Bang!
Eliya slammed the desk hard.
The books and various experiment tools on the desk rattled.
Soon after, she roughly swept everything off the desk.
With a loud crash, it fell to the floor.
Still unsatisfied, Eliya set fire to the book where she had written down dark magic.
The paper burned, scattering sparks like fireflies.
Contrary to her passionate actions, her face was calm.
Calm, but not peaceful.
A quiet anger lingered.
Her burning golden eyes watched the scattered sparks.
It has been two days since Judas died.
He still hadn’t woken up.
Of course, that’s to be expected since he was dead.
This was his home in Jericho.
After the Drake was killed, a large military force gathered in the city, including those who had formerly stayed at the training center.
They brought him to this house.
There was no time to ponder the identity of this house or why Judas owned such a residence.
Eliya was tormented by the obsession that she had to save him.
She blindly believed it was possible.
Originally, she had planned to take him to the cage at the foot of the mountain, but since a doctor would be necessary if Judas woke up, she was looking after him here.
Magic could not bring a person back to life.
However, among dark magic, there are methods to raise the dead.
For two days, Eliya had been engrossed in her study of dark magic without sleep.
‘I can’t give up… I must not give up… Please, somehow…’
Unlike her mother, who left no corpse behind, Judas at least left a body.
There could be some method left.
She desperately hoped for even a faint possibility.
For his sake, she ordered everyone to stop the war and focus on defense.
Judas was more important than the war.
But it was all futile.
Dark magic can raise the dead and make them move, but it cannot bring them back to life.
Even if she could use dark magic to make him move, if he couldn’t see her or remember her…
If he couldn’t think or speak normally…
What difference would that be from a corpse?
Eliya bit her lip hard.
‘What should I do…’
His body was gradually growing colder.
She filled the bedroom with cold air to prevent decay, but eventually, it would rot.
When that happened, she…
‘Please… Please think of something…’
She was desperate, but there was no way to fulfill that desperation.
“Mother…”
Sliding down to the floor, she called the name she yearned to lean on.
Eliya had only informed the guards about Judas’s death and that she came here.
Thus, there was no one here to hear that call.
Even if someone did, reality wouldn’t significantly change.
*
With a haggard face, Eliya entered Judas’s bedroom.
The place, chilled by Eliya’s magic, felt like a winter cave.
Inside were two wrapped-up doctors.
A young woman named Mei, who had been her family doctor since childhood.
And an old knight named Gale, who had moved from the escort knight training center to the mansion.
Both were on the second day of keeping watch over Judas, following Eliya’s order to somehow save him.
Aside from standing guard, there was nothing they could do.
Bringing a dead person back to life was not medicine; it was a miracle.
Knowing it was futile, Mei thought that Eliya desperately needed them to comply.
Eliya looked at them with dead eyes and asked.
“Is there a way?”
Mei shook her head.
“…”
Mei believed it was time to tell the truth.
Judas was dead, and Eliya had to accept that.
If this continued, Eliya would end up dead as well.
Eliya, whose complexion had turned dramatically pale, weakly said.
“Leave me alone.”
“Miss…”
The moment Mei tried to say something, Gale blocked her.
He shook his head as if telling her not to speak.
The old man, having lived long enough, had seen many people part ways and many who were left behind.
Injecting a forced truth was not beneficial for those who remained.
“…If you need anything, just call for us.”
In the end, that was the best he could offer.
Eliya pulled a chair next to the bed where Judas lay.
His stretched-out body. His pallid skin.
As she watched his dead form, she felt like she was dying too.
It was a horrific reality.
She wanted to see him so badly.
Yet, she didn’t want this kind of reunion.
Tears streamed down again.
That big hand used to wipe away her tears.
Now it could not anymore.
She must not reach out.
She was someone who brought him nothing but harm.
She even thought that perhaps.
When Judas emerged from the Drake’s body, he might have still been alive.
But because of her touch—
Because her foolish and hasty self forgot that she shouldn’t have touched him, perhaps he had died because of her.
She didn’t know what the decisive cause of his death was.
But any possibility ultimately stemmed from her.
Everything was her fault, her sin, her responsibility.
“Judas…”
Eliya collapsed near his hand.
Afraid of things going wrong, she couldn’t even dare to touch him.
Even though she longed to, she didn’t lay a finger on him.
Even as her sobs shook the bed, he did not wake up.
*
The boy was a shepherd.
He helped the adults with sheep herding.
Sometimes, he would help herd sheep with a sheepdog.
In the forest lived a girl.
She lived with her mother, two of them together.
He never understood why they didn’t live in the village.
According to the adults, each had their own circumstances.
The village children were very interested in the two.
They called her a witch of the forest, a spirit, or a runaway royal, and so on.
Countless baseless rumors filled the air.
The only two certain facts about that girl were simple.
She was around the same age as the boy.
And she had given birth to a girl in this village, though she was an outsider.
The boy had no particular interest in them.
He only caught a glimpse of the two one day by chance.
Sometimes, the adults would bring supplies to the two.
Mostly food.
To check if they were doing well.
That day, the adults asked the boy for help since they were short-handed.
The other kids were excluded, worried that they might scare the girl with their excessive curiosity.
The boy agreed without much thought.
After moving the food box, he caught a glimpse of the two.
Not up close, but from a distance, so he didn’t see well, and they didn’t notice him either.
The girl he saw for the first time appeared to be very shy and fearful.
She hid behind her mother, barely showing the tips of her hair.
Black hair.
Just like her mother.
The mother’s eyes were also black; he wondered if the girl’s were too.
She seemed to love dolls, holding a teddy bear close to her.
For all the rumors about witches or fairies, she seemed like a very ordinary girl. So did her mother.
And then one day.
The two disappeared, and the village residents were massacred.
Parents. Adults. All the kids he used to play with. Everyone.
Everyone but him.
*
Years had passed since he left the village with a priest.
The boy was watching a burning cart on a narrow path.
It blazed with a peculiar scarlet flame.
That cart held the target he had to kill.
His hand was now empty.
The dagger he brought had a potent poison smeared onto it.
The dagger was now inside that cart.
‘…This will do.’
The boy muttered to himself and fled the scene.
*
“Ugh…”
I struggled to open my eyes.
My head felt like it was about to split.
I had no feeling in my body.
I couldn’t hear any sounds, nor could I see anything.
It felt like being blind.
‘Where am I…’
My consciousness was hazy.
I felt like I was forcing myself awake from a deep sleep.
The breath coming in through my mouth and nose felt foreign.
It was only then that memories began to return one by one.
‘…Ah. Gigantic Drake.’
I gambled against a powerful enemy I couldn’t possibly win against.
A very low probability for survival.
A high probability for death.
‘Am I dead…?’
But I had no idea whether my current state was dead or not.
‘Or am I in a coma, recovering…’
I couldn’t discern anything since I felt no sensation.
If I were dead, what happens next?
If asked whether I believe in the existence of God or not, I would lean towards the middle.
I didn’t know.
I could use the same criteria to question the afterlife.
Is there an afterlife, or is there not?
I didn’t know.
Having inhabited this world had tilted me a bit towards “there is.”
‘Then… will I go to the afterlife of the afterlife? Some kind of place like that…’
Thoughts flashed randomly through my foggy mind as if drawn by a dream.
Sensations slowly began to return.
‘Seems like I’m not dead…’
The Drake likely wouldn’t have died.
No one in Jericho had that kind of strength.
‘Then how could that have happened…? Did I bleed out after getting my mouth pierced? For now, that seems to be the most plausible theory… huh?’
Suddenly, I felt an uneasy vibe.
A sound.
It was muffled and unclear, like being underwater with earplugs in, but I could hear something.
Soft, steady breaths.
It seemed like someone was sleeping peacefully.
It came from slightly below and to the right of me.
Around where my right hand was.
‘…Who is it? Is someone in this room?’
Is it the person who helped me and carried me back?
I lifted my head slightly.
‘I can’t see who it is…’
I still couldn’t see clearly.
I was recovering, but not enough to identify the objects around me.
The figure seemed to shift as if sensing my movement.
The figure looked like hazy mist swaying.
“─?”
The figure spoke something.
It felt like an intent to call me, but I couldn’t hear what was being said.
It sounded like a woman’s voice.
For a moment, I thought of Eliya and then inwardly mocked myself.
I should just keep it together.
“──?”
I wanted to see her even just for a moment since I couldn’t hear her, but even squinting and observing didn’t reveal anything.
The wavering figure seemed to move closer to me.
Unintentionally, I reached out as if to tell them not to come any closer.
My arm, heavy as lead, raised with great difficulty.
Given that the figure had kept vigil by my side, they couldn’t be an enemy.
Still, with all my senses cut off, a sudden fear welled up inside me.
It was a reflexive reaction.
Seeing my gesture, the figure paused.
I cleared my throat as if it was about to tear apart, then managed to speak.
*
With the sounds of rustling, Eliya slowly opened her eyes.
Her mind was hazy.
She had been dreaming, walking hand-in-hand with Judas, back in their childhood days, smiling as they strolled, or taking care of Yuel.
They had meals together.
So was that an auditory hallucination she heard?
There was no one in this room that could make any noise.
Yet, the rustling sound persisted.
‘…?’
Eliya cautiously lifted her head.
Her half-closed eyes widened in astonishment.
Judas, the one who had died, was rising from his bed.
Staring blankly at him, she blinked.
Tears she hadn’t realized were flowing down her cheeks.
Could this also be a dream?
A dead person couldn’t come back to life.
Or had she, unknowingly, done something with dark magic?
She swore she hadn’t.
Fearing that dark magic might harm Judas, she conducted her research in another room and had been extremely careful not to let anything affect him.
Even in her madness, she had that much reason.
Then, what was happening before her was either one of two possibilities.
A dream or a miracle.
Eliya bit her trembling lips hard.
It hurt. She felt she was getting closer to a miracle.
Barely exhaling, she spoke.
“…Judas?”
He frowned slightly.
Those golden eyes, the only shining ones in the world, were surely looking at her.
However, as if he didn’t recognize her, he observed and gazed at her.
Her heart was about to drop from the fear.
Her breaths quickened enough to make her chest rise and fall.
A certain fear filled her from head to toe.
Cautiously, she spoke again.
“Judas…?”
He continued to gaze at her, like he was trying to comprehend the unfamiliar being.
Just with his gaze, it felt like he was growing distant.
She knew she shouldn’t touch him, but didn’t want to grow distant, so she instinctively leaned slightly forward to approach him.
But at that moment.
Judas carefully raised his arm.
As if to widen the distance.
It was a stance filled with care toward a dangerous and unknown presence.
Anxiously, Eliya swallowed hard, and her heart dropped at the next words.
He, very cautiously, in a tone she had never heard before, asked her.
As if confronting a stranger for the first time.
“Who… are you?”
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