The cloud roared above, a deep rumble shaking the very air, and a jagged streak of lightning tore through the black cloud, lighting up the whole ground for a split second.
The roaring sound of the cloud and lightning scares the child, causing her to cry aloud. But Hyacinth moved her finger toward that girl's forehead, which made her focus on the finger.
"Now now, little one, the strike of nature isn't that horrible; you will love it one day."
A gentle smile took over that child, and she grabbed Hyacinth's finger with her small hands, and with that, she stopped crying.
Hyacinth lifts her head and looks at the sky; the striking lighting can be clearly seen from her transparent pupil.
"Alas, in the chaos and hatred of mortals for each other, the same mortals pay the biggest price."
As she was staring upward, she suddenly felt a hand on her left shoulder. She was about to turn around, but someone leaned close to her ear and whispered gently.
"A peaceful universe… In the end, these are just some words spoken by mouth, aren't they, sister?"
Hyacinth sighed and looked downward to her lap instead of turning back; her face got relieved after hearing the voice of Anastasia.
"Why does life slumber? It's because life and death never get along together… Same with being in the universe."
Anastasia looked toward the two children in Hyacinth's lap. First, she was shocked a little, but then she closed her eyes. After closing her eyes, it feels like she is doing something.
"This girl is, H—"
Hyacinth pulls down Anastasia and puts her finger on her lips. Anastasia opens her eyes and stares into Hyacinth's. Hyacinth smiled gently.
"Shhh… Don't; she is in your care, so you don't need to tell me anything."
Anastasia's face got completely serious; her eyes widened as she backed off a little. Her eyes go one second toward that child and secondly toward Hyacinth.
"But, why? Any reason?"
Hyacinth let a gentle but little laugh out of her mouth. She put her finger back on the little girl's hand and whispered with curiosity.
"You know better than me why."
Anastasia leaned in close to Hyacinth, and instead of reacting or anything, she grabbed the girl from her lap and raised her a little higher.
"But what about that boy? Are you going to take care of him? This will be the second time you will take care of a child."
Hyacinth got shocked after hearing what Anastasia said; the boy was dead, but how is he alive? Moreover, even if he were alive, Hyacinth would have sensed his soul.
A human child with no soul—that's news even to Hyacinth and all other maidens, but Anastasia acted as if she knew about it from the start.
"But how? He doesn't have a soul, and he isn't even breathing."
Anastasia snapped her right hand's fingers while holding that little girl in her left hand; she seemed to start vanishing in the air like dust flying in the air, but before she vanished completely, she said with a gentle voice.
"Touch his forehead, but this time not as an embodiment of life but as a mother."
After saying that, she completely vanished into the air with that little girl, leaving Hyacinth behind all alone. She kept staring at the motionless body of the dead boy.
Curiosity about doing it right away took away her shock, and she gently put her hand on his forehead, and from the bottom of her heart, she accepted that child as her own child.
The boy who was considered dead opened his eyes; other than crying like most newborn children, he didn't cry.
The rain stopped, and the cloud started getting clearer little by little. His deep blue eyes shine as a flash of sunlight falls upon him. The willow tree's branches shine like diamonds as sunlight falls upon it.
Hyacinth blinked in shock because even after being an omnipotent and omniscient being, she had never seen a miracle like this.
In the billion-year-old history of the universe, this seems to be the first time a mortal was born without any soul. A miracle that not even a primordial being didn't see coming.
"No soul, hmm, I wonder what would be death's reaction after seeing you. Moreover, if you have no soul, then what's your life limit? When will you die?"
One more question raised in Hyacinth's mind: it's not a question that she can find an answer to with her omniscient authority, but this is a morally gray question whose answer will only be revealed after eternity.
Why does life rely on a soul? Is it because of Death?
There are some questions in the universe's existence that not even the highest authority understands, other than the one who is beyond eternity.
Hyacinth stood up while holding the boy in her hands. She turned around toward that dead woman and stared at her for a while.
A bunch of cotton-type things came out of Hyacinth's shoulder and took the shape of a hand; it flew toward that dead woman's face and gently closed her eyes.
"Maria, daughter of Iris! Rest assured, I'll take care of the gift you give to this world!"
And afterward, those same cotton-made hands took apart Hyacinth's body and tied it around Maria's dead body and hid it completely. While doing that, the arrow fell off to the ground from her forehead.
The moment Maria's body got completely hidden in the cotton hand, it started getting absorbed by the ground, and within some seconds, Maria's body vanished, leaving not a single drop of blood behind.
And at the same moment, two stones popped out of the ground, and it felt like a gravestone.
"Thomas, hmm! A very English name… So your son deserves an English-related name too."
She kept standing near the graves under the willow tree, lost in deep thinking to decide a name for the boy in her hands.
"Henry! A most common English name. From this day onward, you are Henry, son of life."
The sky had cleared by now as she still kept standing near those graves. The drops of water fell on her from the tree's leaves, and the breeze with the warmth of sunlight blew her long hair.
After a long time standing there silently, Hyacinth turned around and looked upward at the sky.
"And in the end, once again, I ended up having more questions than having a single answer for the previous one."
The air around Hyacinth bends a little weirdly; it seems to be sucking Hyacinth inside of it, and within the blink of an eye, Hyacinth vanishes, leaving a single flash of light, which vanishes right away.
…
12 years have passed since Henry's birth without having a soul. A child with too much energy and a will to know the rules of existence. Truly a fascinating life that everyone dreams of, Henry is living it.
…
In the Velgravia Empire, the capital city…
The city was filled with people moving here and there from one shop to another; the cobblestone streets and tall buildings and deep puzzle-type streets were all filled with people.
On the side of the main bazaar, a separate road passes through where horse carriages travel around the city. And the same road connects with all other cities of Velgravia.
On the left side of the main bazaar, a street passes through, and in that street are residential houses and inns.
On the left side of that street, near the door of the 3rd house, Hyacinth stood and looked upward at the sky before she could enter. She seems to be finding something.
Was it my imagination, or was there something falling from the sky? Anyway, whatever it is, Naiadine will handle it.
She gripped the door's handle and looked inside the house through the glass before opening it. After the door cracked open while creating a little sound, the first thing revealed before her eyes was two sofas and a table.
Two sofas were kept on both sides of the glass table. There was a porcelain vase kept on the table, which had some roses and hyacinths in it.
Behind the sofas and table, there was a painting hanging a little higher on the wall, and on the painting, there was a bird flying near a waterfall while a little girl was standing on the ground staring at it, as if she hoped to fly too.
On the roof, a candleholder was burning, while on the side walls, gas lamps burned, keeping the house lit. Other than these, there was no other way to light up the house, because there was no window in this living room.
"Where is he? He usually sits here on the sofa. He'll be in his room."
She walks toward the stairs, taking every step slowly. She is a primordial being who happens to read through beings and sense them from afar, but in Henry's case, she is completely unable to sense him.