Kart's fantastical journey!

The Edge of Life

"It's cold." she says. "Want to head back?"
"But Mother..." the kid startles. "I'm not done building my snow creature!"
The mother sighs, "I know, honey. But if you stay outside any longer you might get hypothermia! The winter is rough."
"If you say so." the daughter gives in. "Can I at least name him?"
"Of course." she smiles carefully.
The daughter looks at the creature she built with the snow in Ireland and takes a look at it.
It has a fat body with a smaller part as its combined torso and head. The girl then takes off her ushanka and places it on the cold snow creature's head.
"Here you go, Snowman." the girl then grabs her mother's hand and waves goodbye to her new motionless friend.
Little does she know, she won't be able to see him after the snow melts. However, her mother realized it, so she tried to tell her a story about the snowman.
"Do you believe in the story of Old Man Winter?" asks the mother.
"How could I?" mumbles the little girl. "I never went to school."
The mother ignores that bold statement and continues her story, "Once upon a time, gods of all seasons have gathered together. They built four seasons in a year. Spring, a time of the year where everything starts blooming. Summer, the warmest time of the year. Autumn, all plants change colors and turn reddish-brown. Winter, the hardest and coldest time of the year for many entities."
Her daughter looks at her mother's eyes as if she was expecting more.
The mother realized and continued, "All of the four gods made it easier for every living being on Earth to know when danger and when tranquility would appear. This trivia was needed for life to progress, however, the god of winter wasn't alright with being hated by every creature. As you should know, many animals suffer at this time of the year. Sometimes they even die while hibernating. Meaning, they will never know the cause of their death. But then again, it must be beautiful to die peacefully while sleeping."
"What did the god of winter do?" asks the girl.
"He invoked the glacial era. Now the whole world was enclosed by a thick ice layer. It was winter every single day. Each day, a creature would die from starvation or hypothermia."
"Is there a good ending in the fables you keep on telling me?" the girl looks a bit hopeless.
The mother cackles, "No, there isn't. But after realizing that the god of winter was destroying life, he stopped and turned everything back to normal."
The girl seems confused, "What for? He had enough power to control the whole planet."
"If he killed everything, there wouldn't be anything left to control." answers the mother.
"True." murmurs the girl.
"And that is why your snowman won't be seeing you after winter." concludes the mother.
"I know," the daughter smiles. "You and Father have taught me everything about nature, did you really think I would be stupid enough to think that Mr. Snowman was going to miraculously not melt in spring?"
The mother is a bit shocked after hearing that, but then she sighs out of relief, "I just hope you're happy. Your father and I are trying our best."
"I know." the girl's voice changed a bit. "You shouldn't have copulated without seeing the consequences."
"How could you say that?" the mother remained calm but received a worrying expression. "We never intended on-"
"I know, I know it all, everything, you don't have to answer my statements anymore. Soon my time will come anyways." the girl seems sad.
"But..." the mother has a tear roll down her left eye.
She moves her daughter's long hair out of her face to see her expression until she notices what she had done 11 years ago.
Her daughter's beautiful face was wet. Her eyes were constantly tearing up.
"Mother..." she deeply looks into her guardian's eyes. "If I am gone, will you and Father be able to live a happy life?"
The parent bends down and hugs her daughter tightly, "How could we ever live without you?"
Her daughter doesn't respond.
The mother opens her mouth and speaks instead, "We will always love you...

...Pavel."

"Do you see that, Pavel?" the father looks at his daughter.
"Yes, Father." she nods.
Pavel was spending some time with her father at the exact same spot as she had done with her mother, by the cliffs.
She was born in Ireland, near the Cliffs of Moher. She lives in the same house she was born in. Pavel lives near the cliffs, isolated from society. The reason for that is due to her parents fornicating. Meaning, they weren't married. If the royal family catches wind of it, the parents alongside the child will be executed. Therefore, they noticed their mistake and had no other choice but to raise Pavel in isolation, making her only social contacts her two parents. Even though the parents were allowed to abort their unborn baby, they didn't have the heart to do so. Now, Pavel is already 11. She gets homeschooled by her two parents. She knows everything about life. Everything she has to know.
"Tell me, what's the name of that spiral galaxy up there?" asks her father.
"Andromeda." Pavel rolls her eyes. "Tell me something I don't know."
Her father chuckles, "Alright."
Pavel and her father are standing near the Cliffs of Moher in the middle of the night to watch the stars together. It's snowing. The peaceful landscape being covered with snow while all the constellations in the lonely sky are shining, is the most beautiful thing Pavel has ever witnessed in her unilateral life.
"Far away, from your mother and I, there live people, just like you." he smiles. "They're happy and don't think too much about the future. They live their own lives in their own miracle world."
Pavel sighs, "Oh world, oh why have you gifted me with the developed intelligence of questioning life?"
"It's up to you whether you want to think too far or not." her father places a hand on her shoulder. "Who knows, perhaps there might even be a planet in Andromeda, full of life, full of creatures who live in their own miracle world."
"Father, may I name the planet in Andromeda?" asks Pavel out of nowhere. "If there is one."
"Yes, you may." he smiles.
Pavel looks up into the dark, moonless night. Her eyes are fixated on Andromeda Galaxy. The nearest largest spiral galaxy next to the Milky Way. You can always see it, unless the northern spring arrives.
"I name it HIP." Pavel seems proud.
Her father, however, is quite rattled by it, "That's pretty specific, would you tell me how you came up with that extravagant name?"
She points into the sky, "Look at the constellations, you can see it by looking for the tiny telltale wobbles of the star caused by the gravitational tug of an orbiting companion."
"I see, you observed it the astronomical way." notices the father.
"Of course I did, I always think logical, that's how you and Mother raised me." Pavel seems confused.
He sighs, "Pavel, not everything in life has to be serious. Sometimes you are allowed to just be yourself. Be happy."
His daughter suddenly makes a weird noise and doesn't say anything.
"Pavel?"
"Father..." her tongue tied mouth opened. "It's difficult if you're keeping the truth away from me."
This time her father stayed serene.
"You know we're sorry, don't you?" he mumbles.
"How will that apology benefit me? You and Mother keep on apologizing to me even though you could have just aborted me 11 years ago. You could have lived a normal life, not in fear of having the royal family find out that you had a child before marriage, and from the execu-"
"Pavel." her father looks a little bit tense but remains tranquil. "Do you think it's easy to kill someone?"
"I was in Mother's abdomen, I wasn't with this world at that time, I wasn't alive." Pavel helplessly tries to prove a point.
Suddenly her father bends down and pats her head softly, "Everything will be fine."
Pavel's facial expression changes when he does that. She didn't expect him to do that whatsoever.
"Everybody lives a different life. A life which is controlled by the host of the body, and that is you, Pavel." he smiles.
"I see." she breathes deeply.
Her breath can be seen in the cold air, slowly fading away. And the next moment a snowflake lands on Pavel's nose. For some reason, the snowflake indicated Pavel that a new beginning was ahead of her. The meaning of rebirth. One day she will be a snowflake. She will slowly fall down from the endless sky and land on Earth, where she melts and rebirths into water that helps living beings survive.
"I understand now, Father." her facial expression seems to have changed positively. "I get it now...

...I finally figured out the meaning of life."

"It's beautiful today, isn't it?" Pavel looks at the ocean.
"It really is." smiles her mother. "Don't you think so too?"
"Yes, I do." states the woman's partner proudly.
The beautiful snow in the morning makes everything seem so unusually gorgeous. The waves of the ocean bump at the bottom of the Cliffs of Moher and go back to the source. The ocean looks so precious. Pavel always wonders what might be hiding at the end of the horizon. A new world or a lie.
"I've gathered the needing information on how to truly become happy." Pavel turns around and looks her parents into the eyes.
Her mother, Empress Kyokarōshi, and her father, Edward Cat, are the parents of a new beginning. Even though Empress has a different surname, she labels herself the same as her partner's. She tried to show Pavel that they are family, by sharing the same name unofficially.
Therefore, Pavel Cat has lived unknowingly, of how her future would look like, until she found the truth. Her purpose isn't to live, her true meaning in life is to find a way for her parents to live a normal life without getting executed by the royal family. For them to live in peace, she has to disappear. They would have to break up and go different paths, and everything for a normal life. That is why Pavel has to do it.
"Oh Pavel..." her mother sighs. "You don't need to find happiness...you need to be happiness."
"Every human has it deep inside their hearts." smiles her father.
"I'm sorry." Pavel moves back one step.
The parents already foreshadow a dreadful occurrence.
"Pavel, please don't go any farther, you might fall." stutters Empress.
"Mr. Snowman would be sad to see you go." wits Edward.
The snowman still has her ushanka.
"But Mama and Papa, you should know that I wasn't supposed to exist." Pavel smiles.
Edward tried to search for a reversed psychology trick, "You know, if you jump, you won't be gifting us freedom."
"Didn't you say you found happiness, darling?" quivers Empress.
"I did." assumes Pavel. "Please, it's my decision. I lived a short life, I know, but there really isn't anything more I can or want to experience."
"What are you saying..." vexes Edward. "There is so much still left to do in life, and after the marriage rule gets annihilated, we will be able to show you the world."
"We don't have enough power to show them what's right and what's wrong." claims Pavel. "Just let me jump, nobody will miss me, except for you two. I won't deficit society by doing this. I really just am tired."
"But why...just tell me one good reason why you would end your life!" shouts Empress while sobbing.
Pavel looks her parents into the eyes and says, "So I can gift you absolute liberty, now push me."
Edward and Empress are both at a loss of words.
"Just promise me one thing," continues Pavel. "After my death, you will break up and go your own path."
Empress suddenly walks towards her daughter.
Edward tries to stop her, "Empress, you can't do this!"
She rejects his offer and is now standing in front of Pavel, who is about to fall. She grabs her daughter's hands and whispers, "Life is long."
Both Edward and Pavel look surprised.
"Come live your unordinary everyday life again with us. I'll bake you some cookies." Empress gives a motherly smile.
Pavel stayed silent.
Edward decided to say something too, "Let's watch the stars again today."
Pavel suddenly seems like she is doing a terrible mistake. She looks up to her mother's face and says, "Thank you for showing me how to live a happy life."
Pavel backs off the edge of the cliffs and walks to her father, or that's what she intended on doing.
Unfortunately, she had been standing too close to the edge that her tender and slim body weight broke part of the cliff.
"Mother-!" she stumbles and falls.
"PAVEL!" Empress lost her grip on Pavel's hands.
The last thing Pavel ever saw was the planet she had named after the stars, HIP. She saw a boy in front of her. He seemed happy. Pavel wondered, was she living in the wrong all this time? Could she have lived an ordinary but strange and isolated life with her two caring parents near the Cliffs of Moher without ever worrying about the future? Either way, it had been too late for that. Just as about she was understanding how to live, Pavel had already made a grand mistake. Instead of having followed her parents their advice, she lived in her own miracle world. A world in where she wasn't supposed to exist. And now she succeeded.

Pavel is gone.