Humans Make Errors (2)

In the week that followed the Cerem’s incident, no one dared to speak of going on a mission, at least not in my presence.

With not much else to do, I resumed my morning training. The sooner I became strong, the sooner I would go save Mother. That single thought was enough to motivate me for the rest of my days.

As I went through my exercises, I focused on building my strength while expanding my repertoire of incantations. Those who claimed that progress came from perseverance were just pretenders! All I gained from pushing through was another round of aches and frustration…

I felt like all my efforts were in vain because I didn’t see any results. Deep down, the real problem was that I was born without any qualities. So, thinking I could measure myself against a criminal genius… But when I least expected it, I started making huge strides, and it happened overnight.

Since then, Justine had been training me, and after our sparring sessions, she usually healed my bruises with a spell. But one fine morning, she found no injuries to mend. “Oh, you’ve gotten surprisingly agile; I thought I’d hit you harder than that!” she remarked.

Surprised, I paid more attention to my body in the following days. That’s when I noticed that I had indeed gained a few centimeters in flexibility when I tried to touch my toes or do the splits. I was also able to crank out sets of crunches and push-ups without taking a break. My arms didn’t shake as easily when I braced myself, helping me counter blows more effectively.

Once I recognized these subtle changes, the list of my accomplishments continued to grow. Each training session added its stone to the edifice; however, the evolution had been so gradual that it was impossible to observe without taking a step back. I was like those plants that inch their way up the walls of houses each day, only to be noticed once they reached the roof.

I didn’t know if it was because I had changed instructors or if I had genuinely progressed, but since that day, I had gained an unexpected confidence. Failing wasn’t such a bad thing after all; I just needed to give myself more time.

Humans make mistakes, and no one could escape them. Without them, we couldn’t improve, so even if I couldn’t control the flame of a candle, I wouldn’t be discouraged. On the contrary, I felt eager to try again the next day to correct what had gone wrong.

Thus, I began new days with an inexhaustible enthusiasm that made the blonde smile. We would share sincere smiles, and the virtuous cycle wouldn’t stop until sunset.

What I loved most about Justine was her open mind. She was a woman always attentive to others. She made sure never to rush me, adapting to my needs without me having to articulate them.

No one had ever been so gentle with me, and I wanted to repay her double for that kindness. There was no doubt that this experience with Justine had been one of the most enriching of my entire life.

Thanks to her teaching talents, I had learned a whole bunch of useful skills to gain independence. The strangest of them was a technique for picking a standard lock. Since then, I had fun locking and unlocking nearly every door in the house, marveling at the results as if it were the first time each time.

For the rest of the day, I assisted her with household chores, gardening, and once, we even baked pastries to offer to the workers in the stable… This scene was so idyllic that it sometimes seemed unreal. I knew it wouldn’t last forever, so I savored every second without thinking too much about it. Still, the calm that settled in the evening constantly reminded me that something was missing. The third chair at the dining table was always empty.

When did Aurora eat? I crossed paths with her so little that I had forgotten she existed. But no, she was indeed there, hiding among us in this house. Aurora was simply a master of the art of discretion. Just as I would catch a glimpse of a silver strand at a turn, she would already have slipped away.

In reality, Aurora spent most of her time tinkering with gadgets in the workshop. The only time I had sought her help was to learn how to maintain weapons. Instead of showing me how to sharpen with a whetstone, she had filled my hands with materials I had never seen in my life and then roughly turned her back. All of this without uttering a word!

When Justine saw me return in that state, she got frighteningly angry. After crushing and pouring down the sink the entire pack of beer she had bought for her partner, she shouted throughout the house, “Don’t you want to do your part, you little insolent? Then you can starve while I cook for you! And if I see you’ve helped yourself to my leftovers, there will be hell to pay!” The blonde later apologized for making me witness such a poor display.

She explained that Aurora was in a bad mood because she had refused to let her use a magical amplification stone, which would have allowed her to go into town despite the ownership seal that connected me to her.

It was true that Justine was the only one making trips into town. At my request, she brought back new novels because I had already read those in her library.

Stories helped clear my mind. On the other hand, they also made me reflect a lot on myself. Well, mostly on Aurora. I had been mistaken about her: I knew nothing about her, despite the time spent by her side. Our little war of ignorance proved that.

Did she really need me? Why persist in training me for something that didn’t suit me? The person I thought I knew was just a creation of my imagination, a fictional character with the qualities I wanted to see in her.

My life is nothing like a fairy tale.

And me, was I worthy of being the hero of my own story? Did I even have the potential? I couldn’t remember the end of that damned mission in Cerem, and that was precisely what worried me the most. I could no longer trust myself, as I was slipping out of my own control.

What I had felt when pointing that gun at De Ritella… No. That wasn’t me. It had to be my magical malfunction, those malevolent voices that tormented me. They had tried to give me orders before, but this time they had grown stronger… So next time, I risked…

What was happening to me was nothing like a malfunction of my vital source. It was worse, so much worse.

What was I? I wanted to unearth the answer just as much as I wanted to bury it forever. It was unthinkable to admit it at that time, but the truth is not always pleasant to hear.

I was afraid of myself, afraid of becoming like Aurora, and that my place would be beside her. What if I was destined to become her accomplice, and after my first murder, I grew fond of it?

That was certainly Aurora’s plan, and it had almost succeeded. That crazy girl would be my downfall, so it was better that I continued to keep my distance.

“The war is far from over…” I whispered as I surrendered to a taciturn sleep.

It wasn’t as if Danéma hadn’t tried to warn me?

~~~~

With a determined step, I made my way to the training ground located behind the stable. The work to expand it had just been completed a few days ago. The building had thus gained a mezzanine, depth, and four new stalls. It was much more pleasant to care for the horses when there was more space and less clutter.

From now on, the mercenaries had a storage room hidden behind panels of wood shavings. Despite this new arrangement, we were still far from the cleanliness and order that reigned in the royal stables...

At ease, I took a deep breath of fresh air, just like before every outdoor session. It had become my little ritual, just for me. As I prepared to plant a dummy in the ground that afternoon, I heard creaking wood. The sound was very distant, barely audible from the clearing. On guard, I inspected the surroundings.

An animal? A friend of the mercenaries? Peacekeepers come to stop us?! During my early horseback rides, Aurora had explained to me that the house was hidden by a permanent illusion spell. It was defined by magical crystals buried all around the property. This was the case for all large-scale magical protections.

When I asked her if lost wanderers could accidentally discover this place, she felt sorry for them, saying they were really very unlucky: “Coming up against a den of professional assassins? That's suicide!”

“Is anyone there?” I attempted hesitantly.

No response, except for the creaking, which had started up again. Listening more closely, I noticed that it wasn’t coming from the forest. The intermittent crashes led me to the other side of the garden where the woodpile was located. I walked along the house, and as I reached the corner, I stayed carefully hidden.

It’s close…

A blade sliced through the air so quickly that I thought I saw my life flash before my eyes. The small log targeted disappeared from the tree stump on which it was resting.

A figure moved to retrieve it from the grass. Gripped by panic, I backed away before I could even glimpse the individual. In an instant, my back was pressed against the wall, and my hands covered my mouth to stifle any noise.

By the black swan, a throw like that could have killed me!

The author of this feat kicked at the wood, which opened with a fibrous crack. The ends were tossed into what seemed to be the pile of previous targets.

Gathering my courage, I took another furtive glance before the individual returned to their initial position. Silver hair flowed in the wind, ending in a unique burgundy gradient.

Aurora, what a surprise… I thought, disheartened.

The girl was particularly difficult to intercept these days. On the other hand, it was always better than surprising a burglar entering the home. Regaining my composure, I let only one curious eye peek over the edge of the wall. I had never seen the mercenary practice like this before. It was worth the detour, as long as I wasn’t spotted…

Before a throw, Aurora executed a sequence of movements so complex that I couldn’t comprehend it. When she was about to release her knife, she would rotate and spread her wings like a bird taking flight.

At the last moment, the blade traced its path as if drawn to its target by a magnet. The shape of the projectile was as fascinating as her technique: it seemed to me that she called it a dagger, but I had never seen one forged this way. The object was made up of several blades that came together in a single spiral. It made me think of a tornado sculpt.

Such a shape was designed to inflict as much damage as possible. And in the hands of a genius of murder, this weapon became even more dangerous. But the worst part of this story was that she needed neither claws nor fangs to shred her prey.

A soldier like that lives only to kill. The true weapon is her.

The disc split perfectly in half. The pieces added to the small mountain of splintered wood. She hadn’t missed a single one. This realization left me with a strange feeling.

Even transformed into a monster, De Ritella would not have stood a chance against her. Yet, the fight had dragged on, and I had found her half-dead. Well, that’s what I had thought. What she had wanted me to believe…

My eyes darkened.

This entire mission had been a gigantic setup: did she know that De Ritella had been trafficking artifacts from the start? Had she injected by force the potion that transformed him into a monster? How far had she gone to ensnare me? How deep did her madness run?

Now I could see behind the scenes, a backdrop she had constructed from day one. Perhaps even my kidnapping hadn’t been an accident, but everything was premeditated. She had calculated every lie, every decision, not to mention her perfect timing… Why go to such lengths to build a relationship destined for destruction?

What a twisted mind!

If I hadn’t seen it coming, it was because one had to be completely deranged to conceive that such a plan could exist. The more I uncovered, the more it disgusted me.

Nothing that had happened between us had been real. Not at all.

Aurora might have been born human, but today, she possessed only the appearance of one. By indulging in murder, she had severed ties with the common mortals. She did not live in the same world as us. In Aurora's world, mistakes did not exist. If she missed something, it was because she wanted to. Thus, she deceived people, pretended to be an innocent child, and the moment they let their guard down, she hastened to slip a knife under their throats.

The mercenary turned slightly into the wind to brush away strands of hair that obstructed her view. Her face was immersed in such deep concentration that it was impervious to emotions. This same coldness made her unrecognizable.

Is this the true face of a monster?

In any case, it was exactly the image I had of a mass murderer. More than a thousand murders to her credit… How had such a young person ended up in such a disastrous state? Was it Justine’s training that had turned her into a killing machine?

Refusing to witness this vile spectacle for another minute, I returned to my tasks in bitter silence. The enigma that Aurora represented left me perplexed. The last thing I wanted was to help her. And what next?! She was the guilty one!

She had chosen to betray me knowingly, so she should face the consequences. Whether she regretted, apologized, or begged me, it was over between us. I had no reason to dedicate my time or even a single thought to her.

Good riddance! I never needed you to save Mother!

This week was proof: I had never progressed as much as in her absence, and on top of that, I finally felt good in my skin. There was no way I was going to let anyone spoil this new life.

Assassins, authorities, or traffickers, come and get in my way, I’ll give you the warmest welcome! I thought, cracking my knuckles.

All things considered, I’ve always known what Aurora was: Aurora was my enemy.