Chapter 11 - The Spirit Realm
The dream unfolded before him as the same desolate forest he had encountered once before.
This time, however, Lawrence wasn't shaken. It was nothing like that first meeting when he'd known nothing.
He calmly looked around, checking his surroundings. Were there any hostile presences? Were any of his fairy friends nearby? The movement he sensed behind the thorny bushes belonged to the familiar bundles of fur that always tumbled and scurried about.
He couldn't spot any other fairies. That included Red Eyes, whose sinister presence had always felt like an omen.
Once he confirmed things were safe, Lawrence felt himself relax. From experience, he knew that until he woke up from the dream, he wouldn't be able to leave this place. He couldn't even return to the plains where he usually stayed.
In other words, like it or not, he'd have to spend some time here.
So, should he just sit still and wait? Or, as he had before, would it be better to wander around and explore?
He didn't ponder it long. Meeting Red Eyes last time had happened simply because he aimlessly wandered around. Looking back, it had been reckless and careless.
There was no reason to repeat the same mistake. Just as if he were back in his room at the inn, Lawrence sat down in a clearing and made himself comfortable.
He maintained his focus.
He'd only just begun to get the hang of things.
He valued every second, so instead of even closing his eyes, he leaned back and practiced his magic. He couldn't remember exactly when he'd drifted off to sleep.
He refined the shape of the Shadow drawn forth from the darkness.
He still had to reach both hands forward, but the time it took to form it into an arrow had noticeably decreased.
Now it was time to give the arrow some force.
As a test, he tried shooting a shadow arrow, but it barely flew for two seconds before losing its form and dissipating.
Its flight wasn't strong at all.
It felt like a candle flame blinking out in a gust of wind.
At this rate, the arrowhead he'd worked so hard to make was useless.
He tried again.
And again after that.
But every attempt ended the same as the first.
Resting his chin on his hand, Lawrence paused his practice.
This was different.
This wasn't a matter of skill or practice.
He was certain that no matter how much he repeated the process, nothing would change.
He realized he needed to take some drastic action.
He didn't know why he felt that way.
But even if it was just a hunch, it was impossible to ignore.
Lawrence had first encountered magic through his dreams.
No one had taught him; he had understood and realized it on his own.
It was that very instinctive sense that whispered to him: this isn't right.
But no matter how much he agonized over it, no answer came.
…Would it have been better to push himself and travel to a larger town?
Here, there was no one to serve as a guidepost.
Not even a book to teach him the basics could be found.
It was too late to regret now.
A suffocating frustration echoed in his chest with no way out.
What could he do?
If it didn't work, he would keep trying until it did. He knew that effort never lied.
How much time had passed?
Just as a tight, constricting pain began to rise in his chest, he suddenly felt the air around him grow cold.
"..."
Lawrence wasn't someone who failed to understand what that meant.
Instinctively, he looked around—he saw the forest moving. It was as if it were welcoming someone, preparing for their grand arrival.
Soon, draped in a deep blood-red cloth, it appeared together with a horse.
The black horse.
Perched atop the horse without a saddle, the figure stopped as it caught sight of the boy.
Through the dark red cloth, red eyes appeared.
Meeting those eyes, each one moving independently, Lawrence felt a faint headache set in.
"■■ ■or■. ■■■ has ■■■■ ■eceived. ■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ lost?"
He still couldn't understand what it was saying. But at least, the pain wasn't as severe as before.
Lawrence stared into the red eyes. They still filled him with instinctive disgust. There was no sign of a human neck or face, and within the deep, blood-colored cloth where a torso might have been, only those gleaming eyes flashed in the darkness.
There was no hostility. Nor did he sense anything ominous. Compared to the first encounter, it almost felt like he was facing a different being.
He had no idea why. Was it because he had become more skilled with magic? Or had something within Lawrence himself changed? Those red eyes, once so terrifying, now simply seemed a little different, nothing more.
Maybe that was the reason. Clear thinking gave the boy the courage to take a step forward.
"Um… can you understand what I'm saying?"
Suppressing the creeping headache, he tried talking to it.
The Red Eyes belonged to an inhabitant of his dream. Surely, with enough effort, communication would be possible.
It was the same with the fairy friends he always played with. He just couldn't make out what they called him, that was all. Ordinary conversation wasn't particularly difficult.
"Can you… hear… me? Do you… know where this is? There's no way to feel… lost… here. But maybe you alone can tell the difference."
He thought he heard laughter, strange and unfathomable. It reminded him of the cold, cynical sneer he often sensed from Reynold. If anything, the emotion from Red Eyes seemed closer to ridicule.
Red Eyes raised its hand. To his surprise, the sleeve was completely empty inside.
As if drawn by that gesture, something floated out from within Lawrence's clothes
A small, pure white fragment of stone. It was a piece of the Goddess Statue he had found at Saint Charmant Monastery.
「Fragment of ■■. Do you ■■ like it ■■ or do you ■■ ■■?」
At the gesture of Red Eyes, the fragment was suffused with a black glow.
For a brief moment, the darkness shone so intensely it felt as if it would consume his vision. Lawrence shut his eyes, and when he opened them again, the fragment had reverted to an ordinary piece of stone, as if nothing had happened.
Suddenly, the cold that had been binding his body vanished.
「Beloved Child. For what purpose have you come seeking me?」
Before he even realized something had changed, a low voice echoed in his mind. The voice reverberating in his head was not human.
It was Red Eyes. Red Eyes was answering Lawrence's question. He could understand it now. Whatever had just happened—perhaps the fragment's glow a moment before—seemed to be preparation for this communication.
"Um… Well… First of all, n-nice to meet you."
「This isn't our first encounter. Isn't this our second meeting?」
As he heard the slightly amused voice, his headache grew a bit stronger. His face involuntarily twisted in discomfort. He wondered if it would be misunderstood, but Red Eyes continued speaking calmly.
「You don't have much time to converse with me. Luckily, there was a Spirit Realm stone here, so I borrowed its power, but for someone like you who lacks a Listening Ear, this will place a heavy strain on you.」 "A… Listening Ear?"
Lawrence repeated the unfamiliar term, unsure of its meaning.
「Do I have to explain from there?」「
"Yes, please."
He asked for guidance.
As soon as Red Eyes heard his troubled tone, it responded reflexively.
「Well, if it's a request from a Beloved Child, I can't refuse. To interact with a Neighbor from the Spirit Realm, you first need to come in contact with five cognitive concepts.」
"Cognitive concepts…"
「Connected Mind. Seeing Eye. Listening Ear. Sensing Nose. Speaking Mouth. Beloved Child, to put it bluntly, the only one you possess right now is the Seeing Eye.」
Spirit Realm. Neighbor. Five cognitive concepts. It seems that "Beloved Child" refers to Lawrence. Perhaps that's what the fairy friends and their queen used to call him as well.
"Then, am I able to have this conversation with you because… you temporarily gave me what you called a Listening Ear?"
「You catch on quickly. That's right. But it's only a temporary measure using the Spirit Realm stone. The borrowed concept does not belong to you. The cost of enjoying such an undeserved miracle inevitably comes back to you in the end.」
…I should thank Aveline.
Carrying the fragment from the Goddess Statue was really more a matter of having forgotten about it.
I never expected it would turn out to be helpful here in the Spirit Realm, or, as Red Eyes would put it, in a dream.
「So, what brings you here? The Shadow Forest is not a place for someone who hasn't acquired all five cognitive concepts. If you're lost, I could send you back to the Mortal Realm like before...」
I snapped to attention.
Apparently, it wasn't Red Eyes who summoned Lawrence to this place.
Then, why did I come here—a place filled only with difficult memories? Was it really subconscious? Did Lawrence secretly wish for this deep down?
That heaviness in my chest. The unquenchable thirst. I didn't even need to think about the reason.
「C-could you… perhaps teach me magic?」
My voice carried a note of desperation.
I'd long since abandoned any pride I had left.
For Lawrence, who had nothing in this world, magic was his one and only treasure.
To cross the vast, unknown sea, I needed some sort of guidepost. And if someone could lead the way from ahead—a true guide— Then surely, I could accomplish more than I ever could on my own.
「You are quite the greedy child. I just told you—extraordinary miracles always come with a price... Still, it's hard for me to refuse a request from a Beloved Child.」
Even though this being probably has no face. Lawrence thought that Red Eyes was smiling.
「A Beloved Child is said to be born with a Connected Mind, even in ancient times. As long as you are linked to the Spirit Realm, a single attempt won't be too much of a burden. At the very least, since you have a Seeing Eye, you should be able to understand. Don't rush things, child. The world will answer your earnest will, so the answer to the miracle is already in your hands.」
Red Eyes gently patted the back of the horse. As if telling Lawrence to relax, the horse turned and walked forward.
「But it does trouble me a little that a Beloved Child has talent in the Unmanifested.」
This muttered remark was closer to a sigh. It was not something said in expectation of a reply.
Lawrence watched Red Eyes' every move.
「Watch closely.」
It began with a small change. A cold chill ran down his spine. It was the same cold he'd felt the very first time he faced Red Eyes.
A shimmering shadow began to rise. Swaying with the grass in the wind, the shadows moved as if they were alive.
Red Eyes absorbed the dark radiance that extended from the shadows.
The ritual was complete in a single instant The shadow, transformed by black radiance, soon took the shape of droplets.
They weren't falling from the sky. Instead, shadow rain poured upward from the ground toward the sky.
There was no telling which shadow came first. The droplets, surging in reverse, froze in place against the hazy sky, as if time itself had stopped.
A sound like something snapping echoed in Lawrence's mind.
His vision tinged red. There was no blinding pain that felt like his head might split open. Instead, he felt an unfamiliar, refreshing clarity take its place.
The dark light surged. The thinning droplets sharpened into spear tips and shafts. What floated in the sky was a spear of shadow, blacker than the deepest darkness.
A hue of shadow indistinguishable from true night. A color of shadow glowing like embers in a blazing fire.
He understood it instantly. All the magic Lawrence had wielded until now had been nothing but child's play. The Shadow Arrow he had struggled so hard to create was nothing—not even comparable—to the Shadow Spear Red Eyes had conjured.
「And grasp this.」
At Red Eyes' will, the Shadow Spear soared into the sky.
Dozens, nearly hundreds of shadows embroidered the darkening heavens
It was closer to a natural phenomenon than magic.
Like rain falling from the sky. Or like snow drifting down from above. No one can stand against the might of nature.
It was an overwhelming scene that could only be described that way. The magic Red Eyes conjured was more like a calamity, impossible for any person to withstand.
Lawrence couldn't close his mouth in awe. This was only the second time he'd ever seen someone else cast magic.
The first had been the flames the Fairy Queen summoned.
Back then, his headache was so severe he'd barely managed to peek at it. In other words, this was the first time he'd truly witnessed the start and finish of a spell.
...Beautiful.
No other word came to mind. Only now did he realize that magic could be this beautiful, this wondrous—utterly fantastical.
「At least next time ■■ you must obtain a ■■, and ■■ life is ■■."
A breeze arose from somewhere.
It wrapped gently around Lawrence, who was still lost in the scene.
He knew what this was. It was wind that would carry him from the dream back to waking.
But there was something he had to ask before he went.
"W-wait! Your name. What's your name?"
He hadn't even had a chance to thank them yet. At Lawrence's urgent question, Red Eyes replied with a hint of laughter in their voice.
「There's no ■■ in giving ■■. I'm just a ■■ neighbor passing ■■. If you ■■ to ■■, ■■ is all you'll ■■, child who ■■ blessings.」
The voice faded away. His whole body felt as if it were floating. When the wind finally died down, Lawrence found himself once again in the familiar inn room.
"..."
He sprang upright, feeling a sharp pain in his back.
He hadn't slept in the bed.
He clearly remembered leaning against it while practicing Shadow before he'd blacked out, and it seemed he'd fallen asleep just like that.
But the pain in his back was nothing to him.
The red light from his memory was gone from the clock. A dull ache throbbed within his head, oddly refreshing. His chest still fluttered with excitement and anticipation. Even now, if he closed his eyes, that breathtaking scene was vivid before him.
Countless Shadow Spears shot up into the sky. It was a sight that went beyond merely beautiful—it was utterly fantastical. The magic that Red Eyes had wielded was at a level so extraordinary, words couldn't fully express it.
How long would it take to reach that level?
No—was it even a level that a person could reach in the first place?
Reynold had said: Archmage Reano could cast a spell that rained fire from the sky. He couldn't quite remember the exact name, only that it had something to do with a desert.
What Red Eyes had used was, if not equal, at least close—certainly not in any way below that level. In other words, unless you had reached the rank of Archmage, it would be impossible to use such magic.
He closed his eyes.
His heart still wouldn't calm down.
Calm down, he told himself.
He took slow, deep breaths as if to soothe his trembling.
He didn't even dare hope to reach the heights of Archmage Reano. He only wished that one day, he could use magic even half as powerful. He meant it with all his heart.
The fog-like frustration that had clouded his vision was now gone.
Up until now, his dream had felt vague.
Learn magic.
Practice magic.
He wanted to become a mage, earn money, and live comfortably on his own terms.
Back when he wandered the back alleys, what he hated most was the cold and hunger.
But that wasn't really a goal.
Steward Blackwell had asked him:
A dream.
Don't you have a dream you want to achieve?
Back then, Lawrence had thought:
I want to become a mage.
But that wasn't something you could say out loud so easily.
Not all mages are the same.
What he wanted was no different than a naïve child longing to become a mercenary after hearing wild stories about the city.
But now, things were different.
He wanted to become a mage.
A mage who could use magic so marvelous that he could voice his genuine admiration without hesitation— magic that truly came from the heart.
Lawrence stretched both hands out in front of him. What flashed in his mind was the magic that Red Eyes had shown.
See it.
And understand it.
Just as those words said, the boy understood the magic.
"Shadow Spear."
Just like when he had formed arrows from Shadow.
The shadow that rose from the desk quickly transformed into the shape of a spear.
It was the very same Shadow Spear that had once soared into the sky.
Aiming for the open window, Lawrence threw the Shadow Spear. Soaring toward the sky that had just begun to lighten at dawn, the Shadow Spear flew higher and higher.
Like a bird that has just broken out of its shell and takes flight. The caged bird finally spread its wings and leapt into the world.