Why Won’t You Help?

I-it’s bright… I’m here again!

“Diety, come out! I need answers, I need you!”

My voice echoed into the endless white, but there was no answer.

“Dammit! Come out, I NEED YOU!”

I continued to scream, and each time I did, my voice got a bit louder. Each shout scraped my throat; it felt shameful, it felt pitiful, but I was desperate. The louder I got, the quieter it felt. My knees hit the ground before I realized I’d fallen. Everything started to feel hopeless until I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Woah, there. Don’t look too desperate now.”

I spun, grabbed him by the shoulders. “You! How can you act so damn upbeat? After everything you told me, after the warning, you’re just standing here smiling? Don’t you feel even a shred of fear?”

He blinked at me, casual as ever. “And what exactly did I tell you last time?”

“This isn’t the time for jokes!” My fingers dug into his shoulders. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Alright, alright.” He raised his hands. “Sorry. Thought I’d lighten the mood.”

My grip loosened, but my heart felt like it could burst through my chest at any given moment. “I-it’s fine. Just… tell me what I need to know.”

“What is it you think you must know?”

“Explain that vision. Tell me who I need to watch out for. Tell me about the people worse than the Demon King himself.”

“Did I really say all that?”

“Stop fucking around!”

He sighed. “For now, I don’t have all those answers.”

“What?!”

“I mean… I can’t give them. Not yet. I’m sorry.”

“Dammit, why do you have to be so useless?” I was angry, not pissed. After all the shit he dropped on me, he couldn’t give me a single damn detail about any of it. I wanted to scream at him, I wanted to attack him, just anything to beat the answers out of him. But I knew that being frustrated was useless. I took a deep breath and tried to relax. “Fine. At least confirm one thing for me.”

His eyes narrowed. “Go on.”

“The enemy… is it Vaeltharion?”

Oh shit, I said his name, will the black void appear again like last time?

The name slipped out before I could stop myself. My stomach dropped, and I shut my eyes, bracing for that black void, that choking presence from last time. But nothing came. When I opened my eyes again, only the endless white stretched around me, with him standing there as if nothing had happened.

Maybe last time was a coincidence.

“Well? Is it him?” I asked again.

He didn’t give me an answer; he just stared.

“Hello?” My voice cracked. “Did saying his name weaken the link again?”

“Oh—uh, yeah,” he muttered, scratching his neck. “I suppressed it this time.”

“So it is him!”

He shook his head. “Right now, the Demon King is the enemy. That must come first. Then, only then, can we deal with him.”

“What? If he’s worse than the Demon King, everyone deserves to know!”

“I understand your need to fight, but right now, there is a common enemy, the Demon King; he must be dealt with first. Then we can move on to him.”

“But you told me Vaeltharion was worse—”

Shit, I said it again.

“I did, but if the Demon King goes rampant, then nothing would be a bigger threat than it.”

But nothing's happening, not even a pause from him.

“So… deal with the Demon King first, then him?”

“Yes. Please. Be patient. It will all make sense.”

I laughed bitterly. “How can you ask me to be patient after dumping this on me? I can’t do this alone!”

“You won’t be alone. You’ll have allies. You’ll have me.”

My throat tightened. “How do I know who to trust?”

He stepped forward and laid his hand on my head. His touch was oddly gentle. “I don’t know. But I do know this: you can trust me. And only me.”

“W-what?”

“Good luck. We’ll speak again.”

“No wa—”

The void fractured, and my body lurched sideways.

Dammit, why does he keep doing this?

When I woke up, I noticed that I was tied to a chair by some roots. I tried to break free, but I was too low on mana, and whatever mana I was restoring was getting drained by these roots. All I could do was sit there in defeat.

But the place where I was held looked familiar; it was my own dorm room. Suddenly, I heard the doorknob twist, and Akiko stepped inside.

“He finally woke up!” she announced.

A sharp pain split through my chest and skull, and suddenly I was engulfed with rage. It was thick and hot, drowning everything else. My thoughts twisted: They tied me up. They think I’m crazy. They want me gone. When I’m the one who’s trying to do good. What the hell is wrong with them? They don’t know what I’m going through, how can they call me crazy?

“Yakusei are you—”

“Back off!” I barked.

Her eyes widened. “W-what?”

“Don’t play dumb! I know you’re in on it—ALL OF YOU!”

Tsubaki appeared in the doorway, arms crossed. “He’s still acting crazy?”

Haruki followed behind her, “It appears so.”

“What’s wrong with you? We’re trying to—” Akiko then cut herself off.

…

“Tsubaki,” Akiko said, “Do you sense that?”

“Sense what?” she replied.

“Dark energy, it’s coming from Yakusei.”

“There is?” Tsubaki closes her eyes and focuses for a moment. “I can sense it now, it’s really faint but still there.”

“A curse,” Akiko muttered. “I can neutralize it, but I need contact.”

She reached for me. My body jerked forward before I realized. I snapped at her hand, teeth bared. She pulled back in shock.

“Biting? Seriously?” Tsubaki’s voice dripped with disgust.

“Get away from me!” I snarled. “There’s no curse, I know you’re my enemies!”

“You think the curse is making him like this?” Haruki asked.

“Let’s find out,” Akiko said. She clenched her fist and winded up a punch. “If you’re not going to let us help you, then I’ll do it by force!”

Pain exploded in my head. The chair cracked beneath me, and my vision blurred.

Despite being punched… my head feels a lot lighter now.

Then everything went black.

“Yakusei! Yakusei!”

I gasped awake in a gray void.

That voice, I’m here again.

“You!” I spun. “How am I back here again?”

“Again?” the deity frowned.

“You were just talking to me.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

My breath hitched. “Don’t fuck with me! Not now!”

“I’m not joking!” His voice, there wasn’t a shred of happiness within it, only fear. I could tell that this was a whole one-eighty from the attitude he had earlier. “We don’t have any more time for that.”

“W-what? Where’s your upbeat attitude from earlier?”

“Earlier? What are you talking about?”

He sounds genuinely confused… what’s going on?

“Yakusei,” he said. “Remember what I told you last time?”

“Yeah, you told me not to trust anyone.”

“And have you been doing that?”

“...yeah.”

“Good. Listen to me—”

“Wait. Answer me first. After all the crap I’ve been through, I deserve an answer.”

“Fine, what is it?”

“Is there anyone I can trust?” My voice felt weak and tired, and I guess he picked up on that before answering.

…

He sighed and finally said, “If you think you can, then trust your own judgment. I know the task I gave you is impossible. I know you doubt yourself. But if you trust, be sure it’s someone who cannot betray you.”

The void suddenly shuddered.

“Yakusei, in this last year at the academy, you must be ready to fight anyone. His supporters are moving. They’ll strike soon. Maybe not you first, but your classmates, they’ll be targets. Don’t let them fall. Each loss makes him stronger.”

“Who’s they?”

“His supporters!”

His voice cracked, the void buckled, and then… Everything went black.

This presence is just like how it was the last time…

Before I could see anything, I felt something.

It’s so cold…

I then appeared in one of the lecture halls back at the academy. The feeling was still freezing. So cold that I could see my every breath. My hands shook from the chill, and a metallic stench crowded the room. I didn’t want to think too much about it since it was a vision, so I just kept on walking. I stepped forward. My foot splashed in a puddle, red, sticky. The smell was blood. I didn’t want to believe it, but everything felt too real. The cold, the silence, the smell. It wasn’t just a vision, it was a nightmare I couldn’t wake from.

But I couldn’t just stand around and wallow in my fear, I had to keep going forward. As I kept walking, I noticed a body lying on the stage.

“Akiko!”

I stumbled down the stairs, knees buckling as I reached her. Blood pooled around her.

“Shit—shit—Akiko!” My hands pressed against the wound. “You’ll be okay, just stay with me—”

Her eyelids fluttered and her lips trembled. “Yakusei… is that you?”

“Don’t waste your breath, you’re going to be alright.”

Her eyes sharpened, and she rested her hand on my cheek. Blood splashed on my face, but it felt cold, as if she’d been lying here for quite some time. “Why didn’t you save us?”

“W-what?”

“You pushed us away. Left us to die. I thought we were your friends.”

“No, we are—I didn’t mean—”

“Haruki. Tsubaki. Me. You failed us all.”

I stared at her in shock as her blood slid down my cheek. Her hand slipped free and struck the floor with a wet thud, sending a splash across the crimson pool. Ripples spread through the blood from the impact, and her eyes began to close, slow and heavy.

“Akiko! Stay with me!’

I tried healing her with my magic, but it didn’t do anything. Her flesh then blackened and flaked away. First her skin, then her muscles, then onto her bones, which crumbled into dust. Her remains slipped through my fingers like beach sand.

“Akiko!” I screamed. “Akiko!”

My body lurched upright.

“Akiko!”

“I’m here,” her voice said, steady.

I whipped my eyes as I stared at her. She stood beside my bed, alive, unharmed. “Y-you’re alive?”

She frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“The lecture hall. The blood. You—ashes—”

“Slow down there, buddy.” Haruki’s voice cut in. He then leaned into Tsubaki and muttered, “I think he’s still cursed. Akiko might need to punch him again.”

“Another vision,” Tsubaki muttered. “Akiko, check him for curses.”

“On it.” She pressed her palm to my forehead. A glow, a circle of light. My thoughts cleared like fog burning away. “Good instincts, Tsubaki. There was a slight curse placed on him again.”

“It’s good you were able to cure him, but one thing still confuses me.” Tsubaki placed her hand on her mouth, “How could someone curse him without being close? Most curses require direct contact, either from the caster or through an attack. So who’s strong enough to reach him from so far away without us noticing?”

“I’m not sure, but the curse on him was… unusual. It didn’t inflict wounds or poison—just damage to his mind. It pushed him into paranoia, slowly chipping away at his sanity. And after I cured it the first time, someone slipped a new one onto him immediately.”

“My instincts were right then,” Tsubaki said. “His visions may be tied to being cursed.

I clenched my fists. “I was cursed?”

“That could explain his crazy behavior earlier,” Haruki said.

“Yeah, it would,” Tsubaki said. “But what is the reason to curse him?”

Vaeltharion. It had to be. No one else could twist me like this. No one else knew what I knew.

Tsubaki’s gaze sharpened on me. “Yakusei. Have you made any enemies powerful enough to curse you like this?”

“I—”

My mouth went dry. Should I tell them? Should I reveal Vaeltharion now? Can I trust any of them?