Because her heart had been pierced, Isis collapsed powerlessly to the ground. Her breathing became extremely difficult, and a torrent of blood surged from her throat, spilling over her lips. Life itself seemed to drain away at that very moment. The blood flowing from her heart soaked into the earth. In her final moments, with eyelids half-closed, the golden image of Nona flashed before her eyes.
“Don’t struggle, Mama. It will be over soon.”
Beacai knelt obediently before her, allowing her white skirt to become drenched in Isis’s blood. Her smile remained radiant, like that of a charming girl next door, yet the few drops of blood staining her face lent her an unsettling, morbid appearance.
A chill snaked its way into Isis’s heart. Her gaze at Beacai was filled with resentment and fury, swiftly followed by profound helplessness.
Having fallen into the Evil God’s hands, her fate was merely to be toyed with.
Even so, for Beacai to make her forget Nona was an absolute impossibility.
Beacai’s form grew increasingly indistinct in Isis’s vision, and her consciousness gradually began to sink into darkness. At the very instant of her complete demise, Isis still softly murmured her child’s name.
“Nona…”
****
Opening her eyes once more, Isis felt the crisp morning air. Before her lay the exceedingly familiar scenery of a courtyard.
She had returned to the backyard of the small town residence.
“Mama, look! My new magic!”
At that moment, a youthful voice once again drifted from ahead. A silver-haired little girl excitedly ran to her, cautiously opening her palm to reveal a flickering flame dancing within.
Having done all this, she remained silent. Instead, she gazed at Isis with an expectant look, seemingly hoping for praise.
This time, however, Isis offered no response.
Isis rubbed her temples in agony, taking two steps back. Seeing this, the little girl tilted her head in confusion, softly asking, “Mama?”
“No, you are not my daughter…”
A lingering fragment of memory told her that the little girl before her was not her daughter at all. This was the Evil God’s dreamscape, a cycle of an endless illusion…
The moment Isis realized this, the ground began to tremble violently. Cracks appeared across the sky above, and all these signs indicated the imminent collapse of the dream.
Furthermore, the silver-haired little girl’s expression sobered. She extinguished the flame in her palm.
“…You remembered? That truly exceeded my expectations.”
From her words, Isis surmised that this dream had likely cycled several times already. Only this time had she finally remembered her daughter, thus shattering the Evil God’s illusion.
And so it was.
After the dream completely shattered, Isis slowly opened her eyes. A brilliant sea of stars greeted her, and with a slight turn of her head, she saw flowers blooming under the moonlight.
This time, she had truly awakened.
Raising herself from the sea of flowers, Isis felt a sharp pain in her neck. She reached up to touch it, discovering the lingering wound left by the Evil God Beacai.
Without a trace of divine power within her, she couldn’t even heal such a minor injury. She sighed, then painstakingly pulled herself up from the ground.
Due to significant blood loss earlier, this exertion caused her vision to black out, and her body uncontrollably swayed towards the ground. However, Beacai appeared suddenly and steadied her, preventing her from falling back into the flower sea.
Once her vision returned to normal, she pushed Beacai away, creating distance between them.
Beacai’s expression remained unchanged at this. With her hands clasped behind her back, she spoke in a slightly regretful tone:
“How annoying. I never expected that even without divine power, Mama’s soul wouldn’t weaken. Even I couldn’t alter your perception in the dream. It’s truly a pity.”
“Beacai…”
Isis murmured Beacai’s name softly, her voice laden with fury.
She understood what Beacai was implying. Altering others’ perceptions through dreams was a method Evil Gods used for brainwashing, and Beacai had attempted this divine art on her, albeit unsuccessfully.
Had it succeeded, she dared not even imagine the outcome.
She truly would have believed that the child she adopted was Beacai. For the rest of her days, she would have poured all her love into her.
Nona, on the other hand, would have been abandoned, perhaps even forced to stand against her due to the Evil God’s influence…
The mere thought of it was terrifying.
Yet, despite her anger, she was powerless to do anything to Beacai.
Moreover, this was the price of deceiving the Evil God. Had she not previously misled Beacai for the sake of her followers, perhaps this Evil God would not have been so extreme, choosing such a method to permanently brainwash her.
Fortunately, she would never forget Nona. That golden figure was the child she truly wished to protect.
“Nona, that’s her name, isn’t it?”
As Isis remained silent, the Evil God Beacai suddenly spoke. This caused a jolt in Isis’s heart, filling her with a sense of foreboding.
“What do you intend to do?”
“Just mentioning her name makes Mama so nervous? Her place in your heart must be irreplaceable, mustn’t it?”
Previously, Beacai had never paid any mind to the girl Isis adopted. Even after eighteen years of observing Isis, she still couldn’t recall the girl’s name.
However, this mother-daughter dream, while making her intensely envious, also etched Nona’s name deeply into her memory.
Isis sensed a dangerous aura in Beacai’s tone. Her right hand slowly clenched into a fist, and she gritted her teeth, saying, “If you dare lay a hand on her, I will never forgive you…”
“Mama, did you really think I would harm her? She’s your adopted child, after all. If I hurt her, you’d be sad, wouldn’t you? How could I bear to make you sad?”
Beacai innocently tapped her lips with a finger. Then, a smile played on her lips as she circled Isis, saying:
“But then again, she’s become a hero now. For self-preservation, I should eliminate her as soon as possible. With her meager strength, it would be difficult to escape my subordinates’ hunt, wouldn’t it?”
“Don’t you want to protect her?”
Like a demon from hell, Beacai’s voice was soft. Yet, her words drained even more color from Isis’s already pale cheeks.
If the Evil God Beacai were to act against Nona, Nona would undoubtedly be in grave danger. This would hold true even with her hero companions or the aid of other deities…
Fortunately, Beacai bringing this up was clearly a mere threat, not an actual intention to harm Nona.
“What… do you want from me?” Isis asked, her mouth dry.
Seeing this, Beacai walked closer to her, a hint of playfulness in her demeanor.
“Are you my Mama?”
“…Yes.”
Just as she had previously admitted her love for Beacai for the sake of her followers, this time, for her daughter, she acknowledged herself as the Evil God’s mother.
Not only that, but Isis also understood Beacai’s meaning. She wanted Isis to treat her like a mother would, just as they had interacted in the dream.
Upon hearing her admission, Beacai rushed forward and embraced her.
Suddenly embraced, Isis instantly lost her balance. The two tumbled into the sea of flowers, scattered petals covering them like a blanket.
Isis felt a wave of dizziness wash over her. Weakened, she wanted to reach out and push Beacai away, but she paused upon hearing Beacai’s murmurings.
“Mama, about the dream before, please forgive me. It was my fault. I, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just couldn’t control myself; I couldn’t stop wanting to live with you in that dream forever…”
“Having a Mama feels so incredibly happy. I only just realized that when I’m thirsty, all I have to do is call ‘Mama,’ and someone will hand me water. When I cover myself with a blanket to sleep, someone will kindly tell me goodnight. That small house can truly be called a home…”
Listening to Beacai’s murmurs, Isis felt a strange dampness spread across her chest. Lowering her head, though she could only see Beacai’s silver hair, she knew it was the Evil God’s tears wetting her.
Beacai’s arms tightened around her. With eyes closed, she seemed on the verge of drifting into a sweet slumber as time passed, her voice growing hazy.
“Thank you, Mama… I love you.”
Hearing this, Isis was momentarily stunned.
This was reality.
She had struggled arduously to break free from the dream and return to reality, yet Beacai seemed trapped within it.
Had she not shattered the dream, Beacai would likely have chosen to keep it cycling indefinitely…
As a mother, this was the moment to reciprocate her daughter’s love.
Gently stroking Beacai’s head, Isis replied:
“…I love you too, Beacai.”