Chapter 92: The Missing Piece

The first thing I felt when I opened my eyes was the pain in my head.

It felt as though something struck the same spot behind my forehead with every heartbeat. When I turned my head slightly, light flooded my eyes, and I winced before closing them again. My mouth was dry. As I tried to swallow, the scab at the corner of my lip pulled tight.

For a while, I stayed completely still.

Then I touched the floor with my good hand, trying to figure out where I was. I was beside my bed. A thin blanket had slipped down to my knees, and the broken wardrobe door lay a short distance away, with pieces of white fabric beside it.

Ron.

The moment his name came to mind, everything that had happened last night followed.

I remembered the dagger forming in my palm. The strain in my legs when I pushed Storm Heart to its limit, the black tip reaching for Ron’s throat…

I had thought I would reach him.

Then he had caught my wrist. I remembered him avoiding my attack without even changing the grin on his face. After that, I had hit the floor and taken the first blow while trying to get back up.

The rest blurred together.

The sole of a shoe. The sound coming from my throat as I struggled to breathe. Ron’s laughter.

“Son of a bitch…”

My voice came out hoarse.

I held my forehead and tried to sit up. A sharp pain in one side of my stomach forced me to stop. Even sitting up without putting weight on my broken arm took longer than I expected.

White Snake was still working. I could feel its familiar warmth beneath my skin, but there was still plenty of pain left from last night’s beating. After looking at my arm, I decided against trying to move it.

I found my phone at the edge of the bed.

When I turned on the screen, it was 8:53.

There were several messages from Eris.

[Eris: I’ll be at your place at nine. Be ready.]

[Eris: We’ll finish your makeup there. If we’re late, we’ll have to rush.]

She had sent the last message only a few minutes ago.

[Eris: If you’re still sleeping, get up already.]

The contest.

My gaze shifted from the phone to the wedding dress in front of the wardrobe. The piece that had remained in my palm when I tried to bring the torn edges together last night was still in the same place.

Eris would be here soon.

She expected me to be ready. She was probably imagining me complaining while putting on the dress and had already prepared something to shut me up.

I lowered my head and rested my forehead in my palm again.

“What am I going to tell her…”

I thought about sending a message. My finger moved toward the screen, but I couldn’t figure out which word to start with.

Just then, I heard a sound from the front door.

Then a few footsteps.

“Noc?”

I lowered the phone onto my knee.

Eris’s footsteps slowed as she approached the living room. I heard something slide across the floor. Then there was silence for a while.

“Noc?”

This time, the ease in her voice was gone.

I didn’t lift my head when she appeared in the bedroom doorway. First, I heard her catch her breath, then her step into the room stop halfway.

“What… happened here?”

A small chuckle escaped my throat. I had wanted it to sound like a laugh, but the pain in my stomach cut it short.

“My brother came to visit.”

Eris said nothing for several seconds.

Then she knelt in front of me and wrapped her arms around my neck.

It happened so suddenly that I didn’t even have time to think about hugging her back. Her crimson hair brushed my face. When she leaned against my shoulder, her familiar scent reached me, and for a moment, I wanted to close my eyes and stay right there.

But when my arm became trapped between us, my entire body tensed.

A breath escaped through my teeth.

Eris immediately pulled away.

“Did I hurt you?”

One hand stayed on my shoulder. She raised the other to my face, her fingers hovering near the bruise on my cheek before touching my skin very lightly.

“Are you hurt? Noc, where did he hit you?”

“I think my arm is broken.”

Her gaze dropped.

When her expression changed, I realized how casually I must have said it. I was still struggling to put a few words together, while she couldn’t decide whether she should touch my arm.

“We need to see a doctor.”

She reached for her phone.

“First, we need to get you out of—”

“Eris.”

She stopped her hand and looked at me.

For a moment, I forgot what I wanted to say. Her eyebrows were drawn together. Her eyes moved across my face, unable to stay in one place for more than a few seconds. Embarrassed that she was seeing me like this, I lowered my gaze to my knees.

“I’m sorry… Could you leave me alone for a little while?”

“What?”

The surprise in her voice was enough to tell me that my words had sounded harsher than I intended.

“Your arm is broken, and your face…” She took a breath before she could finish. “I can’t leave you like this.”

“I just need to be alone for a bit.”

“If you’re thinking about the contest, forget it. First—”

“It’s not because of the contest.”

I tightened my grip on the phone. I actually wanted to talk to her. I wanted to tell her what Ron had said and how I had felt when I found the wedding dress. But every time I opened my mouth, I worried about how my voice would sound.

If I started crying in front of Eris, I wasn’t sure I could stop.

I don’t want her to see me like this…

“Just give me some time.”

“But…”

“Eris, please.”

Silence followed.

When I lifted my head, I saw her reaching toward me. Her fingertips came close enough to touch my shoulder. Then her hand stopped in the air.

She pressed her lips together.

“Keep your phone with you,” she finally said. “Okay?”

I nodded.

As she stood up, she looked at a broken piece of the crown. She bent slightly as though she wanted to pick it up, but changed her mind and headed for the door.

She turned back once more at the threshold.

I needed to say something to her. At least I could thank her for coming.

But I couldn’t say anything.

Once Eris left the room, I covered my eyes with my hand. I slowly lowered myself onto the floor and let out a long breath when I managed to lie down without moving my arm.

I wanted to call her back.

I could still hear her footsteps in the hallway. If I called, she would return.

But with the sound from the front door, the chance was gone.

“I really am a pathetic idiot.”

I stared at the ceiling.

“What am I going to do now?”

I had no answer to my own question.

My computer was broken. My belongings were scattered everywhere. My costume lay among the pieces I hadn’t even been able to bring myself to pick up last night. Whenever I started thinking about one problem, another came to mind, and I ended up staring at the same spot without doing anything.

“Hey, System…”

My voice sounded a little more tired as I spoke.

“What do you think I should do?”

I wasn’t expecting an answer. Maybe it would tell me about the Chosen One’s development again. Right now, arguing with it seemed easier than listening to my own thoughts.

A line appeared in my field of view.

[Umbrella.]

I blinked several times.

“Umbrella?”

I looked at the black bracelet around my left wrist.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

[The Chosen One is advised to learn how to use Umbrella.]

I stared at the words for a while.

Then I sighed.

“Fine. It’s not like I have anything else to do.”

When I moved Umbrella, its black body flowed away from my wrist and spread over my arm. I pictured it supporting the broken area without squeezing it. After a few attempts, it took a shape that held my arm close to my body.

Sitting up was easier this time.

I looked at the white fabric on the floor.

I could make armor out of Umbrella. I had created a bow, a dagger, and even a little shoe.

Why would a wedding dress be any different?

The black liquid flowed down from my shoulders. It spread over my T-shirt and torso before wrapping around my legs. I tried to extend the part gathering around my knees and turn it into a skirt.

On my first attempt, my foot became trapped inside the black layer that looked like fabric.

“Great…”

I loosened it a little. Then the skirt flared out too far.

While fixing that, I made the waist lose its shape as well.

Holding on to the edge of the bed, I got to my feet. I opened the picture of Evelyn on my phone and checked the parts I was missing. For a while, my eyes moved between the picture and the black shape covering my body.

This time, I took it more slowly.

I formed the skirt first, then the bodice. Thinking about the line of Evelyn’s shoulders, the way her wedding dress hung, and her facial features, I shaped Umbrella around my body. The black layer covering my hair grew longer, and the pointed tips of the crown formed above my head.

When I managed to reach the mirror, I looked at my reflection.

A completely black Evelyn.

The wedding dress, the hair, the crown… Even the thin layer covering my face was black.

For a while, I studied myself without saying anything.

“I don’t really think this is going to work.”

Maybe I could paint myself.

That thought lost its appeal a few seconds later when I remembered how terrible I was at painting. If I was going to make it to the contest soon, dunking myself into a bucket of paint should be my last resort.

Still, I didn’t move away from the mirror.

I could change its shape. To some extent, I could change how hard it was, too. So far, whenever I wanted something from Umbrella, I had pictured it and created it as best I could.

But I had never asked it to change color.

I closed my eyes.

Instead of thinking about the picture on my phone, I tried to picture Evelyn herself. Her white hair, her red eyes, the bloodstains on her wedding dress… As the image in my mind became clearer, I remembered how the skirt should hang as well.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was the black on my head beginning to change.

White spread through the hair from its roots to its ends.

I held my breath and watched.

The same color flowed from my shoulders onto the wedding dress. When it spread too far in places and reached the edge of the crown, I pulled it back. Dark red stains appeared on the skirt. At first, they covered an entire side, but when I pictured them again, they broke apart and spread to where they belonged.

For a while, the colors flowed into one another.

Then they stopped.

My mouth was hanging open.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

I took a step closer to the mirror.

The person in front of me was Evelyn.

When I turned my face slightly, she did the same. White hair slid away from her cheek as my red eyes followed the reflection.

Her facial features, the length of her hair, the shape of her crown… Even the small details I had zoomed in on with my phone were right. The shadows in the folds of the wedding dress, the edges of the bloodstains, and the surface of the fabric looked far more real than the costume Eris and I had put together.

I placed my hand on the skirt.

What I was touching was still Umbrella. But as I ran it through my fingers, I could keep it looking like fabric.

“This is incredible…”

I thought about moving the hem of the skirt.

The window was closed. There was no wind in the room.

Even so, the lower folds of the wedding dress rippled gently.

My lips parted.

Seeing it in the mirror, I realized I was smiling.

I focused on the raven on my shoulder. Its black head turned slightly to the side. Then one wing opened, and the thin pieces that looked like feathers spread apart before closing again.

For a moment, it looked alive.

I moved the raven a little more. When it turned its head toward me, a short laugh escaped my throat.

I remembered what had felt missing the first time I wore the costume.

That day, however beautiful the reflection had been, I had been looking at someone who resembled Evelyn.

Now the skirt of the wedding dress moved, the raven tilted its head, and a single thought could change the entire pose. I wouldn’t have to stand still onstage.

“I’m starting to love this item a little more every day.”

I looked at the glove Umbrella had formed.

Then at the time.

10:48.

More time had passed than I expected, but I could still make it.

I picked up my phone and opened Eris’s messages. Before I started typing, I remembered our last conversation. The hand she had reached toward me and then pulled back at the door came to mind.

My fingers paused for a moment.

Then I typed the message.

[The Great Noctis has solved the problem and is ready to take the stage.]

I sent another one after it.

[Don’t be late.]

I looked at my reflection one last time.

My arm still hurt. Without Umbrella’s support, I wasn’t even sure I could walk comfortably. Behind me, in the room reflected in the mirror, the broken wardrobe and the pieces of my costume were still there.

But now I could walk out the door.

I took my phone with me. For now, I returned to my usual appearance and pulled on some black sweats.

“Mortals,” I murmured. “You’d better be ready to applaud the Great Noctis.”

This time, smiling hurt a little.

Even so, I opened the door and stepped outside.