The emotions of the caster had become too overwhelming.
The illusion began to shake violently, the silver light flickering unstably as it reflected the turmoil within the owner's memories. Inside the prison cell, the Blind Wizard's entire body trembled. It was as if he were reliving that terrifying moment and all the pain that came with it.
The black-robed wizard waited in silence without urging him on. He could feel the thousand-year-old wound his teacher still carried, and there was no point in asking questions anyway.
They were both intelligent enough to know that what was about to happen was something that could haunt a person with regret for an entire lifetime.
Only after a long while did the illusion finally stabilize. As the caster's magic continued flowing, the memory became clear once more.
Lina's heart-wrenching scream echoed throughout the Infinite Corridor. It sounded as though it could tear a soul apart.
"What happened?! Lina! Lina! What's wrong?!"
Saruman and Kag both shuddered before instinctively rushing toward their companion, who had collapsed to her knees.
"Lina! Are you alright?" Dropping to one knee, Saruman grabbed her trembling shoulders in alarm.
Kag, meanwhile, scanned their surroundings with his battle-axe held across his chest, ready for any threat. Neither of them knew why Lina had screamed. Their first thought was that something hidden in the shadows had attacked her, making them even more alert.
"Tell me! Did something attack you?" Saruman crouched beside her, trying to help her up as he desperately questioned her.
But Lina didn't answer. She simply clutched her face with both hands as a dark liquid seeped through the gaps between her fingers. Her entire body shook violently, and strange clicking noises escaped her throat. It looked as though she was enduring agony beyond words.
"Lina! Look at me!" Saruman tried to pull her hands away from her face, only to discover that her grip was unbelievably strong.
"What did you see? Tell us!"
Kag knelt beside her as well, his rugged face filled with worry.
"Is it those damned visions again? Hang in there. We'll get you out of here!"
"Is it... something from behind that door?" The young Saruman held the stunned Lina in his arms, his expression grave as he stared at the massive stone door.
Kag stood beside him, battle-axe raised defensively while watching every direction.
"We have to leave." Kag's voice was low and firm. "Lina's prophecies have never been wrong. If what's behind that door is really what she saw, then it's not worth it."
Saruman struggled with himself. "But the truth is right in front of us. We've gone through so much to get here. We're standing at its very doorstep."
He believed that even if Lina had been attacked, they carried enough medical supplies to treat her. Injuries weren't unusual for adventurers, and turning back now felt like a terrible waste.
Kag saw things differently. He had already realized that this expedition was nothing like any of their previous adventures.
"No truth is worth gambling the fate of the entire world! And look at her!"
For one of the few times in his life, Kag raised his voice at Saruman.
"Open your eyes and really look at Lina! Look at what she's become! Look at everything we've gone through to get here! This isn't some hidden treasure. It's a curse!"
Saruman looked down at his companion, who could do nothing but moan in agony. Then he looked back toward the Infinite Corridor behind them, with all the horrors they had barely survived. His thirst for knowledge and his sense of responsibility clashed fiercely within him.
At last, he let out a long sigh.
"You're right... Let's go back. But first, we have to treat Lina. I don't even know what attacked her. Maybe she saw one of those damned illusionary realms again, right, Lina?" Kag guessed.
But no matter how much they questioned her or tried to comfort her, Lina gave no response.
She continued clutching her face with both hands. Her trembling grew worse, and the strange noises in her throat slowly changed into something even more horrifying. It became a deep, bubbling sound... like something rising from the depths of the sea.
---
Inside the prison cell, the black-robed wizard's body stiffened. He turned toward the Blind Wizard, his voice filled with disbelief.
"Master... was it because Lady Lina was a Seer? Did her consciousness come into contact with something that should never have been perceived?"
The black-robed wizard knew exactly how terrifying that kind of corruption could be.
His shock came from the education he had received; he simply couldn't accept that any wizard would be reckless enough to use their own mind to reach toward the very source of the corruption everyone feared. How unbelievably foolhardy did someone have to be?
Then again... the fact that something like this could happen only proved one thing. A thousand years ago, wizards truly knew nothing about the horrors buried within history.
"...Yes." The Blind Wizard, the aged Saruman, closed his eyes in pain, tears of regret slipping from his empty eye sockets. His lips moved, but no words came out. In the end, he could only nod heavily. That silent confirmation was more heartbreaking than any explanation.
The memory continued.
Seeing that Lina still wasn't responding, the young Saruman grew increasingly anxious. He turned to Kag, forcing himself to stay calm.
"It may be some kind of mental attack... or... a curse. Help me hold her still. I need to examine her."
Kag immediately did as he asked, using his powerful arms to gently restrain Lina as she continued struggling. Taking a deep breath, Saruman raised his wand. Diagnostic magic glowed from its tip as he began a thorough examination.
"Her vital signs are unstable... Her magical power is flowing abnormally... Her mind has suffered severe corruption..." As he spoke, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper. "This looks like... some kind of powerful transformation curse?"
"Can you break it?" Kag asked anxiously.
"I'll try." Saruman began chanting a powerful Purification Spell, bathing Lina in pure white light.
Instead of easing her suffering, she struggled even more violently.
"Stop!" Kag hurriedly grabbed Saruman's arm. "You're making it worse!"
Unwilling to give up, Saruman switched to another spell. This time, it was Soothing Magic, specifically designed to treat mental corruption. A gentle blue light flowed into Lina's forehead, but the result was just as ineffective.
"It shouldn't be like this..." The young Saruman shook his head in confusion. "These spells should work against most curses and mental attacks..."
Then, Lina's hands suddenly fell limply away from her face.
Time itself seemed to stop.
Her once gentle features were now covered in countless fine scales that shimmered with an eerie sheen. Her eyes had become completely black, no whites, no pupils, only endless darkness.
But the most horrifying part was her mouth. She was trying desperately to say something, her lips trembling uncontrollably. Her face twisted into an expression of absolute terror and unbearable pain, yet no human voice came out. Only those horrifying bubbling sounds and wet, gurgling noises like bursting air pockets escaped her. Her vocal cords had undergone an irreversible mutation.
"...Merlin..." Kag sucked in a sharp breath and instinctively stepped back. "W-What... what is this?"
Even the young Saruman was stunned, but he forced himself to analyze the situation. "It looks like... traits from some kind of reptilian creature. It could be a unique curse native to this place, mixed with an advanced Transformation Spell..."
He was still trying to explain everything with the magical theories he already knew.
"Remember what we read in those ancient texts? The Sphinxes of ancient Egypt were said to be the result of combining Transfiguration with curses. There may be a similar kind of magic here..."
---
Back in the prison cell, the elderly Saruman heard his own ignorant conclusions from a thousand years ago and covered his face in agony.
The black-robed wizard silently watched his teacher, feeling the regret that had lasted across the centuries.
Back then, they had never understood what they were truly facing. They had tried to explain something far beyond human comprehension using the limited knowledge of magic they possessed.
"Master..." the black-robed wizard spoke softly. "This wasn't your fault. In that era, no one could have understood... this kind of corruption."
The Blind Wizard slowly shook his head, his voice hoarse. "Ignorance is no excuse... My arrogance... that was the original sin."
The memory continued, like a cruel trial that refused to end.
"We have to get her out of here immediately!" Recovering from his shock, Kag spoke with absolute determination. "This place... its curse is too evil."
But the young Saruman hesitated. "With Lina in this condition... if we move her carelessly, it might accelerate the transformation. I need more time to study the nature of this curse..."
"Study it?!" Kag exploded in anger, something he almost never did with his closest friend. "I've been telling you to look at her! Really look at what she's become! This isn't something we can understand! If we stay here any longer, we'll all end up just like her!"
"No..." Saruman looked at the suffering Lina, his heart torn between two opposing impulses.
On one hand, the scholar in him desperately wanted to unravel the mystery before his eyes. On the other hand, seeing the state Lina was in made him realize the danger was far greater than he had imagined.
"Give me a little more time," he finally said, giving in. "I'll try one last treatment. If it doesn't work, we'll leave immediately. I just need to figure out how to cure this."
Kag gave a heavy nod. "Make it quick."
Saruman reached into his enchanted pouch and took out a vial filled with shimmering golden liquid. It was his greatest treasure, the Holy Water of Dawn, a legendary potion said to lift nearly every curse in the world.
Carefully supporting Lina, he tried to pour the potion into her mouth. The moment the holy water touched her lips, something changed again.
Lina let out a shrill, inhuman scream. It wasn't a sound any human throat should have been able to produce. Her body convulsed violently as the scales spread visibly down her neck, and her fingers grew longer while razor-sharp claws emerged from their tips.
"Damn it!" Saruman stumbled backward, dropping the vial. The holy water splashed across the stone floor, where the golden liquid immediately hissed as though it were being corroded.
Kag instantly raised his battle-axe, but faced with his own companion transforming before his eyes, he couldn't bring himself to strike. "Saruman! What do we do now?"
The young wizard's face turned deathly pale. For the first time, he truly realized that this wasn't any form of magic or curse he understood. It was something far more fundamental, far more terrifying.
"We... we have to restrain her..." His voice shook. "And then... we leave immediately..."
At that moment, Lina suddenly stopped struggling. Slowly, she stood up, every movement stiff and unnatural. Her pitch-black eyes stared directly at the two men, and her mouth opened and closed.
At last, recognizable words emerged. But what she said made their blood run cold.
"...The... god... awakens..."
"...the... stars... align..."
"...He... rises..."
Every word seemed to consume all of her remaining strength. Her voice was distorted and fragmented, like echoes drifting in from another dimension.
Saruman and Kag exchanged a glance, each seeing the same overwhelming terror in the other's eyes. They finally understood: Lina wasn't speaking nonsense. She was relaying a message... one being spoken through her by an indescribable existence.
"...I'm sorry, Lina." Tears filled Saruman's eyes as he raised his wand. "We have to get you out of here..."
A powerful Stunning Spell shot from his wand. The instant it struck Lina, she let out one final, agonized scream before collapsing to the floor. But even after she had been stunned, the scales covering her body continued spreading, little by little.
Kag immediately hoisted her onto his back. "Move! I don't want to stay in this damned place another second!"
Saruman cast one last look at the stone door radiating its ominous aura, then gritted his teeth. "Let's go!"
The two of them fled back the way they had come, feeling as though countless unseen eyes were watching them from behind. The Infinite Corridor seemed even more warped than before. The writing covering the walls writhed more violently, as if mocking their ignorance... and their insignificance.
Fortunately, as experienced adventurers, they had left markers along the way. Kag carried the unconscious Lina on his back while Saruman stayed close behind. But Lina's body had become unnaturally heavy, as though the growing scales themselves were increasing her weight. Her breathing was ragged and uneven, and from time to time, that unsettling gurgling sound escaped her throat again.
"Faster!" Kag urged. "Faster!"
His instincts as a warrior screamed that something was terribly wrong. "I can't shake the feeling that something's watching us."
Saruman ran beside him, constantly looking over his shoulder, his wand remaining lit with defensive magic.
"I feel it too... It's like this place has come alive."
Before they had gone much farther, grotesque creatures began emerging from the tunnels ahead. But unlike before, their behavior had changed completely. They no longer attacked blindly; instead, they moved with purpose, coordinating to block the group's escape.
"Left!" Saruman shouted. A Reductor Curse blasted a Stalker that had lunged from the shadows, sending it flying.
With a furious roar, Kag swung his battle-axe and split another monster cleanly in half. "It's like they're protecting something! They don't want us to leave!"
Then Saruman noticed details he had overlooked before. One Stalker's tentacle wore a rusted metal bracelet engraved with faint ancient magical runes. A flying creature still had torn scraps of a wizard's robe tangled around one of its wings.
The discovery chilled both men to the bone. Because, at that moment... they realized a horrifying truth.
(End Of This Chapter)
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