I was in a cabin; it was snowing so hard outside that I thought it was going to bury us, but I wasn't cold. Even though I had a small, fragile body, I didn't feel cold at that moment, because he was holding me close, as if I were trapped in his arms, crying on my shoulder.
"Please, Oberon, never leave, never part from me, stay alive, cling to life even if it hurts—that's all that matters."
That melancholic, sad voice that seemed familiar to me was the only thing I remembered before opening my eyes to see the food they were feeding me moving.
"WHAT THE HELL?"
Shouting that simple phrase made me dizzy, forcing me to calm down quickly. I looked around and saw only the woman standing in front of me; she was the one feeding me with… well, I don't even want to confirm my assumptions.
"You finally woke up. I started to think what I was doing was pointless."
"Who are you? What… is this?"
I looked around again. My head ached, my strength waned with every movement I made, and just taking in visual information made me nauseous.
"This is my camp, and you've been sleeping for a month and a half.What's the last thing you remember?"
I clutched my head, trying to remember beyond the strange dream I'd had. I managed to recall the last thing I saw: Krax's body on the ground.
"I was fighting wolves and passed out from… I think from the Malice."
"Yes, at least your brain is fine. I saved your life. You used your Malice without regard for your reserves, which caused you to enter hypometabolism—or, in other words, a state of biological slowdown. You really do cling to life."
— Elena gets up, leaving her plate still full next to Obi, and heads back to her tent —
"Sorry, umm"
"Elena"
"Sorry, Elena, may I ask where my companions are?"
"The redhead went to train even though I advised against it, and the anthropomorph went hunting to bring back more beetle larvae"
Those last words confirmed my suspicions. I looked down with nausea at the plate, where a nest of larvae writhed ceaselessly. I didn't even have the strength to vomit; the sight only served to drag me back to the cave where I'd started, the memory of the bitter taste of what I'd been forced to swallow to stay alive returning to torment me.
"Who exactly are you? An adventurer or something?"
"I'm a mage."
Those words were enough to pique my curiosity; I shifted into a better position, one that was less painful for my back.
She said she was a mage—a mage like the ones I'd read about in stories.
"A mage? Like the ones who can control time, the elements, and everything?"
"Well, sort of. Those kinds of mages don't exist in the same way anymore; the tower has rendered us unable to use magic naturally"
— Oberon kept his gaze fixed, but his pupils seemed lost in a labyrinth of concepts he couldn't connect —
"Disabled from magic? How is that possible?"
"Simply because there's no mana in the air anymore. That caused mages to split into two categories: magical engineers—which is what I am—and Orators."
"And what…?"
"Oberon?"
My question was interrupted by a familiar voice—the first one I'd heard besides my own when I appeared in the tower. When I turned my head toward that voice, there he was: Kaelen, in an appearance I recognized because it was the first version of him I'd ever seen.
"You finally woke up"
That expression, on the other hand, was the first time I'd seen it on his face—a genuine smile, a slight tilt of his head, and eyes that lit up. It was so unnatural to see that kind of expression on such an animal-like body, but I couldn't help but smile back in response.
"Kaelen, thank you for saving us. It must have been hard taking care of us."
"Of course it was. You guys always get yourselves into trouble."
"Haha, yeah, sorry about that."
It was nice to be able to talk relatively normally after everything I'd been through. Visually, everything seemed strange to me, but Kaelen's presence put me at ease.
"How are you feeling?"
"I still have some discomfort, but it's bearable."
"There's nothing more I can do with what I have. If only I had a wound weaver, I could have healed your internal injuries more thoroughly."
My attention was once again drawn to Elena, who was speaking; at the same time, I searched my mind in vain for what a wound weaver was—its name was quite simplistic.
"What is that?"
"A rather expensive artifact. You have a fairly fragile physical constitution, though your great mental resilience makes up for it. If I had that artifact, I could heal you almost completely."
"What's my diagnosis?"
"Your body is weakening due to misuse of Malice; swollen muscles; several fractured bones, including your back and all your ribs; and most dangerously, one of your ribs is nearly broken—there's a risk it could pierce your lung."
It seems my troubles weren't over yet. After the cave, the beast, and the wolves, now I had to fight against my own body.
"Don't worry, we just have to get that artifact"
That voice was familiar to me too, though less so. As I turned my head, I saw a man emerging from the forest, sweating, with his hood over his shoulder and a sword in hand.
"I see you're awake"
"And you're already training? You won't heal properly if you keep this up"
"Don't worry about that—I'm pretty tough. Tell me, how are you feeling?"
"Oohhh, so now you're worried about me?"
"I can also help you go back to sleep"
"Just look at him acting. You must have been impatient to see me—I'm back, my friend"
Friend—a word perhaps a bit bold. Still, I was surprised to see how that word transformed Krax's irritation into a smile directed at me.
"Well, you seem to have plenty of energy. That means we can get going."
"Get going? To go where?"
— Elena stepped out of her tent, her clothes and bag already packed, and began taking everything down —
"We're going to Caelum-Vena, where the sky drips into the sea."