Deep in the forest, miasma swelled to a worrying degree.
A girl walked alone, excited for her first adventure—though the pout on her face didn’t show it. She moved carefully, illuminating her path with a magic light she had just recently learned to cast.
Is this Profen Forest?
Liliana didn’t understand what she was seeing. She had parted ways with Petra, returned to her estate, and gone to bed.
Oh, this must be a dream.
The girl was Tania Draco, whom Liliana had met only hours earlier. A small light fought against what would otherwise have been pitch darkness.
“Everyone treats me like a kid. I got to study magic early, though—earlier than Berasta—so I’m practically an adult. Safflower, juniper, burdock... Hee hee. I remember it all.”
Tania was proud to have begun studying magic at six years old. She was equally proud of her excellent memory.
“Ben said he got his tutor when he was five. I’m a year late, but I should still be good enough to help him.”
Ben Draco, her elder brother, had risen to vice minister at a younger age than anyone else in the Ministry of Magic’s history. He came from a talented family, yet he still managed to distinguish himself. Tania adored him, which was precisely why Berasta’s recent rebellious streak struck her as utterly foolish. Why would anyone defy the most amazing person in the world? As a result, she barely spoke to her twin brother anymore.
Even so, despite all his complaining, Berasta had apparently become more serious about learning to control his mana. Tania feared he might catch up to her—but only a little. She was already far ahead of him. Her dream was to become a powerful mage and, with any luck, Ben’s right hand.
“For that, I need to increase my mana. My teacher said it’s too early for me, but what if that’s wrong? What if I do nothing, and suddenly it’s too late instead? I’m not your ordinary girl, after all.”
She kept talking, unaware she was trying to distract herself. If she thought too hard about what she was doing—wandering alone through a dark forest—fear would overwhelm her. And with the thick canopy overhead, the forest darkened far earlier than the city.
Tania was equally unaware of the creatures gathering nearby. Even when she sensed that something felt off, she dismissed it as her imagination and continued on. Only when thick, nauseating mist closed around her did she finally stop.
“What...?!”
Monsters burst from behind the trees as if drawn to her fear. She tried to raise a barrier, but her magic was too weak and unpracticed. Worse still, she had only just turned six; she couldn’t hope to keep her composure in her first encounter with even a single monster, let alone dozens.
Their dark, frenzied eyes fixed on her as they roared, their foul breath washing over her. Tania’s face drained of color as despair set in. Her barrier came apart, and the nearest monster swung its sharp claws. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed, curling into a quivering ball. Overwhelmed by fear, she couldn’t scream or even try to defend herself.
But before the claws could reach her—before her small head could be torn from her shoulders—a bestial shriek split the night. Tania timidly looked up, confused by the absence of pain. A woman in a robe stood before her, eyes blazing as she glared down the monsters.
“Sheesh. Berasta was right to fuss about your vanishing. What’re you doing all the way out here?”
“Ah, P-Pet—”
Tania’s lips trembled too much for her to speak her savior’s name. Petra Myyrylainen was the only woman her beloved elder brother trusted outside their family. Their conversations were always too complicated for Tania to follow, which frustrated her deeply. She felt left behind, like she would never catch up to Petra.
As the girl watched, stunned, Petra fought the attacking monsters with her magic, defeating them one by one. Tania finally collected herself, resolving to help—but she stepped in front of Petra at the worst possible moment.
“You’re in the way!”
“Hey!” Tania snapped. “Watch how you speak to—”
She was too late to notice the fangs lunging for her.
Petra scorched a monster on her other side, then realized she couldn’t reach the one attacking Tania in time. Instead, she yanked the girl to her chest and turned, taking the bite herself. Heat flared across her side as the poison spread, followed quickly by a chill that almost made her lose consciousness. Miasma would inevitably seep in through the wound and taint her further.
“Miss Petra...?”
Tania looked up at the mage still shielding her. Summoning what little of her strength remained, Petra drew the dagger hidden beneath her robe and drove it into the beast, weakening it enough for her to pull away and cauterize her wound with magic. It stopped the bleeding, but it did nothing for the poison. For that, she needed healing magic—something she couldn’t self-apply—and the monsters were still closing in.
Petra collapsed, her breathing ragged. Only then did Tania notice the blood soaking the mage’s side, and the last bit of color drained from her face.
“Miss Petra—”
“We’re leaving.”
With the last of her power, Petra teleported them both to a familiar room.
“Myyrylainen?!”
As her consciousness faded, she heard the voice of a familiar man. She could feel him desperately trying to heal her with magic, and when she opened her eyes, she saw that he was ghastly pale.
“Please...please don’t die, Petra.”
His voice was gentle and grief-stricken. He had never called her by name before.
Wimp... Why’d you wait this long? Petra thought in her daze, regarding the man fondly.
“Don’t you die on me, Petra.”
Even as she lay motionless, he kept pleading with her. And as she later learned from his half brother, Paul, he had looked after her constantly while she was indisposed.
Ben Draco had taken Petra into his care after the loss of her mother left her a war orphan. Since she had only a first name, he had given her a surname—Myyrylainen. He told her to work at the Ministry of Magic and follow in her mother’s footsteps, as she too had been a hexer.
When Petra finally awoke, the vice minister was gone. A scar remained on her side, but she managed to return to something like her usual life. Yet something between her and Ben had changed. When she did see him, he was curt, and she could never seem to start a conversation with him. For years, their relationship stayed that way. Tania often looked at her as though she wanted to say something, but Petra ignored it. Paul claimed Ben felt guilty that Petra had needed to protect his sister, but the mage only sneered at the idea. How was she to sympathize with a man who avoided her?
“That coward...”
Yet Petra had to wonder—was he really the coward, or was she? She refused to speak her true feelings; the fear of rejection was simply too strong. As much as she sneered about Ben not speaking to her, she never tried to approach him either.
Petra knew well that nothing lasted forever. But she had never expected to feel it so sharply, nor to regret so deeply her refusal to act when she had the chance.
✦ ✦ ✦
Liliana stared absently at the familiar ceiling of her estate.
“A dream...?”
It felt far too real to have been one.
She let out a long, listless sigh, her face drained of color. When she had returned home the previous night, after slaying the monsters in the forest, she had compared her record of miasma with ordinary air. Exhausted as she was, she had forced herself to investigate the matter, convinced it was urgent. As expected, she found a clear difference in composition: Miasma contained toxic substances such as sulfur dioxide and hydrogen cyanide. They drifted separately, without reacting with each other.
Only then had Liliana collapsed into sleep. Maybe the dream had simply been a nightmare born from pushing herself too hard. She shifted slightly. Her head swam, her hands trembled, and sweat drenched her body.
“What was that about? It wasn’t real...was it?”
It felt real, but she wasn’t certain. She had experienced lucid dreams before, but they had always followed the events of the game. This was the first to diverge from both the game and reality.
“Was it something that’s going to happen?” she murmured, sitting up. “No, that can’t be right either...”
Tania had already encountered monsters in Profen Forest once; why would she recklessly return there alone? Yes, she was a child—and often behaved like one—but she wasn’t foolish.
Liliana’s heart pounded with a growing sense of dread. She pressed her shaking right hand to her chest, but it did nothing to calm her. Cold sweat trickled down her back.