I lean my head into my hand, getting sleepy again. I yawn.

I have no idea how much time has passed since they started drinking. I thought it would’ve been funny to taunt that emo guy into drinking with Anya, but I never thought it would get this far. They're both slammed.

Sun holds his alcohol pretty well, I have to admit. He almost drank the whole tray of mugs before he got like that. Anya only had the one, but she’s never been too good with alcohol, so I’m not surprised she’s still completely wasted. “Anya… I miss my fuckin’ mom.” Sun mumbles.

Welp, there’s the source of his depression. Wouldn’t have guessed that, I thought he was just a cunt. I feel kinda bad now. Anya, being the cinnamon bun of a girl she is, does her best to comfort him even while drunk.

"You must be... *hic* so hurt..." Anya eats table as her head comes crashing down from its crane towards the sky.

Ouch, that looks like it hurt. Should I make sure she's ok?

Oh, she’s lifting her head up again. She’s fine. Her face is bright red and her words slur together when she speaks.

“Hey... Sun… why won’t you be my friend? I want to be your friend…”, Anya states. I cringe a bit.

Oh my Gaia that’s embarrassing. Yeesh.

She’s not gonna come out of her room for the next few years if she remembers this in the morning. I should stop them before it gets too bad.

I get up to help Anya back to her room before she says anything else that she might regret. Just before I begin to lift her from her chair, Sun talks down into the table, laying his head into crossed arms.

“Because you’re a human… and they’ve taken… everything… from me…”

The distinct sound of soft breathing ensues. He's asleep.

I stop dead in my tracks.

A human? What did he mean by that? I'm no biology scholar, but I was pretty sure that we were all humans here.

Was he just edgy, or did he mean something else entirely?

There’s no way he’s a monster, right? He looks just like any other ordinary guy. He got drunk like any other ordinary guy. He fell for my taunt like any other ordinary guy.

He has to be an ordinary guy.

But… Ice elves look like ordinary people too, just with a lighter skin tone and pointy ears. Just thinking about them gives me chills, no pun intended.

I guess he’s pretty dark though, and his ears are certainly not pointy. I think that makes for a pretty good case in him not being a monster from around these parts.

I peer over at Anya, and she's already out like a light. I doubt she even heard what Sun said. That means I’m the only one who heard him say anything, and it’s likely he won’t even remember. He's willing to make himself vulnerable in an area that could be pretty bad for him if anyone found out that he was something other than a human. That means I should just forget it because the likelihood of that being the truth was very small.

But I don’t forget.

...

I guess I should take them up now.

__________________________________

I wake up in my quicksand bed. I’m fully submerged in its wool mattress, and I try to scramble out as fast as possible. Damn that feels weird.

It’s early morning. Birds are chirping and I can hear the occasional hoo of an owl. My head throbs, having all but put it through the wringer. Alcohol the next morning hurts more than most adventurers.

I must’ve drunk too much last night, because I can barely remember anything.

I’m standing next to my bed, disappointed that I let myself get worked up over something that I didn’t even understand. I thought my mental fortitude was greater than it actually is. I'll have to work on that.

The end result was… not detrimental though, I suppose. I at the very least got to enjoy good food and drink. Although, I’m sure that I didn’t pay for it. I hardly have any money at all. That could only mean that Anya picked up the bill at the end, which means that I owed her at least something for her troubles. I'm not too upset about my debt, since if I was going to owe something to a human, at least it's to one that's allegedly never killed a monster before.

(Oh, so you do have the capability for human sympathy. It only took a miracle of a girl and some alcohol for you to find it within yourself.)

A chill gets sent down my spine, but only for a second, its secondary features overwhelming the attempted ethereal tone. The voice is cold but teeming with snark, like it was sure of its superiority over me.

On second thought, it was more bratty than snarky, and is distinctly feminine. It’s the same exact one I heard in the forest, but this time it’s much louder and more clear.

A small figure sits in the corner of the room, facing towards me. It’s surrounded by a purple, gaseous aura that surges and billows in the air, masking its true appearance.

It’s clearly not mana. It didn’t have the same feeling about it at all.

Mana was supposed to be the main source of life essence, the fuel that powered all things living or reanimated. The aura surrounding was nothing like that, and instead felt as if it were an extension of the being it emanated from, like an extra arm or leg. They let the silence continue for a bit longer, and then begin to speak.

(I gave you my strength, and you’ve already failed once with it. But just now, you’ve succeeded, even without my guidance. That, I did not expect.)

They sound pleased, but for what reason, I do not know. The figure doesn’t even bother introducing themselves, but upon further inspection of their attire and demeanor, I know why they don’t.

Their identity to me is self-evident, like I had known them all my life.

No, perhaps it was simply a connection between two beings meant to exist for each other.

Regardless of the circumstances, the girl(?) in my room was undoubtedly an entity from within the stone that Ma held so dear.

How rotten of an entity it contained, I’m still not sure. Something tells me that I’ll have more than enough time to find out. For now, questions will have to make up for my lack of information, so I ask the first one on my mind.

(Why am I not dead?)

If this was the same existence my mother called upon for strength, then I should be just as gone as she is. There's no reason for me to have been lent its power and still live as I do. The figure's shoulders shift up and down, laughing silently to herself. I didn't intend for my query to be funny.

(What, do you think you're special or something?)

She lifts her right arm up, gesturing to the entirety of me. Her head doesn't follow, and instead stays firmly facing the floor.

(You’re healthy, young, and have all of your limbs. In her youth, your mother could draw on my power just like you, with no repercussions. She was a great vessel, that woman, if not dreadfully disagreeable.)

She scoffs, as though she were remembering my mother's impudence. The gesture wasn't nearly as malicious as she wanted it to look. They probably got along decently, but she just didn't want to admit it.

I open my mouth, but midway through she interrupts me. She waves her hand in dismissal, not even bothering to look upon my expression.

(If you’re trying to pin her death on me, all that tells me is that you’re looking for someone to blame. Whether or not you feel guilty or responsible for her death is not my problem, but yours. She knew what she had to do to save you, and she did it at the cost of her own life. Try to value and respect the decisions of your late hero, and most of all, don’t you dare try to blame your new one.)

She stands up from her sitting position and looks me in the eyes for the first time. Her eyes are white slits, and her mouth is lined with sharp, yellow teeth. Hair crazed, but not matted, hides the majority of her face. Voice full of authority and exhilaration for the task at hand, she tells me her name and purpose.

(My name is Eunha, and I am the legacy of the cucuy. I'll make you stronger than Gaia ever could.)