.
Even so, Nefeshé smiled contentedly.
Peacefully, beautifully.
Her face was a blend of joy, happiness, and anticipation.
Soon she would meet her.
All Nefeshé had now was hope.
A vast, immense mass of hope, pulled from the profound depths of despair.

God, too, looked at her and sneered.
It was indeed… Very convenient.

The only thing Nefeshé believed in was Idea, the Demiurge.
The only thing Idea desired was Nefeshé.
What they sought from each other was vastly different.
But at their core, they were the same.
God and her vessel… Strangely, two beings separate from humanity.
But humans were created in the image of God.
Then God was also a flawed life form, bearing the imperfection of emotion.
Humans fear solitude…and so does God.
It was her own loneliness that caused her to reach out into the world of the miniature garden.

It was the end of a long journey.
Nefeshé finally reached her destination.
The place known as the Primordial Void was distorted.
A world where the ground rose up, where light drifted aimlessly, where all laws seemed disrupted.
If one said this place was the edge of the world, everyone would nod in agreement. But if one said it was the home of God, everyone would surely have doubts.

Ah, ah!

Nefeshé had no doubts whatsoever. Rather, she wore a smile.
Her face was filled with a sense of accomplishment and exaltation.
It was as if she were an innocent girl, eagerly awaiting the happiness to come.

I’ve been waiting for this moment all along.

As Nefeshé offered her prayers and words, she did not say she had longed to meet her.
She understood it was something words could never express.

…Ah…

Nefeshé held her breath.
The light was refracting, attempting to form something.
It looked like a door.
Yet it was too smooth to be called a door, more like a mirror.
It showed no sign of opening, merely reflecting Nefeshé’s image.
She was speechless, simply staring at it.

But then… her reflection gave a mocking laugh.
It was an expression she had never shown before.

The Primordial Void was the edge of the world.
A space on the boundary where the realm of God and the world of the miniature garden intersected.

I had been waiting for this for so long.

Listening to the voice emanating from her reflection in the door, Nefeshé unconsciously touched her lips lightly.
Yet her lips showed no trace of having moved with the words.
Then it was simple.
Her other self reflected here.
She was none other than God.

You are me, I am you.

No one other than the Demiurge would seek our the hollow Nefeshé.
And so Nefeshé accepted everything.
Reasons were no longer needed.
Only God possessed everything she desired.
All that she needed was love.
Desire and loneliness are all born and disappear because of love.

Now.

Suddenly, the outline distorted.
Her soul melted away in the love she received.
Yet still, only bliss ruled her.
Everything melted away.
Leaving only a beautiful, beautiful empty shell.

The vessel is complete.

Soon, she emerged from the other side of the door.
To revel in the world she could only observe before… or perhaps to remake it as she wished.
Hah… She let out a mocking laugh.
As she devoured countless souls, her power grew ever larger.
That moment was still far off in the future.

For the sake of a truly beautiful world.

On this day, at this moment… Idea the Demiurge was born into the world of the miniature garden.