Gardenia’s Heart

The little girl, Isolde, moved her tiny legs with all the energy her exhausted body could still muster.

She wasn’t exactly a morning person. As someone who proudly got out of bed just in time for breakfast, the first ray of sunlight slipping through her bedroom curtains was her usual alarm clock.

But that day, Isolde had insisted on accompanying her mother on the early morning shopping trip for the very first time. She was setting out on a journey through the city before the sun had even risen.

The hanging bridges connecting the trees, lined with lanterns and filled with the pleasant smell of the first bakery batches of the day, felt like another world to someone like her.

Dutifully, Isolde did her best to help her mother carry the groceries and pick out the vegetables. If she behaved, she knew she could ask for a treat. So, she waited patiently until everything was finished and then asked for her favorite sweets.

A cookie from the first batch of the day — that was something she could proudly show off to her friends at school. They should have gone home already, but because of her request, they ended up staying in line at the bakery.

That’s when it all began.

Not just one, but several loud noises erupted all around at once, shaking the ground beneath her feet. Screams broke out, and the colorful world she loved so dearly was swallowed by flashes of light.

Her mother must have dropped the grocery bag, because all the breakfast ingredients fell to the ground along with the basket.

She didn’t understand what was happening.

The intense ringing in her ears from the explosion made it impossible to hear the words coming from her mother’s mouth. Something dangerous was happening—Isolde had never seen her mother wear such a terrified expression.

They ran.

The smell of smoke burned her nose, forcing her tiny hand to cover her face.

Following the crowd of elves gathering in the streets, Isolde ran beside her mother toward somewhere—anywhere. She wasn’t tall enough to see over the crowd, and through the gaps between legs, she had no idea where they were headed.

The little girl knew she should never have let go. She should’ve held on to that hand. But her body was being pressed on all sides, and when another explosion struck, she simply couldn’t hold on.

Slipping off the bridge, Isolde fell straight to the forest floor. Somehow, several thick bushes cushioned the fall, but her whole body stung so badly that tears welled in her eyes.

And that wasn’t even the worst part.

It was nighttime now, and she should’ve been able to see under the moonlight. But a gray mist began to cloud her vision.

Isolde wanted to scream for help, to call out to someone above the bridges to come get her, but she couldn’t. The mist was cold, terrifying. It filled her lungs and turned every attempt to breathe into pain.

Her reddened legs burned, but she forced herself to move, sobbing as she stumbled forward.

Then, she heard something heavy dragging across the ground.

It wasn’t explosions. The deep impacts shaking the grass were being caused by something alive.

There was a silhouette in the fog ahead of her.

A warped figure, like a poorly painted nightmare.

Eight thin, angular legs trembled like blades.

Several green eyes glowed with a spectral light through the grayish blanket of fog.

All the air escaped her lungs.

Her throat tightened, and no scream came out.

Isolde had heard stories about the monsters.

Creatures that roamed the forests outside the city, but never came in because of the barriers.

Yet to her, monsters were no different than the ghosts adults said would come for her at night if she stayed up too late.

Things like that weren’t real.

And yet, she was so afraid that tears were already rolling down her cheeks.

But that meant nothing to the many-meter-tall spider that began walking toward her, spreading its webs as it moved.

Every part of her being told her to run, but her body trembled uncontrollably.

Isolde felt like her heart could stop at any moment, crushed beneath the weight of her own fear.

Would she never see her mother again?

Would she never see her friends again?

She shrank back, her back pressed against one of the trees, while her mind was flooded with questions she had no answer to.

As the monster drew closer, Isolde could see her own face reflected in its eyes.

Her expression was dreadful, her best clothes were filthy, and her face was soaked in tears and sweat.

She knew what was going to happen. She would be killed by the monster—there was no doubt about it.

And precisely because of that, Isolde couldn’t comprehend what happened next.

It was just a single, literal blink.

The emerald spider’s head, now completely frozen, was simply lying on the ground.

In disbelief, she blinked once more.

“Isolde!?”

And she was in her mother’s arms.

The little girl had no idea how she’d gotten there so fast.

Yet, as the warmth of her mother’s embrace once again surrounded her—even though her body was aching all over—she remembered something.

A silver, gentle blur.

That was all she had managed to see.

---

Although Lampides was a city designed like a network of bridges, it had, like any other place, its main streets.

A circular platform of wood and stone rose above the ground in an open space between the trees.

What was once considered the central market plaza of the city was now drenched in blood and fire.

And walking through the flames stood a solitary man.

An obsidian eyepatch covered half his face. His dark hair, streaked with gray at the ends, fell over his shoulders, matching the flowing white fur coat and the formal outfit of green and white beneath it.

With a smooth motion, Riari wiped the blood from his boot, scraping the sole against the ground.

His black eyes fell to the partially shattered vial in the hands of the elf soldier he had just killed.

As the general of the army, Riari knew every one of his soldiers.

He knew the man lying dead at his feet hadn’t fully agreed with his leadership, but had been disciplined enough that Riari had never needed to act or punish him for insubordination.

The yellow-green liquid leaking from the broken vial had a smell reminiscent of burnt oil.

The substance, clearly flammable, when combined with explosive spells, had its potency amplified—capable of causing colossal damage even when used by mages with little experience in fire magic.

“This wasn’t just a simple terrorist attack.”

Raising his left palm forward, Riari surveyed the surroundings. The fire roared like a beast, spreading through the nearby structures in powerful tongues of flame. The heat distorted the air, turning everything into embers.

He couldn’t allow it to continue.

In his outstretched hand, a small whirlwind began to swirl. A direct gust would only feed the fury of the flames, but with the right control, something new could be done.

Air spun in a powerful spiral across the entire plaza, like an invisible hand. The small cyclone compressed the surrounding atmosphere, draining away all the oxygen-rich air.

The orange light of the flames flickered. Where a hellish blaze once raged, now only black embers and a heavy vacuum remained.

Riari lowered his hand, and the wind dissipated.

Letting out a small sigh, the elf knew he couldn’t stand still. Moving swiftly, Riari sprinted across the wooden bridges. Quickly turning his head to the side, he spotted several armored men.

Snapping to a quick salute, the soldiers rushed into formation, joining the elf.

“General Riari, your orders, please.” Though trained for situations like this, the soldier’s voice was trembling.

With the queen out of the city, it was up to Riari to lead the army—but the situation could hardly be worse.

Multiple elves had started fires throughout the forest, and the barrier protecting the city had vanished.

Something had happened to the seal—the ominous presence now emanating from it made that clear.

Without a way to contain the dark mana beneath the earth, all the infected points in the forest would begin to spawn monsters, and even faster now with the Demon King’s mist accumulating.

The wall was compromised, and monsters had begun to invade, drawn by that threatening aura and the sounds of explosions.

“We need to get as many people out of the mist as possible. Evacuate the children and elderly first—take them to the basements of barracks three and four. Second barracks must defend the wall. Tell all first barracks troops to follow me to the World Tree!”

“B-But what about the fires, sir!?”

“I know!” he shouted, his usually calm façade beginning to crack. “Go, now!”

In response to his orders, more than half of the group scattered. Now accompanied by only three men, Riari ran even faster, clenching his teeth so tightly a metallic taste spread through his mouth.

The flames were slowly consuming the city. Each fire was so intense that only he and his magic could extinguish them—but he couldn’t reach the farthest ones.

If the World Tree died, all would be lost.

“Damn it.”

Cursing, Riari jumped backward with a burst of wind, grabbing the necks of the two soldiers beside him and slamming into the third with his back.

The movement, done in less than a second, was all he could do to prevent the men from walking into the nearly invisible web spread out ahead of them.

“Get up—we’re surrounded!” he shouted to the confused soldiers, already adjusting his combat stance as he scanned the surroundings.

Lost in thought and too focused on clearing the fire in his path, Riari hadn’t realized he was walking straight into a trap.

“Emerald spiders and horned bears—form up!”

Riari yelled, just before having to form a wind barrier in front of him to block several web projectiles.

This was bad.

Having already spent a good portion of his mana, Riari knew that dealing with a group of monsters amidst the fire would not be easy.

A single emerald spider would normally require at least two or three groups to be eliminated without major risk — and now five of them surrounded him, along with three horned bears.

They were outnumbered.

Waiting for reinforcements from his earlier order was possible if he focused solely on defending against the attacks without retaliating, but wasting mana like that was the very thing he had to avoid most right now.

”Don’t break formation!”

Shouting to raise the soldiers’ morale, Riari channeled mana through his left hand, releasing a powerful gust of wind that hurled one of the horned bears a hundred meters back.

Sweat ran down the elven general’s face.

Every second lost widened the area consumed by fire, black smoke mixing with the gray mist. Several suspended houses had already collapsed to feed the flames, making everything so hot it was nearly unbearable, even with mana.

With a tilt of his head, Riari looked at the three men fighting beside him.

The soldiers’ shoulders trembled under the monsters’ presence. Each of them was prepared to die — but that didn’t make accepting it any easier.

His sharp gaze scanned for an escape route. As a general, his rational mind should’ve dismissed any feelings. If he escaped alone and sacrificed the others, he might survive — but his heart knew that wasn’t the right choice.

Though he didn’t understand what had led to this, seeing his own soldiers turn traitor made it clear: the way he had led the army until now had been part of the problem.

He realized it.

Bitterly, Riari did his best to find an impossible way out while resisting the attacks.

And then...

The air pressure dropped, and a freezing chill ran down everyone’s spine.

The cold arrived.

Instantly.

”W-What...?” Riari stammered as the strength in his legs began to fade.

As if the world had changed color, a burst of bluish-black frost exploded outward, swallowing the flames in crystal ice.

Raging fires froze midair. Treehouses on the brink of collapse became glacial structures.

Countless ice pillars erupted across the battlefield.

Not a single monster even had time to scream.

Grotesque silhouettes caught mid-charge were immortalized in the black ice. Like insects trapped in amber, each creature had met its end.

Riari couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

It defied all reason.

His mind couldn’t grasp the logic behind it — but he understood the conclusion.

Step by step, her boots crunching over the frozen ground, a girl with silver hair had become absolute.

”You...”

The elven general’s voice was low, the warm breath leaving his lips forming a cloud of white mist.

”Order your troops to retreat.”

The girl spoke just as softly, the glow of her mismatched eyes shining like precious gems.

”Focus on protecting the civilians and handling the monsters outside the walls. I’m heading to the World Tree.”

A sharp, frozen silence followed her words.

Everyone had frozen in place, arms still raised to protect themselves from flames that no longer existed.

In a single instant, everything had changed.

The monsters were gone.

They had been saved.

When that realization finally reached the men, they were able to move again—only to understand that the one speaking to them was anything but one of their own.

“You think you can give us orders, human!?”

The soldier who shouted realized his mistake the very moment the girl’s eyes focused on him. Like a drowning man spitting at the hand that pulled him into the boat, he hadn’t even noticed he’d just been saved.

“...”

The girl didn’t answer.

Turning around, she slowly walked away. The ice cracked beneath her feet—not as a warning, but like a sigh.

And then, in that moment, everyone there felt the core of their very being being scratched.

Like a heartbeat missing its mark, each of them felt their vision falter and their bodies tremble.

A droplet of living shadow, like ink, splattered. Piercing through the thick fog, several bluish eyes opened one after the other, illuminating the surroundings with a spectral glow.

And then, it bowed. Its black tail swept across the area, smashing into pillars of ice and reducing the frozen monsters within them to dust.

“T-Torment…”

One of the soldiers whimpered, and another collapsed under his own weight.

The girl didn’t even glance at them.

Running her hand along the beast’s snout, she adjusted the black cloak draped over her back.

“You can go if you want. I won’t stop you. This is your country. This is your home. More than any outsider, you have the right to risk your life for it.” With a single graceful motion, the girl sat upon the back of the black wolf. “Anyone who approaches that battlefield will be killed. And if you go, know that you’ll be on your own.”

In a literal blink of an eye, the girl and the wolf disappeared.

All the soldiers fell into silence, as if their throats could no longer form words.

---

Running through the frozen world, a silver-haired girl and a black wolf left behind trails of blood wherever they passed.

As contractor and contracted, they could understand each other’s intentions with nothing more than a glance.

Akasha’s claws shredded every monster Lily placed in their line of sight with ease. The sharp tail—once aimed to pierce her—now blocked the white threads fired by the emerald spiders.

“That was the last fire,” Lily said, a small smile on her lips, her heterochromatic eyes scanning the towering trees coated in black ice.

Because the wealth disparity and population density in the city were far more balanced than in other regions, there were only a few remote spots Lily needed to check. Nearly the entire population was concentrated in one place, which—although chaotic at first—made evacuation to the shelters much easier.

If anyone was isolated in a low-traffic area, Nia would easily locate them and show Lily the way.

Having already dealt with every monster that had invaded the city, Lily now sped toward the World Tree.

Leaping from a tree, she didn’t even need to give a command—within a second, her fairy appeared below her, catching her securely on their back.

“Don’t complain, I already gave you all the mana I could,” she said, but the wolf’s sulky glance made her pull a face. “I never had much to begin with, you know? I’m still in training, so do your best with what you’ve got.”

Unlike Nia, who not only fully replenished her reserves after consuming the third Book of Truth but also exponentially increased them, Lily had barely had time to recover—and the same was true for the black wolf.

Both Lily and Akasha had exhausted themselves fighting each other.

According to their contract, Lily could send mana to her fairy to use—a sensation similar to channeling energy into an extra limb. However, Akasha would only accept her mana.

So, while Lily could still fight using Nia’s dark mana as she always had to cast spells, she had to rely on her own to fuel the wolf.

“You use way too much mana to stop time. Ever thought about being more efficient?” Lily grumbled, tossing back a blue potion once more.

Mana potions worked best when taken during rest. But of course, meditating on top of her fairy while they tore through monsters wasn’t exactly easy.

It was an emergency measure, but it was all she could do for now.

“Thank you.”

Handing the empty potion over—along with a soft kiss—to the shy purple tentacle beside her cheek, Lily finally broke through the gray mist enough to spot her target.

A misshapen mass of burning shadows and corrupted flesh, the creature climbing the World Tree looked as though it were silently screaming at the world. Its limbs twisted like tree branches, and its jaw—lined with black blades—opened in a mute roar that made the air shudder.

Glowing eyes, yellow as newborn embers, scanned the city below with primordial hatred.

Bloody vines jutted from its back, whipping the air in fury, while its long claws held its nearly ten-meter-tall quadruped body tightly to the bark.

“So the Twilight really did it...”

Since only Lily and Akasha were capable of stopping time, it had been decided that if another Torment emerged, they would be the ones to deal with it, while Nia handled the Twilight.

The silver-haired girl wanted to end this as quickly as possible so she could rejoin her wife—so she had no intention of holding back.

“You’re not scared, are you? If you’re weaker than that thing, I might have to trade you out~” she teased, playfully patting her fairy’s back.

At the moment those words left her lips, the black wolf shot forward so fast that Lily had to grab on tightly not to fall.

“Wait—Akasha!? Where are you going!?”

However, unlike what she had expected, her fairy didn’t head toward the monster.

With a single powerful leap, the black wolf jumped across the entire lake to the island where the Tree stood and rushed through an arched doorway.

With incredible speed, Akasha climbed several flights of stairs, and before Lily could even process what was happening, she found herself inside a vast cavern lit by a faint green glow.

“Is this... inside the World Tree?” Lily couldn’t stop the confused expression from overtaking her face.

Countless black roots hung from the ceiling around ancient ruins.

The ground, just as rough as the cold wooden walls, was cracked, making the entire place feel long abandoned by all forms of life.

That is—if not for the lone girl lying at the center of the room.

Running as fast as they could, Akasha adjusted their posture so Lily could hop off their back.

Her eyes widened again the moment she saw the woman.

A black kimono adorned with embroidered flowers of all kinds draped over her ivory skin like a ceremonial mantle.

Long white hair, as wild and full as a lion’s mane, spread upward around her, framing the turquoise and pink horns curling from her head.

“You call her queen?”

Shifting her gaze between the wolf and the fallen woman, Lily tried to understand what Akasha was trying to tell her through their bond.

Even though her skin and hair were pale, and several horns protruded from her head, she didn’t look like a demon. There wasn’t a single visible wound on her body, but judging by the deep concern in her fairy’s mind, Lily knew she was in bad shape.

“Wait, I have a superior potion.”

Grabbing a vial filled with a glowing green liquid, Lily tried to support the woman’s body to administer the remedy—but her hands passed right through her.

“What...?”

It was like trying to touch a memory—an image she couldn’t interact with.

No matter what she did, Lily’s hands simply phased through the girl.

“Worry not, child, thy intent is enough.” Suddenly, her amber eyes fluttered open with effort as the girl in the black kimono struggled to lift her body upright. “This be wrought with but a single drop of mine own blood, so it wouldst not have helped o’er much in any case.”

Propping herself up with one arm—though the effort it took was no small thing—a radiant smile graced her face with ease.

“I am called Nerine, the Primordial Faerie. Tis a pleasure to make thy acquaintance.”

The woman announced herself loud and clear, and Lily froze in place.

She had heard that name before—within Sylvan’s memories.

“Forgive me, I cannot greet thee in proper fashion. Mine own body is far too wounded to sustain even a parallel physical form, thus I am bound to this illusion.”

Her manner of speech was strange, antiquated, yet clear enough for Lily to grasp most of it, given her level of education.

“N-No, don’t worry about something like that. It’s a pleasure—my name is Lily.”

Bowing her head slightly in respect, Lily did her best to respond appropriately to the polite greeting she had received.

Although she didn’t fully understand who or what the woman was, Lily knew she was important.

Both Akasha now, and Sylvan in the vision she had earlier, had shown great respect toward that woman.

“Thou art most courteous indeed. But pray, do not trouble thyself—never could I bring myself to demand special treatment from the wife of my friend’s daughter.”

“You know about that?”

Nerine’s words made Lily blink several times.

Counting the two guardians, the woman had now become the third person to link Nia reading the Book of Truth to Sylvan’s desire to make anyone who read it her offspring.

“Though there is little I can truly know from within these bounds, mine children come to me oft, sharing tales they’ve heard from those they hold dear—and ever since thou set foot in this forest, such visits have grown most frequent.”

Bringing a hand to her mouth, Nerine let out a gentle laugh.

“Akasha... ’tis been an age since I last laid eyes upon thee, mine little troublemaker.”

The faerie’s gaze fell upon the black wolf, who promptly hid behind Lily’s back.

“This little one seemeth to hold thee in great esteem—as though thou wert they better. I ne’er imagined such a thing would come to pass with anyone but Sylvan.”

With a brilliant smile, Nerine looked upon Lily with warmth in her eyes.

“Children were ne’er meant to be alone, aye? That is why contracts exist. Mayhap ‘tis a foolish sort of ethic, but ‘tis how I see this world. Even born a beast, Akasha remaineth a child of this forest.”

But then—slowly—the light in her expression began to fade.

“That other child, however… they suffereth.”

Her gaze drifted toward the chamber walls—no, beyond them, as though straining to peer into the world outside.

”They’re crying. Their seed has absorbed far more dark mana than there was when Akasha was born. Their innate ability, due to being born a monster, doth seem much the same—but they shall not endure for long.”

Then, her eyes sharpened.

She paused. And once more, her gaze returned to the silver-haired girl.

“Miss Lily… I beseech thee—let not their torment continue.”

The determination behind those words was so intense that even Lily swallowed hard.

The plea was heavy with pain.

There was no way to save the fairy, so there was only one thing Lily could do to end her suffering.

“I’ll take care of it.”

Standing up, Lily replied with a serious tone. She understood the weight of that wish and, therefore, dared not waste any more time.

The world turned gray as the girl and the wolf ran out of the World Tree.

Standing on the bloodstained grassy ground, the girl extended her right hand.

“Come, Akasha.”

Violet and blue pulses filled the air like a flash in the darkness. A wave of mana enveloped the girl’s surroundings, and then her fingers grasped something.

The long, slender wooden staff fit perfectly. Its core glowed softly as blue butterflies floated, caught by ethereal threads that would never break.

“We need to first get it away from the World Tree and take it far.”

With a soft breath, Lily gripped the staff firmly.

Akasha didn’t have a mind like Nia’s; they couldn’t cast spells. But if she channeled her magic through it, the spell would become much more powerful.

Lily couldn’t make Akasha cast spells using Nia’s dark mana, but that wasn’t a problem — she had already stored some.

“Let’s test how strong this is.”

It was a test; she didn’t need to go overboard.

A simple ice attack would suffice to start with — just enough to measure the range of her magic and use it as a basis for what would come next.

Spinning the staff, Lily closed her eyes and focused her mana on the feeling that would create the spell.

Sending her mana to her fairy, Lily didn’t feel the smooth flow of a river but rather a tide. A tingling began as a soft coldness in her veins, then a frost that reached her bones.

And then...

---

In the Elven forest, due to the influence of the World Tree, the entire environment gained a richness of nutrients unlike anywhere else.

This caused not only a variety of biomes, which could only survive in very specific conditions, to thrive, but also many trees to grow to colossal sizes.

If the World Tree were removed, the tallest structure — although unknown to many — would be the forest labyrinth, built by Sylvan and her followers.

Next would be the royal castle of the Elven kingdom, the political center and home to the royal family.

But on that day...

The sky was usurped.

One hundred meters...

Two hundred...

Three hundred...

It did not stop.

Breaking through the entire Demon King’s mist that covered the forest with a thunderous sound, something that would be recorded in history books occurred.

As wide as a fortress tower and so tall its tip vanished into the clouds, a pillar of bluish crystal rose.