Extra Borne: Transmigrated Into A System Apocalypse Soulsborne Novel-Chapter 76 - 74 – Grieving End

Darkness.

Then breath.

A sharp, shuddering gasp tore out of me as I woke up. My body jerking upright like a puppet pulled by invisible strings. My hands instantly shot to my head, clutching it tightly, fingers digging into my scalp. My mind was a storm, a whirlwind of emotions I couldn’t control. Grief. Pain. Regret. It all crashed over me like a tidal wave, threatening to pull me under. I couldn’t understand it. I didn’t want to understand it. I didn’t want to know why. I just wanted it to stop.

My chest caved inward as something deep inside me twisted and cracked, raw and unbearable. A silent scream built in my throat, a soundless wail of anguish, but I bit down on my lower lip hard enough to taste blood.

Why?

The grassy plains of Ithelvaire, a plain that caged countless of souls into endless grief. The citizens, cursed and twisted into Roamers, their humanity stripped away. Gary, the Omega Roamer, who had given me his larvae worms in his final moments, trusting me to use it to evolve and carry on. Geralda and Geralt, their fates uncertain, still bearing the curse of Yadred’s grief. And Yadred himself, now a member of the Void Hands, his ascension built on the griefs of an entire civilization.

Why?

Why is everything wrong. Why is It too much. Too heavy. Too unbearable. The weight of it is crushing me, grinding my thoughts into shattered glass.

My breath came in ragged shudders, barely clinging to my sanity as my mind reeled, choked on emotions that weren’t entirely my own, yet felt too real to deny.

It was then... just as I felt like I would shatter completely, that a pair of arms wrapped around me from behind.

Cold, yet warm. Distant, yet grounding.

A presence like frost meeting flesh, like winter’s breath whispering across a burning wound. It was comforting, too comforting, and that made something in me crack even further.

"It’ll be okay, Agon."

The voice was soft, soothing. A gentle murmur against my ear.

"Breathe... I’m here."

Celia.

My mind latched onto her name, an anchor in this indiscernible grief. The real Celia. Not an illusion, not an alter, not a distant memory. She was here. I was here.

I blinked, my vision swimming between reality and the fragmented horrors of my mind. The grief still clung to me, but the sheer intensity had dulled, like a suffocating fog thinning just enough to let light seep through.

I was back.

The Wanderer’s camp. The loose remnants of survivors who had escaped the Lords of Teka Decay and their cursed domain.

The night stretched over us, a silent witness to my unraveling. It hadn’t been long since I left… since Ithelvaire fell. Since Yadred…

My breath hitched again uncontrollably. I shut my eyes tight.

"It’s all my fault," I rasped, my voice barely more than a whisper. A hoarse, broken thing. "I couldn’t stop it."

A pause.

Then, gently, she spoke.

"It’s not," Celia murmured. "You tried your best and I know it... But fate had other plans."

She rested her forehead lightly against my back, her cold warmth seeping through the fabric of my worn-out clothes. A quiet reassurance.

Did she… know?

Did she understand what was happening to me? Or was this just how Agon... the real Agon... behaves when he feels this way?

I didn’t know anymore.

I didn’t care.

My fingers loosened from my hair, trembling as they fell limp to my lap. The weight in my chest didn’t leave, but it settled, like embers instead of a roaring fire. I lifted a hand hesitantly, laying it over Celia’s arms, feeling the subtle chill of her skin against mine.

"…Please," I whispered, the word slipping out before I could stop it. "Don’t let go."

Her grip tightened ever so slightly.

A small, breathy chuckle. "I won’t.... I promise."

I let out something between a sigh and a broken laugh, closing my eyes less tightly now. The warmth in her voice, the quiet certainty... it wasn’t much. But it was enough to stop me from loosing myself completely.

Tears slipped from my eyes, falling silently onto the ground. I didn’t try to stop them this time.

Yadred had ascended.

The citizens of Ithelvaire were gone. Not just dead, but erased.. reduced to nothing but soil for his rebirth.

Everything they were, everything they could have been if the grief had been lifted…... e

Everything devoured.

Used.

This world… this bastard world…

I let out a slow, shuddering breath. If I had been stronger, if I hadn’t failed so completely, maybe.. just maybe, I could have saved them.

But could I have, really?

Did I even have the power to change something like that?

The doubt curled in my chest, thick and suffocating. But the arms around me, the quiet presence of the girl beside me, kept it from swallowing me whole.

The night stretched on, empty and endless. Above us, the sky loomed.. dark, uncaring. A silent abyss.

And then, softly, Celia began to hum.

A slow, haunting melody.

A song that stirred something deep within me... something the real Agon had once known.

Faint words laced the tune, a whispered lullaby carried on the cold night air.

"Let the stars bear witness, let the echoes fade…

In sorrow’s wake, we stand unafraid…

But even light must break, even stone must fall…

In dreams of the lost, we’ll remember it all…

If only I had time to sing it’s song"

I didn’t realize I was crying again until the warmth of my own tears touched my cheek.

My body moved on its own, slow and weary, as I leaned back... resting my head against Celia’s lap.

The armor on her legs should have been uncomfortable, but in that moment, it felt more comforting than anything I’d felt since I woke in this godforsaken world.

Her humming never stopped.

A quiet lull in the storm. A moment of fragile peace.

But even as I let my body relax, even when the tension began subsiding, as exhaustion pulled at me like chains of lead,

Can this ever truly end? the question burned in my mind as the quiet hum of Celia’s song lingered in the air, a soft, steady presence that wove itself into my mind. I lay still, head resting on her lap, the warmth of her presence keeping the unbearable weight of grief at bay. The night around us was still, save for the occasional crackle of the campfire a few feet away, casting flickering shadows against the ruined landscape.

I exhaled, slow and measured, my body loosening ever so slightly. The pain hadn’t faded.. it never would.. but in this moment, at least, it wasn’t suffocating me.

"How did you all get out?" I finally asked, my voice quieter than I expected.

Celia stopped humming. I felt her shift slightly before she answered, "The moment you got separated from us… we also disappeared and reappeared back here."

A pause settled between us, heavy and unmoving.

I turned my head slightly, my gaze falling to the darkened ground beneath us. "...How long was I asleep?" I asked, my throat still raw.

Celia thought for a moment before answering. "Five minutes."

My breath hitched. Five minutes?

Five minutes here, yet in that place, in Yadred’s grieving space, it had felt like an eternity.

Five minutes, and I could have been swallowed whole.

The thought coiled inside me, pressing against my ribs like something alive, something wrong.

But then, Celia began humming again, and the sound of it wrapped around me, pulling me back from the edge.

That song... It was familiar in a way that was both foreign and deeply, painfully intimate. Agon’s memories surfaced unbidden, tangling with my own, merging, distorting.

"That song…" I murmured, eyes half-lidded. A small, tired smile touched my lips. "It’s… one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard."

Celia chuckled softly. "Yes, it is."

A pause, then...

"Do you remember Madame Delani?" she asked.

A name.

It struck something deep within me, awakening memories that weren’t mine but felt like they were. Images of an older woman, warm hands and a voice like distant wind chimes. I could almost hear her humming.

I nodded slightly.

Celia shifted again, absentmindedly brushing a strand of my hair aside. Her fingers were cold, but the touch was gentle.

"When we were younger," she said, "and we were too afraid to step outside… Madame Delani would hum that song to us. It made everything feel a little less terrifying. The world is cruel, unforgiving, but for those moments… it felt like we could breathe."

She exhaled, her voice turning softer. "Even now, when I feel afraid, I hum it to myself. Even if it’s just in my head."

Her fingers trailed absently through my hair again,

"Well, look at us now," she mused, amusement slipping into her voice. "We have the same hair color."

I blinked at her, before exhaling a small breath of laughter.

"You know it’s still different," I murmured. "Mine is gray. Yours is white."

"It’s only a little different," she countered, smirking.

I scoffed lightly. "I look like an old man. You look like some prestigious princess from a faraway kingdom."

Celia let out an actual laugh, light and genuine.

I found myself smiling.

"Hey, no laughing," I said, mock-serious. "I’m serious, you know."

She tried to school her expression, but failed miserably.

"Alright, alright," she said, fighting back a grin. Then, with a playful gleam in her deep blue eyes, she took a strand of my hair between her fingers. "But you know… it doesn’t look like an old man’s hair. It kind of reminds me of the back of an old oak tree."

A beat of silence.

Then,

I let out a short, breathy laugh. "Very funny."

For a while, neither of us spoke.

The fire crackled in front of us, small but persistent, casting a dim, golden glow across the broken terrain. The night air was crisp, cool against my skin. Somewhere in the distance, the wind howled faintly.

Then, Celia spoke again.

"So," she murmured. "What do we do now?"

I pushed myself up, slowly, until I was sitting again. My eyes remained on the fire, but my mind was already somewhere else.

I called upon my system.

[SYSTEM]

+

TIME BEFORE NEXT GAME

52:20:22:00

+

Fifty-two hours and twenty minutes.

I let the numbers sink in.

Fifty-two hours before the final battle of the first floor.

Not much time. But time nonetheless.

I turned to Celia. "We start training tomorrow," I said. "We need to be ready for what’s coming."

Foll𝑜w current novℯls on ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm.

She nodded. "Alright."

I leaned back slightly, settling against the ground once more. Celia did the same, her movements slower, more deliberate.

For a moment, we simply lay there, staring at each other across the dying fire.

There was no need for words.

And then, almost instinctively, we both laughed.

It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t forced.

Just quiet, tired, and real.

The sound faded quickly, swallowed by the vast, consuming silence of the desolate night.

Sleep claimed me soon after, pulling me into its depths.

But I knew..

I knew this peace was temporary.

Because in this world, even happiness

is but a blight.

[END OF ARC_3: GRIEVING WAR]