Siegfried Fors
"You can perceive me, right, little one?"
What?
A feeling of unease crawled up my spine.
This is bad. This is really bad.
Faux, can you hear me? Faux?
Nothing answered.
Damn it.
"Hmm..." Her voice hummed thoughtfully. "Your face is annoyingly familiar."
That is the second time I have heard that today. Why does everything I come across in this place think they recognize me?
"Get away from him!"
Mother's voice exploded through the stillness. In a flash of motion I could barely track, she vanished from my line of sight.
"Mm?" The woman sounded genuinely surprised as the weight of her hand finally lifted from my shoulder.
M-mother? She can move?
"Oh? How come I didn't notice you before?" The woman's voice drifted from further away now, sounding more amused than threatened.
"Tsk. It is one thing after another today..." Mother's voice was suddenly much closer to me, radiating a cold, sharp fury. "Release this Time Halt. Now."
"Let's see... Why don't you make me." the woman asked, her tone light, as if she were enjoying this sudden development.
"...Your choice."
The weight behind Mother's words sent a chill straight through my marrow. With a deafening sound of shattering crystal, jagged cracks spread across my entire field of vision. The grayish, stagnant world broke apart, the shards of frozen time dissolving into nothingness as color rushed back in all at once. My leg, which had been suspended in the air, finally hit the ground and I stumbled forward, my balance completely gone.
"Young Lord!" Ashar caught me just in time, his hands steadying my trembling frame.
"Huh? Where did Valka go?" Granny looked ahead, confusion clear on her face.
"Fua?" Faux sat up on my head, looking confused.
I looked at her, then at Tavian and Ashar. They were looking around as if they had just woken up from a dream. Were they not able to see and hear what happened like I was? To them, did Mother just vanish into thin air?
I looked toward the center of the chamber. Mother was standing several paces ahead, her axe already drawn and glowing with silver mana, facing off against the beautiful stranger. The woman, who had just been whispering in my ear, was now floating in the middle of the room. Three orbs—red, blue, and yellow—revolved around her..
"Breaking a Time Halt with just pure strength. As expected of a Paradeus of War/Conflict, all of you are such unrefined brutes."
The stranger's voice was melodic, yet it carried an edge of mockery that made my skin crawl. Her hand hovered above her mouth in a mock gesture of surprise, but it couldn't hide the crazed, wide-eyed smile that seemed to highlight her beautiful face even more.
That 'Paradeus' word again. The demon also called mother that.
"True. True. What a brute. She shattered the fixed state without any magic at all!" To my surprise, a jolly, high-pitched voice erupted from the red orb.
"Negative," the blue orb corrected calmly. "It appears she is physically capable of breaking concepts themselves. Possibly a passive Arcana ability. Further data is required before reaching a conclusion."
"She must have gone through so much pain to gain such strength. Poor thing." A warm, kind voice drifted from the yellow orb.
"So," the woman said, lips curling into a smile as she raised her staff, "let us begin the experiment."
The three orbs snapped into faster motion, revolving around the staff as mana gathered and thickened in the air.
Mother tightened her grip. Silver mana flared brighter around her axe, responding to her rising intent.
Tavian and the others readied themselves. Uncle Erik stepped to the front, placing himself between us and the threat without hesitation.
Suddenly, Granny shouted, "Wait!"
Before anyone could stop her, she broke away from the group and ran toward the floating woman.
"Ma?" Uncle called out, his hand reaching for her.
"Ma, stay back!" Mother shouted, her eyes never leaving the stranger.
The floating woman turned slightly, curiosity flickering across her perfect features. "Who might you be—"
"Teacher?"
Granny's voice trembled as the word left her lips.
A heavy silence fell over the chamber, the tension from the impending battle replaced by a confusing, thick air of disbelief.
The woman lifted a brow, her amber eyes searching Granny's face with a look of genuine confusion. Then her eyes narrowed slightly, and slowly, I saw recognition dawn on her sharp features. "Little Ellie?"
"Little Ellie?" Mother, Uncle, and I all spoke in unison as we stared at Granny.
A few seconds later, the hostile atmosphere dissipated completely. We gathered in a loose circle as the woman Granny called her teacher slowly descended to the ground.
"It... it is really you?" Granny's voice was trembling, a raw happiness breaking through her usual composed mask.
"In the flesh. This is an unexpected meeting, truly. I was actually thinking of dropping by to check on you someday, but look at yourself... you look ancient," the woman said, her voice blunt yet carrying a strange, underlying warmth as she looked Granny up and down in surprise.
Granny let out a small scoff, a bright smile lighting up her face despite the insult. "Not everyone can be like you, Teacher. It has been more than two decades... have you been well?" As she spoke, I could see her eyes shimmering, her breath hitching as she fought to keep her tears from falling.
She looked happier than I had ever seen her. Almost fragile in that happiness.
"Hmph. What could possibly happen to me? And stop making that face! It makes me feel like I just crawled back from the grave!" The woman placed a hand on her hip, tossing her ash-blonde hair back with an air of practiced arrogance.
"It's Little Ellie! Little Ellie!" The red orb began to bounce in the air with frantic excitement, spinning in circles around Granny.
"Oh my, our Ellie has grown up so much. She looks so beautiful even at this age," the warm, motherly voice drifted from the yellow orb, which glowed with a soft, comforting light.
The blue orb remained silent, floating with a stoic, analytical stillness.
"It is good to see all of you too," Granny said, her voice thick with emotion. She looked younger in that moment, the years of responsibility seeming to melt away just by being in this woman's presence.
"Wait a second! What is going on here? She is your teacher? She looks younger than Sis... no, younger than Miss Aifa." Uncle Erik sounded completely baffled, and I couldn't find it in me to blame him.
"Sir Erik? I am only twenty-one," Aifa piped up from behind us, sounding a little offended.
"Uncle is right. How does she look so... youthful?" I asked, my gaze drifting back to the woman whose skin was as smooth as glass.
"My great lady is a mage of unmatched power. She utilized her magic to halt her own flow of time, so she no longer ages at all," the blue orb explained, its voice monotone and precise.
That's actually possible? Time magic is even more terrifyingly amazing than I imagined.
"Ah, so she is just like that old coot from the Faith," Mother said with a scoff, sounding more irritated than impressed. She kept her arms crossed, her axe still gripped firmly, ready for a moment's notice. Her eyes were sharp, never fully relaxing.
"So these are your children and grandchild..." The teacher's amber eyes lingered on me for a second, a weight behind her gaze that made the hair on my neck stand up. "The children have grown quite a lot since the last time I saw them, especially in power." She looked pointedly at Mother.
"Have we met before?" Uncle asked, his brow furrowing as he tried to dig through his memories.
"You two were very small back then," Granny said, smiling at the look of confusion on his face.
"Positive," the blue orb spoke up, floating forward. "The last meeting took place in 1214 A.E. in a nameless village north of the Fors Barony. At the time, the children Valka Fors and Erik Fors were six and four years old, respectively."
"No wonder I don't remember. I was just a toddler. I'm surprised you remember something from that long ago," Uncle said, addressing the blue sphere.
"Of course I do. That is my job and my nature," the blue orb replied. It floated closer, hovering right in front of Mother's face. "And I remember this individual quite clearly. She kicked me with such force that I was sent flying, simply because she thought I was a ball."
So she has been a force of nature since she was a child. Some things never change.
"Ahem. The past is not important and..." Mother suddenly snatched the blue ball out of the air, her grip tight as she inspected it. "What are these things anyway? I have seen automatons in the capital before, but these sound exactly like humans."
Automations?
So the technological level of this world goes that far?
Magic engineering just climbed higher on my list of things to look into once we got back.
"I request to be released or self defense tasks will be initiated in ten seconds," the blue orb stated calmly, struggling in Mother's grip.
"Remember Ebony we met before? They are somewhat similar to him," Granny explained.
"Ebony?" Granny's teacher said, interest sparking in her eyes. "Sounds like you have some fascinating stories to tell."
Granny nodded with a big smile. "There's so much I want to talk about, so much to share with you, so much to ask."
"I can spare some time. Let's sit down and talk after this."
"It's all well and good that you are reconciling, but there are some things I would like to ask." Mother tossed the blue orb aside and stepped forward. "Were you the one who knocked out the adventurers outside and placed a barrier at the entrance?"
Now that I think about it, I can't feel her mana at all. Just like Mother and Zayn. So she is the other powerful individual who entered the dungeon before us.
"That I did. I could tell the dungeon had existed for a long time, and I assumed no capable person was around to clear it. So, I decided to take it upon myself to do the world some good and entered to clear it." Granny's teacher said, flashing a confident, radiant smile and looking almost proud.
"Uh huh. That still does not explain why you knocked out the guards and placed a barrier."
"It is not like I had any other choice. If I had just walked up to them and asked them to let me in, would they have allowed it? Of course not. Even I would have done the same thing in their position. So, I just put them to sleep and raised a barrier to ensure nothing escaped while I worked."
Mother's eyes narrowed.
"...I can't feel the core anymore. Did you remove it?"
"Stop asking such obvious questions."
The woman sighed. "You know I am a time mage. I absorbed it. Your questions are getting boring. Are you done with your skepticism, Ellie's daughter?" The woman sounded genuinely bored. Mother looked clearly pissed at the dismissive attitude, her silver mana beginning to ripple. Seeing the situation spiraling, Granny quickly stepped in.
"If the core is already removed, then shouldn't we be leaving?" Granny asked, her gaze steady as she looked at her teacher.
"There is still a source of darkness here somewhere," the woman replied calmly. "It should have begun stabilizing the dungeon by now."
Her eyes shifted toward the deeper passage. "You have encountered those damned Goldkin, have you not?"
"Goldkin?" Uncle asked, his brow furrowing as he repeated the unfamiliar term.
"They are certainly not your everyday Darkkin, so that is the name I came up with for them. Sounds great, doesn't it?" She offered a confident smirk, clearly proud of her naming sense despite the grim circumstances.
"Uh... I guess," Uncle said, his voice trailing off as he shared a look of uncertainty with the rest of us.
Goldkin. It fits, I suppose. Those shimmering rings and the golden mana were far more regal than the red-black ones I had heard about from Mother.
"Then we should move."
Tavian stepped forward at last, his voice steady after listening in silence with the other knights. "My subordinate has the path to the source marked. We should hurry up before the situation changes again."
"You seem in an awful hurry. Got a girl waiting for you back home?" Granny's teacher asked, her eyes twinkling with a mischievous glint as she scrutinized the Captain.
"It is nothing like that, Lady… um…"
"It is Serena Saecula." She moved her hand through her hair with a confident flourish before placing both hands on her waist.
"Uh, Lady Serena... there is an Unending Demon here. We need to be faster than it," Tavian explained, his voice dropping into a low, urgent tone.
"An Unending Demon? What are you on about?" Lady Serena's amused expression vanished, replaced by a look of flat disbelief. "All of them were wiped out by the Founding Emperor of Basiledra. Not a single one has been spotted in the last twelve hundred years."
"Talking about me?" As the voice rasped through the air, the burning pain in my eye flared up with a vengeance. My body lurched back, strength leaving my legs, but Ashar caught me, holding me steady on my feet. I immediately began pushing every bit of healing magic I could muster into my eye, desperate to dull the heat.
All of us turned as one toward the source of the voice. There he was. The demon Mother had supposedly vaporized was walking back in, that hideous, jagged grin spread across his grotesque face as if he were simply returning from a stroll.
"Hmm, he certainly is ugly enough to qualify as an Unending Demon." Lady Serena turned to Mother with a critical look. "Did you actually kill it?"
"I blew it to smithereens," Mother replied flatly.
"Would you look at that... I knew you humans multiplied fast, but now there are two Paradeus here now and..." The demon's glowing red eyes settled on me, and the throbbing in my skull spiked, searing deeper.. "A halfling," he said, his long, drooling tongue slithering out across his teeth.
Ah, no. To hell with this! He's looking at me like I'm the most delicious thing he's seen in centuries.
Before panic could sink its claws in, Lady Serena casually raised a hand toward me. A strange sensation wrapped around my body, light yet firm, and the agony in my eye began to fade.
Huh? What? The pain... how did she do that?
"All that big talk," Serena said, turning back to the demon with a confident smirk. "Aren't you only here because you ran away from a human? From someone who was supposed to be your food? What a weak little wimp."
The demon just laughed, a hollow, rattling sound. "Don't compare yourself with the tree's bastard. If it were him in your place, I would have already been dead. But since you can't kill me, I have already won this—"
Suddenly, the demon's movements stopped entirely. The color drained from his body, leaving him a motionless, lifeless gray against the vibrant cave.
"What just..." I managed to say, finally stepping out of Ashar's supportive grasp.
"They are all talk in the end," Lady Serena said, her voice dripping with boredom as she started walking toward the frozen nightmare.
Did she just freeze him in time? Just like that?
Everyone around me was equally amazed, their faces reflecting the same awe I felt. Only Mother looked unimpressed, her expression bore.
The blue orb hovered around the frozen demon, a rhythmic pulse of blue light emitting from its surface as it conducted what looked like a detailed scan of the Demon.
"Ellie's daughter, can you kill it without collapsing the dungeon?" Lady Serena asked, glancing over her shoulder at Mother. "Can you destroy it using that same ability you used to break my Time Halt?"
Collapsing the dungeon... Granny did say the time dungeons are fragile. Beyond these walls, we are floating in the time stream; if by chance we end up breaking them, we will go falling into the stream, and only Aethelhum may know what will happen to us.
"I am not good at precision control," Mother admitted, her voice tight with frustration. "Even if I use the Concept Breaking Fist, the force would end up destroying the whole dungeon. This situation is completely different from when I needed to destroy that whole world of frozen time. That is why we need to deal with—"
Suddenly, the cavern began to shudder with a violent vibration. Dust and small stones rained down from the ceiling.
"What now?" Uncle Erik growled.
"Teacher!" Granny called out.
"It looks like the darkness has taken full control of the dungeon. It is changing the layout as we speak. Shield up!" As Lady Serena spoke, the three orbs accelerated, surrounding us to create a shimmering, prism-shaped barrier.
The world beyond it twisted violently. Walls stretched, folded, and spun as if the dungeon itself was being kneaded by unseen hands. The motion lasted only a few minutes, but it felt like hours before the world finally came to a standstill. When the barrier dropped, the frozen demon was gone, and the chamber had been replaced by a labyrinth of unfamiliar pathways.
"Tsk. That demon is certainly lucky," Lady Serena said, her voice dripping with annoyance.
"Ah…" Aifa frowned, touching her temple. "I cannot feel my markings anymore."
"It is no surprise. This is a completely different space than before," Lady Serena noted calmly. "I can still feel traces of Time here, so it is safe to assume the darkness has absorbed the properties of the time dungeon. We might still have to move through different eras just to find our way out."
She stepped forward and tapped the end of her staff against the stone, the sound echoing with an authoritative ring. "Listen to me. If you want to escape this place, you will follow my every word. I do not like dead weight, so I expect everyone to pull their own load or I will leave you behind. I do not care if you are old or a child." Her tone was firm, absolute.
She really does not mince words.
"Isn't that a little cold-hearted?" Aifa said, her hands settling protectively on my shoulders. "The Young Lord is only eight years old."
"Oh, please. Other than Ellie... Elara's two spawns, he is the most useful person here," Serena replied with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Me? Most useful?
"He is the one who has been lighting up these caves and weakening the Goldkins with his magic," she continued, "even if his control is crude and he is basically just throwing light in every direction, but it works."
"It was my first time using that spell," I muttered, a frown tugging at my lips. "I didn't even expect it to work half as well as it did."
"Is that so?" Lady Serena glanced back at me, a spark of interest flashing in her eyes. "Then it looks like you have quite a bit of talent, little one."
"Of course he does. My son is a genius," Mother declared, her chest swelling with a pride that was almost visible.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night. Let's move." She completely ignored Mother's boast and started walking toward one of the new tunnels without looking back.
"Ma, can I punch her?"
Mother flexed her fingers as we followed behind Lady Serena. "She is really making me angry."
"Give up, Valka. That is just how she is," Granny said, a small, knowing smile playing on her lips.
I watched Granny's teacher as she led the way. Even from behind, her presence was striking; her movements possessed a regal grace that made it hard to look away. Confident steps, a straight back, and not a single hint of hesitation. She carried herself with an air of absolute certainty, as if the very ground should feel honored to support her weight.
She really is beautiful…
"Oh? I feel a passionate gaze upon me." she asked, glancing over her shoulder without breaking her stride.
Did she really notice me staring?
"I just…" I hesitated, not knowing what to say. Then, her earlier words surfaced in my mind. "Earlier, you said I looked familiar. What did you mean?"
Her amber eyes lifted from me for a fleeting second, shifting toward Mother. For a brief moment, a heavy, serious look passed between the two of them, a silent exchange of information I wasn't privy to. "It was nothing," she said, turning her gaze forward again.
What? Not this again?
I hurried my steps to walk alongside her, refusing to let the conversation die. "Then can you at least tell me how you dealt with the pain in my eye? How did you make it stop?"
She let out a long, theatrical sigh, as if the very act of answering was an exhausting chore. "It seemed your eye was reacting to the presence of that demon. If I have to explain in the simplest terms: I distorted the space around you so the effect could not reach you."
"Oh…"
Understanding slowly settled in.
"Thank you for that," I said, genuinely impressed.
Time magic… and space magic too.
A series of unsettling sounds made us stop as we were about to enter one of the tunnels; the familiar, wet slithering reached our ears. Black liquid seeped from the walls, pooling on the floor before transforming into Darkkins… Goldkins of varying sizes.
"Good thing they came on their own. Red, be ready."
"Ready as always, my great lady!" The red orb jumped in the air with manic excitement.
I watched as the color began to drain from the Goldkins, their monstrous bodies becoming fixed in mid-lunge as time ground to a halt around them. The red orb surged forward toward the statuesque enemies, but before it could do anything, jagged cracks erupted in the air surrounding the monsters. The gray stasis shattered like brittle glass, and the Goldkins were violently jolted back into motion.
"Oh no, no!" The red orb squealed, zooming back to its mistress's side in a panic.
"That's interesting..." Lady Serena whispered. She looked more intrigued than surprised.
Did her magic just fail?
The Goldkins hissed, their golden rings spinning with a renewed intensity.
"So the situation has gone this bad," Mother said, her voice dropping into a low growl as she stepped in front of us, her axe humming with silver light. "They have already adapted to your Time Magic."