Chapter 94

The old man floated in the lotus position, arriving right in front of Ella.

He observed her closely as if in a trance, then casually spoke.

“I am one of the practitioners who seeks truth through the cultivation of the spirit, delving into the roots of the collective unconscious. I am one who travels amidst this collective unconscious. That nameless child treats me so familiarly because they have encountered many like me before. I have no intention of harming you, nor could I even if I wished; so rest assured and listen to my words.”

The old man began by introducing himself and calming Ella.

“This place is the surface of the collective unconscious. It is a gathering of the unconscious minds of those who share the same culture and common sense.”

As Ella seemed to relax a bit, he continued to explain slowly.

“When you look at the night sky in reality, you see stars. However, that shimmering light is merely visible to the eye, while the substance is so far away it cannot be reached. This place is like that as well. The collective unconscious feels as if you’re looking at the night sky in a dream; it’s so distant you cannot reach it, filled with dark clouds and lights that deceive the eyes, making it difficult to even confirm the starlight. Yet, on a lucky day, you might see that starlight, and that is the surface of this collective unconscious.”

“Yes…”

“But while the surface is grand, it is not truly marvelous. It is merely a collection of fragments from many people’s unconscious minds. Just as corals gather over time to form an island, is that island alive? Can the island dominate the corals? This place is a separate space created by the accumulation of traces; you can cross over from dreams to here, but crossing back from here to dreams is a one-way street. While it may provide inspiration, it has no influence on individuals. However, you can observe their lives through their traces and, based on that, cultivate and train yourself.”

His words were full of metaphors.

Yet, for some reason, Ella felt a sense of understanding.

And perhaps the old man saw through that thought.

He paused in his explanation.

“I feel you understand to some extent. You are a cute child; is this sufficient?”

“Yep~”

However, despite the perky response from the woman, the old man seemed slightly unsettled, constantly stroking his beard.

“It’s not about digging deeper; merely understanding the surface to gain fragments of the witches’ collective unconscious is not quite a fair trade…”

“It’s okay! I don’t need it anyway. Plus, it helped Grandpa, so that’s good enough for me!”

Hearing her words, the old man seemed to make up his mind and spoke.

“No. The balance of the scales must be maintained, and what is exchanged must weigh similarly. Therefore, I will share useful words with you.”

The old man took several beads from his rosary and cupped them in his hand, then shattered them to unleash a flame.

The dancing flame moved around as if it were alive, rolling to the ground, bursting into sparkling embers, and began to circle around the old man and the sisters.

It twirled about, drawing lines and shapes, resembling an incomprehensible pattern.

“There will be a huge flame spread throughout the world. It will not originate from a single place but will ignite from countless sources, setting the entire world ablaze while barely keeping the breath of life intact.”

The old man gazed at the woman.

“You will live within that flame. That terrible pain will be covered by curiosity, and fear will be cloaked by the desire to explore, and you will only live that way. Even if the ends of your body are severed and you scream, you will not stop picking up the unknown; even if your sight diminishes to half, you shall never cease to crave wisdom, just like the one-eyed deity. You will surely receive that blessing from their land and have tasted those fragments.”

The old man halted mid-sentence.

Then, sealing his lips, he looked at Ella.

“It rolls just like a wheel, and fate rolls on. Just as a wheel rolling down a slope never stops until it reaches the bottom, even with bumps in the road, its massive weight will crush and disregard everything in its path to continue rolling. There is direction, there is a destination, and there is inertia. It will only stop upon reaching the singular goal of death, meaning there is only one future. However, the length of that slope may be brief and the wheel may roll with great speed, resulting in life’s end finally being severed.”

The old man said that much, then furrowed his brows and muttered.

“Yet fate is variable. A single grain of sand can halt a delicate mechanical device, and a vast waterway can also be altered by human hands. Fate has twisted, the predetermined has vanished, and the intertwined causes have untangled, giving rise to new possibilities. This is indeed the result of good deeds; those who gain new life from the blazing flame shall shine and ultimately blaze towards the future they will reach.”

He spoke until that point and then sealed his lips.

Before the old man’s eyes, the embers continued to move as if they had more to say, but he merely frowned, maintaining his silence.

After a long pause, he finally spoke again.

“The great obsession is preparing to leave its nest.”

He gazed at the woman with a distant look as if peering into another realm.

“Nameless child, I ask you, is it good to save someone on the brink of death?”

“Yes! Of course!”

“Then is it good to save someone who wishes to die?”

“Yes? That’s right. It’s good!”

“What is the reason for this?”

“Because the act of saving a person is, by itself, a good action?”

“If what you say is true, then the savior’s action is good, regardless of the intentions of the one being saved, and being saved from death is a good thing.”

“Huh? Is that so?”

“To save a life truly is a good thing; thus, I ask, if a beast desires freedom and inevitably meets death while continuing to suffer, is it better to grant that beast freedom or to keep it on a collar to save its life?”

The old man posed the question.

“The outcome will save its life, making it a good deed; however, the process and intent can differ. Thus, is it wrong to free someone who longs for freedom, leading them to lose their life, while it is right to collar them and save them? If saving a life is good, then is granting freedom not good, or is it merely lesser good?”

The old man gazed deeply into the eyes of the woman.

“If only the outcome matters, how can one navigate through life? If solely seeking good outcomes makes everything else unnecessary? Though the sky and earth are vast, when walking, one only uses the places where footsteps touch. Digging deeply elsewhere to reach the other side could hardly allow for walking!”

The old man approached the woman.

Time may have passed, for her body was growing faint and turning translucent.

It signified that the time to awaken was near.

“The usefulness of the useless. While it is true that the outcome matters, so do the others; thus, a good result and a good process yield the best outcome. There is neither more nor less, nor sharpness.”

“Grandfather?”

“You have given something precious to someone you have never met, and paid an exorbitant price for something trivial. This can clearly be considered kindness. As one who seeks truth, I can only reciprocate such kindness with kindness. Thus, I shall substitute the remaining price with a clever hint.”

As he was about to vanish, the old man whispered in the woman’s ear.

“When you awaken, there will be a benefactor waiting for you. You must say this before he speaks.”

With those final words, the world faded to darkness before Ella and the woman’s eyes.

*

It felt like floating.

Ella realized her consciousness was drifting upwards.

Unlike before, where she was falling into a black void, the opposite was happening now. The water pushed and pulled her spirit upwards as if it had hands, and the tiny light, once small, gradually expanded to illuminate her vision.

The white light transformed from a point to a plane, eventually creating a luminous space that filled her sight.

Finally, as colors were painted onto her vision like a watercolor painting, she realized she was staring at the ceiling of a hotel.

“Uh, uh?”

Despite the overwhelming joy of regaining her lost consciousness after a horrific abduction, Ella could only roll her eyes in confusion.

“Uh?!”

This response was due to her being completely naked.

Moreover, a similarly naked child was lying on top of her, weighing her down.

Additionally, adding to her embarrassment was a strange thread connecting the noses of both her and the child, leading to a needle stuck in her nose.

Ella found that the scene resembled a science experiment she did in class involving potato batteries.

‘But who is this child?’

A question arose.

Who, lying on her body and pressing her down, appearing to be an elementary school student, was this child?

Ella opened her mouth in an attempt to wake the child up.

But as if her intentions were communicated telepathically, the child opened her eyes wide and faced Ella.

Then, smiling with the same innocent grin she had seen in her dream, she said:

“Hi there? Big sister~”

With that bright, cheerful smile, Ella couldn’t help but shout her true feelings from the depths of her heart.

“Anyone can see I’m the big sister! You scammer!”