Rescue

The first thing I noticed was the pain. A generalized throbbing that seemed to hit every inch of my body. The second thing was the characteristic smell of medicinal herbs. I was in the infirmary.

I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. And when I did, I was nearly blinded by the bright light of the room. I felt a deep emptiness in my chest, more painful than the wounds on my body. Suddenly, the memories rushed back, like waves I couldn't hold back. Professor Arven, the revelation, the beating... the confirmation that I had failed my sister.

A low groan escaped when I tried to sit up.

"Stop moving, you idiot. You'll make your injuries worse."

The voice was familiar. I forced my eyes to see through the glare, but my vision was still blurred. Slowly, it adjusted, and I managed to see Nina sitting on a chair beside the bed. Her arms were crossed, and she was frowning, wearing her hood as always. But there was something different, a look of concern in her eyes that she couldn't quite disguise.

"The healer just left. They found you in a really bad state. What happened?"

She avoided direct eye contact but kept glancing my way, observing the wounds all over my body. On my legs, on my arms. The pain slowly appeared, and I felt it everywhere. I couldn't measure the severity of it all, but a groan prevented any movement.

Her question was hard to answer. I looked at the white ceiling, thinking about how I could explain. How to put into words that my world had collapsed? My immediate impulse was just to close my eyes again and leave everything behind.

"It's fine," I lied, my voice rough and weak. "It's just... nothing matters anymore."

"Doesn't matter? You show up completely broken, and it doesn't matter?"

I couldn't even get angry anymore, I just wanted it all to end. If possible, I would simply stay lying there in that bed, forever.

"It's just over. I give up."

Nina became furious. She stood up, throwing the chair back.

"What do you mean, give up? Tell me who did this. Was it Kael? I'll finish them."

Nina stomped toward the door, but just as she was about to open it, she ran into Lyra and Darin, who rushed in. Lyra had a look of contained anger, while Darin seemed about to burst into tears at any moment.

"By the gods, Haru!" Lyra got straight to the point, and I was sure my injuries were worse than I thought.

Darin just shook his head in horror. "When you didn't show up at the dorm, we started looking for you everywhere... When they told us you were here..."

Seeing their concern only amplified the emptiness inside me. They seemed angry that I had been beaten, but they didn't understand the complexity of the situation, everything that led to this. Those wounds were the least of my losses.

"Don't worry," I muttered, turning my face to the wall. "I... don't plan on doing anything anymore anyway."

Lyra and Darin exchanged confused glances, and Nina, who was about to leave, returned to the bedside, breaking the silence.

"Was it because of Professor Arven's call? He told you something, didn't he?"

I squeezed my eyes shut, the pain now so intense that I almost wished the darkness would take me back.

I didn't want to recall those moments in the professor's room, moments when I knew I couldn't do anything else. Having to repeat what I heard felt even worse than when I first listened to it, as if I was reaffirming to myself that it was true.

"Professor Arven? What did he say?" Lyra asked.

Nina hesitated, looking at me. Perhaps waiting for me to say something, but I simply didn't want to speak anymore.

"I was with Haru in the library when a student came to inform him that Professor Arven wanted to see him. After that, I didn't see Haru again until he showed up like this."

Lyra was silent for a moment. Then she approached the bed. Her steps were so firm they seemed to vibrate the floor.

"Listen to me, Haru," her voice was serious, leaving no room for argument. "I don't know what the professor told you, but if you continue this way, I'll personally make you get out of this bed and..."

"My sister is dead."

The words came out clearly, and as soon as they heard them, they fell silent. I had finally said what I was trying to deny, what was consuming me from within.

The silence that followed was piercing. Lyra was immobile, in disbelief. Darin covered his mouth, his eyes wide. Nina seemed to sink, her ears trembling inside her hood.

I was the one who broke the silence. "Professor Arven... he obtained reports about summoning magic... it wasn't made for living beings. The mortality rate is... catastrophic." Each word came out with difficulty. "The body dissolves, and the mind is lost along the way. Whoever survives is a miracle. I was a miracle. She... she wasn't."

The confession felt agonizing. I explained the ancient book, the failed experiments, and the horrible conclusions drawn from those experiments.

"But it's not a certainty." Darin was the first to react. He looked stubborn, still unwilling to believe what I had said. "The professor himself said it's unpredictable, didn't he? He can't know for sure."

Lyra also seemed to find some spirit amidst it all.

"Darin is right. You're taking the worst possibility as absolute truth. That's a conclusion based on old papers, Haru. Life is not an experiment like those."

Nina approached the bed again, her gaze holding a deep intensity.

"Idiot," she said, but the word sounded almost affectionate this time. "Of all people, you are giving up based on a maybe? The Haru I knew broke his face hundreds of times trying to learn magic, but he never stopped. He fought Lyra even knowing he would lose. He faced Kael when he couldn't take the provocations anymore."

She leaned forward, her red eyes close to mine.

"That grimoire you want so badly... what if it holds the answers that Professor Arven couldn't find? What if those ancient records are wrong or incomplete? Are you going to stop looking for the real answer just because one path proved difficult?"

I had never seen Nina like this. And it was true. I had clung to that revelation as the purest truth, an inescapable fate. They were right. Professor Arven had only presented a possibility, not a certainty. Magic was a field full of unknowns and mysteries.

Lyra crossed her arms. "You knew nothing. You learned, entered the tournament, and even won your first battle. You did that from scratch. And you're going to throw it all away like this?"

Memories of the library flashed in my mind: the stacks of books, Nina's cake, and Darin trying to be helpful. I wasn't alone. And this mission, from the start, had been about doing the impossible.

And in the middle of the darkness, my friends seemed to bring the light, igniting that flame once more. Yeah... they were right. I had no right to stop here, not when I didn't have concrete proof. The real answer might be in the grimoire. And although it might seem like a fragile hope, it existed.

I slightly clenched my inert hands on the sheets.

"The grimoire..." I murmured to myself.

"The grimoire is your next clue. That's what you should seek," Nina said.

I looked at the faces of the three around the bed. I had fallen to the bottom. But they weren't looking down at me, they had descended to me, rescued me, and brought me back.

I took a deep breath, feeling my body creak with the injuries, but my determination eased the pain.

"The next battle... It's the day after tomorrow, isn't it?"

A small smile formed on the face of each of them, but they were the most genuine I had ever seen. Lyra nodded, her eyes shining brighter than ever.

The darkness was still there, lurking. But now, I still had to fight against it. Not for the certainty of finding my sister, but for the possibility of doing so. And for now, that was enough.