By Zephyria 
Swallowing the lukewarm blood made me nauseous, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it. In the end, I bent slightly at the waist, opened my mouth, and blood poured out onto the floor.
“Blood, you’re bleeding.”
Pipi seemed flustered, flying around my head before stopping in front of me. Then, it started bumping its small head against my mouth.
“……”
I was puzzled by this sudden behavior, but then I realized it wasn’t bumping its head, but wiping the blood from my mouth. Thanks to that, Pipi’s small crown was covered in blood, but the color of its feathers was dark, so it wasn’t very noticeable.
Still, I couldn’t let it go around covered in blood, so I sighed and grabbed Pipi with one hand. I wiped the blood off with my sleeve and said, “Aska is nearby?”
“Yes. Very close. Peep peep.”
A strange sound I had never heard before came out, as if it liked being gently rubbed. While I was rubbing Pipi to calm my aching stomach, I suddenly felt something strange.
I couldn’t explain it in words, but it was like a feeling, a sense? Similar to when I could sense and dodge arrows or swords without seeing them.
I frowned deeply and stood in front of the empty wall. I stared at the large stone, then pressed it hard with my hand, and I heard a click as the mechanism moved.
A wall opened right next to me, revealing stairs leading down to the basement. I swear I’d never been here before, but I suddenly knew how to do this. Did I develop some kind of precognition?
I was puzzled, but there was something more important now. I held Pipi in my hand and quickly walked down the stairs.
The air was so stale that it was hard to breathe. Still, I couldn’t stop, so I gasped for air, grabbed the railing, and hurried my pace.
“Haa, haa…”
Why was I so out of breath? I was just walking down the stairs slowly, but it felt like I was running at full speed. Something was wrong, but I couldn’t think about it any longer.
Because I found Aska collapsed on the floor before I even reached the end of the stairs.
“Peeeeeep!”
It was so sudden that I suspected it might be some kind of hallucination trap. But even as my mind entertained such doubts, my body moved on its own.
I jumped over the railing of the stairs and landed on the floor, then rushed towards Aska as if I was bouncing. Or, that’s what I intended to do, but the moment I landed, my legs gave out and I fell forward.
I hit my knees pretty hard, but I didn’t have time to feel the pain. I pushed myself up with my hands and staggered quickly towards Aska.
When I saw his pale face, something like panic washed over me. I reflexively reached out to check his pulse, but then I stopped.
“……”
“Peep, peep!”
Because I could see wounds through the gaps in his clothes. I tried to stay as calm as possible and slowly reached out. When I lifted the cloth covering his body, I saw his neck, shoulders, and chest covered with large and small wounds.
“……”
“Peep, peep! Peeeeeep!”
The problem was that these wounds weren’t just a day or two old. The largest wound was near his left chest, split open as if it had been torn with a sharp sword. The flesh hadn’t healed properly, and it looked like I could reach in and touch his insides.
“Aska.”
With trembling hands, I carefully touched his pale cheek. It was usually a bit cold, but now it was almost as cold as ice.
How long had he been lying here? I should have come to find him sooner. No, I shouldn’t have let him go alone in the first place.
Regret washed over me like despair, and even my breathing became labored. I took long breaths in and out, and brushed Aska’s disheveled long hair out of his face.
“Hoo……”
The last time I saw him, Aska’s body didn’t have any wounds. But these old wounds didn’t look like they were just inflicted. Had he been hiding them all along?
I suddenly remembered one morning when I saw a very thin cloth-like thing attached to Aska’s chest. It was almost identical to his skin, so I was unsure even when I looked at it closely. I even scratched it lightly with my fingernail, but then Aska suddenly woke up, and I forgot about it.
“Peep! Peep peep, peeeep!”
“Just be quiet. If you have something to say, don’t just cry, say it with words.”
Why? I was curious, but right now, checking on Aska’s condition was more important. I ignored Pipi, who had been crying noisily since earlier. But seeing it continue to cry, it seemed like Pipi was also very worried.
I sighed as I looked at Pipi, who was flapping its wings and making a fuss.
“Aska isn’t going to die. So don’t cry and wait quietly. I’ll give you cake when we get back.”
“Peeeeeeep!”
I shook my head and looked back at Aska. Still, the good thing was that Aska was breathing. Should I carry him up? Would it be best to take him to the Royal Physician? Even if Aska’s identity was revealed in the process, it didn’t matter.
But for some reason, I had a feeling that even if I showed him to the Royal Physician, I wouldn’t get a satisfactory answer.
After hesitating for a moment, I bit my tongue and kissed Aska’s cold lips. I forced my tongue between his lips and carefully let my blood flow into his mouth. I was worried that he wouldn’t be able to swallow it properly, but fortunately, his Adam’s apple moved.
Should I just cut off the tip of my tongue? It’ll grow back anyway. But then my tongue throbbed too much, so I pulled my lips away.
“……”
I had been so distracted that I had forgotten for a moment, but now I remembered that I was no longer able to heal myself automatically. Perhaps because I realized that, the pain and trembling became even worse.
I thought I was trembling because I was surprised by Aska’s collapse, but that wasn’t it. Strangely, I kept feeling chills and was so cold that my muscles were cramping.
“……”
Unable to hide my bewilderment, I raised my arm and looked at my hand. For some reason, the veins bulging on the back of my hand seemed to have thickened.
“Cough……”
“Peeee! Peep! Peep! Peeep!”
Before I could stop it, I coughed, and a burning pain spread from my chest. My stomach was so sore and my throat felt like it was tearing. I felt like I was suffocating, so I tried to inhale as much oxygen as possible, but it only expanded my chest and lungs and didn’t help.
“Cough, cough!”
I coughed violently again, and blood splattered everywhere. Only then did I realize that I was lying on the floor. Pipi was moving busily with its small legs, pecking at my forehead with its beak.
“Peep! Peeep!”
Why was it just crying like that since earlier? Could it be that it couldn’t speak again? No, was it not that Pipi couldn’t speak, but that I couldn’t understand it?
I belatedly realized something was wrong, but now there was nothing I could do. I could only convulse spasmodically, unable to move even a finger on my own.
This powerlessness and terrible pain were familiar to me. It was the same as the past five years I had spent lying in bed, taking medicine, and just sleeping.
“……”
“Pihik, pihyuk……”
At Pipi’s mournful cry, I suddenly burst out laughing without realizing it. But instead of laughter, only bright red blood came out of my open mouth.
The edges of my vision gradually darkened. Black spots appeared in the air, and every time I closed and opened my eyes, my vision became blurry. As I rapidly lost consciousness, I groped and moved my hand to grab Aska’s fingers.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
With every breath, it felt like a sharp knife was carving up my insides. No matter how much I spat out the blood that flowed back up my esophagus to my nasal cavity, I couldn’t breathe. Every time I suffocated and suffered, I heard a sigh in my ear.
‘Why are you so disobedient? I’m so dumbfounded. You always nag me for not listening to you. Ugh.’
I barely opened my eyes and struggled to focus my blurry vision. I saw something small and white moving busily back and forth in front of me.
‘I told you not to use magic.’
Only then did I realize that the small thing nagging in front of me was Aska. The problem was Aska’s condition.
‘I clearly told you not to do it because I had a bad feeling, didn’t I? You little rebel.’
Aska was in his child form, just like when he was in Talim. A plump, youthful face with baby fat, short hair that didn’t reach his shoulders, and a frail, small body so skinny that his bones were exposed……
‘Are you feeling less pain now? Don’t answer if you can’t.’
His dark red eyes stared intently at me. Immediately, my mind became hazy and the pain that shook my brain gradually subsided. Then, I suddenly felt a chill in my chest and slowly lowered my gaze.
Inside my wide-open chest, a small hand was clutching my bright red heart. Each time he pressed down hard at regular intervals, my mind would become blurred and then clear again.
‘Kyle.’
Then Aska grabbed my chin with his other hand and forced me to look at him. Then he whispered softly.
‘Just sleep. I’ll make you better.’
With those words, my mind went out like a lamp in the wind.