DKFTI 89

“Silo….”

There was no way to know why that name came out of his mouth. After he finished feeling the book, it suddenly came to mind.

His head felt strange. Suddenly, a memory that was not his own flickered in his head. For example, it was like this ghost had once been alive with vitality.

When Sibel reached out his hand, the ghost knelt on one knee at that spot. He lowered his head politely and lifted both hands to hold the tip of Sibel’s fingers.

–My lord….

The voice of the ghost Silo echoed in his ears. At that moment, golden light poured from the sky. How could light keep pouring underground?

–I believed a day would come when you would call my name….

This ghost, it turned out to be a ghost that could speak in proper sentences. It was a surprising thing.

–My master.

His solemn voice rang uttered each word carefully with sincerity.

A short moment passed, it felt like being under hypnosis, and Sibel looked down at the ghost’s hand that touched his hand and his own toes, then he shifted his gaze to Silo’s bowed head.

Why does this feel familiar? Isn’t this a very strange picture?

As he suddenly felt as if he returned to reality, he finally started to think that this situation was strange.

When Sibel turned his head with a flustered face and looked at Aizen, he too was watching the scene with his mouth open, he was dumbfounded.

“How did you know the ghost’s name?”

“Did I say it?”

“You called it.”

His memory of what had just happened was faint. It was certain that the name “Silo” had come from his mouth.

Why did he say that name?

“Um, Mr. Gho-…. No, Silo?”

When he called the ghost’s name once again, the ghost lifted his head. His eyes were clearly different from before his name was called.

“Silo, Silo…. It feels familiar.”

It stuck to his tongue like Shanti or Ruru. Was that possible between people meeting for the first time? Moreover, it wasn’t a person but a ghost.

–Forgive my disloyalty for failing to serve you to the end….

Suddenly?

–May your will spread widely in this world….

“Uh, uh, why are you doing this? Hey. Mr. Ghost!”

The ghost’s body suddenly began to scatter slowly like powder blowing in the wind.

“We haven’t said anything yet! Explanation, explanation!”

Sibel hurriedly lowered his body and reached out to grab the vanishing ghost. But Silo’s body was already quickly losing its form at that moment.

But for some reason Silo was smiling. How could he smile while his soul was slowly scattering?

“Silo….”

Sibel started to feel choked up. He did not know where this feeling came from, but he felt sad that the ghost disappeared. He felt the same emptiness when Ruru disappeared.

–My master, my god, our light….

Silo muttered words that could not be understood, and Sibel pulled him tightly into his arms. He knew the ghost couldn’t be embraced, but his action was instinctive.

I don’t want this ghost to disappear. I want to feel more.

At the moment Sibel spread his arms wide and embraced Silo completely, Silo’s eyes, of which only his head remained, slowly closed. He wore a very calm look and a happy smile.

“……”

Finally, Silo’s form completely disappeared. His heart pounded.

“What happened?”

He was stupefied.

“Is it a ghost you know?”

Sibel shook his head.

“Then why are you crying like that?”

Aizen asked and Sibel sat on the floor, he raised the hand that fell weakly on his knees, and rubbed his eyes. His cheeks were damp just as Aizen said.

“Why am I crying?”

He did not even know when the tears started. When he came to his senses, he was like this.

“Silo.”

That name kept lingering in his mouth. And at that moment.

The books scattered across the bookshelf started to turn to powder and vanish slowly, just like Silo disappeared. Everything was an unrealistic scene.

“Sibel.”

Aizen called Sibel, but he only stared at the golden dust shining above his head.

“Why do…the tears keep coming out?”

Even though Sibel knew there was no one who would answer no matter who he asked, he had no choice but to finally mutter this word out of his mouth.

It felt like he had just lost something very precious. Something he must never forget. If not, then how could this sense of loss be explained?

***

That night, Sibel returned safely to his room. Aizen worried about him, but Sibel was fine. That is, his body was fine. His mind was blank as if someone had rummaged through it.

He washed and went to bed as if nothing had happened.

He dreamed. He dreamed he stepped onto a beautiful meadow like the one he saw when he opened the first book.

There were many animals there. A deer came carefully to his side and rubbed its cheek, and sheep played in the distance like white clouds. Little birds sang overhead, and a pair of rabbits grazed with curious eyes.

As he lay on the peaceful meadow feeling happiness, he saw a wounded black beast far away. It resembled darkness too much to be an animal, and it had too much instinct of a living being to be darkness.

When he reached out his hand to the hesitating black thing, it tangled up to him like mud. A terrible loneliness seeped into his skin.

It was never a good feeling, but Sibel felt compassion for the black thing in the dream. He felt like he would cry out of pity.

It was a black and grotesque creature that did not fit the beautiful paradise.

It shook his heart helplessly inside the dream. While he stroked it once to comfort, once to give warmth, and once to confirm the eyes inside its black form, it settled into his heart.

He laughed. He thought fate came suddenly. He realized he could not endure without loving this small pitiful being.

He stared at the grotesquely distorted face that resembled darkness. As he looked, it felt dangerous as if he would be drawn in, but it looked at him with eyes like a newborn looking at its mother or like eyes facing the universe.

Some words circled in his mouth. It seemed he finally spoke something.

It did not sound in the dream, but surely a voice was coming from his mouth. It seemed he was speaking words of blessing, and it seemed he was singing a lullaby. Strange emotions surged.

The black small creature nestled in his arms. It was not warm. It was completely cold, its fur scratched his skin like thorns, and its smell was not pleasant.

But he did not think of taking it from his arms. He only wanted to hold it tightly and share warmth.

And such beings gradually increased one by one around him. They all thrust their heads and burrowed into his embrace.

Among them, there seemed to be one named “Silo.”

***

His eyes opened wide. Even after waking from the dream, his hands and feet did not move like his mind.

What is this? Am I still dreaming?

He still felt the terrible emotion stuck like cobwebs to his hands and feet.

‘Is this a dream or a nightmare?’

He could not distinguish it at all. His heart beat faster than usual. His body temperature seemed a little higher. His back was wet with cold sweat.

Sibel’s gaze suddenly moved outside the window. He felt the damp and sticky air.

“Rainy season….”

As always, the coming of the rainy season was unpleasant. He disliked losing control of his body, and he disliked the feeling left after the rainy season ended.

Because it took a long time for the hot mass that could not erupt anywhere to dissolve.

“I really hate it.”

If someone said that it was time he got used to it, he wanted to answer that it was something he could never get used to.

He heard the refreshing sound of wind rushing through the leaves. It resembled the sound of a summer shower.

“I hate the rainy season, but….”

As a demon, the rainy season he experienced was the worst, but he had always liked the mood of rainy days. Besides, the sight of the earth wet made him feel fulfilled. The smell of wet soil was one of the things Sibel liked.

Sibel quietly curled up and watched the dark sky.

It was not such a bad dream, but he felt reluctant to fall asleep again. Probably it was because of “intuition.” He had a hunch that this dream that created such a strange feeling would continue for some time.

“Silo.”

It was a night when he kept repeating the name of the ghost he parted with as soon as they met.