Wait. Why wasn't my body moving? The order was clear... move to the side and avoid the monster's hand.
I stood there terrified, not by the approaching hand, but by the fact that I was frozen right in its path, my entire body trembling uncontrollably.
If my memories were rewritten it wouldn't be different from death, I would no longer be myself but just an empty shell that would follow any order. I wouldn't lose my intellectual capacity but I wouldn't be different from a puppet.
Would my memories be altered? Without having experienced almost anything in life, having dreamed of escaping this cursed orphanage with all my siblings?
I didn't want to forget. I don't want to forget.
I didn't want to give up. I didn't want to feel the helplessness of that day anymore.
Not yet, not yet!
Now, more than ever, I yearned to remember.
I... want to live. With my family.
I want to be happy. I want to live happily.
I don't want to die here. I can't die like this.
—No!
Arceus's scream resonated in the room as his body reacted by instinct. An intense sapphire light emanated from him, and in a flash of movement that Reinhardt could barely follow, his fist connected with the creature, sending it against the protective barrier.
The impact resonated like thunder in the white room, but the creature rose as if nothing had happened. Its movements were fluid, inhuman, and in less than a blink, its black claws closed around Arceus's neck.
I lost control of my body and fell forward when my vision became blurry.
If I gave up, all our efforts would be in vain.
Still on the ground, I observed the scene with horror. My mind worked frantically while I watched my friend struggle to breathe.
The monster's appearances and disappearances followed a pattern, I realized, and my eyes moved quickly between the creature and the barrier protecting the cubes.
—The barrier.
I murmured to myself, my voice trembling but with growing determination.
—Everything is connected... if the barrier falls...
I dragged my legs that wouldn't move, I felt fear paralyzing me.
I didn't know why, I couldn't understand why. Something was warning me intensely. That if I didn't do something, we would never see him again.
I knew how strong Arceus was, he had told me. But still, something in my gut kept screaming at me.
No matter how strong Arceus was, he couldn't defeat the monster in front of him.
It was as if my beating heart was telling me. If I did nothing, I would regret it.
If I gave up now, I would spend the rest of my life crying. For myself and my family.
I had to do it if I wanted to save him, I decided to do what my heart was telling me and, curiously, my anxiety disappeared.
With a resolution born of desperation, I closed my eyes and concentrated all my Prana.
Through reading grimoires, I understood that there were different types of stellar energy according to their origin.
Prana (spiritual energy) was the characteristic badge of a priest and came from the soul, which was released and flowed naturally through the body forming a spiritual core once awakened.
The air around me began to vibrate with pranic energy as I invoked my unique ability: "Miracle."
A gift that can reconstruct the world by changing the laws of the world.
An unknown and at the same time familiar sensation, I couldn't say where the power came from.
It wasn't necessary to know now.
The only thing that mattered was that the power that should have been at the bottom was exploding, what should have been a small amount of spiritual energy was leaking as it swelled.
Once was enough, once was enough to lose my family.
I'll do it, even with this single body.
This time I'll do it! I will protect them!
Although my throat burned with each breath, although I felt my arms were going to burst, although my body screamed, I didn't give up.
It doesn't hurt at all, so just a little faster, faster, faster!
I screamed desperately, I waited.
I prayed, I yearned. I made a wish.
A great hammer of light materialized above the barrier, its presence as real as ethereal. With a downward movement, the hammer struck the protective barrier. The impact was devastating: the barrier shattered into thousands of pieces that fell like crystal rain.
Miracles are curious things. You never know when they're going to happen. You never know if they will happen and you never know where.
Unfortunately... Everything had a price. Until now, no one with the gift of miracles had come out unscathed.
I felt dizzy in my head, my energy was depleted. As if it were a lie, the strength disappeared from my body.
The outside world slowly came back into focus, but I barely noticed it. Exhaustion hit me like an avalanche, and I fell to the ground with a thud, my body refusing to respond to my orders.
I hit my forehead against the floor, while my vision became blurry, but I didn't feel any impact. I couldn't feel my body.
It can't be...
Desperation again began to take hold of me as I watched the creature maintain its death grip on Arceus, its spectral fingers now trying to force his eyelids open.
It was then that Reinhardt, who had been stunned while his body trembled, saw his opportunity. With the barrier destroyed, the control pillar was exposed. Without hesitating a second longer, he extended his hand toward it.
His fingers' contact with the marble triggered an immediate reaction. A sharp sound filled the room, and the creature vanished like smoke in the wind. The red and gold cubes lost their supernatural glow, revealing a gray and opaque surface crossed by faint lines that seemed to pulse with residual energy. We had done it...
Arceus fell to his knees, coughing and gasping as air returned to his lungs.
I could feel darkness claiming me, as my vision darkened.
Unconsciousness finally claimed me, dragging me into an abyss of darkness and silence.