"But Mrs. Gutierrez is being consumed by the sword's aura!" Si-Dapa said sharply, struggling against Laon's vines. "She won't last much longer!"
"If you intervene now, Kanlaon and I will immediately deny her wish to turn back time," Laon replied coolly, barely sparing him a glance. "This is her last chance to prove she is worthy of becoming your Reaper. What use is a spirit as a Reaper if she can't even control her familiar when it goes berserk?"
Elise's anguished scream echoed through the clearing. "AGHH... JASPER, STOP THIS PLEASE!"
Si-Dapa smirked faintly at her desperation. "She's screaming his name like it's going to help. Pathetic," he muttered, but his eyes betrayed a flicker of intrigue. "Still, I wonder… does she have it in her to rise above this or will she become just another failure?"
"If her familiar takes over her mind," Laon continued, her tone devoid of emotion, "I'll have no choice but to eliminate both the wielder and her familiar."
Si-Dapa's smile faded, replaced by a more calculating expression. "Kanlaon always did have a knack for making everything suspenseful. This test---it's not just about Jasper, is it?"
Laon nodded, finally glancing at him. A small, knowing smile played on her lips. "Yes. The true purpose of this test is to see whether Elise Gutierrez has the strength to defeat his disciples and prevent the tragedy from twenty-five years ago from happening again."
Si-Dapa chuckled darkly, shaking his head. "You're all mad. Setting her up to fail like this and calling it a test. But then again, I suppose madness is the only currency Kanlaon deals with nowadays."
Laon's smile grew sharper. "Madness or necessity? The line blurs when survival is at stake."
Si-Dapa turned back to Elise, her body trembling as the sword's aura consumed her. His cold stare pierced through her teary eyes. "If she can't tame the rage in that brat's heart, then she deserves whatever comes next," he said with finality. "Still... it's a shame. I would've liked to see how far she could go."
He leaned back against the vines restraining him, a cruel smirk tugging at his lips.
'This is your moment, Gutierrez. Prove yourself worthy… or disappoint me, proving you're just another weak spirit playing hero.'
"Why didn't you tell her the truth?"
Si-Dapa gave Laon a sideway glance, "About what?" he asked innocently.
"Don't play dumb, Si-Dapa. When a spirit turns into a familiar, the god who did the ritual of transfiguration has the authority to bestow a name upon his creation based on the emotion lingering in their hearts." Laon sneered at Si-Dapa. "Why didn't you give that sword a name?"
"I couldn't decide one."
"What?"
"That brat had so many conflicting emotions before he died, and because of that, I can't even decide what to name him," Si-Dapa explained. "It's just a theory, but maybe the reason the sword went berserk during the fight is because Jasper's emotions are starting to conflict. His psyche, once so stable, is now vulnerable to the emotions he's been suppressing for so long."
"The form you've been wearing is one of the factors he lost his bearings, to begin with." She snorted.
They saw Elise lose consciousness and Laon gave Si-Dapa a smug smile.
"Anyway, let's see whether she can pass this test or fail. If she succeeds, then you can give the sword his new name. Two birds in one stone am I right?"
Si-Dapa did not answer her question and instead, he focused his attention on Elise.
Elise opened her eyes and she saw a dilapidated house. Everything inside was a mess, broken bottles, shards of glass from the broken picture frame, and tattered clothes thrown everywhere.
Everything feels familiar. She wanted to jog her memory and remember, but alas, it seemed like her brain was refusing to cooperate as if it was shielding her from remembering one of her traumas.
"Where am I?" she wondered as she explored the house.
She picked up a small picture frame and examined its contents. It's a family picture, she saw herself smiling happily while holding her newborn son. Her attention shifted to the torn part of the picture. It was...
Ack!
Her head throbbed due to intense pain. Elise massaged her temples as the migraines were getting worse every time she tried to remember her husband's face.
What does he look like, again?
Who is he?
"Don't remember him."
Elise looked behind her and saw Jasper walking towards her. He wears a blue hospital gown and his gentle auburn eyes meet hers.
"J-Jasper?" Elise ran to hug him. "You're alive! I-I can't believe it I thought you were dead and--"
Jasper cocked his head slightly, his gaze distant. "What are you talking about? I didn't die. The doctors let me leave the hospital."
Elise backed away slightly and she saw her son's empty gaze. It's as if, all of his emotions were drained from him.
She examined her son from head to toe. His clothes were still stained with dried blood, the dark patches stark against the fabric. His complexion was unnaturally pale, and his lips had lost their usual pinkish hue, replaced by a faint, bluish tint.
"Y-You're not Jasper," Elise whispered under her breath as she was staring at the entity in front of her. "Who are you?"
Jasper smiled, but his eyes held no warmth. Instead, they reflected only sadness and emptiness.
"Mother, it's still me—Jasper Gutierrez, 17 years old, and a graduating student from San Silangan High School," he said softly, his voice trembling ever so slightly as he pulled her into a tight hug. "Okay, I'll admit that I did die. But please, forget everything about that sick bastard, and let's live together again like the old times."
Elise froze in his embrace, her mind racing as fragments of memories surfaced—flashes of bruises hidden beneath long sleeves, muffled cries in the night, and the cold detachment she had tried to ignore. The weight of his words pressed against her chest, suffocating her.
"J-Jasper, darling..." she whispered, her voice cracking. "What are you saying? What do you mean you can do anything here?"
He pulled back just enough to look into her eyes, his expression a mixture of sorrow and determination. "Ever since I was a child, he was constantly hitting me without any remorse, even if I did nothing wrong. Every bruise, every insult... it was all the same to him. I despise him, Mom." His voice broke, and a lone tear slid down his pale cheek.
Jasper gestured to their surroundings. The once-familiar room they stood in now glimmered faintly, as though it were not entirely real. The edges of the walls seemed to ripple like water, and Elise's breath hitched when she realized that even the air felt unnatural still.
"So, forget about turning back time," he continued, his tone growing more desperate. "Stay here, in this illusion with me. Be the mother who wakes up early to cook my lunches. Smile at me when I come home from school. Just... be here with me."
Elise's hands trembled as she reached out, brushing a strand of hair away from his face. His skin was cold to the touch, a painful reminder of the truth she wanted to deny. "Jasper, this isn't real... You know it's not real."
"It can be real!" Jasper's voice cracked, his emotions spilling over. The room flickered, the rippling intensifying as his desperation grew. "Here, I can protect you. Here, I'm free from him, and so are you. Isn't this better than what we had before? Isn't this what you wanted?"
Elise stared at him, her heart breaking. She saw the child he once was, the boy who had endured so much pain, now trying to cling to a fragile dream of happiness. But she also saw the cracks forming in his illusion—the instability of his creation mirroring the turmoil within him.
Tears welled in her eyes as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "Jasper... I love you. I always have. But this isn't living. It's running away. You're stronger than this—you've always been stronger than I ever was. Let me help you, just like you've always tried to protect me."
For a moment, his expression wavered, torn between longing and despair. The room began to blur, the shimmering walls dimming as his grip on the illusion weakened.
"No," he whispered, shaking his head, his tears falling freely now. "I can't let you go back to that world... I can't lose you again..."
Elise leaned forward, pulling him into a firm embrace. "You won't lose me, Jasper. Not now, not ever. But we have to face the truth together, no matter how painful it is. We can't stay here, trapped in something that isn't real."
Jasper's sobs filled the silence, the illusion quaking around them. As the last of his resolve crumbled, the shimmering walls dissolved into nothingness, leaving them standing in the dark void.
"Darling, I know that your Father is not who you think he was back then," Elise said and caressed Jasper's silky hair. "When he was your age, he was once sweet, caring, loving, and empathic. But something changed in his personality after Uncle and Auntie died 25 years ago. James changed, and our classmates in my old university noticed it too."
Elise let go of her embrace and stared at her son's empty gaze.
"The reason I wanted to turn back time is because I wanted to understand what changed him. I wanted to alter his cruel fate so we could live as a family again. This time, I'll make sure you have the life you always dreamed of. We'll live together, a happy family, with your father by our side."
Jasper looked down and became silent, he twiddled his thumbs and he then stared at Elise, and opened his mouth to speak, but he stopped himself.
Elise noticed this and she asked, "What's the matter, dear?"
"Uhmm... w-when you can turn back time and meet him again, he'll never hurt you right?"
Elise smiled and patted his head, "Don't worry, I'm certain that he won't hurt me. You'll see..."
Jasper chuckled softly and his eyes went back to their usual shimmer.
The darkness began to crack and the scene of the real world started peeking from outside.
The illusion is breaking...
Her throbbing head feels even worse, but he can't show this weak side of her in front of her son. She mustn't...
*Thud*
Elise fell towards the green grass and the illusion completely broke at the same time. Jasper remained in his human form and he immediately ran toward his mother he tried to shake her body slightly, but to his surprise, his hands just passed through.
"Mom... Mom... Mom!" He called her, but then he heard a whistle behind him.
"Hooh? I did not expect that she passed the test."