1379 A Form Of Atonement
William sat on the highest peak of the mountain, as he looked at the stars in the sky.
It was just past midnight, and all of his lovers were sleeping. He took this opportunity to slip away, so that he could have some time to organize his thoughts and think about what he should do in the future.
Earlier, he had no choice but to admit that Nisha’s method of using force to make others understand their place was truly effective.
If possible, he didn’t want to use this method, but after seeing that he would find it extremely hard to convince others to believe his story, he decided to no longer hold back in the future.
“That is the look on your face whenever you’re thinking of something bad.”
William’s body stiffened because he didn’t sense anyone approaching him from behind. Although he was deep in thought, he was well aware of his surroundings, so someone sneaking up from behind caught him completely by surprise.
With his current strength, it was almost impossible for this to happen, which only meant one thing.
The one that sneaked up to him was stronger than him.
The Half-Elf immediately turned his head to look at the person who was daring enough to approach him in the middle of the night.
However, the moment he saw her face, he felt as if all the tension in his body disappeared without a trace.
A pink-haired girl with long hair that fluttered in the breeze, stood a few meters away from him with her hands behind her back.
“C-Chiffon?” William asked as he looked at the lady who looked like his wife, but with subtle differences.
Although the young lady in front of him still had the child-like body he remembered, and a face that would not make her look older than fourteen, there was a sense of maturity in it that made her look so womanly, despite her childish looks.
“Yes,” Chiffon replied as she tucked her long pink hair at the back of her ear, preventing it from hiding her face due to the strong winds that blew high up in the mountains. “But, not the Chiffon you knew.”
William’s breath was caught up in his throat as he looked at the young lady, who was looking at her with a smile.
“Did you come here for Maple and Cinnamon?” William asked after a minute had passed.
“That’s only a part of it,” Chiffon replied. “But the main reason why I came here is to tell you the truth.”
“Truth? What truth?”
“The truth about Maple, Cinnamon, Raizel, and another girl whom you probably haven’t seen because she is good at hiding.”
William’s expression turned serious as he looked at the young lady who seemed to be enjoying the night breeze that was blowing over her body, making her dress, and clothes flutter in the wind.
Chiffon was looking up in the stars, as if she was looking for something. However, without turning her gaze, she asked the Half-Elf a question.
“William, I’m sure that you are thinking that they are your future daughters, right?” Chiffon asked.
“They aren’t?” William asked back.
Chiffon smiled before shifting her gaze to the Half-Elf. “The answer is Yesn’t.”
The pink-haired lady once again shifted her attention towards the sky before continuing her words.
“My daughters were born special,” Chiffon stated. “They gained the ability to travel into the void. Because of this, they were able to witness many things, both good and bad. Both happy and sad.”
The pink-haired lady then sighed before shifting her gaze back to William, whose eyes never left her face.
“We are from a parallel world,” Chiffon replied. “A world that managed to survive the onslaught of the Army of Destruction. But, many others were not fortunate. Maple and Cinnamon have seen the other versions of you die fighting the Army of Destruction because they thought that, since the two of them existed, their survival was already assured.”
A bitter smile appeared on Chiffon’s face, making the Half-Elf’s heart skip a beat.
“I don’t want to think that my daughters caused the demise of these countless worlds because they brought false hope,” Chiffon’s lips trembled as she said these words. “This is why I decided to meet with you today, so you will not misunderstand that your survival in the future has already been set in stone.”
Chiffon sighed a second time before shifting her gaze back towards the stars in the sky.
“Maple and Cinnamon are still too young,” Chiffon stated. “They do not know the consequences of their actions. Because of this, I decided to secretly follow them whenever they leave the house to travel in the void. Great Grandpa would always accompany me on this mission because, in our family, he was the only one that had the ability to travel the void aside from my daughters.”
“Is your Great Grandpa somewhere out there right now?” William asked.
He noticed that Chiffon was looking at a single point in the sky, but even if he did his best to look at where she was looking, he couldn’t see anything.
“Of course,” Chiffon replied with a faint smile. “But, he didn’t want to see you. So I came here to talk to you alone, and give you a warning. Just because you saw my daughters, that doesn’t mean that the future is assured. Do not be complacent, like the other Williams that have died in the other parallel worlds.
“Take note that the William of our world, didn’t meet Raizel, and didn’t meet Maple and Cinnamon. I only discovered the existence of the other parallel worlds because I followed them not long ago. However, when we arrived, the William of that world had just died, and Maple and Cinnamon were unconscious.
“When Great Grandpa scanned their memories, it seemed that they had tried to interfere with the battle and tried to save William, but they were knocked out by the Goddess that was responsible for the balance of the universe as a whole, Nemesis.
“She was the same Goddess that was sent by the Primordial Goddess to interfere in the battle between William and Ahriman should the former find himself in a disadvantageous position.
“For Nemesis, Destruction was just part of the cycle. Just like there is Life after Death, this too is part of the balance.
“However, when Maple and Cinnamon tried to interfere in a battle that wasn’t part of their own parallel universe, the Goddess Nemesis appeared and knocked them unconscious, before she took them to a safe place, away from the battle.
“In truth, she wanted to punish them, but after finding out that they were my daughters, she held back her hand, and allowed me to take my daughters back to our own world.
“However, before Nemesis let them go, she made sure to erase all of Maple’s and Cinnamon’s memories of the world that they had just visited.
“This was when she had discovered that the two girls had formerly met the William of this world, and interacted with him many times.
“Nemesis told me that my daughters may have broken the balance of the world, and caused its demise,” Chiffon said and her voice was filled with an unbearable sadness that made William’s heart ache.
“The worst part is that this is not the first time that it has happened. Several other worlds had already been destroyed, but Nemesis made sure to erase their memories, so that they wouldn’t have to suffer the backlash of their actions when they finally realized what they had done when they grew older.”
Chiffon then gazed at William and, this time, her gaze was filled with determination.
“Me meeting you here today is a form of atonement for the things that have happened in the past,” Chiffon stated with determination. “Although the previous worlds cannot be saved. I don’t want the same thing to happen to other worlds. So, please, do everything in your power to survive. Please, beat the Army of Destruction, and break the loop of destruction that has been caused by my daughters.”
Tears started to fall on Chiffon’s cheeks as she looked at William with a pleading gaze.
The Half-Elf’s body moved on his own, and before he knew it, he was already hugging the pink-haired lady tightly.
“Thank you for warning me,” William replied as he held the trembling body in his embrace. “But, if the other Williams, in the worlds that were destroyed, were the same as me, I can assure you that they didn’t slack off, even after seeing Maple and Cinnamon.
“They would not have allowed themselves to be too complacent just because they saw a possible future. I am sure, because I know more than anyone. Tell me, aside from your world, have you seen other worlds that have survived the Army of Destruction?”
Chiffon shook her head. “No. I haven’t seen a world survive, aside from our own.”
“Well, that is about to change,” William replied as he pulled back and gazed at the tear-stained face of the pink-haired lady who was suffering in front of him. “Watch us from the stars. I will show you a world that will survive the war against the Army of Destruction. When that happens, allow Maple and Cinnamon to visit me again, okay?”
Chiffon nodded as she wiped her tears away.
“I will look forward to that future,” Chiffon said feeling hopeful. “When that happens, I will let my daughters visit you again. So, make sure that you will make that future a reality.”
William smiled. “Okay. I will make it happen.”
On that fateful night, the Half-Elf made an oath.
For the sake of the present, and his future happiness, he must make sure that he would win the upcoming war, so that the pink-haired lady who had come from afar to warn him, would no longer shed a tear because of the worlds that were destroyed due to her daughters’ interference.