Harita gazed at the crackling fire as he sat on a dry log as an improvised seat, feeling the rough exterior of the dead bark as his mind wandered to the foolish boy Kronesta has entrusted him with, reminded of his naively-chosen expedition the day before.
Even he felt sorrow and needed solace at times of pain and suffering like a young child without a playmate.
"What have I done?" The lean man grabbed his head and ruffled his well-kept hair, feeling his head swell from the pressure of his current blunder, and the reminder of all his other mistakes that cascaded down along with it.
He still remembered the blazing fire, the never-ending cries, the mangled and bloody bodies, and the mysterious lady dressed in black silk, whispering toxic words in his ears and planting poisonous thoughts in his mind, urging its growth and development, using his sanity, ego, and sense of reason to raise the budding seed with care, taking all the necessary steps to ensure complete dominance over him.
'Things were much simpler back then, though not as ideal as right now.'
He needed only know, follow, and enact anything, ridding himself of all responsibility and restrictions, letting the dark thoughts envelop him into a tight embrace, never letting him go, never letting him die.
Unless she wanted to, of course. Her needs were always above everybody else's, even beyond Harita himself. She was beautiful that way.
Harita looked to the side, taking notice of a black-haired sitting on the edge of their wagon floor with his eyes closed, hiding the sapphire gems beneath. Cold sweat ran down his face and back, drenching his body and clothes.
He recognized exactly what the boy was doing.
'Ten years-old, officially documented as an Insig, bearing neither noble nor royal blood, and an orphan to boot whose only source of inspiration are the basic literary guides of rudimentary surface-level magical knowledge without neither previous experience nor a personal tutor, on top of never having witnessed any kind of magical phenomena in his entire life whatsoever prior to this trip... What a monster.' Harita regarded the boy with a dubious, almost sinister glance, suddenly suspicious of the boy's origins.
Nevertheless, that did not change what he needed to do. With a sigh, he patted his trousers and walked over to the wagon, only to stop midway.
"…!!" A bestial presence shook his nerves as if it was being grinded into to bits and pieces, shredding it aggressively, with every intent to cause as much suffering as possible, making him beg for death, then finishing it as a final act of glorious mercy as they stared into his eyes with a gleeful smile of menace and ecstasy.
Cold sweat ran down his back from the utter fear and imaginary suffering, along with the phantom pain that ruthlessly accompanied it, discombobulating his already anxious mind. What was most unusual, or perhaps its least horrifying aspect, was the span of time at which it happened, having occurred in less than a second, putting him on the very edge of the plane of sanity, nearly crossing an inescapable line at which he can never return from.
With a shaking breath, the man fell to his knees, feeling the cold ground and the creatures that lay beneath it, pass the many layers of reality that existed both above and below the one he was currently on. The earth seemed to reverberate with fear as the monster, the one parading its killing intent and bloodlust without care nor resolve, pivoted over to the boy under his care.
Night Eater materialized in his hand, only to disappear a second later upon Harita's surprised face.
'…Huh?'
There was nobody there. Not the horrifying monster. Not the murderous presence. Not the terrifying entity that both of these belonged two.
Nothing. Nobody. No one.
…Well, not no one. There was somebody there. Lieren, the boy he had offered his costly services to was there, eyes still closed. Also, there was somebody else—a little girl the same age as the boy, maybe older. He really couldn't tell. Other than those two, there was nobody else.
Of course, it could very well have come from the other travelers and adventurers with some kind of unique ability or spell. Maybe it was a semi-coercive type, invading his mind once all the conditions have been met. But then again, if that was the case, then he would have already been under the enemy's control. Or maybe it was a soliciting-type, bearing some kind subconscious effect like seeding a deep sense of fear and dread into somebody's subconscious mind. That part, maybe, made more sense than his other theories.
Then again, that would not make any sense, either. Soliciting-type magic, by nature, tend to be easy to treat or exorcise once the target has fully realized the spell, severely compromising any long-lasting effects it has.
Ever since the first wave of intense dread washed over him, Harita immediately instinctually covered his body with a thick coat of Augmentation magic, balancing both Enhancement and Fortification perfectly into one of the most advanced applications of Augmentation: Reinforcement. With this spell at his disposal, he can easily wash away, or at the very least resist, any manipulative magic or restrictive curses and parasites that any enemy can throw at him. Under certain conditions, he can even dispel and alter curses and other harmful substances to his selective choosing.
However, that did not seem to be the case, as his Reinforcement spell did nothing for the fear and agony that came shortly after, bombarding him with grief and a profound sense of great loss.
Therefore, it was something different. Something much worse and dangerous.
Harita looked around surreptitiously, away from the children he had recognized to be innocent angels, into the eyes of everybody else, especially that rude adventurer.
"…What?" Other than odd looks and stares (and one of utter disbelief and disgust) they were all relatively fine, having neither suffer dread nor agony… recently.
He got up to his feet and patted his trousers once more, walking over to the now tired boy resting on his back. The boy looked utterly crestfallen, though seemingly not for the same reason as he was.
With a rude thought, Harita regarded the seemingly random occurrence as the boy fell into deep slumber:
'What the hell was that?'