When Anna next opened her eyes, she was back in the unmistakable pink mist. She stood up and noticed she was alone.
“Ma’am Qelhatat?” she called out. “Egyptian queen?”
There was no reply.
She waited for a few minutes, at first. Time stretched on without a sound. Her mind started imagining noises, her ears reflexively flicking in the direction she felt she was hearing things.
…This couldn’t be it, could it? Was she… erased? Was that what Qelhatat had meant? Was that how that would feel?
Would she just be here forever?
Anna gulped and started pacing around, looking around the mist. It seemed as impenetrable as ever, as ominous. She didn’t like this.
She waved a hand in the fog, it swirled around along with her movements. Then, she noticed her fingers becoming misty and hollow, melting into the pink mist around. She pulled her hand back and it reformed just as quickly.
Her eyes turned to the mist once more. What was this…? Was this… the leftovers of the previous people Qelhatat had stolen? Was this her fate?
She batted her hands inside, pushing the mist aside to make room for her arm to reach out. She felt a wall on the other side, smooth and cold. She squinted her eyes, trying to see through the darkness… The wall was a deep dark green. Was… Was this place…?
Just as the mist came back and started to engulf her arm, something tugged her backwards by the collar of her shirt.
“I would avoid doing this, if I werre you,” the queen’s voice called out from right behind her, “unless you trruly wish to see yourrself errased.” Anna turned around to face her, she definitely wasn’t there a moment ago.
There was a silence, no words spoken by either of them. They looked deep into each other’s eyes. Qelhatat’s still had a malicious edge to them, behind all the jewelry and makeup. Anna imagined her bare face must’ve been comically honest in comparison.
“Have you reconsidered yet?” Anna asked, cutting straight to the chase.
Qelhatat’s sly smile didn’t falter. She grabbed Anna by the wrist and pulled the young girl towards her.
Anna trembled for just a moment. What if she was wrong? What if Qelhatat would take her over? Her mind screamed at her to escape, her heart roared back that she needed to have faith.
And then, the queen wrapped her arms around Anna, and started caressing the back of her head. “Forr yearrs upon yearrs, centurries upon centurries… I have been hopping frrom body to body, soul to soul, taking overr whoeverr it belonged to beforre. Qelhatat is just the latest of the monickerrs I took, if I am to be honest. My most ambitious heist yet… They didn’t like having theirr queen usurrped.”
“Who are you, then?” Anna asked.
“That! I wish I rrememberred. But, a name is just a name, it can evolve, change, be rreplaced. You would agrree therre, yes? Qelhatat will do.” She let go of her embrace. “But who I am is morre than a name. It is what I did, my accomplishments just like my mistakes. And you made me rrememberr. I had forrgotten why I had starrted this quest for immorrtality in the firrst place, and you made me rrememberr.
“Therre arre many morre like you than you would think. Just like therre are many like me. And ourr kind… Too rrarrely still get accepted. Too many become… orrphaned.
“An orrphanage for people like I and people like you. That is what I had dedicated my life to. My orriginal life. But the body can only last so long, you see? And I had nobody to turrn to to continue it in my stead. All that had grrown up in my orrphanage had fled, underr my advice and help, to kindlierr countrries.
Qelhatat gestured for both of them to sit down, and she continued speaking, resting her legs. “So, I turrned to ways to continue my life beyond what was planned forr me. It wasn’t a choice I was okay with at firrst, I made surre to pick who to take overr based on their immorrality, people that few would miss, and many would celebrrate the disparrition of. But as the decades went on, and turrned into centurries… The orrphanage closed down, eventually, despite my deepest efforrts.
“I continued to hop frrom life to life, frrom body to body, searrching forr ways to rrestablish the orrphanage… The longerr my quest borre no frruits, the olderr my mind grrew, the morre I forrgot. I forrgot about my conditions forr taking people overr. I forgot why I did it in the firrst place. Of all things, I forrgot about the orrphanage, and about people like you, people like I, about me. It was too easy to do, as too few in my worrld werre conscious of ourr existence as anything morre than crriminal deviance.”
“And that is forr that…” She turned her head towards Anna,showing her a motherly smile. “Forr rreminding me, for rrekindling my memorries… I thank you, little one. Forr being who you arre.”
Anna breathed a long sigh of relief. “Thank you, Qelhatat. I knew you would spare me.”
Qelhatat waved her hand. “Such low standarrds. I neverr should’ve made you fearr forr yourr life to begin with. Be awarre of how you have been accustomed to be thankful forr things below the minimum, that is the mission I will give you.”
Anna dropped her head on Qelhatat’s lap. the queen was right, but… she didn’t like this. “But then… What’ll become of you?”
Qelhatat started fiddling with a strand of Anna’s hair, wrapping it around her finger, and petting her head with her other hand. “Ah, how I carre not. I have lived long, longerr than I should have alrready. It is no longerr my storry, but yourrs, you see? Time forr the newerr generration to take overr, and forr me to be gone. Sparre yourr empathy forr those that deserrve it.”
“But you can still atone for what you did!” Anna replied, tripping on her words as she searched for the right ones. “If I think you deserve my empathy, then you can’t decide for me whether you do!”
Qelhatat raised an eyebrow. “You want me to stay forr yourr sake, do you not?”
Anna’s eyes dropped to the ground, a frown on her face. “...I don’t think I can go back to my parents. They wouldn’t— …Have never accepted me before. Why would they start now?”
“Then, if that is how it is… One last orrphan to adopt beforre I take my leave.” Qelhatat let go and stood up, looking up to the sky. She pointed an arm up above her head and a heavy wind started to flow from the ground. “I hope to see you soon, Anna, my daughterr.”
Anna gave her mom one last hug, then let herself be carried away by the wind, and as Qelhatat faded away into the distance, she felt herself come back into consciousness.
This is the chapter! If I were a Chinese cultivator, I would already spit blood!
Haha I wish I understood enough about cultivation to get this but I'm assuming it's a compliment
@Taxouck You can take it as a compliment with a pinch of reproach for the long exit of chapters.?
@Mijailoo Hahaha apologies ^^' Too many irons in the fire and too little writing energy for them all. Thinking of focusing on PP until I reach the end, since I'm so close.
Yay! She lives! Thank you for the chapter.
And she gets a mom to boot! That's like, a two in one of good or something.
Aww. Momma cat was good after all ♥
Aaw, she got a mom! Cute story! Looking forward to next chapter!
<3
Awwww!!! That's such a sweet backstory.
Thank you <3! I've had it figured out, well, two years ago when I first started writing this story. I'm glad it's resonating with people!
thanks for the chapter.
This was super cute, thanks! I could definitely see the story continuing on, but this is a nice end 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵
I'm not satisfied with this at all. This isn't the ending I wanted, if it even is an ending at all. But I've also improved so much as a writer since that there'd be a jarring shift in quality if I were to finish this story now, which frustrates me.
This has been a really cute story, even if it never goes past this point I've really enjoyed it =^^=
Thank you for the many comments! I've actually touched this story again a week or two ago -- I'm toying with giving it a massive rewrite.
Any chance you’ll pick this back up again? I’ve found the world building to be really interesting and love the fluff.
I have a bunch of incentives to pick this back up, I want to give it closure, I want to write its sequel some day, I want it to be the best version of itself it can be; but I'm just struggling to go back through it and not immediately close it out of embarrassment from the poor quality of the writing...
I don’t see anything noticable (though I am an engineering student who reads web fiction) and just really enjoy the characters and world so far.
Don’t underestimate yourself.
@Mountainwalker one noticeable point is that I think I want to redo the entire "design" of Qelhatat. New name, new aesthetic, something less... orientalist.