Chapter 76
Splash!
Once again, blood splattered. Cedric’s magic hit the monster, and only after its head—the “core”—was destroyed did it finally stop moving.
But we couldn’t relax. Cedric’s magic was clearly weakened, and there were still far too many skeletons.
“Ugh…”
A heavy guilt pressed down on me. Cedric was struggling like this because of the potion I had made.
That potion stopped his powers from clashing inside him. But in other words—it also paralyzed the wildest part of his energy.
It put those violent aether currents to sleep, so the rest could flow more smoothly.
Thanks to that, Cedric could use magic freely again. But the power of his spells was much weaker, as if his total energy had shrunk.
I remembered his face right before we came in—when he had swallowed that potion.
“I was really stupid. So arrogant and careless…”
Was that even a real cure? Or had I just been desperate to solve things quickly without thinking deeply?
Those doubts kept stabbing me, and my chest felt like it was rotting away from the inside.
Cedric’s other half—no, more than half—of his fierce aether had all gone quiet, asleep. Even though he was in danger, they didn’t move at all.
Cedric’s brow furrowed in pain.
“How much longer are you going to act like this, Violeta?”
Cedric’s body suddenly wavered and collapsed.
I tried to jump up, but dizziness knocked me back down. I gasped for air.
Think. Think!
Cedric was running out of aether. His mana wasn’t enough anymore.
What do you do when something runs out?
The answer was simple—you fill it back up.
But… if I give him my aether, won’t it clash again?
Rattle, rattle! Bones clattered all around us. BOOM!
There was no time to worry.
“Cedric!”
I grabbed a potion from my inventory and hurled it toward him with all my strength.
It was the medicine he always carried before he started relying on my potion—the one from Tinte. It reduced the pain of using magic, though it wasn’t good for the body.
It was the only option.
Cedric caught it. Our eyes met for a brief second. He nodded at me, like he trusted me completely, and drank it.
No more hesitation. I gathered my unstable, raging aether and pushed it all toward him. Toward Cedric.
“Ahh—!”
It felt like something sharp was ripping through my brain, shredding and scratching inside my head.
My aether went wild, trembling violently. But I didn’t let go. I couldn’t.
I was sick of hiding behind protection.
I wanted to live a life where I could protect what was mine too.
That desire had always been buried deep inside me, and I was only realizing it now.
My vision turned red.
Golden aether, stained here and there with black, swirled chaotically as I forced it into Cedric.
Just a little more. Hold on, Violeta.
My whole body was wet—sweat or blood, I couldn’t even tell anymore.
The aether slowly moved forward, unsteady and shaking, but it kept going.
“Ah—”
And then—it finally touched something.
At that point of contact, a refreshing coolness rushed in. For just a moment, my mind felt clear.
But only for a moment.
BOOM!
Something exploded. I didn’t know if it was inside my head or in the cave itself.
Either way, my consciousness was blown away.
I thought I heard someone calling me, but maybe that was just my imagination.
I floated in the air. My body felt weightless, like a dandelion seed drifting on a cool breeze.
—Well, aren’t you living comfortably.
Ugh, so noisy…
—Why don’t you just stay like that your whole life, lying around uselessly?
What the—? Even my mom never nagged me this much.
A strange voice kept chattering at me.
I waved my hand to shoo it away. Whoever it was, I wished they’d be quiet. This was the first peace I’d felt in forever.
—Wake up, now!
“Waaah!”
BAM! My body slammed to the ground.
I snapped my eyes open and looked around.
Towering mountains with clouds caught around their waists. Trees in every color. Birds flying endlessly, and beyond the bushes—a shining blue ocean.
“…Where am I?”
I had no idea.
The scene was unfamiliar, but strangely familiar at the same time. Mysterious, yet confusing.
Just moments ago, I’d been in a dark cave with Cedric. Now I was here?
Flowers blooming all at once despite different seasons, trees I’d never seen before filling the mountainside.
Cotton-candy-like grass swayed like waves, revealing glimpses of the sea.
It didn’t feel real. And yet here I was, alone. My body felt so light.
Why am I here…?
I remembered—the cave, the skeleton army, Cedric exhausted, his power nearly gone.
So I tried something else… I forced my aether into him.
“Hah—Cedric!”
The memory hit me. I had felt sticky liquid running down my face… and yet now I was alone.
This wasn’t right. I had to find Cedric.
I jumped up.
Suddenly the ground shot away beneath me—I was floating, no, flying upward!
“Waaahhh!”
—Are you slow in the head or something?
SMASH!
An insulting voice reached my ears just as I crashed back to the ground.
What the heck?! First I was flying, now I was slammed into the dirt. None of this made sense!
I sat up, wary of everything around me.
—So you’ve come here again, have you.
“Wh-who’s there?!”
—Rude as always…
This definitely wasn’t reality. The strange voice alone proved that.
Which meant Cedric was still back there, surrounded by skeletons.
My anxiety spiked.
“Hey, whoever you are—I don’t have time for this! Send me back, now!”
But the voice ignored me and kept rambling.
—You don’t belong here. You can’t blend into this place, yet you came anyway.
“Are you even listening to me?”
—Hmm… you’ve managed to imitate it a little better this time.
“This is driving me crazy…”
Now I finally understood why Harun always said that whenever he looked at me.
That strange, vaguely familiar voice kept muttering nonsense.
—You’ve grown… but you’re still weak.
“Excuse me?”
—That’s why you’re not qualified.
“…Great. Guess you can’t hear me at all.”
The voice droned on, like an announcement speaker.
I gave up responding and started searching for a way out.
Then it spoke again:
—Time’s up.
It seemed to have reached some conclusion on its own.
Meanwhile, my body felt lighter and lighter, like I’d float away again.
Gravity here worked differently, it seemed.
I grabbed fistfuls of the soft grass to hold myself down, terrified of being carried off.
—That’s what happens when you don’t belong in this world.
