My fall didn't last long, but its echo crashing into my mind felt like a collapse that lasted for ages.
The bushes tried to slow me down by scratching at my body, but their strength was no match for gravity. Finally, I slammed into the hard ground on my most vulnerable spot—directly on my head.
A terrible CRACK.
I didn't hear this with my ears; I felt it inside my skull. It was as if a watermelon had hit concrete and split open.
Then came a roar that deafened my ears and a pitch-black curtain that blinded my eyes.
There was no pain. Not yet. There was only a numbness paralyzing my entire body and a hot, metallic taste filling my mouth.
Blood.
Too much blood.
I tried to breathe, but my lungs were sealed.
"...Gurgle..."
Only a wet, muffled rattle escaped my throat. I couldn't see. I couldn't move. My brain seemed to have abandoned its body.
A rustling sound came from above; followed by the sound of a hard landing beside me.
Sera.
Her scent filled my nose—a mixture of wine, sweat, and old metal.
She grabbed me by the collar. She tried to shake me, but my neck was so loose that my head merely lolled to the side.
"Again?!" she screamed. Her voice was right at my ear, trembling and choked with sobs. "Did you do it again, Clarean?! You promised us!"
I wanted to say, 'I just slipped.' I moved my lips, but only foamy blood leaked from my mouth.
Sera interpreted this silence as a denial, a resignation.
"Don't be silent! Say something!" Tears were dripping onto my face. "You were silent like this last week when you put that damn gun to your head, too! You said, 'I was just cleaning it!' You lied! You would have pulled the trigger if I hadn't stopped you at the last moment!"
My consciousness began to fade.
Gun? Suicide? So Clarean… the reason for everything he drank wasn't pleasure, but an attempt to gather courage.
Sera's voice was drowned out by sobs. "Why, Clarean…? Why isn't our love enough to keep you alive? We dedicate ourselves to you, we share in your sins… Why isn't it enough?"
My consciousness completely extinguished.
But my mind—my mind didn't shut down.
[SYSTEM WARNING: CRITICAL SKULL FRACTURES]
[VISUAL SENSORS: DISABLED]
[AUDIO PROCESSING MODE: ACTIVE]
I was floating in darkness; like waiting backstage in a theater to go on. I had no eyes, but my ears were pulling all of reality into focus.
The sounds pouring into the room from the broken window above turned into text in my mind.
[Audio Source: Mirel] "Sister Sera! We carried him here but… Oh God, his skull has caved in! The bleeding won't stop! The pillows are soaked!"
[Audio Source: Sera] "Apply pressure! Get a cloth!"
[Audio Source: Mirel](Crying) "It's not working! We need to call a Healer! If we get the High Priest—"
Silence. Followed by Sera's voice, breaking in despair:
[Audio Source: Sera] "We can't call them."
[Audio Source: Mirel] "What do you mean we can't? Our Master is dying!"
[Audio Source: Sera] "We have no money, Mirel! We gave the last of the gold last week to pay the debt to the Guild of Nobles. The rest went to… those damn wines. There isn't a single copper in the safe!"
My mind processed this truth in the dark:
A penniless noble. And these girls, loyal souls being crushed under the collapse along with him.
Mirel's voice changed. Panic receded, replaced by an ice-cold determination.
[Audio Source: Mirel] "I will handle it."
[Audio Source: Sera] "What?"
[Audio Source: Mirel] "Sell me, Sister Sera. Take me to the slave market at the port. There was a merchant asking about me last month. I would fetch a good price. You can buy medicine for Master with that money."
[Audio Source: Sera] "Shut up! Don't be ridiculous!"
[Audio Source: Mirel](Shouting) "I'm not being ridiculous! Lysa's magic isn't enough! The bleeding isn't stopping! Sell me—I don't want to be a burden anymore. I just want him to live!"
SLAP! The sound of the slap echoed in the room.
[Audio Source: Sera] "Don't you dare try to degrade yourself like that again! We are Master's family—not his goods for sale!"
The youngest, who had been silent until that moment, spoke.
[Audio Source: Lysa] "You don't need to sell her, Mirel."
A short, sharp silence.
[Audio Source: Lysa] "I will do it."
Footsteps. Fast, decisive. Followed by a door closing and the sound of a lock.
CLICK.
Heat. That was the first sensation piercing the darkness.
But this wasn't a healing warmth; it was the heat of a depleting life exposed in panic.
I couldn't open my eyes, but I felt her hands resting on my skull. It was Lysa. Her palms were trembling.
Her hands… She was pouring her own life, drop by drop, into me.
[WARNING: LIFE TRANSFER DETECTED]
[Source: Lysa] [Status: Bleeding Arrested… Tissue Repair: FAILED — Energy Insufficient]
Lysa's breath was becoming frequent, turning into a rattle.
"Please…" she whispered. "Stop now… Don't flow anymore…"
After giving her very last drop, she collapsed onto the edge of the bed like a candle whose flame had been snuffed out. Her head fell onto my chest.
The bleeding had stopped. But the damage remained. My heart was weakening. My pulse was fading.
The door broke open. Sera and Mirel burst in.
"Lysa!"
Sera took her into her arms, then turned to me. "Her heart is about to stop…" she whispered. "It wasn't enough… Even Lysa's life wasn't enough."
It was all over.
My story was ending here, in this miserable room.
Then—
A golden yellow light shattered my mind.
[WARNING: FATAL DANGER PASSED]
[PASSIVE SKILL TRIGGERED: SACRED BLOOD REGENERATION]
A spark flashed right in the center of my chest.
First a weak light. Then a golden fire circulating in my veins.
Sera recoiled, startled. "What… what is this?!"
My body filled with light. Golden, burning, authoritative light. Not belonging to a mage; but pure power incarnate.
The light rushed to my broken skull. SNAP. CRACK. Strange sounds of flesh knitting and bone weaving echoed in the room.
Sera covered her mouth with her hand. "This is impossible… This is the Light. But Master… Master couldn't use magic. The Temple said he had lost his sacred power!"
The golden light suddenly retracted into my body. The room returned to darkness.
I took a deep breath—my first breath.
GASP!
My eyes opened. The ceiling was clear. There was no pain. Only the vibration of that power circulating inside me.
I sat up from where I lay.
Sera was looking at me with unconscious Lysa in her lap. Mirel was kneeling in the corner, trembling.
Sera's voice was hoarse, incredulous.
"Did you… just heal yourself?"
I brought my hand to my head. There wasn't even a scar.
I looked at Lysa. There was blood at the corner of her mouth, her hair roots had turned white. But she was breathing.
"She is alive," I said. "And she will live."
I stood up. My legs trembled, but my body was upright.
Traces of the golden light were still shining in my eyes.
I spoke with a cold and absolute voice:
"Now… tell me everything. From the beginning."