CH 28

On the morning of the third day after Dante left. Strangely, I felt terrible from the moment I woke up.

“Ah, what is it…”

When I got up, the blanket was drenched in cold sweat. I frowned at the rush of irritation, and managed to get out of bed.

I wasn’t good at dreaming. Even if I had a dream, I often forgot everything when I woke up, and the emotions I felt in my dream would quickly volatilized and disappear. Yet last night’s nightmare was still vivid. I felt like I was trapped inside even after I woke up.

It was a dream in which red light shimmered endlessly in front of my eyes and people’s screams could be heard vaguely. A dream that makes me anxious just by thinking about it in a distant, strange way.

Did I relive the past in a dream? I mean, I’ve been burned to death once.

“…”

Well, it didn’t change the fact that I felt awful no matter what dream I had by chance.

I was disturbed all evening because of the broken bracelet yesterday, yet I had a bad enough feeling that I had a nightmare. What has been going on since yesterday? I looked at my wrist and sighed once.

When I opened the window to ventilate the air, I saw a cloudless sky. The weather was clear enough to feel that I didn’t even have to go outside.

I stood leaning against the window sill and looked out the window for a while. The sunlight fell on the quiet and peaceful village scenery. After a while, the sound of children laughing was heard, and the outside began to fill with people’s hum.

After standing for a while and getting some fresh air, I felt much better. The discomfort that had soared subconsciously yesterday, the bewilderment when the bracelet was broken, and the annoyance from this morning gradually faded.

Yeah, it was all unreasonable anxiety. I thought it disappeared while spending time with Dante these days, yet it seems that the old habit of sharpening the blade on trivial things remained. Weird things happened one after another, so I was nervous about it for no reason.

The peace I felt here was no lie. Nothing will happen in this small village full of laughter. And I, too, was just feeling anxious for a while because Dante was gone, so tomorrow everything would be fine.

As I calmly organized my thoughts, my mind gradually calmed down. I couldn’t calm down at the thought of seeing Dante’s face tomorrow, so I was a little excited. It was strange that the unpleasant feelings almost flew away just by thinking about a specific person.

Thinking about tomorrow once again, I completely erased the sense of incongruity that remained in my mind.

***

It was evening.

Dante will be back tomorrow, and this was my last night alone.

Feeling a little awkward in the surrounding silence, I looked at the bracelet still hanging on my wrist. There was no sparkle in the cracked magic stone.

I think he asked me to contact him at night, but I felt sorry for Dante that the bracelet was broken like this. Perhaps he was probably wondering right now. Like, why aren’t you contacting me?

I still don’t know how the magic stone was broken. Since I’ve never taken it off my wrist, it mustn’t have been a big shock, and then there’s only one thing I can doubt.

Where is there a chance for it to collide with other magic stones in this village?

…Was that person holding a magic stone yesterday? I remembered the smoky smell of yesterday and a person who passed by without saying anything even after bumping into my shoulder.

However, there was no clue, so it was only my speculation, without any certainty. Anyway, the fact that the magic stone was broken didn’t change, and today’s contact with Dante was as good as gone.

I hope he doesn’t just throw away what he’s doing just because he doesn’t hear any news from me. The moment I held the book while thinking that way.

ㅡBang!

Suddenly, a very loud noise came from outside the village.

I felt a vibration as if the walls were shaking. I reflexively looked out the window to see ominous smoke passing by. A strange red light shimmered.

Is there a fire?

My heart went cold, and the book fell out of my hand. A loud, unidentified sound continued to be heard. Screams and shouts.

There was a burning smell.

“Sister! Sister!”

At the same time, I heard a loud knock on the door. I hurriedly opened the door, and there was a girl from the village who lived right across the street.

The girl caught me, gasping for her breath. A faint smell of smoke passed my nose, and the ash on the girl’s hands caught my eye. The girl’s crying, which was a mess even at first glance, and the screams of people in the distance were strangely distant.

Ah. At that moment, I remembered last night’s dream.

“Sister, Sister, We have to go now. We need to get out of here quickly.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Bombs are exploding all over the village.”

What?

“What’s going on, I, I also don’t know. Suddenly, in Brother Benjamin’s yard, there’s a bang, the house is blown away, the fire is burning, and there’s smoke. I don’t know what happened to the people inside, Sister…”

“Wait, wait. Calm down.”

I grabbed the shoulder of the girl, who was gasping for breath. No matter how surprised she was, her face was very pale as if she would collapse at any moment. Her eyes were shaking so pitifully that she looked like she was about to burst into tears.

The girl was speechless for a moment, then swallowed her saliva and spoke a bit clearer.

“Let’s go quickly. I don’t know where it’s safe, just hurry up. We need to get out of the village quickly.”

“Got it.”

The girl quickly ran to another house. It’s very nice of her to take care of the villagers even in the midst of this.

I looked around the house once and then ran out. I only took one step, just that far, yet I felt a rush of hot air. The smell of smoke stinging my nose made me uncomfortable.

The outside of the house was more of a mess than I thought. There were fires and smoke everywhere in the village.. Most of the houses were unrecognizable.

While I hesitated at the overwhelming landscape, I heard the cry of a child nearby.

Unknowingly, I looked at it. Through the gap in the dust scattering black, I saw a child lying on the floor. Yet before I could even get close to him, my vision shook. Another explosion occurred right next to the child.

Flames and shrapnel grazed right next to my shoulder. I didn’t get caught up in the explosion by a hair’s breadth, but I fell down on the spot from the shock as if the ground was shaking.

Immediately after the sound of things falling down echoed everywhere, collapsed rubble stood between the child and me. There were no more cries. The figure of the child wasn’t visible either.

All I saw was a pile of debris, broken into pieces, blocking my path.

However, I didn’t have time to ponder the situation in a daze. I grit my teeth and try to stand up, yet my body won’t listen. My arms, on the floor, trembled mercilessly, and my legs had no strength.

As soon as I recognized that fact, the emotion that overtook me was an endless sense of helplessness.

I know this feeling. I’m too used to knowing this. It was an emotion that filled me up and paralyzed my senses whenever death approached me.

Yeah, no matter how many times I’ve been through it, I couldn’t help but be afraid every time death was right around the corner. It was because no matter how long I lived and my emotions dulled, my nature never changed.

My life is now in danger, and I have a feeling that there will be no way out of that danger. I could feel my mind soaking in confusion. In the meantime, I missed you. I thought of you even the moment everything turned upside down.

While spitting out curses at a body that didn’t follow my will for a long time, I crawled up from my seat.

While everything was red, someone was holding on to a fallen person and crying. Someone was screaming as they ran away. Someone was shouting at the burning house.

It smelled of rusty iron. A hot, unpleasant, unforgettable smell. The ground was all dark red.

Boom, boom! The sound of exploding bombs continued.

I ran past the place blocked by rubble and ran to where the road continued. Even as I ran, acrid smoke continued to block my path. All I could see was endless flames, and my eyes were constantly stinging.

At that moment, I thought I heard a cry from far away, telling me to beware of the red jewel.

After wandering aimlessly, at some point, I stood tall on the spot. I felt lost. I have to get out of the village…

The moment I took a step back, I hesitated. Ah, I shouldn’t have done that.

I felt the heat. The place I felt it the strongest was probably the bottom of my feet.

Did I casually look down? When someone ran, the village collapsed, everything burned, someone disappeared, lost, cried, died, full of screams.

I saw a red jewel.

“…”

It seems that I thought of you, even at the end.

***

One more explosion.

Someone cried someone’s name.