REFDL 62

The man who knew I was serious hesitated briefly, then he began shuttling between houses, fetching handfuls of oil, flint, and straw.

……A ball of light the size of a human head burst forth just as Kaelus was about to set fire to the base of the tree.

Kaelus recoiled, startled even more than when he’d heard my declaration of arson. The expression evaporated from his face.

Stiff and grave.

He looked exactly like Kaelus from before he had fallen here. He bristled like a predator under attack, every hair on his body raised in alert.

I, surprisingly, wasn’t startled.

It seemed because I had always suspected this space wasn’t ordinary, that anything could happen here.

But I didn’t expect it to pop out like this.

“……”

I stared at the floating mass of light.

It had burst out in terror, yet now that it had revealed itself, it seemed somehow flustered. The light mass, gliding slowly through the air, slipped behind the giant tree.

Then, it peeked out just the tip toward us. It looked as if it had only poked its eyes out.

Kaelus’s aura softened slightly. Right. Even to his eyes, it seems insignificant.

I squinted and stared at the light mass. Right now, it looked like a mood lamp floating in the air, but somehow I knew. ……This thing is a dragon. The dead dragon that appeared in my dream.

“What are you?”

“…….”

“Did you trap us here? What are you?”

“…….”

“Don’t tell me you’re the one who brought me to this world too…?”

The mood lamp didn’t answer any of the questions.

Well, it didn’t matter.

“Kaelus. Light it.”

It was closer to a command than a request.

The obedient dog didn’t hesitate upon hearing the order. Crouching before the oil-soaked straw, he began striking the flint.

The mood lamp’s mouth gaped open.

If it could have made a sound, it would have screamed. 

Restless, the creature separated three light pellets from its side.

The pellets stretched vertically.

Like fingers.

“Three days?”

The mood lamp nodded.

“You’ll let us out if we wait three more days?”

It nodded again.

Despite the poor communication, the meaning was clearly conveyed.

It didn’t seem like a lie. Above all, this mood lamp held no hostility toward us. As I’d said before, it was just a gut feeling.

I sighed as I patted Kaelus’s shoulder. The latter stopped what he was doing and pulled the straw back. Having opposed the arson from the start, his relief was plain to see.

The mood lamp moved lightly up and down, like it was sighing in relief.

Right. Three days.

“If you try to back out then, there’ll be no more negotiations. I’ll set it on fire immediately. Got it?”

“…….”

* * *

A month and a half had passed since Duke Irelion and the Kremlis went missing.

Anax, usually deserted even at midday in winter, was now overflowing with people and supplies.

Nobles began hinting to the emperor that it was time to give up. Tortan pretended not to hear.

Despite the opposition of countless nobles, Tortan could persist in the search because one-third of the Council sided with the emperor.

The dissenters were flustered, but the great nobles who had been quietly preparing to switch sides since seeing the young Kremlis perched on the emperor’s shoulder during the birthday celebration seemed determined to make their shift explicit this time.

The fact that the location of the two’s disappearance resembled the lake where Julan and the founding emperor were rumored to have died also played a part in their decision.

And today.

Odan screamed and jumped from his bed.

All the mages of high rank, including him, experienced similar symptoms.

Odan rolled out of bed and flung the window open. The winter’s cold air rushed in, stinging his face.

He didn’t care. More accurately, he couldn’t afford to. Something colder than Anax’s icy wind was watching him from beyond the Sea of Trees.

More precisely, it was glaring murderously at somewhere nearby.

“……”

Odan swallowed dryly, he formed a circle with his index finger and brought it to his eyes.

“…Ugh, ah, aaaah!”

He had expected it.

He simply couldn’t resist as a mage. The greed for knowledge. The craving for understanding.

“Ugh. Heh heh heh. Ugh heh heh heh.”

Hearing the screams, servants opened the door and rushed inside.

Their terrified cries for help reached his ears.

Odan was carried to the infirmary, blood streaming from every orifice in his face. Even then, he chuckled like a madman.

And he said words that were hard to believe.

“The great will that was divided… has finally become one. The separated fragments… have merged with the original body…”

“The gate… is closing… As time passes, even that small gap… will seal completely. The Monster Wave will weaken, then vanish entirely. If we’re lucky, there might not even be a next Monster Wave.”

“The legend of the lake was true. Everyone thought it was the least likely… but my hypothesis was correct…!”

One of the servants following behind made a gesture with his index finger, pretending to circle it around his head toward the servant beside him. The other servant flinched and slapped his hand away.

The servant made a sullen face but didn’t repeat the gesture.

Odan laughed until he couldn’t breathe anymore and passed out.

And when he woke up again.

He asked to be taken to the lake.

“This time is different. I think we might find them… ? To be precise, both of them will return…”

“On what basis do you say that…”

Rumble.

Boom boom boom!

“…!”

The ground rumbled. It was slightly different from an earthquake.

It felt as if a giant earthworm was wriggling beneath their feet. The vibrations traveled directly through the soles of their shoes. Count Anax’s expression changed. Terrified servants sought their master. The knights, their faces pale, instinctively gripped their swords.

Only Odan laughed.

“I don’t have proof, but there are signs. So, what shall we do?”

“…….”

* * *

The third day, as promised.

The nightmare that had vanished returned.

…More precisely, its content had changed.

It was the nightmare of Han Yuram, the one I had grown sick of dreaming about before.

Waaah.

Waaah!

I could hear people crying. The funeral hall, filled with the scent of incense.

I was the chief mourner, but my relatives were the ones receiving the condolence visitors. My aunt and uncle were especially persistent.

I thought and thought again.

I searched for a reason for my parents’ death.

……There was none.

It was a death lacking any cause or justification.

I cried until my eyes hurt, then stood up.

Glances flew my way, then scattered hurriedly. Blame, pity, resentment. A lump of negative emotions gripped my ankles.

Let go.

……No. I’m sorry. Don’t let go.

Just stay there.

……Because even staying put, I can fly.

‘…….’

Tears flowed inward, not outward. Slowly, from my toes up. Salt water rose and filled me.

The rest I filled with alcohol, pills, and sex.

Sleep deprived from overwork. Stress gnawing at my stomach too.

As it repeated, my body couldn’t endure it. I lay down on the bed and, as usual, passed out.

And I never woke up again.

I looked down at my own lifeless body in the cramped studio apartment. I turned my head at the sound.

The spot where the worn wallpaper should have been had expanded dramatically.

Across from it was an antique-style office that looked completely out of place in a studio apartment.

……And in the middle of it all was Kaelus.

The table was littered with empty bottles. He drank straight from the bottle. His wrists and neck were covered in blood. He drank, then scratched, repeating the cycle.

The tattoos were only on his neck and left wrist. His right wrist still bore the scar.

Perhaps that was why. The wound on the right was much deeper.

The smell of blood drifted into my studio apartment.

Gulp, gulp.

Kaelus, who had emptied the heavy brown bottle, collapsed forward.

“……”

I crossed the boundary and went to where he was. Standing beside him, I looked down silently.

I brushed his disheveled hair back with my hand. The tears wouldn’t stop.

In that moment, as if time were rushing by, the clothes he wore changed rapidly.

From uniform to armor, to casual clothes like a shirt, then back to uniform.

The sky outside did the same.

Day and night changed hundreds of times in a single second.

Kaelus opened his eyes, which had been closed.

The liquor bottle was completely gone. So were the wounds. A tattoo appeared on his right wrist where the scar had been.

He looked up at me, seeming a little more mature.

“……”

His gaze seemed scorched.

Unlike me, he wasn’t crying, but he looked as if he were.

……He looked so sorrowful I wished he would cry instead.

I slowly reached out my hand. Kaelus hesitated, but took it.

His expression changed.

Like roses blooming on a June morning.

The peeling shell revealed it. That charcoal gray wasn’t achromatic.

As if determined never to let go, he tightly intertwined his fingers with mine.

Suddenly, I realized.

This was Kaelus. The real Kaelus.

I had crossed over into the nightmare we shared.

“…….”

“…….”

What did this mean? 

What was happening to us? I still couldn’t understand anything. 

I held his head in my arms.

He pulled me back against him.

Slowly, his eyes closed and opened. The gloomy studio apartment where my corpse had lain vanished.

Kaelus’s office remained the same… but now I was there.

Together.

That alone made it bearable, just a little.