"Mrrrow?"
The kitten suddenly turned its head toward Edward, a trace of confusion flickering in its blue eyes.
The girl spoke softly, "I don't mind, but since you were the one who saved it, is it really right to just hand it off to someone else?"
Edward smiled faintly. "I'm not abandoning it. I'm just…finding it a safer, more suitable place. Anywhere would be better than wandering with me."
"But," the girl replied, "it doesn't seem willing to leave you."
Edward chuckled. "How could that be? I only found it not long ago—and it just bit me a moment—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
His pant leg had suddenly grown heavier. Looking down, he saw the little creature standing on its hind legs, tiny paws gripping at his trousers, hind legs pushing and scrabbling as it tried to climb up.
The girl's calm voice came again. "It really likes you. Why not take it with you?"
Edward lifted the small black cat and set it on his lap. Stroking its head gently, he smiled at the purr that rose from its throat. "Forget it. It's better off here."
If he really were just a wanderer, taking it along for company would have been harmless. But now—he knew nothing of himself, not even what he was supposed to do next. To bring the kitten with him would only be irresponsible.
And yet, he couldn't deny the strange warmth in his chest—the inexplicable sense of familiarity when he looked at the little thing.
Time passed slowly.
A shaft of golden sunlight poured through the window, casting a soft glow across Edward's face. Turning his head, he realised the rain had stopped without his notice. The sun had broken through the clouds, scattering the gloom.
"The rain's stopped, huh," he murmured, picking up the kitten and handing it toward the girl.
"I should get going. Please, take care of this little one."
"Are you sure you don't want to think about it a bit more?"
"No need."
He smiled, stood, and walked toward the door. "Thank you for letting me stay."
"Mrrrow~"
The black kitten squirmed in the girl's hands, crying out plaintively toward him.
Edward couldn't help but smile.
"Haha…seems even animals take a liking to me. We've only known each other for a short while, yet you're already attached."
Maybe…when I regain my memories, I'll come back for you, little one.
He pushed open the door and stepped out into the sunlight, waving a casual goodbye.
Inside, the girl remained seated silently by the fire, her fingers gliding over the kitten's soft black fur. Her voice was calm—too calm.
"See? Even your last reason to exist is gone. What's the point in holding on?"
"I did try to persuade him to take you. He was the one who cast you aside."
Her tone was gentle, almost tender.
"So, Lilith…you're not real. Only Li Li is real. Stop resisting. Merge with me—only then will we be whole again."
As her words flowed softly through the quiet room, the kitten's eyes dimmed. Its small body began to blur, turning translucent, fading as though it might vanish at any moment.
Outside, Edward lifted his head toward the bright sun. The depression left by the cold rain and grey sky melted away. His steps felt lighter, even cheerful.
He couldn't help but imagine—
If he'd taken that little one along, wouldn't the journey have been more interesting? Travelling with a cat as company surely sounded better than walking alone.
Like those…travel bloggers? Right, that was what they were called, wasn't it?
But what name would I give her, if she were mine?
He rubbed his chin, thinking.
Her fur was completely black—maybe something simple like…Batman? Or...Catman?
Yes, perfect! Catman it is!
He snorted with laughter. "I must've had a sense of humour before I lost my memory."
But no—that wouldn't do. He'd glimpsed her earlier; she was clearly a little female cat.
All right then—completely black, tiny, round…maybe Lil Blackie would be better?
He turned back toward the fading outline of the stone cottage and murmured,
"I wonder what name that kind girl will give her."
Little Bean? Little Sesame? Little Coal? Tom? Jerry?
He was still lost in thought when—
A small, childish voice echoed faintly in his mind, bright and earnest:
"Edward, from now on you must call me Miss Lilith! Because I heard that's how people address girls politely—it means respect!"
Tap.
His footsteps halted.
"Edward? Lilith?"
Those names…where had he heard them before?
Why did they sound so achingly familiar...so dear?
He closed his eyes, trying to follow that voice deeper into memory.
Pain lanced through his skull as shards of images flashed and vanished—accompanied by that same gentle, laughing voice:
"Edward, you…came back…I've been…waiting for you~"
"Edward, Miss Lilith is the smartest kitty in the world!"
"Cats are supposed to be like that, you know!"
"You're really giving me this red flower? Hehe, Miss Lilith really is the best!"
"Edward, thank you~ If it weren't for you, Miss Lilith would've been just like Isabella and the others—wandering, hungry, and cold."
"As long as Edward's here, Miss Lilith is the cleverest cat~"
"...Edward, I'll be waiting for you—in the future."
The pain intensified.
He groaned, clutching his head.
But why—why were there only fragments? Why couldn't he remember anything else?
No matter how much he forgot, there was one truth he felt with absolute certainty:
That black cat…was important to him.
Deeply, indescribably important.
He was here because of her.
But—he'd already found her, hadn't he? So why…why had he handed her away so easily?
No.
He had to go back.
He turned sharply to return to the cottage—
—and agony slammed into him, so fierce he nearly fell.
He had to go back.
Even if it wasn't just for the cat—he needed to reclaim his missing memories!
Gritting his teeth, he forced one foot forward. The pain grew into pure torment—like flesh being torn from his bones, like each bone was being shattered one by one.
But it wasn't only pain—
It was as if something was trying to wake him up.
Yet his instincts screamed: Not yet.
Not before I find that cat.
Not before I find Lilith.
Finally, he reached the cottage door again.
He had to throw his entire weight against it just to press his trembling hand to the wood and force it open.
The room that had been warm and bright was now drowned in blackness—an endless abyss waiting to devour anyone who entered.
The pain intensified, every nerve screaming the same message—
Danger! Danger! Danger!
Turn back! Leave now!
But he smiled weakly, shaking his head.
"If I came here to find Lilith, what's the point of leaving now?"
He stepped forward, resolute, and walked into the darkness.
In an instant, everything vanished.
He was swallowed by shadow, wandering through infinite chaos with no sense of direction, no point to follow.
Cold, malevolent winds cut across him, threatening to tear away the fragments of memory he had only just recovered.
He bit his tongue hard, forcing his mind to stay clear, his steps to stay steady.
Minute by minute, he pressed on—
—and then, in the distance, a faint golden light appeared.
He quickened his pace, running toward it. The darkness peeled away as he drew nearer, dissolving like mist before dawn.
When the world steadied again, Edward stood by a tranquil lake.
On the grassy shore not far away, a little black cat lay sprawled on its back, belly up, basking lazily in the sunlight.
"Lilith?"
Edward stepped forward cautiously, inching toward the little black cat. She seemed not to hear him at all, continuing to bask lazily in the sun.
"Lilith."
When he was only a few dozen centimetres away, he crouched and called again, softly.
This time the cat finally pricked up her ears—only to glance at him, close her eyes once more, and arch her back in a long, languid stretch.
"Lilith, is that you?"
Edward reached out and gently stroked the cat's back. "I'm Edward. I…am…"
He wanted to say more, but apart from the fragments he had recalled earlier, his mind remained a blank.
"I came specifically to find you," he said after a moment's thought. "I still don't remember what happened, but I'm certain of this: I have to take you away. If we leave here—if you leave with me—I'll remember everything."
"So…will you come with me?"
The black cat rolled over.
"All right, you didn't object, so I'll take that as a yes, and I—"
"Pfft."
A stifled laugh sounded from the side. "Hey, why are you negotiating with a cat like it's a serious diplomatic meeting?"
Edward turned. A face both familiar and unfamiliar came into view.
Long black hair. Pretty features. A light shirt and jeans. A faint smile curving her lips.
"I…I'm talking to Lilith," he said.
"Lilith?" The girl smiled. "She's Lil Coal. I'm Lilith."
"???"
Edward blinked, looked at the cat, then at the girl—bewildered.
"So what do you want with me?" the girl asked, stepping closer, curiosity bright in her eyes.
"I…I'm not sure it's you I'm looking for. I came to find Lilith."
"I am Lilith."
"But…"
Wasn't Lilith supposed to be a cat?
"What did you come to do?" she pressed, head tilted.
"I…need to take you—no, take Lilith—away."
"Away? Where?"
"To somewhere safe."
"But I think it's perfectly safe here."
Hands clasped behind her back, she walked to the lakeshore and gazed into the distance. "Quiet, peaceful, free of all the noise. What's wrong with staying?"
Edward followed her gaze. A warm breeze drifted by, and the tension that had gripped him loosened. The notion of staying seemed, for a heartbeat, wonderfully appealing.
He bit his tongue and steadied himself. "Honestly, I've forgotten a lot. But I know this much…I have to take Lilith away."
"That's very selfish," she huffed. "Sounds like it's just what you want. I don't want to leave."
"You're right—it is selfish," Edward said with a nod. "But I have no memories and no morals to weigh it with. Whether it's selfish doesn't matter. I only know I must do this."
As he spoke, he scooped up the black cat and—by sheer habit—tucked her against his chest, then turned to go.
After a few steps, a thought struck him. He looked back. "Are you really Lilith?"
"Mm-hm."
Edward held out his hand to her. "Then you should come with me, too."
"Why?"
"Because I came to find Lilith."
"Huh? And that means I should go with you?"
"Because…my name is Edward."
"Mm?"
Edward frowned, searching for words. "Edward and Lilith are supposed to be together."
Surprise flickered across the girl's face. In a few seconds it softened into a radiant smile.
She took his hand lightly. "You're right. Lilith should be with Edward."
Fingers clasped, they moved to leave—but Edward stumbled. The hand he held seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, refusing to budge no matter how he pulled.
"Why did you stop?" he asked, frowning, and strained again—only to find he could not move her an inch.
She watched him quietly. "Are you giving up?"
"No."
Drawing a deep breath, he gripped her hand and wrist with both of his, teeth clenched, pouring every ounce of strength into the effort. "Move—MOVE!"
The bright sky suddenly darkened with a heavy pall. The placid lake heaved under a rising gale, and the entire world began to tremble.
Edward noticed none of it. He had only one thought—to take this girl called Lilith away.
"No!! Don't you dare!!!"
A furious roar crashed from the heavens. A colossal face appeared in the vault above, howling, "You will not escape!"
Edward did not so much as flinch. He drew the girl, little by little, finally making her shift.
Behind her, space twisted.
What he was doing was peeling her out of this reality. The crushing weight he had felt did not come from the girl, but from the entire world holding her in place.
"Lilith, you are false! I am real!" the face in the sky thundered.
The girl—Lilith—tilted her head back, smiling faintly. "Strange. I feel like I'm the real one."
"You've spun childish stories again and again, splintering my soul and devouring it piece by piece. Even now you're not satisfied—you would erase my memories completely and wipe away every trace that I ever existed."
"When Edward broke in, you used him to stage a farce, to make me despair, to make me stop resisting."
The face in the sky burst into laughter. "Hahahahaha! You call my play childish and farcical, yet why did you sink into it—why were you broken down until only this scrap of soul remained? Why did you shut down and give up the moment he handed you over to me?"
Lilith was silent for a moment. "And yet—you still failed."
"Hah! With only that sliver of soul? Or do you put your faith in this Edward who doesn't even have his memories?"
"Even if Edward forgot everything," Lilith said evenly, "he still remembered me. Unlike you—you're the one no one remembers. You are the illusion."
"No!! I—Li Li—am real! You are the fiction!"
With a roar, a wave of black smoke swept down from the horizon, surging toward Edward and Lilith. Everything it touched dissolved into nothing, leaving behind gaping voids.
"Give up, Lilith! Merge with me—become one with me as the Mirrored Original Creator!"
Edward answered with a roar of his own. His pace quickened, dragging Lilith free of the world's grip inch by agonising inch.
Boom!!!
A heartbeat before the black smoke reached them, Lilith broke loose. She seized Edward's wrist and leapt, carrying him away from the onrushing dark.
In midair, her free hand slapped outward.
With a sharp crack, an entire pane of space shattered like glass. Fractures webbed rapidly in all directions until the sky and earth were laced with cracks—then, with a wrenching twist, the world collapsed.
Sky, ground, lake—all broke apart, revealing their true visage:
Darkness.
Darkness.
And still—darkness.
The world was nothing but endless black.
"Don't you dare escape!!!"
The furious bellow resounded again as a towering figure manifested high above—a woman with a head full of venomous serpents, her features half-transformed into something serpentine.
She spread her arms wide, and a suffocating malice poured down.
Earthquakes. Tsunamis. Floods. Blizzards. Plague. Disease. Curses.
Lilith flicked her hand. A mirror appeared out of nowhere, and she stepped through with Edward. Within that mirror's countless facets, they flashed from reflection to reflection, fleeing the Gorgon with dizzying speed.
"Skritch…creeak…"
All at once, every mirror shattered in unison. Lilith sprang out again—but a forest of new mirrors unfolded before them, innumerable panes, and in each one, a Gorgon stared back.
"Did you forget? I am the master of the Mirror World—the Mirrored Original Creator!"
Lilith said nothing. She pushed Edward gently behind her, snapped her fingers, and every mirror splintered to dust. Her fingers then danced like a pianist's across invisible keys, weaving unseen threads through the entire region.
She was just about to step forward when a hand caught her right one—Edward's.
"Lilith."
She turned and smiled, radiant. "Edward—have your memories come back?"
"Not all the way. But I'm not the muddle-headed fool from a minute ago."
Edward strode past her. Facing the onrushing cataclysm, his figure blurred—then multiplied into hundreds of Illusory Doors, with himself standing behind each one.
An immense, ancient gear manifested behind him, turning slowly. Like the ticking of a second hand, it rotated backwards—tick, tick, tick.
Under the boost of Fantasy, he unleashed Regression.
Time itself seemed to reel back; the disasters and plagues hurtling toward them reversed at a speed even faster than they had arrived, surging back upon the Gorgon.
At that same instant, Edward's countless "avatars" unleashed every spell and Beyonder power he could muster, pouring them down upon the Mirrored Original Creator.
Yet the moment the attacks entered the miasma of pathogens swirling around her, they guttered out and died—not blocked, but sickened to death. Even energies like spells and Beyonder abilities succumbed, infected by the near–Sequence 0 Gorgon's Authority of Disease.
This was concept.
This was Authority.
The serpents upon her head writhed and hissed. "Lilith! Merge with me!!"
With her shriek, the reversed cataclysms surged forward again. Her eyes saw only Lilith; as for Edward, she treated him as less than air.
The world shuddered. Cracked panes of glass appeared everywhere, and from each rift stepped another Gorgon—each not quite alive, bodies bristling with tendrils, every tendril tipped with an eye, some shut, some open.
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.