Chapter 136: One Wish... One Life
That first night, after eating the fruit, Percival found himself trapped in a strange dream, strange enough that it felt unnervingly real, yet impossible at the same time.
He remembered finding himself in the middle of what looked like an ocean, suspended above the water as though it were solid rather than liquid. Around him, a dense, restless fog seemed to swallow everything else from view.
’What kind of nightmare is this,’ he wondered, and that was when he saw it. A structure, vast beyond description. Colossal was the closest word he could find. It resembled some kind of plant, though he couldn’t make out any of its features clearly.
The harder he tried to focus on it, the more his own instincts screamed at him to look away, some primal certainty that he wasn’t meant to bear the weight of whatever that thing was.
He wanted to resist the pull. But his thoughts kept drifting back to it anyway, its shape still refusing to take clear form in his mind.
Yet despite being unable to remember what the structure looked like, there was one thing he remembered perfectly.
A voice.
A woman’s voice.
It was enchanting, and yet beneath that honeyed tone, something made his blood run cold. He couldn’t say what it was. Maybe it was only his imagination. Maybe it was instinct. Either way, he knew: this was dangerous.
The voice asked for his help. For a sacrifice, someone to give in exchange for a wish granted.
Skeptical as he was, he told himself it was only a dream, and he agreed.
"I want to leave this place," he said.
The being asked for a life in return.
He didn’t remember much of what followed, his memories blurred into fragments. When he woke, he told himself it had all been some bizarre dream.
Except it wasn’t. Because in the dead of night, Adrian, the stranger they’d captured, approached him and said:
You have been chosen by the Master," Adrian said calmly. "A pact is a pact. One sacrifice in exchange for your freedom. So... who will it be?"
His tone was calm, his expression flat. But the words were anything but simple.
It had all been real. That dream had been real.
That should have terrified him, the realization that he’d fallen into the sights of some unfathomable existence. But strangely, that wasn’t what consumed his thoughts. All he could think about was the deal he’d made.
’A sacrifice... in exchange for a way out of this place.’
That single thought filled his mind.
And he already knew exactly who that sacrifice would be.
Lirien.
She was his prey. His chosen sacrifice. Why? Because she was weak, and because, given the choice between the instructor, an arrogant bastard but at least B-rank strong, or the girl who had spent the entire time at the academy tormenting him alongside her friend, the answer was obvious.
The plan had been simple. They would lure her into the underground cave, where Adrian would take care of the rest. But the instructor’s caution complicated everything, and in the end, Percival found himself forced to change course, to help Adrian get rid of the instructor instead.
The man was too strong. Stronger than Adrian. Stronger than him. They needed a way to make him vulnerable.
Percival had no idea how to pull that off, but somehow, Adrian managed it. Whatever he’d done, the instructor grew weaker without noticing, which made his fight against Adrian harder, and yet he still came out ahead.
Too bad for him that Adrian had planned for that too. He’d only been holding back, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Normally, a B-rank couldn’t fall to an E-rank so easily, no matter how distracted. But chance had conspired against the instructor that night, a string of circumstances leaving him weaker, more distracted, more vulnerable than he should have been. And so the instructor became the sacrifice.
Percival should have felt triumphant. He couldn’t. Not when he saw the rage in the instructor’s dying eyes. Not after hearing his angry, disappointed words just before Adrian fed him to that strange crystal.
That was when it finally hit him.
He’d done something monstrous. Something that would cost all of them dearly. Himself included.
He staggered out from the flower’s stem, gasping for breath, panic etched across his face as his mind raced for any way out.
He couldn’t stop. Couldn’t afford to. That madman would come looking for him soon.
’Damn it... that bitch, I need to wake her up.’ His thoughts snapped back to his first choice. Lirien.
She was still here. If he could convince her to help him, maybe, just maybe, they could still escape.
His eyes darted toward the tree where she’d taken shelter for the night. He found it quickly.
"Wait, what? where is she?" he stammered, eyes going wide as he reached the tree where she’d fallen asleep, only to find it empty.
She was gone.
"That bitch... where... where the hell did she go?" he muttered, panic rising as the last sliver of hope slipped away.
If she’d been there, he could have used her, slowed the madman down, maybe sacrificed her in his place to buy his escape. But now? What was he supposed to do now?
Right as the thought crossed his mind, a voice whispered beside his ear, and his entire body locked in place.
"Hmm... I have to admit, your instructor turned out to be a lot more cautious than I expected."
A hand settled on Percival’s shoulder. He couldn’t find the strength to move.
"Ah well. Shame, really, she was a sweet girl. Just the Master’s type. But this works too."
The voice remained calm, almost pleasant, but the eyes that fixed on Percival’s frozen form were sharp enough to cut.
"After all, you’re still here, right?" the man said, leaning his face close.
"Come now, no need to be afraid. A pact is a pact, remember?"
His eyes gleamed with an unnatural violet light, one that stood out starkly against the strange landscape around them.
"You can’t leave without your reward first, can you?"
Straightening his posture, the man calmly turned around and began walking toward the entrance within the flower’s stem.
Percival’s body moved with him, stiff, mechanical, turning and following against his will.
They walked in silence for a few seconds and reached the entrance.
Adrian was just about to step inside... when he suddenly stopped.
He remained perfectly still. Not moving even an inch.
It was as though time itself had frozen.
Then, with a sudden, unnatural snap, his head twisted a full one hundred and eighty degrees, locking onto a single point somewhere deep in the forest.
"Ah... there you are."