Oneshot: Above the Sky, Below the Stars

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Translator: Soafp

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I was deeply betrayed.

By the one I loved so dearly, to the point I thought I needed nothing else if I just had them.

By the friend I relied on so much, who gave me such strength just by being there.

Together, they betrayed me and took everything from me.

Even my life.

Even as the raging flames drew closer, strangely, I felt no heat.

Surely the air was filled with screams of agony, yet all I could hear was the quiet crackling of fire.

It was as if the flames about to engulf me were playing strings in mourning—just a gentle popping and crackling sound.

I couldn't believe I had been betrayed, and I hesitated.

I didn't want to accept it. I scolded myself for not even being able to suspect them.

If I acknowledged it, I felt like everything I'd lived for would dissolve away into lies, and that terrified me.

But it was real.

They drew out every possible emotion from me—rage, sorrow, regret, confusion, hatred—and left me empty and dead.

That was a long, long time ago.

---

“How was that?”

Nothing special.

“Kaah! That reply, like some angsty teen! My cute child, but so not cute!”

Who are you calling a child?

The old man let out another “kaah!” and whipped his beard—long enough to touch the floor—around like a whip, smacking me with it.

It kind of stung, weirdly. Even though it shouldn’t.

“I told you countless times—if you had good parents, you should've gone to them already… Stubborn fool.”

With a dramatic thud, the old man sat down next to where I assumed I was.

But I'd long since lost any shape of “me.” I'm just drifting now—there's no such thing as “next to me.” My consciousness still exists, sure, but my body is gone.

I don't have a throat or a mouth anymore, so I shouldn't be able to speak, yet somehow, I can still have conversations with this old man.

Not that I care about the “why.”

This place is above the sky, yet below the stars—a space no human could ever perceive or comprehend.

All living things in this world have souls. When a soul is given a body, it lives as a being, and when that life ends, it comes to this strange space to prepare for its next life.

Souls float here, gazing down at the world below, and most eventually choose where to be reborn, drawn into the womb like they're being pulled in.

Sometimes, a strong karmic force drags a soul against its will, but most choose their path themselves.

Some, like me, retain their sense of self and just drift. Others simply drift without thought.

But there's no other soul that's stayed here as long as I have.

“Thank goodness there aren't more like you! You just loiter here forever!”

The old man barked beside me.

So loud. I wish I couldn't hear him. I don't even have ears anymore.

“And yet, in moments like this, you act all innocent like a pure soul—honestly. You should realize how long you've been here already.”

How long? I mean, yeah, without a body, I have no sense of time at all.

“…Ah, look, here they come again.”

The old man turned his gaze, and though I have no eyes, I could clearly see two soul presences.

They floated around me for a moment, then—whoosh!—were pulled down toward the world.

“Will they spend their lives searching for you again this time, too, I wonder…”

I looked toward where those souls had gone.

I saw two pairs of parents, each lovingly holding their newborn child.

“Most souls can't even see newly born ones like I can, but you? You've blended in here too well.”

I wonder how many times I've watched those two live their lives.

Even when borders on Earth changed, when volcanoes reshaped continents, when ice covered the land, when civilizations rose and fell—

Those two kept being reborn, unchanged.

The two who betrayed me so long ago are, as a form of atonement, born over and over again, always remembering me, always searching for me.

They're always born at the same time, find each other, spend their lives searching for me—and always, always, die together and return here.

And the moment they find me here again, they’re once more pulled down to the earth by the force of their penance.

The only thing they remember is me. They don't remember anything that happens here. That's why, not knowing that I've never been reborn and have stayed here all this time, they live their lives searching for me—only to die in vain.

It's pitiful, really.

“If you feel that way, then you should just be reborn already.”

The truth is, all the hatred and resentment I once carried has long since been filtered away in this strange space. I no longer hold a grudge against them.

She only chose him over me.

And he… I was simply an obstacle standing in the way of him getting her.

That's all it was. That's why I truly wish they'd just forget me and live a happy life together.

But not once, despite all the lives they've lived together, have I seen them truly together. No one ever acknowledges their bond, and they spend lifetime after lifetime enduring hardships, far from peace or happiness.

If that’s the world's punishment, then… who exactly do I need to say “That's enough” to?

“That's why I keep telling you—if you're reborn, they'll find you, and their journey can finally end. They've been allowed to return here each time their lives ended, so their sins are indeed being atoned for.”

This is the place where souls prepare for their next life—but not every soul comes here.

Those who have committed great sins against the laws of the world don't make it to this place. They're erased, never to be reborn.

By whom? I believe it's the world itself.

And on the opposite end, souls who have done too much good also don't come here. They transcend the cycle of life and death, becoming beings like the old man.

I've stopped feeling anything. If they can be forgiven, then they should go and live another happy life.

When I had just died, the resentment was too intense. I couldn't bear to look down at the world from here like this.

By the time I had calmed down, they were already being reborn over and over. So I've never actually seen them happy.

And maybe that's it—maybe I can't move on until I've seen that for myself.

Maybe I have to see them living a life where they are truly happy, without me.

“Wait, wait—so you're telling me you think those two lived long and happy lives after your death?”

Weren't they finally happy once I was gone? Once I was out of the way?

“Ahhh… I see now… Yes, that explains it. You haven't seen what happened after their first lives ended. That was my mistake. I thought you already knew and were still choosing to stay here.”

What do you mean, old man—?

Before I could finish the thought, his voice said, “Too much trouble to explain—just go see for yourself,” and suddenly I was pulled apart, scattering like mist.

“Don't worry,” his voice added. “You'll come back together when you return.”

---

Flames, raging.

My body, burning.

The castle, burning.

The kingdom, burning.

Ah, yes… that's right.

Even the strongest fortress is powerless when betrayed from within.

The one who betrayed us was the crown princess—my wife.

And the one who led the assault on the castle was the general of the neighboring kingdom—my friend.

He had come to attend my coronation the following week. That was the reason, or the excuse, anyway.

My wife, betrothed to me since childhood, betrayed me and sold out our kingdom.

I had been drifting, for so long, in formlessness. But now I stood there again, in my shape—my form—once more.

Though I had no real body, I hesitantly moved my right foot forward and found I could walk.

I walked for a while, looking around.

No sign of anyone.

The corridors of the castle where I was born and raised.

The courtyard, once vibrant with flowers for every season.

Yes… this was the place I lived, no doubt about it—even if it was now reduced to ruins.

As the firstborn prince, it had been my duty to inherit the throne and protect the kingdom.

It was a heavy burden to carry—but whenever I faltered, she was there to take my hand, and that helped me stay standing.

Clang. Clang.

A sound like something breaking. Instinctively, my feet turned toward it.

Even though my heart no longer beat, my chest tightened.

Beyond this corridor was the audience chamber—the throne room.

The place where I died.

“Why did you kill him?! That wasn't part of the plan!! Why!? Why!!”

It was the general—once my friend—raising his sword at his own soldiers.

“P-please calm yourself, sir! The crown prince took his own life…”

“As if I’d believe that!!!!!!”

When the general swung his sword, a soldier shrieked and collapsed in fear.

That's right.

Even though I knew there was no escape, I didn't take my own life. My head was taken for the sake of the people.

I was stabbed from behind, immobilized, and then set on fire.

“The plan was to settle this with just the corrupt king and queen's heads…!! Who did it? Who ordered the death of my friend!?”

His cry of anguish caused the soldiers to freeze in place.

Everything I was seeing and hearing was a vision of the past that the old man was showing me.

The old man—being different from humans—never lied. He had no reason to.

And having drifted through time and space for so long, I knew that this vision was true. This was something that really happened.

Beyond the general, I saw my wife, clinging to something wrapped in a pristine white cloth that didn't belong in the burnt, soot-covered room. She was letting out a soundless cry—somewhere between an “ah” and an “oh.”

“Gwah!? You bastards!!!”

When I looked back at the general, he was being slashed at by several of his own soldiers.

Stop it!

I tried to reach out, and in my peripheral vision, I saw a soldier swinging a blade at my wife.

Please stop!!!!!

I screamed, but nothing changed. Nothing would. It was the past. It had already happened.

“The general died surprisingly quickly too. As if His Majesty would ever let it end with just the king and queen's heads.”

“Exactly. In a way, his blind loyalty helped us. This woman, part of the corrupt royal family who leeched off the people, even agreed to help if it meant saving her husband. So much for loyalty to her country or the people.”

“Well, if you want to blame someone, blame your country and our king. I want nothing to do with noble blood being spilled.”

“No doubt about that.”

Their sneering, contemptuous laughter echoed around me.

As I screamed, something yanked at me again, and I was torn apart once more.

“Well? You didn't know, did you?”

The carefree old man asked.

Of course I didn't know.

Neither my wife nor my friend told me anything.

They couldn't. They wouldn't.

How could they ask the crown prince—me—to abandon the kingdom just to save themselves?

Even as the people suffered under my father’s oppressive rule and an uprising loomed, the plan was already in motion to have him abdicate and crown me.

But it was all too late.

I didn't see any of it coming.

The one who was supposed to protect had only ever been protected.

It was me who made them betray me.

“Hey, hey. If you keep blaming yourself like that, you'll turn into a demon king. So knock it off. But now you understand, don't you? Why the two of them keep searching for you. Why they could never be together.”

The reason… they kept looking for me?

The reason…?

My body was being pulled back toward the world below.

Because I, too, wished for it.

The moment I wished for it, the karma looped back to me.

What I wanted to see them again.

That was all it ever was.

“Yare yare… finally all cleaned up. Who would’ve thought you’d go millennia thinking your wife and friend had an affair? Whether human or not, we must always be careful with ‘I thought I told you' and ‘you must've known.' Even gods have more to learn, it seems. …Ah, reborn, I see. Mm-hmm, and you've met. That should unravel the karma that’s tangled for so long. …What a lovely face you’re making. I should've shown you their later lives much sooner. Well, forgive me, my child. But to be born again, even by the law of the world… that's quite the adventure. May your newfound journey be full of happiness.”