"You're not a human are you...?"
"What? What are you saying?"
"Well, it is a good thing that you're not actually born into that side for a full contemplation. You're rather, unique– No... You are something that shouldn't be in here."
"I appreciate that thought, but I don't understand what you are talking about. Me? A non-human? That's not possible!"
"Of course, you wouldn't know, they are afraid of letting the truth out. You won't be able to establish life further in this place if they all knew where you came from."
"Where I came from? What do you mean, I live in the village of Moriville!"
"No, you don't... You don't belong on this site, and you need to fully accept that. You have another one of yourself running on your veins. You are quite the most dangerous being who holds a fragile secret."
"I still don't know what you are referring to. You are not giving me a plain explanation..."
"Don't worry, you'll know soon enough. You'll learn everything, including what happened five years ago. You know for yourself that you are not going to escape the inevitable truth... There's no secret that will not be revealed... Remember that, Aran..."
In a narrowed path– no, he was standing on a dark haze full of elicit thought and complexity about being alive. Thalia's words were being re-enacted on his playful mind. He is doubting every word, a vague form of a sentence is being added to what he can recall.
The place was full of darkness, all of the whisperings of the undead are marking their way inside Aran's mind. They are configuring everything, infecting his cognitive thinking, and he is hallucinating at his own pace.
"You!" Angered by her vague provocation, Aran ran across the tiny direction that was pointed towards Thalia's bloodbath. She looks like a shadow that still doesn't want to go to the afterlife.
The curse of the witch was bounded on his side. A part of her is exclusively hiding deep inside his feelings. There was no other explanation other than the fact that she engraved a spell on his body. Something that will eclipse all of his problems in the near future.
"Wait!" He screamed. Even so, Thalia was getting more narrow. She was getting far away and Aran couldn't exactly move freely from the dark haze. Contrary to this were a bunch of memories that he had attained from the past years.
After disappearing into thin air, Aran stumbled upon his dark past from the time where his father got killed. A movement caused by the werewolves. Back then, so many lives were taken down because of this ambush. The village that he was in was generally soared into flames and the important pieces that were coming from his heart were shattered in an instant. Considering what happened, it was hard to take a leap and get a move on. He promised himself that he will become a slayer and kill all of the other werewolves who orchestrated the ambush.
The memories that he stumbled upon suddenly became more assertive, aggressive, and distorted to the point that the sound was getting more deep and horrid. Creeping itself on his face and relentlessly trying to reiterate the unfolded events in a nightmare form. All of the flesh, blood, armors, swords, and the houses that were being burned blindly coerced themselves throughout the tune of the horrible orchestra.
"N-No!" Aran screamed. His knees gradually fall to the ground, it was like someone who has been dealing with some sort of mental breakdown. He was panting profusely, and the way he looked on the ground widened, and was shocked by the enormous nightmare walk. Soon enough, Thalia's unsettling giggle echoed on the haze, providing a more significant way of scaring him.
"Time to wake up..." A woman's voice registered through his unconscious mind. The sparkling chill went down on his spine and he shook his body.
He woke up, only to find himself on a solitary bed.
Aran was panting really hard. The look on his eyes is obscure and has a faint light bouncing around his iris. After a few seconds of realization, he came back to his senses.
The humidity increased in the room, though the cool breeze of the air opened the scenery with a much more relaxing experience.
The lighting fell upon his eyes and he peeked through the left side of the room. It was a different location. It was not the infirmary of the school. But rather, he was placed on the Sanatorium's domain. The placing of the room is accordingly even, seeing the buildings from the window means that he was assigned to be on the third floor of the whole building.
After taking a moment to relax, he tried to move his body by dragging it upward with his arms, however, the pain started swelling all throughout his limbs.
"Aw!" He cried. Upon noticing the slight sprain on his right arm, using his left arm, he removed the thick layered blanket from his body. There he saw his upper body naked, covered with a lot of gauzes, particularly on his chest. It is supporting his belly up to the right side. There were also gauzes throughout his left arm and a couple of bandages on his legs.
"I suffered more than the usual, huh?" He muttered aloud with a dissatisfied look on his face. The pain was swelling but he managed to endure it.
The boringness of the whole room was deeply in touch with his own mind. Even though he was on the third floor, the hot air was still circulating on the other side of the room.
"I wonder where they are?" Asking aloud. He is persistent in going up, he threw his legs on the ground and stood. He opened the curtain that was covering the air and peeked outside. He noticed the change in the environment and become certain that he was not in the academy anymore.
"Where am I? The Sanatorium?" He processed. Outside the window were vast skirts of the city. The river on the other side can be seen and the park was also on end.
He began to look at the sky. It was not the bluish sky he intended to see but rather, it was orange. The sun was beginning to set and for that reason, the clouds were also beginning to shade themselves under the damp sight of the light. The golden hour passed within the whole city. Soon enough, dusk will now encapsulate the whole place and evening will eventually take over.
While standing at the end of the window, a knock formed outside the door. Aran slowly turned around and leaned in on the railing. The door creaked as the person enters the room. He was wearing a plain shirt with a couple of specks of dust around the creases.
"Ah, William..." Aran mumbled.
"You better?" He asked as he placed his hat on the rack.
"More or less..." A nonchalant response.
"You're as sour as ever, you know?"
"Well, care to tell me what happened?"
"Right, well, everything is pretty much stable as of now. There are many injured civilians and some of them are gravely in danger but no one died. Right now, you among the others are directly assigned to be in this place. The infirmary of the academy is not exactly a good place for a lot of injured people so..."
"That witch, do you know her?"
"Thalia? Not really, but I know her position as the witch of the mirror realm."
"Why does she hate humans that much? Like I felt something deep within her hatred. She was trying to gather all of the undead."
"The answer is... It's because the human race persecuted the Witches."
"What?"
"Many years ago, witches are actually part of the human hierarchy. They established their own organization for the sake of using and selling healing potions and mana distribution. The Witches are those who are capable of calling god and giving them his or her grace. They were the great source of power who protected the kingdom for hundreds of years from unwanted guests and monsters."
"If they were that good for the kingdom then what is the reason for their persecution?"
"They were not discriminated at some sort of chance. Nothing was ever oppressed. However, someone from the inside spreads rumors about the witches working with the monsters to overtake the kingdom. This raised so many questions and doubted their actions. The previous king was merciless with these kinds of issues, that's why he pressed the consultation and decided that it will be good to execute those who are part of the organization."
"An execution ordered by the king? Despite the numerous attempts of saving them, the trust didn't get through? Isn't that pretty self-centered?"
"I know, it is an unfair treatment for those who served the king very well. Even though the claim was false, those bastards from the board council pulled the string and decided to create a scenario wherein the witches will be considered as the bad guys."
"Right from the start, they were opposed to the idea of this group being in the spotlight?"
"Yeah, the board members did everything in their power to actually execute them."
"So did the execution happen?"
"Well, it was announced, but some of the witches managed to escape. The older witches tried to protect those young ones. And then..."
"They were murdered... Without any evidence, full of false claims, calibrated by the board members."
"They are not really the threat but rather, seeing their complex mana alignment, as well as their powerful magic source, that became the total game-changer for their survival. Witches are prior to those who manifested the very first magic system. That system involves the spirits and celestial beings. The evidence for that case is procured when we battled Thalia. She was on the whole other level and can traverse the whole place with her ability to go through mirror dimensions. She is indeed a witch, a pure one."
"Her reason is clear now, but summoning the demon lord? What is she talking about back then?"
"The demon lord is proposed to be a fairy tale back in the days. However, the principle of having a demon rose in places after someone encountered a monster who looks like a demon. I don't know the correct details with the case but it is somehow presumed that there was another world beneath our world. They are called the 'Underworld'. Thalia being able to talk about summoning the demon lord might have been creepy for us. Despite lacking any visual evidence, it may seem like she knows that there is something beneath us. Knowing that she can enter dimension is a great way of proposing evidence."
"The witches are also good at summoning the gods, right?"
"Yeah, but there was no clear record of that. Only the calls and heeding blessings were able to pass through the modern textbooks. It seems like we have gathered quite a few pieces of information just by encountering Thalia. Though, I wouldn't exactly report it to the department. I don't know for sure when these ugly bastards are going to pull another string again. They are really trying to destroy the world by pulling the humans off the list of peace negotiations."
"Hmm..."
Thinking about the situation so far, the board members are the reason why the witches, the most powerful magician were persecuted. And that leads to the destruction of the flow within the barriers. It is prompting all of the other witches to degrade and declare war with the nation just by vandalizing and seeking revenge and summoning a being. They are steering the future into a deadly path, convened by their actions, they are the great obstacle.
"Anyway, how's the academy going?" Aran asked.
"The damages are not that great with the academy's building and facilities, thankfully. Though the whole field, park, and venue are devasted. It will take a lot more time to repair the craters that we caused."
"My friends! Are they okay?"
"All of them are fine, except you. You literally just risked your life, don't ya'?"
"Of course, I will, I won't let that woman touch Nikki or my friends. And for that, I need to show my power at some point."
"Well, you did a good job on weakening her. I didn't expect you to use your Spiritual Form. You used more mana than usual."
"Yeah, and I even got a scar."
"Oh yeah, Aran..."
"Hmm?"
"Do you know how to use healing magic?"
"Healing magic? No, I don't. I am not really studying magic aside from the basics. And I heard that it was pretty hard to do." Aran answered with full confidence. Though, at some point, William's posture stalled in front of him and placed his thoughts somewhere.
That's weird. If he cannot use healing magic, then how did his scar heal quickly? As far as I know, there was no record of someone being able to use advanced-tier healing magic. And there are no lessons for that. A few students can do the low-tier recovery spell but there shouldn't anyone be able to retract the wounds back to their normal state. He thought.
"Hmm? Is there something wrong?"
"Oh, nothing, just came to check. Here, they actually just pushed me away and told me to give this to you." On the vinyl plastic bag, were a couple of bread from the local cafe store outside the academy. It was Aran's favorite.
"Oh! That is my favorite!" He jumped from his place and grabbed the bag.
"Yeah, I will be taking my leave now, I need you to stay here for a while and get a full recovery rest. Your friends might visit you soon." William departed.
"Yeah, see you again soon." Aran quickly chomped the bread that he was holding as he responded.
"Still though, the humans are actually the ones who are making this world fall into the dark hands. If that's true, do they know everything about the incident with my village as well?" He wondered aloud.
Those people behind the shadows, operating freely. Conditionally, with their power, they have the choice to bring someone or something from outside and that will be the case for instigating problems. Without their guidance and connection, it will be impossible to set the scene. Does the outside world actually have no monsters? If that's true then maybe a utopia of some kind will be the most exclusive explanation for how the other creatures are living.
Suffice it to say, there must be somewhere outside the kingdom. A particular world, wherein the monsters lived together in peace. And the only reason why they are conquering the humans is because of its pompous and hostile behavior and discrimination. Just like what happened with the witches.
Who's the one to blame with these connections? What would happen if they find out that the outside world is just a living harmony between good monsters. Who are those people who are turning the people blind with their power?
The answer is frightening. Even though there was no conclusive evidence. Thinking about it makes everyone's perception rigid.