SANCTUM'S END (IV)

A complex expression danced through Eldon's face, his lips faintly quivering as he traced his fingers over the cool surface of the coffin-like enclosure. She appeared so peaceful, lying there, as though she were asleep. No, in a way, she was asleep. Perhaps not the most common, usual one, but the only one she could afford.

"Status?" he mumbled lowly, turning toward the center of the translucent gla.s.s whereupon a set of screens appeared, each depicting one of her vital signs.

"The patient is stable." a robotic voice replied soon after.

"Any regression?" he continued.

"The patient is showing no signs of regression," the robotic voice replied once again. "Metastatic cells aren't spreading, but they aren't retreating either."

"Any changes to the prognosis?"

"No -- the prognosis remains the same. At the current rate, the patient can be sustained for eighteen years, five months, twenty-four days and eleven hours before all chances of rescue are lost."

"... thanks."

"I am at your disposal, at any time."

Eldon sighed, glancing to the side where Alana was still staring at Biyung's face, the former's terribly sad. He felt a pang in his heart as he laid his eyes on hers; they were much too young to experience such pain, yet, there she was, in as much, if not more, pain than he. After all, he had good two decades with Biyung; Alana, on the other hand, had barely spent seven years with her mother before she, for all intents and purposes, lost her.

"You okay, kiddo?" Eldon asked, reaching out and patting her head. Alana lowered it, low sounds of snuffling echoing throughout the small room.

"... it's unfair." she mumbled.

"Aye, it's unfair." he nodded.

"She's... so young," the young girl continued. "And she was healthy, right?! She followed everything properly!"

"..."

"... so... why? Just why?"

"... I don't know," Eldon said, sighing and crouching down, bringing himself to the girl's eye level, forcing her to look at him. Her silver eyes had turned a shade redder, the corners worn out slightly due to tears. "Sometimes -- no, most often, really -- things like these... don't make sense. Try as we will, we just keep on swimmin' in the dark. So, instead of delving into the past... let's look toward tomorrow, alright? She'll become better, Alana. I know it."

"... and what if she doesn't?" the girl asked defiantly.

"Then we'll escort her gracefully and properly," he said, his smile turning into a painful one as he rubbed the girl's silver-cast hair, causing it to flutter slightly. "As she's earned."

"..." Alana perched her lips together as they quivered; unable to hold it in, she cried out and rushed into Eldon's chest, burying her head in them. He remained still, simply hugging her back tightly and holding her.

"Come on, kiddo," he said as their hour was nearing the end. "Let's go grab a bite."

"Hm." Alana nodded obediently, wiping her eyes.

Eldon took one last glance at the figure in the enclosure, sighed, and left. Meanwhile, left behind were two ephemeral visages, smoke-edged figures of the beyond. Ataxia, his age showing through the graying hair and beard, and Lino stood side by side, both looking at the figure in the coffin. Lino recognized the make immediately -- it was almost a picture-perfect copy of the one he found Umbra in.

"... so, that's Biyung, huh?" Lino mumbled. "The same one?"

"... in a way." Ataxia replied, his voice pained.

"... this place," he said. "Is... surprisingly ordinary. At least akin to something within the vision of my imagination."

"... this is the low-end area of a small city," Ataxia chuckled. "Most of what defined us as a species is nowhere near here, I'm afraid."

"What is wrong with her?" Lino asked.

"... it's similar to what the Dragons in the Isles underwent," Ataxia replied. "An accelerated growth of the cells that refused to die, mutating into tumors that eventually eat the body inside out."

"No cure?" Lino asked curiously.

"There is, but not for the fourth or the fifth stage, when the initial growth spreads to the other parts of the body and slowly stars shutting down the body's functions," Ataxia said. "Unfortunately, we were unable to catch it before it evolved that far. She seemed... eerily fine beforehand."

"... your reaction to her when I first met her," Lino mumbled. "Is starting to make sense."

"... it isn't anything profound," Ataxia explained. "I just... failed to save her, Lino. I could have, truly. But, instead, I chose to save Alana. And, yet, in a way, I failed in that too. Biyung you met... was... ahh, she was a failed attempt of mine. Alive, yet... not. A strange form."

"... so, she was right, then. That she's a mother to all Primes, I mean."

"Abstractly, perhaps," Ataxia said. "But, I hadn't even begun restoring her body by the time I'd converted all Primes."

"The robotic voice?" Lino glanced at him with a smirk.

"... ha ha," for the first time since he'd met him in this form, Ataxia laughed freely, scratching his head. "Yeah, I picked it up from the technology A.I.'s from my world. I did try using my normal voice a few times, but n.o.body could get accustomed to it. Besides, using a robotic voice... masked well who I really was."

"... and who are you?"

"... just an ordinary person, Lino." Ataxia said after a brief stare-off, smiling lightly. "Who lucked into the threads of the cosmic fate."

"Hm..."

"Come on," he said as the scene dissolved. "More of the story awaits us."

Alana sat patiently in the corner of a small restaurant, glancing around the immensely packed tables. The floor beneath her, as well as the walls the ceiling around and above, were abyssal, pitch black, with the galaxy formations spreading widely, s.h.i.+ning resplendent light. The entire set made it seem as though they were dining in s.p.a.ce and sitting on the stars instead of chairs, yet Alana could never quite get accustomed to it. Even now, whenever she walked across the floor, she felt getting sick.

Eldon came back a few moments later, carrying two trays of food and two bottles of drinks with him. Her lips turned into a pout as she saw him walking over the abyss with confidence, not stumbling even once.

Putting the trays down on the table, which was in the shape of a black hole, he pushed one over to Alana, quickly picking up the food from his own. It was Myther's staple food, Feryor Chicken fried in the Deep-sea oil with the far Southern spices sprinkled in the mix. It was slightly spicy, but just the right amount for the two.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Eldon asked, chewing the soft chicken's breast. "Why aren't you eating?"

"--how are you walking over the floor so easily?" Alana asked, frowning.

"Eh? Pfft, ha ha ha ha...."

"W-what?!! What is it?!! Stop laughing!!"

"Ha ha ha ha, oh my G.o.d, is that what got you all pouty? Ha ha ha ha, that's adorable..."

"S-shut up!! Grr, I wish I'd never asked! Humph!"

"Ha ha, aww come on, don't be angry," Eldon said, barely stopping himself from further laughter. "It makes sense, no? I look into s.p.a.ce on a daily basis, and the actual s.p.a.ce is far, far, far emptier than this. It'd be strange if you could walk normally when we come here only like twice a year."

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"... b-but still..."

"What? You that disappointed that your old man can do something you can't?" he grinned, taking another piece of the chicken and downing it with a mouthful of bubbling orange juice.

"... humph, fine, be gleeful about it," Alana mumbled, starting to eat as well. "You rarely get an opportunity anyway."

"... aye, and I couldn't be prouder," she blushed all of a sudden, her eyes widening as he looked up. "Ah, don't look at me like that, kiddo," Eldon shrugged. "What father would possibly want to be better than his kids, huh? Every day I thank the heavens you took after your mom instead of me, you know? Your brilliance... sets me at ease. I know that, no matter what... you'll do just fine."

"... y-you... how can you say that stuff without getting embarra.s.sed?" she stuttered, hiding her face in the food.

"What do I have to be embarra.s.sed about? What? If you want, I can start shouting that I have the best kid in the world right here and now, so that the entire world hears."

"DON'T YOU DARE!!"

"Pfft, ha ha ha ha ha..."

"you... you are really terrible, you know?!" Alana once again cowered behind her food, her blush deepening in the shade.

"Aww, come on, I'm not that terrible," Eldon chuckled. "Alright, hurry up and finish. Let's take a walk; it's been a while..."