Free Web NovelChapter 13: Against All The Odds [1]
The blinding crimson light swallowed Mikael as he instinctively threw the back of a hand to shield his eyes.
When the crimson glow vanished, he finally lowered his arm.
He found himself, once again, weightlessly floating in the vast space of the spirit world in his translucent spirit form.
It was the same place where he had been trapped inside Liren’s memories.
The countless glowing red and blue spheres that were floating in front of him had long disappeared.
Only one glowing red sphere remained floating in front of him.
Liren’s Spirit.
It lay before him motionless, waiting for him to initiate the contract.
Mikael stared at it.
For the first time since he stepped into this mad gamble.... the stubborn knot of tension in his chest finally unspooled into something that felt almost like relief.
’I... I am really back.’
He had spent what felt like more than three years trapped inside Liren’s memories.
Three years of wandering through Silverbrook’s streets like a ghost, seeing the faces of others but never able to speak a word with them.
There was a time when silence nearly broke him.
That he even forgot what his own voice sounded like.
All that time, her every joy and sorrow had poured directly into him.
It was to the point that he even had trouble distinguishing which feelings were his and which were hers.
His own thoughts began to feel foreign to him, like some distant voice he couldn’t catch.
There were days he just wanted it to end-- wanted the weight of it all to stop.
But something inside him refused to let go.
He couldn’t die here.
He wanted to survive.
He wanted to go back.
In the darkest moments, he would squeeze his eyes shut and drag up the only thing that anchored him.... his parents’ faces.
He had clutched the goal to survive like a lifeline.
Even when the loneliness had started to cost him his sanity, he had not let go.
That stubborn refusal to break was all that kept him from dissolving into Liren’s memories.
So when the memories finally solidified around him, when he could speak and be heard, touch and be felt, the relief that flooded him was not solely for her sake.
He wanted to save Liren... desperately, with every shred of will he still possessed. But in those first moments of true contact, he had been saving himself just as much.
He needed someone’s company as badly as she needed his rescue.
For the first time in three years, he had not been alone.
Now at last, he was finally back.
But the job was not done yet.
Mikael stared at the glowing red sphere before him and swallowed nervously.
He had seen what happened in the game when players attempted to bind with a Malevolent Spirit.
Possession, Madness, Permanent death without respawns.
And Liren, despite her gentle soul, was still classified as a red color —a malevolent Spirit.
A spirit born from unfinished business and soul-deep trauma.
’No....’
He quickly shook those negative thoughts away.
He had to trust her... he had already suffered too much to back down now.
’I trust Liren.’
With that thought, he slowly lifted his translucent hand as his fingertips brushed against the cool surface of the red sphere.
The sphere pulsed once, then twice.
The light began to seep into his translucent fingers, threading up his arm through delicate crimson veins.
Ding-!
A sharp chime rang in his ears, and a grey, floating translucent window appeared in front of him.
[You have successfully formed a contract with Wraith of the Withered Blue Rose, Liren]
The words stared back at Mikael.
’I did it... I really did it.’
"Hahahaha.."
Suddenly, a laugh bubbled up from inside him.
It was the laugh of a man who had been holding his breath for an eternity and only just realized he was allowed to exhale.
’I really contracted with a Malevolent Spirit while still being alive.’
’Against all the odds...’
But before he could enjoy this moment, his breath hitched, and the space around him began to tremble as if the world itself was about to crack open.
The space and saturated colors around him began to contract and expand.
The sensation was nauseating, and the vertigo left him completely unable to tell up from down.
’....What the hell is happening?’
Reality itself seemed to glitch and stretch.
In this chaos, a vision cut through the distortion.
A massive gothic castle loomed in the distance, its spires jagged and black against an impossible sky.
Its towers twisted upwards as broken fingers, and arched windows glowed with faint, sickly light.
Before he could begin to understand what he was looking at, his vision flickered.
He saw a towering Gothic clock, its frame twisted from black iron coiled around it like petrified vines. All three hands of the clock were frozen in time.
His vision flickered again, and he found himself back in the same spot he had been before.
Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine, and his heartbeat quickened into a frantic rhythm.
The air grew heavy, as if the sky itself was holding its breath.
He slowly looked above.
There in the vast sky, a massive eye appeared.
Its red cornea glistened like a fresh wound, staring directly at him.
’What....?!!’
He could feel its gaze peeling him apart...
Mikael’s eyes began to burn as if liquid fire were directly injected into his veins.
His entire translucent body ignited with agony that had no name, and he could feel his spirit form flickering away.
His consciousness stuttered as his thoughts scattered away.
Suddenly, the Spirit World itself convulsed.
The very fabric of that place shuddered violently and, as though it were trying to shield him from something far beyond its limits.
It hurled Mikael’s spirit outward.... flinging him away from that terrible, watching eye.
Mikael hit the solid ground with a jarring impact as the Mortal World slammed back against him.
He gasped as air flooded inside his lungs and the scent of pine, blood, and extinguished candles filled his nostrils.
His heart was still hammering against his chest, and he was having trouble moving his body.
Every limb in his body felt distant and heavy as if his spirit hadn’t fully settled back into itself.
’What was that?’
He was sure that if he had even gazed at the thing even for a moment more, he would have gone blind, or in the worst-case scenario, he would have been erased from existence.
Whatever that thing was..... No.
He shouldn’t try to understand what that was...
That was the only sane choice. He already knows how dangerous this World is.
Some things weren’t meant to be named, let alone comprehended.
Trying would be like reaching into a flame to see if it was hot..... by the time he knew, it would already be too late.
Who knew what kind of damage it might invite. He might even lose control right on the spot.
So he just lay there on the ground for some time without moving, emptying his head as he forced himself to breathe.
After a while, his eyes adjusted.
His vision slowly cleared, and he saw the Twin Moons that hung above the thick canopy of trees.
He slowly pushed himself upright and realized that he was still in the red magic circle he had drawn.
The seven candles he had lit had long since burned out. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
And all the ingredients he had placed on the makeshift altar had vanished without a trace.
As a cold wind swept through Mournwood Forest, lifting the red matted strands of his hair and biting into his wounds.
He looked down at himself and winced. His left arm was broken, some of his ribs were shattered, and multiple open wounds on his body.
Fingernail scratches covered his chest as well--- the self-inflicted wounds that had drawn blood when his Essence Core was violently wrenched from his sternum.
’Oh, right.’
’I almost forgot about these.’
Even after all these wounds, he wasn’t feeling much pain.
It just felt a little more than a sting.
Maybe his pain tolerance improved after he went through that shit.
A hollow laugh escaped his lips.
He was finally back.
And also alive.
The thought settled over him like a blanket, and against all the agony, against the cold wind and the broken bones.
Mikael felt something warm spill over his cheeks.
It took him a moment to realize they were tears.
Tears from overwhelming relief.
He had gambled everything on this one desperate ritual, and he had won.
He had won.
He didn’t bother to wipe them away and simply sat there, letting them flow, his shoulder shaking with exhausted laughter.
After all the fear, all the loneliness, all the moments he had nearly lost himself in Liren’s memories, he had actually pulled it off.
Before he could gather himself, another translucent window flickered into his vision.
[Wraith of the Withered Blue Rose, Liren’s favorability toward you has increased.....]
[Wraith of the Withered Blue Rose, Liren’s favorability toward you has increased.....]
[Wraith of the Withered Blue Rose, Liren’s favorability toward you has increased.....]
[Wraith of the Withered Blue Rose, Liren’s favorability toward you has increased.....]
.
.
.
The notifications kept pouring in when another window popped up in front of him.
[Wraith of the Withered Blue Rose, Liren’s favorability towards you reached Max]
[You are missing an Essence Core]
[You have met all the conditions to unlock the ’New Unique Class’]
[You have lost the Class ’Magician’]
’?????’
[You have gained a New Unique Class.... ]
*****
