Episode Four
The strong light made me squint for a moment. The view beyond the Association’s great doors looked different now to when we had arrived.
“Selene, look after Sion. And Sion — next time you cry, save it for when you get back here.”
I had cried for quite a while after that, letting everything spill out as it came, but the two of them had helped me settle considerably. I gave Rizett a small smile as she sent us off in her gentle voice.
“I’m all right now, really. I’m sorry for worrying you.”
Hearing me say it, Rizett’s mouth softened with satisfaction.
“I know you hate dragging Selene into things. But Selene isn’t just a friend, is she?”
“Make sure you trust her properly.”
As she said it, she pulled the two of us firmly into her arms. The unexpected strength of it nearly knocked me off my feet, but strangely, I didn’t mind it at all.
Leaning into that warmth, I looked up, and found Selene right beside me, eyes narrowed with a slight, shy awkwardness.
Friend, partner, closest friend, childhood friend. Any number of words came to mind, and none of them quite fit. What was she, to me?
And to her, what was I—
I was just starting to sink into that question when Rizett let out a sudden bright voice.
“Right, I have to get back to work. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of thanks I get!”
With that she gave a big wave and disappeared back into the Association at a quick pace.
Left alone with Selene, a quiet settled over us. Even the noise of the royal capital didn’t seem to reach this far.
“Let’s rest properly today, and leave tomorrow morning. Sion, is that all right?”
Selene murmured it softly, eyes on the streams of people passing below. No anxiety showed in her voice or her face.
A small pause before I answered.
“Yes. Thank you. Truly.”
Too self-conscious to look at her, I stepped ahead of her. Perhaps it was because she had seen me crying so thoroughly.
Walking down the long stairs from the Association, the noise of the royal capital gradually took on shape around us again.
My feet felt heavy, but I was glad we had come. Verna could be difficult, but her word was worth trusting.
That’s what I told myself, and yet the fear was still there. A mana-absorbing creature and my own condition were the worst possible combination, and I didn’t want Selene in danger either.
Part of me thought it would be easier to forget the whole thing and go back to how things had been.
But nothing would change if I went on like this, and someday things might get worse. And I couldn’t keep binding Selene to me forever.
So I wasn’t going to run. Facing it was the right choice. I had to be.
Telling myself that, I left the Association behind and came out onto the busy street. I was about to turn and ask if we should head straight home, and in that moment a hand took mine, firmly.
Through the joined hands I felt the strength of her conviction.
“Today isn’t a date, you know.”
I said it with a teasing edge, but right now I wanted to stay like this.
Without a word, the corners of her mouth loosened slightly, and she walked a step ahead. I found my eyes drawn to that back, in a way I couldn’t quite account for.
If I was afraid of Selene being put in danger, then I would protect her. She said she would protect me, but I had every right to protect her too.
I was still frightened, but I wanted to be holding her hand like this when we came back here next time too.
The old Association came into sight some distance ahead, after passing through a gate we rarely used and walking for a while.
“That must be it. Not many people around either. There’s something unsettling about it.”
“There are no towns or villages in this area, and apparently not many monsters either. No one would have much reason to come all the way out here.”
She spoke on as we walked the paved road at an even pace.
“I’ve never seen it before. It’s smaller than I expected.”
The aged grey stone building, half-hidden in overgrown greenery underfoot, looked to be roughly half the size of the Association in the royal capital. Something that size might actually be easier to search.
“If the building is only this big, maybe the monster can’t be enormous?”
I had no way of knowing how large the interior was, but I couldn’t picture a giant monster making its home in there.
Selene heard me out, paused a beat, and answered quietly.
“Perhaps. But we don’t know what’s in there. As we discussed yesterday — don’t let go of my hand once we’re inside.”
She spoke in a voice harder than usual, and I gave a small nod.
If a mana-absorbing creature was as its name suggested, it would be the worst possible opponent for me. And this was unfamiliar ground with no feel for the territory. So the night before, we had decided together that once inside we would stay hand in hand and not get separated.
Not because I’d be lonely, or because I was scared, or anything like that.
We walked in silence for a while, and the building that had seemed small in the distance began to loom considerably larger. In the blue sky and full daylight it should have been bright, but the air around the building seemed somehow darker.
Selene let out a small breath and murmured, looking up at the old structure.
“Sion. Are you ready?”
I tilted my head back to look up too. Even without craning fully, the top floor was just within sight.
With the destination pressing close, my breathing tightened slightly.
The unease was still moving through my mind, and right up until we left the house I had gone back and forth on whether we should really come at all. But we had come this far, and there was no turning back. The key to the curse that had been laid on me might be somewhere in this building.
I reached up and touched the pendant at my chest, and quietly closed my eyes.
It’s all right. I’m calm.
I took Selene’s hand, gently, where she stood watching me with a drawn expression.
“I’m ready.”
One deep breath in, a long breath out.
“Selene. I’m counting on you.”
When I put strength into my grip, something moved in those expressionless eyes.
“Yes. I’ll protect you. No matter what.”
She said it with finality, took my hand, and pushed open the great door.
It was apparently unlocked.
With no lights of course, the inside of the building was dim, and the air was cooler than outside. Wrinkling my nose at the dusty smell, I followed the white light Selene was casting.
“Isn’t it dark? Why are there so few windows?”
I drew the dagger from my hip and murmured it, scanning around me.
Our voices echoed through the wide, empty space. If sound carried this well, we’d probably notice any noise a monster made quite easily.
“Unlike the capital, this is an area where monsters can get in easily, so they probably made it as hard to be entered from outside as possible.”
She spoke without turning to me, eyes fixed on what the light was showing ahead.
Alert and watchful, the two of us explored the building slowly. We opened doors carefully, checked one room at a time, but there was no sign of human presence or monster.
“Not even a sound. It isn’t here right now, perhaps.”
Selene stopped partway down a narrow corridor and murmured it, more to herself than to me.
Looking at her face from the side, I could see anxiety showing through. As though she couldn’t even see me standing right beside her.
“Hey, should we go back to the entrance and rest? If anything happens there, we can get outside straight away.”
I tugged her hand and put the suggestion to her. She needed a moment to breathe, I thought.
I tugged her hand once more as she stood there with her eyes down, and she startled as though coming back to herself, and took several slow deliberate breaths.
“You’re wound too tight. You’re sweating too. I got pretty tired from all that walking too, so — shall we?”
I looked into her face and tried to smile, though it probably came across as stiff. Even so, I didn’t want to see Selene looking so anxious on my account.
She steadied her breathing, wiped her forehead, and finally met my eyes. Looking away from me almost immediately, she opened her mouth.
“Sorry. I got too tense. Let’s head back.”
The words came out without any force, and yet her feet stayed where they were.
“That doesn’t sound like you at all. Come on.”
I said it brightly, stepped out ahead of her, and turned back the way we had come. In that instant my vision flooded blue.
“What—”
The blue-filled world warped and tilted, and a heavy exhaustion wrapped itself around my whole body.
“SION!!!!”
Selene’s scream rang through the narrow corridor.
I reached out to grab her desperately outstretched hand. But my small palm closed on empty air, and by the time I understood that, consciousness had already slipped from my grasp.