Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - chapter 124
Chapter 54: The reason I can’t go home
“Rion!!”
“Gah… ha…”
I was on the verge of hyperventilating in panic, but when a huge shock hit my back, I finally remembered how to breathe normally.
Even so, I can’t stop shaking. I feel like my fingertips are freezing. I feel unsteady, like I was going to collapse at any moment.
I heard a ‘tsk.’ sound, and someone grabbed my shoulder firmly to support me. It hurts a little, just like when I got hit on the back, but I’m a little grateful for that pain now.
“Promethea! Can you hear me!? If you can hear me, come down quickly!”
The earth god screams at the sky.
No, there’s no way she would come down like that??
“?Rhea? What happened?”
… Like that, I thought. But the God of Creation appeared from a glowing pillar of light that pierced the heavens and earth. I wonder if it is easy to call out to each other if they are both gods?
As I was thinking about these things, I felt a light tap on my back, as if I was being pushed out.
“Promethea, answer Rion’s question. Don’t try to mislead.”
“Do you have a question? What is it?”
Ugh… She left the talking to me. Even though I didn’t have time to prepare my heart…
However, I’m sure that putting it off until later won’t be of any benefit. Maybe it would be better to just hear it now, before it piles up more than it does now and I start to sink into a bottomless swamp.
I swallowed thickly, gathered my strength in my stomach, and finally posed my question to the creator god.
“… Creator God, what happened with my original body…?”
It’s alive or it’s dead.
Although I was prepared myself to withstand either answer.
But the answer… Was something I had never imagined.
“Rion’s original body, huh? I’ve just been paying attention occasionally, so I don’t know exactly what it’s doing at the moment, but about 20 days ago ‘It was playing games happily’.”
“I see, its was playing games happily……………… What?”
Games?
There’s no way that it can play games if it’s dead.
Similarly, it can’t play games if it’s stuck in a hospital bed, and even if it was able to, she wouldn’t use ‘happily’ to describe it;
…… Eh? Is my body still alive and moving even without a soul? Really what’s going on with my body?
When I was stunned, unable to understand the situation at all, the Earth God continued to ask questions on my behalf.
“Hmm, happily…? Promethea, didn’t you pull Rion’s soul out of her body and bring it here?”
“? I didn’t pull her soul out?”
“”Eh?””
“Did I said something like that…” The creator god tilted her head, but now that I think about it… I don’t think I’ve heard her say anything like ‘I pulled your soul out’?
When I looked at the earth god, she looked apologetic and said, “… I’m sorry, I might have misunderstood.”
But… If she hasn’t pulled out my soul, then what is the logic behind ‘my current soul’ being here?
My original body is in the original world, and my soul is there as well.
That means… In other words…
“My current soul is… A duplicate?”
… It’s like some sci-fi work.
Although the body is handmade by a God, it’s an artificial one.
Although I can’t say that even the contents are fake, they aren’t exactly real.
In such a state, can I really say that I am Akizuki Rion …?
The idea was so disgusting that for a moment I felt an unpleasant floating sensation, as if I was falling down, but that thought was immediately denied by the creator god.
“No, Rion. You are not a duplicate.”
“… Then, does that mean the ‘me’ over there is a duplicate…?”
“That’s not true either. Both are ‘real’…”
While I was having trouble swallowing that information, the creator God paused for a moment, perhaps to choose her words, and then explained.
“Imagine the soul as something like a flame. Even if you put wood into a roaring furnace and light it, you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart because they’re both flames, right?”
…… I see?
If that’s the case, then the only difference is the burning material… The body, which is the vessel for the soul, right?
Well, I still don’t really understand it, but when the Creator God assured me that I am ‘real’, I felt a little better.
“Then, what do you mean by saying that I can’t return to my original world?”
“That’s because there’s a Rion over there too. Even though they are originally the same soul, their paths have already diverged and they are living different lives. If they are integrated… There is a very high possibility that you will develop a personality disorder.”
It’s like when you mix red and blue paint, it turns purple.
If that’s the case, if you can prepare a body like in Asteria’s without merging… How would she prepare one? It doesn’t seem like the Creator God would be able to use her powers in that world, and even if she could, my family and friends would be in trouble if I suddenly increased to two.
In other words… It was confirmed that I would not be able to return home.
Haa, I let out a deep sigh.
As expected gambling in the chance that I can return, is so risky that I don’t want even try. If I really want to go back, if there’s a reason I have to go back no matter what is another story, but I’m not dead or in a vegetative state ?? Now that I know that I’m not causing any trouble to my family, forcing myself to go back would actually cause unhappiness.
I’m relieved that I didn’t cause any trouble, but… It still hurts my heart.
“… Promethea, you should think more before you act…”
“Yes… I see. I’m sorry, Rion.”
Did it look like I was in a lot of pain while holding my chest? The Earth God complained to the Creator God, and the Creator God obediently bowed her head.
All I could do was weakly reply to the creator god, “… It’s okay.”… Sorry, but it’s a little difficult to smile now.
“Ah, Rion, she come to pick you up.”
“… Pick me up?”
When I looked in the direction the earth god indicated with her chin, Uru was standing a little far away.
The creator god came down. It isn’t strange to her think that something happened, I guess she read the atmosphere and didn’t call out to me like usual.
“You should go back and rest. You look terrible.”
“… That much?”
I try touching my face, but I can’t understand.
There’s already a mirror in the bathroom, but I wonder if it would be more convenient to make a hand mirror, that thought out of place like that crossed my mind, I wonder if that means that actually I have more leeway than I thought or that I’m a miko through and through, I wonder which one it is.
In any case, just as I was about to accept her words and return, the Creator God spoke.
“Rion, it seems like you were worried earlier about whether you were a duplicate.”
“…?”
“It’s not something that I, the person who caused the confusion, should say, but I think it’s a trivial matter, such as whether you’re the real or a copy.”
“My miko is you in front of me right now. Not that Rion over there. Of course, I am grateful to that Rion, too, but… What is more important to me is you.”
…….
I guess that’s why I can’t hate the creator god.
While feeling bitter toward my simple self, for better or for worse, I turned my back to the two gods and walked towards Uru, who was patiently waiting for me,