Sistina Möwe 

Electrocution death, general death, violence, religious sacrifice (sexual overtones), rape, impregnation.

Elementals were created by the hands of God.
They had long threatened humanity as a calamity, but eventually, by offering human souls to the Elementals, humans succeeded in binding themselves to them.
As a result, beings called Sibyls were born.
With the power of the Sibyls, who could wield the Elementals’ strength, humanity was able to enjoy new engineering and enormous wealth.
It was the birth of these revolutionary beings.
It seemed destined to enrich people and guide them toward a better world, but in reality, it only served to fatten the greedy eyes of power-hungry rulers.
Eager to obtain even more wealth, those in power greedily coveted what the Sibyls brought them.
In the process, they realized something.
The ideal vessel for a Sibyl was an obedient and weak girl.
Amid their swirling desires, another girl to be at the mercy of fate was about to be chosen.

–The Land of Death, an eternal desert no life would ever sprout.

“No harvest… I’m hungry…”

In a village in a corner of that land, Sistina lived day to day.

“But it’s still okay. I’ll manage somehow.”

Sistina took out a parchment from her bosom.
It depicted a landscape far removed from the world she lived in.
A beautiful scene with abundant water and greenery spreading as far as the eye could see.
To Sistina, who knew nothing of the outside world, it was truly a dreamlike place.

“Hehe… I’d like to go to the outside world someday…”

One day she would have reached that beautiful, dreamlike world.
That was the only thing holding her heart together.

That day, a massive crowd gathered in the village’s square.
Standing beside the stationary wagon were men whose attire clearly set them apart from the villagers. They were a support force sent from the great nation of Agidis.

“Thank you… thank you…”
“Glory to merciful Agidis…!”
“Those who got theirs, move along! Hey, you’re in the way!”

Today was the day of blessings that Sistina was looking forward to.
On this day, provisions like dried meat and bread were delivered.
This was the main reason that the nameless village, with few resources, had been able to survive until today.
For Sistina, who lost her parents at an early age, this regularly occurring day was nothing short of a lifeline.

“Hehe, thank you, soldier.”
“Go back to your sleeping quarters, you’re in the way!”
“…Ah…!”

Pushed out by the soldiers, Sistina stumbled, dropping the food she carried.
Seeing the girl desperately gathering up the food covered in sand and holding it carefully, the soldiers spat out words.

“Damn, what a pathetic bunch.”
“Without the support of the Sibyl, they would have died long ago. Come on, brat! How long are you going to keep doing this? Get out!”

Fleeing the scene, Sistina watched the villagers swarming around the soldiers and repeated the unfamiliar word.

“Sibyl… What is it…?”

No one could answer her question.
But that word strangely piqued her interest, and she hummed it over and over again as if singing.

A few days passed.
While searching for food in the desert as usual, Sistina spotted a strange lump in the distance.

“Ah! A big catch!”

She hurried over.
What lay at her feet was a human figure wrapped in a large linen robe. Though covered in sand and blood, her face still retained the faint traces of an innocent girl when looked at closely.

“… Uh, uh…”
“Are you still alive?”

The collapsed girl was dressed in a way that made it hard to believe she was living on this land.

“Could she be from the outside world? Maybe if I help her… I could hear all about it!”

Sistina decided to look after her, and dragged her to her home.

–A girl had collapsed in the Land of Death.
Sistina’s encounter with her would throw her fate into unexpected turmoil, setting the gears of destiny spinning wildly out of control.

Soon after Sistina started tending to her, the girl regained consciousness.

“W-Where… Am I…?”
“Ah, you are awake!”

The girl slowly looked around.
It was a hut-like place made from piled-up hay and dead wood.
It wasn’t exactly a comfortable place, but it served its purpose well enough, offering shelter from the weather.

“You… you saved me?”
“Yes! I’m Sistina! And you?”
“I’m Celie Mö-… Celie. Just Celie.”
“Nice to meet you, Celie! Are you okay now?”

Celie looked down at her stomach, looking somewhat frightened.
After confirming her clothes and belongings were unchanged, she cautiously questioned Sistina.

“Oh, did you look at my body?”
“Um, I didn’t take off your clothes. There was blood on your face… Sorry…”
“Oh… it’s fine then. I must have scared you. Sorry.”

The moment she saw Celie wasn’t angry, Sistina’s expression changed completely and she closed the distance.

“Hey Celie, you come from the outside world, right? If you don’t mind, tell me about it!”

Celie was taken aback by Sistina’s rapidly changing expressions, but she couldn’t just brush off someone who had gone to such lengths to help her.

“You think I’m… Well, okay. If it’s something I know, I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Really?! Yay!”

Celie told her many things.
Seeing Sistina’s eyes light up and her interest grow with every story, Celie gradually warmed to her, recounting the world she had seen and heard in meticulous detail.
Sistina reacted particularly strongly to the beautiful city known as the Water Capital.

“Do you want to go to that city?”
“Yes!”

Then, Sistina pulled a parchment from her bosom and spread it out before Celie.

“I want to go to the place depicted here! It’s my dream!”

A big smile naturally spread across her face.

“Hehe, what a lovely dream. I don’t know if that’s a picture of the Water Capital, but I hope it will come true someday.”
“Well, why don’t we go together, Celie?”

The words were spoken without much thought.
Celie hesitated slightly before speaking apologetically.

“It’s a nice offer, but I can’t. If I’m with you, it’ll bring misfortune to you too.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. Well then-“

Sistina immediately started talking about something else, and Celie ended up spending the night in the hut.

A few days passed.
While wandering around as usual to gather food for two, Sistina noticed the village was shrouded in an eerie atmosphere.
Glancing toward the square, she saw Agidis soldiers shouting orders at each other. Concerned by the large number of soldiers gathered, despite it not being a day of blessings, Sistina listened to their words.

“You lot search with everything you’ve got! If the Sibyl doesn’t return, we won’t have any support left!”
“She’s wounded! Even a Sibyl can’t have gone far!”

The soldiers shouted and threatened the villagers. They seemed desperate, even beating down anyone who caught their eye.

“That brat… She had a great time in Agidis, and now she’s running off? What a load of bollocks…”
“She was trying to get in with the nobles, wasn’t she? At this rate, we’ll go hungry. We’ll find her! If she’s injured, we should be able to handle it!”

The shouting villagers were also frantically searching for the Sibyl.

(Injured…? Don’t tell me, Celie…?!)

Sistina hurried back to the hut.

(They mentioned the Sibyl earlier… What is a Sibyl?)

Suppressing the questions bubbling up one after another, Sistina finally arrived at the hut only to find it already empty.

“Celie is not here! Where did she go!?”

There was no trace of Celie, not even the footprints she should have left if she’d left the hut.
Sistina began searching for Celie, who had vanished without a trace. But no matter how hard she looked, there was no sign of her.
From the atmosphere among the villagers, she could tell Celie still hadn’t been found.

“So many people are looking for her, and yet she has not been found… Celie must have some incredible power-“

At that moment, the word “Sibyl” flashed through her mind, the same word the villagers and Agidis soldiers had been repeating.

“Could it be… that Celie is the Sibyl…?”

Time passed by as she stopped walking. The sun was already beginning to set. Once night fell, it would be have been extremely difficult to find her.
Feeling utterly lost, Sistina found herself at the riverbank on the village’s outskirts before she knew it.
It seemed a group, likely Agidis soldiers, had set up a base near the pier.

(Maybe I’ll get some clues…!)

Thinking this, she approached the base. Suddenly, a conversation drifted to her ears.
Hiding in the shadows, Sistina strained her ears, focusing on the exchange.

“No traces found this far… Has the Sibyl truly returned to a place like this?”
“What? Abandoning one’s homeland isn’t something one can do lightly. Either way, the villagers are desperately searching for her. If she’s not found, their livelihoods will be gone.”
“Tomorrow, we’ll search a wider area. Without the Sibyl, Agidis’ prosperity will come to an end…”

Hearing that much, Sistina slipped away, careful not to be spotted by the soldiers.

(Celie was born and raised here as well…!)

She couldn’t hide her surprise at this unexpected revelation.
But what stirred her heart even more was her growing fascination with the very concept of a Sibyl.

“I will find her, no matter what! I will go into the outside world with Celie!”

With a firm resolve, she set off into the desert at dusk. Her expression seemed to hold a certain intensity, almost a fierce determination.

The village was even more noisy when morning came. The likely cause was a sandstorm so enormous it was visible even from a distance.

“What’s that… This is not normal. Could it be that Celie is over there?”

Sistina hurried to the location where the sandstorm was occurring.
A narrow path surrounded by steep cliffs on both sides.
At the entrance leading into the desert region, Celie stood poised.
She stood at the center of the sandstorm, while Agidis’ soldiers and the villagers gathered at a distance, observing it.

“Wind Sibyl! Return to Agidis immediately, and I promise all past transgressions will be forgiven!”
“Don’t haunt me… any more! After what you did to me… how dare you speak like that! I… I will never again be a puppet just to make Agidis wealthy anymore!!”

Celie’s eyes overflowed with terror and bitter grief.
With each angry word she spat, the sandstorm roared louder.

“Celie! I found you!”

Catching sight of Celie, Sistina pushed through the men and leapt before the sandstorm.

“Sistina…? Why…!”
“I want to go to the outside world with you!!”

Without hesitation, Sistina ran towards the sandstorm.
Even the strong men couldn’t enter the heart of the storm, but she entered it with astonishing ease.

“What…? You can’t be…”
“Celie! I was looking for you!”
“How reckless…! What if you get hurt?”
“But! I thought that if I parted ways with you here, I would regret it for the rest of my life…”

Celie hesitated for a moment at Sistina’s strong feelings, then nodded as if to convince herself.

“Okay… I get it. Then follow me.”
“Yes!”

As Celie pulled her hand, the two disappeared into the narrow path. Naturally, the men tried to chase after them, but they were caught in the falling rocks unleashed by the sandstorm.

“This should buy us some time…”
“You are amazing! That sandstorm and this wind are all the power of the 'Sibyl'!?”
“…So you’ve heard about my power. Yes, this is my power as the 'Wind Sibyl'.”

Celie demonstrated by conjuring a small gust of wind right before Sistina’s eyes.
Witnessing this phenomenon, Sistina let out a cry of joy so loud she nearly leapt into the air.

“…It’s not that great though…”
“…Clear the rocks! Don’t let the Wind Sibyl escape!!”
“…! Anyway, let’s get out of here now.”

Hearing the men’s voices in the distance, the two hurriedly made their way through the narrow path.
On the way, Celie told Sistina everything, as if to admonish herself.
That she was born in this nameless village.
That her life changed drastically after being chosen by the Elemental as the Wind Sibyl.
And the countless cruelties she endured in Agidis, where she had stopped during her journey.

“Sistina… Do you still think the power of the Elemental is amazing?”
“It is! With that power, you can survive in the outside world!”
“Hehe… How wonderful it would have been if I could have rejoiced like that…”

In contrast to Sistina’s bouncy voice, Celie’s voice becomes lower and heavier.
Then, leaning against the rock wall, she collapsed weakly to the ground.
From her barely exposed abdomen, raw, vivid scars resembling stirred ripe fruit were visible, dripping with a viscous, slimy liquid.
At the same time, a smell like rusty iron wafted through the air.
Celie’s injuries were far too severe to allow her to walk around.

“Celie?! What’s that injury…”
“Haha. Maybe it’s because I used the Elemental’s power. The wound seems to have opened up…”
“W-we have to do something-“
“Don’t touch me! I don’t have much time left, so-“
“…Search her! DON’T LET THE WIND SIBYL GET AWAY!!”

A rough voice interrupted Celie’s words.
The pursuers were closing in.

“W-What should we do…”
“There’s no time left… I’m sorry, Sistina. But I have to do this…”
“…Eh?”

Celie handed over the dagger at her waist, then silently touched Sistina’s hand. The moment she murmured something, the Elemental power surrounding Celie surged like a raging storm into Sistina.

“…Ah… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?”

Countless grim memories of the Wind Sibyls who had come before her raced through Sistina’s mind.
That immense torrent of memories was more than enough to taint her innocent heart.

“Ah… I am…”
“With this… the inheritance has been accomplished. From this moment on, you are now Sistina Möwe, the Wind Sibyl. That dagger will surely protect you. So you must not… become like me… okay?”
“…Celie…?”
“Go on. Now you’re free… All I can do for you now is… buy some time with what life I have left…”

Celie mustered the last of her strength to stand up, and, with trembling hands, pushed away the new Sibyl.

“Sistina, I wish for your happiness.”
“B… but…”
“Go! Go! Now!”
“… Ah… Th-thank you, Celie!”

That was their final exchange.
Turning their backs on each other, they walked away.
Sistina ran straight for the outside world, ignoring the angry shouts carried on the wind behind her.

Having left the Land of Death, Sistina continued to wander aimlessly.
Memories of the Sibyls run through her mind.
Even in sleep, the torrent of memories continued to assail her mercilessly. Feeling as if she were swimming through a nightmare, her body and soul were slowly being consumed.

Those days were like endless torture…

Eventually, her once-luminous eyes grew shadowed, her expression clearly showing signs of exhaustion.
But deep in Sistina’s heart, there was still hope for the Sibyl’s power.

“If I use this power properly… I’m sure I can find happiness. I’ll find the world that Celie couldn’t see…”

Crossing the wilderness, passing through forests, Sistina walked aimlessly until a faint sound, like the murmur of a river, reached her ears.
Following it, she arrived at a small farming village where a peaceful landscape spread out before her.
As soon as she saw the idyllic atmosphere, her stomach growled as if it remembered its role.

“I haven’t eaten anything at all… I’m hungry…”

Following the sound, she made her way through the village and a peaceful scene came into view.
After walking for a while, the riverbank came into view. There, a waterwheel was making a very gentle creaking sound.

“Maybe I can get something here…”

After quenching her thirst with river water, Sistina headed for the watermill. Luckily, an old woman was grinding flour there.

“Oh, young lady, what brings you here?”
“Um… I need some food…”
“Oh, sorry… The landslide the other day dammed up the river with fallen trees. I just don’t have any to spare for you, dear.”
“No way… Ah.”

At that moment, Sistina had an idea and made a proposal to the old woman.

“If I can do something about the fallen trees, could you give me some food?”
“Oh dear… you would do that, young lady?”
“Yes. I’ll get the river flowing again!”

–Sistina then got to work.
She went upstream to where the river was dammed, and using her powers as the Wind Sibyl, she easily cleared the fallen trees and rocks with a localized strong wind.
When she told the old woman her results, the latter gasped in surprise and timidly asked.

“Oh, young lady, are you really… the Sibyl?”

Sistina nodded.
The old woman then suddenly let out a cry of joy, headed to the village square, and called out to the whole village.
Seeing this scene, Sistina became convinced.

Using the Sibyl’s power properly can really make everyone happy. There won’t be just sad memories.

Just as Sistina was considering hiding here for a while, villagers who had heard the old woman’s story gathered around her.

“-Eek.”

Though they didn’t show it on their faces, they couldn’t hide the emotion in their voices.
Every single one of them was desperate to seize the Sibyl’s power for themselves.
As Sistina began to feel genuinely threatened by their dark, murky desires, a large man pushed through the villagers and appeared.

“This one’s mine! Anyone who objects, I’ll beat the crap out of them!”
“What? What… Ouch!?”

Ignoring Sistina’s struggle, the man forcibly grabbed her arm. When she showed signs of resistance, he tried to tighten his grip further, but…

“NO! Let me go!!”

And in that moment…
The man burst open with a scream.
Sistina had strongly rejected him, and unconsciously used her powers, causing a bolt of lightning to strike him.

“Ah… I-I didn’t mean to…”

No one heard Sistina’s words.
Seeing the man’s charred remains, reduced to ash in an instant, the villagers screamed in unison.

“…You monster!!”
“Take her to Agidis!”

Rage. Hatred. Contempt.
The looks in their eyes were identical to the memories etched into Sistina’s mind, memories she had no desire to relive.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Sistina escaped from the village and was once again left to wander aimlessly.
No matter which town she reached, the moment people realized she was a Sibyl, they shunned her like a plague.
To avoid being destroyed by Agidis, who had sensed her presence, they had no choice but to expel her.
To the villages, Sibyls were nothing more than a symbol of misfortune.
There was nowhere for her to find peace.

Being pelted with stones was the least of it.
What corroded her heart more than anything were the vile insults that rejected her.

“I’m… No different from anyone else! I just have the power of the Wind Elemental! Is that all it takes for them to trample on my heart and body!?”

I’m a human. I was merely given the role of a Sibyl.
Why do people change their very gaze just because I’m a Sibyl? Those endless questions drove Sistina away from others, forcing her into solitude.
Is this world truly the one she once longed for?

“This isn’t the world I dreamed of…”

In the forest where she had taken refuge, Sistina hugged her knees in sorrow and cried in solitude.

“Sniff, Uh… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

Her wailing resonated with her power, forming heavy gray clouds in the sky. They swiftly brought torrential rain, pouring down upon the earth.
No one was there to lend a hand to the girl’s screams.
A world where everyone could be happy was nothing more than a dream.
The world was not a kind place, after all.

Food supplies had long since run dry, and the pursuit of an ideal world that didn’t exist had reached its limit.
Unable to ask anyone for help, Sistina surrendered her consciousness to the depths of a dark abyss, consumed by despair and regret.

///////

A wagon was moving along a dilapidated road that could almost be called an animal trail.
With each bump over the uneven ground, the cart bed shook mercilessly.
Inside the dilapidated bed, girls bound and unable to move lay scattered haphazardly.

The chirping of birds tickled Sistina’s earlobes.

“Uh… Where am…”

Sistina regained consciousness and sat up, looking around with blurred vision.

“…Huh?”

An unfamiliar landscape had spread out before her eyes.
The last scene she remembered was a dimly lit forest.
The aching in every joint of her body made it impossible to believe she was still dreaming.
The scene unfolding before her eyes was a world she had never seen before – no, there was only one thing she recognized.
Yes, that was…

“The world I dreamed of…”

The beautiful world depicted on the parchment that had been Sistina’s emotional support. It was now unfolding before her very eyes.
Bathed in brilliant sunlight, the trees grew lush and vibrant. The clear blue lake surface reflected white clouds and the green foothills sharply. This was a place where one could feel nature’s vitality in full force.

“It’s not… a dream… that world… really exists!”
“Oh my, I hear a lively voice. You seem to have woken up.”

Appearing from behind, peering at her, was an old woman with long tied white hair and a cheerful smile.

“Ah, you are…?”
“I am the chief of this nameless village. The villagers found you young ladies collapsed out here.”
“Young ladies…?”

Hearing that, she looked around again.
Behind Sistina were straw beds arranged in a circle at regular intervals. On them, several girls slept peacefully, breathing softly.
All had faces retaining traces of youth, likely not much older than Sistina herself.

“This place is a hidden paradise we pioneered deep in the mountains. Look, isn’t the scenery beautiful?”
“Ah… yes. I’ve always wanted to see a beautiful world like this…”
“Oh, I see. That’s good. It’s a village with nothing much, but we happen to be holding our annual offering festival starting tomorrow.”

Looking in the direction the old woman was pointing, Sistina could see villagers moving about here and there in the village, presumably preparing for the festival.

“You should relax today. Feel free to look around the village, or just enjoy this view to your heart’s content.”
“Thank you, village chief.”

The old woman turned on her heel and walked away.
Up ahead stood a hut decorated with particularly flashy ornaments. It was likely serving as some sort of gathering place.

“Since I’m here, I might as well ask the villagers what kind of festival it is.”

Sistina got off her bed and decided to look around the village. In the corner of her eye, the girls were still asleep.
They showed no signs of waking up.

“…What a lovely place…”

As Sistina looked around the village, she felt the village’s idyllic atmosphere.
Some were preparing food for the festival.
Some were decorating straw pillars with flower crowns.
Some were putting all their energy into dancing that was likely to be performed at the festival.
And the elderly people busy with preparations were all working with cheerful smiles

“Everyone looks so full of life…”

Sistina remembered the people of the Land of Death, cursing and fighting over scarce food.
The fact that the world could change so drastically just by where one lived made her heart ache involuntarily.
At that moment, she suddenly felt someone looking at her.
She turned around and saw a large mural of the god they seemed to worship. It was an extremely simplified picture, as if it had been drawn by a child, and could not be described as skillful by any stretch of the imagination.

“…The people here believe in God.”

It was the god Sistina had seen everywhere. The mural in front of her also depicted a picture she had not seen anywhere else.
It likely depicted the scene of the offering festival.
Girls were lined up around the god in the center. Further out in a circle, smiling elders held their hands toward the sky as if in prayer.

“…Huh?”

For a moment, a small question came to Sistina’s mind.
It was a small, very small question that she had felt when she had looked around the village.

“Why… why are there no children in this village?”

The moment she voiced it, a chill ran through her entire body.
And then, memories of a Sibyl from an uncertain time in the past replayed the scene painted on the mural…

“I have a bad feeling about this…”

If she stayed here, who knows what would happen to her at tomorrow’s offering festival.
The sun was already setting.
They said the village was deep in the mountains, but she had no idea how high up they were.

“But I have to get aw-“

She never got to finish the sentence.
A strong blow to the back of her head sent Sistina crashing to the ground. As her consciousness rapidly faded, the last thing she saw was…
The old men with their frozen, plastered-on smiles.

–The sun had completely set over the mountain.
The annual offering festival was reaching its climax.
A voice, lively beyond what one would expect from an old woman, echoed throughout the area.
Applause erupted in response, and the villagers cheered.
The smiles illuminated by the torches seemed to reveal something terrifying.

“…!?”

Sistina regained consciousness due to the cheers.
She tried to move her body instinctively, but only the clanking of chains echoed, and she couldn’t even shift her position.
Sistina found herself standing, bound to a stake driven into the ground before the straw bed where she had first awakened.
The clothes she was wearing had somehow been replaced with pure white robes that opened in the front. The other girls were wearing the same.
Surrounding them, the old men were playing their own tunes with wood and stones.
Their frozen smiles and eerie melodies seemed to weave an otherworldly realm.

“What is this?! Untie me right now!”
“My, my my.”

A gentle voice echoed in Sistina’s ears.
The elder standing behind her slowly stepped forward, his face scanning her body up and down as if appraising her.

“You’re quite resilient, young lady. Unlike the other girls, the drug doesn’t work well on you, what a hassle.”
“D-Drug?! Is this why everyone is still asleep!?”

The girls, clad in robes just like Sistina, were still in a deep slumber.
The only slight difference was the smiling old women standing directly before them.

“We will now begin the offering ceremony!!”

At the elder’s command, the old women clapped their hands simultaneously with a loud noise.
At that moment, the girls suddenly woke up, as if a curse had been lifted.

“Eh?” “Nooooooo?!” “Someone help me!!”

Screams erupted one after another from the girls as they grasped their situation.
They were utterly terrified by the village’s insane atmosphere.
Unmoved by the girls’ screams, the elder shouted.

“Pray to God!”
“'Pray to God!!'”

In unison with his voice, the villagers adopted identical postures with flawless precision. This synchronized movement starkly revealed the village’s abnormality.
Next, the elder raised both hands high toward the sky, and began chanting something.
In response, the old women standing before the girls also raised their hands toward the heavens, as if following suit.
On their middle fingers, there were black claws that emitted a dull, eerie light. It was unclear when they had been attached to them.
Then, the old women exposed only the lower halves of the girls’ robes and crouched before their bare lower abdomens.
…And then…

“'Offer to God!!!!'”

They plunged those ominous claws deep.
The girls’ screams and the elders’ shrieks shook the village.
Unfazed by the liquid splashing their faces, the old women smiled ecstatically as they wounded the girls.

“Ha, haha… what is this…”
“Huh, I kept you waiting. It’s your role to finish off this offering ritual, young lady.”

Amidst the hellish screams and shouts, the elder smiled gently.

“No… no! Stop it!! Don’t come!!”

No matter how desperately Sistina twisted her body, the tightly bound chains did not budge. Even when she tried to use her Elemental power, nothing happened, and all she could do was stiffen in terror as fear coursed through her entire body.

“Why!? Why won’t you answer me!!”

In an instant, she felt a chill run down her body.
The elder crouched down in front of her and tore open Sistina’s robe.
Just as the elder’s dark red claws were about to pierce Sistina’s lower abdomen.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

The power of the Elemental was unleashed with a mighty roar, swept through the village.
Immediately after, the elder slowly slid sideways, collapsing to the ground.
Only the raw, visceral sound echoed through the village.
The villagers, who had been erupting in shrieks, fell into a momentary silence before turning their eyes en masse toward Sistina.

“It’s the Sibyl!”
“It’s God! Our God has sent our savior!!”
“Ohhhh! OUR SAVIOR!”

The excited villagers swarmed around Sistina one after another.

“Don’t come! DON’T COME! Why? Why can’t I use my powers!”

No matter how much she tried to push the elders away, she had no way to change the situation.
With her chains removed, Sistina was carried by the elders and disappeared into the meeting hall built at the center of the village.

An altar was set up at the very back of the meeting hall.
Before an empty throne inlaid with countless skulls emitting a musty stench, Sistina lay bound by chains.
She tried to move her barely functioning limbs, but only the dull clank of the chains echoed.
Even when she tried to squeeze out the power of the Elemental, her boiling body refused to concentrate, perhaps due to the drug she was forced to take.

(I am… So powerless… Even the power of a Sibyl fails me at this crucial moment… Gh… I can’t do anything…)

Sistina was not even allowed to succumb to despair.
All she could do was silently accept whatever something was about to befall her.

–It seemed that moment had finally arrived.

A heavy creak echoed as a massive door swung open. Emerging one after another were the old women who had conducted the ritual earlier and the old men who had prepared for the festival.
All completely naked, they formed a circle around Sistina.

“We ask the Sibyl to dedicate herself to protecting this village as its savior.”

The old woman’s voice echoed throughout the room.
Frozen smiles crept closer from all sides.

“N-No… why…”

While humming words of gratitude to God.

“Stop… no… please…”

Her pure white robe was torn open, revealing her brown skin.

“Help… help… help me…”

The wrinkled hands of the old men traced Sistina’s hair, teeth, and ribs, one by one.

“Ah! Don’t come… AAAAHHHHH!”

The girl’s heartrending plea was drowned out by the voices of the old men swarming like the dead, never reaching anyone.

///////

The feast of madness lasted for three days and three nights.
Its end was all too sudden.
The dagger offered to the throne rolled down, and the moment Sistina touched its handle, a sharp blade of wind instantly ripped the old men to shreds.
Amidst the nauseating stench of mixed odors, Sistina stared at the dagger with vacant eyes.
In the memories of the Sibyls, the “Azure Dagger” has always been with them. This is what Celie had meant.

“Hehe… now… it’s too late… Ahaha, ahahaha, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!”

In front of the empty throne, Sistina hugged her battered body and cried with all her heart.

The beautiful world she had wished for so much.
There was no such dreamlike place anywhere in this ugly world.

I ran away from the village where a pile of corpses had been built.
I don’t even remember how I got down the mountain.
In the meantime, the sun rose and set many times.
I don’t even know how much time has passed.
When I came to, I was put into a slave trader’s wagon and shipped to Agidis.
Before I was captured, I tried resisting using the “Azure Dagger”, but the Elemental’s power barely manifested. All I could muster was a childish breeze, barely stronger than a gentle gust.

It was truly a useless dagger when it mattered most…
But that no longer matters.
The Elemental’s power had abandoned me.
Sibyls are nothing but worthless.
There is no such thing as a beautiful world.
It was foolish of me to think I could be happy.
It was all… my fault for dreaming of the outside world on my own.
How much better it would have been if I could have chosen death myself.
I can’t offer up my life like Celie, nor can I dedicate my body to someone else.
If I had that kind of courage-

“…U… Ugh…”

I felt something strange in my body.
It was faintly pulsing inside my belly.

“Huh…? That’s a lie… Ah, aha… Back then… Why… Why only me… Ugh, ah, aahhh-“

–A few months have passed since that day.
I was welcomed as the Sibyl of Agidis.
I remember how deeply disappointed the rulers of Agidis were when they witnessed my weakened power.
But the moment they learned I was pregnant, they all lit up with smiles, repeatedly rubbing their cheeks against my swollen belly.
Their expressions were the same fixed smiles as the old people from that offering ritual…

Soon, I will give birth.
A court lady at Agidis said that a pregnant Sibyl is guaranteed to give birth to a daughter. That’s why those ugly, fat, rulers were relieved.
The power of the Elementals brings immense wealth.
The power of the Elementals gives advantages in conflicts.
So, what lies ahead is…

“Yes, if I use this child well… I might finally be able to find happiness this time.”

That’s right.
Yes, that’s right.
After being defiled and robbed by those filthy people, isn’t it only fair I take back what was stolen?
I have the right to be happy too.

“…Ah.”

Hehe, so you agree with my thoughts.

“Ah, I wonder if she will be born soon.”

As if to soothe her, as if to cherish her.
I gently stroked my swollen belly.
I had already decided on a name for her.
I’m sure this child will make me happy.

…Right?

“My dear Cielo.”