A name isn't just decoration. A name is memory.
Memory of those who are gone. Of those who were once beside you, but now remain only in the sounds you utter to convince yourself they existed.
A name isn't a tool, it's a hook. A hook that catches you on the past, on those you don't want to lose even after losing them. A hook that won't let go until you tear the skin from your palm.
This applies to everyone, or... no? There are always those overlooked, those fate left on the roadside, like an unnecessary ant straying from its colony.
True, the name of one not in the records of human history. No, rather, the name of one erased from it. Is that happiness or punishment? Who knows, no one can know you better than yourself. Even if you don't want that.
His name, like a blind spot in memory. The name of one always nearby, but as if dissolved in the air.
Avaley Le Fay.
Yes, I made a mistake. A big, irreparable one. Dug a hole so deep in the past that no amount of earth could fill it. I could have prevented that incident. That murder of the Elder, spending his final moments on the mountaintop. Could have... if I hadn't listened, if I hadn't opened the door to that person. If only...
Though no, could it have been otherwise? He would have come anyway. Even uninvited, he always comes, always carries out his plans. Without approval, without permission, without right.
And though I could no longer reach my creations after expending more than half my power on their creation... one way remained.
The man who sided with my enemy was named Edogawa Akira. He was the one capable of hearing my words. No, the one I allowed to hear. The one I allowed to see.
Why?
Because, by concluding a contract with Yahweh and becoming his "core," he became the intermediary between me and him. And though I couldn't speak to Yahweh directly, I could to his core. I could, but... I didn't dare.
I stayed silent. Closed my eyes. Watched as Avaley dealt with the Elder. Monstrously, cruelly, leaving no chance. I could have stopped it, could have saved him, thereby saving myself. Being understood by them.
"That's your problem," the witch said proudly, cutting off my thoughts. "Your own doubts backfired on you. They became your barrier. That's how you deprived yourself of the only chance to be understood. Ha-ha-ha-gh!"
And no matter how I wanted to object... she was right. Right about everything, I had nothing to say. I stood before an obvious fact, so exposed that even lying to myself became shameful.
"Better tell us how saving that decrepit old man could have saved you? We all want to hear! We all want to see this pathetic display of insignificance!" she said with laughter, theatrically spreading her arms.
The show continues. The curtain just changes colors, repainting the scenery, as if that changes anything.
But it's all far more complicated than it seems. Fast-forward back. The moment I first concluded the contract with Yahweh.
It all started with a man who desired power. Power capable of letting him achieve anything he wanted. No, not the magic that grants wishes. The power of fists, truth that breaks bone and law. Power that makes others bow before you, as if you were the law itself.
But... for what? A question that should be addressed not to him, but to me.
When I expanded my domains, creating endless civilizations, separating them by hierarchy, placing over each a higher being with the title "True God," I lost control. Yes, I myself, out of my own stupidity, didn't foresee that I could lose power.
Because of that stupidity, I lost connection with my creation. Sealed myself in my own space. Could only observe through the sphere of life. Without the right to interfere.
And yet it was all planned. By that very person who advised me to expand the boundaries.
He also warned of the "threat." A false threat, bait. So I'd expend my power, make myself weak. So that threat would become reality.
That's why I made the deal with Yahweh. An agreement where he was to bring all the others to me. I became the monster they needed to destroy, and he their hero. Their last hope.
People and gods, who just yesterday were Yahweh's enemies, stood on his side. Gave their lives for one they previously wished dead.
The story told in their world was simple. About a guy who was humanity's enemy. About a guy who threw away lives like spare change. And about the one who became their last hope.
And I... I became a threat to those I loved. Became a monster, just to save them from the real monster.
Ironic, isn't it?
The Elders... they were those who preserved the memory of eras. Those who passed knowledge from generation to generation. Those who could see a threat before it took form. That's why Yahweh had to find the one single person of this era.
But it was too late.
And I, watching it all, could have prevented his death. Could have given Yahweh a chance to arrive first. Could have changed everything.
But I didn't.
And now no one will ever know that Enua... was never the enemy you thought.