Darkness.
A heavy, oppressive darkness that wrapped and enveloped everything like a black shroud, suffocating the senses and swallowing any trace of light or hope.
Or at least, this is what Arthur Leonharth was feeling at present, as if he were floating in an infinite void of nothingness, where there was no sound, no light, no sense of space or time. It was like falling into a bottomless abyss or drowning in an ocean of thick black ink.
But after some time, he didn't know whether it was mere minutes or hours or even days, consciousness had begun seeping into him very slowly, like thin threads of light piercing through the thick veil of darkness. It was painful, as every attempt to wake up brought with it a new wave of sharp pain that pierced his head and body.
The first thing Arthur felt, as soon as he had regained some of his consciousness and sense of the world around him, was simply pain. The pain bloomed behind his eyes like dark flowers. Besides that, there was a strange feeling of heaviness and severe exhaustion that filled every cell in his body, as if someone had replaced his bones with heavy lead and his muscles with stone.
"Ugh..." Arthur groaned in a weak, faint voice, barely audible even to his own ears. He tried to open his eyes, but even this simple movement seemed to require superhuman effort.
When he finally managed to open his golden amber eyes with great difficulty, the first thing that greeted him was the dim, flickering light of a small flame. The light was faint, but it was more than enough to make Arthur's eyes water from the intense, sharp pain, which prompted him to close them quickly again, waiting a few moments before trying again, but this time with greater caution.
After some time, he had opened his eyes once again, very slowly, and the picture of the world around him began to clear. Arthur noticed that he was still within the confines of the cave where he had fought the mysterious shadowy entity, though not in the exact same spot where he had lost consciousness. He also realized that he was lying on something relatively soft, perhaps a piece of cloth or a robe, with a light cover draped over his body.
"Oh, I see you've finally woken up..." came a weak voice from beside him, a familiar feminine voice filled with relief, though mixed with concern.
Upon hearing that familiar weak voice, Arthur, with great effort, turned his head toward the source. He saw the mysterious girl sitting beside him, the very same girl who, by all accounts, had been dead, yet was somehow still "alive" right in front of him right now. Her hair was a mix of brown and blonde, and her bright blue eyes reflected the faint glow around her. Her back leaned against the rocky cave wall, and she appeared even weaker than the last time he had seen her. Arthur noticed her frighteningly pale face and how her eyes, which had once glowed brightly, were now dull and tired. Nevertheless, he could also see the clear relief on her features as she noticed him waking up.
Arthur asked, "How... How long have I been unconscious?" instead of merely responding to her concern.
"Rude, but anyway, you've been unconscious for almost two full days, little one," the mysterious girl answered in a calm voice, extending her hand to touch his forehead gently, checking his temperature. "After you used that mysterious power of yours, whatever it was... you, dear little hero, completely collapsed. You were in a state of severe aether depletion, and your condition was extremely miserable to the point that I feared you might never wake up again at all, that you might accompany me on my journey to the other side."
Upon hearing her response, Arthur's eyes involuntarily trembled at her absurd remark. Yes, he had been dangerously close to death, but was there really any need to joke about such matters? Still, realizing that the severe depletion of his aether reserves and the use of the power of his "Mystic Eyes of Absurdity" could have been fatal, Arthur knew he could no longer ignore the truth. It struck him like a sharp slap to the face, and he resolved to use his etheric power, mystical arts, and mystical abilities with far greater caution from now on.
Yet another matter caught his attention, the fact that he had been unconscious for two whole days.
"Two days? Are you saying I was unconscious for two full days?" At first, Arthur hadn't realized it, but after processing her words, he was shocked. He had expected to be unconscious for a few hours at most, not days.
"The shadowy entity, that creature of shadows..." Arthur muttered, trying to sit up, but the pain and weakness forced him to remain lying down. "What happened to it after I lost consciousness? And if two full days have really passed, how are you still here and haven't crossed to the other side? Weren't you already about to disappear back then when I started fighting the shadow entity?"
"It had disappeared completely," the girl answered, helping him lie down more comfortably. "After you controlled that water charged with etheric energy to strike it, and prevented it from using its death and decay power with your strange command... it disintegrated and dissipated into nothingness. Nothing remained of it except a handful of black dust scattered by the wind."
Arthur felt some relief upon hearing that, but it was accompanied by another wave of sharp pain in his head, making him groan. "Don't try to move too much," the girl advised, her weak voice laced with clear concern. "Your body still needs to rest. Whatever you did... that power you used... it drained more than just your aether. It has also drained your vitality and life energy as well."
Arthur closed his eyes again, trying to absorb everything that was happening around him. He still remembered the moment vividly when he had awakened the power of the "Mystic Eyes of Absurdity," the immense energy coursing through his veins, and the commands he had imposed on the very fabric of reality itself. But he also remembered the warning that came with that power, that using it would have a steep price.
And now, he was paying that price.
"As for the reason I'm still in this world and haven't crossed to the other side just yet," the girl continued, her voice weak yet carrying a faintly cheerful lilt, a genuine warmth hidden beneath her playfulness. "It's all thanks to you, my dear little hero."
Arthur's eye twitched. That nickname was starting to grate, but he still chose to ignore it.
"All thanks to me? What do you mean by that?" Arthur asked, curiosity clearly etched across his features. He couldn't understand how he had any role in her remaining here, even for a few additional days. After all, he had no connection to the edict of death or life, nor to any mystical arts related to them.
The girl smiled faintly, her glowing blue eyes sparkling as she lifted her gaze to his pale, weary face. In a voice that carried both seriousness and playfulness, she whispered, "I mean exactly what I said. Thanks to you, in the final moments of your fight against the shadow of death, you didn't merely destroy it. But also at the same time, you had freed a part of my etheric essence, a fragment of the death edict's power that belonged to me and had been stolen from me when the shadow of death had killed me. That is what gave me the ability to resist the pull of the other side on my soul and allowed me to remain here, in this world, until now."
"Anyway, leaving that aside for now, are you still insisting on not telling me what exactly that power is that you used against the shadow of death?" she asked, her voice laced with curiosity. "While my family isn't one of those great and ancient families or even renowned for their mastery of mystery, as the heiress of the Rose family, or rather its former heiress now, since I'm dead and all, I've seen many arcane powers and mystical arts. But what I witnessed from you then was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was as if you were rewriting the very laws of reality itself."
Arthur opened his eyes slowly and looked at the rocky ceiling of the cave. How could he explain something he himself didn't fully understand or even comprehend?
"I... I don't know exactly," Arthur answered honestly, his voice still weak. "All I know is that this power was dormant within me, somehow connected to what's called the 'Golden Blood.' When I reached the utmost depths of despair, in that critical moment, it... awakened."
Now, normally, with his cautious personality, Arthur would have never revealed anything as sensitive as his "Golden Blood" about himself to anyone, much less to a stranger. Especially not after he had discovered how an entire demonic cult had spent nearly half a decade trying to eliminate him just because of it, going so far as to set up a direct ambush just to capture and dispose of him. It was something even the Supreme Council seemed to fear, or so Arthur had gathered from his meeting with Chloe von Zeitbren, the Zeitbren descendant, and from his earlier discussion with William when he had approached him about joining Asteria Academy.
But since the mysterious girl, who had claimed to be from the Rose family, didn't seem to have much time left in this world, and because Arthur instinctively felt he could trust her as if he had always known her, he didn't mind sharing a secret or two.
Upon hearing Arthur's response, the girl fell silent, surprise flickering across her pale features and in the glow of her shining blue eyes. At last, she spoke in a calm, almost knowing tone, "Golden Blood, huh… that explains a lot, actually. You're not just an ordinary child, are you, little one?"
"Arthur… Arthur Leonharth. That's my name. So, will you tell me yours? Ah, and by the way, yes, I'm not an ordinary person at all. Far from it, actually," Arthur said with a faint trace of playfulness, though his voice was still weighed down by exhaustion. He had given her his name while seizing the chance to ask about hers, hoping to ease the tension that had begun to settle between them after he had revealed the truth about his Golden Blood.
"Arthur... huh, well, remember it."
She paused, using his actual name for the first time.