Chapter 32: Quagmire (7)
Chapter 32: Quagmire (7)
She had only just realized it and at some point, the shadow that had lingered on Joshua’s face since his third deployment, born from the nightmares of that earlier incident, had vanished.
“Huh? What dream?”
“Hmm?”
“Oh, that nightmare back then.”
She had thought the words, but it seemed she’d spoken them aloud. Ariel realized it a moment too late, eyes widening in surprise.
Did I just ruin the mood by bringing up a bad memory? The thought filled her with sudden anxiety. Thankfully, Joshua’s expression didn’t darken at all. Not realizing that Ariel had spoken her thoughts aloud, he simply shrugged and continued speaking.
“I guess I forgot. That’s how dreams are, right? If something similar happens again, maybe I’ll remember it as déjà vu, but if not, it just fades away. That’s always how it’s been.”
“Ah…”
“It’s not like I’ve only had one or two nightmares in my life. If I remembered them all and kept trembling in fear, I probably would’ve died ages ago…”
“…Yeah.”
Come to think of it, he had a point. Ariel nodded.
The bright atmosphere never dimmed, and their lighthearted conversation picked back up. Joshua had a remarkable ability to maintain the mood and keep the conversation flowing. Unlike their previous stop at the temple, where they had only spent about thirty minutes, they ended up chatting at the pharmacy for nearly two hours before finally parting ways.
“Enjoy your time off, everyone! See you in a week!”
Joshua waved with the arm that had an IV drip inserted, offering a cheerful farewell. They responded with smiles and left the pharmacy behind.
* * *
A week of leave might have felt short for soldiers in desperate need of rest, but for Ariel, who placed little value in downtime, it dragged on endlessly.
Back in her empty home after a long absence, the feelings that stirred in her were slightly different than before. The memories of her younger brother still filled the space: his scent lingered, and the grief, regret, and despair remained unchanged. But now, with more experience behind her, the ache in her chest cut deeper than ever.
There had been a time when she avoided all thoughts of him, just to survive. One of those things was the bundle of letters, like a will, that Aynkel had left behind. She had tossed them in a corner of the house and tried to forget they existed.
But though she’d ignored them, they had never truly left her mind. Once she made the decision to face them, she remembered exactly where they were. Ariel walked into Aynkel’s room, which had remained tightly shut until now.
Winter had long since passed, yet the untouched room, left vacant for months, still felt chilling and desolate. Bracing against the cold, she stepped boldly into the disordered space.
The wooden box, tucked between dust-covered items on the desk, still exuded an ominous aura. Her mind screamed at her to leave it be, but her hands moved on their own. Picking up a few letters from the box, Ariel clutched them tightly and muttered to herself.
“You could’ve just told me…”
Her voice fell flat, drained of all emotion from the sheer weight of everything tangled inside.
The dead cannot hear the living.
She knew that. But she had to speak. If she didn’t let even a little of the blame spill outward, she felt like she would collapse into despair all over again.
* * *
Ariel spent all three days in the capital holed up at home, completely alone. She hadn’t even contacted any old acquaintances. If she met them, she knew she’d be barraged with scolding and questions. She didn’t exactly not want to see them. They’d known each other for years, but she didn’t want to meet them while she was this deep in gloom.
And so, drifting through the days as though she barely existed, Ariel boarded the train back to the northern military unit on the fifth day of her leave.
Time passed quickly. The day of her return had nearly arrived.
On the last day of her break, a single envelope lay waiting on her desk. It was a short notice informing her of a personnel change in her team.
The departing member was a shock trooper who had sustained serious injuries to the head and neck during their last mission. He had been unconscious when she visited him, and though he had woken up two days later, a minor spinal injury meant he could no longer return to combat.
Though they had shared the battlefield and hardships, Ariel wasn’t particularly close to him. Perhaps that’s why she accepted his departure with surprising calm. If it had been Xenon leaving, she might’ve felt something. Lombard’s blunt words once made Xenon look like he’d storm out then and there, but unexpectedly, he had stayed.
The day after her return, they scheduled a training session to coordinate with the new team member. On their way to the field, Lombard casually asked Xenon.
“Well… turns out you were right. This is the only place I belong.”
Xenon gave a bitter smile as he cleaned his gun. Lombard said no more.
* * *
Three days after that, and just four days after her return, Ariel’s next deployment was scheduled. It was another giant extermination mission.
This time, the location was the Dimont Forest, deep to the east of the base, which, along with the Rem Mountains, bordered the frontier.
Having long since memorized the commanders’ repetitive briefings, Ariel only half-listened and let her eyes drift over the scenery. As giants spotted them and surged forward, she easily dispatched them, moving deeper into their designated zone with her team.
As Joshua kept scanning their surroundings for giant movement, his face suddenly twisted into a strange expression.
“This place… looks familiar. Have we been here before?”
“No, this is our first time.”
“Really? Then why does it feel so familiar?”
He crumpled a spell-scroll with faded magic and tilted his head. Xenon, his face a bit stiff, likely from lingering trauma from a past mission, answered while firing his gun.
“Eh… I mean, all mountains and forests kind of look the same, don’t they? I get spooked too, just like back then.”
“Maybe that’s it…”
It was a plausible explanation. But Joshua couldn’t shake the feeling. The uncanny sense of familiarity wasn’t something that could be dismissed as mere similarity.
An eerie dread crept up from his toes. What had seemed trivial at first rapidly grew, until it was powerful enough to make his brow furrow instinctively. Drawing a new magic circle, Joshua scanned his surroundings more intently.
Within the thick forest canopy that blotted out the sky, their team had formed a circular formation around the two mages. Explosive spells struck down giants rushing at them like zombies. Gunfire blazed. Magic and bullets roared. And then—
“Aaaagh!”
A scream erupted behind them.
A chill raced up Joshua’s spine. As he turned his head to see what had happened, he instinctively shoved Ariel, who was standing beside him, mid-casting.
Because of the sudden push, her spell missed its mark and burst in the air. A massive tree beside the giant cracked and collapsed instead.
“What the—!”
Ariel’s voice, filled with confusion and anger, was cut short. A blade, black, glowing with a sickly light, grazed Joshua’s arm and pierced straight through Ariel’s left shoulder.
If he hadn’t pushed her, it would have gone through her heart.
“Sis!”
Joshua stared in horror at the blade protruding from her shoulder, his body covered in chills.
In that instant, a memory flashed like lightning in his mind. The one he had forgotten.
The dream. This exact scene he had seen in that nightmare.
‘Was it really a glimpse of the future?’
But there was no time to sit around pondering.
“What the hell is going on?!”
“Hey, what are you doing?!”
Panic erupted. Screams rang out. The formation fell apart in an instant.
Catching the falling Ariel, Joshua finally took in what was happening. The first thing he saw was Lombard driving his sword into the back of a humanoid figure wreathed in black smoke.
“Focus.”
Lombard’s voice was cold and detached, but Joshua didn’t hear it. The scene before him was too horrifying to register anything else. His eyes went wide, staring blankly.
The sickening sound of bones crunching. A fountain of red spraying into the air. All of his senses were drawn to it as if it were inevitable. The scene seemed to unfold in slow motion.
Then, another slash. Lombard’s sword swept past Joshua’s shoulder. A cold wind brushed his cheek. Another crack. Something shattered again. A hot, sticky liquid splattered over Joshua.
He didn’t need to look. He knew.
Blood. The stench hit him immediately.
He froze. Breath caught. Goosebumps rose all over his body.
“If you don’t want to die, pull yourself together and move like usual. We’re still in the middle of battle. Block the giants. Call for support. Leave the Black Fog ones to the others. Magic won’t work.”
“I… don’t want to die…”
The phrase if you don’t want to die made Joshua flinch. But what truly snapped him out of it was the faint voice murmured from the arms he thought were lifeless.
Ariel, soaked in blood, was propping herself up. Joshua met her eyes: dull, bloodshot, but sharp.
“Sis?”
“They’re coming. Haa… hurry.”
Barely conscious, gasping for breath, Ariel pulled away from his arms. But she didn’t have the strength to stand. She collapsed to the ground again. It didn’t matter, she could still see the giants. Her trembling hands opened her spellbook.
“O-okay.”
Freed from supporting her, Joshua scrambled to focus on his magic again. He quickly cast a protective barrier, tore his clothes to bind his wounded arm, and checked their surroundings.
Half of their team had turned black.
Allies had become enemies, locked in chaotic combat. Some, still hesitant, only defended themselves from the monstrous attacks of those who were comrades moments ago. Others shouted profanities and struck down their former teammates.
Ariel, barely hanging on, was the only one fending off the incoming giants. Her spells were wild, desperate. She could no longer control single-target magic and resorted to casting wide-area spells indiscriminately.
It was utter chaos.
And Joshua had to concentrate again, ensuring none of it breached the protective barrier.
The nightmare wasn’t just a warning about the future.
It had become the present.
……
T/N: The emotional distress in this chapter… 😭
