Gardenia’s Heart

When the girl’s body suddenly went limp and collapsed in the desert, panic once again erupted inside the metamorph.

(Lily! Lily! Lily!)

She kept calling her name, but there was no response.

Quickly kneeling beside the silver-haired girl, Elarielle placed a hand on her neck, urgency flashing in her eyes.

”She’s physically fine. Even her vital signs are stabilizing.” She cast more and more minor healing spells in quick succession, but Elarielle’s expression only grew darker. ”But I can’t wake her. This isn’t about exhaustion or illness.”

Lily was fine. There was nothing wrong with her body. Even considering how uniquely strange her case was, Elarielle could say with confidence—Lily was physically fine.

(Lily, please answer me!) Nia called out once more.

It wasn’t a mental attack. If it had been, the spell she developed while studying the guardian Nox’s heart would have worked.

“Did anything happen while we were separated? Anything that might have hurt her?” Thelira asked, clutching the greenish cape of her sister.

Knowing that the girl was also injured, Elarielle pulled her into her arms and began healing her as well. It wasn’t a complete solution, but it eased the pain. While her green aura spread, she gave her sister a few light taps on the head—a silent signal that she had done well holding everything together on her own.

“We were on the first floor and only managed to get here thanks to Lily. I made sure no monsters touched her…” Elarielle tried to recall everything from the past few minutes. It had all been so chaotic. But when a particular moment came to mind, her eyebrows lifted in surprise.“When we arrived on this floor, she spoke to some fairies that were nearby—and they entered her body. Right after that, she immediately knew where you two were.”

“They entered her?” Thelira, who had begun to relax under her sister’s healing warmth, brought one hand to her chin—the other still firmly gripping her bow. “Since they couldn’t communicate with her normally, the fairies must’ve heard Lady Lily’s desperate plea and passed along their memories of meeting us directly to her.”

“Is that even possible?” the queen asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“Even if there’s no recorded precedent, in a way, a sage’s precognition is just the ability to observe memories of the future created by the essence of the primordial fairy inside us. Even if this was done by ordinary fairies, I can imagine the mental burden Lady Lily endured by receiving so many memories all at once. Honestly, it’s a miracle she didn’t pass out right away.”

As Thelira spoke those words, panic briefly flashed in Elarielle’s eyes—but Thelira quickly shook her head.

“It’s too late. I already told Lady Gardenia everything. She knows about the primordial fairy and the innate abilities granted to us.”

Shrugging, Thelira knew a scolding was coming—but before that could happen, she firmly grabbed her sister’s purple-streaked arms.

“Now, how about you tell me what these wounds are and why you called Lady Gardenia a monster?”

Her piercing gaze made it clear there was no escape.

With no other choice, Elarielle recounted everything that had happened since their separation—including the conversation she had with Lily.

“So Lady Gardenia is a metamorph. That’s… interesting.” Listening silently from start to finish, Thelira adjusted the fairy that served as her scarf around her neck before letting out a surprised sigh.

“Why aren’t you more shocked by this?” Elarielle frowned.

“Sis, unlike you, my understanding of the world is very limited. Aside from elves and fairies, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve met someone from another race.”

Thelira shook her head with exasperation.

“And even if she is a monster who gained consciousness—she’s here, risking her life for me. How could I treat her any differently?”

Then, turning back to her sister, her brows knit tightly.

“What worries me more is the fact that you’ve been hiding these wounds for so long!”

Thelira started lightly punching her sister’s chest, her cheeks puffed in frustration.

“It’s not enough that you’re secretly reading those dangerous book pages—you’ve been hiding even more stuff!”

As the sisters continued their conversation, Nia—who had been silently listening—kept trying to wake her wife somehow, but without success.

Lily’s body was in perfect condition, but her mind remained dormant. They had finally reunited… and now she was in this state.

“For now, I’ll move Lily’s body.”

When those words were spoken, both elves turned toward the silver-haired girl, who had suddenly stood up. The voice came from Lily’s mouth—but it wasn’t her speaking.

“Ehh… creepy.”

Elarielle groaned, immediately realizing what was happening.

Moving Lily’s body was as simple for Nia as moving her own. Though she was worried about her wife’s condition, Nia knew she couldn’t just remain in the desert or walk away and give up.

She shared senses with Lily. Even if she couldn’t know what her wife was thinking, she was certain Lily had been calm before losing consciousness.

Lily trusted the metamorph enough to continue exploring the labyrinth—to the point of revealing that she was a monster to that hero and turning her into an ally, so the girl could use her powers without limitations.

Nia trusted Lily. And Lily trusted Nia. With that absolute truth held tightly in her heart, she would continue on.

“First, I’ll eat those monsters,” Nia remarked over her shoulder, walking toward the nearby centipedes.

Because their innate abilities were relatively simple, one specimen was enough for her to master—but more samples always helped with study.

With smooth motions, several tentacles extended from her back, spreading around each of the fallen monsters and slowly melting them down.

“So those spells were actually innate abilities you absorbed? The wings and everything else too?” Approaching curiously, Thelira observed the silver-haired girl—now clearly Nia—working intently, her expression intrigued.

“Yes. That’s basically it.”

Just because Lily had explained the basics didn’t mean Nia had to elaborate. She chose not to go into detail. Besides, she wasn’t fond of talking to others much.

“Is there anything else you can do? I heard metamorphs gain traits from what they absorb. Can you manipulate your body? Since you’re Lady Lily’s organs now, are you always thinking about how to perform each function? When you devour something, where does it go? Do you even poo—”

Before she could finish her barrage of questions, Nia hoisted her into the air with a tentacle.

“S-Sorry! I got carried away!”

Dangling and swaying, Thelira turned bright red as she realized she’d crossed into sensitive territory.

“I noticed this earlier, but you really lose your patience fast, Paper Eater.”

Approaching her sister, Elarielle easily grabbed and released the elf tangled in tentacles, holding her in her arms.

“Even though I don’t plan to act against you now, don’t forget—I won’t hesitate to end you if you ever become a threat.”

Killing someone over what they might become wasn’t right. While she’d agreed to give this absurdly dangerous creature a chance, Elarielle hadn’t forgotten the risk Nia represented.

“I won’t harm either of you,” Nia replied with a cool shrug. “Lily wouldn’t want that.”

Having finished analyzing the monsters, she walked back toward the two sisters.

“My dark mana reserves are full. We won’t have trouble searching for the exit.” Now that her body was whole again, no interference from the barrier would harm her. Though she wanted to wait for Lily to recover, she still didn’t fully understand what had caused her collapse—so there was little she could do for now. The sooner she obtained the next volume of the Book of Truth, the sooner she could gain the power and knowledge to possibly fix this. That meant she had to keep moving forward.

“So you really can use dark mana as if it were regular mana… That would be incredibly useful on a battlefield.”

Elarielle, one hand resting on her chin, muttered in thought as she watched.

“What do you mean, sister?” Thelira tilted her head and asked.

“The amount of mana in someone’s reservoir isn’t infinite. Eventually, they’ll need to rest and recover. The more mages gathered in one place, the more the mana disperses, and the longer it takes for even one of them to recover their power.”

The queen didn’t need to continue for Thelira to understand what she meant.

Except for the moments when dark mana concentrates to create a monster, all the rest was available to that girl.

“That’s incredible!” Thelira brought her hands to her face, covering her dropped jaw.

If they were on a battlefield, Nia could constantly replenish herself regardless of how many mages were around her.

“Yes. Incredibly dangerous,” Elarielle sighed, turning her face toward the silver-haired girl who was now staring at her with indifference. Even if the face was the same, the feeling it gave off was entirely different.

“You said the first floor was inverted, didn’t you?” Nia finally spoke, pointing a tentacle—now free from holding the elf—toward the ground.

“Yes,” Elarielle answered.

Nia closed her eyes for a moment, and then the tentacle pointed upward.

“If the same force that inverts gravity on the lower floor is responsible for making these islands float, then the exit must really be up there.”

Opening her eyes, Nia spread her wings and summoned two tentacles.

“I only carry Lily in my arms. If you two want to go up without my help, you can climb the walls.”

The elves glanced between the writhing purple tentacles and the colossal wooden wall towering before them. Both swallowed hard in unison.

Moments later, all three girls were airborne.

“We’re never going to speak of this again,” Elarielle muttered, one hand covering her face.

“It’s not so bad once you get used to it,” Thelira replied with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

As the girls gradually came to accept the absurdity of their situation, the wind picked up, and soon they were soaring above all the islands.

“Disregarding the rocks smaller than a person, there are fifteen small islands and seven about the size of villages,” Nia noted in a low tone.

“I can see some broken structures… Are there any remnants left in them?” Elarielle asked.

“There’s a kind of artifact that can rotate the island,” Thelira commented, holding her windblown hair. “Lady Gardenia moved some of them, but we couldn’t figure out their purpose.”

Landing on the first island they had visited, Nia led the group to the ruined house where they had first found the sphere.

“This is a simple movement mechanism. There’s no advanced technology behind it,” Elarielle said, sliding her fingers over the orb and spreading her mana across its surface. “Though it’s of inferior quality, I’ve seen humans use similar systems in their great cities to move bridges.”

The elf’s indifferent comment made Nia raise an eyebrow.

“I thought artifacts from the ancient era were rare?”

“Only humans think of dividing things that way. I heard they classify their magic as current or ancient just because some were used a few hundred years ago.” The queen sighed. “In any case, this is just rotating the island on its axis. I believe your theory is correct—that the labyrinth itself is keeping these islands afloat.”

Nia realized that, for beings with such long life spans, there was little sense in separating the magic you used today from the magic you used two or three centuries ago.

“Hm… setting that aside,” Thelira raised her voice, shrinking into herself as she pulled her scarf tighter around her neck and face, “could you turn the island again? Maybe block the wind from coming in here? It’s getting really cold.”

The girl’s trembling voice made the two women—completely unaffected by the cold or wind—turn to her.

“Now that you mention it…” Elarielle muttered. Channeling a bit of mana into the orb, she shifted the island so that the room’s walls blocked the draft. “This wind is anything but natural.”

Stepping outside the structure, the metamorph surveyed the island they were on—and the surrounding ones.

Nia remembered Thelira’s earlier comment.

There was no reason for such strong wind in such an enclosed space.

“And then there’s that noise.” Nia let her words hang in the air, but the other girls didn’t miss the comment.

“Noise?” Elarielle asked, closing her eyes and channeling mana into her ears. “You’re right, it’s not just the wind being strong.”

Thelira watched the two girls deep in thought, a confused look spreading across her face. She could tell she was being left out of the conversation, not understanding what they had realized.

“Um… did you figure something out?”

Elarielle walked over to her and ruffled her golden hair.

“Good work.”

Feeling the warmth of her sister’s hand reassuring her that she had done well only made Thelira’s confusion deepen, but before she could ask anything, Nia’s wings reappeared.

“I’m moving the next island.”

Without another word, she took off swiftly, flying toward the cavern they had visited earlier.

With care, she touched the orb, her eyes closed in deep concentration. At the same time, Elarielle did the same from where she stood. The wind cut through the sky, brushing past the floating islands. It didn’t matter where it came from—what mattered was what it did. Slowly, both islands began to rotate.

The wind that swept across the labyrinth’s sky slipped between the suspended islands. Each crumbled column, every destroyed house, and every sandstone boulder twisted the air around them.

At first, it was just a cacophony of sorrow. A powerful, incessant hum—so grating it made one want to cover their ears. But gradually, it was as if the sky itself began to breathe in harmony.

“The noise… it’s getting quieter.” The wind still tugged lightly at her hair, but Thelira couldn’t focus on that now. She turned and saw Nia flying back toward them.

Her face looked as blank as always, but there was a subtle smile—just a slight upward curve of the lips—that made it clear.

“We need to adjust all the islands,” Nia said, extending her tentacles to lift the girls again before taking off.

“L-Lady Gardenia… What’s going on?” Still not following, Thelira called out.

“The wind flows across the entire ceiling of this floor,” Elarielle explained, stepping in since she knew the metamorph wouldn’t elaborate. “Every time it passes over an island, it creates a dissonant sound. Rotating the islands changes how the wind hits them, which changes the noise.”

The larger islands were too far apart to reach without using the smaller ones as stepping stones. If jumping were their only option, it would be risky due to the height—and every failed jump meant facing the monsters on the ground again. Climbing the walls every time would take days. But with Nia’s wings, all of that could be ignored.

After that, it became a matter of patience.

Flying from one large island to another, the girls searched for the orbs. As expected, every sizable island had one hidden somewhere.

It took a few hours to locate and adjust each one based on the sound they produced. But without the fear of being attacked and with the ease of movement, the once-jarring, disorienting noise that filled the floor began to transform into something pleasant.

“It’s like music,” Thelira whispered, closing her eyes and enjoying the sound drifting through the air. Somehow, even the discomfort in her body seemed to ease.

“If this wasn’t inside a labyrinth, I wouldn’t mind listening to it a little longer,” Elarielle said softly, her fingers resting on the orb of the fifteenth island. She glanced at her sister, who was now sitting on a rock, legs swinging back and forth without a care.

“Not me. Please hurry.” Nia’s voice came flatly, her eyes locked on the hero’s face, tentacles already extending again in warning.

“Okay, okay,” Elarielle muttered, rolling her eyes before finishing the final adjustment.

The moment the final island reached its ideal position, the last note of dissonance in the sound vanished. The wind turned calm and pleasant, enveloping everything.

At first, nothing happened—enough to make the girls wonder if they had misunderstood something. But gradually, the entire structure of the floor began to tremble.

From the ceiling above, a small passage opened, drawing the attention of the three girls.

“I think that’s our exit,” Elarielle said, placing a hand on her axe with a sigh. “My mana’s recovered enough. I’m glad we didn’t have to open another hole—I’ll be ready for whatever’s waiting for us up there.”

“I hope it’s not another desert. Vesca can’t take much more sand on her body,” Thelira said, brushing more golden grains off her clothes. She smiled, relieved they had finally found a way forward.

Nia, meanwhile, stared silently toward the opening—serious and unwavering—before taking off into the sky.

The two sisters, already used to being swept up without warning, accepted the abrupt lift without complaint and watched the desert shrink below them.

Two black wings beat swiftly, and in moments, the group had crossed into the third floor.

Nia knew the guardian was dangerous. From the beginning, she had placed several limitations on her—nearly taking her life by separating her from her wife. Nia didn’t know what kind of restrictions she might face now, so she was prepared to be attacked the moment they crossed over.

“...What?”

But landing on the grassy field ahead, she raised a hand to her face, both brows lifting in confusion.

“Is something wrong, Lady Gardenia?”

Seeing the strange reaction, both elves immediately readied themselves for battle. But the words that followed were far from what they expected.

“The barriers... I don’t feel their effects here.”

In front of Nia, a portal resembling a starry sky took shape. She placed her hands inside, watching her fingers emerge ten meters away—exactly where she had aimed.

“The barrier surrounding the forest—aside from the area near the city—disrupts teleportation. We’re not in Lampides, so how has that interference disappeared?”

Elarielle arched a brow, unease blooming in her chest.

“I still can’t teleport outside… or to the other floors,” Nia added, each word laced with growing confusion. “But here... there’s nothing stopping me.”

What was happening? That question echoed over and over in Nia’s mind. Even the interference that had been targeting the artifact allowing her to maintain a physical form was gone.

“The guardian is… helping us?” Elarielle muttered, glancing between the two girls, expecting them to reject her suggestion. But instead, both looked back at her with equal seriousness.

“There’s something here,” Thelira said, gripping her bow tighter. “Something frightening enough to keep even the labyrinth’s native fairies away.”

The three girls scanned their surroundings.

This floor was dimmer than the ones before—more like a late afternoon nearing sunset. A field of grass stretched out in all directions, with a clean, well-trodden dirt path extending from the newly opened passage all the way to a forest on the distant horizon.

Exchanging glances, the group began to walk forward. There were no monsters, but none of them let their guard down.

“There’s a structure ahead, but I can’t feel anything from that direction.”

With the barrier’s effects absent, Nia’s mana-location spell worked perfectly. She scanned the path ahead dozens of times, but found no trace of any presence. She could easily create a portal straight there—but something deep inside warned her not to.

When they finally reached the edge of the forest, Nia spotted a small flower field nearby. Without a word, she broke away from the group and laid down among the blossoms.

In the next instant, emerging from the body of the silver-haired girl, a girl with violet hair and a black dress appeared.

“Lady Gardenia, are you already well enough to walk?” Thelira asked, watching the girl pick up one of the swords from the waist of the unconscious girl.

“I won’t push Lily any further,” Nia replied, placing a gentle kiss on the girl’s forehead.

Her mana-location spell still reported nothing, but she couldn’t settle her nerves. The metamorph knew it was a bad idea to fight using Lily’s body and risk putting it in danger.

“I love you.” she whispered into her ear, then hugged Lily tightly one last time before turning and walking away.

“There’s something up ahead. I don’t know what it is, but I’m sure something is there.”

Elarielle’s eyes dropped to her left hand. For the first time in ages, her fingers trembled slightly—without cause.

“Take some of these.”

Elarielle placed her backpack on the ground and pulled out a few gold-encased potions, handing them to the others. “Even superior potions are weaker than my magic, but if something happens and I can’t protect you, use them.”

The thought of leaving Thelira behind with Lily crossed her mind—but having her out of sight felt even worse. Unlike the metamorph, Elarielle couldn’t be in two places at once.

Both Nia and Thelira accepted the potions in silence, not uttering a single complaint. That alone reflected the weight of the unease rising in their hearts.

Weapons in hand, all three nodded in quiet agreement and entered the forest.

There was nothing special about the place. The trees were small—unlike the colossal ones outside. Each step brought them closer to the edge of the floor. After a long walk, the canopy finally opened up, revealing what awaited them.

It resembled a forgotten sanctuary, hidden deep within the forest. Carved stone walls were wrapped in ancient roots and moss, like long-abandoned ruins.

Petals floated through the breeze, drifting between cascading waterfalls that arched gracefully. At the far end stood a stone staircase, rising between ancient pillars, leading up to a massive door embedded in the cavern wall.

“Why place such an obvious entrance now? … It’s almost like she’s telling us there’s no point hiding it,” Thelira asked, a nervous rhythm in her chest.

Both the first and second floors had concealed exits—ones that required observation and thought to uncover. That made it hard for the elf to understand why this one was now so clearly displayed before them.

“If we get through that door, we should be able to get out of here,”

Elarielle said, her eyes scanning the area. Nia nodded in agreement.

“Yes, let’s—”

The metamorph didn’t finish her sentence.

Because, in a single instant...

It appeared.

The reflection of the waterfalls distorted its monstrous shape.

Its silent steps never disturbed the harmony of the place—but its presence, like death itself, made the air feel heavy.

The black wolf was colossal, stained with a spectral purple that seemed to devour the light around it. Its thick fur flowed like black ink, dripping onto the ground as if its very existence were a mistake in the natural order of the world.

Its eyes—not just two, but many—were scattered across its skull and back, glowing with a glacial blue as they watched those who dared to stand before it from every angle.

On its back, curved blades of ghostly white twisted like tree branches, pulsing with a macabre light.

As it walked, its sharp claws etched into the stone floor, each step leaving behind a shadowy trail that dissolved like smoke. Its long tail slithered like a restless serpent.

“N-No...” the queen gasped.

Born from the concentrated dark mana buried deep beneath the forest…

That thing was a being forged for one purpose: destruction.

They hadn’t come to fight today—but there wasn’t a single elf alive from that time who wouldn’t remember the aura radiating from that presence.

There was no way it could be here.

It had been killed—defeated by the former queen. They were certain it was dead.

But this wasn’t an illusion. It wasn’t a mimic.

“The Torment...”

That creature now stood before them.