“How… how is this…?”
The person bound to the tree—no matter how I looked, it seemed to be my mother. Why is she here? And on top of that—
‘Why to Mua.’
Why is she tied up so wretchedly like this? The moment I saw it, my insides ached. I put my hand on Mua at once.
Should I burn it away to pull her out? Thinking that, I started to rouse flames over my body—
“Do not do that.”
A voice came.
“Mua?”
“I understand your intent. But it is better you do not.”
“…What is going on here?”
I quenched the flames I’d been about to unleash and asked.
“Child. What are you.”
Instead, Mua posed me a question.
“You bear my imprint. And yet—I do not know you. Moreover…”
Swish— A breeze brushed my cheek.
“You are not a child of this world. You are twisted. Child, what on earth are you.”
“I’m there. The thing that gets swept up here and there.”
Someone once…