The Zero Countdown

Chapter 24: Happiness

Dionsy became the Unknown Entity's medium of forcing a little girl into the cruel reality of the world, giving her another chance by specially bestowing just the right ability she would seek atop the suffering and anguish she had undergone.

"Poor little Madela, I shall grant you the Fantasm Ability: Time Keeper. From now on, you control the world at your whims, the rules of cosmic authority are under your grasp. But you can't go back beyond the start of the game." Dionsy clarified, dispersing any loophole in the imposition of rules.

It was the last time she heard her doll talk and at first, clueless about what her power really meant that her innocence and view of how the world works became her first mistake that led to utter regret.

The Zero Countdown had begun and she's still figuring out what she can do now that she gained the ability; Time Keeper. Even so, not knowing what she's doing didn't hinder her thoughts. A simple thinking process focusing on the fact that if she can control the time, then she comprehends she can repeat the same day again.

"Dionsy told me I should specify date and time... Let's try this!" Madela was rather enthusiastic that she called forth her time-bending ability and chanted the exact same day but instead of the same moment, she chose an instance of sunrise, and out of nowhere, she suddenly got teleported back to her bed.

Curious whether her ability worked, she went out of the shop to greet the blooming sun from a faraway mountain up north; it was then she realized how her ability actually functions in the grand scale of things.

"I'm afraid of the future... Can I really win the game by killing? If I can revert the time over and over again, then I can stay like this forever... That's right, I'll freeze the very time so no one would get hurt. I'll prevent everyone from getting killed instead so no one will suffer again."

She was so young but she already can carry the burden of the world. Instead of using her reality-bending ability at her whims as the Unknown Entity had thought, she proceeded and sealed the certainty of the future by going back in time precisely when her ability is depleted, which could then put the space and time in an eternal status, repeating the day over and over again.

However, as time passes by, she eventually uses the time at her behest to study the things she liked, more specifically science fiction connected to her Fantasm Ability. Madela would even go around the city wandering all by herself not caring what bad things might happen to her knowing once midnight arrives, she'd repeat the same day as if things started becoming a routine for her.

She did all kinds of things, studying martial arts and self-defense, though the limitation of her mortal form rendered her body incapable of housing what she learned so far.

Seconds became minutes, minutes constitutes hours, hours produced days, and from days come weeks, months, and years that Madela lost her sense of time, reiterating the exact same moment for countless years and for days to come.

Living like an immortal being in a stranded parallel world, the halted time had her thinking about the true value of life, observing the immaterial plane of the identical foreseeable moment became tedious and dull as if endlessly playing a broken recording for centuries.

"I saw this... I know what she's going to say... That also happened before, and oh, that too..." She ventures across the city and became a wanderer of time, paving a pointless path of no return other than the repetition her power provides.

"I see then, I'm bounded in this world no matter what. But I'm afraid to die..." Madela's gaze met with the passing busses and cars, suicide filled her head but she slapped her face and somehow woke up from her nightmare.

However, she realized the fear of death acted as the sole proof that she trapped the world in an infinite loop of time wasn't for the people and their protection; it was the shallow goal of her naive and childish determination of saving everyone when in truth, she selfishly wanted to save herself.

"This is unfair... Life is unfair! What did I do to deserve living in a boring world such as this... Why I feel empty inside..."

The little Madela inside of her was gone. What's left in her was the fragment of her old self, scattered across her deteriorated mind.

She can no longer feel suffering or anguish, her soul became an empty shell of loneliness, and worst, she had lost the ability to weep and cry out her heart bare for the nothingness she ignored.

But everything changed when she met a typical man in his twenties, Madela learned he's one Fantasm who are compelled of joining the game.

Unlike any other person she met so far, they were cold and harsh, some even wanting to kidnap her and sell her to the black market. Had not her ability reset time, she could have already met her end.

Nevertheless, Elyon discovered his previous distant past, existence from the iteration of time became friends with Madela. The fragment of memories unearthed that after they went out to play, him taking Madela to the park was one amongst the millions of instances that she kept repeating.

There was a timeline where they did stroll around the city together, where they bought clothes at the shop past the avenue, and even a time they enjoyed some rides at the famous Star Park downtown.

Those times became her comfort and solace. She would repeat the same day with a different outcome, striding a path of no value as Elyon can't understand why she's doing such a thing.

Yet, there was one thing he's certain, that out of the countless reality he observed, the instance when Madela spent the moment together with him was the time when her smile shines the brightest.

She's so elated that she forgot the world. Filled by the warm happiness she never knew up until she met Elyon, all she cared about is being around him as if she once again became a child, deluding herself that he is her father and that reality is enough for her.

Although there was a trace of sadness at the end of each day, there exist a cage within her that prevents her from escaping the dreamland she created.

And as Elyon gaze at Madela's memories vanishing into the darkness, he witnessed the last remaining fragment that finally answered his questions once and for all.

Madela faces the mirror in her bedroom. She can't quite say her thoughts aloud but she composed her courage and decided to seek change.

"I have no idea if this will even work or what... But I know you're watching me now, Elyon. I had acquired enough knowledge about your ability as the Fate Weaver... If you want a further explanation, ask your red-headed friend regarding your Fantasm Ability, because I'm telling a different thing today..." Madela behaved as if she already knew Elyon would see her memories.

"What is it then? I'm all ears..." Elyon still replied even though no one will hear him.

"It might be selfish that relished your company for almost an eternity. You are such a reasonable man, I know what you lost since there was a timeline you told me. You are the reason why I get to experience what being a kid means, you brought me happiness even though you're faking it..."

She sobs and covers her face, unable to believe that his actions brought back the emotions she lost.

"Meeting you was the best, but I'll no longer keep the time in place. I had decided to free the world from this repeating loop of madness. Though, I will miss your company once this ends. And I'm sorry if you suffered because of my mother... Her mental illness urges her to kill her victim and hang their innards in her greenhouse garden, so please forgive her. I guarantee you she's a good person who genuinely loves me..."

Before the last fragment disperses along the firefly-like gems glowing in the darkest night, Elyon beheld the innocent, little girl's genuine smile, showing her gratitude for the transient things they shared together.

"If those copied realities weren't real... Then what is?! I know for sure that the reiterated past is true, they exist within me, alone covered by the barricaded prison of time. So please, Elyon, if you want to win this game, turn around and face this cruel world because the crown of victory is no longer for me... And will never be."

Elyon woke up from his dream, and the real world struck him harder than the pain he felt after seeing Madela's recollections.

His serrated knife remain stabbed inside the girl's heart. He started regretting what he had done but before he would blame himself, for the last moment, Madela offered her sincerest embrace to him, her cold pale skin became apparent from blood loss, for she did fulfill her own selfish request.

It was then Elyon realized that what Madela was looking for wasn't the reason for existence nor the enlightenment atop the world; she just wanted kindness and love, something that she was deprived of since she was a child.

"I... I—" Elyon pauses as Madela patted his back.

"Shush now, Elyon. I'm a selfish little girl who trapped the world in time. I deserve this. I am a scum who lived for my own sake... But now, at least I can tell myself I helped someone at the cost of my life... I can finally be at peace knowing I regret nothing, so should you..."

Little Madela stopped breathing, Elyon removed the blade engraved in her heart and shook her many times, but to no avail.

Even though the reality Madela experienced wasn't part of the truth, Elyon existed in the same event and the new memories he has conflicted with what remained.

"ARRGHHHH!!!" He wailed the sorrow stored in the recollections he was endowed, whilst under his embrace is the girl who wanted to be happy more than anyone that ended up meeting her unchangeable demise.

Overridden by the burning fire in his chest, Elyon cradled the dead body as if she was his daughter.

He declared the promise he will now keep, along with the change of goal in the vengeance he seeks.

"I will win this game even if I have to kill a god. I am no longer a tool of someone nor a comrade of the foolish—I'll take the crown myself and bring victory as I should."