His eyes drifted open slowly after being shut for some time. Light filtered through the curtains in what seemed to be an elegant manor, where a king-sized bed lay in the middle of the room.
He swayed right, shielding his eyes with the bed sheets. The brightness assaulted his vision. He winced.
He muttered half asleep. "Alice..."
He fell off the bed.
Hit his head on the floor.
"Ouch."
He lay there for a moment, face down on the cold wooden boards.
The alarm rang.
He had been woken up before the alarm. He hated that.
"Curses."
He manifested a short chain and sent it flying through the air. It struck a lamp that doubled as an alarm clock. The device shattered, sparks of fate essence dissipating into the air. It seemed that fate essence really powered the whole world.
He rose to his feet. The sun enveloped his exposed chest and abdomen as he groaned, rolling his shoulders. His muscles ached with phantom pains from wounds long healed.
A knock on the door.
He slowly made his way toward it and held the doorknob. He momentarily hesitated, leaving his hand suspended in the air. Then he opened it.
"How are you, Lucid?"
An elegant, tall figure stood in his doorway. Half covered by dark robes, exposing her collarbone and one of her legs.
It was Ayame.
At first, her presence made him uncomfortable. Whether he liked to admit it or not, her clothes exposed more than they should. It looked as if they would come off at any moment.
Looking at her now, he had grown used to her.
"I'm alright," he said, his voice tinged with morning raspiness.
Ayame gave him a blank expression, looking deep into his eyes. Searching for something. Truth, perhaps.
A week had gone by since the events after the Beta rift disaster. Ayame had been staying at Lucid's residence, the one Karmen had provided him. Fredrick still kept his duties, and his graduation ceremony was close.
'Huh. Fredrick's ceremony is not too far away.'
'Well, I don't care.'
'He saved, or rather I saved, his little princess while completely neglecting my own.'
"Come in. Let's get some breakfast," he said, stepping aside.
Just as he said that, a deep wound opened at her cheek. Another appeared on the back of her hand. She tried to wipe the blood away, but it only smeared.
"Is it acting up again?"
Lucid tried to offer his arm for support, but she stepped back.
She always stepped back. Kept herself at an appropriate distance. It certainly was not like her when they traversed the Red Mountains. He recalled how they huddled together next to a bonfire for warmth, her body pressed against his for survival.
A blush crept up his neck.
"Are you alright?" she asked, noticing.
Trying to shake his head, trying to dismiss the embarrassment or something else entirely, he yelled. "Yes! I am!"
Ayame nodded, an acknowledging nod that suggested she did not believe him.
Moments later, they sat across a table facing each other. Since there were no servants or anyone occupying this place, Lucid had to throw together a hasty job of what seemed to be an edible breakfast.
He looked down. What he had put on his plate seemed to be oatmeal. Well, oatmeal that had more water in it than actual oatmeal. It looked more like porridge. Bad porridge.
He lifted the spoon to eat it.
He spat it out immediately.
This was probably his eighth attempt at making something decent.
'God, how I miss the school cafeteria's horrible lunch.'
Speaking of the academy, things had not gone as he expected. Following the day after the event, which had spiraled out of control, every neighborhood from nobles to commoners spoke on the matter.
The event caused such an uproar that people debated and protested at the academy's negligence. Fingers pointed in every direction. Blame scattered like seeds in the wind.
But the person who was discussed most was the victim herself. The princess. The common folk needed fingers to point at the ones responsible for everything. It could have been the surviving noble houses that dealt in this scheme. It could have been the organization, the Chapeau, that operated legally on Vexian soil.
But as a result, the organization claimed no ties with the matter. The noble households that worked to cause this disaster feigned ignorance, some playing the victim, claiming they lost their precious children as well.
Naturally, royalty would have been blamed.
And so they were.
However, she had remained quiet for a week ever since the rift spat them back up. No public appearances. No statements. Just silence.
Lucid thought that following the incident, Fredrick would have been immediately killed by that paladin. He himself would have been ordered to execution.
But none of it happened.
Everything was silent.
"Are you not going to attend class today, Lucid?"
Ayame spoke across the table. She did not touch the porridge Lucid made. If anything, it seemed to sit exactly the way he had placed it from the beginning. Untouched. Judging him silently.
Lucid shook his head.
"I'm dropping out."
Following the events, Lucid did not want to see the faces of the student body. Nor the place itself. The whole academy reminded him of the whole event.
And it would also remind him of them.
Things were better like this.
He also had another goal. But everything had changed so drastically that he could not go by his normal plan anymore.
He looked at Ayame.
She tried to scoop up the watery porridge he made. Just as she did, a wound opened along her forearm, making her wince in pain. Blood dripped onto the table.
"Hey, I have been meaning to ask," he said, standing to get bandages. "Why do you bleed so much? I swear I just patched you up yesterday."
She looked up at him, evaluating his face, his eyes. It felt like she was staring deep into his soul.
"It is the side effect of my inherited Latent trait."
"Oh." He paused. "Does it hurt?"
"Yes," she nodded.
Lucid stood up and made his way toward her. He remembered what he had to do. The bandages. The cleaning. The routine they had established.
Ayame moved away slowly, sitting at the edge of her seat. Maintaining distance.
"Huh?"
"I want to tell you something," she said suddenly.
"What?"
"Meet me at sunset." Ayame briefly stood up, wiping her cheek where another wound had opened. Then she went toward the floor, a hidden door he had not noticed before, some servant's passage perhaps.
Lucid shot her an awkward glance as she disappeared into the shadows.
"And she's gone."
"I swear it's a miracle how I even patched her up last night," he mumbled under his breath.
Silence.
Followed by more silence.
He had expected Alice to speak, but she was not there. He had started to miss her presence and remarks. The last time they fully spoke was in that soulscape where she hung, chained and suffering. Ever since, she had manifested in brief moments of light, intercepted in fights, and had encouraged him at the end when the rift collapsed.
He had even started to dream about her. Brief moments of a woman on top of a small hill, sitting below a tree in shade. She smiled at him warmly and beckoned with open arms. Every time he got close, he always woke up.
'Maybe it was the backlash she was talking about when she revived me.'
'I swear that...'
He sighed.
As he put on his clothes, he exited the manor that seemed in need of cleaning, maintenance, and well, just about every renovation you could think of. The place was falling apart, much like everything else in his life.
Some time later, Lucid found himself in the bustling street, in search of something. Or rather, a certain someone.
It was the path just down the road that led to the academy. As he walked, blue banners rose high. He passed a fountain with a large stone statue at its center. Vex was a huge kingdom, sprawling and ancient. Lucid could not help but eye a street performer who seemed to be swallowing burning glass bottles.
'What the hell?'
They made some weird gestures, spilling cards from their mouth, jumping over a burning rope with theatrical flair. A crowd gathered, clapping and cheering.
Though Lucid was passing by, he could not help but hear what the standbyers said.
"I heard Everlight really has one of their best performers here."
"Oh, really? But I hear that kingdom is harsh to live in. Strict laws. Harsh winters."
'Everlight.'
He did not pay it much further attention. He continued walking.
As he walked, he found himself in the exact spot where he had bought his rift seed. The place where everything had started.
The shop was...
"What the hell? It's a bakery!"
The rundown shop with the broken glass and the same fortune teller he had met was no longer there. Instead, there was a vibrant interior, the smell of fresh bread wafting into the street. People entered and exited with paper bags full of pastries.
Lucid continued. He ran down to where the stand was, where she read his future. The first time he met her.
He stood in front of a street stone next to iron fences where the academy grounds began.
Nothing.
It was simply as if she had vanished from the face of the earth. No trace. No sign. Not even a remnant of fate essence lingering in the air.
With a sigh, he put his hands in his pockets and continued walking. That green-haired woman plagued his mind more than ever now. But alas, he had other matters to tend to.
He walked through the market district. Past vendors selling fruit, cloth, weapons, trinkets imbued with minor fate essence. Past children running through the streets, laughing, playing, unaware the horrors he had managed to prevent.