89 Lottery Winner (2/2)

Reed brushed past Lu'um and opened the doors. He had heard enough.

Oh no. No, no, no, no, no...

There was barely anything left of her. Scraps of what had once been a complete mantle hovered in a place, enveloped by a soft, golden halo.

He silently gazed at the floating scraps, completely lost.

”She's still alive, Ka'an, but in her current state, she's powerless. Asleep. She redirected all of her Anima in order to protect you — at the cost of bearing the majority of the damage herself. Had she not, you would have very likely died long before I even finished closing the tear…”

Reed clenched his fists in anger as he struggled to keep himself in check. He understood what she had done and why she had done it, but…

That old, familiar feeling had returned again to torment him.

That feeling of powerlessness. Of weakness. Of worthlessness.

Lu'um grabbed Reed's shoulders, looked at him right in his eyes and said, ”She made the choice herself. She knew what'd happen to her, make no mistake. It's not your fault, Ka'an.”

It is.

Reed forced his feelings back down and said, ”Will she recover? Why has she not been repaired? If you can bring me back from the dead, why haven't you brought her back?!”

”It's not the same, Ka'an. She… she is unique. Not something that we created. We don't know how to repair something like her, which was made by the Great Will. All we could do was bring her here and hope for the best…”

He didn't understand. Why did it have to happen like this? This wasn't supposed to have happened at all. Not like this. This was wrong.

It was his punishment. That was what Reed thought it was. For his own overconfidence and weakness. He had been living in his own little happy world for too long — enough that he'd let his guard down.

Anima. Becoming a prince. Being the so-called chosen one. All of this bullshit had distracted him, lulled him into a state of drowsiness.

The guy who lived in the slums would not have gotten himself in this kind of a mess. He would have waited patiently and bided his time until the time was right. Would have never gotten full of himself or carried away.

Because he knew that he was a miserable weakling. He had neither the strength, nor courage of his enemies, but he was patient. Endlessly patient like a damn mountain.

The guy from the slums would have considered every variable in the equation before acting because he knew that there were no second chances.

That was when it all clicked for Reed. He finally understood why he had found it so... disconcerting that he'd been given another chance at life.

A second chance at living? Not only that but a third chance?!

What kind of fucking joke was that? A goddamned street rat like himself had been given these opportunities, these inconceivable luxuries!

It had blinded him. Thrown him off his natural pace.

”People really are blind to the things closest to them, don't you think?” said Reed.

”Huh?”

He suddenly grabbed Lu'um, brought her into his arms and held her. It scared the living hell out of her at first and had caught her unawares.

”But I can finally see, again. The fog has lifted around me. Don't you see?”

Lu'um shook her head in confusion and said, ”W-What are you talking about, Ka'an? …Are you okay?”

”I'm more than okay,” said Reed. He leaned in close to her face and then...

She dumbly stood there like a deer in headlights as she struggled to process what had happened, looking like she'd been struck by lighting.

”I'm free, sweetcheeks, and there's more where that came from.”