Volume 1: Path – [Academy Arc]
Chapter 36: Illusion & Summary
After their lunch, they had another rest block. Many students chose to walk around the academy grounds to help digest their food, filling the walkways with casual chatter and laughter. But Caelus and Aiv, both weighed down by sleepiness, decided not to join them. Still, they didn't return to their dorms; they needed to check in during the final block of the day to receive their daily performance rating, which directly impacted their merit points.
'I hope I get 5 no, 10 no, 100 merits. Yes, 100 merits sounds perfect. I hope I get 100,' Caelus thought as he sat slouched in a garden bench chair, legs stretched out lazily.
He was sitting just outside a beautifully maintained academy garden. In front of him was a mesmerizing scene: a tiered fountain danced with water, and colored lights hidden in its base painted the streams in soft hues of violet, teal, and gold. All around the garden, fireflies floated gently through the tall grasses and fluttered upward like drifting stars. They remained within the garden bounds, as if enclosed in a glass dome, though students could enter and exit freely.
'Maybe they've set up some kind of space barrier,' Caelus thought. 'One that allows humans to pass through but keeps other creatures trapped inside.'
Though he had no understanding of magical theory, he arrived at the idea based purely on the knowledge he'd gathered from reading fantasy novels.
'Huh. Novels have taught me more than school ever did.'
He looked around and noticed many couples occupying benches, laughing, chatting, and taking pictures together under the dim, glowing lights. There was a soft, romantic atmosphere in the air.
Watching them, Caelus recalled a quote from his grandfather: "Fantasy is a lot better than reality." His grandfather had passed away when Caelus was only seven, but he remembered him clearly. The man had lived for 110 years and was the one who introduced Caelus to the world of novels. Despite the walls of plain text, Caelus had fallen in love with novels, swept up in the thrill of the fantasy.
'Rest in peace, Grandfather,' Caelus murmured softly, his eyes gazing up at the night sky.
Aiv sat beside him, unaware Caelus hadn't spoken aloud, just let the thought drift in the quiet of his mind.
After a few moments, Caelus turned to Aiv. "I'm gonna go drink some water. Need anything?"
"Nah, I'm good," Aiv replied, pulling on a soft sleeping eye mask and leaning back with a yawn.
Caelus walked toward the drinking water fountain nearby. As he leaned down to drink, a sound caught his attention of a woman's voice, soft but strangely strained, echoing faintly from somewhere close.
He looked around but saw no one. Then, just a few steps to the right of the fountain, he spotted a narrow alley cloaked in shadow. At the far end, a figure on the ground, writhing and letting out eerie, muffled moans.
A chill ran down Caelus's spine. At first, a strange, involuntary heat stirred in his body but it vanished almost instantly as he instinctively shut his eyes and covered his ears, leaning back against the wall for support.
He couldn't see his/her face, the alley was too dark, and the only thing that reached him was the disturbing sound.
He stood frozen, unsettled. His breath was shaky.
'I don't indulge in lust, and I've always had a strong grip on those impulses… so why did I almost give in? What was that? Some woman or a man with a woman's voice?'
'I need to follow my grandfather's advice for situations like this. "Cael, remember—when you see something strange, don't go poking around with curious eyes. Just run. Curiosity kills cats."' That was what he always used to say.
Caelus firmly believed it. In all the novels he'd read, the protagonist always got themselves into life-or-death situations simply because they couldn't resist feeding their curiosity.
But Caelus wasn't about to make that mistake.
Even as the memory of the quote echoed in his mind, his body had already acted. He was running.
He didn't wait to finish the flashback. If he had, who knows what would've happened? To him, caution was survival, and being overly cautious was often the difference between living and dying.
As he sprinted away, he dared one glance back.
From the alley, an eerie, dark liquid had begun to spill out across the ground just where he had been moments before.
He named it dark liquid since he couldn't see anything in the dark; it looked dark to him.
Just then, the street lights(Street as implying a separate street, not the street where all students walk, but a separate one where there is a water fountain separately for it.), which are already dim, began to flicker, blinking on and off in an erratic pattern.
'Damn it... I knew it. I knew something was off the moment I heard her voice. If I hadn't remembered Grandfather's words in time, I'd be dead by now.'
'Love you, Grandpa.'
As the thought passed through his mind, Caelus suddenly felt it—something behind him. Fast. Rushing toward him with unsettling speed.
But there was a rule for moments like this. His grandfathers had drilled this into him. "Never look back." And Caelus followed it religiously.
Without turning, he sprinted toward the garden where students had gathered earlier, expecting to see someone or anyone in front of him.
But there was no one.
Caught off guard, he made a critical mistake: he froze. Just for a second. But it was enough.
Whatever had been chasing him closed the distance and leapt.
It crashed onto him from behind, sending him sprawling to the ground. He never turned to see it. Didn't dare. But as it pressed against him, he caught a soft scent floral, familiar, distinctly feminine.
'A woman?' he thought, confusion flooding his senses.
Then another thought crept in. 'Wait... is this a hallucination? Or am I dreaming all of this?'
He didn't feel any pain in his body. Whatever this thing was, this monster clinging to his back it had bitten him on the left shoulder, but there was no sensation. No pain. Just the terrifying image of the creature's mouth sinking into his neck.
He caught a glimpse of its face: crimson lips curved into a sinister smile, a flawless white face pale as marble, and hair like snow cascading onto his shoulders.
But Caelus didn't care how beautiful she looked. In fact, the sight of her filled him with disgust. So he punched her.
With all his might, he twisted and slammed his fist into her face.
The sickening crack of breaking bones echoed sharply, followed by a spray of blood. The creature was hurled backward, her body flung through the air.
Her once beautiful face had been reduced to pulp, a grotesque, mangled mess. No one would call her beautiful now. Just a demon or a monster.
And in that moment, just as his punch landed, the world around him shattered like glass.
Suddenly, he was back at the fountain. His hand was on the button, water trickling down.
There was no time to think. His instincts screamed at him.
Run.
So he ran. As fast as he could, back toward the garden.
And this time he saw them. The students. The guards. The soft glow of the world he recognized.
There, still on the bench, was Aiv sound asleep, his soft sleeping mask still resting over his eyes, blissfully unaware of what he had experienced just now.
'Damn, what the hell was that? Did someone cast a hallucination on me or something?' Caelus thought, his mind spiraling with unease.
He couldn't help but worry, like what if even this moment was still part of an illusion? Just another layer of deception crafted by whoever or whatever was behind it. But after pinching his hand as hard as he could and feeling sharp pain immediately, he finally exhaled and relaxed just a little.
"Aiv, let's go. Time's up."
Yes, their rest block was nearly over. When Caelus had gone to drink water, they still had 20 minutes left. Now, only 5 remained.
That meant he had spent about 15 minutes trapped in that illusion. No... that wasn't quite right. Walking to the fountain had taken maybe one or two minutes, investigating the strange sounds and reacting another minute or so.
'Damn, the whole trip there and back should've taken five minutes tops, even in the illusion as I ran as fast as I could. But it still ate up twenty minutes. Damn.'
After waking Aiv, both of them moved toward the Dorms, where they would have to check in using their Chronolinks to display a summary of everything they had done throughout the day.
Caelus and Aiv stood in line for a minute before their turn came. When Caelus's results appeared, they showed an S-rank grade for the day. This was primarily due to his passing the test in the first block. He would've scored even higher, but he had received a warning from the instructor who taught him how to use Leym energy.
He gained extra credit for enduring the severe cold during the Leym absorption period.
However, he lost some points for not participating in any of the later blocks except History, which he attended but didn't earn any additional points from.
With the S-grade, Caelus received 20 merit points.
He wanted to jump with excitement, but held himself back. It was far too embarrassing to do that in front of everyone.
[End Of Chapter 36]