By Zephyria 
After some time, I received a letter from Abyss. It said that he had settled down safely. Some of those who had left with him remained, while others had left on their own to find their own way.
“…….”
As I stared blankly at the pure white paper, I felt a strange sense of incongruity. The texture of the paper on my fingertips, the air touching my skin, even the wind shaking my hair, all felt vivid.
[……So, you don’t have to worry about us. I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately because I’m worried about whether His Highness is doing well. Oh, and I found out that Garam has a younger brother he was separated from when he was young. His name is Daram, and he happens to be not far from where we are staying. If you give me the order, I’ll go and find him……]
“…….”
As I continued to read the long letter with a strange feeling, I suddenly realized that this was not reality.
“Daram…….”
At that moment, my mouth moved on its own, and I heard my voice in my ear. It was a muffled sound, as if I were hearing it underwater. When I closed my eyes and opened them, I was already floating in the air like a ghost, looking down at myself.
Even though it was my face, it felt awkward. The face staring intently at the paper was expressionless. There was no movement, and I didn’t even blink, as if time had stopped.
I turned my head and looked out the window. The curtains were swaying in the wind, so it didn’t seem like time had stopped. When I turned my head again, I was closing my eyes.
“…….”
As I stared at my tired-looking self, I examined the palm of my hand. It was translucent, and I could see the floor through my skin. It was an absurd situation, but I wasn’t too flustered because I had experienced something similar before.
It was exactly the same situation as when I entered Aska’s dream through Popo.
I was sure I had been having an intimate physical conversation with Aska, kissing and sucking his soft cheeks for a long time before falling asleep, but I couldn’t figure out why I was suddenly having this dream.
No, it was ambiguous to call it a dream. This was my memory. I had been asleep for a long time to regain my memories before, but I had never seen myself from a third-person perspective like this before.
The moment I tilted my head, the scenery in front of me blurred, and I suddenly felt a burning heat.
The sky was dark red, so much so that I couldn’t even tell if it was day or night. There was a huge, dark hole that I couldn’t even fathom the size of. Strange-looking people gathered in a circle below it, each saying a word.
“On behalf of all the children of the earth and the sky in the world, we declare that any being who inherits your blood and flesh will be cursed with eternity in exchange for a noble sacrifice.”
A beautiful woman with unusually long ears spoke solemnly.
“From now on, anyone who tries to damage your mission, whatever it may be, will be torn to shreds and wander endlessly around the perimeter of the boundary.”
Following her, a small, old man who didn’t even look 1 meter tall spoke. Then, an insect about the size of a palm with wings on its back opened its mouth.
“From now on, your pale time and memory will become an immortal symbol of endless death.”
A dozen or so beings with different characteristics, who I couldn’t even tell if they were human or not, gathered and recited meaningless words as if performing a ritual. In the very center, a person with long hair was kneeling with his eyes closed.
As more and more beings spoke, his ebony-black hair turned white, and blood flowed from his eyes.
Where the red lines passed, his skin split like cracks in porcelain, and the shell that covered his body fell off. The blood that pooled like a puddle rippled thickly and gradually lost its color.
I was staring at the bizarre sight when the front blurred again. When I closed my eyes and opened them, Aska was right in front of me.
“…….”
His hair was a mess, as if it had been cut and torn at random. I recognized him at a glance, even though his original skin color was not visible because he was covered in mud, and his face was wrapped in dirty bandages.
“Why don’t you listen!”
As I stared at the fragile Aska, who was so small that I couldn’t even touch him for fear of breaking him, I heard a strange voice. When I turned my head, there was an old man with a hunched back.
No one seemed to be able to see me, who was right in the middle of the two.
“I don’t want to! Why do I have to do this!”
Aska shouted in resentment. He was trying to take off the bandages wrapped around his face with his small hands. Then the old man grabbed Aska’s arm and forced it down, hitting his small back.
“Why don’t you listen to me! I’ve told you so many times not to take it off!”
“I don’t like it because it smells! The kids keep teasing me for being weird! I don’t want to, I don’t want to! I don’t want to! You do it, Grandma!”
A heartbreaking scream that struck my eardrums tore at my heart. Perhaps because of the pain, I suddenly woke up as suddenly as I had realized it was a dream.
“…….”
I was too awake for just waking up. I stared at the ceiling for a moment, then turned my head. I thought Aska would be looking at me, but he wasn’t. Popo wasn’t there either, and Aska was lying on his side, still asleep.
I wondered if this was a dream too, but my body was no longer translucent. As I tossed and turned, I unknowingly sighed, and Aska struggled to open one eye and looked at me.
“Why are you up already?”
He was frowning, as if he was still sleepy. I gently rubbed Aska’s eyes with my thumb and said,
“Were you sleeping the whole time?”
“Yeah…….”
Aska seemed to be falling back asleep quickly at my touch. His drowsy voice and small breathing gradually calmed me down. The content of the dream was still incomprehensible, but at least I wasn’t confused.
I was just puzzled. I could understand the dream with my memories or unidentified people, but why did Aska’s memories or past, whatever it was, come out?
“Aska.”
In the end, I couldn’t resist my curiosity and opened my mouth. At my call, Aska drowsily opened his eyes. He looked overly lovely with a red mark in the middle of his cheek from being sucked on too much the night before.
I admired his sleepy white face and asked.
“You said you used to live in a slum when you were little. You shaved your head and covered your face with bandages.”
Aska looked puzzled at my sudden words.
“Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
“I’m just curious. Did you say you put mud all over your body too?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you ever fight with your grandmother because you didn’t want to do it? Did you not want to go around like that because the kids were teasing you?”
The more I spoke, the stranger Aska’s expression became. He looked at me with a bewildered expression, as if he was already fully awake, and asked.
“How did you…….”
“Theodore-nim.”
It was then. Before Aska could finish his sentence, Abyss’s voice was heard from outside the tent. It was still early in the morning before sunrise, so I frowned involuntarily.
Abyss would not look for me at this hour unless it was something important.
“Wait.”
Even if it was urgent, I couldn’t greet him in this state. I raised my upper body and covered Aska up to his neck with the blanket.
“Sleep a little more. I’ll be right back.”
“I’m all done sleeping.”
Even if I told him to sleep more, Aska didn’t listen to me. In the end, I changed with Aska’s help. My waist was stiff and my groin was throbbing, but I didn’t bother to show it.
Aska also changed his clothes, put on his hood, and went outside the tent with me. In the meantime, the sky was dim with the dawn glow.
“What’s going on?”
“I think you should come and take a look.”
“Did someone die?”
His voice was so serious that I asked without thinking, and Abyss replied briefly.
“Yes.”
“…….”
I was speechless because I didn’t expect him to say that. I just shut my mouth and followed Abyss, walking down the snowy slope. And not far away, I could see a corpse with blue skin.
When I got closer, I saw that his abdomen had been severely dug up. It looked like he had been eaten by a beast. I bent down and examined the frozen corpse more closely.
As I rummaged through the flesh that had been torn off and the organs that had been ripped out, I found an unnatural wound. It was an elaborate and sharp sword wound that a piece of meat that had been eaten by a beast should not have.
Looking at the location, it was a vital point. He quickly stabbed the exact spot with a short dagger and retreated. Since it had been a while since he died, he probably died instantly without even screaming.
“Is anything missing?”
“No.”
It wasn’t like they were trying to steal money, and there were no other injuries, so it was ambiguous to call it retaliation. Beasts cannot easily invade a place where so many people are camped out and on guard all the time.
If they deliberately used a beast to hide the fact that he was murdered…….
“What’s going on?”
At that moment, the group of hunters who had been attacked by the Magical creature yesterday approached. The moment I straightened my back, I suddenly felt a sharp pain and my legs gave way.
As I staggered, Aska, who was quietly next to me, gently grabbed my arm. Then he quietly asked.
“Are you okay?”
I struggled to put strength into my trembling legs and endured. I wanted to collapse right away. I nodded and said,
“I stepped wrong.”
“Lean on me.”
I even lied, but he seemed to know why I was like this. Without waiting for an answer, Aska took out a handkerchief from his arms and began to carefully wipe my hands.
I entrusted my hands to Aska and turned my gaze to the group of hunters.
“Everyone woke up early. But weren’t those people unable to even come to their senses until yesterday?”
“The recovery is faster than I thought……. Did Magical creatures appear here?”
“…….”
The man who introduced himself as Ralph yesterday glanced at the corpse and asked with a fearful face.