The Death Mage Who Doesn't Want a Fourth Time

Side Story Chapter 5: Vida

A hundred thousand years… Even before that…

After being born in this world, Vida spread the power of the life attribute throughout it, and before she knew it, she was praised by the people as the goddess of life and love.

Everything was peaceful back then. Everything was gentle and quiet.

However, that peace was broken by the invasion of the Demon King. Vida had no choice but to fight alongside the other gods against the Demon King’s army, the invaders from a foreign world.

During that time, at Zuruwarn’s suggestion, it was decided that champions would be summoned from another world. She agreed with the plan while Alda opposed it, but in the end, things went well and seven champions were to be summoned.

Permission had been granted from the god of that other world, but only Rodcorte, the one who ruled the only circle of transmigration, continued to oppose it. But none bothered listening to a god who could do nothing other than complain.

The one Vida had chosen was a young man who was trying to hang himself in a small backstreet workshop, Sakado Keisuke. He would later become Zakkart.

“Ah, the goddess has come for me. Mother, Father, I’m coming now,” Sakado whispered.

“Stop, don’t go, please!” Vida cried.

I was in quite a panic back then.

It seemed that an organization known as a ‘bank’ had betrayed Sakado and the workshop he had been running went out of business, so he was trying to kill himself.

Vida thought that he would happily become a champion with no lingering desires in this world, but Sakado exhibited a fixation on mysterious things.

“Umm, does that mean that you’re going to give me special powers and things like that, then?” he asked.

“Of course.”

Bestowing powers upon humans chosen to become champions was already an established procedure. In fact, if they were to be invited to another world without being given anything, they would simply die.

Different worlds would have different laws of physics and even different compositions of air. There weren’t such great differences between Lambda and Sakado’s world, but if Sakado was simply taken to Lambda without any adjustments being made, it was possible that his lifespan would be shortened or he would transform into a bizarre creature due to the Mana floating about in the air.

Vida would adjust his soul to prevent that, but these adjustments would become what were referred to as “champions’ powers.” The “blank space” of the soul upon which adjustments could be made were called, “the qualities of a champion.”

… The adjustments could have been made more freely if Rodcorte, an expert on this matter, had cooperated, however.

Also, magic didn’t exist in this world called “Earth” that Zuruwarn had made a connection to, so none of its inhabitants were able to use Mana. In addition, only a miniscule number of individuals were capable of fighting with swords and spears; it was already known that there were none among Earth’s inhabitants who had the individual fighting strength to stand up against the Demon King and his army.

Earth’s weapons couldn’t be taken to Lambda (If they were, since the laws of physics were different in Lambda, it was certain that they would break after being fired once, misfire or even explode), so it was decided that each champion would be granted powers.

That was why even if Sakado never asked for it, Vida was planning to give him things like physical abilities that would allow him to treat protagonists of action films as small fry, an aptitude for magic and powerful equipment that only champions could use.

In addition, the Job and skill system created by Ricklent had already been implemented in Lambda.

With enough experience, one could gain unimaginable powers.

“Well then, please give me a cheat that lets me create things,” said Sakado.

“… Huh? Err, we’re in the middle of a war.”

For some reason, Sakado showed a strong fixation on things related to ‘creating’. Wouldn’t one normally desire the power to cut down enemies one after another with a sword, or the ability to freely cast powerful spells? In fact, those are the kinds of champions that we are looking for.

Vida told Sakado this, but he stubbornly refused to yield on this matter.

“I’m weak when it comes to fighting,” he said.

“That’s why I’m telling you that I’ll make you strong!”

“But I get the feeling that it’ll be a waste… I’m not really athletic, either.”

Vida sighed. “Even if you say you want to create, I’m the goddess of the life attribute, so it’ll have to be something like agriculture, animal breeding, forestry or woodworking. Is that alright with you?”

She had no choice but to give in. There wasn’t enough time for her to spend days convincing him and she didn’t have any other candidates.

“Please give me those. I’m more knowledgeable about the manufacturing industry than I look.”

And so, though this wasn’t what was originally planned, Sakado was summoned to Lambda as a champion who placed more importance on productivity and technology than individual fighting strength.

Vida felt disappointed, knowing that she was probably the only one to summon such a strange champion, but contrary to her expectations, the champions chosen by Ricklent, Peria and Botin had also desired cheats for creating things.

To think that four of the seven had desired creation-related abilities. Perhaps the image of heroes on ‘Earth’ was fundamentally different to what the gods had imagined? It was very perplexing.

Alda and Zantark had scolded them angrily for not making more serious choices, however.

After that, it was fierce battle after fierce battle.

Numerous islands had been sunk, nations were destroyed and Shizarion’s soul had been broken. Even so, Vida, Sakado and the other champions fought earnestly, defeating and sealing numerous evil gods and somehow keeping the war even.

Sakado… had reluctantly changed his name to Zakkart in order to have a more typical Lambda-style name under the recommendation of Suzuki Shouhei, the leader of the champions. Zakkart had distinguished himself in these battles.

“If this world’s gods and people are willing to betray us and join the Demon King, the reverse should also be possible!” As he made this outrageous declaration, he began trying to recruit the evil gods obeying the Demon King.

“Zakkart, what are you thinking!” Bellwood demanded. “Their very existence is evil! There is no way that they can be converted. And have you forgotten what they have been doing to innocent people up until now?!”

“Precisely,” said Alda. “Even if they were to join our side, it would only be a trap or a wretched way to beg for their lives. Accepting those who have sinned without delivering any punishment is an unthinkable, reckless act.”

“Please, come to your senses!” Vida begged him.

Not even Vida’s words stopped Zakkart from trying to recruit the evil gods; in fact, the champions who had desired abilities of creation began to actively cooperate with him in his efforts.

And unbelievably, more than ten evil gods, though not in important positions within the Demon King’s army, crossed over to the champions’ side.

“No way?!” Vida exclaimed in surprise.

“I mean, don’t things like this happen often in wars?” said Zakkart, wearing a nonchalant expression.

The evil gods who had changed sides were not particularly exceptional in direct fighting strength, but the fact that there were traitors seemed to have caused greater shock and disturbance in the Demon King’s army than expected.

The Demon King was a being who ruled not with charisma, but through overwhelming power and his secret ability that allowed him to destroy souls. There were some who worshipped his power, but many of his subordinates feared him or were simply obeying him to serve their own purposes.

The existence of the traitors caused doubt to spread throughout the Demon King\'s army, making them wonder, “Has the Demon King’s power grown weaker?” and, “Have they betrayed the Demon King because they believe that the champions have something capable of defeating him?”

And the Demon King was successfully driven into paranoia that his other subordinates would betray him as well.

The coordination of the Demon King’s army that had been bound together like iron came apart, more traitors appeared and the war that had been even up until now began leaning in the champions’ favor. But the champions couldn’t let down their guard. They needed to attack before the Demon King’s army restored its iron-like bonds.

Under these circumstances, Zakkart declared that he would begin the manufacture of ‘weapons from another world.’

“With our knowledge and skill alongside magic, we should be able to create the modern weapons of Earth in Lambda!”

He advocated that these weapons should be used to defeat the Demon King. One of the reasons for this was because the Demon King possessed numerous troublesome special abilities that made him difficult to defeat through normal methods.

A barrier that nullified all magic and a barrier that nullified all physical attacks. With these two different barriers, he would be surrounded by an impregnable defense.

Because of this defense, even the holy sword of Bellwood, who was the most gifted in combat, wouldn’t reach him. It would even stop the attacks of the gods.

Zakkart had thought of a way to pierce through those barriers and inflict damage on the Demon King.

“Even if the Demon King came from another world, he has not known a world with a technology-driven culture like Earth,” said Zakkart. “If we press him there, it might work.”

After investigating the barriers, he had noticed that they were not like hard walls that repelled attacks, but had properties resembling membranes that absorbed energy.

He had also determined that the simultaneously-present barriers, the anti-physical-attack barrier and anti-magic barrier, were independent and didn’t affect each other at all.

In other words, if the anti-physical-attack barrier was broken by an extremely powerful attack it couldn’t absorb completely, the anti-magic barrier would continue functioning as normal.

Only one of the barriers needed to be pierced to make an attack reach the Demon King.

So, Bellwood would use his ability to copy another champion’s ability once a day to copy Zakkart’s power of nullifying damage taken from a target weapon, targeting Earth’s modern weapons.

After that, Bellwood, now impervious to the damage of those weapons, would attack alongside the weapons being fired at the Demon King.

The Demon King’s anti-physical-attack barrier would be pierced and he would be defeated. This was the plan that Zakkart drafted.

However, Bellwood was vehemently opposed to this plan. The weapons that Zakkart was trying to create had proved to be problematic on Earth, causing irreversible damage on the environment when they were used.

Invisible poison would be scattered across vast areas and linger for tens of thousands of years. They were terrifying weapons.

“Zakkart, have you gone insane?! You would only create a disaster in this beautiful world of Lambda in the Demon King’s place!” Bellwood exclaimed.

“Disaster? At this rate, the Demon King will take everything!” said Zakkart. “And unlike Earth, this world has magic, and it isn’t as if the entire world is going to be contaminated. It will be only the continent the Demon King is residing in, and there’s not a single person left there anyway, is there?”

“But there are people who were evacuated from that continent! Some of them are in the volunteer army that is fighting with us! Can you say the same to them, when they are risking their lives to reclaim their homeland? Can you tell them that even if the Demon King is defeated, they will never have a homeland to return to?!”

“… I do feel bad for them. I really do, but if we aren’t prepared to make sacrifices, we can’t win. And Suzuki, aren’t you just unhappy with the fact that I want to make weapons from Earth?”

And so, the four creation-minded champions led by Zakkart, who were in agreement with the creation of the weapons, separated themselves from the three battle-minded champions led by Bellwood.

The two groups were prone to argue with one another over various things, and it was always Bellwood who would calm the unyielding, dissatisfied creation-minded champions down, telling them that victory couldn’t be achieved without helping each other.

But it seemed that they couldn’t put up with it any longer.

Alda and Zantark agreed with the opinions of Bellwood’s group, while Vida, Zuruwarn and Ricklent agreed with those of Zakkart’s group.

Vida was confident that if she and the other gods did everything in their power, the pollution caused by the weapons could be erased within a few thousand years, or even a few centuries if things went well.

And though those evacuated from that continent deserved pity, the continent was already filled with seas and deserts of poison, and contaminated with forests of monster fungi. Vida believed that they had to give up on the continent to some extent.

However, Alda’s side wondered, was it really possible to purify a poison that had never existed in this world before? What if that poison were to combine with the Mana of this world and transform into a new disaster? They advocated that victory was possible without utilizing such a dangerous plan.

The fact that the war had begun leaning in the champions’ favor had created room for such arguments to arise.

Meanwhile, Zakkart began creating Earth’s modern weapons in order to change the minds of the battle-minded champions and the gods who supported their opinion. To be more precise, he began creating the poison that those weapons would scatter.

He was trying to create a far smaller amount of diluted poison to determine whether it would be possible to purify it with this world’s magic and the power of the gods, and if so, how long it would take to do so.

The other creation-minded champions cooperated in this task, while Vida and her companions continued to try and persuade Alda’s side to accept this plan.

At this time, the Demon King’s army suddenly went on the offensive.

The Demon King separated his army in two and began a large offensive movement with no hesitation to make sacrifices. One of them was a large force that charged at the volunteer army’s camp where Bellwood and his companions were, commanded directly by the Demon King himself.

The other was a smaller army that closed in on the weapons manufacture workshop where Zakkart and his companions were, led by the Demon King’s close aide.

Bellwood and his companions, alongside the volunteer army, accepted the challenge of defeating the Demon King that was approaching them. Vida tried to leave in order to help Zakkart and his companions, but Alda and the other gods stopped her.

“Zakkart and the others are champions as well. They will be able to deal with a small army on their own. In fact, they should kill all of the enemies and come here to support us. And shouldn’t we prioritize defeating the Demon King above all else?”

At the time, I thought Alda’s words were right. That’s why… but…

Bellwood and his companions drove away the large army. However, the army had been composed of large numbers of sturdy small-fry and monsters specialized in stamina and defense, designed to hinder the champions. The Demon King leading them was a fake.

Zakkart and his companions had their souls broken by the Demon King who had been disguising himself as a low-Rank monster, and the workshop was destroyed.

“With this, the champions capable of defeating me have perished!” The Demon King Guduranis was said to have made this loud declaration after breaking Zakkart’s soul.

The Demon King had considered Zakkart’s group more powerful than Bellwood’s, and feared them more. He had been worried that the plan that they had made would one day threaten his life.

That was why he had been fixated on defeating Zakkart’s group, despite having to make large sacrifices to do so. He had even destroyed their souls so that they could never be revived.

Vida, Zuruwarn and Ricklent desperately tried to revive them. They planned to piece together the broken fragments of their souls in an attempt to resurrect them.

But Rodcorte had already retrieved the fragments of their souls by then.

“Reviving souls not part of my circle of transmigration system without permission, souls pieced together from broken fragments at that. There is no telling what kind of flaws doing such a thing would cause in the system. If possible, I wanted to return them to their original world, but I do not have the power to interfere with worlds outside of my jurisdiction. For this reason, I have restored four souls’ worth of fragments into a single soul and placed it in my system. This needed a considerable amount of effort, but not as much as fixing unexpected errors and bugs.”

The souls of Zakkart and his companions had already gone to a place where Vida couldn’t reach them.

“What happened to them is a pity. But for their sake, we will defeat the Demon King Guduranis with our own power and save the world!” Bellwood declared, holding his holy sword high.

After that, events that I don’t even want to remember kept happening one after another, didn’t they…

In terms of results, Bellwood was victorious. Lambda was saved.

But too many sacrifices had been made.

Bellwood and the other two battle-minded champions survived. However, all of the eleven gods other than Alda and Vida had lost so much power that they had essentially died.

Not a single member of the volunteer army led by Bellwood had survived.

There were numerous regions that remained contaminated, including the continent that the Demon King had made his domain. Many of them remained unpurified even a hundred thousand years later, spreading and becoming known as ‘Devil’s Nests.’

The surviving people, all of the humans, Elves and Dwarves, numbered less than three thousand.

“Our losses were indeed great. But we’re still alive. We have to continue forward. Please cooperate with us, for the sake of the future,” said Bellwood, extending his hand. But Vida rejected him.

Time cannot be rewound; no matter how much I regret, what has been lost will never come back. To make up for our losses, I should have taken his hand. Alda wasn’t wrong when he said that. But I could no longer trust them.

Wasn’t there supposed to be no sacrifices made?

It was true that there was no guarantee that the Demon King would have been defeated if Zakkart’s plan had been put into practice. But shouldn’t Bellwood have listened to his opinions?

Gunpowder and matchlock weapons, land mines and steam engines - Bellwood had opposed Zakkart at every turn, stopping all of his ideas.

It was true that what Zakkart had in mind was dangerous and would spell disaster for this world if misused. After hearing it, even Vida had countless discussions with him about it, thinking that it would be dangerous to put the plan into practice exactly as he had suggested it.

But even so, she had discussed it with him. She hadn’t denied him without hearing what he had to say.

And no matter what she did, she couldn’t let go of her doubt surrounding the events when the Demon King had closed in.

Didn’t Bellwood and Alda abandon Zakkart and his companions on purpose?

Wasn’t it possible that they had intentionally allowed themselves to be deceived by the Demon King’s trap?

There was no evidence. If someone told her that she was delusional, that would be the end of the discussion. And even Vida thought that it would be ungrateful of her to accuse Bellwood of such a thing, when he had come to Lambda from a completely unrelated world, risked his life and finally defeated the Demon King.

However, she couldn’t trust him.

But she distrusted Rodcorte even more. What was important to that god was the souls being reincarnated in the worlds he had jurisdiction over; he probably wasn’t interested in anything else. Even with these events occurring, he probably thought nothing more than, “I’m glad the Demon King was defeated.”

If the Demon King had told Rodcorte, “I will create as many humans as you want in place of the gods that were originally in this world, so lend me your strength,” then perhaps Rodcorte would have accepted. Vida couldn’t help but to think this.

And the loss of Zakkart and the other creation-minded champions was great not only to Vida, but to Lambda as a whole.

After they had fallen, Bellwood was forced to fight a harsh war that was once again tipped in the Demon King’s favor. Gods, members of the volunteer army and the refugees that they had been protecting were lost in rapid succession.

And even now, Bellwood and the others were struggling to restore this ruined world. Because their powers were specialized for battle, though they were able to exterminate the monsters left behind by the Demon King, they were nothing more than amateurs when it came to agriculture and manufacturing.

That was exactly why they needed Vida to cooperate with them, but…

Instead of cooperating with them, I made a different decision.

Vida thought of creating her own circle of transmigration system for this world and creating new “people” who could survive even in this world that was overrun by monsters.

She planned to rebuild and restore this world, and reunite with Alda and the other gods.

Alda and Bellwood opposed her as usual, but this was something that she had expected.

They would have acknowledged me if my endeavors paid off. I thought that I had no other way to convince them when words wouldn’t reach them.

That was why she didn’t listen to the words of Alda and the others. If one asked her whether she wanted to get back at them, she wouldn’t have denied it, however.

And then Vida gave birth to numerous new races. She poured Vitality into Zakkart’s remains and successfully turned him into an Undead.

She had wanted to fully resurrect him, but her attempts failed thoroughly. It seemed that without the soul at hand or someone who could control death itself, reversing life and death was impossible.

That was why she was only able to create a puppet with fragments of Zakkart’s memories and knowledge, that moved based on the few residual thoughts remaining in his body.

But I don’t think he would be angry. He was always saying that whatever can be used should be used, as if it was his favorite phrase.

And so, with the help of the former evil gods who had joined her as subordinate gods, she imitated the circle of reincarnation system left behind by the Demon King, creating her own original system.

Though it did work, it was nothing more than an imitation of the Demon King’s system that was itself an imitation of Rodcorte’s system, so bugs would constantly appear. It was a dangerous product that she couldn’t take her eyes off.

Vida was forced to realize that no matter how unpleasant Rodcorte was, he was a specialist when it came to this field.

But I didn’t want to give up. I looked for more help. I created new races with those who cooperated with me, and loaded the souls of the new children onto my system.

Vida thought that the system needed experience to improve. Though it would cause them discomfort at first, it was necessary for the children she had created to turn the wheels of the system and be born anew.

But fortunately, at this point in time, the incomplete system was working well, considering that it was incomplete.

The number of children given birth to by Vida was steadily increasing as well.

Maybe it’s because I imitated the Demon King’s system, but my children are stronger and live longer than I expected, and some of them undergo large changes in appearance when their Rank increases. But I always intended to produce stronger children, so I thought that it was fine, didn’t I?

Things were not fine. It was when Alda and the champions attacked her that she realized that she should have sat at a table and discussed things with Alda and the others sooner.

Bellwood and the other champions should have reached the ends of their lifespans long ago, but Alda had deemed them to be necessary for this world and preserved their youth.

Alda led the subordinate gods and followers who now supported him after their masters had perished or fallen into slumber, while Vida led the gods allied with her and the children she had given birth to. The two of them formed two separate groups that fought against each other.

Vida was defeated. In the end, her fate was determined by the fact that her enemy had champions on his side while she did not.

And the city for her children that had been created using Zakkart’s knowledge was destroyed. Vida’s divinity was stolen from her by Alda… Her authority as a goddess was revoked, and she suffered a deep wound.

Even so, she mustered all of her remaining strength, created a tall mountain range to the south of the Bahn Gaia continent and led her remaining children to take shelter there. After that, she collapsed and fell into a slumber.

I wonder how much time has passed since then?

Ten thousand years, twenty thousand years or perhaps even a hundred thousand years. She didn’t know. Her power had failed to return, to the point that she couldn’t tell.

As Vida’s equal, Alda shouldn’t have had the power to inflict an irreparable wound on her, but it seemed that he and his followers had brought her followers, the source of her power as a goddess… the ones who offered her prayers, to ruin by preventing them from growing in number.

Currently, all of the gods who had cooperated with Vida had fallen into slumber after having their divinity taken from them, or were worshipped just enough to lie dormant. Vida didn’t know whether Talos and the others were unharmed or not. Vampires were strong among Vida’s children; there was no small number of them who had fallen to the temptations of those who still tormented this world.

Why did things turn out this way? Why has Alda continued to do such harsh, cruel things?

The Demon King no longer exists, and the gods that were part of his army betrayed him and became our allies. They were doing their best to make up for what they did. So why do you still hate them? The one who tore their chance to atone into pieces is you. The one who teaches that criminals should atone for their wrongdoings, and that they are no longer criminals once they have finished atoning, is you.

Why do you hate the knowledge and technology from Earth so much? It\'s thanks to none other than the champions we summoned from that world, Earth, that we even still exist.

Why do you criticize my endeavors so much? The one who couldn’t trust Rodcorte, the one who doubted him, is you.

Why do you try to destroy my children? Why haven’t you noticed that the truly evil gods have taken advantage of that and built a nest inside your pocket?

At this rate, everyone will become exhausted and only destruction will await us, so why?

I don’t understand, I don’t understand, I don’t understand.

At that moment, a certain premonition crossed Vida’s mind. Perhaps it was caused by Zakkart’s remains that were resting next to her, or a little of her power had been restored, or perhaps Ricklent and Zuruwarn were lending her some of their power from wherever they were gathering it. She didn’t know. But it was a premonition nonetheless.

He will come back. I don’t know why, but Zakkart… Keisuke will come back to this world!

The soul that had been formed when Rodcorte forcibly pieced together the broken fragments of the four champions’ souls, the one that had been released into his system, would return to Lambda.

But…

In her premonition, Vida could see that he would be reincarnated into tragic circumstances and that he would end his own life, tormented by his own powerlessness. All of this would be instigated by Rodcorte.

“I can’t let that happen.”

This wasn’t something that she could overlook.

He currently didn’t have even fragments of memories from the past. His personality was completely different as well. But Vida couldn’t abandon him.

Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t been able to do anything for Keisuke and the others. She hadn’t been able to repay them for anything.

So, to make up for it, she would repay them just a little bit now.

With this in mind, Vida sent several Divine Messages. She was worried that there wouldn’t be anyone left to hear her voice, but it seemed that the Divine Messages had been delivered.

And the moment her premonition became reality, Vida mustered all of her power. Her hand was so powerless that her heart felt as if it would break from how pathetic she was, but even so, she extended it.

She supported the soul that had fallen into this world with her hand and scooped it up. As she did so, she noticed that three troublesome curses had been placed upon it.

“Rodcorte…!”

Vida couldn’t undo the curses. But before she could feel disappointed, she noticed something peculiar about the soul.

She noticed that the soul was imbued with the Mana of an attribute that didn’t exist in Lambda and yet was somehow familiar, and that the soul had an unusually large amount of blank space.

“I see, it has four champions’ worth of blank space. And because Rodcorte forcibly put the pieces together, it created even more blank space. Even so, there is simply too much blank space, I have to fill it with power so that he isn’t defeated by the curses… ah?”

To begin with, Vida tried to place the power of the life attribute that she had once ruled over into the soul. However, the peculiar Mana that the soul had already been imbued with engulfed that power and absorbed it.

“How strange. I wonder if it’s because my power has waned. Well then, my divine protection… This isn’t working, either?!”

When she tried to bestow it her divine protection, that was quickly engulfed as well. She had been aware that divine protections were difficult to bestow upon those who didn’t believe in the god granting the divine protection, but the divine protection had been engulfed. Just what could this mean?

“Umm… Well then, what should I do?”

There were few things Vida was capable of doing now. She had previously been able to grant special powers and cheat-like abilities, but she didn’t have the power to do that now. If she pushed herself she might be able to grant the soul a single power, but it would be terrible to see it being engulfed as well.

“Alright, let’s do this!”

Vida scooped up the tiny amount of residual thoughts that were left in Zakkart’s remains. In those residual thoughts, she wrapped some of her own blood that was running from her wound.

And then she added these to the soul. Perhaps because they had once been a part of the same soul, this time, they unified with the soul without any interference from the Mana.

“With this, this soul has received my blessing. Its unhappy destiny should become a little better. And though his growth may face walls, it won’t face any limits. It will become easier for new Jobs to appear, and it should affect the people around him, too. Well, the bad luck in his future will get stronger, though. But this Mana, I’ve felt it somewhere before… No, it can’t be.”

And then Vida released the soul into the system that she had created herself. With his soul’s compatibility, he would be born as either a Vampire or a Dhampir. And since most Vampires didn’t make children normally now, it was likely that he would be born as a Dhampir.

He might be born into even harsher and crueler circumstances than if Vida hadn’t interfered at all.

“Now, I just need everyone to hear my Divine Messages and make their move… I’m sorry that this is all I can do for you.”

You risked your lives to save a world you had no connection to and even had your souls broken. I’m sorry that this is all I can do.

If possible, I want you to love this world.

The air, the wind, the earth, the greenery, the animals, the people, I want you to love everything.

I’m sorry that I’m burdening you with more expectations after I’ve relied on you so much already.

And then, Vida’s consciousness sank into slumber once more.