Chapter 451
Blessings flowed out from every pore of Aldraya's body, spreading through the air, enveloping Theo in a strange warmth, and then wrapping the two of them within a cocoon of energy that would carry them home.
Slowly, very slowly, they began to descend from the highest dimension where they once stood, from the topmost level of the Golden of Box that had silently witnessed Xavier's evolution and his departure toward the Land of the Gods.
The process of descent unfolded smoothly, passing through layer after layer of reality that had long served as stages for beings of different levels of existence.
They descended through the other four layers of the Golden of Box, catching fleeting glimpses of how reality in those tiers pulsed with life that could never be comprehended by beings of lower levels.
They then entered the Silver of Box, a 7-Dimensional layer of the universe where time and space began to behave in strange and unpredictable ways.
They continued descending into the Bronze of Box, a 6-Dimensional layer that served as the birthplace of ancient heroes and unforgettable legends.
They pierced through the Box of Multiverse, a 5-Dimensional layer that became the vessel for every possibility and every reality that had ever existed.
And finally, after passing through all those layers, after traversing a journey that in terms of physical distance might be infinite yet in terms of time lasted only seconds, Theo and Aldraya arrived precisely at the Multiverse Path, a 4-Dimensional layer that served as the home of ordinary beings, the place where the Star Academy stood with all the secrets hidden within it.
"I can't wait to see it."
During the smooth descent through those layers of reality, within the cocoon of blessing energy that enveloped them both, Theo did something that ordinary beings would never do in moments like this.
From a pocket somehow hidden within his distinctive attire, he pulled out a small yellow book, a book that had long served as a record of his journey witnessing the sequence of events unfolding across all corners of reality.
The book was not large, not striking, not attention-grabbing, yet within it were stored thousands, even millions of records of what had happened, what was happening, and what would happen.
Theo opened the small book carefully, his fingers brushing across each page at a speed impossible for ordinary eyes to follow, searching for something whose existence he knew with absolute certainty, yet still wished to see again as a form of reaffirmation.
After passing through hundreds of pages filled with tiny writings that only he himself could read, Theo's fingers finally stopped at a particular page.
He did not need to read the entire content of that page, did not need to trace every line written there, because what he sought was only a fragment of a sentence, a string of words that formed the core of everything that would come to pass.
His sharp eyes immediately focused on the middle of the page, on a line written in slightly thicker ink than the others, on a sentence that served as the key to the great transformation he would soon witness.
That fragment of a sentence contained, more or less, a statement that sounded like a prophecy, like a formula, like an absolute truth that could not be contested by anyone.
It stated that depression, loss, and the absence of trust in others were the path toward the perfect awakening of the Nothingness under Ilux's control.
Arc One Episode 11 middle, finished.
Fhuuuh!
"Let me feel it more deeply."
Arc One Episode 11 end, begins.
Theo Vkytor's palm lifted slowly, as if piercing through an invisible layer of gravity.
The back of his cold hand was the first to touch Aldraya's forehead, sensing the faint warmth seeping out from the pores of the girl's skin.
He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the pulse beating irregularly beneath her pale temple.
There was something strange, a subtle ripple of energy disturbing the natural rhythm of the girl's body.
Theo then turned his palm over, using the more sensitive inner surface, placing it once again on the same spot.
His long fingers gently traced around Aldraya's temple, brushing through strands of white hair scattered untidily across the pillow.
In the silence of the room, filled only by the faint hum of the Star Academy's air circulation system, he resembled a reader tracing line after line of an invisible book, a book that contained every complaint and pain hidden within the body.
"Am I really having a fever?"
Aldraya, lying there with her white hair spread across the pillow, could only look at the man with tired eyes that still radiated a strange obedience.
Theo's hand lifted again, his cold palm touching the girl's forehead, then pulling away, then touching it again from a different angle.
The process repeated in an almost religious silence, as though he were performing a ritual of examination understood only by himself.
Aldraya did not protest, did not move, simply followed every instruction conveyed through Theo's gentle yet firm hand movements.
Her eyes opened wide when asked, gazing at the dim ceiling, then closed tightly when the same hand slowly shut her eyelids.
Between the repetition of those movements, between Theo's palm coming and going from her forehead, Aldraya felt a strange warmth creeping throughout her body.
It was not fever, nor cold, but rather a kind of energy that made every pore feel open, receiving something unseen.
She allowed Theo to do whatever he wished, letting him examine every corner of her face with meticulous fingers, because within that obedience she found a calmness that could not be explained with words.
The dim room light cast long shadows on the walls, forming silhouettes of two individuals immersed in a silence far more meaningful than thousands of conversations.
After Theo withdrew his hand for the last time and stood beside the bed with an expression as flat as it had been from the beginning, Aldraya finally opened her mouth.
Her voice came out hoarse, like someone who had just awakened from a long dream, asking something simple yet somehow deeply significant in that moment.
She asked whether what she was feeling was truly a fever, whether the heat spreading through her body was a sign that her body was fighting against something unseen.
"Your body temperature is around forty degrees Celsius. If this were a normal human, they likely wouldn't even be able to stand right now."
Hearing the innocent question spoken between breaths that had not yet fully stabilized, Theo felt something strange flowing within his chest.
Something he had never recorded in that small yellow book, something he had never predicted would emerge in any scenario.
Without changing his expression, which remained as flat as the surface of a frozen lake, he extended both hands and gently pinched Aldraya's cheeks between his thumb and index finger.
The pinch was extremely light, almost unnoticeable, more a gesture of familiarity than a physical act meant to cause pain.
Theo's fingers felt the warmth radiating from the girl's cheeks, a clear confirmation of what he had already detected.
Aldraya's body temperature hovered around forty degrees Celsius, a number that should have left anyone utterly weak and powerless.
Yet strangely, the girl's eyes were still able to look at him clearly, still able to ask questions with full awareness, as though the high fever were nothing more than an illusion that had no effect on her body at all.
To be continued…