“Do you still not remember who you are, Sky?”
“I told you, I do not know what you’re talking about! Please let us free, it is not too late for all of you to repent for your sins!”
A loud clanging reverberated in the air, with the fires that kept the dungeon bright flickering as if dancing with every chime of the bar that the prisoner in front of Evangeline kept hitting. Although there was only one prisoner, the jail she was in was even bigger than a house.
Perhaps it would be better to call it a cage, as it was right in the center of the dungeon, barred at all sides.
“The Resistance is meaningless, we are all brothers and sisters in this world, please!” The blue-haired prisoner once again struck her cage, causing it to tremble.
“Do you not even recognize your own daughter?” Evangeline then moved to the side, as Andrea walked near the cage, approaching the woman called Skylar.
“…Mother.”
“You again? I have told you so many times, I don’t have any children! I was born in the Circle!”
Hearing Skylar’s words, Andrea could not help but close her eyes in distress before looking at Evangeline, “Why is she like this, Evangeline?”
“…I do not know, child,” Evangeline shook her head as she let out a sigh, “Her powers are gone as well. Your mother didn’t like using your powers, so she always hid it. But this… this is beyond that. Right now, she is nothing but a human– a human that has been enhanced by the Circle.”
More than a month ago, weeks after Van and Charlotte left, the New Wall was attacked by the Circle. But due to the high-level System Holders that reside inside the Wall, the army of enhanced humans sent by the Circle was quickly eradicated. Those that were still alive were made prisoners, thrown to the prison that the Circle once controlled– the Pit.
There was one prisoner, however, that was separated from the rest. The majority of the members of the Resistance, as well as some of the Locals, all wondered why, but as soon as the news traveled that the woman was sort of a sister to Evangeline, they all stopped asking questions.
And now, with more than a month passing, Evangeline still has not figured out why Skylar was the way she is.
“Did you give up your powers, Sky?” Evangeline once again focused her attention towards Skylar, “Why? Why would you do that when we are so close to achieving the Original’s goal.”
“I still have no idea what you’re saying! I told you, I am part of–“
Before Skylar could finish her words, the sound of the doors of the spacious dungeon opening scraped through the air. Evangeline was about to raise her voice as she strictly ordered that none should come to this room, but when she realized who it was that entered, her face quickly relaxed.
“Evans, what are you doing here?”
“Evans… Evans!?” Andrea, who heard Evangeline’s words, quickly turned around and rushed towards Van as soon as he saw him, “You’re back!?”
“Hey, Andrea,” Van patted Andrea’s back as she hugged him.
“Did you just arrive? Have you finished traveling the world? What is it like?”
“Let’s talk later,” Van let out a chuckle as he gently pushed the clinging Andrea away, “I wanted to talk to… my mother.”
“Mother?” Andrea blinked a couple of times in disbelief as she slowly turned her head towards Evangeline, “…You mean Evangeline?”
Andrea couldn’t help but be bewildered. Before Van left America, he and Evangeline did not really reach a point where she thought that Van would even consider Evangeline a friend, much less a mother. For Van to call Evangeline his mother…
…did something happen while Van was traveling? Andrea thought before looking straight into Van’s eyes, “Are you sure?”
“Hm.”
With Van’s confirmation, the only thing that Andrea could do was nod her head, before heading out of the dungeon, “I’ll come back, mother.”
Van then turned his head towards the prisoner as soon as he heard Andrea’s words, “Is Skylar truly Andrea’s mother?” He said as he approached the cage, “Does she not remember anything? What about me, do you remember me?”
“You… look familiar.”
Skylar walked towards Van’s direction as she looked him in the eye, “We’ve met somewhere before?”
“Maybe. In the white room.”
“Wait, I do remember you! You were there but you suddenly disappeared… you were floating behind Mike! Are you part of the Circle!? Have you come here to save me–“
“That’s enough.”
With Evangeline snapping her fingers, Skylar’s body became as if noodles as she quickly collapsed to the ground. Van stared at Skylar for a while, before letting out a long and deep sigh, “Is she like you?”
“She is, but at the same time, she is not. I carry the Original’s will and memories, she does not,” Evangeline also let out a long and deep sigh as she grabbed one of the bars, looking at the unconscious Skylar with her eyes slightly trembling, “…She is broken.”
“Is she really Andrea’s mother?”
“Unfortunately so.”
“May I ask why both of you chose to settle in the Relic Graveyard? I know you must have gone to America because you came to know that Hermes’s body was being kept here.”
“Did the Goddess of Wisdom tell you that?” Evangeline then stepped away from the cage as she focused her attention on Van, “She is quite perceptive, is she not?”
“She is, maybe even more than you, mother.”
“…” With her being called mother once again, Evangeline could not help but slightly take in a short but very deep breath. But after a few seconds, her eyes which flickered once again returned to normal.
“She was the one who chose it, the Relic Graveyard,” Evangeline then said as she glanced at the unconscious Skylar, “I was already carrying you then, you see.”
“…You were already pregnant with me when you arrived in the Relic Graveyard?”
“In a way, you have been inside me for hundreds of years. When the Original and Hermes conceived you, your essence, your soul, your fate was transferred inside of me,” Evangeline said as she lightly touched her belly.
“Then why didn’t you give birth to me as soon as possible?”
“It wasn’t the right time. You needed to grow in the worst possible condition there was. Skylar found a home in the Relic Graveyard, while I found the best place to give birth to you.”
“Why?”
“So you could see what humans are innately capable of when they have nothing, when they are desperate, when they are deprived of the life they think they deserve,” Evangeline’s eyebrows slightly narrowed, “Our Father did not see the violence and greed in them, and now you are aware of what happened to us as the result– the beings that we once protected and let flourish, hunting us down to extinction.”
“But did you have to leave?” Van then summoned roots from the ground, making a chair for him and Evangeline, “Was that also part of it? Growing up without a mother? Growing up with a father that would do horrendous things to his son?”
“…” Evangeline closed her eyes as she heard Van’s words, “Not initially, no. I should have been there as well, causing you harm and abusing you because that would have been worse.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“Because a part of me has grown attached to you and did not want to see it!”
Evangeline’s words echoed throughout the whole dungeon, causing it to quiver as the light went and ignited again, “But that part of me is gone now, I have made sure of it. My part to play in your story is done, all that is left is for you to grow on your own now that you know who and what you are.”
“But you are my mother, right?”
“That’s…” Hearing her being called mother once again, Evangeline could not help but stutter. But after a few seconds, her eyebrows furrowed as she looked Van straight in the eyes, “What do you hope to achieve by doing this?”
“Mother?”
“Stop calling me mother when you do not mean it, son!” Evangeline then stood up from the chair that Van made, “I know you do not think of me as such, so why… why do you call me one now!? Do you wish to know of Hermes’s location, is that it!?”
Seeing Evangeline completely shaken up, Van let out a long and deep sigh as he turned his head down. Afterward, a small chuckle appeared from his mouth,
“You’re right,” Van said as he covered and rubbed his face, “I almost puked from calling you one.”
There was a slight flicker in Evangeline’s eyes as soon as Van’s words pierced her ears.
“I do want to know Hermes’s location, Evangeline.”
The tone of Van’s voice completely shifted, with the warmth it once held completely gone, “Let us come with you to retrieve his body from the Circle.”
“It is not that simple, Evans,” Evangeline turned away from Van, “Other factors that you are not aware of are in play. If you wish to waste your time instead of growing stronger, then just go to your human friends and join their irrelevant struggle.”
“Harvey and the others will be fine,” Van shook his head, “Let us help you in this. Let us use each other. You, me, the Olympians… we all have reasons to want to get Hermes back, Evangeline.”
“No.”
“He is my father, Evangeline. I have the right to at least set him free.”
“…” Evangeline could not help but look at Van again as she heard his words.
A second, or perhaps even a full minute, the two stared at each other. But finally, after a few more seconds, Evangeline let out a long and deep breath and nodded her head.
“Fine…
…then call the Olympians, we have much to–“
“About that, they are already waiting for you in one of the taverns.”
“What?”
“One of them insisted on setting up a small party for your reunion.”
“…In a bar?”
