"Sena… Will you stay?"
The words hung in the air… no lips moved, no breeze carried them.
For a split second, the world of Elioudra seemed to have suddenly stopped for Sena. Frozen in its place…
As if the words crawled slowly, creeping gradually like a snail in slow motion, towards her ears, the voice whispered
"Sssss… eeehhh… nnnn… aaahhhh…"
right by her earlobes, thick, heavy breath clung like precious little secrets.
Her eyes blinked in eons… and as soon as her eyelids shut, and opened again — in fast, speed through momentum, the world around resumed to play like arrays of light going through lightyears.
She stumbled to the ground, her bottom slammed on the earth. She didn't have the nerve to catch herself with her arms.
She was terror-stricken to process what had just happened. Or about to happen…
A surge of fear submerged her.
Feeling threatened.
Vulnerable.
Anxious.
Petrified.
The solemn row of fallen royals appeared to have awakened. Her vision throbbed and blurred. Making the wings of each statue seem like it's thrashing.
And in a unified, cohesive, unison, blended voice with varying pitch and vibrato…
Will you stay?
Will you stay?
Will you stay?
Will you stay?
Will you stay?
Like a choir in sync.
Until it wasn't.
The high, low, alto, bass, soprano, contralto, tenor, falsetto voices of the statues meshed and scrambled altogether.
A cacophony of inhuman voices echoed and reverberated in her ears.
Until a high-pitched, ringing noise ───────────────
As if possessed by jarring echoes of voices, Sena's eyes rolled back upwards, lids twitching. Body jerking.
Her mouth opened wide… almost gasping for breath…
Her body seized and jerked on the grassland she fell on.
Slender stems, slithering, twinning, entangling her limbs. While the now shrieking voices thundered, inwards, outward, circling all around her continued.
Will you stay?
Will you stay?
Will you stay?
Will you stay?
Will you stay?
Her consciousness struggled to get a grip.
How could she?
She almost felt like giving up… until —
An echo slowly sneaked itself…
My Name is Sena Yukari. And I will live my third life to the fullest no matter what!
My Name is Sena Yukari. And I will live my third life to the fullest no matter what!
She recalled her vow.
My Name is Sena Yukari. And I will live my third life to the fullest no matter what!
She recalled her promise.
My Name is Sena Yukari. And I will live my third life to the fullest no matter what!
She recalled her purpose.
Her resounding self-preservation, determination, and resolve had repeated over and over and over again in her head.
No one's going to save me but me.
My Name is Sena Yukari. And I will live my third life to the fullest no matter what!
Her arms, despite quivering in instability, immense shock, trembling from the intense overstimulation happening around her, moved and wriggled itself off the vines that had crept up, tying her to the ground.
One by one, the vines snapped, split, cracked, fractured, allowing her to reach for her katana and finally break herself free from its grip.
The cacophony of inhuman voices still rumbled in gravelly resonance, deafening and intimidating.
But her eyes searched and focused on each statue foreshadowing her… and every single one is immobile.
She needed to cross this river, or be swallowed by Silvershroud forest and these hyenic row of malevolent figures.
Her perception became a lightning-fast saccade, frantically scanning, until it halted upon noticing a gap between Princess Linnea Ashriel and the hooded 8-winged angel, she swallowed and decided to cross the river there.
With heightened senses, and vision, she saw the grass that seemed greener on the other side as her only solace, and escape.
Before the vines tried to engulf her again, she needed to make a break for it.
She crouched down while balancing herself in a lunging position, one foot forward, she hissed as she drew in a huge amount of air to fill her lung.
She grinned her teeth, stiffened her jaws, tightened her thigh and leg muscles as she prepared to dash in between the statues.
Thrusting herself forward, focusing on the gap, her possibility of exit, she ran because she knew her life depended on it.
As fast as she can force herself.
She didn't flinch.
Didn't falter.
One sprint after another, she propelled herself even faster, casting a glance at the princess' statue — still immobile…
For a fractured second, she wondered if her mind was just playing tricks on her…
Until her feet felt the ragged, dry riverbed stones beneath them, she leaped—both feet pushing off before losing her balance and momentum—expecting to land in shallow river waters.
Instead, she was met by layers of what felt like soft fabric ripping against her body as she shot upward from her jump.
She tore through the barrier that has long concealed the forest, entering a liminal space.
And in the stillness of the moment, she realised she was suspended, mid-jump… hovering above the river's riffle…
A rift between Silvershroud forest and the other side - the rest of Azarette.
Like a plate cracking three ways, her consciousness separated from her physical body, simultaneously away from her two old souls.
Facing herself at a third person's perspective, she looks at her suspended female form, dread plastered across its face, like a marionette without its puppeteer. Eyes—wide, dead, unblinking.
Two human silhouettes; a man, and a baby — mirrored Sena's frozen pose. Like an echo of herself in itself.
Her consciousness wondered why it's apart from her soul… souls, and female form.
Delaminated.
Until it dawned on her where she really is.
She was in the in-between…
She screamed… or tried to.
That's my body! Those… Those are my souls!!! My other lives!!! That's me!!!
No voice. No air. Just the silent witness of her own unraveling.
No… No… NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!
Just a floating speck of consciousness.
I am Sena Yukari!
Don't take me away from me!
Stuck within the in-between. Formless. Obscure.
Trying her best to prove who she is—
I am Sena Yukari!
That's me!!!
This is me!!!
I am me!!!
Cracking under pressure, she doesn't know what to do to get her consciousness back to her physical form.
No clue as to how she can integrate her souls and consciousness back to where she's still.
She demanded…
I want my body back.
I want my soul back.
I want my SOULS BACK!
She persuaded…
I am Sena Yukari!
I have to get back! I NEED to get back!
This is my third life!
She begged…
I want my life back…
MY THIRD LIFE!
Please…
Give me back to me…
In desperation and anguish…
I AM SENA YUKARI AND I WILL LIVE MY THIRD LIFE TO THE FULLEST!!!
Through forced and etched feelings of annihilation, dejected, she heard the faintest sound flow through her thoughts.
Like a whisper, in unison, on both ears, she heard a voice…
"You can have Sena, but you can't have them."
Them?
She wondered.
Until…
Like debris caught in a black hole's centripetal force, her three states of being—physical form, ethereal echoes of past lives, and her very consciousness—coalesced.
An exchange was made.
Something she will no longer remember.
— — —
"Sena, wake up…" It started as a whisper…
A little too close to her ears, she thought she could almost feel its breath.
"Sena, wake up!" And the voice grew louder.
A hard, shell-like tip just grazed the corners of her ears.
"SENA, WAKE UP!!!" Until the shout has reached her.
The voice was a deep, guttural rasp, like gravel scraping against stone, with sudden shifts in pitch and tone.
A piercing, buzzing sound followed, ringing endlessly in her ears.
Her eyes twitched, struggling to open voluntarily.
Her vision tried to adjust to the shadow hovering above. She blinked rapidly, gently forcing her eyes open to see more clearly.
Eyes—wide, dead, unblinking.
A set of yellow eyes, devoid of life, daunting and sharp. A raptorial gaze, piercing and leveled with her own line of sight.
Sena's eyes widened. Her fingers jerked in an attempt to move, but she couldn't. She was frozen solid.
Eye to eye, a scowl stared at her… Just an inch away from her face.
Her thoughts raced, her breathing caught, suffocating.
What is that?! WHAT is that?! What IS that?! What is THAT!!!
A sudden loud sound from the splashing of water nearby broke the moment. It made her flinch, snapping her eyes tightly shut.
She instinctively covered her face with her elbows. Fear twisted her gut into a cold hard knot. She shivered for a moment.
Then she realized; she hadn't felt anything. She didn't bump into it. That thing that had just been in front of her… was no longer there.
Taking a deep breath, she forced her arms to unfold and stretched them wide as she turned onto her back.
Her eyes flew open.
The thing with the piercing gaze… was gone.
The firm, solid ground beneath her made her realize; she had lost consciousness for some time.
She felt distraught, disoriented.
She didn't know how she fell… or where exactly she was.
Turning her head to scan her surroundings, she saw the river nearby.
She was on the other side now… Across the banks of Silvershroud Forest, where the row of statues stood. Those of the fallen royals.
"Ah, I managed to get across…"