As I dove in, hoping for a life that didn't end in beheading, the grey sea enveloped me in a slimy hug.
The grey matter pinched my skin, slowly feeding memories into my head — light touches, small smiles.
It was a pleasant experience.
Unfortunately, I had to remember why I came here.
If this whole sea is the conceptualization of my mana, and my origin spell is the ability to read souls, then this sea must represent the memories of the seven lights I touched.
That meant there had to be a source.
The origin of the scattered memories drifting through the ocean.
As I looked down into the bottomless abyss of the sea, I had to bite down on a chill of fear.
The vivid memory of the pain returned.
Having too many foreign emotions and memories flooding my mind hadn't been simple agony.
It had felt like my very existence was being erased.
Most likely those seven souls had been fighting for dominance in my head, and my own mind had begun breaking under the pressure.
Even still.
I had to keep going.
I had to find the source.
As I swam downward, the grey matter hugging my body became thicker and thicker, slowing my movements. The rush of memories grew sharper.
More vivid.
The pleasant sensations faded.
Pain replaced them.
A stab wound in my arm.
A slash across my thigh.
The sensation of an arm snapping from a martial arts strike.
Pain struck me from every direction — face, chest, arms, back.
Some wounds felt like piercing steel.
Others like bones splintering beneath crushing force.
"He-hey… isn't this a little too much?!"
I bit back the scream threatening to escape as the pain spiked again.
A wound in my chest.
Ribs shattering.
Burning iron searing skin.
All I could do was grit my teeth and drag myself downward.
Only one thought stayed steady.
Find the source.
The grey matter grew thick enough to grab.
I began hauling myself downward through the ocean.
Then one final memory struck.
Decapitation.
The pain vanished instantly.
As if it had never existed.
I gasped, breathing in nonexistent air while my mind scrambled to organize the flood of information.
Through the chaos, I realized something.
The sea… has layers.
The first layer contained faint memories.
Pleasant sensations.
Small moments of life.
The second layer held pain.
Every injury my alternate selves had experienced.
Which made sense.
They were experienced pathfinders.
Veteran mages who had survived countless battles against corruption.
Well…
Maybe not Lazy.
I looked deeper into the abyss.
And then my thoughts began to drift.
Blur.
Fade.
I pinched my cheek.
Gripped my chest.
What's happening?
Before I could finish the thought, it slipped away again.
I bit down on my tongue until I tasted metal.
Then it clicked.
Just like the previous layer represented pain—
This one represented nothing.
Moments when the brain forms no thoughts at all.
The sea stopped moving.
No currents.
No sound.
Just… blank.
My mind was being filled with the memory of emptiness.
I tried to move.
My arms wouldn't respond.
My brain couldn't even send commands through the fog of nothingness.
This was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
If I failed to steady my mind, I might never leave.
I would sink forever into this layer.
Panic surged through me.
Think.
Think about anything.
Fill your head with information before the blankness eats it.
So I forced myself to think.
About mana.
Mana was chaotic by nature.
Unstable.
Until soothed by the person wielding it.
Mages slowly gained better control as they climbed the tiers, training their mana until it became second nature.
But I had never learned any of that.
I was a studies student at Valthrune.
Someone who had never been able to use mana before.
Until now.
My mind churned through every lecture I had ever heard, every scrap of magical theory I could remember.
Anything to keep my thoughts alive.
My body flailed through the heavy ocean like a panicking animal.
Then—
A flicker.
Color.
Even in the darkness, I could see it.
A faint glimmer of light.
Color?
My frantic movements sped up as I pushed toward it.
Finally, I broke through the layer of nothingness.
Below me stretched an even darker region of the sea.
But the light remained ahead.
The only thing I could do was follow it.
When I finally reached it, I froze.
A crack.
A massive fracture splitting through the grey ocean.
From it bled countless colors.
I stared.
Confusion.
Shock.
Then panic.
I bit my thumb.
"This is not good…"
For centuries, scholars debated where mana truly resided within the body.
The obvious answer was the mana core.
But mana cores did not exist at birth.
They formed only after someone awakened mana.
So where did mana exist before that?
After years of research, the answer had become clear.
The soul.
Mana was heavily influenced by a person's emotions and personality, shaping the Origin Spell and the three principles of mana control.
That suggested the soul was where mana rested before forming the core.
Which meant—
The soul and the mana core were connected.
And if the conceptualization of my mana — this grey sea — was cracked…
Then my soul was cracked too.
"Shit."
The fracture stretched across the entire ocean.
Blocking access to the deeper layers.
Soul damage reduced both the quality and quantity of mana a mage could produce.
Of course.
This trip couldn't get any worse.
But then I noticed something.
The colors in the fracture felt familiar.
I had felt them before.
The souls of my alternate selves had filled the cracks.
They had stitched my broken soul back together.
That explained the tether.
Our existences had merged.
Bound together.
Which meant getting rid of them was no longer an option.
Ever.
As I examined the fractures more closely, another realization arrived.
This was where their memories were stored.
Fragments of color appeared within the cracks.
Red.
Dark blue.
Black.
Purple.
Further along I saw pink.
Yellow.
Green.
I reached toward the pink one—
BZZZT.
Lightning exploded through my body.
Every nerve screamed.
A single thought flooded my mind.
NO.
The shock faded.
I trembled in the darkness.
Whoever that version of me was—
They knew what was happening.
And they clearly didn't want me digging through their memories.
I glanced at the yellow and green fractures.
The hostility radiating from them felt just as intense.
Well.
That answered that question.
Apparently some versions of me didn't like the idea of being examined.
I moved back toward the original cracks — the ones that had brought me here.
Looking closer, I realized something.
These fractures only contained fragments.
Sensations.
Emotions.
Tiny pieces of memory.
The information was too scattered.
It would take years to piece together the full story like this.
But the cracks were arranged in a pattern.
They all led somewhere.
Earlier I had reached the wall of fractures.
But not the center.
A gut feeling told me to keep going.
So I followed the colored cracks deeper into the abyss.
Until I found it.
A pool.
Silver.
Radiant.
Every fracture flowed outward from it.
If the cracks were fragments scattered through the sea, then this silver pool was the epicenter of the fracture — the place where every memory originated.
Connecting to it meant something dangerous.
All those scattered fragments would flood into my mind at once.
"Wow…"
These were my memories.
My life.
Every sensation.
Every emotion.
My entire existence.
Seeing it laid out like this made me feel strangely exposed.
This was exactly what I had been doing to the others.
Peering into their souls.
The silver light shimmered.
And as I stared into it, the glow burned faintly behind my eyelids.
Still—
The pull was irresistible.
If the fractures of the other lives all led here, then this had to contain the answers.
Along with a mountain of pain.
I took a deep breath.
Then lowered myself into the silver pool.
Memories flooded him.
His own life.
Their lives.
Five existences intertwining.
He fought to filter the information.
Searching only for the answers he needed.
Why are we here?
Why were their souls drawn to mine?
The silver light responded.
Memories shifted.
Focused.
Then—
Darkness.
A familiar room.
I stirred in bed.
"Young man!"
My eyes opened.
The room.
The ghosts.
Still there.
So it wasn't a dream.
"Young man… are you alright?"
I turned toward the knight.
The man flinched.
"What happened to you?"
A second voice spoke.
Sleazy leaned close, dark eyes studying me with fascination.
"Why do you look so…"
"Tired?" I rasped.
My throat felt like sandpaper.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed.
"How long was I out?" I asked.
Lazy floated nearby.
"…About a day and a half."
"Tsk."
That layer of nothingness had trapped me longer than I realized.
Lazy rolled lazily in the air.
"What did you learn?"
Bloody suddenly barked from across the room.
"And why are your eyes silver?!"
I stood slowly.
"I found the answers you wanted."
I paused.
"But you're not going to like them."
"Tell us," the knight said firmly.
I nodded.
"First. The reason we're connected — the soul tether — was an accident."
Confusion spread through the room.
"My soul was damaged in that white realm. Your alternate souls filled the cracks and stabilized it."
I crossed my arms.
"Which means we're stuck together. Literally."
Before the room could erupt—
"Second," I continued.
"The other souls? They don't want to come out."
"They're stronger than you four. Strong enough to resist manifesting like you."
Lazy straightened.
No hint of sloth remained.
"…Alright. Now tell us the bad news."
I pulled out a chair and sat down.
"The reason we were sent back… I couldn't confirm it."
"But I can infer it."
I looked at each of them.
"In every timeline we lived…"
"The world ends."
The ghosts froze.
"In every life I saw, the hero dies."
"The corruption consumes everything."
"Every single time."
I stood.
"But the reason we were sent back is simple."
My silver eyes gleamed.
"We were sent back to save the world."
Realization dawned across the room.
"With the knowledge of your lives, I know what will happen for the next ten years."
I climbed onto the chair, my voice rising.
"The hero isn't strong enough."
"The god of corruption will descend."
"That much is fate."
"But we don't have to accept fate."
My silver gaze burned.
"To break destiny, I need your help."
"You're veteran pathfinders."
"I was a civilian yesterday."
"But together—"
I clenched my fists.
"We can save this world."
Silence.
Then—
"…So be it," Bloody muttered.
"Of course, young man!" Knight declared.
"If I want to nap in peace, I guess I'm involved…" Lazy sighed.
"Course, seer," Sleazy grinned.
I smiled.
"Even if we have to become villains."
None of them looked away.
I stepped down from the chair.
"Well then," I said.
"Let's start simple."
I grinned.
"Let's assassinate a student in my class."
"Here's the plan."