A lost memory
After explaining to the general the situation I was in, for the rest of the trip he was silent.
He did not try to say anything, and I did not dare to say a word, even though I could see that he wanted to ask something.
'Gosh, this silence is going to kill me. What should I do to break it?'
I thought after staying in this awkward silence for more than an hour, luckily, the general was the one to break it.
"My queen, there is something odd in front of us."
'Finally!'
"What do you mean?"
"I can't say precisely because I am not able to see, but I think there is a dark mist in front of us."
"What you're seeing is mother skill. I don't know what it does, so it's better if you wait here."
I said as I got down from the spider general's back.
"My queen, I would prefer to accompany you! We never know what will happen."
"In normal circumstances I would say you are right, but after what happened, she will definitely be on edge, so it's not a good idea for you to come any closer than this."
"Honestly, I don't even know if this mist will let me go through in the first place; just stay there and help me if anything unexpected happens."
"...Understand that!"
"I'm trusting you."
I said before turning around and walking towards the mist, I already knew what that mist was, but what I didn't know was, will it attack me as well?
After waiting for a few seconds, I took a deep breath and walked in.
While walking through the mist, I could not feel anything, just the sensation of not being anywhere. No matter how much I walked, I kept on having the sensation of being in the same place.
"What is this place? Where is Mother?"
I kept on searching in that endless darkness for what looked like an eternity, unable to understand how much time had passed since I entered. I was just wandering aimlessly in that endless void.
After some time, I started to feel lost at first. I completely ignored it, but no matter how much I tried to ignore it, the anxiety and the doubt of being dead and abandoned were starting to grow in me. No matter how much I tried, I could not find an exit in that place.
"Did that mist really kill me? That can't be mother will never do something like this to her family."
"I so want to see you right now."
[Even if you see her right now, you will just get hurt.]
Suddenly a yellow screen appeared in front of me. It was something I had never seen before.
"!...Who are you! And what do you mean I would be hurt?"
[Who I am is not important. Eris the forgotten daughter of the offspring of chaos.]
"How do you know my name?"
[We don't have much time. If you want to know more, give her the sphere, and we will meet again.]
"What do you mean?"
Before I could ask anything more, I started getting pulled out of that place.
[Ah, I almost forgot, since she is still instable, she must not see your face; to avoid any unwanted problem it will be better to cover it.]
This is what the meccanica voice said before a beam of light hit me in the face, causing me to faint. When I woke up again, I was on the back of the spider general walking back home.
"W...What happened?"
"My queen, you have finally woken up."
"How long was I sleeping?"
"For around two hours."
"Explain to me what happened once I got inside the mist."
"Once you get inside the mist, nothing particularly happens. After an hour that you were not coming out of it, I started to worry and get close to the mist, but once I was less than one meter away from it, I got attacked by monster fangs made of shadow. I tried to fight back, but their numbers kept on increasing, so I was forced to retreat. Not long after I return to a safe distance, you get ejected out of it wearing that half mask on your face."
"Hmm?...Half mask!?"
"Yes, didn't you find it in that mist?"
"Let me see."
I connected my sight with the general, and indeed I was wearing a mask that covered my mouth and nose. I tried to take it out, but it didn't even move an inch.
'What is going on?'
I thought as I remembered what that mechanical voice told me.
'What are all these secret and things that i'm supposed not to know.'
Confused, I asked the general to go back to the mist wall. Even though he was reluctant, he obeyed my order. Once the mist was in sight, I told the general to go back to the palace and to prepare to welcome Mom and a room where she can rest as well.
After a long discussion, he eventually gave up.
After he went back to the palace, I tried a few times to enter the mist, just to keep on failing. Exhausted, I lay down and fell asleep.
"Krak, krak."
"Whoever is making these cracking sounds is kindly requested to stop it."
I said as I was awakened by the irritating sound of something breaking apart.
The cracking sounds kept going for a few minutes. Unable to stand it anymore, I stood up and tried to find the source. To my surprise, it was the mist wall breaking.
"What is going on?"
I tried to analyze the situation but got interrupted midway by a voice.
"Will it not be easier to turn it back to mist than to break it apart like this?"
"...Yeah, yeah, training. I still wonder whose fault it is for this extreme growth, eh."
'...Mother's voice.'
I could hear Mother's voice from the other side of the wall; not knowing what to do, I started to panic. Just before the wall was completely destroyed, I activated my stealth ability and attached myself to the ceiling so as not to be easily found out, even though I was not too confident I could last long before Mom found me out.
After following her for a few hours, mom started feeling uncomfortable, like there was something troubling her. I could not help but doubt if I was found out.
"This is so weird!!"
{What?}
I unconsciously replied to her question.
"The fact that there are no monsters, but I already told you that."
'Is she talking with somebody?'
"...Then who talked just now?"
{It was me!}
{I am up here!}
"What the fuck!"
After explaining all that happened, Mom seemed to have calmed down a little.
"I see. So for which reason did you want me here?"
{...To answer my doubts!}
"If it's something that I can answer, okay!"
She didn't seem to trust me completely, but not the contrary as well. Were it not for the mask, maybe things would be different.
As we walked to the palace, I noticed that the whole time she looked like she was having a discussion with somebody.
After showing her her room, I went back to mine just to look at the state of the orb.
I didn't even open the door; I could already see how intense the light coming from it was.
"For now I will sleep in another room; I will become blind if I sleep with such a light."
I ordered the maids to prepare another room for me to stay in for the moment.
And just like this, a week went by. In these days Mother has asked me multiple times whether we have met before; each time I tried to confirm it, the mask would make me answer in a different way, not completely denying it but not confirming it as well.
"I swear I'm starting to have enough of this mask."
"My Queen, is something wrong?"
The Spider general that accompanied me that day asked me. After he got controlled, he started working hard as my personal guard, even though I find it completely useless.
"Actually, I just feel frustrated because of this mask."
"Can you not just take it off?"
"Will I still be wearing it if I could take it off?"
"..."
While talking with the general, somebody knocked at the door.
"Who is there?"
The general said.
"Ah... It's me. May I come inside?"
"Please wait a moment; I will open the door."
I said as I opened the door to Mom.
"How can I help you?"
"W-well, I think I rested enough this week, so we can proceed with what you want me to do."
"Are you sure you don't want to rest a little bit more?"
"No, I still have a lot of things to do, and I don't want to cause more problems than I already did."
"Okay, then follow me."
While walking down the hallway, I started feeling anxious. I didn't know what would happen once Mom got in contact with the orb. I started to doubt if it was something she had to do.
"Anyway, thank you for your hospitality this week. It was the best week since I was born."
"No problem, the feeling is reciprocal."
Before reaching my room, we talked of random arguments; it was something I missed doing. I wished that moment would last forever
Time goes by, and eventually we reached our destination.
"Open the door."
I ordered the guard guarding my room to make way for Mom. The moment they opened the doors, we got blinded by the intense light coming from the barely visible orb.
The last thing I remember was seeing mother grabbing the orb. The next moment I opened my eyes, I was in a dark place.
"W-what? Where am i?"
[Finally we meet eris.]
"You...!"
[I Welcome you in the lost memory.]