When I came to, I was greeted with a faintly familiar scene.
A crystalline sea, stretching impossibly far into the horizon, reflecting the picturesque sky.
The air felt still, motionless, as if time itself had stopped, yet a gentle wind's breeze denounced that idea just as quickly as it formed.
"Oh please, spare us both the monologue, will you? It was already enough to deal with the first time around. And besides, you aren't exactly new."
Standing up, I turned around, coming into contact with the disembodied voice, sending a wave of my memories crashing against one another in a muddled mess.
"It's you…!" The words sputtered from my lips, my icy tone undercut by the pained expression that found itself painted onto me.
My hands flew up to my temples, and I pressed on them lightly. "Must I always have such a headache whenever I arrive here?"
The woman, Yuena, continued observing me with a slightly curious look, comfortably seated as she pressed a cup to her lips for a second or two before setting it down.
"Well," she began, "That much isn't up for me to decide. But it's not as if you don't know the solution."
With a delicate flick of her wrist, an unseen force shoved me into a chair that simultaneously materialized underneath me before zipping across the realm, bringing across from her on the table.
"I've already taken the liberty of pouring a cup for you before your arrival. Think of it as my courtesy. Now drink, there are matters to be discussed. That is, unless you wish to join your family in the afterlife…" Sarcasm oozed from her tone.
In the next second, the earthy liquid was flowing down my throat, the bitter aftertaste the least of my concerns.
"My, oh my. Looks like someone was very thirst—"
"What did you say?"
"...That you seemed particularly thirsty."
"Not that, dammit! What about me joining the afterlife, alongside my family?"
I let my impatience radiate throughout my being, hoping to fish a similar reaction out of this woman shrouded in mystery. She was undeterred, moving with her usual steadiness as she took another sip.
"Calm yourself. Though I did mean to nudge you a little, you are more likely to survive this situation than you think. Especially with that mischievous bond of yours… Anyway, I found it prudent to share a few words with you before everything began, so as to help you understand the importance of it all. And you would be wise to heed them. Firstly…"
She swiped her hand and the table was swiftly cleared of all pots and utensils except for our cups.
"As of now, you are supremely incapable of defending all that you know from the coming plight. I tried to urge you on to grow stronger even if only by a little, but clearly, that was pointless, thanks to your rebellious efforts. For reasons unknown, you've grown to harbor feelings of wariness towards me, despite all the trouble I went through to help you. First with your core, then your seal, and now this. I'm a fairly patient person, Ashra, but if you continue to maintain a barrier between us, then you leave me with no choice but to take matters into my own hands. Such is the case now."
My heart sank at her mention of the name from my past life, and I connected the dots.
So that's who she meant by joining in the afterlife…
"What did you mean by—"
Her eyes narrowed as she stared intently into my own, all previous signs of her playfulness abolished.
"You must grow powerful enough to protect what you hold dear. Take this time to do all that you can to forge your strength. Luckily, you already possess one of your best assets for this."
An image materialized from the free space on the table. It was of a small, jagged piece of dark stone that faintly reflected light.
"The fragment…" I gasped breathlessly.
"The one that Father gave me before I left. I completely forgot about it…Except, he told me to only use it if I was in dire need of…" The words fell short as realization dawned on me.
Silently, I contemplated. For how long, I wasn't sure, but eventually, I shook my head.
"No, I can't. He said that I needed a tether, someone to keep me from getting lost in it, whatever that meant. And besides, Father made a promise. When I return, we're to have a talk about it all, and he's supposed to help me with it. I can't just turn my back on that—"
"That promise won't come to fruition, not if you continue to ignore my warnings."
There was a firmness to her voice that cut deep, way deeper than I even knew, and it led me down a spiral of contemplation.
"What I'm telling you right now is that stone is your best bet at defending against the coming plight, and what your father, King Regius, hasn't told you, is that it isn't a necessity to have more than one person there during your time spent with the stone. It merely makes it easier to find yourself back. He should know best. After all, he solved it by himself."
She exhaled, easing if only by a little, and a moment passed before she continued.
"It is impertinent that you solve it as fast as you can. Need I remind you that the lives of those closest to you are at risk, much less the most recent ones you have yet to meet? Take some time to consider your choice, though it isn't as if you have much of one."
"I'm not exactly following, what do you mean by plight and lives being at risk here? That still has yet to be explained… If you're not making much sense, how do you expect me to simply go along with what you're saying? Not to mention the fact that you don't exactly exude the aura of an oracle…"
There was no response from her at the prospect of my words, and it made me uneasy.
For far too long, she was silent. By then, I had enough. Pushing myself up from the chair, I regarded her with nothing but a clear mind as I spoke my next words.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about. How do you expect me to just trust you when both times we've met, you speak as if you're forbidden from directly telling me the meaning behind your words! First you mention something about a divine seal placed on me that even I wasn't aware of, then you mentioned something about me potentially dying, and now you're telling me that if I don't do as you say, people around me are going to follow in the footsteps of my late parents! What does any of this mean, and how would you know—who even are you?!"
There was an edge of desperation to my voice that I figured might make me seem childish, but I didn't care.
If there was any chance that I could lose all that I gained thus far, I was willing to do anything.
I just needed answers. What was I to do? Why was this supposed plight coming for me, of all people? What even was it?
And most of all: How could I stop it?
How was anyone supposed to calm down in this situation?
"I can't reveal to you the answers to all you wish to know," she said belatedly.
"However, I can share bits of information in the form of "vague" warnings, although I'm not sure how much more direct I need to be when I tell you everything you know is being threatened."
I felt myself deflate at her words. Even now she refuses to tell me anything…
Her next few words, however, lit a spark in me.
"In that case, however… Let us make a deal. No, a contract—with one another. For every one of my demands that you fulfill, I shall reveal one fact about myself."
My eyebrows narrowed with intrigue. "...There's more to it, isn't there?"
A coy smirk warped her expression and she nodded admittingly.
"There always is. Although I said this was a contract, I want you to merely consider it a game. You were quite fond of those in your past life, weren't you? Well here are the rules of this one. Over the course of the coming years, I will give you tasks to fulfill—all being in your best interest, whether you regard it as so or not. You can decide not to participate, as it is fully your choice, however, if you decide to, then you shall be rewarded with one fact about myself, as well as one lie. And as a side offer, from now on, I'll try to keep my own feelings from leaking into yours. No guarantees, though."
She paused, meeting my gaze. "How about it?"
I considered her deal carefully. One truth and one lie… A one-to-one ratio.
If that's the case, then I'll always have a fifty percent chance at guessing which is true, and seeing how she's so secretive, this is probably the best chance I have at getting her to reveal more of herself.
The only issue is just what demands will she make? Or I guess they'd be more like optional quests, like in an rpg. Since they're optional, I can decide which ones are more reasonable to complete and which aren't, giving me an undeniable edge in this deal.
But knowing her, there's no way she'd allow herself to be at a disadvantage.
…Unless she was really that confident.
"Tick tock, your time here is almost up. I don't want you dying, you know."
It'll be okay, as long as I'm able to discern which ones are more reasonable than not. And besides, it's certain that she wouldn't put me in any sort of harm, considering she said we were linked. So her livelihood depends on my own.
I smirked at this realization, the thought of coming out on top of a deal made with the devil exciting me.
"I'll accept your contract. When do we get started?"
She pressed her cup to her lips for an extended period of time before finally setting it down, revealing an empty cup.
Then, she met my gaze, and with a flick of her wrist, said, "Now."
A striking beam of light enveloped me and I felt the material that made up my form evaporating into the air. "W-wait, what? We haven't yet fully discussed everything!"
"Oh, except we have. This deal of yours marks the start of a new life entirely. Your first 'optional quest' is to get past the first stage in that whimsical stone of yours. I'll contact you only then. Best of luck… my dear Seed. And oh, don't forget to breathe. I've heard the sensation of wind rushing against your face can make you forget to."
And with that, I was pulled out of the realm.
***
A shrill whistling tore through my ears while a torrent of air pummeled against me, rushing between my fingers in an all-too-familiar way—falling. Slowly, I opened my eyes.
My stomach lurched as realization struck like lightning.
"...Wait."
The word vanished into the chaos around me, devoured by the wind's relentless roar. Rationality crumbled beneath the weight of panic clawing at my mind.
"That witch! This is what she meant…!" My voice cracked with anger as I cursed her name into the void.
I flailed my arms wildly, desperate for something, anything, to cling to, with nothing but the endless blue sky above and the distant—rapidly approaching—earth below as my company.
My mind raced back to the moments before I stepped through the warp gate.
"Seraphina!"
Against the current of wind battering against my now mana-enhanced form, I spun around, sucking in a much needed breath of air, eyes searching desperately before I was pulling the fox towards my sternum.
A myriad of emotions permeated our mental connection, relief and dread being the two standouts, followed by my immediate regret.
Damn that woman!
Is this what she meant by taking things into her own hands?!
I ground my teeth against the thought of her coy smile and steady composure, meanwhile knowing the immediate danger my real form was in. She'll never hear the end of this!
…If I managed to live, that is.
Potential solutions filtered through my mind so fast it made my head spin, but to no avail.
As fate would have it, this would undeniably be the end of my life.
This was it. We were going to die. Grim thoughts echoed against my sanity.
A particularly strong sense of desperation surged through my connection with Seraphina—drowning out even my own. Divine light enveloped my bond, so strong I had to shield my eyes, and I felt her body begin to shift and grow.
Feathers burst from fur, and wings unfurled in a storm of silver and gold as our dynamic had shifted. My eyes widened with disbelief as I saw that I was now mounted on the back of a majestic creature crackling with unbridled energy that manifested as electricity, arcing off and scarring the distant land. "S-Seraphina?"
I drank in the sight of my bond, now transformed into some sort of dragon-thunder-creature-hybrid.
And for a moment, hope flared as we soared on currents, our descent slowing.
The wind still howled around us, but it was no longer a death knell, instead, a gentle caress that we glided downwards on.
Seraphina's wings beat steadily, powerful and strong, and I relished in the awe. In relief.
That my new life wasn't resigned to something I couldn't change.
For a second, I felt as if all was alright. That everything had managed to sort itself out.
We were going to live…!
…That hope was short-lived.
My bond's panic spiked again, her right wing shuddering in and out of its lengthy form as she struggled to maintain her transformation.
Through our link, I felt her terror and exhaustion, a mirror to my own, and we began plummeting at once, the ground rushing up to meet us with dreadful speed.
Mana surged through my core—as much of it as I could channel at once—and a fierce torrent of wind erupted from my palms on the side her wing had reverted; shredding my sleeves and tearing my skin.
The pain was a distant ache, overshadowed by my desperation.
Our fall was slowed, yes, but not nearly as much as it had been before. This time, our crash into the ground wouldn't result in our immediate deaths.
Probably.
This struggle over life and death went on for some time. How long, I wasn't sure, but it felt like an eternity.
Fear pulsed through our link as her form faltered again. I ground my teeth, calling upon my dwindling reserves, up until the final moment where the spell sputtered out, my mana well run dry.
This time, there was no conceivable escape from the rising ground.
Seraphina flickered back into that of a fox, her energy spent, and I clutched her tightly as we plummeted the last of the fall, the final sight meeting us being a hard, unforgiving surface that promised only pain and darkness.
Then, the impact.
***
My vision came to me in a distorted mirage of images, each one disorienting and incongruent, like a puzzle piece fit into the wrong tile.
My own weariness weighed on my eyelids, and I was immediately greeted by a sharp pain lingering in my core, followed throughout the rest of my being. It wasn't the searing and unbearable kind, but rather, it was the type that made even breathing feel like a chore.
For a while, I struggled to shake free of the command of sleep, but eventually I managed, my vision slowly beginning to sharpen into focus.
"...Where am I?"
The melodic sound of running water caught my attention, and I strained to turn my head, though every muscle protested.
Rays of gold streaked across the mossy ground, filtering in through a particularly dense canopy of trees that surrounded me like a fortress, all the while dust motes drifted lazily, their presence catching my attention every so often.
There was a deep and earthy smell that lingered in the air, soil and dead leaves, and among other things, I figured, before drawing in a prolonged breath.
I went to move my arms, but they were heavy, leaden, as if they were nothing more than sandbags.
Ah… I guess falling from unprecedented heights and landing on cold ground wasn't a forgiving experience. Who would've thought?
Slowly, I flexed each of my limbs, searching for any particularly excruciating pain, but to no avail. It seemed as if I was alright, for the time being. Nothing dire at least… Miraculously.
It was at that instance I unfurled my arms, greeted with the sight of a small, canine animal hidden in between them, curled up and stiff as stone.
Seraphina…
I observed her for a few more beats, only taking a stiffened breath of relief once I noticed the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest beneath its silver exterior.
But that relief quickly mingled with worry and anxiety. My mind reeled back to just days?—hours?—ago, when, for a few moments, we were slowly—yet surely—descending from the depths of the sky itself; her… wings crackling with faint traces of energy, her form outstretched into a serpentine drake, wings as dark and colorless as the night.
Contrasted to her usual self, she looked impossibly small. And frail.
I… I won't even try to understand what happened. Even if I did, I'd just end up on a dead road.
There are too many things to think about, too many missing pieces. It's all making my head spin…
I reached out to her, my hand trembling slightly as I brushed my fingers along her back.
Yet she didn't stir. Instead of using my dry, hoarse throat to speak, I sent out a sort of mental message, hoping it might work. After a few seconds of waiting, I confirmed that she likely wouldn't be awaking anytime today… maybe even soon.
With a pained grunt, I forced myself upward, propping up against a nearby tree, and pulling Seraphina into my lap. The world spun for a dozen excruciatingly long seconds—or minutes, I wasn't sure—and for a moment, I thought I might collapse and fall victim to exhaustion.
So, I did the only thing I could think of at the time.
I closed my eyes, and went to draw mana into my body. Only…
The pain in my body flared, accompanying an unfamiliar sensation of a sharp jolt shooting through my mana veins, which drew out a particularly violent flinch and recoil.
Agh… Crap!
This… this must be backlash.
From that wind spell I used to slow us… Yeah. Definitely going in my list of worst pains ever experienced. How long ago was that, anyway? To think I've only managed to naturally suffuse myself with such little mana.
…Although, I suppose that "little" amount is what's helping to even sustain my body right now.
What's left of it, at least, anyways.
My head went right back to resting against the rough bark of the tree.
Out of the edge of my focus, I noticed a cluster of dark blue berries dangling just barely out of reach.
My stomach twisted with hunger—the kind that feels like it's consuming itself—but I knew better than to try my magic again so soon.
Instead, I closed my eyes and tried to attune myself further to my surroundings. The distant rush of water that initially caught my attention, the occasional chirping of birds, the rustling of creatures unseen in the bushes. In an act of meditation that was more… primal. Or of the past, rather.
Minutes passed… No, hours felt more accurate to say, before the pain dulled into something a bit more manageable.
Throughout this time, my body seemed to have entered some kind of trance; half-awake, yet half-asleep. Capable of processing sounds and flickers in the dark, yet slow to react to them.
Perhaps it was my training starting to show, I wondered.
Once I built up enough confidence in myself to try, I reached for my storage space in my ring, exerting my intent on it.
A small pouch of snacks I'd amassed from my time at the Esyvia Manor materialized in my lap, accompanied by a flask of water—both one of many. A habit I'd gotten from Briar, surprisingly, after seeing her sneak something from the kitchen right underneath a maids nose.
Despite her slender body, that girl had a really large appetite… And it wasn't long before Ismene tried to join in on us, seeing this, although she wasn't the best at it.
Hah… I already miss those two.
And here I was, wondering to myself what would they do without me.
Yet I never considered what I would do without them…
I shoot a look at Seraphina and let a hand rest on her back, craning my neck to better observe my surroundings.
Yes… I guess that is the question.
What exactly was I going to do?