“Atsumi, are you alright?”

A voice called out to me as I looked up into the sky. A dark golden hue washed over everything and a war breeze blew through the mines. I didn’t expect such a drastic change in scenery. The towering crystal structure glistened in the late afternoon light, refracting and scattering the light to create a mesmerizing light show. 

Lyria stood next to me, looking on without a word. Her expression, though worried, still held a slight knowing. 

I wasn’t sure of what everyone witnessed, but based on their expressions, I showed a lot more than I would have liked to.

Ellen walked over to me first and held out her hands. A golden aura escaped her palms, and I felt her mana brush against my skin. 

It was then I looked down at myself and recognized the black tendrils all across my arms. My skin looked paler than it ever did. I also didn’t realize how tired I felt at first. It was like a gnawing fatigue that originated from deep within my bones. 

You often don’t realize that’s something was there until it goes missing and during that moment, my chest felt empty 

Atsumi

Ellen called out to me again and after ignoring her for the past ten seconds, I looked up. 

“I feel tired and empty. I can’t explain it.”

"Your mana is depleted," Lyria said.”

“Oh… is that what it feels like

Lautaro took a step closer

“You say that as if you’ve never felt it before, which is strange, you just unleashed possibly twenty times the amount of mana one would expect from your realm.”

His eyes trained on me like a hawk, looking down at a mouse on the field.

“A human with such an absurd mana pool is rare indeed.”

He then took a glance at Ellen and then turned his back as if to dismiss the situation

“Take the time to rest. I will gather the survivors and we will set out. The sky is clear, and the air is clean, we may just find a way back to the gate.”

During the next few hours, we all tended to our injuries and gathered all those scattered around the ruins. All the cultists had vanished, and those we found had long passed. Seeing the bodies lying on the ground aroused within me a dichotomy of emotions. For every dead slave I saw, my heart ached, for every dead cultist I found, a slight sense of satisfaction.

But I also realized how quickly one could lose their life and reminded myself that I could end up like that at any moment. 

With countless unfamiliar faces in tow, we made our way back to the ruins. Not much had been said between the members of my group. Everyone just followed Lautaro quietly, while deep in thought.

As we walked along, I encountered the two weapons sticking out of the ground once again. The events of the battle didn’t reach this far, and they were, for the most part, undisturbed. 

I stared at the two weapons for a moment. Millennia had passed, and it remained here as a reminder of a tragic fate. I thought about the souls and hoped that the choice I made held any weight. I hoped they could find rest and finally be free of the years of torment.

I did a slight bow and turned my back on the two weapons. I thought that would be it and I would never lay eyes on those ancient relics again. A light then escaped my chest and inside a wolf. 

Chime

It strutted across the field and sat in front of the weapons. 

Its thoughts entered mine, and I knew immediately what it wanted. It wanted me to take them.

I frowned and rejected the offer.

That’s not something I think I want to do. After all, these don’t belong to me, and they probably no longer work.

Chime

The wolf insisted, and I refused. It felt that would be disrespectful to them.

 A vision then appeared in my head, the same beast folk woman standing on a hill and the wolf over her. She held up a weapon to it and with a single exhale; it breathed magic into the blade. 

Were you the one who gave it to them?

I didn’t get a response, but I knew that was the case.

What would I even do with it? I’ve never used a weapon like this.

I walked over to it and placed my hand on the hilt. Despite my expectations, magic no longer occupied its blade. 

As I examined it more closely, I realized that the weapon took the form of a curved scimitar. Below its rusted surface, I could still make out a faint silver and blue sheen, adorned with unfamiliar runes. The wooden staff appeared even less interesting, and someone had torn out its entire top half. 

I flicked away some of the dust and threw both into my storage rune. 

I guess I could hold on to it.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t interested. It would be a gift to study the runes inscribed on it or, better yet, get them to work.

I then knelt down and patted lux on the  head. She  leaned in and closed her eyes, clearly enjoying my touch. 

“Alright, all of you gather and make your way up the slope,” Lautaro shouted.  “We will leave this place. Do not stray far behind me.”

With the fog gone, we had full access to the sky. A star map would be all that we needed to get back to the gate, and luckily, Lautaro had one stashed away in his own storage rune. 

I got up and beckoned the wolf to follow but it simply sat still. It then occurred to me that the black wolf was missing. I could no longer feel its presence and I didn’t see it anywhere nearby.

Where’s Tenebrion?

A vision of a black wolf sleeping inside something similar to the fleshy cocoon entered my vision. I could sense its mana building slowly though without my mana, it looked as if the process would take much longer. 

I didn’t quite understand how this rebirth thing worked, but it seemed that Tenebrion needed more time and she needed to be there once he did. 

I understand.

I left it and returned to the group. 

It was a long and uneventful journey back to the gate. We encountered a few cryptids, but Lautaro made quick work of them. 

At the gate site, several scouts were stationed and people came running up to us with first aid kits.

“More survivors.” Someone shouted before they threw us in a tent.

Ellen and Lautaro didn’t wait and once we got treated they made their way back to the camp. Although before that, she visited my tent requesting we talked.

“I want to get to know you more,” was what she said to me

I mirrored her sentiments, and we agreed to share mail addresses. She would remain on Venusha for the foreseeable future, but promised to reach out once she returned to Gaia. 

The events after were a blur.  

We stayed for about a day before they allowed us to return.

Allan would run up to me the moment I exited the gate, and dragged me away from the several journalists awaiting the words from the survivors. 

Eventually, academy officials would come knocking, and Allan would have to give a statement of what actually happened. Though I was the one called to give an account of the events, Allan had already questioned me, prepared his own version of the events and passed it to all the members of our guild. 

While everyone else gave their account of the events. I was told to remain in my dorm and feign sickness. 

Once they took a proper account and concluded the investigations, they gave out a statement. 

They concluded that a spore creating cryptids infected the local wildlife inside the cloud top forest and caused them to all go berserk. The stardust guild was the one who defeated the cryptid, returning the forest to its peaceful state.

I raised an eyebrow after I finished reading  whatever that was, but I then realized no one but us made it to the ruins.

As for the slaves, none of them  remembered what happened that day. They didn’t even remember being slaves. 

So few knew of what truly happened that day. To everyone else, it seemed as if all the animals just went crazy and attacked everyone, and instead of being the one to end the curse that lingered in that place, I was just another survivor.  

As for those who took part in the commission, not everyone made it. Almost half of all those commissioned perished. Luckily, Timothy's group made it out in one piece. They followed another group that took the original route to get out of the forest. 

What a big relief that turned out to be.

Though I had a nagging thought that I could not get rid of until weeks after.  

Would things have turned out differently  had I not gone to that place?

Everything seemed to revolve around me, the visions, the ruins, the spirits, the strange forest in my dreams appearing once more. 

It was almost as if I needed to be there. It was almost as if I was guided there.

And with that thought alone, I could not help but feel uneasy.