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Chapter 481 A Painful Memory
Chapter 481 A Painful Memory
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When she was born, the first thing her eyes saw was an underground dungeon. Surrounding here there were several people covered in scars, blood, and nastiness, wearing rags and chackled with chains. Her mother herself was no different, looking so dispirited, barely having any light in her own eyes. It was as if she was dead inside.
However, that moment she saw her own daughter, she suddenly changed a bit. Despite all the horrors of her life, despite all the suffering that this world had brought to this world, when she saw her little daughter being born, she faintly smiled.
"I'll name you Celeste… Like my own mother's name…"
She was but a baby. She didn't understand why she was in such a dark, damp, and gloomy world. She didn't knew why it was so cold here that her little bones were freezing, but by the warmth of her mother's arms and her tail, which gently wrapped around her body, she felt at ease, slowly falling asleep.
The little girl was born slightly different than her own mother, and she noticed. While her mother had blue skin, she had white skin, almost unhealthy-looking. While her mother had purple hair, she had blue hair. And while her mother's horns were cut down, her horns grew freely.
Despite starving every day, despite suffering from the cold temperature, despite her mother crying every night, she was still held tightly by her warm arms, and she was feed her mother's milk. There were times when her mother couldn't even feed her daughter milk, she couldn't make any. Other times, her mother would luckily catch a few bugs, or if she was really lucky, a big and fatty rat, which she would devour and later give her daughter milk.
As she grew up and slowly developed a consciousness, the first thing she spoke wasn't her mother's name, but…
"Why?"
"Huh?"
Her mother felt shocked when her daughter spoke. And it wasn't even a word that didn't had a meaning, but one that had the biggest meaning for her…
Why?
Why was she here?
Why was her mother starving every day?
What was this place?
Why that big man came sometimes to abuse the people here?
Why were they feed so little, left to starve?
Why?
Just… why?!
"C-Celeste… You spoke?"
"Why…"
"Why?"
Her mother realized her daughter was different than children her age. While most children would be dumb and never be able to even understand a single thing, her daughter was born intelligent, very much so.
At the age of one she asked her mother "why" and nothing else. Until she realized what she meant… Her mother caressed her head, hugged her, and kissed her.
"Because the world… is a cruel place."
"…."
As the little baby looked at her mother explain to her why she was here, why was she starving, and why there was never a change, her mother started to cry tears of sorrow and frustration.
"I'm sorry…"
"…"
"I'm sorry for not being able to give you a single thing, Celeste… I am… a useless mother…"
"Mama…"
Celeste stretched her tiny little hand at her mother's face, touching her tears. Her mother's face was disfigured by several scars, and part of her nose was missing. She was seen as ugly by any of those "different" men that came down here occasionally and mocked as the "aberration".
But for this little girl, her mother was not ugly, she was the prettiest in the world, the most beautiful, and the star that shone upon her gloomy and dark life…
"I love you Celeste…"
Every night her mother would hug her and cover her in rags, trying her best for her daughter to not die from the cold. Her mother despite not eating in days, was incredibly resilient, and one day, her mother told her why…
"These scars in my body… I was a warrior once… Long, long ago… My body is naturally strong. Our tribe adapted to the harsh environment of our continent, and we can go on without eating for a long time, as long as we have mana… This is also a reason you can survive even when I feed you so little milk…" Sigher her mother. "I am sorry, Celeste…"
"Mama… Don't cry…" Celeste muttered, at two years of age. "It's… fine…"
Her mother always cried, and she cried even louder and sadder when her own daughter tried to calm her down, feeling despair and desperation. The little Celeste had nowhere to go, but her mind was sharp. She inspected her surroundings every single day, noticing several holes that led to sewers, everyone was too big to get through them except her. However, she never truly hard to get through them, afraid of what she might encounter.
"Celeste…"
One day, at her three-year birthday, her mother called to her, as Celeste was suddenly drawing something over the floor using a sharp rat bone.
Her mother had resisted as much as she could, but Celeste has already seen many people being dragged away, already long dead by starvation or by the horrendous torture they went through as these people from the surface made their lives a living hell.
"Mama…?"
Celeste looked at her mother, weak and already in her bones, she could barely move now.
"I have to tell you the truth…"
"The truth?"
"You're… the daughter of that man that comes sometimes…"
"Papa… is that evil man?"
"He… is…"
"Why isn't he helping us?"
"He's…"
Celeste's mother looked back at her daughter.
"He doesn't know… I… I can't tell him… They had left me have you out of just luck. These three years I've been praying our Gods and Ancestors for our salvation… all this time, it has been a mere miracle nothing has happened to you…"
Her mother didn't knew what to even tell her daughter… Even if her father were to know he was Celeste's father, there was nothing guaranteeing her safety either.
After all, these people were all monsters for her.
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