Chapter 7: Replay (version 2)

Opening my eyes, the first sight my brain registered was a huge wave of darkness towering over me. Looking aside to find a place to avoid it, I saw Cog staring at the oncoming darkness with a pale face.

‘What’s going on?’

I wanted to think more, but I forced myself to stop because I knew that if I didn’t grab onto Cog now, we would be separated by the darkness. I reached out and grabbed his arm while looking for a place for cover, but there was nowhere to hide.

The darkness engulfed us like a crashing tidal wave. Cog looked like he was trying to process everything, but at least he had grasped my hands, so the stream of darkness did not separate us. We tumbled around in blindness, not being able to see anything.

If only I could see! Wait, don’t I have a spell for this?

Taking a deep breath while holding onto Cog, I shouted, “Conspicio.”

In a flash, both of our eyes emitted a golden light that vanquished the darkness. The darkness didn’t disappear per say, but everything we could have seen if the darkness were not present was visible once again. We could see.

Cog looked down and shouted, “Watch out!” while pointing at a gigantic monstrosity under us.

Before we were able to move, it jumped out towards us with its mouth wide open. Looking at me, Cog pushed me aside while trying to get away himself, but just as he was about to move away, he fell onto the floor. Confused, Cog looked at his feet only to realize that his feet were being held down by weeds.

He pulled out his dagger and tried to slice the weeds, but his dagger shattered.

“What?!”

Cog let out a shout of disbelief. His eyes wide open. It looked like he was trying to process the reality of what seemed to be impossible. The weeds didn’t share the same sentiments as him and happily took the opportunity to crawl up his legs, threatening to wrap around his stomach as well.

“Cog!”

I tried to snap him out of his daze, but it didn’t seem like he heard me. He kept staring at the fragments of his dagger on the ground. It was only when the all too familiar thorns grew out of the weeds did Cog’s consciousness snap back to reality.

He didn’t scream. Instead, he ignored the thorns that were biting into his lower body and turned his attention to me while gritting his teeth. He looked angry.

‘What the heck? I don’t know what’s going on—’

“Cog!”

In the midst of the chaos, that was the only word that I could muster when I noticed the octopus-looking monstrosity threatening to devour Cog in one gulp.

‘Focus. Focus. Focus! What can I do?’

What could I do? After Cog had pushed me away from the monster, I had fallen on my butt and had been staring at Cog like a useless mannequin. I looked at the monster, and the monster looked at me, showing its teeth. Its open jaws looked like a big smile, but I knew its intentions.

Cog shouted, “Damn you Cedric!”

That’s right! Where is Cedric? But there’s no time!

But just as Cog was about to be minced to pieces, a glaring golden light hit the monster in the back.

“Is that how you call for help?”

Cedric had snuck behind the monster and cast a spell that lit the back of the monster on fire. As the fire spread, it tried to dive back down into the sand, but Cedric had already prepared his next spell.

“Irritus!”

The sand beneath the monster was layered with a bright white light. The monster could not stop its dive so it rammed into the layer of light, but the light repelled it from going into the sand. The monster tumbled onto the ground and tried to get up but found that it could no longer stand. The sand had burst into flames, which melted the monster’s lower body.

The monster lifted its head and yelled, “Cedric! What are you doing? Gratus is right there! Kill him. Kill him! He will destroy Anna!”

Looking down at the monster Cedric frowned, “Look at you. You’ve become a reflection of Anna’s instability… Dominia is better off without her.”

“Blasphemy!”

“Blasphemy? You’re just as blind as the others! Anna this, Anna that! Gratus was the one who noticed her instability. She betrayed us first, and if you’re going to be her pawn and rely on cheap tactics to kill Gratus, then I will be the one to strike you down. Burn in the light!”

The fire had almost finished consuming the monster, but before the monster burned to ashes, he laughed and yelled, “Clautz has already lost. I will rise once again!”

When the monster was no more, Cedric looked at me and smirked, “Are you okay?”

I let out a sigh of relief, not sure how to respond.

“Yeah, I guess… I’m okay…”

Cedric looked at Cog next and asked, “Are you okay?”

Cog did not look amused.

“Cedric, you fail.”

Cedric lifted his eyebrow up and responded, “Is that how you treat a person who just saved your life?”

Cog lifted up his shattered dagger and rolled his eyes.

I didn’t know what was going on, but when Cedric looked at the shattered dagger, his smirk was almost wiped off of his face.

“Serious?”

Cog looked at me and nodded.

‘Okay, I can’t handle this anymore.’

I pointed at the shattered dagger and asked Cog, “What’s the big deal?”

Cog tried to get up but suddenly cried out in pain and plopped back onto the floor. Alarmed, I ran up to him.

“Cog! What’s wrong?”

Inspecting his body, I saw that his whole lower body was covered in scratches and tears. The thorns that had been constricting Cog had wreaked havoc on his skin.

Cog looked at Cedric and asked, “Can you do anything about this, oh savior?”

Cedric smirked again and replied, “I can destroy the thorns left inside your born and alleviate the pain, but I can’t cure you.”

Cog groaned, “Well, what are you waiting for? That’s better than nothing.”

“Hold on. Let me gather some light.”

I looked at Cedric and could see the surrounding light bend and gather around him. The light was then focused into his left hand and was condensed into a sphere that came out of his hand.

“Irritus.”

The sphere of light that was floating above his palm shot towards Cog’s legs and formed a layer of light that seemed to penetrate into his skin. The thorns left in the gashes of his legs were lit on fire and his pain seemed to subside because he let out a sigh of relief.

Looking at the fire in puzzlement, I questioned Cog, “Doesn’t the fire hurt you?”

Cedric laughed while answering, “My light only affects the darkness.”

Then it hit me. I could heal Cog. Facing Cog, I smiled in joy.

Cog looked at me questioningly.

“Cog, now that the thorns have been purged, I can heal you!”

Cog exclaimed, “How?”

Cedric turned to me and simply nodded like he was satisfied about something.

Kneeling down, I touched Cog’s legs and said, “Sano!”

A bright green light burst from my hands and entered into his legs.

Cog jerked back from the sudden light that entered his body, but then exclaimed, “Whoa! This is amazing! Much better than Cedric’s. I can literally feel my body closing up the wounds on my legs!”

After the green light disappeared and the wounds were about to close, a bright red light exited his body and vanished into the air.

Cedric laughed, “You never cease to amaze me, Gratus.”

I smiled and we all laughed.

As our laughter echoed in the darkness, the darkness surrounding us melted away into the ground, and Attero crumbled along with it. The ground trembled and shook. It felt like a huge earthquake. The ground split in two, and the whole desert along with all the corpse-like trees fell into the darkness underneath. After Attero was sucked into the underworld, a magnificent and lush prairie grew from the ground. Shaking once again, the ground rejoined as one and sealed the Attero from our memories into the darkness.

“Whoa…”

That seemed to be the only thing Cog could say in reaction to the dramatic change of scenery, and he wasn’t alone. I was also in awe and curious as well.

“What happened?”

I looked at Cedric who seemed to be the only one unfazed by the transformation that just occurred before our very eyes.

“Peravi has died. His realm can no longer exist anymore…”

A brief silence permeated the air. I recalled the monster that had attacked us and how Cog had almost been devoured.

‘So that was Peravi? Hm… A familiar name… Wait, now that I think about it… Why did he want to kill me? It seemed like Cedric knew him as well.’

I wanted to know, but I didn’t know how to ask. It seemed to be a touchy issue, but it’s not like I wasn’t a part of it.

‘But how am I supposed to ask about something I can’t even remember? Are they trying to avoid the issue? Or have they also been waiting for a good opportunity?’

I decided that it was now or never.

“Cedric.”

“Yeah?”

“Towards the end, when Peravi and you were talking about me and Anna. What was that all about? Why did Peravi want to kill us?”

Cedric’s eyes drooped while Cog sat in silence, looking at Cedric. A brief silence hung in the air.

“You know that you were once one of the greatest Caelestis in Dominia, right?”

I pursed my lips and furrowed my eyebrows, “It’s hard to believe since I’m clearly not, but Cura told me the same thing as well.”

Cedric nodded his head while thinking, “Regardless, you and I were one of the pillars that supported Anna, along with Peravi and… the others. I don’t know what made Anna unstable, but you were the first to notice and confront her with your worries. At that time, I didn’t know how serious it was, so I didn’t involve myself too much, but thinking back on it now, I should have been less… carefree.”

“What happened?”

“You were labeled a traitor and banished before I could do anything.”

“What?!” I was surprised, but Cog was the one who shouted. “I was told that Gratus returned to Ex Tellus to watch over the kingdom there while Anna was here in Dominia.”

“No.”

“Then how did I return?”

‘Wait, where did I even come from?’

Cedric smirked, “I don’t know, but you always do.”

Cog stood up to say something, but Cedric clapped his hands and shouted, “All right! I think that’s enough for today. We also don’t have much time since Anna has probably been informed already of Peravi’s death and my betrayal. We have to hurry if we want to make it through Procella alive.”

Cog complained, “What? It’s going to take some time to get to Procella anyway so we should take this time to rest and get on the same page.”

Cedric stretched his arms and shook his head, “Nope. Look again,” while pointing behind us.

When we turned to see where Procella was, our mouths dropped open.

“It’s right behind us!”

Cog was speechless.

Cedric laughed and said, “Well, now that the forest is welcoming us. We shouldn’t dilly dally any longer. After Gratus healed you, you should be the least fatigued out of all of us.”

Cog looked at me and Cedric with worry after hearing his words, but since Cedric was already heading into the forest, he sighed and followed.

I smiled to let Cog know that I was all right, but before I could follow after his footsteps, my body froze for a brief moment. I looked at the forest and recalled those devilish eyes that had once preyed on my fallen body. My body hesitated, but I shook my head and forced myself forward, vanishing into the depths of darkness once again.