Gardenia’s Heart

When all the faeries began screaming in fear, Thelira’s eyebrows shot up.

”What? What do you mean by that?”

It was incredibly rare to see faeries react in such a way.

For the first time, her request for more information was not well received. All the faeries darted toward the cave entrance and fled before the elf could do anything to stop them.

”What did they say?” Nia asked, her voice trembling as she rubbed her temple with one hand.

”We’re on the second floor of the Labyrinth, and it seems they have no idea where my sister or Lady Lily are.”

Thelira’s response made Nia fall into thought. If she understood things correctly, Rhei had separated her from her wife to test the limits of the artifacts. If they were on the second floor, then Lily had to be either on the first or further below.

”And they seem to be terrified of what’s on the third floor. Just asking about it was enough to make them run away,” Thelira added with a quiet sigh.

Since arriving there, she hadn’t been able to do anything to help. She had hoped this would be her chance to make a difference, but she still hadn’t done anything truly useful.

”Even if there’s nothing on this island… if we explore the others, we might start to understand what’s going on and find a way out.”

Standing up, Nia stumbled toward the outside of the cave, and Thelira followed behind her.

”But… Lady Gardenia, are you alright?” Thelira asked, growing concerned as she noticed how unsteady the purple-haired girl was.

”I… I can handle it.” Black wings formed on Nia’s back, and using a tentacle to lift Thelira once again, the two girls took off into the strong wind.

There were over a dozen floating islands—some small enough to barely fit a person, others large enough to resemble small villages.

Nia’s plan was to check them one by one to piece together what she needed to do. But as she tried to push forward, the throbbing pain in her head only grew worse.

“Lady Gardenia!?”

As the wind pulled them harder and her altitude dropped, Thelira cried out. Nia now had both hands pressed against her head. The tentacle that held Thelira began to tremble violently before retracting into Nia’s body.

Thelira, suddenly falling, latched onto Nia’s body as best as she could. The black wings were starting to warp and fray.

”Lady Gardenia, please answer me! What’s happening!?” she asked over and over, but Nia gave no response.

Her emerald eyes darted from Nia’s pained face to the golden dunes below.

They were falling—and something was waiting for them down there.

A centipede-like monster over fifteen meters long scurried across the golden sand, tracking its new prey. If they hit the ground like this, they’d be nothing but a meal.

”I’m sorry for being rough.”

Midair, Thelira shifted Nia onto her back and used her scarf as an improvised strap to hold her securely. Normally, it wouldn’t have been enough, but her outfit was part of Vesca, and the fairy would do her best to ensure Nia didn’t fall.

A strong gust of wind blew, and the black wings finally collapsed completely. They began to plummet.

”You know… I’ve always been bad at casting spells compared to other mages.” Whispering to herself as she steadied her left hand on her bow, Thelira pulled the string back with her right. ”Even though I can shape them, I’ve never been able to fire spells at high speed like other mages. That’s why my mother taught me to shape them differently.”

As they fell, Nia felt her body begin to relax. The pain still gnawed at her, but she could stay conscious—barely. Thelira’s fairy, even if only slightly, was healing her. That realization came just as she noticed a brown arrow forming between Thelira’s fingers.

Thelira’s pupils glowed golden, and she waited.

Landing a shot in this situation should’ve been nearly impossible—but not for the girl who could study failure before it even happened.

The fall continued. The distance between them and the ground grew thinner by the second. When it reached its most fatal point, the string was released, and the arrow flew.

One second later, the centipede leaped toward its prey—and in the next, the arrow struck its body.

“Explode.”

The elf whispered, and with it, a surge of mana burst outward.

Dozens of stone spikes erupted from the arrow and drove into the monster’s hide.

Using the centipede’s massive body as a platform, Thelira sprinted across its length to slow their fall as much as possible. When the creature finally collapsed, already dead, Thelira managed to plant her feet in the sand.

“I thought we were going to die...”

She let out a long, exhausted sigh and lowered her bow. She’d been ready to fire again if needed, but the centipede was finished.

“Are you alright, Lady Gardenia?” Suddenly remembering the state of the girl strapped to her back, Thelira asked with a worried tone.

“...I don’t think I can move anymore.” Nia wasn’t doing much better than before. Vesca seemed to be allowing her to stay awake a little longer, but her mind was far too strained to form any spells.

“It’s going to be okay!”

Before Nia could slip into self-deprecating thoughts again, Thelira shouted in a cheerful tone.

“I’m sure my sister and Lady Lily will find us soon! I might not know the family’s healing spells, but I know Elarielle will be able to help you!”

The sudden burst of optimism caught Nia off guard. Thelira wasn’t in much better shape than she was, and she didn’t even know what was affecting her. Still… in that moment, having someone so full of determination wasn’t unpleasant.

“Do you know that because you can see the future, thanks to the power you got from the Primordial Fairy?”

Nia asked in a low voice, prompting a sheepish expression from Thelira.

“I didn’t risk trying to see that far ahead because of all the uncertainty... but I don’t think that’s what you’re really asking, is it?”

Scratching her cheek and laughing dryly, Thelira began walking away from the corpse of the monster.

Though tired, Nia remembered everything she saw or heard.

Rhei’s words about the past of the elves had caught her attention earlier, though she hadn’t thought deeply about it until now.

Her current body was too drained to be useful—but that just made gathering knowledge all the more important.

“Hm... I guess there’s no reason to hide it anymore... I mean, even that beautiful woman—I mean, the guardian—Rhei, right? Even she knows.” Thelira touched one hand to her strangely flushed face, then turned to walk away from any signs of monsters. “Only a few high elves are born with the innate ability to glimpse the future. It’s a blessing granted directly to our race by the Fairy Queen.”

“Fairy Queen?” Nia echoed.

“Yes. She’s the Guardian Spirit who protects the World Tree—the Primordial Fairy, Nerine.”

As the girl spoke, the orange scarf holding Nia gently fluttered in agreement, prompting her to tilt her head in confusion.

Noticing the puzzled look aimed her way, Thelira continued.

“Faeries were the first inhabitants of the forest. In exchange for the right to live here, the elves have a duty to protect the World Tree.” She brought a hand to her pointed ear. “Nerine is said to be a being who can share her innate powers with others. She’s the one who granted the elves the ability to hear faeries—and the high elves, the ability to hear all living beings.”

She stopped walking and turned to the girl on her back, waving her open palms in front of her face.

“Of course, I’ve never seen her in person! What I’m telling you is what every member of the royal family is taught—and it’s meant to be a secret. So please, don’t tell anyone!”

Nia wondered if she shouldn’t have started the explanation with that, but she let it slide and stared at the girl as if instructing her to go on.

“Besides everything Nerine has granted us, there was one more thing. Faeries are the guardians of memories. Be it the past or the present—they remember it all. As the leaders of those who protect the forest, we superior elves were allowed to wield a power exclusive to the Queen of Faeries: the ability to glimpse into the future.”

Thelira brought her index finger to her face, pointing directly at her eyes.

“Every superior elf born with crescent-moon-shaped pupils carries a part of the Primordial Fairy’s essence within them. Because of that, they eventually develop precognition in some form. Our mother, Virelia—unlike me—even though she could only see a few days ahead, she could observe long periods. From minutes to hours, all of it came to her in vivid detail through her dreams. That allowed her to guide the other heroes across Finis and greatly increased everyone’s chances of survival during the war.”

Nia listened in silence, barely able to string her thoughts into a response.

She could absorb innate abilities and convert them into spells by consuming a creature’s body.

Knowing someone could do the reverse seemed unimaginable.

“No…” She interrupted her own thoughts. It wasn’t that far-fetched—she had seen it before.

Since they shared the same body, Lily could feel the spells Nia used and replicate them based solely on sensation.

Even if it wasn’t quite as simple as Thelira made it sound, the idea itself wasn’t impossible.

“So… in exchange for this innate ability, the Sage is expected to foresee threats?” Her question sounded more like stating the obvious, but the girl carrying her didn’t answer right away.

Even with the strong wind rushing past her face, Nia didn’t miss the way Thelira’s expression shifted—again and again.

“Zaylin told you I used my powers as a Sage to save her after she had an accident, didn’t she?” Thelira bit her lip, then confessed with a painful smile: “That was a lie.”

Nia had never seen that expression on her face before.

“When the war reached its peak, I was the only one among the superior elves who stayed behind in Lampides. My parents, uncles, cousins, grandparents—they all went to the front lines. But only Elarielle and our mother made it back alive.”

Her voice trembled, every word a struggle.

“Mother refused to take another husband. And Elarielle decided not to have children… because she knew what would eventually happen to me if she did. My precognition was never strong, and no one had any expectations of me. But suddenly, I became the only possible heir to the title of Sage.”

Her voice turned somber.

“I just wanted to disappear. If I no longer existed, my sister could be happy. If I vanished and never came back, my family wouldn’t have to keep searching for a cure for me.”

Blood trickled once again from her lips, but Thelira didn’t wipe it away.

Her stomach burned like fire, but she didn’t care.

“When I realized it, I had already left the castle, wandering aimlessly. I was in a quiet part of the city, trying to reach the gates without alerting anyone, when I found Zaylin’s unconscious body. If I had just ignored her, I could’ve escaped. But if I left her like that… she would’ve died.”

Her grip on her bow tightened even more.

“It was just a coincidence that led me to her… but everyone congratulated me for ‘masterfully using my powers for the first time’—and I didn’t have the courage to tell them the truth. Since what I did was reckless, they doubled the guards watching me, and I was never allowed to go out alone again. Disappearing was no longer an option. So I clung to what little I had left.”

She turned her tearful eyes to the girl on her back.

“I didn’t want to die. For the last few decades, the only thing I’ve used my power for was to try to save myself. Everything else—every so-called ‘miracle’—was just a coincidence or desperate attempt to prove myself useful by analyzing things that may be wrong. I don’t even know if it’s true.”

The elf continued to torment herself, her eyes wide and jaw clenched.

“You asked me if I care for my people because they’re special to me… but I’m selfish, aren’t I? As a ruler, I should care about them, but as a person, I only think about my own life. Everyone keeps suffering because of me, and I can’t do anything about it. Because of that selfish wish to live, I even dragged you all into this.”

When her voice finally faded, Thelira, breathless, began to pant heavily. Tears kept falling from her eyes as she looked down again, saying nothing more as she walked on through the desert. Silence returned.

Step after step, Thelira wondered why she had said all of that. She didn’t expect forgiveness.

Though she tried to remain strong, she had no idea if the others would ever find them.

Gardenia was clearly in pain, and Thelira herself could barely keep from crying out—only because her senses were already starting to go numb.

Maybe confessing her sins for the first time had been her final wish. If so, then dying in this desert might be a fitting end for someone as worthless as her.

“Lily’s the one who’s been hurt most by this world… And yet she’s always the first to offer help to others.”

But just as that thought crossed her mind, a soft voice reached her ears.

“I only use my power to help Lily get what she wants and to protect her. That’s what I do. That’s what I promised. I don’t care what anyone else says about it.”

The girl’s voice was growing weaker, her energy fading with every word.

Suddenly, a tremendous noise erupted across the desert.

Colossal centipede-like monsters burst from beneath the ground, racing toward them.

The pounding of their hundreds of legs shook the earth with a deafening rhythm.

But amidst the chaos, Thelira heard one last sentence from the girl before she closed her eyes:

“If this power is yours—then use it for whatever you want.”

A bluish arrow soared through the air, striking one of the beasts in the head.

Nothing happened at first—until, a second later, countless high-pressure water threads burst outward in all directions, slicing the creature’s entire body apart.

“It might not be pretty… But here’s my first promise as a Sage.”

With her bow in hand, Thelira pulled the string once more.

Her eyes, red and swollen with tears, now glowed gold—crescent moon pupils shining brightly.

It didn’t matter if she fell and died there.

It didn’t matter if she never reached her goals and ended up shamed by all.

For the first time, she had made a promise to someone—and she would keep it, even if it cost her life.

“I’m not going to let you die!”

---

The pain was still there, weighing on her body and turning even the simplest movements into a complex task—but somehow, it felt a little more bearable.

When her eyes opened, it didn’t take long for her to grasp her surroundings.

Dark shadows stretched beneath the massive roots above, but the lack of light posed no problem for the girl who could see in the dark.

Her hands were bound to the wooden wall, and her legs were tied together.

Analyzing her situation with a disturbingly calm demeanor, Lily turned her head—the only movement she could still make—and stared at the girl leaning against the wall.

“How long was I unconscious?”

“Almost an hour.”

“I see…”

Elarielle’s answer was simple, and Lily replied in kind.

Closing her eyes, she thought about trying to form a spell, but doubted she’d even be able to in her current state.

Her forehead still burned. It wasn’t the same searing pain as before, but even attempting the smallest bit of magic now felt unimaginable.

The queen stepped away from the wall and slowly approached Lily, her amber axe held in her right hand, its blade pointed toward the girl’s face.

“Your heart... No, not just that. From the first to the last cell in your body, everything is connected to a monster. From your cellular respiration to how your nutrients are transported—none of it is being managed by your own body. It’s all being handled automatically by something external to your organism.”

Raising her left hand, Elarielle revealed a small tuft of Lily’s hair, now partially turned to ash.

“The bond is so complete that even I wouldn’t be able to separate the two of you without killing you both in the process.”

Her emerald eyes narrowed, and rotting green mana began forming at the tip of her weapon.

“I thought it was strange… how much that girl’s spells resembled those used by monsters. The black coloring, the aura she radiated—it all seemed off. But a monster… that can take human form? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Her voice sliced through the air like a blade, each word more imposing than the last.

“Even when we fought in the castle, I didn’t feel her manipulating the mana around her, not even once. At first, I thought it was just because she had an abnormally large mana reservoir. But as absurd as it sounds… that thing is using dark mana, isn’t it?”

She hesitated, seeming to doubt her own logic—but deep down, she knew she wasn’t wrong.

Her piercing emerald gaze locked onto Lily’s heterochromatic eyes, and then came a question as cold as ice.

“Tell me, what exactly are you two?”

And in that moment, Lily answered with a calm that bordered on terrifying.

“Nia is a metamorph.”