"Hah—!"
"Easy. Calm down," someone said.
Arsh darted his eyes around, trying to figure out where he was. But Professor Reiner, holding his head firmly between his hands, stopped him from looking around.
"What's going on?"
"You suddenly collapsed. At first, I thought it was exhaustion, but it wasn't. How are you feeling now? Are the headaches and nightmares still happening? I told you to let me know if anything was wrong."
"I'm fine. Just tired," Arsh said, smiling as he gently moved Professor Reiner's hands away. Just a moment ago the girl had warned him not to let that men treat his mind.
"What just happened to him" Juan asked.
"I'm not sure. It doesn't seem to be anything serious. There's nothing wrong with his physical condition. It was probably stress," Professor Reiner said.
Meanwhile, Arsh was trying to make sense of the connection between the dream he had just seen and reality. It had not been a fabrication of his own mind. There really was something—someone—continuing to exist within his mind alongside him.
But what was its purpose?
An evil spirit. It must be something like that. She probably refuses to leave this world because she died young, he thought as he quickly sat up.
"Hey, hey, don't get up so fast. You scared me. Go to your room and get some rest," Juan called after him.
Arsh merely nodded his head in approval.
"I should get going too, I need to work. You should rest a bit more, Bera," Mes said as he, too, got up from his seat.
The three of them left the room together with heavy steps; one was wounded, one was half-conscious, and the other looked pale and exhausted from working too much.
Watching them go, Professor Reiner let out a deep breath, troubled by the sight.
...
Arsh went to the house in the forest and retreated to his room. Even though he fainted because of a different reason, the events of the past few days had truly exhausted him. He wanted to think through everything that had happened with a clear head, but the moment he lay down on his bed, exhaustion pulled him in.
However, by the time he finally woke from that deep sleep, it was already past noon. Realizing he had slept in his clothes, he took a long bath to wash away the terrible smell of fish lingering on his skin. As he scrubbed himself clean, he found himself wishing he could smell that beautiful flower from his dream again.
After his bath, he noticed just how long it had been since he had eaten a proper meal and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Using whatever he could find, he quickly put together something to eat. By the time he had finished, he finally felt ready to think about everything that had happened.
He finally understood the true cause of the headaches and nightmares he had long blamed on stress or on adjusting to a new climate.
Other than that, he didn't think the girl meant him any harm. The possibility that she was some kind of evil spirit, as he had first assumed, no longer seemed particularly convincing. Besides, if he had to compare her to anything, she looked far more like a fairy than an evil spirit.
The forest and the flowers he had seen in his dream—or rather, not in a dream, but within his own consciousness—were far too realistic. The girl was apparently able to create a space of her own inside his mind. Even the sensations had felt completely real.
But one question kept bothering him. If the girl was inside his mind, could she see his thoughts?
Arsh didn't like that possibility.
There was already someone around him who has the ability close to reading mind. At the very least, he wanted his thoughts and feelings to remain private.
It was also a problem to communicate with the girl. She had told him that Professor Reiner's treatments had made it difficult for her to communicate with him. But, today Professor had treated his mind again, just as he had on the first day.
If that was true, then Arsh had no idea how he was supposed to meet her again.
"She is inside my mind, and I can't even talk to her," Arsh muttered to himself.
Somehow, he would have to find a way.
After resting he felt better, but he didn't feel ready to deal with that again just yet. First, he would take care of other things. Then, tonight, he would try to find a way to speak with the girl again.
He finished his meal and cleaned everything. Then he headed down to the library. Professor Reiner was probably there.
Mes was there as always, buried in his books. Arsh cast a pitying glance at him—who was so absorbed in his work at the desk that he didn't even notice his presence—then knocked on the door to Professor Reiner's study.
When he heard a response from inside, he opened the door and asked before stepping in.
"Have you found out anything about his condition?"
"I'm not sure," Professor Reiner said. "I've treated the bleeding and the open wounds. Those aren't the problem. But if you noticed, there's a black mark on his hand. Whatever it is, it's spreading from that mark throughout his body... and unfortunately, it isn't something I can treat. My suspicion is that it's the effect of some kind of artifact. It seems to be affecting the connection between his body and his soul. I don't know what caused it. For now, he's sleeping comfortably because I've managed to ease the pain, but I can't say whether he'll regain consciousness."
"So this happened because of one of those simtu things? Then shouldn't we just find the seal and destroy it? Wouldn't that solve the problem?"
"Are you planning to go back into the place after your friend turned like this?"
Arsh had no answer. If Ezra had ended up like this, he doubted he will be lucky enough to go inside.
"Besides, now that the FFSD has officially taken over, they'll push places like that even further underground. And after what happened, they've probably already discovered the weakness in their security. More importantly, even if you found whatever caused this, I'm not sure destroying it would help."
"Then what are we supposed to do?"
"Listen, Arsh. Simtus aren't as simple as you think. There are different kinds. You can carve a simtu into an object and turn it into an artifact. Something like the chest used to confine Aperiolimos, or a simtu that strengthens a weapon. Those are relatively simple."
"But some objects possess that power on their own. It's part of what they are. Those are more... alive. Like the artifact protecting this house. It has no consciousness, but it's bound here for a purpose. I think something similar happened to your friend. He probably touched something he shouldn't have. Even if we discover what it was, we'll still need something capable of breaking that kind of effect."
'Why the hell did I send him there? It wasn't even worth it, was it?' Arsh thought.
The guilt weighed heavily on him. An innocent person was suffering because of his decision. And now he didn't even know how to save him.
"Arsh... don't blame yourself," Professor Reiner said, as if he read Arsh mind.
Arsh looked up at him.
"The truth is, when you said you will send him to retrieve notebook I thought it would be useful to us as well. He has a perfect siuni for the job and we also needed learn more about that research center... even better if the notebook contained important information. So I didn't reject it. Otherwise, we would have sent Walter there sooner or later. Something like this was bound to happen to someone eventually... I'll do everything I can to save him."
"I'll do my best too," Arsh said.
He quietly closed the door to the study, left the library.