Chapter 100 Volume III - 21: Returned Partner

Chapter 100 Volume III - Chapter 21: Returned Partner

I saw a faint, pale light in the endless nothingness as thoughts that I couldn't even tell if they were mine yet raced through my mind. My eyes involuntarily shifted there instantly.

This pale light, which seemed far away, much farther away than me, grew stronger and wider as I looked at it. Eventually, it grew so large that it began to take my eyes.

Of course, this didn't last forever. After a while, the intensity of the light started to decrease and it went out completely.

When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in that dark nothingness, I found myself in a room.

It was a very simple nursery. It didn't have much decoration, but I could tell it belonged to a child.

I was lying on a bed without moving a muscle when suddenly, slowly, I sat up.

By this time I realized that my body was not under my control. I also realized that the body I had seen through his eyes could have been no more than ten years old, because it was too short.

My body went through the door and out into the hallway of the house. Meanwhile, a melody caught my attention.

It was coming from another room, not far from me, with the door slightly ajar.

It was like a lullaby melody. There was both sadness and extreme peace in its rhythm. It was so comforting and melancholic that I was hypnotized by it.

Nevertheless, my body walked toward the room as if it was used to it. The melody kept getting louder as I approached the room and finally, my body looked inside.

This room was like a real child's room compared to mine. Everything in it was pink and looked like it had been carefully prepared for a little girl.

So I focused on the most obvious thing in the room, the bed, and there I saw a girl sleeping peacefully.

She had brown hair. She looked about seven years old and she had thrown off the quilt.

I recognized her the moment I saw her. It was Clara in bed.

Then the one I'm watching through the eyes of now...

Uh, wait a minute.

I, uh...

What?

I tried to remember, I pushed myself with everything I had, but nothing came to mind except that the girl in front of me was named Clara.

Really... who am I? I know I don't belong here, that I'm just an observer right now, but...

"Don't you ever get tired of it?"

The childish and compassionate voice I heard coming out of me made me feel awkward for a moment, but my head was full of meaningless questions. So I continued to watch, hoping to find out something.

After what he had said, the boy came over to Clara and pulled the quilt she had thrown over her back over her. He paused for a moment, looking at the still-working music box, and then sighed. Then he kissed Clara on the forehead and let the melody play, murmuring as he left the room.

"Don't worry, I won't get tired of it either."

With that, the boy headed back to his own room, but when he was halfway down the hallway, he suddenly paused. He stood still for a few seconds, turning his head to the end of the hallway.

There was a staircase going down, and light was coming from the end of it.

The boy continued to stare at the stairs, then at his room, and then at Clara's room. After a while, without saying anything, he headed for the stairs.

As I went down the stairs, I heard two people talking. The voices were coming from a room at the bottom of the house, which I think was the kitchen, and that was the source of the light on the stairs.

The boy walked quietly to the door of the kitchen and when he was close enough, he leaned against the wall and listened.

"No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get the result we wanted %%&#$... I don't know what's going to happen."

I heard a woman's voice and my head went spinning. As she said the name of the person in front of her, her voice sounded as if it was coming out of a static-filled broadcast.

"We just have to keep going, there are millions of wels and a limitless skill at stake. We can't give up."

This voice was thicker, belonging to a man.

Then the woman continued.

"I know but... They support us just for the project, if it wasn't for your brother they would have cut us off already. How long are we going to go on like this?"

The woman sounded worried.

"Simple... we just increase the dosage and the tests."

His voice was determined compared to hers.

"What if he can't take it? We realized too late that %^¥/$ is incompatible, but even if she is compatible, she is still too young, can't we wait for her to grow up a bit more?"

Once again my brain throbbed and my body clenched its fists at these words.

"She is our daughter, she has to hold on. She has to hold on. She has already crossed a certain point, we can't stop now. All we have to do is get results. Repeating the same things every day in hope is not a solution."

The child began to grit his teeth. Even though I didn't know what he was thinking or who he was, I could feel his anger in my bones.

"Okay..."

After the woman's approval, the boy stopped clenching his fist. He sighed lightly and silently rose from the wall he was leaning against and headed for the stairs.

Every step, every movement, almost soundless, as if he had mastered it long ago.

The boy paused again as he passed Clara's room. He went in, stood beside her, and stroked her hair, the melody still playing.

"Don't worry."

The sad tone of the melody seemed to stand out more, to become deeper.

"Your brother will always be with you."

And so the image began to blur. The rhythm of the melody coming out of the music box slowly broke down and I found myself in that dark nothingness again.

Your brother will always be with you...

I felt these words seeping into my mind.

It's over now.

Suddenly the darkness began to close in on me. I felt dizzy, then it was hard to breathe. I was suffocating.

I am sorry.

I couldn't help feeling like I was getting closer to death with every second that passed and I thought.

So what?

Am I going to die like this without even knowing who I am?

No...

I don't want to die.

Every second I couldn't breathe, I felt my heart squeezing.

Help... somebody help me!

"Ai-"

In the darkness that surrounded me, preventing me from breathing, a teal glow appeared unexpectedly. Then, I felt a comforting warmth envelop my body.

"Can- hear- voic-"

The turquoise glow expanded and expanded. In this numb nothingness, the warm glow emitted by the glow was like something from heaven, until finally I could hear a word.

"Snap out of it, Aiden!"

The feeling that prevented me from breathing disappeared in an instant. Out of the turquoise glow emerged a small, twenty-centimeter-tall figure, shining like a star in the darkness, and I remembered.

I remembered who I was, what had happened to me, and the spirit in front of me.

"Sith? Is... Is that you?"

Everything I had just seen came flooding back to me.

I couldn't make sense of it, I was confused, but at the same time, I wanted it to be real.

"Of course it's me! Do you think anyone else can come here but me?"

He was being grumpy, but his eyes held a worry that he didn't hide.

Seeing him like this after so long... It made me feel a relief I don't remember feeling before. It was as if a dagger in my heart had been removed after a long time...

"N- no... I... I was just surprised. I didn't expect to see you. I didn't even think I'd ever see you again, but now that you're in front of me..."

I realized I was shaking with excitement and tried to calm myself.

I wouldn't say that I had an extreme bond with Sith, but he had always been there for me during our month together. I could talk to him instantly when I was bored, I had fun working on magic with him, so his absence had really affected me, especially with what I had been through.

And now to see him in the flesh... it made me feel both inexplicably happy and guilty at the same time.

"I'm sorry... It's my fault..."

How am I supposed to feel?

What exactly am I feeling right now...? n0velusb.C0m

I think... I can simply say I'm happy, but I don't think that's enough to explain all the things I'm feeling.

"I'd try to do something even if you didn't, it's okay."

He grinned slightly, opened his palm, and quickly handed it to me.

"So, are we alive?"

I chuckled when I saw that he hadn't changed even in this meeting in a somewhat gloomy atmosphere. I looked at his outstretched palm. Then gave his tiny hand a slow high five and smiled brightly.

"Yes... Yes, we are alive."

I even felt like crying for a moment. I was really... happy.