The Runic Alchemist

Suddenly, some rough-looking bandit-like soldiers arrived and hit Lucian and the others with leather whips. Damian remembered the faces of these people too — they were the cannibal bandits he had killed after leaving the baron's villa. One of them hit Rose more than the others, and as a result, she died right before Lucian's eyes.

The scene changed. It was still the army camp, but it wasn't marching anymore — night-time, they were resting. Suddenly, the chains from Lucian and Damian's memory figure opened up as Thomas and the Baron himself unlocked them with keys. Before the keys could reach Lucian's family, however, another unit of soldiers ran towards them, shouting loudly — the Baron and Thomas fought them and screamed for Lucian to get away.

The scene changed again — this time Lucian was crying as Damian's memory figure sat atop a horse, and she was holding him tight from behind. The teenage Damian was piercing the Empire's soldiers' heads and chests left and right with his soulbound blood-red spear.

The scene changed again — this time Lucian and the memory Damian, much older in their teenage years, the same as they were when they came back to the pigmen world to fight the war. They were in Dreamlight, surrounded by their friends — it looked like they were going through the waygate to arrive at.. the Empire's marching army. They had come back to save her family, it seemed. However, Lucian's eyes were not looking at the army but were fixed on Damian and Reize, laughing while piloting the ship together.

The scene changed as the enormous dragon flew straight towards Dreamlight.

This scene was on the ground — Lucian fighting hard against the Empire's soldiers, while Damian high above fought the dragon emperor. Their friends were around Lucian, fighting against the wave of Empire soldiers to reach near her captured family.

But suddenly someone screamed. It captured the attention of everyone on the field — it was Reize. She was being pierced in the stomach by Moondancer with a dark sword and was bleeding out.

Seeing that, Lucian immediately looked up — Damian, along with Sam and Maelor watching all this unfold, also did so — they all saw the younger form of Damian flying down and hugging Reize as he shed tears. The look in Lucian's eyes, however, was of much more fear and untold terror. The memory or illusion of young Damian suddenly looked up and screamed,

"You! You did this! It's all because of you. I have done enough.. I have done enough.."

Young Damian broke into tears, leaving Lucian in a living nightmare.

The scene changed to Dreamlight leaving in the sky, carrying all Lucian's friends along with Damian. She alone fought against the unending sea of the Empire's soldiers. Then came the Moondancer — Lucian fought valiantly but ultimately she was beaten up. When finally the human form of the Emperor landed beside the two, he just looked at Lucian with a simple, bored look and unleashed a gigantic fire breath — incinerating Lucian alongside her whole family.

The scene ended there, and once again they were all back at the garden of the baron's villa.

That.. was not real. Well, it was a memory trap — it didn't have to be real. Just playing with her fear and insecurities, this skill or whatever had made an infinitely repeating nightmare that Damian never wished for even his worst enemies.

"It.. was it real? It can't be, right?" Maelor asked.

Sam shook his head, also looking at Damian. He was too busy looking at Lucian's innocent smiling face, though.

She had a fear that he would leave her? Even in her most dire moments? Guess his absence had left a much deeper impression on young Lucian's mind than he ever realized. Reize.. He had no idea she felt like that towards her.. or him. The eyes.. even right now, the two kids smiling in the garden — Lucian had the same look in her eyes which were locked onto young Damian's face. For that long?

Damian suddenly remembered the offer Lucian had once made as they were about to reach her uncle's town:

'..together we can rise as one of the greatest houses in the north, with time I'm sure you can gather strength like never before seen in the history of this kingdom. You can win back your own household through the Monarch's Trial.. I will do everything in my power to support you and help you..'

Maybe that was not just a simple effort of a noble child to advance her house further.. Damn, she was good. Her emotionless mask of a face had fooled even him — an adult with a lifetime of experience dealing with lies and hidden details.

"Damian?" Maelor called out.

Damian shook his head — this was no time to think about such things. He had important things to handle first.

"What?" he asked, looking at Maelor.

"How do we do this? You know her the best.." Sam asked in his place.

"I am not me.. I don't look like myself. One of you two will have a better chance at getting her attention.." Damian replied.

Sam nodded. Maelor also nodded slowly, looking at the changing scene from happy to slavery.

The whole cycle ended — Sam tried saying 'it's an illusion' and 'it's all fake', but the changing scenes one after another were full of emotions, and it was near impossible to grab Lucian's attention in them. Their only chance was the first memory — of himself and young Lucian fighting and smiling in the baron's villa.

Still, even there, whenever Sam or Maelor said something, Lucian just looked at them for a second before focusing back on her training and forgetting all about them. When she was on the ground, even there she only listened to Sam's warning for a second before she started ignoring him and focused back on young Damian's smiling face.

"She doesn't want any interruption in her happy moments. We have to try the painful ones and see if that gets her attention," Maelor suggested after they had been through dozens of cycles with no visible effect.

Damian was about to agree, but when he opened his mouth, the words did not come out at all. Suddenly, he realized how weak his body was.. he couldn't stand. Damian was about to fall down, but Sam noticed something was wrong with him and immediately supported him.