Antares’ face turned pale. “This is not fair,” he said. “It’s not fair! How can you have such magic? You, a bastard, a monster! You are nothing but vermin!”
Kaichen stood in front of Antares. “Where is she?” he asked in a low and dangerous voice.
Antares trembled in rage. “You are all crazy!” he shouted. “How else could someone do that? You are all crazy, including her! I am normal…”
Kaichen glared at Antares. As soon as he asked about Dalia, his whole demeanor had changed. Kaichen grabbed Antares by his collar.
“Where is she? What did you do to her?”
“I just… I was just trying to reveal a secret.” He trembled. This time in fear. Kaichen threw Antares to the floor. He was useless. He only knew how to herm people. Kaichen recalled how Dalia had struggled because of it. His rage boiled. Kaichen bound Antares on the floor with his magic and rushed inside.
A full day had passed since he had placed the barrier on Acrab. He had taken so much time to draw a circle and track Dalia. He hoped he hadn’t been late. He sensed the power that was used to conceal this place. He would have been curious under normal circumstances how Antares had achieved it. But right now, he was blind. He couldn’t see or hear anything except his worry for Dalia.
He flung open the door. He felt the unstable magic through stinging his skin. He had told her not to show her magic to others just yet. He didn’t want anyone to see her beautiful black mana. But he had also been worried that a black mana might not be perceived positively by others.
He had seen her mana when she had had her seizures. It had pulsated around her. It filled the room now. The black mana blurred the boundary between good and evil. It was heavy and freezing cold. The rippling mana looked like fog in some places, but shimmered like black water in others. He took a step forward and the heaviness made him choke.
He realized why Antares had turned into a madman spouting gibberish.
“Die! A monster like you…. It’s better not to be in this world!”
“Let’s kill the witch! Burn her!”
“When I think of the people who have died, even tearing off your limbs and torturing you is not enough. Think of those who were buried alive and died at your hands! What did they ever do to you to deserve that?”
He saw visions. Someone decapitated. Limbs ripped from their bodies. Buried and burned alive. The crying and swearing of countless people filled his head and overwhelmed him. He saw everything. The pain of being burnt alive. The smell of decay. The touch of his skin on hers.
Kaichen wondered if he had finally been cursed. Was my protection not strong enough? These weren’t hallucinations. They were too familiar as though he had experienced them himself. He realized they were her memories which flowed into him through the Black Mist. This was what she had been trying to hide from him.
He saw the chair where she was bound. A few more steps. “Dalia,” he called. His vision was blurry. Her head dropped to the side. She looked as though she was dead. He felt terrified that she might really be. A voice screamed constantly in his mind. He didn’t know who it was. He didn’t even know what it was. A baby crying? Desperate pleas of children? A mother wailing? All the sounds almost drove him mad.
“Ahh!” He lost his strength and fell to his knees. His wand clattered to the floor. He wanted it to stop.
Just one step, and it’s like this! Dalia’s painful memories flowed into his mind. He felt and saw everything. It was too painful. He wondered how painful it was going to get if he walked to her. If he could even walk to where she was bound by the chair.
Kaichen realized that Antares was right. This monumental pain wasn’t something normal humans could handle. No wonder he had gone crazy. Kaichen clenched his jaw and tried to clear his vision. He groaned. He bit his lips so hard that they were bloody. He was trembling all over. He gathered all his strength and staggered up to his feet. Just a few more steps.
The magnitude of pain and the memories got worse as he tried to walk to the chair. He took one step. Then another. And grabbed the sides of the chair where she was bound to not fall face first on the floor. He touched her hand which was tied to the arm rest.
It was cold, like a corpse’s. He was frightened. His heart fell. He struggled to see her. His vision was blurry and he was about to faint. He tried to keep her in sight. Please. Kaichen was so crushed by her memories that he couldn’t stay on his feet any longer. He knelt down by the chair and held her hand. E didn’t want to let go. Not this time. He wanted to transfer his own warmth to her.
“Dalia…,” he called again. He wanted to say many things to her: I am sorry I came late. I am sorry I left you alone on that street. I am sorry. But he could only barely spit out her name.
Dalia opened her eyes but those eyes have the shine they used to have. She didn’t move. She didn’t look at him. Kaichen placed his head on her knees. He wanted to touch her and give her all his warmth. Her skin was frighteningly cold. He trembled. He didn’t know if it was the pain her memories caused, or if it was his regret for not telling her about his feelings for her sooner. Perhaps it was both. But she had suffered so much. His body trembled and his heart felt heavy. He couldn’t help but cry.
