CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"Looks like a little brat like you knows how to cry as well." Bothering myself to look at her would only waste my time. I would rather look at the target than her.
I keep my eyes fixed on the target. They have a training ground here for archery.
Thought I could pop in here and make myself busy training to forget what happened. That's the reality…you don't indulge yourself in what's keeping you crying.
Honestly, I am slowly accepting that this is my life here now, that there's a possibility that the life I had in my previous life no longer exists.
It's Mage Rose who's bothering me right now.
"I thought you were capable of defying orders… turns out, you're just like them." She speaks again, even though I didn't answer her the first time, she's not worth my time.
I can feel her gaze on me, sharp and judging.
Still, I don't turn around.
I'm tired.
The expedition hasn't even started yet, and I'm already exhausted, of them, of this, of everything.
"You only defy when you know you can trample on them… on us."
What is she even talking about? That's the only time I turn around to give her a one look, then look away again.
I still kept my mouth closed.
"You miss the point."
I raise my bow, mana surging through my veins as it shapes itself into an arrow. I release it in a single, decisive motion, fast, brutal. Frost blooms upon impact.
A crack splits the air. The target shatters.
Only then do I look at Rose, who has been watching my every move.
"Missing the point doesn't mean losing the battle."
I don't hesitate to turn my back on her. If I stay any longer, I might do something I shouldn't.
If what Raiven said is true, then there's a possibility my father isn't just a simple archmage just because he is powerful.
He must be something the kingdom fears. And the princess… she'll do anything to use me as bait for his downfall.
I know he isn't my real father, but in this world… he is.
What happened to me isn't just because of what they call hallucination poisoning that caused me to fall from the window. That is why all of my father's people said that someone pushed me out.
But there has to be a reason why Seraphina wants to die.
Out of everything that's happened, one thing is certain,
She wants to die.
She knew the wine was poisoned. I'm sure of it. I just have a feeling that someone she knew gave her that poisoned wine.
From her diary… and from the memories that keep forcing their way back into my mind,bit by bit, like a blade pressing into my head, leaving behind a pain I've never felt before.
I try to ignore them, the memories, but one thing I know is that I can't really ignore them forever. I just don't want to fully embrace that this is my new life,I still hope that this is all just a dream.
I want to know how I ended up here in this world. There must be a reason for how or why this is all happening. Sulking will not solve anything, so maybe I can find something in that ruined kingdom,something forbidden.
But if death were to solve everything, I would choose that.
If what everyone says is true, the forest is dangerous. Then maybe I'll meet death again. If living here would cost more than one lives, then dying is maybe the mercy I could hope for.
And this time…
Maybe a natural death will finally be enough to kill me. I'll do what you want, Seraphina.
Death.
---
We gave our student mage cards to the guard at the outpost. When they confirmed everyone, they let us through one by one, only bringing the carriages for our supplies.
We are not given horses to ride. The reason is simple,horses will only slow us down. They can run, but only on land, while mages can run, hide, and move freely.
The horses would only suffer. Only the ones pulling the carriages are kept, since they are needed for our supplies. Broomsticks for flying are also not recommended because mages say that we have no idea what's waiting in the air.
It's better for us to be travelling on the ground because this is our best ground for fighting. If we can, we can hide and run. I'd rather choose the latter part,run and hide. I am not a fan of painful death.
Painless is what I would aim for if I were to die.
As soon as you step out of the gate, the forest immediately greets you,you can instantly tell you're in the middle of the woods. The leaves of the trees are green, normal, and simple. You wouldn't expect that different kinds of creatures are actually here.
The first three hours of walking, nothing unusual or abnormal happened aside from the movement of bushes caused by rabbits, which gave a few jump scares.
It isn't until I notice that we've been walking for more than three hours along the same path,for the nth time I realize it,that I decide to mark one of the trees. I carve a large X into it, again, we walk down the path, and there…I saw my mark.
Lira glances at me; we exchange nods, and she quickly tells Craige. He looks at me, and I point at the tree. We're falling behind as we walk, and before long, he rushes over to Raiven without hesitation.
They talk. When some of the others notice, they stop and start asking questions,then they realize it too. Whispers spread everywhere. I glance back to where our professors should be, but there's no professor or carriage there.
"Fuck,we're stuck!" one of them shouts upon noticing that our professor is gone from behind us, and that some of the others are missing as well. I also look for Soren and Tovan, but they're gone too.
I don't even notice when they suddenly disappear. I just assume they stop talking because they get tired. I don't expect that they're gone, too. I don't know how this illusion works, or if there's a limit to how many people it can hold inside its world. That's when I realize,we're only twenty people here. Raiven steps forward, voice firm, cutting through the rising panic.
"Change formation. Move as one group."
The vanguard goes to the front. They are the fighters who use their mana in their swords to block attacks and protect everyone. The strikers move next. They are fast attackers who hit the enemy quickly and from unexpected angles. The binders stay behind them. They control the ground and slow or trap anything that moves. The healers stay in the middle. They keep everyone alive using potions and save their mana for serious injuries. The arcanists stay at the back. They look for strange magic, break spells, and try to understand what is happening in the illusion.
"I hate this," I whisper as I watch them whisper and go to their position.
We decide not to move further until we figure out how to break the spell. I go with Craige, who is assigned to check the extent of the illusion. We gather information, and we learn that the radius of the illusion is only small.
"What a scary spell. Does staying here guarantee our death?" I ask Craige without thinking that I'm not only with him, but also with an arcanist,Grace and one healer,Xyrene. I'm only here as support for the group. Raiven even assigned a healer to us, even though we are already short on healers.
"It's mostly a mental-type illusion," Craige answers calmly. "If we figure out how to break the spell, we can get out without a scratch. But staying here doesn't guarantee our safety either."
I nod at what he says. I've been slacking on theories for the past few months because I wanted to train my body and my chant. "Illusion, huh? Is it dangerous to stay, or is it more dangerous to leave?" I ask again without thinking if I make sense or if I sound like an idiot.
"Depends on your goal. Illusion makes you see things you want,you'll get what you've always hoped for here… and you'll die if you stay." Grace says, while doing most of the work, looking everywhere for a clue and the border of the illusion. Does it even have a border?
"Is it better to leave or stay here when staying will make you experience the things that you dream of?" I ask again, my questions are actually not making sense because who wants to stay in an illusion?
"Depends. People don't like the idea of fake…unreal…not truth…it will only give you false hope." That slaps my nonsensicality about things.
"Do we have a real hope?" Again, I can't let her win this argument that I started. Grace, on the other hand, heaves a deep sigh as she looks at me.
"There's none unless…" Her heavy-lidded eyes gaze at me as she calls for her magic staff. "You create your illusion to escape the illusion of drowning." She turns her back on me as she whispers something. A magic circle appeared, a lot of it.
"Illusio, manifest. Dominus, appear." For a brief moment, we saw the border light up a little bit. I guess we're really stuck here. I move my feet forward to touch it, but it vanishes in an instant, and when I enter it, not from afar, I saw them…Raiven and the others. He immediately sees us, and he turns to us.
They immediately report to him what they found out about the illusion. Hours pass, and they haven't figured out what kind of illusion the sorcerer uses. I joined the discussion even though I couldn't really understand a thing.
"The illusion is spatial." Grace says, "And it is also a temporal." Craige looks at her, trying to understand what she means by that.
She explains calmly. "Inside, time feels normal. Your mind builds full continuity, days, sleep, and movement. But outside…" Craige finishes her thought, his voice lower. "Only an hour passes…or the other way around, here only one hour passes, but in the real world, days have passed already."
Grace and the others nod. Someone points toward the sky, where the sun is already lowering. It moves too naturally, too perfectly, as if nothing is wrong with the world.
"That means we're not just inside an illusion," Craige says quietly. "We're inside a system that replaces space and time."
A heavy silence follows.
"The sorcerer is high-level," one of them mutters. "They made everything too perfect. We didn't even notice the loop."
Another voice cuts in, sharper now. "When night falls, they will attack. This isn't just spatial or temporal. It's also a mental illusion."
No one argues. The realization settles slowly, like something sinking too deep to pull out.
"I never thought we'd face a mage like this," someone says bitterly. "We can't break this easily. It's not just an illusion anymore…it feels like another layer of reality." He spits the last words out.
"Damn these sorcerers. Doing forbidden magic as they please." I whisper, but honestly, I am more amazed by these people who can literally figure out everything. Craige looks at me as he shakes his head. He moves beside me and whispers something in my ear as he puts his hand on my shoulder.
"Remember our mental subject?" I wince when he mentions it. I can barely follow what they're talking about. I almost slept through that lesson because mental-type spells never made sense to me. He puts his hand over my shoulder.
I remove his arm from my shoulder. "Oh well…" I say, then turn to him with a small smile. "Honestly, I want to stay here."
I let out a short laugh, like I'm joking.
"So, good luck!" I clench my fist in front of him, offering it like a simple wish.
"I'd just strike anyone who tries to attack you, so no worries," I add. He shakes his head, but I can hear the faint laugh in his voice.
I keep wondering what kind of illusion this place will show me that would make me choose to stay instead of leaving.
I hope it never shows me something I once cherished. If it does, I think it would break me.
Raiven said that while they're still figuring things out, some of us can rest, as long as we don't sleep. The time here doesn't just affect how we see things, but also how we feel. I don't know why, but my body already feels heavier. It makes me want to sleep.
They also said that if we fall asleep, we might fall into a coma in reality, even if we manage to escape this illusion.
"Don't close your eyes."
I looked at Raiven. For the first time, I wanted to meet his eyes directly. My body felt heavier now. In that moment, it felt like I wasn't Celine anymoreit felt like I was Seraphina.
"I won't…"