Columbina pushed open a door and stepped onto a glass suspension bridge spanning a void. She walked to the center of the bridge. Sunlight spilled from the pitch-black sky overhead, penetrating the crystalline deck and refracting into shifting, multicolored spots of light.
Ahead, at the end of the bridge, a garden blooming with blue flowers was embedded into a massive mountain. A clear stream wound its way through the garden. In the deepest part of the garden, a bright silver moon suspended in the air, its clear radiance like water, shrouding all things.
Under the moonlight, a group of perfectly formed Moon Spirits was gathered at the end of the bridge near the garden. Facing Columbina's direction, they gently waved their long braids, as if beckoning to her.
Columbina stepped forward with her left foot, the tip of her toe landing lightly on the glass surface.
A faint, crisp sound came from beneath her foot. She looked down; centered on her foothold, dense cracks spread outward instantly. As the cracks extended, they emitted a whining sound, like a cry for help.
She immediately looked back toward the other end of the bridge. There lay the first Moon Spirit she had ever created—the disabled one with wrinkled skin, unable to float, and lacking the signature long braids. It lay there paralyzed and alone; it was the one crying for help!
And the rapidly expanding cracks on the glass bridge were darting frantically toward that disabled Moon Spirit!
Without a second word, Columbina turned and sprinted with all her might toward the disabled Moon Spirit. With every bit of forward progress, the cracks beneath her feet exploded outward, and the sensation of weightlessness from falling intensified, making her heart beat like a war drum.
She lunged forward, her arms tightly embracing the shriveled little fellow into her bosom.
almost in that same instant, her heart exploded violently!
"Hah—!"
Columbina gasped sharply, bolting upright from a stream flowing with silver starlight.
She panted rapidly, looking around. A group of perfect Moon Spirits was floating beside her, bobbing up and down as if cheering for her.
She let out a long breath, raising a hand to press against her still-racing chest. "It's okay... it was just a dream."
Immediately, she reached to her right, scooping up that disabled Moon Spirit from the starry stream. Holding it with both hands, she lifted it high against the pitch-black sky above this space. Through the sunlight in the sky, she could see that inside the Moon Spirit's semi-transparent body, quite a few thick, flocculent white stains still remained.
"Need to wash it," she muttered to herself.
She knelt in the cold, star-flowing water, pressing the disabled Moon Spirit into the stream. After it had soaked up the water, she began to rub it vigorously with both hands.
Following her movements, the wrinkled Moon Spirit began to expand bit by bit. The surface wrinkles were stretched open, becoming smooth and rounded, restoring the full silhouette it should have had.
Columbina lifted it from the water, then vigorously shook her own head, flinging off the droplets of starlight clinging to her long, ginger-red ombre hair.
The Moon Spirit held in her arms imitated her, shaking its round little head that had just "grown" out, causing two newly born, slender braids to rise up, tracing smooth waves in the air.
Columbina placed this brand-new Moon Spirit next to another normal Moon Spirit. She looked left and right, a satisfied expression appearing on her face.
"Now, you are all the same."
The Moon Spirits "cheered."
"Let's go." She stood up, walking forward along the starry stream.
But she hadn't taken more than a few steps when several sharp thorns pierced her cheek.
Columbina stopped. Expressionless, she pulled the thorns from her face one by one, clutching them in her hand. With a casual toss, she transformed those thorns into a group of newborn Moon Spirits.
This group of Moon Spirits immediately charged toward the thicket of thorns directly ahead, using their bodies to squeeze open a narrow gap. Subsequently, more Moon Spirits surged out from Columbina's side, joining in to collectively widen that gap bit by bit from the inside.
Columbina bent down, walking into the gap opened by the Moon Spirits. She could feel that the Moon Spirits propping open the thorns with their bodies were trembling violently; their smooth bodies were cut by invisible barbs, oozing red and blue blood.
"It hurts too much," she whispered. She extended her own arms, replacing the Moon Spirits to brace against both sides of the thorn thicket, enduring the pain of puncture and compression.
"Go, quickly," she said to the Moon Spirits.
The Moon Spirits quickly filed past her side, rushing deeper into the thorns to continue clearing the path ahead.
Columbina retracted her arms, grabbed the few Moon Spirits that had just been injured and bleeding, squatted down, and immersed them in the starry stream flowing by her feet, gently rinsing them. As the water flowed over them, the wounds healed instantly, and the Moon Spirits were restored to their original state.
She stood up, took a step forward, and once again used her own body to help the Moon Spirits clearing the path deeper in to pry open the next section of thorns...
This repeated over and over.
Unknown amounts of time passed before Columbina and her Moon Spirits appeared together in a wide river valley in Sumeru.
Rich emerald green filled the space. Giant goose-yellow flowers and equally massive blades of grass grew wildly in the river valley.
The Moon Spirits continued to float beside her.
Columbina raised her head. Above was not the sky, but a silver-white ancient tree of unimaginable size. Its branches, lush enough to shroud the world, constituted the "sky" of this place.
She lowered her head and saw a tiny head poking out from behind a moss-covered stone in front of her. Its face consisted only of simple lines, resembling the character "kou" (口). It wore a green "hat" on its head, shaped like a mushroom cap, and atop the hat were two small leaves spinning incessantly, like a bamboo-copter.
Then, the little spirit hopped out entirely from behind the stone, standing upon it. It held a tiny silver-white branch in its right hand, pointing with that twig toward a certain direction in the river valley.
Columbina followed it forward, arriving beneath the main trunk of that silver-white ancient tree. The trunk was so stout that it made one lose the ability to judge scale; one only felt that it seemed to be supporting the entire world.
A pliable silver-white branch suddenly drooped down from above, hovering in front of Columbina. At the end of the branch, a small fruit was growing extremely slowly.
"Singing!" A realization flashed through Columbina's mind.
She opened her mouth gently. An ethereal and pure singing voice flowed from her throat. This stream of sound tugged at another stream on the silver-white ancient tree. These two streams seemed like matter, yet also like information. Together, they poured into the fruit.
Around the branch, unbeknownst to her, a large group of little spirits with "kou"-shaped faces had gathered. Some floated in the air, others stood on leaves and branch tips. Following Columbina's singing, they began a chorus.
Within that interwoven singing, the small fruit accelerated its growth. It gradually swelled, its form changing, finally condensing into a plump pomegranate. The two streams poured endlessly into every single pomegranate seed.
The pomegranate grew larger and larger, expanding before Columbina's eyes to a limit—
Bang!
A dull thud.
A heavy book slid from her hand, smashing onto Coppelia's face and startling her awake from her light sleep. She grabbed the book from her face and sat up straight.
How did I fall asleep reading... she thought to herself. This mechanical body is a little too like a real person when it comes to simulating sleep; it even has a dozing-off function. Why didn't I notice that before?
She scanned the quiet room; Suleiman was nowhere to be seen.
"Why hasn't he come yet?" she muttered, turning to look at Columbina beside her. "Shall we go look for—"
Before she could finish her sentence, her movement and voice froze simultaneously.
Nestled quietly in Columbina's embrace lay a Moon Spirit. Its figure was round and full, the top of its head decorated with exquisite little wings, and two long braids hung down naturally. Its entire body emitted a soft and stable lunar radiance.
And Columbina herself had slumped into the lounge chair, asleep. Her lips moved slightly, uttering a blurry murmur from her dream:
"Ley... lines..."
____
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