novelraw Chapter 518: Lost Name
Chapter 518: Lost Name
After finishing these words, Michael took a step back, standing to the side between Gabriel and Fisher. Although he avoided the direct line of sight between them, his positioning subtly favored Fisher's side.
Within the forge behind him, the Relics were restless, ready to respond to Michael's commands at any moment.
Upon hearing his words, Gabriel also turned to look at Fisher. Even though Fisher's rank was far beneath hersone being Nineteenth-Tier and the other Fifteenth-Tierit was Gabriel who surprisingly stepped back first under such a massive disparity.
She was seen tightly hugging Eimhart and the crystal in her embrace, ostensibly stepping back subconsciously, seemingly terrified that he would snatch Eimhart away.
"Mama, we promised!"
Right at this moment, Eimhart in Gabriel's embrace struggled and shouted out like this.
"Mama?"
Fisher perked his eyebrows, and Michael beside him also twitched his lips, apparently realizing why Gabriel was so stubbornly refusing to let Eimhart go.
"To dare play such an acting game in front of Gabriel, you're truly courting death."
Michael seemed to believe that this was voluntary on Eimhart's part, hence muttering this under his breath.Fisher hadn't had the time to clarify the ins and outs of the situation before seeing Gabriel not far away hesitate for a moment upon hearing those words.
Subsequently, she didn't release Eimhart first. Instead, she lowered her head to look at him and enunciated word by word,
"Nob... we promised..."
"Nob?"
Fisher had no idea what exactly had transpired during his time away from Eimhart. He was completely unaware that after staying with this mad angel for over a month, this guy was akin to having been reincarnated...
He gained a new name, and a new Mama.
Eimhart vigorously wiggled his book body within her embrace, indicating that he was still abiding by his promise,
"I know, Mama, we promised."
Having received Eimhart's promise, although Gabriel continued to stare intently at him, the arms embracing him gradually loosened until those cage-like arms fully opened, releasing Eimhart.
"Five minutes..."
"What? Five minutes? Can't... can't it be a little longer? For example... ten minutes or something?"
Gabriel remained motionless without any response, as if she had reverted to a statue once more after Eimhart's departure.
Eimhart also knew that Gabriel wouldn't bargain with him anymore, so he could only purse his lips and then dejectedly fly rapidly towards Fisher,
"Fisher!! Wuwuwu!"
"Eimhart."
Fisher reached out to catch him, yet didn't expect him to dive straight into his embrace, pressing against the chest area where Fisher used to frequently place him. However, since Fisher was currently wearing an angel's white robe, there was no longer any space to accommodate him.
"What exactly is going on? During this time, you..."
"Wuwuwu, don't mention it..."
Before Fisher could even follow up with questions, Eimhart burst into tears with "a handful of bitter tears." Perhaps because they hadn't seen each other in so long, his normally noisy drake-like voice actually sounded much more pleasant right now.
"Fisher... listen to me... Angel Gabriel won't let me go... She previously lost her own child, which is why she spent such a long time in a muddled state... And you know, I was also previously searching all over the world for the Holy Progeny who created me, but I simply couldn't find them... Now that I've met Angel Gabriel, we can be considered... Wuwuwu!"
As he spoke, he cried and shouted again. Evidently, the words used to comfort each other were insufficient no matter how many times they were rehearsed.
Fisher roughly understood the situation now. Gabriel had already treated the sentient Eimhart as her second child, and having lost one child already, she would absolutely not give up on this second one.
And once Gabriel's determination was known, this matter would become extremely troublesome.
Firstly, Fisher could still activate the power Renee gave him to return to the future, but there were still many people he cared about remaining here.
He dared not guarantee that Gabriel, having lost Eimhart, wouldn't go mad. Being muddled like before was fine, but his greatest fear was that she would utterly lose her mind and search the entire world for him. In that case, those who had ties with him, such as Helaire, Gou Wen, and Asuka Karasawa, would suffer tremendous disasters.
"Furthermore, during the time you were absent... Mama Gabriel has consistently been caring for me. When Michael bullied me previously... she was the one who stood up for me... When I mentioned I wanted to go to the Ideal State... to check on you up there, Mama Gabriel also took me along..."
Fisher cast a glance at Michael beside him, only to see him casually spread his hands, indicating that he merely wanted to research him. Following that, he looked towards the motionless Gabriel in the distance. The statue-like Gabriel, after hearing Eimhart's words, had the light in her eyes flicker slightly once more.
She hugged the molted remains of her child tightly, quietly waiting for Eimhart and Fisher.
"Whether it's you or Mama Gabriel, I don't wish for conflicts to erupt between either of you... So... so perhaps this constitutes the optimum resolution... I've already negotiated terms alongside Mama Gabriel. Arriving this instance... wuwuwu... I'm exclusively meeting you for one final time. Following that, I shall remain alongside her... Fisher, you just... wuaahh!!"
This guy...
The Eimhart positioned within his embrace shivered whilst speaking. Imposing a downward gaze, Fisher noticed he had retreated marginally, concurrently prompting his chassis to hinge slightly ajar. The pages nestled within flapped rapidly, ostensibly driven devoid of any wind.
Anyone well-acquainted with Eimhart recognized this as his method mapping the extraction characterizing the knowledge documented securely within his body.
However, positioned this tremendously close at this explicit moment, it designated explicitly the inaugural instance Fisher procured visual clarity capturing the intricate details composing those recordings.
Sustaining the identity mapping the unequivocally most distinguished, unrivaled Relic across the entire Sanctuary, Eimhart's functionalities paralleled realms transcending the imaginative capacities belonging to any other entity, angels incorporated. His internal structure boasted practically infinite documenting real estate, stretching boundlessly beyond the horizon, yet Fisher successfully perceived the specifics.
Prolific quantities mapping the preceding pages comprised the knowledge extracted documenting his worldwide travels. Precisely identical to what he declared upon his initial encounter alongside Fisher, he harbored an intense infatuation directing towards documenting knowledge, paralleling exactly a gourmand's zealous passion directing towards sampling exquisite cuisines.
He harbored documentation chronicling the folklore, histories, tales, and theories hailing explicitly from every region. Barring the magical theories portraying sheer incomprehensibility targeted specifically towards him, a vast accumulation of knowledge surpassed the aggregated volume spanning every human Royal Library combined.
Eimhart executed stringent sectoring organizing this knowledge. Correspondingly, Fisher rapidly uncovered the massive quantities weaving fragmented phrasing chronicling affairs expressly related navigating the Sanctuary and the angels scattered explicitly amidst them...
Yet what precisely followed thereafter?
Trailing Eimhart's pages sequentially flipping progressively backward, bridging past that natively gargantuan volume charting explicit knowledge, he actually preserved explicitly identical documentations tracing staggeringly prolific volumes charting explicitly alternative subject matters.
Those mapped exactly explicitly onto the novel observations explicitly committed entirely into memory starting precisely anchoring strictly onto his encounter explicitly bridging Fisher anchored expressly within Naris's Royal Library.
A terrifyingly immense portion translated exactly explicitly into the knowledge Fisher uncovered, subsequently presenting securely squarely expressly aiming for his consumption... Naturally, a commendable fraction actually originally functioned securely squaring for Fisher's explicit private reading; yet upon encountering his inquiries, he subsequently pivoted declaring explicitly they were prepared securely squarely targeting his consumption.
Perhaps Eimhart similarly harbored exact cognizance characterizing this; he uniquely manifested a complete absence characterizing any fucks given regarding it.
It turned out precisely as exactly this: those translated seamlessly into sequences mapping intriguing narratives.
The [Name List] Eimhart professed and explicitly documented targeting the ladies fundamentally bypassed functioning identically translating strictly into a lie; it uniquely bypassed functioning identically simulating explicitly an unadorned list exclusively featuring names paired exclusively anchoring code names. Contrarily, it formulated into page after page charting explicitly somewhat lengthy documentations imitating explicit diaries.
They explicitly chronicled the exact specifics tracing exactly how they bore witness identifying Muxi and Blake's narrative amidst explicit perilous conditions, alongside exactly mapping the explicit tracking characterizing exactly how they endured Elizabeth's pursuit positioned expressly squarely bordering the explicitly blazing Lake Nazarene...
Piling day succeeding explicitly onto explicit day, establishing night succeeding explicitly onto explicit night, the accumulated tales fundamentally materialized explicitly into exactly such an astronomical volume.
Surpassing even exclusively the explicitly frigid knowledge he formerly navigated explicitly bridging every worldwide corner explicitly coveting to secure, it boasted explicitly descriptions chronicling explicitly precisely how Fisher, this explicitly exactly "scumbag", aggravated explicitly securely exactly him generating explicit insomnia. Specifically traversing exactly explicitly these pages additionally resided explicitly the vow Fisher historically guaranteed explicitly authorizing the configuration generating exactly explicit magic granting his palate explicitly authorization navigating explicitly human culinary delicacies... Naturally, the Fisher from subsequently thereafter completely discarded this explicit affair entirely explicitly into the domains characterizing amnesia. Despite Eimhart explicitly bypassing raising this specific point tracking further, he inherently harbored immense aggravation securely specifically deriving exclusively regarding exactly it.
Michael withheld allocating any explicit attention aimed distinctly precisely exploring the explicit specifics anchoring securely targeting explicitly those documentations, uniquely casting an explicitly profoundly intrigued gaze evaluating explicitly tracking Eimhart acting identically an explicitly exact conscious Relic distinctly securely flaunting miraculous functionalities, exactly charting explicit eyes harboring an exact identical intent seemingly poised entirely expressly specifically tracking identically exclusively executing anatomical dissection exactly expressly targeting identically exclusively tracking Eimhart explicitly.
Contrastingly, bridging identically past exactly explicit Gabriel's rainbow-colored exclusively expressly tracking uniquely identical exactly entirely eyes, explicitly rapidly fluttering explicitly exactly tracking corresponding pages entirely perfectly matching explicitly Eimhart tracking seamlessly explicitly explicit unceasingly bounded identically explicitly explicitly prompting explicitly perfectly tracking perfectly explicitly exactly exactly exactly blinking natively exclusively explicitly exactly.
"Fisher, you bastard... Make sure you remember this. Without me around, you'd best keep your lower half in check... Pulling these stunts every single day, wandering along the border of death... Sooner or later, you'll suffer the consequences and pay the price... Don't blame me for not reminding you when that time comes..."
Along with the flipping of those pages, large swaths of memory were brought forward. Before parting, the admonitions Eimhart wanted to give Fisher naturally slipped out,
"You previously promised Elizabeth to return to Naris to visit her. Don't make her wait too long; she's not someone easy to deal with... If there comes a day when you must die, it'll probably be by her hands... Oh, and perhaps Miri... Actually, I noticed it a while ago. She frequently stares at the back of your head, but I forgot to remind you. I don't know if she's gotten any better after your counseling..."
"..."
"And Alagina, that person from the Sardin Matriarchy. She is truly pure-hearted, though naturally also quite foolish. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been led around by the nose by you... But you'd best be careful. Valentiina might wake up any day now. Once she wakes up, the landscape of the Northern Border will definitely undergo changes, and there's a high probability Alagina will return... If those two meet by then... Hmm, even if Valentiina hasn't fully recovered from her wheelchair by then, she'll still be angered enough by your 'glorious deeds' to stand up, not to mention she has slimes loyal to her..."
"..."
"I haven't met the ladies you encountered before, and the only one I did meet, Renee, I didn't dare to record. But she seems a bit easier to talk to than the other ladies... Wuwuwu, Fisher, remember to cling tightly to strong thighs... survive with all your might..."
Eimhart spoke until he couldn't go on anymore. The surface containing only his single eye and mouth became wrinkled, to the point where he couldn't even open his eye,
"Even coming here, you didn't rest, actually still..."
At this moment, his endlessly spreading sorrow suddenly paused, because in his mind, that extremely terrifying figure abruptly occupied his entire consciousness.
Right!
He was so busy being sad that he completely forgot to remind Fisher about that matter!
"Right! Fisher... there's also Bai..."
"Eimhart, tell me, do you want to leave with me?"
But before Eimhart could finish his words, Fisher before him had already taken in everything recorded within him. He clearly saw that at the very end of those records, there was also a section about Gabriel, detailing the process of Gabriel transforming from monotonous and rigid at the beginning to becoming increasingly vivid.
After a moment of silence, Fisher interrupted the reminder Eimhart was about to utter, asking this very seriously.
Eimhart was slightly taken aback, then pitifully pouted his mouth and replied,
"I want to... but I don't want you to conflict with Mama Gabriel... She didn't do anything wrong; she's just too pitiful... Even though she's an Archangel, even though she possesses a vast amount of wisdom... I didn't feel anything from her except countless despairs and emptiness... Her child was taken away. She's in pain, yet has no way to alleviate it... And I have this chance to help her, even if it means staying here forever... Besides... besides, I was also created by the Holy Progeny."
Although, the Holy Progeny he encountered after coming to this era were indeed a far cry from the great race he imagined.
"Since that's the case, I understand..."
Fisher took a deep breath, then grasped Eimhart in his hand, no longer letting go. He lifted his gaze to look at the Gabriel before him.
Having acutely sensed Fisher's unwillingness to let go, Gabriel's facial expression remained unchanged, but the eyes behind her slowly turned dangerously red, all locking onto Fisher.
The reason she hadn't acted yet seemed to be because the "five minutes" she agreed upon with Eimhart hadn't yet arrived.
Michael beside them sneered, reaching out to catch the Relic flying towards him, appearing ready to snatch it forcefully at any moment.
But Fisher didn't make a move. He merely frowned, looked at Angel Gabriel before him, and said,
"Angel Gabriel, thank you for taking such meticulous care of Eimhart during this time... But no matter what, you should know that Eimhart is not your child; he is a friend I brought with me..."
The eyes behind Gabriel grew increasingly scarlet. The kaleidoscope-like continuous rotation was a sign of her impending fury, yet Fisher showed no signs of stopping.
"In the past, Eimhart ran all over the world just to find the angel, the Holy Progeny, who created him. That answer is buried in the past, so he couldn't find anything. You are the angel he encountered on his journey who is most likely to replace his past; conversely, he is also the child most able to replace your past...
"But Angel Gabriel, whether it's you, me, or Eimhart, we all must ultimately move forward. As you can see, his past ultimately occupies only a very small part of him. He still has vast stretches of the future waiting for him to record. There are still many, many parts he must write himself. Even if you love him this much, treating him as a substitute to try and mend your regrets, you cannot make decisions for him and force him to remain forever in the past..."
Fisher lifted Eimhart, aiming his book cover with the grown eye directly at Gabriel, and stated,
"Angel Gabriel, in this world, no child is born to remain forever in their parents' swaddling clothes."
"Could it be that your only requirement for your child is that he remains by your side forever?"
Eimhart opened his mouth but continued to look straight at Gabriel, only to see the rotational speed of the eyes behind her continuously slow down until they gradually came to a halt.
Those eyes were still scarlet, still staring intently at the Fisher before her, but she inextricably used her own eyes to look at the long-dead child in her embrace, which had already turned into crystal...
At this moment, her child was right beside her, but was this truly what she wanted?
No, what she wanted was a living child. What she wanted was that small, holy child who would smile at her...
It was just that too much time had passed, making the separation seem so blurrily distinct.
Her child's death had frozen all of Gabriel's lingering thoughts regarding her child at the time when he was still young and so fragile.
Only at this very moment, through Fisher's words, did Gabriel suddenly recall the fantasies she had placed upon him when her child was still alive.
It turned out, she had once wanted to see her child grow up robustly.
She had seen her child, the illusory wings slowly growing on his back, the halo on his head becoming brighter and brighter.
What kind of joy and unease was that?
She rejoiced in all the magnificent, innate possibilities he had gained and was about to witness; she felt uneasy about the destined fate that he would eventually leave her side, eventually face all sorts of challenges she couldn't help with, and eventually face sorrows she had never experienced.
Did she ever think, at that time, of imprisoning that child full of infinite possibilities by her side?
No, she didn't.
Yes, only at this moment did the wisest angel in the world, who had been tormented by the pain of losing a child for so long, realize that she had never thought that way. It was only because she had been separated from her child for so long that she felt such profound resignation.
Resigned that the life originally brimming with possibilities came to such an abrupt end, resigned that the time he spent by her side was so brief.
And right now, encountering Eimhart who was about to spread his wings and fly high, she wanted to imprison him out of her own resignation.
Even with wisdom like Gabriel's, she would naively consider stretching the time that child stayed by her side infinitely, until eternity...
Was she wrong?
Gabriel just blankly looked at the crystal in her embrace. Within that crystal, the shadow of a curled-up infant remained there lifelessly, as if everything had been permanently frozen in place.
A drop of golden tear slowly slid down from the corner of Gabriel's eye. That bloody reality pulled her up from the endless sorrow.
She remembered all the hidden knowledge in the world, and naturally wouldn't forget everything that had happened in the past.
Her child was already dead, and Eimhart, who might have carried her love, now had to leave as well.
Eimhart also pursed his lips tightly. He couldn't bear to see Gabriel subjected to such torment. He hesitated for a long time, and just as words of care and gratitude were about to leave his mouth, a question came from Gabriel before him.
Gabriel's rainbow-colored eyes slowly lifted. She had perhaps been troubled by this question for thousands of years without finding any answer. She asked Eimhart,
"Nob, just like your older brother... are you leaving because you don't want to stay by Mama's side?"
Eimhart pouted sadly. Then, he flew out of Fisher's hand, shook his head in mid-air, and said,
"No, older brother and I both wanted to stay by Mama's side... we both wanted Mama to become a part of our future and memories... But because of Destiny, this opportunity did not favor older brother. And I have also long since missed this opportunity. Mama, a choice has now come before us. Do we abandon everything in the future to seize this missed opportunity, or do we skip it and search for other things...
"Mama, you are the wisest and smartest angel in the entire Sanctuary. You make this choice."
Gabriel looked at the molted remains of her child in her embrace. Then, she tremblingly placed that crystal next to her cheek. She leaned tightly against that cold crystal, finally feeling that call from the past.
Perhaps he, too, was waiting for a ticket to the future that he had once chased but failed to obtain.
"Nob... you... can leave."
Gabriel slowly lowered the crystal and said this to Eimhart before her.
Eimhart's eyes lit up slightly, and golden tears identical to Gabriel's welled up in his eyes. He then rapidly rushed into Gabriel's embrace, hugging her tightly.
Michael, holding his weapon beside them, looked at Fisher, then at Gabriel, his face brimming with utter speechlessness.
Behind him, a Cardinal floating in mid-air also flew over. Watching the scene in the distance, it asked Michael quite touchingly,
"Oh, this truly moves David... Archangel Michael, are you also my Mama?"
"I'm your dad."
"Oh, that's not bad either. Administrator Mikhail would make a good Mama too. Hmm... a male Mama."
"Heh, yeah, right."
Fisher finally breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled and walked towards Gabriel and Eimhart ahead of him. During this process, he slowly reached his hand into his robe to retrieve something...
A moment later, a tear-shaped object radiating a miraculous gleam appeared in his hand.
That was the Tear of the World Tree given to him by the Demi-Human Completion Handbook.
"Mama, I'm leaving with Fisher now."
"..."
Gabriel didn't show any additional expressions, only eyes revealing unstoppable sorrow. But she didn't ask him to stay, nor did she reach out to imprison Eimhart again. Instead, she let him fly back to Fisher's side, standing firmly on his shoulder once more.
Fisher, meanwhile, gently reached out and handed the golden-glowing Tear towards Gabriel.
Behind him, Michael, who had originally turned to leave, halted his steps, his eyes glued directly onto that Tear.
Subsequently, as if realizing something, he gritted his teeth and declared,
"You bastard... It turns out the Tear we couldn't find in the Ideal State was in your hands..."
But Fisher didn't have time to pay attention to Michael. He only looked at the slightly dazed Gabriel before him, then placed that Tear into her hands,
"Thank you, Angel Gabriel, for returning Eimhart's future to himself. But don't feel regretful; you will also have your own future to mend past regrets. I didn't want to treat the process of you returning Eimhart as a trade, which is why I didn't take out this Tear earlier. Now, it is a gift from Eimhart and me to you, to keep as a precious memento. Please feel free to use it however you wish."
Eimhart paused slightly, looking at the Fisher beside him with immense emotion.
Gabriel's gaze also rested on that Tear for a long time. Then, she slowly gripped the Tear tighter bit by bit. She naturally knew what kind of effect this thing possessed.
"Thank you... Fisher..."
"You're welcome, we're off. Goodbye, Angel Michael, Angel Gabriel."
Fisher smiled, then took Eimhart and brushed past Gabriel. Just like how they came, one person and one book leaped down towards the lower levels of the Fifth Heaven, seemingly preparing to go to the other heavens.
Although a conflict didn't break out, he was ultimately "escaping" from the Sanctuary and had to hurry.
And before returning to the future, he still had to meet Helaire one last time; he had some words to say to her.
Within the Fifth Heaven, Michael sighed and walked to the edge. Watching the figures of the person and book growing increasingly distant below, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled up slightly.
But swiftly, he retracted his gaze, redirecting his fervent eyes towards the Tear in Gabriel's hand beside him,
"Gabriel..."
Before he could even speak, the Gabriel beside him turned her body slightly, avoiding his gaze.
"..."
Michael was slightly taken aback, then sneered and took a step back, leading the standby Cardinal David away,
"Heh, if you won't let me research it, then forget it. I don't care about it at all. David, we're leaving... By the way, this is my Fifth Heaven. You'd best return to your Sixth Heaven swiftly, Archangel Gabriel."
"..."
But Gabriel remained unmoved. It wasn't until Michael, Fisher, and the others behind and below her had completely disappeared that she continued to look solely at the Tear and the crystal in her hands.
It was just that too much time had passed, so only now did she suddenly recall something...
She suddenly remembered the original name of her long-dead child. Because of the immense pain previously, she had never uttered his name during her daily muddled state. Her fellow angels also didn't know that Gabriel had prepared an official name for her precious darling, rather than the infantile nicknames they called him, such as "little guy" or "little Gabriel"...
Ah, she should have remembered...
Her child was originally supposed to be called "Eimhart."
Amidst the slightly flickering moisture in Gabriel's rainbow-colored eyes, a drop of golden tear gradually brewed. But unlike before, the swirling teardrop didn't fall. Instead, it brought an unprecedented, liberated smile to Gabriel's face.
Her long-dead child, that child long buried in the past, after she had waited for so long, had finally recovered his lost name...
And naturally, his lost future.