Interlude 1: Lemn
“The Holy Empire of Dolkness, huh? ...Hm?” Yumiella Dolkness muttered, only half awake. She shook her head against her pillow, a little confused by her own words, and furrowed her brow, dredging up the vague memory of the conversation she had been having in her dreams.
“She remembers,” Lemn the god of darkness said, his face souring into a look of displeasure. “It may be too much of a risk to gather information through her dreams. It appears I have no choice but to meet her in person.” It was rare to see Lemn without his perpetually affable smile.
For her part, Yumiella was focused on her attempt to recall the details of her dream, and she took no notice of Lemn’s presence. It was, after all, unsurprising that she would be unable to sense someone lurking inside her own shadow, as Lemn was now, observing her.
◆◆◆
Lemn had first begun observing Yumiella ten years ago.
Long before her name had spread throughout the kingdom, Lemn—who was the god of darkness, but also managed dungeons—had sensed an abnormality. Dungeons aided the flow of magical energy in the world, kept dangerous monsters corralled in designated locations, and provided humans with useful magical instruments—in short, they played several important roles in the ecosystem of this world.
The dungeon in which Lemn had sensed an abnormality was one focused on sequestering exceptionally dangerous monsters; it was much too perilous a place for humans to go dungeon crawling. What awaited anyone foolish enough to enter this dungeon were ferocious dark-type monsters, nefarious fiends that hid in the shadows, and worst of all, a spirit of death called a Dullahan that lurked in the deepest level. Yet somehow, despite all of the danger, this impenetrable fortress had been cleared from top to bottom multiple times.
Such a feat might have been possible to complete just once. If one were aided by fighters as strong as the champions of old...perhaps at least four of them, with their incredible strength as well as the utmost preparation, it might then have been possible to clear this dungeon, especially if one of the champions in question were a user of light magic.
Even assuming it were possible to gather such champions, this team would be risking their lives—it would be a once-in-a-lifetime battle, with death the most likely outcome. As a god of darkness and dungeons, Lemn would have praised champions such as those, heroes worthy of legend that he’d never see the likes of again until the end of the world, whenever that end might come.
However, the dungeon in question, located in an area that humankind called Dolkness, had been cleared multiple times.
This is impossible! Lemn thought to himself. No, this can’t be right. When he arrived to investigate, Lemn found no champions of light, no heroes of old, no one at all but a lone child. She was an expressionless girl who looked to be barely seven years old, sporting the same black hair and eyes he did.
The first time Lemn saw Yumiella, she was locked in combat, equally matched with the Dullahan. It was an intense battle, and Lemn, who wasn’t very skilled at fighting, struggled to keep up with what was happening as an observer. The young girl appeared to always have the upper hand, consistently landing dark magic attacks on her opponent as she slowly wore it down, narrowly dodging the monster’s attacks.
“Impossible...” Lemn murmured as he watched the battle unfold. “Is she really human?”
The young girl was incredibly out of place in the depths of a dungeon, and there was no doubt that she was a human. A completely regular human; moreover, a completely regular human child, barely geared and entirely alone. The unlikeliness of the situation bordered on the absurd.
If this girl were to continue in this way, she would eventually surpass the capabilities of a human—or rather, she might have already done so. If this was the extent of her strength, perhaps there wasn’t a human alive who could stop her if she were to go on a blind rampage outside a dungeon.
Similar thoughts swirled in his mind as Lemn continued to watch the battle, until there was a sudden change in the course of the fight.
“Hey, look out!” Lemn exclaimed reflexively, despite the fact that no one could hear him from his perch within the shadows.
The Dullahan, an imposing figure mounted on the back of a surging horse, swung its sword down from its position on high, and the blade grazed the girl. The great sword was several times longer than the child was tall, and even the smallest nick from such a large blade would have shortened her life. The resultant blow was a mortal one: the girl was knocked back by the attack, and she slammed into a stone wall before falling to the ground. Her right arm had been cut off at the shoulder.
“Oh no, it looks like she’s dead,” Lemn observed, a little dispassionately. “Hmm...maybe it was for the best.” Even though he was witnessing the death of a human child, the emotion that came over the god of darkness was something like relief. Upon consideration of a future in which this girl might grow up to become an enemy of the world, her dying here seemed like the best outcome.
Well then, let’s move on, Lemn thought. Time to figure out how an anomaly like this girl came to be. As he prepared to emerge from the shadow in which he’d been lurking, he felt something was off.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he called out to the Dullahan. The headless knight was acting strange, still holding itself in battle-readiness, still sensing a threat. Lemn, as its kin, could tell how it was feeling—the Dullahan was afraid of something.
What would a monster that’s death itself have to fear...?
“That hurt a little,” complained a small voice. Lemn had been so certain that she’d breathed her last, yet still she spoke. Though he knew he wouldn’t be discovered, Lemn still found himself holding his breath from within the shadow.
“Ugh, it’s hard to walk without an arm,” she grumbled, glaring disapprovingly at her limbless shoulder.
The amount of blood she had lost was enough to kill her twice over. Even now, the wound was spurting blood with every step she took. Although she griped that it was hard to walk, she still made her way closer to the Dullahan without stumbling. She took one step, then another.
“Oh, it feels like I’ve lost less blood than the last time I lost my left arm,” she observed thoughtfully. “I wonder if that’s because the heart is on the left side. But the angle of the cut was different this time, so I’m not sure...” As the girl continued her grotesque conversation with herself, something began to change.
The shoulder from which her arm was sliced off began to protrude, and her arm seemed to telescope back into place while letting out a horrendous sound. The blood that had spewed across the ground began moving of its own accord, merging into itself like an amoeba and gathering itself up towards her right arm as if it were being sucked back in by some invisible force. The girl lifted up her now completely regenerated right arm and pointed at the Dullahan. In the dark dungeon with her face covered in shadow, only the whites of her eyes and her teeth were visible, and they shimmered eerily.
“Hey, you, aren’t you a dungeon boss? Cut off your head and... Oh wait, you’re already headless. Never mind.”
◆◆◆
“Ugh, just remembering it gives me the chills.” A cold shiver ran down Lemn’s back as he recalled the terrifying ferocity of seven-year-old Yumiella.
Ever since that slightly traumatic incident, Lemn had continually observed Yumiella. She had an immense power that could destroy the world—and as a god who looked after this world, it was only natural for him to be cautious of her.
In Yumiella’s dream the previous night, Lemn had asked her subconscious a question. He’d asked if she’d ever wanted to kill someone, or if she’d ever wished for the destruction of the world. Yumiella had answered a resounding “no” to both of these questions.
Immediately after answering, however, Yumiella’s consciousness had prepared to awaken. Her sleep had become shallower, and she’d begun to take notice of Lemn intervening in her dream.
“I wanted to at least figure out a weakness of hers, but oh well,” Lemn said with a shrug.
If he were to continue trespassing into the depths of her mind, he would be caught and rejected by the strength of her subconscious. If he wanted to keep influencing her, he’d have to assume that she had already taken notice of him and would recall his presence in her dreams after waking up, and then this knowledge would keep him from reentering her psyche in the future.
In questioning the depths of her mind, Lemn had confirmed that Yumiella had no evil intentions...for now, at least. Humans could change in the blink of an eye. Human feelings, after all, were endlessly changing, and rationality was a fragile thing.
“It’s not really about whether she will or not, but whether she can or not,” Lemn thought aloud.
Yumiella might not want to do anything evil, but she could. Not only that, but she could carry out a maximal act of evil—something so large that it would involve the entire world. If she were to act with malicious intent, she had enough power that the world could possibly end altogether.
“‘Possibly’...is an understatement. The possibility has already surpassed the realm of theory. After all, I’ve already died.” Lemn, whether or not he had been previously dead, was without a doubt currently alive, and so he began moving between shadows.
There was a reason that Lemn had finally decided to make contact with Yumiella after having limited himself to observing her for all these years. It was his job to protect the world using any means necessary, even if it meant he had to play dirty.
It was for this reason that Lemn was currently on his way to see another god, hoping to get her cooperation. She would understand why Lemn was so desperate. This god was, after all, Yumiella’s natural enemy.
“If I have her on my side, we can go up against Yumiella’s immense power.”
Lemn redoubled his determination to accomplish his goal, no matter what.
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