Lyra: "That... that was the name Mother gave me... I remember now..."
Rain: "Lyra… I'll try to delve deeper into your memories."
The little girl nodded in agreement.
Rain attempted to re-enter the chamber of Lyra's memories.
Memory Flash:
A little girl ran through a cornfield, frail, clutching a rag doll. In the distance, a woman called out, "Lyra! Don't run!"
The girl stopped and turned, her face full of fear and bruises. The sky slowly darkened, black clouds rolling in, and the wind blew fiercely.
Lyra stood trembling between the tall stalks of corn. The doll in her arms was tattered, almost torn. Her breathing was ragged, her cheeks dusty and bruised.
Footsteps pounded the ground.
Corn leaves rustled as the mother emerged from between the rows, her dress torn, eyes wild and bloodshot, holding a rope in her right hand.
Mother: "You ran away from me again, Lyra? After all I've done for you?"
Lyra: "I just wanted to play… You said I could play today..."
The mother lowered her head, then broke into high-pitched, cracked laughter.
Laughter that chilled the air, as the sky grew darker.
Mother: "Play? You love that damn doll more than me?!"
She snatched the doll from Lyra's hands and tore it apart before her eyes. The stuffing scattered like blood-stained snow.
Lyra screamed.
But her mother only smiled.
A wide… too wide smile.
Mother: "Bad children must be punished. Bad children must be… cleansed."
With one swift motion, she tied the rope to Lyra's wrist and dragged the small body across the field.
Thunder rumbled. Lightning struck the edge of the field.
Lyra's screams faded into the wind, mixing with the howl of the approaching storm.
Her mother dragged her relentlessly to the house, locked the door, closed all windows and curtains. With a cold expression, laughing and grinning, she approached the small body and grabbed Lyra's cheeks harshly.
Mother: "You know… no one has the right to leave me alone! You can't be happy with people out there, Lyra! Because if you are, you'll leave me too just like your father did!"
Lyra: "But I'm bored at home. You always hit me and say it's all father's fault, but why do I have to bear all your anger?"
Mother: "Shut your mouth, you ungrateful child! You always talk back. Do you want me to be even crueler so you can understand the pain I've endured?!"
Lyra: "No, Mom, please… I'm sorry." Lyra screamed in fear.
Mother: "You know Lyra… I hate doing this to you, but because of you, Matthew and his family left me. He didn't want a daughter. But you were born a girl."
Mother: "I endured everything Matthew and his family said and did to me, thinking I'd remain their only wife and daughter-in-law. But it turns out Matthew had another woman while I was carrying you, and his family supported him. I thought after your birth, they'd change their minds."
She paused.
Mother: "But your birth only made them hate me more. They cast me out of their lives. You are the cause of all this chaos, you cursed child! So don't you ever disobey, leave, or abandon me like they did! Understand?!"
Lyra nodded silently, trembling in fear.
Suddenly, her mother opened a drawer and pulled out a paper it was a psychiatric diagnosis stating that she had schizophrenia. She thrust it in front of Lyra.
Mother: "Here… look at this. You can read, right? That damn doctor said I have schizophrenia. Because of this cursed diagnosis, I lost the job I loved most."
Mother: "They locked me in a mental hospital for five years. I was separated from you… until suddenly I was told your grandmother had died, and the doctors said I was much better. So now we're together again, Lyra."
Her tone suddenly softened. She seemed to enter a phase of deep affection and love for Lyra, then began to cry and hug the small girl.
Mother: "Forgive me, Lyra… I love you so much. But living with you is so hard. I've tried to be a good mother this past year, but the anger and bitterness are still too strong... Every time I look at you, I remember how Matthew and his family treated me, and how they turned me into this. I hate them all!"
Her expression darkened again, her voice shrieking.
Mother: "No one can take you away from me. You're all I have now, Lyra… So be a good girl. Understand and pity your mother."
Mother: "Now… go clean yourself up. You're filthy. I'll give you a bath."
Lyra nodded and obeyed.
Ten minutes later, the bathwater was ready.
Mother: "Lyra, sweetheart, come here."
Lyra walked to the bathroom, where her mother was waiting. Her mother gently undressed her, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. She gazed at the little body marked with bruises she herself had inflicted.
A deep sense of guilt stabbed at her heart, but it was blurry, overwhelmed by the hatred and trauma from years of abuse and humiliation by her husband and in-laws.
She guided Lyra into the bath filled with clean water and began washing her. For a fleeting moment, she saw her daughter as the tiny newborn she had once held before they were separated due to her declining mental state.
Lyra looked at her mother with the expression she had longed to see a gentle, loving face. The kind of face that made Lyra love her mother, despite everything. She was still just a child, innocent and pure, and her mother was all she had. She wished her mother would recover from her illness someday.
But then… the schizophrenia returned.
In the warmth of the moment, her mother's mind was suddenly filled with whispers and bitter memories. A deep fear gripped her that Lyra would one day leave her just like Matthew had. She imagined Lyra growing older, becoming uncontrollable, disobedient.
The thoughts grew louder, darker…
SPLASH…
Bloop… bloop… bloop…
With cold, empty eyes and a twisted grin, Lyra's mother pushed her daughter's small body under the water... Her only intent: to kill her.
Lyra struggled, gasping, trying to scream and resist. But her small body was no match.
She drowned painfully. Her last memory was the soft, loving expression of her mother's face.
And a question echoed in her heart:
Why? Did I do something wrong again...?
*********
Back to Rain
Rain staggered, breath short, emerging from the vision.
Tears streamed down his face.
Rain: "This… wasn't just abuse. Her mother truly lost her mind. She… enjoyed it."
Bentley lowered his gaze, his jaw clenched.
Bentley: "The Hased Dungeon doesn't just trap lost souls. It feeds on their deepest traumas… and gives them life."
Rain looked at the fading magic circle.
Rain: "We have to save these souls. Or they'll be trapped in torment… forever."
Tears flowed from Lyra's eyes, and Rain held her, offering warmth to a soul long frozen and distorted by darkness.
Rain vowed to save Lyra, no matter what a child who never understood what was happening to her, now trapped in this horrific place.
But suddenly, the world around them darkened, shadows closing in fast no escape.
It was the darkness born from Lyra's consumed soul.
Rain, Bentley, and Lyra were trapped.
Bentley: "Rain, there's an entity behind all this trauma. Maybe that's what's keeping Lyra here..."
From the shadows emerged a distorted figure her mother's twisted shape, eyes pitch-black, mouth grinning from ear to ear.
Entity: "She's mine. This soul… is forged by fear. By me."
Rain trembled with rage.
Rain: "Not anymore. Today, you'll lose your grip!"
The entity emerged fully tall, gaunt, wearing a tattered funeral dress. Her face was Lyra's mother's… but too long, too dark, with hollow eyes. Not human.
It was hatred and pain given form.
Entity: "You want to save her? Then rip me from the root of her soul!"
Rain stood before Lyra, his body glowing a soft pale blue.
Rain: "Then I'll dive deeper… and tear you out from the tiniest wound she ever had."
Bentley stood ready beside him.
Bentley: "I'll help you fight her, Rain. We need to free Lyra to escape this false dimension. But hurry if her soul shatters, we're stuck here too."
Rain closed his eyes, opened his palm.
A thin sword of light emerged the same one he used to save Mr. Andrew from Samael.
The entity screeched and lashed out.
Its arms turned into black whips, striking with immense speed.
Rain dodged mid air, slicing one whip turning it to ash.
Rain: "You're not her mother. You're the shadow of her torment. And today, I end her nightmare."
The battle raged light versus shadow.
Rain was pushed back. The entity was too strong, bound to every painful memory.
Bentley caught Rain, steadying him.
Bentley: "I can't hurt her because i have no weapon, but I'll distract her. When I give the signal strike!"
Rain nodded.
Bentley charged right, striking bare-handed. His tall, sturdy frame disrupted the entity's defenses just enough.
He signaled Rain.
Rain attacked but the entity deflected, hurling both of them back.
Then a voice.
Lyra: "Rain…"
Rain turned. Lyra's eyes now glowed faintly. Her small hand reached out.
Lyra: "I don't want to be afraid anymore…"
A burst of light erupted from Lyra, the pure power of a child choosing hope.
It surged into Rain, empowering his blade.
Rain leapt high, raising his golden blade, and shouted:
Rain: "Get out of her!!"
The sword struck the entity's chest.
Light exploded illuminating the dungeon.
The entity screamed, shattering into thousands of dark fragments.
Silence...
The false dimension faded.
They had returned to the Hased Dungeon.
Lyra stood, her dress clean, hair neat, touched by light. She looked at her hands.
Lyra: "I'm… free?"
Rain nodded, tears in his eyes.
Rain: "Yes. You're free, Lyra."
Rain: "But it's not over. I have to free your soul from the demon and the soul-eating god to send you to a place of eternal light. I swear I'll get you there."
Lyra: "What do we do, Rain? How?"
Rain held both her hands, looking into her eyes.
Their eyes closed..
Whooshhh…
Rain, Bentley, and Lyra were suddenly in a familiar place.
They were inside Lyra's house.
November 28, 2013.
Rain saw the digital calendar on the table.
This event had happened twelve years ago.
Given Lyra was six when she died, both Rain and Lyra would now be eighteen.
Rain: "Lyra…"
Lyra: "Yes, Rain?"
Rain: "You should've grown into a beautiful young woman by now."
Lyra: "Oh, really?"
Rain: "If you had lived, we could've been friends. We're the same age."
Lyra: "How old are we, Rain?"
Rain: "Eighteen. At this age, you'd be seeing the world grow and change… It's not always kind, but there's beauty in it that would have amazed you."
Bentley: "Rain, Lyra… Someone's coming. We need to hide!"
They rushed to the back room.
Moments later, an adult woman dragged a small girl into the house.
They could hear the exact words from Lyra's memory…
Scene after scene unfolded, squeezing Rain and Lyra's chests with pain. They tried to remain silent, holding back their tears.
Bentley: "Rain, can't we stop this? We need to help her!"
Rain quickly held Bentley back.
Rain: "No, Bentley. What has happened cannot be avoided and must not be changed or we'll face the worst consequences. Right now... as heartbreaking and enraging as it is to see Lyra's end, we must endure it until everything is over. Our task here is to find Lyra's body so it can lead us to her soul's light, which has been sealed away by the demon and the soul-devouring god in Hased Dungeon."
Bentley nodded in understanding.
Splash...
The sound of water echoed it meant that Lyra was currently drawing her final breath in the water...
A faint voice of Lyra begging for help, choked and gasping, could be heard. Witnessing herself in that state made her soul weep uncontrollably and shatter from grief.
Quickly, Rain covered Lyra's mouth to prevent any sound that might reveal their presence and put them in danger.
Until finally, Lyra's struggle and her cries for help could no longer be heard... Lyra was gone.
Rain, Lyra, and Bentley remained hidden in the back room, overwhelmed with indescribable feelings. Meanwhile, they had to wait for the right moment to approach Lyra's body, which was still in the bathtub.
It turned out that Lyra's mother stayed there for quite a while, beside her daughter's cold, lifeless body.
About two hours later, Lyra's mother seemed to regain her awareness and realized her daughter had passed. She screamed and cried hysterically, desperately trying to lift Lyra's body from the water-filled tub. But it was too late Lyra had long been gone.
Then, Lyra's mother went into a frenzy, destroying everything around her, harming herself, and eventually running out of the house.
Bentley: "Rain, let's go. We need to get to Lyra's body right away!"
Rain: "Yes, let's go."
They rushed to the bathroom.
Lyra's body now lay on the damp, wet bathroom floor, surrounded by broken fragments and scattered items destroyed by her mother, adding more sorrow to their hearts. Now Rain could finally weep uncontrollably in front of Lyra's body, without fear of being heard. Lyra embraced Rain from behind, staring at her own corpse with deep sorrow.
Bentley: "Rain, we must hurry. I'm afraid Lyra's mother might come back and see the three of us."
Rain nodded and, reluctantly, had to stop crying and set aside her overwhelming grief for Lyra.
A lotus flower appeared in Rain's hand, and she placed it gently on Lyra's body.
Whoosh...
Rain and Bentley had returned to Hased Dungeon.
Bentley: "Where's Lyra?" Bentley asked in a panic.
Rain: "Lyra was only with us until we found her body, Ben. Now it's up to you and me to free her soul's light sealed in this place. We have to go deeper inside to find the gate but before that, we must face the demon and the soul-devouring god guarding it."
Bentley: "Will we have to fight again like before?"
Rain: "That depends on how the demon and the soul-devouring god respond to our negotiations. They're very different from the entities we fought before, Ben. Far stronger, crueler, more cunning, and full of deceit."
Bentley: "I'll help you, Rain. Don't worry."
Bentley said gently, brushing the top of Rain's head, making Rain fall silent as her heart began to race uncontrollably.
Bentley: "Come on, we have to find Lyra's soul light!"
Rain: "Yes… Let's go."
*********
Rain and Bentley's footsteps echoed softly along the stone corridor of Hased Dungeon. They entered a place shrouded in darkness and cold. This place was vastly different from the previous soul prison where Mr. Andrew had been sealed by Samael.
Bentley and Rain gazed up at the towering ceiling of the dungeon, their eyes catching sacred symbols intertwined with bloody curses, forming an aura that pressed heavily on their chests.
Now they had arrivedat the end of the crossroads stood a door, identical to the one where Mr. Andrew's soul light had been sealed. Right beside that door lay a weapon, resembling a dagger but larger and longer, with blades on both sides. One side was sharp and crescent-shaped, while the other resembled lightning or a sharp, sturdy tree branch, with a.... (for more https://www.patreon.com/posts/128543119?utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=android_share)