About the Dawn's Game – Part 4

"Dawn, how do you feel about YAKATARINA?" she asked.

I squinted my eyes while pressing my lips.

"Ah, it seems the question doesn't quite please you, does it?"

"No, I just… heard that one a lot recently. Said exactly the same way."

"Oh my, could it be that you heard it from her herself?" she said, presenting her empty cup to her student who poured her another cup.

"No, not her. Her sister, well, one of them…"

"Iovanna, huh? Poor child."

She emptied her cup again before continuing.

"Do forgive me. I understand I do understand that this is not something young people find easy to talk about, but I would like to hear your reply, Dawn. Depending on your answer, I might need to warn you about a few things."

I slightly furrowed my eyebrows. That too was something I already heard. Thinking about it I realized something: the girl before me had dark hair, and was clearly a few centuries old. She talked casually about Yakatarina and Iovanna – in fact, she instantly understood that the sister I was talking about was Iovanna – and her family name was A-Lua. This could only mean one of two things.

"Are you… Yakatarina's mother?"

It could seem like a crazy question normally but at this point I was pretty much ready to hear anything. The only person who wanted to verify my feelings before was her sister, so thinking that she was related to this girl wasn't that far-fetched. Besides, she said she was old so rather than an older sister, there were more chances for her to be the mother. Well, that was my reasoning there.

"YAKATARINA's mother? No, she is not my daughter. You might not know but us ghouls are undead so we can't bear children." She paused for a moment, drinking another cup, "Though 'YAKATARINA's mother' might find a way for us to do that soon. I don't know what to think about it personally."

"Are you her sister then?"

"Lady Riftwalker," intervened Tansy. "While all vampires share some sort of connection, we ghouls belong to the undead. Just like it is unheard of for us to bear children, it is unheard of for another vampire to turn into one of us."

"Well, it is technically possible," said the Archduchess, "but that isn't the subject. I am not a blood relative of the Archduchess of the Crimsons Roses."

"But you share the same family name," I asked, my confusion showing on my face.

"*chuckle* Ah, I understand your confusion, I do understand it!"

"My Teacher's name isn't A-Lua, it is Lua," clarified Tansy, pouring her teacher another cup.

"Huh? But–"

"Lore A. Lua. The A stands for another of my names but my family name simply is Lua. It means Moon, quite fitting for a creature of the night, don't you think?"

"Yes, but…"

"My former students can choose to take the name 'Lua' as proof they followed my teachings," continued the Archduchess, drinking another cup. "Ah~... This is the perfect opportunity, let me tell you a little story. The story of a poor boy called Edward. You don't mind, do you?"

"Well, if it helps me understand the situation…" Edward. If she is referring to him now, is someone related to Yakatarina? Her father maybe? Or her mother?

"Well then, I don't tell this one often except to the members of the A-Lua's family. Since you are close to them, you might as well know about their origins. It is quite a long story, but it is quite interesting in my opinion."

She straightened herself in her chair and began her story.

"Long ago, in a frozen land cursed by an evil god, a little boy lost his parents. It wasn't that strange as they were fighting against the powerful minions of the god whose only purpose was to kill and destroy. Hiding itself behind a seemingly infinite wall, humanity could only survive by playing ostrich's game but it would not last eternally. Sadly, those whose eyes weren't burning under the snow or the hot sand were mostly powerless. No, rather, they were human. They couldn't survive in the domains of the two trees which served as beacons for the god so they created intelligent machines to do their bidding."

"Intelligent machines?" I asked.

"Q-Qlas. They are a proper species nowadays, aren't they? Back then, they were simply constructs, magical dolls with incredible power. Have you ever met one?"

"I don't think so. I just heard they look incredibly human."

"You probably met one without realizing it. They may be human-like but the way they were created was anything but. Magic is a thing of the soul and perception but, by definition, dolls don't possess souls, at least in the way we usually define it. How do you think you create a being able to use magic while being a doll at the same time?"

"Huh… I don't know…"

"Simple. You use something that has a soul and put it into a doll."

"Huh? You mean that they—"

"There are things that are better not said," said the Archduchess, shaking her head. "Little Edward chooses to let go of his humanity to save humanity. On the brink of death, he was saved by a witch. Oh, she didn't save it out of goodwill, she simply listened to his cries for help. After saving him, she asked him if he wanted her to do something for him. Nothing was outside of her reach, if he asked her to bring him the moon, she would have done it even if it destroyed his world. That is just how evil she was."

She stopped and smiled.

"Why, he did ask for something unreasonable. He wanted his parents back, an expected answer for a lonely child. And so, the witch sent forth her apprentice to look for the corpses of the boy's parents. She needed to have their corpses to bring them back but they were lost in the endless snow or maybe in the belly of one of those things. Regardless, she couldn't help him right away and she volunteered to take care of him until her apprentice came back with their remains. Hours passed, then days, then months, then years. The boy grew up with the witch and finally decided to free her of her engagement."

"Well, he probably understood she was lying to him…" I mumbled.

The Archduchess shook her head.

"Not the least. He knew she was sincere, he asked her many other things that she gave him without any problems. Things way more complicated than bringing the dead back to life."

(She talks about it like it is the easiest thing to do…) I thought, squinting my eyes.

"The reason why he freed her was because he found her position as his surrogate mother rather… inconvenient. Sadly, he never let go of his pride and never asked her to do what he really wanted her to do for him. Heh… Regardless, he saw the struggles of humanity and asked her to tell him how to turn humans into beings that could withstand the heat and the cold. Of course, the witch told him of a way but still warned him: going beyond humanity was something that invariably corrupted the soul. He needed a way to keep them in check leading to the implementation of a system of resonance allowing a normal human to align his soul with a Q-Qla's to keep it in check."

She gulped down another cup of coffee before continuing.

"Why, later it would be used as a way to enslave and dehumanize Q-Qlas, but that is a story for another time. Your expression right now seems to ask: what does it have to do with YAKATARINA? Is that not what you are thinking?"

"Er, I do think it is interesting, but I did ask myself that. If anything, I am asking myself this: why do you drink so much coffee? It is a bit… unhealthy?"

"Oh, that…" She smiled at me, "Thank you for your concern but caffeine has absolutely no effect on me. I am, after all, an undead. If I had to explain my behavior I would say that… yes, I am looking for something. Besides, I like the warmth a coffee cut can convey. It is like nothing else."

Saying that the Archduchess of Benevolence looked lost in thoughts, melancholic even. It was the look of an old lady fondly reminiscing about something that happened long ago in a past too far for me to even grasp it.

"But I digress. What I was getting at is that little Edward ended up creating Q-Qlas and this resulted in many things as interesting as a cup of coffee. The little Edward finally became an old man and died but the witch continued her life. For almost a century, the witch never got in contact with the boy's family again but, one day, she met another boy or rather, a young man. He was a descendant of little Edward, a young man full of ambition who wished to dominate the Q-Qla's market his ancestor established. His name was Doris, Doris Arachnea. He was quite the passionate boy and had a talent for listening which is why he heard about the witch that helped his family long ago. Disowned because he decided to publicly marry a Q-Qla from another constrictor, he sought the legendary witch to ask her to grant her a witch. A bit by luck, he found her and asked her this: I want an innovation that would allow me to surpass even the creation of Q-Qlas and allow me to regain my status while keeping my wife!"

She chuckled.

"My, he knew what he wanted so the witch granted him his wish easily. Why, of course, he neglected to specify where that innovation had to be made. The witch explained to him how to create superhumans with regeneration and strength superior to herself all of this without the downside she suffered from this. To do this, she gave a pure sample of the blood of the Alluring One, the ancestor of all vampires. With it and her help, he conducted a lot of experiments that ended up failure up until he tried doing it on his soon-to-be-born daughter. It was a success, the ultimate warrior of humanity, Evelyn L.Z. Arachnea was born."

"Huh… his daughter? With whom?"

"*chuckles* Not with the witch in any case. I am happy that you are still following though, I tend to dwell a bit on pointless details when telling my stories. Ahem… So, you see, Evelyn integrated a group called the Dawn Harbingers and together they ended up freeing the world but it wasn't without sacrifice. She was acclaimed as the hero who saved the world, but in truth, the real hero was an ordinary girl named Dorothy. That girl was quite the coward, always running away from everything. Yet, after meeting with Evelyn, she changed little by little and, finally, she did something courageous for once in her life… *sigh* Sadly, it was the last thing she ever did. A courageous act which put us in the current situation."

"The current situation?" Which one?

She nodded, "Yes. You see, Evelyn L.Z. Arachnea is YAKATARINA's mother and the former disciple of the witch."