The girl stared at him.
Then slowly lowered her head.
As though something inside her had shattered.
Xavier could practically see it happening.
The moment hope died.
The moment a person realized they had been abandoned.
"We have to go," Raiden said quietly.
Miriam lowered her head.
She didn't argue.
She didn't object.
She simply took a step toward Raiden.
Then another.
Her choice had already been made.
The elf girl looked between them desperately.
Then her gaze landed on Xavier.
For some reason—
she hadn't given up on him yet.
The realization hit him harder than it should have.
Because he knew that look.
Far too well.
The look of someone desperately waiting for another person to stay.
Waiting for someone to care.
Waiting for someone to say they weren't alone. But it couldn't be helped, Raiden was right, her situation was only going to get them in danger. " I can't help her," he thought. Then, just like the rest of them, he turned to walk away.
The girl suddenly threw herself forward.
Both hands gripping Xavier's leg desperately.
"Please." Her voice cracked, "Please don't leave me behind."
Xavier froze, in that moment, then moved.
The grip tightened. With his eyes turned away, he spoke to her." I'm sorry, I can't help you, I...."
"I've been here for so long..." she cried quietly. "I have a sister, sir. I promised her that I'd be back to her. I drank this potion to become a knight. The money was all I needed. It was foolish of me to enter this world, but I was desperate, Desperate to feed us.
Tears dripped onto the snow.
"Please... If I die here, who'll take care of her? Please understand. Please..."
Every word felt like a knife.
Because he understood.
More than anyone here.
He understood exactly how it felt to cry for help and hear nothing.
To be alone.
To be abandoned.
To watch the people around you disappear one by one until there was nobody left.
He understood.
That was why he couldn't move.
That was why he couldn't pull his leg away.
"Please..." the girl whispered. "Don't abandon me."
The clearing fell silent.
Finally, Xavier knelt down.
The girl looked up at him.
Her eyes were swollen and red.
Filled with fear.
Filled with desperation.
And for a brief moment—
he saw himself.
A frightened person reaching out for help.
A frightened person praying someone would stay.
Xavier lowered his head.
"...Okay."
The girl's eyes widened.
"I'll take you with me."
Raiden's head snapped toward him.
"What?"
"I said I'm taking her with me."
"You've lost your mind."
"I'll carry her."
Raiden laughed.
Not because he found it funny.
Because he genuinely couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"You'll get tired."
"Then I'll get tired."
"She'll slow us down."
"Then she'll slow us down."
"She can't even fight."
"So what?"
The answer came instantly.
Raiden stared at him.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then the knight suddenly exploded.
"WHY?!"
The shout echoed through the forest.
"Weren't you the one who wanted to abandon them earlier?!"
His finger pointed directly at Xavier.
"Weren't you the one who told me we should leave them and keep moving?"
The words hit like punches.
"I'm literally giving you what you wanted!"
Raiden stepped forward.
"So tell me."
Silence.
"Why do you suddenly care?"
No answer.
The knight's voice rose again.
"WHY?!"
Xavier opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Because the answer had been buried for so long that even he didn't want to face it.
Raiden waited.
The others waited.
The wind howled through the trees.
Then suddenly—
"Because..."
Xavier's voice cracked.
His fists clenched.
His entire body trembled.
"Because..."
The words refused to come out.
Then finally—
"SHUT UPPP!!!"
The shout tore itself from his throat.
Everyone froze.
Even Xavier seemed shocked by how loud it had come out.
His shoulders shook.
His breathing became ragged.
"My sis..."
The words stopped there.
Immediately, his head lowered.
Something painful crossed his face.
Something broken.
"I..."
His voice trembled.
"I did it, Raiden."
Silence.
"I did it."
His fists tightened harder.
"I'm a coward."
The words sounded as though they were being dragged out of him.
"I'm afraid."
His voice rose.
"I'm selfish."
Then louder.
"IM SELFISH"
His eyes reddened.
"IM Fucking SELFISHH!!!!"
The scream echoed through the clearing.
Years of guilt poured out with it.
Every regret.
Every memory.
Every sleepless night.
Everything.
"I want to change!"
Tears finally spilled down his face.
"I want forgiveness!"
Then, before anyone could react, Xavier dropped to both knees.
The snow compressed beneath him.
His head lowered.
Not out of pride.
Not out of respect.
But desperation.
Raw desperation.
"So please..."
His voice had become barely audible.
"Please let me do this."
His hands trembled against the snow.
"Please let me save her."
No one spoke.
Not Miriam.
Not the elf girl.
Not even Raiden.
Because for the first time since meeting Xavier, they were seeing a wound that had nothing to do with the Spell World.
And judging by the pain in his voice—
It had never healed.
***
Raiden's gaze drifted toward Elra.
Toward the tears running down her face.
Toward the legs, she could no longer move.
Then he slowly exhaled.
A long, tired breath.
"Xavier," he said quietly. " Look at her legs."
"What?"
"Look. I haven't chosen to abandon her because of her being crippled now.....look at her legs."
Confused, Xavier turned.
At first, he didn't understand.
Then his eyes widened.
Shock struck him so suddenly that he almost staggered backward.
The girl's legs weren't merely injured.
They were changing.
Dark patches covered parts of her skin, spreading like spilled ink beneath the flesh. Black growths protruded from those patches, small mushroom-like fungi pushing through her skin and blooming across her legs.
Tiny but Numerous..
The black growth stretched upward from her calves toward her thighs, slowly consuming more territory with every passing moment.
"What..." Xavier's voice faltered. "What is that?"
Elra lowered her head.
Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks that her hands couldn't cover
"I don't know..."Her voice came out as a broken whisper.
"I don't know..."
Raiden walked forward.
Without warning, he grabbed the loose fabric around her shoulder and ripped it off.
The group froze.
More spores.
More fungus.
Black growths had spread across her back.
Thin veins of corruption crawled beneath her skin like living roots. Clusters of dark mushrooms protruded from her shoulder blades and neck, disappearing beneath her hair.
Xavier felt his stomach tighten.
The sight was beyond imagination.
This felt hopeless.
"What is happening to her?" he asked.
Raiden stared at the spreading infection.
His expression darkened.
"Mutation. Is the spellword"
The word landed like a stone.
Xavier looked at him immediately.
"Mutation? From what?"
Raiden remained silent for several seconds before speaking.
"Remember what I told you."
The wind howled through the clearing.
"In the Spell World, if your physical body dies, your soul remains trapped here."
His voice grew quieter.
"And eventually..."
He looked toward the dead demon centaurs scattered across the snow. "You become one of them."
The world seemed to stop.
Even Miriam's face lost color.
Elra's breathing hitched.
Raiden turned toward her.
"Tell me this, Elf."
She slowly looked up.
"How long have you been here?"
The girl froze.
For a moment she clearly considered lying.
Then she lowered her head.
The desperation in her eyes won against whatever pride she still possessed.
"One month..."
Her voice shook.
"And a couple weeks."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Then Xavier exploded.
"ONE MONTH?"
His voice echoed across the clearing.
"You've been trapped here for over a month?!"
Elra flinched.
Raiden, however, finally seemed to understand.
Pieces were falling into place.
"Now I get it."
His expression became grim.
"Your family hung a crystal for you, didn't they?"
The girl nodded weakly. " My little sister did, she's in the real world. My family is dead. They all drank the potion, and we came together...Here, we... we heard the payments Knight receives for their services are huge. Driven by poverty and hunger, we came here, we lacked survival knowledge nor fighting skills, so one by one, the environment and monsters picked us off. We didn't know it was this dangerous."
The color drained from Xavier's face.
Raiden continued.
"The crystals can keep a person's body alive while they're trapped in the Spell World temporarily. " His gaze hardened.
A cold feeling settled inside Xavier's chest.
"The crystal feeds your body for a time. After that, your body survives on whatever strength it has left."
Raiden pointed toward the black fungus.
" But once your body slowly depletes in energy."
His voice became heavier with each sentence.
"Then eventually your body begins to die."
Elra's eyes widened.
Raiden didn't stop.
"A you transform into a monster... It was foolish of you and your family to leave your little sister alone with no guardian, having no knowledge of how we get our spells, and the risks involved. Now your sister lies in a room full of corpses, thinking her family will soon return. This is why the royal families and other elites train their children before they ever come here."
Elra the Elf lowered her head in sorrow. For weeks, she had feared being trapped.
Now she was being told something far worse.
She wasn't just trapped anymore.
She was dying.
And every second she spent here brought her closer to becoming one of the monsters she feared.
The realization shattered her.
A sob escaped her throat.
Then another.
Then another.
Soon she was crying openly, unable to stop.
"I don't want to die..."
Her voice cracked.
"I just want to go home..."
Nobody spoke.
Nobody knew what to say.
The snowy clearing suddenly felt colder than before.
Finally, Xavier looked toward Raiden.
"Is there a way to save her?"
The question hung in the air.
Raiden hesitated.
That hesitation alone was enough to terrify Xavier.
"There might be."
"Might?"
Raiden nodded.
"But I don't know if we'll make it in time."
"Tell me."
"The Black Tower."
Xavier's eyes narrowed.
"The answer is there."
For the first time since the conversation began, Miriam spoke.
"How is the Black Tower supposed to stop her mutation?"
Raiden shook his head.
"The mutation isn't the real problem."
He pointed toward Elra.
"Her body is losing energy. Starvation and dehydration are killing her physically."
"The fungus is only the symptom, and effect."
"The closer her body gets to death, the stronger the corruption becomes."
He looked north.
Far beyond the trees.
Far beyond the snow-covered wilderness.
Toward the impossible structure waiting somewhere in the distance.
"At the very top of the Black Tower, a portal appears after the final trial."
His voice carried a strange certainty.
"Anyone who enters that portal is returned to their physical body."
Hope flickered across Elra's face.
Raiden noticed it immediately.
"So if we can get her there before her body dies..."
He paused.
"If we're fast enough...if luck is on our side..."
"Then she might survive."
The hope lasted only a second before Xavier asked the question everyone was thinking.
"Has anyone actually done it before?"
Silence.
Raiden's jaw tightened.
Then he slowly shook his head.
"No. No one is crazy enough to carry a slowly mutating person with them; they would rather run or kill them."
The single word felt heavier than all the others combined.
Snow drifted through the air.
The wind continued its endless howl.
And for the first time, Xavier truly understood what kind of place the Spell World was.
There were no guarantees here.
No heroes.
No miracles.
Only impossible choices and people desperately racing against death.
And somewhere beyond the frozen wilderness stood the Black Tower.
Their only chance.
Perhaps Elra's last.
Slowly, Raiden lifted his head.
The golden light filtering through the endless canopy of trees had begun to fade. What little warmth remained in the winter sun was disappearing beyond the horizon, painting the snow-covered landscape in shades of orange and crimson.
Night was coming.
Raiden's expression immediately darkened.
"We need to move," he said firmly, his gaze sweeping across the frozen clearing. "Now."
Everyone turned toward him.
"The nights in the Spell World are far more dangerous than the days. We don't know what kind of creatures roam these woods after dark, and even if monsters don't find us..." His eyes shifted toward the falling snow. "...the cold will."
The urgency in his voice erased any thoughts of resting.
For a moment, silence settled over the group before Elra hesitantly raised her hand.
"I..." Her voice was soft, almost uncertain. "I know a place."
Everyone looked toward her.
"There's a cave a few miles from here," she explained. "It's near a giant tree. The entrance is hidden beside its roots, so most creatures don't notice it." She lowered her gaze slightly. "That's... where I've been staying."
The last words came out barely above a whisper.
Where she had survived.
Alone.
For over a month.
Xavier couldn't help but glance at her. Just imagining her spending countless nights in this merciless world by herself, waiting for someone who never came, made something tighten painfully in his chest.
"It should protect us from the wind," Elra continued quietly. "It's warmer than staying outside."
Raiden considered her suggestion for only a few seconds before nodding.
"Fine. We'll head there."
Relief immediately flashed across Elra's tear-stained face.
Raiden then turned toward Xavier.
"Xavier, carry her. We're leaving."
Xavier blinked before nodding quickly.
"...Right."
Then, after a brief hesitation, he looked toward Raiden again.
"Thank you."
Raiden clicked his tongue and looked away.
"Don't misunderstand," he muttered. "I still think this is reckless."
Despite his words, he hadn't objected again.
Xavier smiled faintly.
That was enough.
Carefully, he crouched beside Elra.
"Can you hold onto me?" he asked.
Elra stared at him for a few seconds before slowly nodding.
With great care, Xavier lifted her onto his back.
The movement caused her to flinch slightly, but after adjusting herself, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
She was lighter than he expected.
Far too light.
As though the endless days trapped within this place had slowly worn her away.
For a few moments, neither of them spoke.
Then, in a voice so quiet Xavier almost missed it—
"...Thank you."
Xavier paused.
The elf girl rested her forehead against his back, her voice trembling.
"I really thought..." She swallowed hard. "I thought I was going to die here."
Xavier's expression softened.
He adjusted his grip slightly to make sure she was secure.
"You're welcome, I know how you feel. I used to have a younger sister...." he said gently. "And for what it's worth..." A small smile appeared on his face. "I don't plan on leaving you behind."
Elra fell silent
A moment later, he felt her grip tighten slightly around him.
As if she was making sure this wasn't another cruel illusion.
Raiden watched the exchange quietly before turning toward the darkening forest ahead.
"Save the touching romance for later," he said. "If we don't reach that cave before sunset, all of us might end up dead."
The distant cries of unfamiliar creatures echoed somewhere deep within the woods.
Miriam instinctively moved closer to the group.
The fading sunlight cast long shadows across the snow-covered earth. Xavier truly understood why Winston panicked when he drank the potion. But why did Winston make it?
The real challenge now was surviving long enough to reach the Black Tower.
"Let's go," Raiden said.
Without another word, the small group stepped forward, leaving behind the bloodstained clearing and disappearing into the darkening forest.
Above them, the last rays of sunlight vanished beneath the horizon.