The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss-Chapter 201: A child in a box

I’m layin’ in a totally dark place, it’s toasty and comfy while the ground is liquid so I easily recognize it as my consciousness.

"Thought we had become one," I mumble, not expectin’ to be back in this place since I connected with my monster side.

"[And we have]"

"..."

"Didn’t know you could talk," I say, a bit surprised to get a response.

"[I only talk if you want me to, more practically you’re talkin’ to yourself, makin’ you kinda crazy hearin’ voices in your head]"

’That’s some high-level sarcasm, am I really like that?’ Didn’t know I was so sarcastic.

"Why am I here?"

"[You almost died, ya know? That little traitor’s sword was stronger than you expected, and each of he strikes was dangerous, even the smallest scratches, and he got it stuck in your throat and vital points]"

’I see, that’s why the defense system activated and I got those plates...that was really dangerous’ Makes sense why Thalor focused on simpler strikes.

Unfortunately, his sword sank into the ocean of blood, otherwise I woulda wanted to take it for myself.

"But that still doesn’t explain 100% of everything...I didn’t try to come in here."

"[Yeah, you didn’t try, but you needed to, so it happened]"

"..."

"Haaa...how long am I gonna be here? It’s my birthday, ya know, I wanna enjoy it a bit," I sigh and ask.

"[I dunno, how long do you wanna hang with me? In the end, we know the answer, and I’m not bein’ sarcastic, I just represent you well, no need to ’just think’ and think I don’t know]."

’It’s true, she’s still me, just thinking instead of talking doesn’t stop her from knowing.’

"So this conversation isn’t pointless?"

"[Wrong, this conversation has meaning, I know everything about you, but you don’t know about yourself]."

"..."

"[Why did you choose a school to lock up the heroes and torture them?]"

"I guess ’cause in the end, a school is just a different kind of prison, you spend years in it, bound by rules, punishments, and stress, almost like being locked up, the only difference between a school and a jail is that you can leave school when you want."

"[So it’s not just ’cause you were humiliated a lot in school and wanted to pay it back tenfold, even worse?]"

"..."

"You talk too much."

"[Then you also talk too much, after all, this conversation is between you and yourself since we became one, we’re no longer different beings]."

"Can we be separated?"

"[No, not even the goddesses can separate us anymore.]"

"[...Maybe the Primordial Goddess could, but she wouldn’t do that given what we know about her currently]."

"..."

"[But you don’t wanna separate, so that question is irrelevant]."

"I guess so."

"...I...like this place, it’s always so comfy."

"[Of course it is, after all, it’s your consciousness, the deepest and safest part of your being, so it’s the safest and most comfortable place of all]."

"Today’s your birthday too, right? Happy first birthday."

"[...That’s kinda morbid, ya know, you’re just congratulatin’ yourself, only ’cause you’ve never liked your birthday and don’t want this first birthday to be a total bust]."

"...Yes...seems I do talk too much."

"[It’s an undeniable truth, you’re a child trapped in a box, not just in the physical sense, but in your own mentality, you’ve never truly grown up in your whole life]."

"..."

"Why are you telling me this, if you’re me, you know how uncomfortable I feel about all this."

"[Of course you feel uncomfortable, after all, you’ve always tried to be mature, but that just made you a coward in the previous world, even if you don’t see it that way, your attitude in the previous world was detestable and you know it]."

"You’re really harsh, ya know that?"

"[We are like this, and you know it perfectly well, after all, we’re a sadistic and violent monster]."

"Is there a purpose in telling me I’m a child?"

"[Yes, of course there is, as long as you don’t get out of this box, you’ll never physically become an adult, after all, our race doesn’t mature like others, depending on yourself, you could become an adult in the first few months]."

"So I’m just stuck as a child?"

"[Not necessarily, you’ll still become an adult, it’ll just take longer as long as you don’t get out of this childish box you’ve trapped yourself in]."

"[You should already be a teenager, given how much time has passed]."

"And how do I overcome this? I don’t know, will this only be overcome when I get my revenge?"

"[Of course not, you just need to kill this childish you]."

"..."

"[Isn’t it really not that hard? You killed your human self, why couldn’t you kill your childish self?]"

"[You think that’s a bad idea? If you do it, you won’t change that much, you’ll still be impulsive, wild, and violent, the biggest change is more freedom since you’ll finally be out of the box that’s been restraining you]."

"And if I...don’t want to get out?"

"[You already know the answer, if you don’t want to get out of this childish box...then you’ll remain a coward who can never truly overcome the past]."

"So is that it? Are we cowards?"

"[More or less, I wonder what action you’ll take, will you follow the path of a coward, never getting out of the box, or will you kill your past and become better than it]."

"[In the end, the choice is yours, with or without it, you can still get your revenge and have the life you want, in the end, this just serves your personal growth, everyone has to grow]."

"[But I wonder, will you want to continue as a child trapped in a box for the rest of your life, never truly growing up mentally?]"

"[Or will you kill this shameful past, leaving only me and you to exist in this comfortable world of consciousness]."

"Wouldn’t that make me a different person?"

"[Maybe, in the end, is a person in childhood and adulthood really the same thing? I can’t give you that answer if you don’t know it yourself]."

"Why confront me about this?"

"[...Because we have to grow, you yourself don’t want to be a child forever and you know it, and the best part is you’re no longer afraid to grow, you can’t be a child crying for a dead mother forever]."

"[You should detach from the past]."

"..."

"[If you’re feeling so hesitant, why don’t you think about the future, one day we’ll be a mother, if you die, would you want your children to cling to this, never growing, just because you died?]"

"...I wouldn’t like that."

"[Then why do you do it yourself? Clinging to a deceased one instead of letting them go, we have an undeniably good life now, and a new mother who likes us, we don’t need to erase the old mother, we just can’t cling to her]."

"...Have I always been this good with words?"

"[Maybe yes, in the end, I’m just speaking truths that you refuse to see]."

"I guess you’re right..."

"[Of course I’m right, are you ready to get rid of your past?]"

"Things are happening too fast..."

"[Life doesn’t stand still waiting for you, everything’s fast, anyway, we have a cute wife waiting outside for when this is over]."

"Yes, a cute wife...you’re right, let’s do this quick, I need to wake up fast to celebrate my birthday and fuck my cute wife waiting for me."

"[That’s the answer we should have given before all this conversation, in the end, it all comes down to sex!]"

"Hahahaha you’re right, we shouldn’t drag this out then, how do I do this?"

"[Let’s do it both metaphorically and realistically, I think the metaphorical part is already great, we had a conversation and you’re ready to overcome the past]."

"[Now you should do it in action, get up and follow me]." I obey the voice I hear, getting up from the warm, comfortable ground in front of me, what I see is myself, but with a lot of black liquid dripping.

I follow her through the paths of consciousness, each dragging step sticking to the ground, walking here proved much more difficult than expected, after walking for some time, she stops.

I look at what’s in front of us.

"...a...supermarket box? I thought it was just an expression, not that I was literally in a box."

"[Well, it’s your mind, what’s inside the box is a crying, cowardly child hiding there out of fear, what’s inside there is your past, your childish self that you’ve always kept with you]."

"[Now kill it, show it that you no longer need it, that you don’t need fear, cowardice, or a damn box to hide in]."

"..." I kick the box, knocking down its contents, from inside the box falls a very cute little girl, she’s crying and curling up in fear while hugging her also cute tail.

She has pale skin and is about 100 centimeters tall, her long black hair is scattered, almost blending into the also black ground.

The image is literally me, but in such a childish version that I’ve never experienced, since I was born I’ve always been tall, with the stature of a teenager, so seeing this child me that looks like me is strange.

I thought she would look like the male me from the previous life, not like the current me.

"[She’s like that because you brought her into this world, you kept her in our consciousness, you should have gotten rid of her before, now she’s identical to us]."

"Hahaha" I laugh because it’s kind of funny that there are 3 of us.

"[Don’t laugh! It’s not funny that there are three of us, know that we don’t need this crybaby child]."

"Yes, you’re right, we don’t need her." I grab the tail she’s hugging and lift her up, holding her upside down.

She looks at me, extremely scared and crying a lot.

"Can you talk?"

(Y-Yes)

The little girl answers me with a frightened voice.

’I can’t believe I’m like this...what a bad comparison.’

"I’m going to kill you, you know?"

(H-Hick y-yes I-I know, p-please d-don’t kill me)

She begs, crying.

"Hey, how should I kill her?" I ask my monster self, ignoring the crying child.

"[I don’t know, try to suffocate her? There are no weapons here and this place is consciousness, not imagination, so you can’t just materialize things]."

(P-Please d-don’t kill me, y-you’re me, t-this isn’t fair)

"I know you’re me, but you’re a part...that I should have killed long ago, I don’t need cowardice and fear, and I don’t need a box to hide in."

"[Well said! Now kill this cute little thing, after all, we have a wife to fuck good!]"

"..."

"[Is this your decision? Seriously?]"

"Yes, I think so." My monster self speaks, receiving the same idea as me, but the crying child self just cries even more.

"[You really plan to make her a part of you? You don’t want to keep her, but you won’t get rid of her 100% either, you’ll just accept her...this...may work, not a completely bad idea]."

"[If you accept her, then she’ll disappear and won’t affect you anymore, but even though she’ll disappear, we’ll keep her essence, so we won’t lose anything...but how will you do it]."

"..."

"[Ah...I see, well, that’s up to you]."

(N-No you can’t do this to me!! L-Let me go back to the box! I-I promise I won’t touch anything, h-hick I-I don’t wanna be a bother, p-please!)

The little one cries, because she also knows what I’m going to do, I hug her very tightly.

"Don’t worry, my body is big enough to accept you both." My final decision is to eat her, devour this weak part, keeping the essence in me so I’ll never forget that I was once this child who forgot to grow up.

"[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA]" The monster self bursts out laughing, in the end, my choice is exactly what she wanted, with this I connect even more with my monster side.

By choosing to devour instead of kill, I do two things, I overcome this weak and cowardly self, and I deepen my monster side, showing that any trace of the old self is consumed by the new self.

"You don’t need to cry, I’m hugging you as a part of me instead of getting rid of you, this will be over soon." I say as I hug her even tighter, placing her in a good position while biting her neck.

I’m going to devour her and thus embrace her completely as a part of me.