Chapter 293: Posthumous Work (12)
When Everly opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the bright, cool moonlight.
A full moon hung high in the sky, casting a hazy silver glow over everything. The salty, fishy scent of the sea filled the air, and every so often the rhythmic crash of waves against the shore echoed in her ears.
Everything indicated that she was still by the sea.
The moments before she had lost consciousness flashed through her mind. Remembering how her body had been corroded by acid, panic surged through her. She pushed herself upright and instinctively looked at her hands.
They were completely unharmed.
All ten fingers were long and straight, the skin on the backs of her hands fair and smooth, without the slightest trace of injury.
It wasn’t just her hands. She quickly examined herself from head to toe, then took out a compact mirror to check more carefully. She discovered that every wound she had suffered in both the first and second paintings had vanished.
If not for her suit and shoes, now brittle and riddled with holes eaten through by the acid, Everly would have suspected that her memory of falling into stomach acid had been nothing more than a hallucination.
As she paid closer attention, she realized it wasn’t only her injuries that had disappeared.
After passing through two worlds in succession, she should have been exhausted and starving. Yet now she felt brimming with energy, her body full of strength, with not the slightest sensation of hunger in her stomach.
What on earth is going on…?
Filled with confusion, she planted one hand on the ground, sprang to her feet, and surveyed her surroundings.
She was standing on a tiny rocky islet in the middle of the sea.
It appeared to be nighttime. The ocean had lost the violent fury it had displayed earlier and now lay as calm as a mirror, reflecting the full moon overhead. Every now and then, a wave washed over the rocks, dissolving into clusters of white foam with a gentle rustling sound that somehow put her at ease.
It was an incredibly peaceful night.
Everly’s mind drifted in a haze, and for a moment she could no longer tell whether she was inside a painting or back in reality.
Just then, a familiar humming drifted toward her from the distance.
“Hmm… hmm… hmm… la la la…”
The song was soft and soothing, evoking thoughts of a tranquil night, a gentle breeze, and dandelion seeds drifting through the air. Listening to it filled one’s heart with nothing but warmth and tenderness.
Everly shuddered.
It was the lullaby Mother Lamia had once hummed.
Could it be…
Her hands trembling, Everly looked around at her surroundings once more.
That’s right… that’s right. This really was the same setting as in that painting—a deserted islet, the sea, and a full moon…
Unable to think about anything else, Everly broke into a run, following the direction from which the song was coming.
At first, she moved cautiously, her pace hesitant. But then a thought struck her: if the singer had truly wanted to harm her, they could have done so while she was unconscious. There had been no need for such a roundabout approach.
The person had even gone to the trouble of healing all her wounds.
So… so…
Her entire body trembled with excitement.
Her steps grew surer, her pace faster and faster. As she rushed past a jagged outcrop of rock, she nearly tripped in her haste.
But Everly didn’t care in the slightest.
Mom… Mom… Mom… Mom…
Could the one singing really be Mother Lamia?
Was the one who tore open the canvas amid the acid and rescued her from the second painting… Lamia?
Her heart pounded wildly in her chest.
Excitement, joy, anxiety, heartache, sweetness… countless emotions intertwined, until at last they transformed into fear and cautious hope.
Fear that all of this was nothing more than an illusion.
Fear that the dream would end.
And so she dared to hope only carefully.
“Huff… huff… huff, huff…”
Perhaps because her emotions had become too overwhelming, Everly’s breathing fell into disarray. She hadn’t run very far before she was already gasping for air.
As she drew closer, the singing became clearer and clearer.
Her heart hammered so violently it felt as though it might burst from her chest. When Everly took a deep breath, she even felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.
At last, after rounding the final cluster of jagged rocks, the landscape suddenly opened up before her.
A vast bay stretched out ahead, and standing in its center was a towering statue of a siren.
She had reached the source of the song.
Everly’s gaze was immediately drawn to the statue.
It depicted Lamia in the monstrous form she had taken after being cursed. Her chin was held high, her eyes fixed resolutely upon the heavens. Her massive, clawed hands were spread wide to either side, while her long serpentine tail coiled beneath her. With her own body serving as a shield, she stood fearlessly guarding whatever lay behind her.
Silvery moonlight draped over the statue like a delicate veil, softening the monster’s fearsome features and lending her an unmistakable, profound air of motherhood.
The scene matched perfectly the moonlit sea demon statue Everly had seen at the art exhibition, completely confirming her suspicions.
Yes… this is Mother Lamia.
So none of it was an illusion.
When she had fallen into the acid and come within a hair’s breadth of death, someone really had torn open the canvas and pulled her to safety with gentle, reassuring power.
It had been Lamia—the sea demon who had raised her.
Her throat tightened as an overwhelming rush of sorrow and gratitude surged into her chest. Everly opened her mouth, intending to call out, “Mom,” but tears spilled from her eyes before the word could leave her lips, streaming down her cheeks.
“Don’t cry, my child…”
A gentle voice floated softly through the night.
Everly hastily wiped away her tears and looked around with wide eyes.
The surroundings were completely empty. Apart from the uneven rocks and the cold, silent statue, there was no one there.
“I’m here… I’m sorry. This is the only form in which I can meet you…”
The gentle voice came again, this time from a different direction.
Following the sound, Everly looked toward the bay.
There, surrounded by the sea, the sea demon statue remained perfectly still, quietly standing where it had always been.
In that instant, she understood.
It was the statue that was speaking.
“Mom…”
A sob caught in her throat. “Wuu…”
Tears poured from her eyes once again.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Everly stepped forward and leaped into the water, stumbling through the shallows until she reached the foot of the statue.
Seen up close, it was far larger than she had imagined.
At nearly 1.8 meters tall, Everly, even standing in the water, only reached the statue’s waist. The thickest part of its serpentine tail was roughly as wide as her shoulders.
“Mom… is it really you? Are you here?”
Everly cautiously reached out and gently rested her hand against the statue’s tail.
“Yes. It’s me. I’m here…”
A soft breeze brushed across the back of her hand.
For a fleeting moment, Everly felt as though a pair of invisible arms had gently wrapped around her shoulders.
She stopped holding herself back.
Yielding to the longing in her heart, she spread her arms and threw herself against the sea demon statue.
The stone before her was cold and unyielding, its surface rough from years of wind and sun.
Yet to Everly, it felt as though she had returned to her mother’s embrace. An overwhelming sense of joy and security welled up inside her, unlike anything she had ever experienced.
Lamia said nothing.
She seemed content to quietly savor this brief moment of warmth alongside her.
“Mom… I’ve missed you so much…”
Everly cried quietly for a while before speaking in a muffled voice.
“I’ve missed you ever since that day… all this time.”
An invisible hand gently stroked the top of her head.
The sea demon’s voice, filled with affection and quiet pride, whispered beside her ear.
“You’ve grown again, my child. I’m so glad I can see you… I’ve missed you too…”
Before she could finish speaking, a violent gale suddenly swept across the sea.
Wherever the wind passed, towering waves surged into the sky. The temperature on the spring-like rocky islet plummeted in an instant. Standing in the water, Everly couldn’t stop herself from shivering.
“Something is coming.”
“What?”
Lamia’s voice lost all of its earlier gentleness, turning suddenly grave.
“It’s found us… It’s followed me here. This place is very dangerous. You must leave immediately.”
“Who’s followed you…”
Everly turned toward the direction from which the raging wind was blowing.
The moon shone brightly.
By its silvery light, Everly was able to see far out into the middle of the sea at a single glance.
There, in the chaotic boundary where light and darkness met, stood an enormous figure so tall it seemed capable of piercing the heavens.
It wore a black suit that blended almost seamlessly into the surrounding darkness. Its body was impossibly thin and elongated, like a giant wooden pole. Its unnaturally long neck bent toward Everly’s position, revealing a deathly pale face.
Its facial features were unnervingly simple.
Two downward-curving arcs served as its eyes, while a larger upward-curving arc formed its mouth.
Other than that, it had no nose, no ears, and not a single strand of hair.
Because its eyes curved so sharply downward while its mouth stretched into such an exaggerated grin, the expression inspired no warmth whatsoever. Instead, it looked stiff, unnatural, and profoundly unsettling—as though someone had strapped a smiling mask onto its face.
Everly had seen that same eerie grin in both the Scars world and the Encounter world.
She immediately understood.
The “thing” from those two worlds had followed her here…
But what exactly was it?
And why was it so relentlessly pursuing her?
“That is that man’s… the incarnation of Shelly.”
“So it really is him…”
Everly wasn’t particularly surprised by the answer.
After all, the art exhibition that had led her into this nightmare—and every one of the deadly paintings she had experienced—had all been Shelly’s creations.
What she couldn’t understand was why.
“What is he trying to accomplish?”
“To completely open that ‘Door’…”
The Door.
Again, it all came back to the Door.
The final self-portrait Shelly completed before his death had depicted nothing but a door. Every strange and terrifying event had begun after that door was opened.
What exactly lies beyond it?
A flood of questions filled Everly’s mind.
Unfortunately, the situation gave her no chance to ask them.
In the span of just a few exchanged words, everything had changed.
When Everly looked up again, the grinning figure that had once stood on the distant horizon was now less than ten meters from the island.
Its numbers had multiplied without her noticing.
As though duplicated and pasted over and over, eight identical figures now stood shoulder to shoulder in the sky, forming a vast ring that encircled the tiny rocky islet and the full moon suspended above it.
When Everly looked at them, all eight slender necks turned in unison, rotating clockwise as they slowly bent downward, stretching longer and longer.
The eight grotesquely smiling faces gathered together, using the imprisoned moon as their flower’s heart.
Together, they formed a fully blossomed flower.
The eight pale faces became eight ghostly petals, spinning endlessly as their necks lengthened, leaving dizzying white afterimages across Everly’s vision.
“Come…”
They raised their hands.
Sixteen arms writhed madly as ecstatic, frenzied voices poured from their throats.
“Come… Join us…”
The white flower drifted closer and closer.
A wave of vertigo washed over Everly. Her eyes widened uncontrollably until her entire field of vision was filled with nothing but the spinning petals.
“Become our nourishment… Offer yourselves for our great master’s free—”
Slash!
Before the sentence could be finished, a bluish-black shadow suddenly flashed through the air.
In the next instant, all eight heads fell from their necks simultaneously.
Their long, worm-like necks had been cleanly severed, the razor-sharp cuts gushing streams of rainbow-colored paint that poured downward.