Harm and Harmony

-Chapter 32-

Once a week, they visited Ivette's trading post due to Corinna's persistence. The old trader always hid her glee upon seeing Harmony arrive by doting on Corinna but continued to reserve the best items to trade for them both.

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"Why Your Majesty?" asked Corinna.

"Because escaping the Eternal Abyss means more to it than anyone could. It desires it more than anything."

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On the journey to the rock spire, Corinna caught glances aside to the chimaera. Those bright green eyes were always locked onto the tower of rocks that reached out to the sky. Always burning, always yearning, always longing. If she were to suddenly disappear from her aside, Corinna doubted that the chimaera would even notice.

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"It seems so impossible to escape, though."

"Yet the chimaera has done so time and time again."

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From the ground, sitting on the white sand, the young woman watched the skies, gazing up at the chimaera that perched on top of the spire's summit. Sometimes, Corinna would imagine the portal opening, Harmony climbing up with her grappling hook and escaping without even a wave goodbye.

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Raising her chin, head held up high, Corinna Warren clenched her fists. "It does not matter if she does escape or not. I will complete my sentence with or without her aid. I cannot die anyway."

"There is only one kind of death in the Eternal Abyss." Queen Corinna raised a gloved hand and pointed a finger at the side of her head. "Your memories. The spell that was cast on prisoners before they are sent to the Eternal Abyss merely locks away your memories. Once you have finished your sentence, those memories will be unlocked and will return."

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Every day, Corinna wrote in her white notebook as she watched the chimaera on top of the rock spire. The pages were filled with memories of her family and home.

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"However..." The queen sat up straight. "In the Eternal Abyss, any significant damage to your brain would not kill you, it will eventually repair itself but not your memories. You will lose them. Your physical body will never die, but your mind, your identity will. That is the only death."

Corinna hesitated. She gripped her wrist tightly upon the realisation that- "If that happens... I'll never regain my memories?"

The thoughts of her family flooded in; their faces, their names, their laughs, their smiles. All of them could disappear. She could lose those memories forever. She could lose everything. She would be reduced nothing.

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One night, when Corinna struggled to fall asleep, she peeked behind the folding-screen door and saw the chimaera clutching the empty photo album in her lap. Her three fingered-hands caressed the shiny protective jacket of the front cover, her talons slowly turned each page, all of them unfilled and blank.

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And all that she would know was the Eternal Abyss... just like Harmony.

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The last page of the photo album had the words 'thank you for all the memories' in white and gold cursive lettering. Harmony tore out the page and ripped it into small pieces, then threw each one into the fire. As the fireplace was currently on the 'slow' setting, the pieces of paper fell leisurely, caught in mid-air before finally reaching the pile of wood and enveloped by the embers. They crackled and burned in a brilliant orange for a long time, which Harmony patiently watched, huddled in her green cloak.

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"I have my notebook," said Corinna, her face and voice still as expressionless despite the churning doubt inside her mind. "So long as I have that I'll-" She paused. "Why, Your Majesty, are you telling me all of this? I will forget everything once I am awake."

The monarch remained unresponsive for a long moment.

The young woman waited, feeling even less hopeful for an answer every second as she gazed back at the blank mask of the queen.

"We hope that when you are released, Miss Warren..." Queen Corinna started. "And your memories of our conversation have been unlocked that you know the truth if you do not discover it yourself. We hope that you do not blame yourself for the chimaera abandoning you."

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When neither had the energy to dance or to play games, the young woman and the chimaera would simply lie down on their back and stare at the ceiling, talking. They had learned how to effectively communicate with each other to the extent that Harmony rarely had to write down full sentences. Corinna knew what she wanted to say with just a single word, or letter, or sometimes even a look.

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The queen could no longer ignore it. She had been sensing it slowly rising, but now it was impossible to sift through the aspects of Corinna's thoughts without encountering it. And it seemed that the young woman was oblivious despite how much space it occupied her mind, almost beginning to rival even the thoughts of her family.

"You like the chimaera," the queen accused. "You have... feelings for it."

Corinna denied it. If the queen had not been able to read the young woman's thoughts, she would have believed her. Though it appeared that Corinna herself believed it too.

"We hope, for your sake, that you continue to dismiss these feelings of yours, Miss Warren, before you get hurt."

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Recommended Song for Chapter:

Song: Upside Down

Artist: Paloma Faith