In This Life, I Will Be The Lord

Shan doubted her ears.

"Am I... going to die?"

Why have I?

She couldn't understand.

If she leave the forest, she'll die.

The precognitive dream was clear.

Her destiny is to leave this forest, fall in love with a man named Gallahan, and have a daughter named Florentia.

"You must have seen it wrong. That can't be true."

Shan shook her head and denied it. Please tell me exactly. What did my mother see?"

Soura said more groaningly over the face of her daughter, who had a hardened face than ever before.

"I received your obituary one winter. The obituary brought by someone who came to me outside the forest."

"Ha, but that could be a story after a long time."

"Besides, you have a very young daughter. She wasn't even a year old."

"I'm going to die less than a year after giving birth to Tia?"

"Did you even know the child's name?"

The edge of Soura's voice stood up.

Shan's daughter was also Soura's granddaughter.

However, the name of the child who would not even be born was nothing more than a noise she didn't want to hear.

"Forget that name. Because you won't have the child."

"Mother, those words...."

Shan tried to protest.

No matter how mother she was, she tried to get angry that she shouldn't say such terrible things.

But for a moment, her eyes were blurred.

At the same time, the landscape of the house they were talking about changed.

She was back in the bedroom she saw in her dream a while ago.

To the place where she smiled happily with Gallahan holding Tia in her arms in the warm sunlight.

Gallahan was still by Shan's side.

Right next to her, he was holding her hand and weeping.

"Shan..."

His face, messed up with cold tears, touched the back of her hand.

"Please, don't leave me behind."

He sobbed.

She wanted to tell him who was in so much pain.

Stop crying, I'm fine.

However, no voice came out.

So, as hard as she could, she tried to squeeze his hand, but only a few fingers moved.

But perhaps that was too much, it was getting harder and harder to breathe.

"Please, ah, please... Shan, no."

Gallahan hung on like a child.

He fumbled her face with his two hands, kissing her countless times, trying to somehow hold her by her side.

Tears that didn't know who belonged to were running down Shan's face.

She was going to say that I also don't want to leave your side.

If there is no sound, just the shape of mouth.

She wanted to convey that to him who was sad.

Shan reflexively reached out and grabbed Gallahan's hem.

At that moment.

"Gasp!"

What was held in her hand was the backrest of a hard chair.

Shan had returned to the present, the house in the forest.

"Do you get it now?"

Soura, who was watching Shan shedding tears while staring blankly in the air during the conversation, asked in a cold voice.

"Haa haa."

Shan, who couldn't come to her senses for a moment, roughly wiped away his tears.

"Why... Why am I..."

I'm definitely dying in the future.

I'm scared.

I'm scared and wanted to run away.

Soura, who read Shan's mind, said.

"Now you know, so you can avoid it."

Shan shook her head helplessly.

"Just as we avoided a flood that would have swept the village and took many lives, we can do it this time as well. You just have to make another choice."

Shan said nothing.

She just looked at Soura with empty eyes.

"...Go back to your room. I'm tired, so go to sleep and talk again after wake up."

Shan followed Soura's words.

Wobble.

With a weak step, she returned to her room and closed the door.

Soura, who stood a little longer in front of Shan's silently closed door, returned to her room.

And lay down her tired body.

There was clearly a sense of relief.

If Shan was stubborn, she was going to give order as chieftain of the Chara tribe instead as her mother.

She tried to keep her daughter here, even if she would lose her right to leave the forest for the rest of her life.

That was Soura's way of protecting Shan.

Soura, who fell asleep as if she had lost her mind, woke up in the morning.

She stood up, picking up her ruffled clothes.

The house was still quiet.

It happened yesterday, so it was only natural that Shan hadn't gotten out of bed yet.

As she last saw yesterday, she opened the door of Shan's bedroom that was still tightly closed.

"Shan."

She thought of waking her up and forcing her to eat.

However, Soura stopped as if she were nailed to the spot.

"...Shan"?

Shan was definitely lying in bed.

But at the same time she wasn't here.

There was no response even if she called her name over and over again and shook her shoulder.

Shan did not wake up from a deep sleep.

***

It's already been three days since Shan didn't wake up.

In a quiet room where only her daughter's breath could be heard, Soura sat quietly and stared at the bed.

Instead of having the same eyesight as others, she sees what others don't see.

That was Soura's ability.

And now Soura was contemplating Shan's emotions she was dreaming of.

In a dream of a brief future, Shan was happy.

Sometimes she felt sad and tired, but that was all.

Freedom, joy, satisfaction, love.

It felt like seeing a flower garden in full bloom.

"What's so good about it?"

Soura bruised her sleeping daughter.

"I told you not to leave the forest, but you ran away with this dream."

Soura, who muttered lonelyly, turned her head toward the quiet outside the door.

"Come in, Anai."

Anai, who usually stands as Soura's escort and follows her like a shadow wherever she goes, was guarding her side even today.

"Don't worry about Shan, Anai. It was just a deep sleep."

"Is she able to wake up...?"

Anai, who is now in her late teens, asked in a heavy voice, unlike her age

"She will."

Soura replied quietly.

Inevitably, sadness also appeared on Anai's face.

She had the power to pull out trees and swing them, but she was so helpless in front of the fate of the two most precious people.

Not being able to control her power, Soura, who accepted her for killing her parents, and Shan, who first reached out her hand to call her her sister, were also tormented that she could not help.

In the silence, Soura suddenly asked.

"You've said that before, Anai."

A bitter smile crossed Soura's lips.

"It seems that the superpower you have is a curse rather than a blessing, so maybe you are right."

"Chieftain."

"My ability, your strength to not know pain, and Shan's ability to see her own future."

Because each individual was a Chara tribe with mysterious magical powers, they were able to survive in this jungle until now.

It was the deep pride of Soura who led her tribe during that time.

But now she only resentful that power.

"Maybe we're all sinners. When I see us being punished like this."

Soura sighed deeply as she watched Shan's emotions sway with joy once again.

The price of the magical ability to see many things so far was considered to be the two eyes that had become darkened.

However, it seemed that the price was ridiculously insufficient.

Soura finally realized it.

***

The morning sun rises and the blue sky brightens.

Soura opened the door to Shan's room with quick steps.

Shan, sitting in bed and looking out the window, turned her head.

"Mother."

Shan laughed with a face that lost weight because she couldn't eat and drink properly for several days.

"Good morning."

Soura gave a lot of strength to the hand holding the doorknob.

She only said hello, but she could feel it.

She had the same smile, but in just a few days, Shan seemed to have become a different person.

It was bright but aloof.

Like a person who came back after seeing the end.

"You must have seen a lot."

"Haha, I slept for a long time, didn't I?"

It sounded like a drowsy nap.

"I think my abilities have blossomed once again. I feel like I can see a lot farther than before. Even if I don't have to fall asleep."

"That's...!"

"I know. It's not a good thing."

Shan smiled bitterly.

"Maybe, it's because I've decided to sacrifice more, right?"

"You, in the end..."

Soura's face was distorted painfully.

"I was going to listen to my mother. It's enough to avoid, I can make another choice. Since you said that. It's scary to die."

Shan scratched her cheek.

"I cried for a long time. It's funny. They're things I haven't had yet. I was so sad and lonely as if I had lost everything, and I felt like I was left alone. I cried a lot. Then I fell asleep."

"...How far did you see it?"

"It's all. Everything."

The answer of Shan was strange.

"And I realized it. I guess I'm incredibly lucky, mother."

There was even a sign of excitement in her voice.

"Lucky? Even if you are going to die?"

"But mother, I have been given the opportunity to choose. It's a chance to preview, feel, and choose between the two."

Shan laughed really happily.

"Now I know. How much he loves me and how he smiles next to me."

Even the body temperature that entangled fingers with the stiff steps that couldn't hide the trembling.

All remained vivid.

"I don't know how many years I'll be given, but I still want to make him happy. I want to make him smiles like that."

Waking up from a long sleep, Shan made a decision.

It was a ridiculously easy and natural choice.

"I will go, mother."

Because I'm in love with fate.

"I'm going to go to that person."