Heo's point of view
After maybe thirty minutes straight I started to quiet down and eliminate all the skeletons. The pain was blinding and I had to finally stop. The second the last skeleton went down, so did I. My head hit the ground, but the pain wasn't as bad.
"Oooow… Stella is probably on her way to yell at me."
The sword laid to my right, a little scuffed from the day. I rolled over as best as I could to a taller patch of grass.
"Heo are you finally done?"
Stella walked up with a strange face and her arms crossed. She crouched down to my level.
"Yeah…"
"Are you alright? I didn't see you get hit, but I also didn't see you acting normal. Did you hit your head?"
"No but it hurts."
"It does! Heo don't tell me…"
"Magic sickness."
"Oh my." Stella shook her head. "At least you're here with me. I'll never let you be by yourself, or you'll get yourself hurt."
Stella then grabbed onto my almost limb body, taking advantage of my weakness. I didn't fight it, I barely could now. I pulled out my phone to waste a bit of time in this mostly cleared dungeon. While I scrolled on my phone Stella continuously rotated her magic.
A video popped up for me over the disappearances happening recently. The news was coming from a Mila news source, meaning at this point it was global.
"The recent disappearances in the last week we've begun to tie to the recent killings in the last two days in the capital of Fayha, Festival." the news anchor said before pointing to missing people. "Over forty people have gone missing and five people have been killed. The pumpkin Queen claims to be doing something about this yet only guards have turned up dead also."
"Yeah, it's not looking good for her." Another person said.
"If you ask me, it's because she's related to the crude King. Just like her dad, she doesn't do anything for her country but party." A third person perked up before a loud debate pursued, more of a yelling match with just the first news anchor staying out of it.
"Uhg. You have to be kidding me!" I slid my phone into my pocket and grabbed onto my sword again. "That Queen better stop this bulshit!" I gritted and climbed onto the sword from Stella.
"Where are you going? You didn't take a long enough break."
"To go kick down that Queen's door. I'm getting fed up with these deaths." I don't know why I don't just fix it myself, that's what people did with the crude king.
…
I was just as tired before or worse by the time I got down to the base of the tower. I checked my status where I had skyrocketed with magic points and at a deathly rate indicated at the bottom. I needed to use these before I exploded. I quickly dumped them into strengthening my body, speed and agility, but I also grew them naturally and so did the majority of everything else. My overall Magic capacity grew. I had increased myself to a point I was starting to feel like a real adventurer.
My skills Increased too, my goblin slash had been getting faster and stronger. My gravity and fire had been feeling stronger also, specifically gravity with the radius and the strength from it.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the magical pressure subside. Stella was a bit behind me and when she finally caught up she hugged onto me.
"Slow down a bit, Heo. You know I'm not nearly that fast." Stella panted and held her knees.
We quickly reported everything and were paid enough for a day or two. Once we got onto the train Stella used her money to buy food. She was kicking her feet up on the seat and hiding her head in her pirate jacket the second she finished. Maybe even falling asleep.
I pulled out my phone and pulled up a handful of videos I had saved. Learning a new skill was hard, even through a video. Some magic you really needed to get a feel for and that's why there is glass at the church. They can mimic the feels of spells, allowing for people to learn them quicker.
I won't be going back to the church, that will waste too much time. I felt a weight in my head, not from magic sickness, but from obligation. I want to sit down and do nothing, let someone else deal with this. I smacked myself. Āpala wanted to do something other than study, he wanted to be with Limerence, but he forced his way through this.
I practiced the skills. The first being the skill refine. Refine is a skill that lets you heal and, when you get better at it, refine a weapon. Then I practiced sharpening my weapon magically. Another enhancement for my magic. Enhancing magic with magic, but not just directly giving it magic is a paradox. When I tried originally it didn't work.
I put that one off till last, knowing it would be hard to learn. Instead of applying the basic enhancing feeling I had I tried a different approach. I imagined multiplying it through a sheet of glass. It had gotten a lot stronger. I was able to flip the spell both ways to either strengthen it or weaken it.
It was harder to wrap my head around the last enchantment yet I understood it more over the others. I could connect small pieces back to a weapon, but not fully heal one.
When we got to Festival I texted Ezree and Herika that we were going up to talk with Paukena. We had been walking to the castle when Ezree texted me back.
"The loved are all alive. I put off my job today and looked up Āpala old college and found all the loved." A break in her texts went before she typed more. "I think we might be right about kenosee keeping them feeling that way forever."
As the last text message I sped up my pace. My hand tightening into a fist. Stella chased after my back. Stella had slept but she was panting heavily running behind me. We ran through the streets, getting weird looks like Āpala did. Eventually Stella from behind me threw her staff and hit me directly in the middle with the wood staff.
"What was that for?" I slowed to a stop and turned around.
"You're running with a death grip on your sword, looking like you're about to kill the queen!"
I looked at my hand. I hadn't released the sword after I started practicing the refine skill. I quickly dismissed it, that obligatory feeling worsening. I shouldn't go confront her.
"What are you doing? Calm down a bit Heo. I know it's annoying but we are just adventurers."
"I-"
Guards had quickly shown up around us all wearing dark blue or dark red armor. They pointed their weapons at us, face hidden beneath a helmet.
"Don't Move!"
"Oh…" I shot my hands up.
Stella's eyes widened looking at me and she mouthed something.
"Huh?" I asked.
"Nevermind, stand down." Jace's voice came from the center of all the guards. "What are you two doing?" He walked up shaking his head.
"We were going to see if we could talk to the queen, but Heo is looking like she wants to brutalize the town."
"I wasn't. I just forgot to put the weapon away, I was practicing a skill."
"Whatever… Why do you need to see the Queen?"
"We sent you a message."
"Oh you did? Sorry I don't keep my phone on me at work."
"..."
"It's about the banshee of the castle. You must have heard it before right?"
"Thats…" Jace paused. "It doesn't exist."
"How?"
"..."
"I've been there for years, never once heard it."
"So, what about the nightmare? Me and Heo had the entire nightmare."
"Share delusion."
"That can't be right… In Paukena's room we-"
"It doesn't exist."
"…"
I felt the weight again. Obligation to do something but a dizziness of uncertainty. My breaths weren't enough to fill my lungs and my face started to burn.
"It does. Why are you keeping her trapped in the castle?" Stella's eyes widened again and she turned to me.
"You." Jace's face scrunched up, his fist even started to tighten, then he sighed. "Paukena became queen because of her best friend's death to hero syndrome protecting her. Then her mom died early. I think personally…" His hands untightened. "I think personally because I know how she is. It will only cause her harm seeing her dead mom again."
"..."
"Jace…" Stella whispered.
That weight pressed harder, giving me a free, painless way out of the situation. This wasn't my business in the first place is it? My phone dinged again. That's right, all the loved are still alive.
"I think personally, I wouldn't want to be forced to feel a way." I stepped closer to Jace. "You did have the dream. Yet you think it's better for one person's happiness to weigh down six others?"
Jace's mouth went to speak. "T-"
"I think personally. It might be worse than that. The Queen must have had the dream too. Why is she keeping her alive? I can only really assume, with how much I know her that-"
"Ok, Heo. I think he gets it." Stella wobbled the words out.
Jace didn't speak or retort. He shifted weirdly. My words leaving him defenseless.
"Let's go. So you can see her start to cry yourself."
He took us to the castle, the doors opening up into the ball room. Paukena was slinging her way down the giant middle support to us.
"Ha! You guys came back." She giggled to herself before bouncing towards us cheerfully. "Glad you wanted to visit." She smiled brightly, looking exactly like Āpala in that moment.
"I thought you'd stop the disappearances…"
"HEO!" Stella said. "She d-didn't mean it like that."
"Oh? I assure you, things aren't working exactly as I liked. Its very frustrating, I'm currently working as hard as I can but my ability hasn't worked properly."
Stella grabbed my face. "How is it not working, your majesty." Stella's face was growing redder.
"With people disappearing I should be able to locate where they last were, but today it's like I can't feel it for the people who disappear. It's never done that."
"Mhf." I tried to speak, but Stella showed strength I didn't know she had.
"We wanted to talk to you about the banshee really."
"Hahaha! That's a lighter topic. I didn't know you guys believed rumors like that."
"We do. We've had the nightmare and heard the scream when we were right next to you. You…"
I pulled Stella's hand away from my mouth. "You acted like you didn't hear it."
"Well, because I didn't hear it? I think with how many reports of a banshee I'd hear at least some sound that would spook me." She laughed. "I've lived here for so long yet it was only after I took power people started sharing the fairy tail around. It's a cool thought and people actually guess how my mom looked right, but my dad never told me about anything close to a nightmare about his past."
"We've had the entire nightmare."
"Oh, I'd love to hear it."
"I've said what I wanted." Jace said from behind us.
I retold the story, as vividly as I had a nightmare about it when I slept last night. I recounted the struggling emotions and how in the dream, even I felt the feelings.
"Well that's such a sweet ending. I wonder what it would have been like if I had grandparents, but I know how much she loved my dad so I know she would have loved me too."
"Thats not the point." I said.
"What we are here for is we think Delusion is alive and still trapped."
"I assure you, there is no such Delusion in my attic. I'll spare you another trip to the top to show you." Paukena laughed.
Jace just stared at us both then he sighed saying something underneath his breath. "Failed priestess."
We headed up the stairs, each one. The stairs then started to move. I nearly fell, grabbing the railing, praying it didn't break. My blood pressure shot up for a second till I confirmed it wouldn't break.
"Few."
The stairs moving got us up faster. Passing that opened room with the piano and sun, then a room full of flowers, and a library. The rooms got smaller and smaller ever so slightly till at the top it was just Paukena's bedroom. She waved us to the balcony. We followed, looked up and stairs showed out from the wall. The bricks, like they did in the dream but in reverse, moved. Opening a dark small space.
"Don't trust her. Prie- I've overstepped." Jace whispered to me and Stella.
Paukena's eyes widened and tears instantly welled up. Our eyes adjusted and a figure stood with a sad pathetic lean. A large sweatshirt hung far down her body covering her knees. Her skin was pale and lifeless. Dust settled on her entire body. Her neck was cracked and crumbling like an old doll. Some of the cracks went up to her face. Two sagging eyes were weighed down by two scares that fell down from her eyes. Tears fell in between the scar from her eyes. The castle, without Paukena doing anything, went and wiped both their tears. Delusion's body glitched and distorted.
"Mom…"
"I'm glad you guys figured out my nightmare. So I am not your mother Paukena, just another of the crude Kings loved."
Jace's face looked weirdly squinted. The scar under both of Delusion's eyes, Jace shared an identical scar on his right eye. They both distorted and glitched, and Jace wanted to keep her unknown to the Queen… Was that suspicious? I kept my guard up, with both Delusion, Jace and the Queen. I don't know who to trust and who not to.
I was surrounded on all sides with potential enemies. Its best I believe in Paukena right now. My face tilted down defensively as I glanced at Delusion.
"We believe Āpala was keeping all the loved alive. That's why you're still alive, no?" I asked.
"Kenosee." Delusion said.
Jace's shoulders stiffened, and his cape covered his arms completely. Stella and I both glanced and the jingle of his armor.
"Would I be right?"
"Yes. Even though I was trapped, and to be fair I wasn't acting right at that moment, I couldn't die for over sixty years."
Paukena's voice came out a bit shaky. "Is there a way to undo kenosee?"
"Maybe resolving all the feelings associated with Āpala? Because Limerence was able to pass on naturally after the limerence was lost from both of them." Delusion said.
"That would make sense. They told each other a lot of things I could never say to my family or friends."
"To me…" Stella spoke. "It didn't look as though Limerence was affected by Āpala. For the feeling of limerence, Āpala was more affected by it."
"Either way, they are alive. I'll help as much as I can to resolve the loved but…" Paukena looked at Delusion and shook her head.
"We can find all the loved, I can feel where they are." Delusion said her voice was ripping and distorting.