💕 💕 💕
YULISSE was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes when she and Raphael left the mansion. The look on Raphael’s face when she retired last night had stuck with her, and she’d gotten so fixated on it that she barely slept the whole night.
The trees around them were thick with snow, and the leaves had frozen fast to their stems. On occasion, the branches would lose their strength and let drop some snow, plodding on the top of her fuzzy rabbit suit’s head. Yulisse’s feet felt heavy for more reasons than just her lack of sleep.
Her heart sank when Raphael pointed out an impenetrably dark cave as their destination. The vines around the entrance seemed frozen solid, jangling like discordant chimes whenever the wind blew by it.
Raphael led the way, parting the vines around him.
“It’s beautiful in here!” he declared.
Yulisse hesitated to follow, but as the wizard’s robes rapidly dissolved into the shadow of the depths, she had no choice but to jump through after him. The inside was just as dark as it had appeared. A moment later, she felt Raphael’s hand wrap around her own, so she had no choice but to press on. With every step came the tinkling shattering of what had to be ice. If she were alone, she’d likely have slipped and ended it all soon enough.
Before long, they saw light ahead—not the light of an exit, but something far less distinct. With every step, however, the illumination’s source came into view.
“Wow!” Yulisse breathed. She got the feeling Raphael smiled at her reaction.
The ceiling above them was flecked with countless tiny lights, any of which seemed so precariously balanced they could fall at any time. The oddest part, however, was the singular rhythm with which all the lights slowly strobed.
The illumination reminded Yulisse of the manacite she’d once had. She’d been told it would grant her the stars’ blessing, and it would glow and flicker with the same brilliant, otherworldly light.
That was when the chill ran down her spine.
“L-Lord Raphael?” she whispered. “What is this place?”
Raphael had already bent over to examine the ground nearby. Dried leaves, fruits, and branches were there despite an obvious lack of trees or water.
Is this some kind of nest?
If it were, its owner would have to be huge. There was more than enough space for Yulisse to lie down and stretch out fully. The horrible deer thing came to mind. However, what emerged from the cave’s depths had short legs and a body covered with shaggy fur. It let out a low, rumbling growl.
“Wha—?!”
“Hush, now.” Raphael clamped his hand over her mouth before her scream could escape. His hand was every bit as temperatureless as before, but now Yulisse could feel her own hands go cold. “We don’t want to go riling it up now.”
“Mmph? Mmhmm!”
A monster!
Before them was a creature bigger than the both of them put together—a monstrous bear. Its shoulders rose like twin bluffs, and its massive claws dug into the cave floor in a display of territorial dominance. This place had to be its den, and they were trespassing. Yulisse felt the overwhelming urge to flee, but she knew it would attack if she turned her back on it, and she wasn’t confident she could outrun it to the cave’s entrance.
“Growrgh!”
The behemoth picked up on her uncertainty, lunging forward with a carnal roar.
“W-Wah!”
Her legs gave out beneath her, and her mittened hands hit the ground behind her. She groped for some means of escape, but her knees were far too shaky to cooperate. She could only watch in horror as the monster closed in.
I knew it! I’m dead!
She clamped her eyes shut—but the fatal blow never came.
Finally, she found the courage to open her eyes just slightly. All she could see was a familiar robe. Raphael had somehow gotten in front of her, and a strange mass of ice crystals enveloping his arm took the brunt of the horror’s gnashing bite.
“Hey, Yulie~!”
“Y-Yes?!”
“I’ll hold this little guy back. You go back to the mansion and get backup, okay?”
The bear narrowed its eyes in irritation, jaws scraping shrilly at the ice. It let out a deep growl of discontent. She knew Raphael was plenty strong enough to keep it at bay, but—
“I-I can’t stand up,” she whimpered weakly.
“Oh. Of course.” The wizard’s shoulders slumped. “All right, then. I don’t know how long I can hold this, but it deserves a shot.”
He extended his free hand, and a shimmering wall of light enveloped the pair.
She blinked in shock. “What?”
“You see, I can use magic without an incantation. That’ll be our little secret, though, okay~?”
Before she could ask what exactly that meant, the monster let out another bellowing cry. The stalagmites around it noisily cracked, growing into mighty spears of ice.
“Oh, so you’re ice elemental?” Raphael mused.
Flames manifested in his palm, growing and elongating into the form of a great dragon, baring its teeth at the monster.
“Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “I promise I’ll keep you safe~!”
As he said so, the serpentine drake coiled through the wall of light and lunged. The icicle spears readily melted as the dragon coiled tightly around the bear. The flames only lapped at the edges of its fur, and with one mighty swipe, it put out the sputtering flames and extinguished the dragon. Raphael conjured a second, this one made of pale, ethereal flames, but it was wiped out just as easily with a roar and a swipe. The melted ice water rapidly flowed together at the bear’s feet and refroze, and the monster lifted it as if to crush the barrier through sheer power. Raphael’s fireball collided with it before impact, shattering and melting it again.
C-Can Raphael even win this?
The hairs on the back of Yulisse’s neck rose. The wizard was on the back foot, and she had an awful feeling things were about to get worse.
“GRAAAAAAAAAAWRRR!!”
The beast’s roar reverberated throughout the cave as it tore through Raphael’s latest barrier of flames. Lethally sharp icicles welled up from every floor, wall, and ceiling, only to be melted away by the wizard’s fire, but not quickly enough.
What caught Yulisse’s attention the most, however, was that the icy spires had begun to pierce the wall of light around the pair. She had to be increasingly careful to avoid the spikes looming up all around her. That distracted her just enough that she missed the bear raising its boulder-like paws to crush her until the blow was nearly upon her.
“Wha…!”
“Yulie!!”
She heard Raphael’s voice—panicked, which was a first. The beast’s mighty paws snatched her up, pinning her arms to her sides and throwing her off to the point she was little more than a limp doll. The air around her grew increasingly thick with flames, but so did the tight grip on her.
Then, all at once, she was assailed by a floaty feeling and fell to the ground. Above her, she could still see the monster, bathed in flame and howling with rage.
This is it. This time, for sure, I’m dead.
The bear took one, two steps toward her—then its massive body swayed and fell to the ground with a mighty crash. The tremors from the impact sent her bouncing briefly up from the ground. Its limbs lay weakly about it, and it showed no further sign of movement.
She heard Raphael sigh. “Finally… Ran out of mana, did it?” He leaned down and tenderly helped her sit up.
“Lord Raphael! I’m so glad you’re—”
She cut herself off. There was something wrong—horrifically so. Even though the cave was only weakly lit, she could see that Raphael’s entire torso was slick with dark blood. His very life was seeping away from him.
“Y-You’re bleeding!”
He nodded, smiling faintly. “Yep. I couldn’t quite dodge that last swipe.”
That last tremor… That was when he got hit, wasn’t it?
“You can heal this, right?” she asked nervously. “You can do anything with magic, can’t you?”
The wizard’s shoulders fell. “If only I could. Unfortunately, I’m out of mana myself… I won’t be moving anytime soon.”
He stuck his tongue out playfully, but that only made her angry. That wasn’t the kind of face her master should make, ever. This was serious.
“Hehe, I like that look on your face, Yulie~!” He stroked her hair, neglecting the gaping hole in his chest entirely. “The monster’s going to be down for a while, okay? Promise me you’ll run as soon as you can.”
“B-But what about you?”
“Aww, are you worried about li’l old me? Maybe if you kiss me, I’ll get better!” His hand alighted on the side of her face, this time so cold he may as well be frozen.
“Y-You can’t be serious!”
“Of course I am… There’s nothing love can’t do.”
His hand slipped down her face, then parted from her altogether. His eyelids fluttered, then covered his eyes completely. Raphael stopped moving with all the suddenness and serenity of falling asleep.
“…Lord Raphael?”
No reply.
“Lord Raphael?”
She called his name again. Her tears felt hot as they slicked their way down her freezing cheeks. He was still smiling, with all the lightheartedness and tinge of mischief she knew him for. Still, his eyes remained softly shut.
“L-Lord…Raphael…?”
The heat was draining rapidly from his face. His remaining complexion was too pale, as though he were made of ice.
“Wake up! You said you’d protect me, didn’t you?! You promised you—”
I’ll protect you to my dying breath, were his words.
She’d thought he was joking. She’d retorted that she’d be dead anyway in this harsh wilderness, and he paled a little at her reply. It had come to pass, however, and Raphael had fought to the bitter end to keep her safe as he’d promised.
“Noooooooo!”
Her voice echoed horribly through the cave, and as it returned to her, it sounded even more harrowed and alone. Her head spun, and she couldn’t put two thoughts together if she tried. Yulisse cried and cried, screaming until her throat was raw, and when she fell silent, there was nothing but the cool calm of the grave. Raphael, her, the monster—nothing moved, nothing made a sound.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, a flash of light.
“What…?”
Yulisse looked up to find the motes on the ceiling had brightened. Then, like ripe fruits falling from branches, they fell from the rock face and drifted down toward her. It felt like the night sky had descended to meet her, silently enveloping her in their glow. In the light, she could see her younger self—she’d heard of a person’s life flashing before their eyes, but this was more literal than she’d thought.
Does this mean I’m dying, too?
She felt oddly warm, however, far more so than before. She extended her hand as her younger self watched on.