Chapter 38: Chapter 35: “A Debt To Be Paid”

Everything seemed to stop right there and then. Nerea on the bed with a knife in her hands, Naela and him looking shocked, their feet frozen on the spot as they stared at the horrifying scene in front of them.

Nebule had long awoken. She stared up at her sister in nothing but disbelief, her hands clutching the gaping wound on her neck, the blood staining her hands and her clothes. From the distance, it looked like blue paint, but the knowledge that it was blood made a terrifying and gorey image.

Nebule’s lips opened and closed yet no sound escaped her lips, only rasped gasping that caused even more blood to flow from the wound. One of hands reached out, grasping at air as she tried to touch her sister. Ai could see her lips forming the word “sister…” as she continued to gasp and twist in pain.

Naeya was the first to break free from her shock. Ai could only see a dash of her shadow. The next thing he knew, Naeya had already tackled down Nerea onto the floor, her talons pressing down on the siren’s throat. He could see murderous intent and how heavy she was breathing from the tension, anger, fear and shock. She was inches away from killing her lover’s twin, but Ai knew that Naeya couldn’t. He could see it by how much she was trembling. 

Nerea looked too much like Nebule. 

That was probably why she was unable to do that deathly stab that would end Nerea’s life.

Ai wanted to rush and separate the two, but giving Nebule medicine was more important. He took out the HP potion that he had and slowly poured over the wound. Since the HP potion wasn’t as effective as some of the really expensive or rare potions, it took a while for the wounds to start closing. Even then, he was scared that the wound would at least scar.

“You...why did you...Nebule…” Naeya stuttered, her glassy eyes staring unblinkingly at the siren pinned under her.

Nerea was silent. Her hand had lost its grip on the knife she used, the sharp weapon slid across the cold floor and landed just under the bed, its blade glinting slightly like a monster’s glowing eyes under a child’s bed.

Silently, she laid a hand on Naeya's wing but didn’t push it away. The gentle touch had the harpy shock. Her eyes moved from Nerea’s blank expression to the hand on her wing. 

The moment of hesitance was enough for Nerea to escape. 

“You can kill me.” She said. Her body language and expression was eerily calm for someone who had just brutally injured her twin sister. The twin she said she was grateful at. “But if you do, you will never escape. You’ll be imprisoned and then executed.”

“You think I care for -”

“And my sister will die.”

Nerea walked towards the knife that she had dropped and picked it up from under the bed. Now closer, Ai felt that something was odd. Nerea felt odd. Though she didn’t look like she was feeling much of anything with her serene expression, Ai could sense that there was something more than just...this.

“There’s a curse poison in the blade.” Nerea lifted the knife to reveal a strange glow surrounding the blade that was barely visible. She didn’t even glance at her sister, her eyes were only on Naeya. “As long as she stays in Oceanus, the curse will eventually take her life.”

The more she spoke, the more terrified and panicked Nerea became. Her entire body was visibly shaking now.

“You can stay here, kill me and both of you will die as well. Or...you can take my sister far away from here. There’s a passage just behind the bed that will take you outside. Your choice.”

 

***

 

It wasn’t a choice at all. Naeya didn’t hesitate as she took Nebule on her back and carried her out through a small passage opening that was unlocked by pushing the heavy bed away from the wall. Naeya was in a hurry, but Nebule...Ai saw her turn back once more to look at her twin and he saw nothing but pain, longing and confusion in her eyes.

As for Ai, he needed to stay. There was something he needed to confirm about all of this. From the moment he laid eyes on Nerea standing over her sister’s wounded form on the bed, he had sensed that there was something not right. His mind kept replaying the words that Nerea spoke before.

I will never forget that day that my sister gave me a new life. I went to many places, learned so many things. They were all things she gave me while she rotted away in this cursed place.”

That didn’t sound like the words of a vengeful sister. Though hard to notice, there was love in those words. Love, gratefulness and bittersweet pain. Nerea didn’t hate her sister, that Ai was sure of. 

It’s time I do the same.

Nerea wanted to repay her sister. Repay for what she had done for her and she believed that slashing her sister’s neck was the way to do it. 

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How…?

After both of them sealed the secret passageway back, Nerea’s shoulders slumped and a quiet sigh escaped her lips. She longingly stared at the wall for a few more moments before taking a seat on the bed. Ai, still unsure about what truly happened, slowly took a seat beside her. Nerea glanced at him through the corner of her eyes and finally smiled.

It wasn’t a happy smile. It was bittersweet.

“Will this be enough, I wonder.” Nerea whispered, her voice shaking and she was nervously squeezing her fingers and the cloth of the bed. “Will she finally be free?”

The gears in his head began to turn as he thought to himself. Nerea wanted Nebule to be free. Free from the siren castle, Oceanus and Oceana. Yet how could she escape completely without the sirens looking for her whereabouts and Oceana still possessing half her soul? 

The slash on her throat…

Nebule’s voice. Without her voice, the sirens and Oceana didn’t want a priestess who couldn’t sing. They had no need for such a priestess. Still, he wasn’t completely sure if Oceana even left Nebule’s body it was a tough concept to grasp since he didn’t even know what exactly Oceana was at this point. Was she a spirit who attached herself to the current priestess’s soul, or she was another part of the soul that couldn’t be removed?

Nerea saw the doubt in Ai’s face and gave him a reassuring nod. “I can feel Oceana’s soul inside me. Since Nebule and I are twins, her spirit attached itself to both our souls. Now with Nebule useless to her, she resides completely in me. Even now I can feel her fighting over control.”

“Will you be okay?”

Nerea seemed to think about it for a bit then nodded firmly. “Yes. My sister is free and I can repay my debt by taking her place. But I won’t let myself be controlled. I visited many places and learnt many things during my time outside. I have prepared myself for this exact moment.”

Was this where this story quest ended? It didn’t seem like a proper ending at all. Naeya and Nebule stayed together, but neither of them could go back to their homes ever again, not as long as they wanted to stay together. Even if they separated, only Naeya had a place to go back to, Nebule had none. Nerea was stuck taking on the identity of her sister and would forever live a life where she could never see her sister again and would never taste freedom outside of the walls. Even the sirens in general, as much as they longed to return to Atlan, the once beautiful mermaid kingdom was no more. 

Could there have been more things he could’ve done in this quest? He felt that his role was quite passive in this quest...was there something he could’ve done? Something that would enable all three parties to reach their happiest ending…

Yet there wasn’t. He was at the end of the story, he knew that.

Nerea took the brown cloak that she wore before when she was just a simple nameless NPC. She dug through the pockets and pulled out something Ai had completely forgotten about.

“My reward to you mediator.” Nerea said, her voice gentler than ever before. 

She laid the two scrolls in Ai’s hands and touched the middle of his forehead with her forefinger.

“Please, carry my identity in your memory. Though I know I must give it up, I wish for someone else to remember my name. Take my name and explore the world. I have already explored plenty yet I am greedy and I want to see more. I cannot burden my sister, so I must trouble you.”

Ai was frozen on the spot. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Nerea’s lonely form. He had never seen her this way, she had always been calm and quite expressionless. He still felt like there was more things he could’ve done, but to Nerea and her plea he could only nod and clutch the scrolls in his hands.

You completed the siren main quest [Sisterly Debt]

Completion rank B

Obtained [Siren Scroll of Language 1]

Obtained [Siren Scroll of Language 2]

 

 

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