Chapter 17 - To Die

"Gem!" I was caught off-guarded when Fily suddenly pulled me into her embrace... between her soft breasts...

The people of Yuporia looked at us with a slight judgment but retreated their thoughts instantly and ignored us, probably remembering that fresh incident still, while we were blocking the path of the bridge to the castle.

"Where did you go? You suddenly disappeared! A-And I thought you already left me there to die!" Fily said with little sniffs that she didn't even give me a chance to answer.

While Fily was ranting to me, who was still locked between her boobs, I crawled below her and took some glances at the lanterns that were now colored.

"Fily," I stopped her from grappling me, "Is it just me or the lanterns are now colorful?"

Fily followed my vision when I walked closer to the waters, inspecting its reflection if the colors can also be reflected, for I am sure that these were just plain lanterns before we left..

"No. They're just white, why?"

My chest moved faster when I confirmed that my speculations were indeed right.

Just like when I was the only one who could hear the salamanders in the chamber, they also couldn't see the colors!

"Where's Venedette? Gem she's left us already! Come on let's go inside now!" Fily said and locked her arms with me again, dragging me into the castle while my mind was just floating in the air.

'Hey, Mr. Gemstone, can you hear me?'

I felt like I was eating my heart when I tried to ask that question again.

Somehow, I felt like it's giving me answers but I can't just figure out exactly what it's saying and how I could understand him!

"Fily... help me." I trailed on our tracks when my body began to sweat bullets and felt colder than normal. It's like the effect of giving up and losing all hope for the gemstone when I realized something.

I was stupid!

I should've asked it to give me the keys while I was inside that thing...

That thing called... 'Solitude.'

"What's wrong? Do you feel traumatized? Wait, I'll bring you to the hospital wing!"

And although I was thankful for her, I knew Fily wouldn't be able to bring me there in time because of her weakness.

"I just need water," I said, inhaling a large amount of air to calm myself down.

I shouldn't be thinking about these thoughts, but if it's the only way that I can--

"Miss maid! Can you please bring us some water? Thank you!" shouted Fily from across the room to the maid in the corridor.

She sat with me in the middle of the dimmed open hall where we could see the moonlight gazing over us.

My body was trembling and I couldn't get a hold of myself, it's like the cold and the heat of my body were playing with each other!

"Gem, tell me what's wrong" Fily forced me to look at her wide eyes, reflecting the moonlight's gaze faintly, tainting it with the brown color of her eyes.

"I think I need to die."

My eyes unwillingly wept with tears that I didn't even bother to remove as Fily watched me slowly, unmoving.

I thought Fily was just going to stare at me for that entire moment but then, she suddenly slapped me with teary eyes.

"What are you saying!? You need to die? After all that trouble Venedette and I had to go through just to save you but here you are, saying you need to die!" she raged in front of me whose eyes were widened by Fily's sudden violent reactions.

But I need to do this. I was stupid! I need to go back there so I could help them collect information!

"I think I need to die-"

My sentence was not yet even finished when Fily slapped me again.

"Try saying that again and you'll see what will happen to you," she said with a stern voice that made me cry even more.

"I'm not even finished yet!! Can you just hear me out first!" I shouted back at her while still crying.

"Oh... okay," she said, finally calming down.

My eyes followed her shift her position to sit beside me, facing the moonlight while our backs were against the wall.

She glanced innocently at me which gave me a go sign to speak.

"The gemstone won't let me die. But it won't talk to me either unless I'm in the verge of death." I started while looking occasionally at her in case she gets the wrong idea again.

The mood was awkward for both of us.

Fily couldn't look at me while I explained the details further to her.

"So... it was all about the Salamandite and you don't really mean that you want to die?" she confirmed while stealing glances at me every second which made it even more awkward.

I nodded with a pout while wiping my tears in front of her.

"Okay. I'm sorry, I misunderstood what you meant by that. Please don't say that again. People will get the wrong idea like me." she said, finally being able to keep eye contact with me and even hugged me after.

"And don't worry about the Salamandite too much, I'll find a way to crack that code okay? Just wait for me and when I come back we'll get your Salamandite to work with you. You understand me?"

I prolonged my pout and cried again in her arms. I really didn't want to die yet. I always thought that I was ready for it, but in reality, I really didn't really want to die yet.

"I just want to help."

"But this is not the way to do that little Gem," she said, rubbing my back while her sweet voice resonated inside my ears.

After our silent moment together over there, Fily offered to carry me back into the rooms...

but I ended up carrying her instead.

She doesn't even feel as heavier as she seems!

"Don't worry about anything, little Gem. You've got to value your life before you start getting regrets. Don't even start with me, I wish I could've been a normal superhuman like you, with normal superpowers that don't require me to sleep a lot just to recover. I may be just book smart but you've got the chance to experience life to the fullest, Gem. So go out there and be happy for me, experience the life that I wasn't able to achieve. And value your life like no other." she mumbled while sleeping on my shoulders.

I couldn't focus on what she was saying but I understood some of it. She was making a mess out of my hair that even divided my focus from carrying her across the buildings when we suddenly crossed paths with Von.

"You again!?" Von greeted us with his childish voice as always. He was blocking the way and I didn't want to bother with him right now so I just stepped aside still while carrying Fily but got bumped to Lei instead.

"Sorry!!" I said.

Gosh! Lei almost gave me a heart attack with that. I didn't notice his presence while looking down to balance Fily in my back!

"It's okay. Do you want help with that?" he said politely which made me blush a little.

I looked up to him and heard Von's "tch" on the side before saying "No thanks." And continued going our separate ways.

"Where are they going? That's the opposite side from the dining room." Fily said.

I was surprised when I heard her talk because I thought she was already sleeping.

"They look so complex on the outside but are actually easier to read on the inside compared to you," she added with a giggle to which I only responded with a nod.

"I actually forgot to tell you guys something important. I had this information with me for a long time now before remembering it last night but your dream was so interesting that it almost slipped out of my mind again," she said, which caught my attention as we were halfway to our destination.

"It was about a prophecy that I read in a book that was also in another history book that I had read somewhere else. The prophecy was about a person in the future generations that would harness the power to bring back the dead to life, although I doubt it's real. Several generations had passed already since then, but no instances of the dead were reported to be brought back to life at any point." she said and shook her head.

Come to think of it, I still have unanswered questions that I was meaning to ask her, "Why do superhumans need energy slimes, Fily?"

"Oh? How did you know that? Wait, let me see what I've got in here."

I was looking intently at her while she was thinking which I think she noticed because of her nervous laugh afterward.

"Don't stare at me like that. Anyway don't judge me if this is wrong since Salamandite was just a new word in my dictionary but among the books and knowledge that I have stored in my brain over the course of lifetime reading, very few of them are related to Salamanders and they're all buried inside the vault at the back of my mind that says 'going to trash soon'." she squinted with a smile that I unintentionally copied and duplicated like a mock to her.

After a few more minutes of walking slowly and thinking, finally a ding was heard and I think she's got the answer to my question.

"How could I miss this!! Energy slimes were the vital ingredients for the Superhuman formula!"

As I expected, she didn't give me follow-up information about the topic... only the basic stuff like how a normal superhuman would convey information to his peers.

Her awake state is really different from her sleeping state huh?

Maybe it is better if I ask her questions while she's asleep?

"Ahhhh, I should make a folder that tackles the wonders of our topics today."

"Thank you," I said and gave her a fake smile while continuing on carrying her to the dining room.

Von, Lei, and Venedette were already seated at the table when we arrived. I wonder how they got here first when we literally just saw them earlier going in a different direction than us.

I shook the thoughts away and saw Venedette's unchanging worried eyes.

"Come," she while forcing a smile at me, trying her best to trick her emotions but she's actually doing a really bad job at it.

Venedette is the worst liar that I have ever encountered in my life.

"You girls need to eat a lot to regain your energy." she reminded us again about the foods like a caring mother that my heart couldn't help but get softer each day.

There was no need for her to prepare our plates, really, but she insisted and I really felt her sincere apology for what her villagers did to us, despite not saying a word about it.

***

'Dear gemstone, please cooperate with me soon. I want to be accepted by Venedette's people and for that to happen, I need to prove to them I'm not an enemy. Or at least show them that the rumors aren't true--

I paused my prayers when I realized something after saying those words,

Actually... The rumors ARE true.

I am a trespasser and I killed that guy unintentionally! But he was the one who tried to kill me first! I just defended myself and I'm not even the one who killed him! My necklace did. But who will believe that?

Ughh, this situation is so unfair!