The first light of dawn was filtered through the thick canopy of the pines.
It was not warm. Usually, morning in the
North felt like being slapped in the face with a wet cloth. I was still out cold, leaned against the roots of a massive oak tree, my breathing heavy and uneven.
Liora was the first to wake up. She rubbed her eyes, shivering as the morning frost bit at her small nose. For a moment, she forgot where she was. Then she saw me.
She stared at me for a long time. To the rest of the world, I looked like a dangerous servant of the Duke. But right now, with my head tilted back and a bit of dried blood on my chin, I just looked... tired. Honestly, I looked like I was falling apart.
Liora stood up quietly, dusting the dead leaves off her cloak. She walked over and poked my shoulder with one finger.
"Hey. Wake up, peasant," she whispered.
I didn't move. I just let out a low groan that sounded more like a dying animal than a human.
"Leo! Get up! The sun is already up, and you look like a corpse," she said, louder this time, giving my shoulder a small kick.
My eyes snapped open. For a split second, I reached for a sword that was not there.
My heart hammered against my ribs—the cracked mana core sending a sharp jolt of pain through my chest. I winced, clutching my heart.
"Who—? Oh. It is just you," I wheezed, my voice sounding like I had swallowed a handful of sand.
Liora crossed her arms, looking down at me.
"Who else would it be? You were snoring. It was actually quite loud. I am surprised the monsters did not find us just from the noise."
"I do not snore," I muttered, rubbing my face. My hands were shaking. I looked at them, seeing the faint, dark lines under my skin. The Entropic rot was not resting, even if I was.
"You do," Liora insisted, a small, smug smile playing on her lips.
"It sounded like a carriage wheel stuck in the mud. For someone who acts so cool and mysterious, you are very noisy when you sleep."
I groaned, trying to stand up. My joints popped like dry wood. "Actually, I am just exhausted. Carrying a 'thirteen-year-old' through a forest for three hours tends to do that to a guy."
"Hey! I am not that heavy!" she snapped, her face turning a light pink.
"And I told you, I could have walked if you just asked, besides my body was just my minor version"
"Sure you could," I said, finally finding my balance. "You were shaking like a leaf. If I let you walk, we would still be ten miles back, probably being eaten by a spider right now."
Liora huffed, turning her head away.
"Whatever. You are still a rude peasant. But... thank you. For the tree. It was... slightly better than sleeping on the dirt."
I looked at the sky through the branches. The blue was getting brighter. The humor of the morning faded as reality slammed back into my brain. Alisa. The purple veins. The Sun-Blade's curse.
Every second we spent arguing about snoring was a second she did not have.
"Liora, listen," I said, my voice becoming serious. "The jokes are over. We have to reach the road. I can feel my mana leaking. If I drop, you have to promise me you will keep going toward the capital."
Liora's smile vanished. She looked at my chest, then back at my eyes.
"I told you already," she whispered. "I am not leaving you to die in the dirt. It would be bad for my reputation as a superior mage."
"Right. Your reputation," I muttered, giving her a tired smirk. "Let's move, then. If we find a merchant on the road,
let me do the talking. Usually, people are afraid of the Duke's crest, so we can probably 'borrow' a horse."
"You mean steal?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I prefer the term 'emergency requisition,'" I replied, starting to walk. "Now come on. We have a girl to save."
We kept walking, the morning mist clinging to our clothes. Liora was unusually quiet, hopping over puddles and glancing at me every few seconds.
She was clearly dying to ask something. Eventually, she could not hold it back anymore.
"Leo," she started, kicking a stone. "Why do you care about this Alisa girl so much? I mean, honestly. You are literally falling apart. Your mana is a mess, your heart is cracking, and you are being hunted by the Church. Is she actually that important to you?"
I stiffened. I could not tell her that Alisa was the "main heroine" of a game I once played. I could not tell her that in my previous life, I had watched her die a dozen times on a screen.
"She is the person who gave me a reason to stay in this frozen wasteland," I lied, my voice steady.
"When the Duke found me, I was nothing. She was the one who treated me like a human being instead of just a tool. If she dies, then I am just a weapon with no purpose left."
Liora tilted her head, looking curious.
"But what happened to her? You keep acting like she is on her deathbed. Is she sick? Usually, a Duke's daughter has the best doctors in the world. Why hasn't she been healed?"
The moment she said those words, my mind flashed back to the necrotic purple veins on Alisa's neck. I remembered the heat of the Sun-Blade—that cursed holy weapon that does not just cut flesh, but burns the very soul.
My eyes went wide. I felt a cold sweat break out on my forehead. My heart hammered so hard against my ribs that I could barely breathe.
Should I ask her? I thought. She was a student at the Cathedral. She knows the Church's magic better than anyone. But what if she realizes the Duke is hiding a Sun-Blade victim?
I stopped walking suddenly. Liora walked a few steps ahead before realizing I was no longer behind her. She turned around, looking confused.
"What the—?" she started, but I didn't let her finish.
I stepped forward and grabbed her shoulders with both hands. I was desperate, and I wasn't thinking about how it looked. Liora froze. Her face instantly turned into a bright red tomato. She had never been touched by a man so suddenly, and her mind was clearly spiraling again.
"U-uhm... what... what are you doing!?" she squeaked, her hands fluttering nervously. "I told you... no weird ideas! We are in the middle of a forest!"
"Liora," I said, my voice deep and shaking.
"Y-yea!?" she barked, her eyes darting everywhere but at my face. She was so nervous she looked like she might explode.
I took a breath, trying to calm the terror in my chest. I stared directly into her eyes, forcing her to see that I was not being "weird"—I was terrified.
"Liora, listen to me. This is not a joke. You were a student at the Great Cathedral of the Silver Flame. You saw the High Inquisitors. You saw their weapons."
She stopped squirming. The fear in my voice finally reached her. "Yes... I saw them. Why?"
"What happens if someone is struck by the Sun-Blade?" I whispered, my grip on her shoulders tightening just a little.
"And what happens if the wound is not fresh? If it has been weeks... and the purple veins have already reached the neck... is there anything—anything whatsoever—that can stop it?"
The red in Liora's face didn't just fade; it turned into a ghostly, sickly grey. She pulled back from me as if my touch were made of fire. Her voice fell into a terrified whisper.
"You are saying... she was hit by the Sun-Blade?"
I nodded, my grip on her shoulders tightening. "Yes. Answer me, Liora."
"Leo, do you even know what that weapon is?" she hissed, her voice shaking.
"It was forged to erase demons and monsters. It does not just kill; it burns the soul into nothingness. To have the purple veins reach the neck... it means she is already hollowed out."
"I do not care what it was made for!" I snapped, my voice cracking. I was losing my mind.
"I am asking you how to save her! You were at the Cathedral! You saw the archives! Tell me there is a way!"
Liora looked at me, and suddenly, her face turned dark. She looked away, her jaw setting in a hard, stubborn line. "I... I will not tell you."
"What?" I roared. The rage I had been holding back finally exploded. I shook her shoulders, my eyes bloodshot.
"Liora, I am not joking! I have a day, maybe less! Tell me the ritual! Tell me how to pull that light out of her!"
"I said no!" she yelled back, shoving my hands off her.
"Go ahead! Kill me if you like! I would rather die right here than give you hope for something that... that..."
She trailed off, her breathing coming in fast, shallow gasps. Actually, she was not holding back a secret. I saw it in the way her eyes darted to the side. She was a "genius" in her own head, but she was completely out of her depth. She was choosing to act like she was keeping a secret just so she did not have to admit she was powerless against a Sun-Blade.
"You do not know, do you?" I whispered, the anger draining out of me, replaced by a cold, hollow vacuum.
Liora bit her lip so hard it bled. She did not look at me.
She just hugged herself and stared at the dirt. "I told you... there is no 'fix' for a deleted soul, Leo. There just isn't."
I let my hands fall to my sides. The silence that followed was deafening.
I looked toward the horizon, toward the village the healer had told me about. If the "superior mage" could not give me a shortcut, then the only hope left was that Fake Soul Exception Potion. It was a piece of dark alchemy that shouldn't even exist. But it was the only bridge between a dying girl and a cursed weapon.
I already have a cracked core and a leaking spirit, I thought, my boots crunching through the frost as I started walking. What is one more unstable potion in my system?
Liora stood behind me for a moment, looking small and defeated,
"We are going to that village," I said, my voice cold. "And we are getting that potion. Now."
Liora didn't get it but I will explain it to her later