Chapter 343 Strong & Beautiful
How long had he run?
How far had he gotten?
Mark did not know.
Was he still running?
Had he collapsed?
Was he sleeping? Resting?
He couldn't tell.
He didn't want to rest.
He couldn't rest.n.-o(-v(/e..1(-b-/I./n
"She got you good, huh?" The darkness uttered.
It couldn't be seen.
Mark moved his head.
'Huh?'
"She really got you good."
The white-scaled Monster's right eye hadn't healed. The one Elisa had...
A shaking hand hovered in front of the Eye Mark couldn't see from.
He lay his hand on it.
The wound was still there.
It wasn't surprising. While fighting the Commander, he needed to heal many wounds, broken bones, and internal organs. Using the "Advanced Body Reconstruction" Magic Skill wherever he felt pain was the obvious way of healing without losing time or focus.
Still,
"That Commander was amazing, huh?" The Darkness noted.
Only then did Mark realize.
"She fought me... Without..."
"Without entering your obvious blind spot. How gross. Were the roles reversed, that's exactly where you would have aimed, right?"
The white-scaled Monster lowered its gaze to the ground.
The world was spinning.
The ground was wobbly.
He couldn't feel it against the sole of his feet.
He needed to sleep.
He couldn't sleep.
He needed to rest.
He couldn't rest.
"Coward."
He couldn't allow himself to rest. He couldn't allow himself to stop moving.
So he ran.
It hurt, everywhere.
His feet, his muscles, his lungs, his heart.
The white-scaled Monster ran through the pain.
It hurt.
And deep down, Mark was glad that it did.
Perhaps that was, partly, why he kept running.
"Spending time with Elisa really confused you, huh?"
"Shut up. Don't talk about her."
"Why not? You like Elisa, don't you? Why not-"
"Keep her name out of your mouth."
"She's beautiful, isn't she?"
The white-scaled Monster stopped running. Or did it?
"She is."
"What makes her beautiful?" The Darkness questioned.
Mark didn't answer.
"Come on. Say it."
"Everything. Everything... About her. Yet I... I..."
"You gained her trust. You put yourself on the line for her. Why?"
"Because..."
"Because she was beautiful?"
"Because she's beautiful."
"Wasn't Yarnha beautiful?"
"It's... Different."
"It is, huh? How so? How is it different."
"I... I can't tell. I... Don't know."
"You do know."
"I don't. I just like her-"
"You do know. She was beautiful. She was from the day you met her."
"She was."
"Let's talk about her."
"I don't want to."
"What are you going to do instead?"
"I'll keep running."
"Why?"
"I have to keep running."
"Are you running now?"
"I am."
"Even though you can't feel the ground?"
"I am running."
"Let's talk about Elisa."
"No."
"She's beautiful."
"Stop."
"She was honest. She was compassionate. She was understanding. She was... Light. Both on her feet, and in her soul. She was beautiful. She was pure, wasn't she?"
"She was."
"Animals love her, don't they?"
Animals? This isn't Earth. They're known as Beasts, not Animals.
"They do love her. Like That Elk... It didn't like me one bit. Animals... Do love her. Just like Kris-"
"She was gentle. And beautiful. But also fragile in a way, wasn't she? Like a-"
"Like... A flower."
"Like a flower. Delicate and beautiful. You can look at it. You can watch it. You can even touch it. But apply too much force and-"
"I don't... I didn't want to... I..."
"She was hurt. By those who brought you to his World. They killed her people. They enslaved her. They trapped her. They put her in a cage."
"By Raven... By Gaavah... By Nia... I'll definitely..."
"If you don't water a flower for a while, it'll eventually wither. It'll die. You know that, right?"
"I do..."
"But you found her before it was too late! You got there in time! Remember? That day?"
"She... Cursed more than I thought she would..."
"She did curse a lot that day, didn't she?"
"That day she said... She said that if I hadn't shown her Corruption Magic... She would have let me kill her... Can you believe that? Ha..."
"She did."
"Because of the Corruption, she said... Ha... She said... Haha... She said she would do anything... To keep me alive..."
"She did say that."
"She did..."
"She talked a lot, didn't she?"
"At times..."
"Nia was using the System to allow you to converse with Elisa."
"That's... True... I... Forgot about that..."
"She taught you a lot."
"A lot...? Now that I think about it... Maybe. Maybe it was a lot... That she taught me."
"You watched those northern lights together."
"We... Did. It was... Beautiful... I don't think..."
"You don't think... What?"
"I don't think..." His breathing growing unstable, his heart aching, and Mark noticed neither of them. "I don't think..." His throat fought back. "I don't think..." No, the words themselves fought back. Still, he wanted nothing more than to say them. "I don't think... I would have stopped to watch, were she not there..."
Silence.
Seconds? Minutes? More? How long had the Darkness remained quiet?
"She was hurt a lot. But she wanted to watch those nothern lights. She was hurt a lot, but she wanted to pet that Elk. She was enslaved, Corrupted, and trapped. Can you remember? Even on the day you met her, she smiled. How long had she remained trapped? How long had suffered? Even after all that, she laughed. Even though the World was against her. Even though others much stronger hurt her and destroyed her life, she kept looking forward to the future. She kept going. She kept smiling."
"She... She was... She's... Strong."
"She smiled despite all that. She laughed despite all that. She had the strength to look past those things. She had the strength to look at the future despite those things."
"She's..."
"She was...?"
"She was... Beautiful."
-Was-?
Why -was- and not -is-?
The Darkness talked about Elisa using the past tense.
And, at some point, Mark had been, unknowingly, dragged into doing the same.
"Strong and beautiful. Did you think you could become like that by staying with her?"
"I... I..."
"You..?"
"I... Don't know."
