Chapter 1574: Detaching

Sylven remained frozen inside his own body. He could not fight, could not move. The guilt surrounded him from every direction and weighed on him until he felt completely powerless.

His mind kept replaying the voices of the plants and his mother’s accusations while sorrow, anger, and helplessness pressed down on him until he could barely think. ℴ

He felt completely alone now. There was no one he could rely on and no familiar voice that could reach through the darkness in his mind.

He kept his head lowered because he could not bring himself to look at his mother again. He did not want to see her face or meet her eyes. He was afraid that another look would only bring more pain.

But his mother decided to act.

The first thing Sylven felt was a pair of cold hands touching his cheeks.

His body was completely still as those hands gently lifted his face and forced him to look at her.

Her face still showed the sadness and accusation. Her eyes fixed on him like she could see every painful thought inside his mind.

"Look at me, Sylven."

A tear rolled down Sylven’s cheek. He wanted to turn away, but his body refused to obey him. He was trapped beneath the weight of everything he felt.

"Are you no longer able to bear all of this?" His mother’s expression suddenly changed. The accusation disappeared from her face and left behind only sadness.

For a brief moment she looked as though she truly understood what Sylven was going through. That small change reached something inside him and he felt as though he was not completely alone. It almost felt like his mother had finally understood his pain.

Then he remembered that this was not real.

The realization immediately returned the doubt to his mind. This was the Trial. This could only be another attempt to break him.

"If you cannot bear this anymore, you only need to do one thing," his mother said softly. "Kill yourself, Sylven. Come with me into death. We will be together again. After all, you were the one who killed me. So it is only fitting that you should be the one to kill yourself as well."

Sylven cried again. Her words hit harder and feel more painful than the accusations because they offered him exactly what his broken mind wanted to hear. An end, silence, a way to escape the guilt that had become too heavy for him to carry.

But Sylven understood that she was not truly trying to help him. Whatever comfort her words offered would only drag him deeper into despair. If he accepted them, the Trial would win.

So Sylven froze again.

For a few moments, he was just completely motionless while tears continued falling from his eyes.

Then something inside him changed. A memory surfaced through the darkness, followed by another. He remembered Erend, Eccar, Aesa.

He remembered the moments they had spent together.

At first, Sylven had never expected to remain with them for long. He only wanted to help them fight and protect the world they all lived in. He had never considered what would happen after that. He never expected those three people to become important to him.

But somewhere along the way, something had changed.

He could not remember exactly when it happened. There was no single moment when he decided that they were important.

Their bond had simply grown through every battle, every conversation, and every moment they had endured together.

Somewhere along that journey, Sylven had started seeing them as more than the same race.

They had become something closer to a family.

Sylven realized that only now. It might have taken him too long to understand it, but perhaps it was better late than never.

That thought gave him a small piece of clarity. It was not much, but it was enough.

With what little awareness remained inside him, Sylven turned his attention inward. He stopped looking at his mother’s face, stopped listening to the voices around him. Instead he reached deep into his own mind.

He had used his ability to enter the minds of plants countless times so he knew how it felt to connect with another living thing, to reach past the surface of thought and touch the deeper impulses hidden within it.

He could communicate with plants through that connection, ask them questions, and understand their memories and desires. He could even influence them and make them respond to his will.

Sylven realized that he could use that same ability on himself.

He reached into his own mind. At first everything he found was chaos.

His guilt and everything else collided with one another. Sorrow and anger continued pulling him in different directions.

Sylven did not try to destroy those emotions. Instead, he reached toward them.

"Stop." He said. The command barely existed as a thought at first.

His mind resisted. The guilt surged back and reminded him of everything he had done.

Sylven almost lost himself beneath the weight of it. But he tried again.

"Stop for a moment."

He treated his own mind the same way he treated the plants when he wanted their attention. He reached deeper and searched for the part of himself that still listened.

Then he gave himself another command.

"Let me think."

The chaos trembled. Sylven focused on his body next.

He searched for the connection between his mind and his muscles. He could feel his body beneath the numbness. His arms and legs were still there.

His hands could still move. His body had not abandoned him. His mind had simply locked it away.

"Move."

Nothing happened. Sylven clenched his teeth and tried again.

"Move."

His fingers twitched. The tiny movement almost went unnoticed, but Sylven felt it.

He pushed harder.

The Trial fought back. The guilt returned with greater force and tried to drown the small piece of control he had gained.

Sylven refused to let go.

He reached deeper into himself and separated one emotion from another. He pulled the guilt away from the sorrow. He separated the anger from the helplessness. He separated the memories from the emotions attached to them.

He did not erase any of them. He just stopped allowing them to exist as one overwhelming mass.

Slowly, the pressure inside his mind began to weaken.

The voices became distant. His mother’s face blurred. The crushing weight around his chest loosened.

Sylven took a shaky breath.

Now, he felt as though he was standing outside his own emotions instead of drowning inside them. The sorrow and guilt was still there. The memories still hurt. But they no longer controlled every part of him.

Sylven opened his eyes.

—