Lilia's Tale

Chapter 91: Recovery...?

My eyes opened. Not from awakening from this nightmare. From dying in it. The horror I lived through in that nightmare killed me. I could feel it as my senses broken, my breathing impaired and my mind empty. Noise was all I could hear. Shapes were all I could see. Slight were all my movements could be. I ended up slowly darting back into unconsciousness as my efforts to get to a better physical state were unsuccessful.

I could feel the length of time necessary for my physical state to get to a better point. I could still not understand anything I heard, although I could tell people around me were talking. I kept drifting in and out of consciousness, my eyes perpetually closed due to my lack of control over my deteriorating body and mind.

Silence slowly grew as my back-and-forths continued on and on in an endless wave of pain. This thankfully slowly subsided, allowing me to move ever so slightly again. This little freedom was enough to open my eyes, although my vision was too blurry for me to understand what was in front of me. All I could see was white.

Realising my condition was getting better, even if only a little bit, I tried to sleep. This idea ended up costing me greatly, as a similar, although significantly less intense, nightmare came into my mind. One that only involved Riogh, Greg, Souji and Yuki. It was enough to shock me awake, as I forcefully sat up.

Right as my body stopped moving, my eyes wide awake, a sharp pain powered throughout my entire body, starting from my heart. While I could see clearly that I was still in the same room as before, the place were Riogh and the others were, it ended up blurring out yet again, even if not to the same extent, as the wave reached my eyes.

Unable to keep the my body standing, I fell back onto the bed, awaiting whatever disaster might strike me next. To my surprise...and enjoyment, I ended up falling asleep, waking up in a dark, silent room. It must have been night. My idea of time was currently completely broken, so I couldn't tell what day it was or what time in the night it was.

My body might have been back into my control, it was still very difficult to move or generally do what I wished to. Unable to do much other than sit up and look around, I tried seeing what I could do without moving my body.

"Alice?" I asked in my head.

No response. It wasn't that I was being ignored either. I simply could not feel her connection with me. My first reaction was to want to try and use magic, but I knew it wouldn't end well considering the last time I tried that. I ended up giving up on trying to contact Alice for a while, figuring something must have gone wrong with my magic circuits because of that nightmare.

It felt a bit weird that this simple nightmare managed to have such a powerful effect. Could it have been a curse, or spell, in some way? Could he have cast it back then? Was it why Alice wasn't responding? Only speculations could come to me with no real evidence. However, one thing was for sure. I needed more rest. I wasn't completely recovered yet.

And most importantly, I needed to get a better understanding of what happened to me... or why I had this nightmare. And its meaning.

Just thinking about it sent me through another uncontrollable state, my body shaking violently as it stopped responding. I fought as hard as I could, managing somehow, through unbearable and seemingly endless suffering, to gain control of myself again. My mind barely worked, but I was already happy I stopped myself from going quite literally insane.

My mind forced me asleep through sheer exhaustion after this succesful endeavor. As I woke up, I noticed the room was lit up once more, my body still painfully sluggish, although in a better situation. I sat up and looked around. I saw Riogh, Greg and Souji sitting up as well, although still heavily covered in red and white.

I was struck with both an incredibly powerful headache, and an odd sense of relief. While I had an idea on why I had both of these persistent and overwhelming feelings at once, I was simply unable to mutter the mental strength to form proper hypothesises on that subject. Instead, as I felt tears roll down my cheek, I fainted again.

I woke up relatively quickly from footsteps approaching me. They also seemed to be talking. Although I couldn't quite recognise the voice, but I didn't necessarily see it as a problem. I opened my eyes and looked, seeing only a woman dressed in white. My first thought was that of a nurse, so I tried listening in properly to what she was saying.

"I don't know, sir Rin. She has apparently arrived some nights ago and collapsed upon arriving in the recovery room. She has been here since."

"How can you not know when she's been here this long. Have you not tried anything on her?"

"Well... In all honesty, we have, but there is a sort of light-magic barrier that protects her from us. We have no idea where it's coming from as she should be unconscious right now."

A light-magic barrier... Could it be?

"Alice!" I screamed in my head.

No response... but I could feel the connection again. She was here. And she most likely was the one putting that barrier up.

"Alice, if you can hear me, you should put the barrier down."

"Master..." I could faintly hear.

"Alice, trust me. I'll be fine. Rin-san will take care of me."

"...Yes, Master."

"Oh. Yeah I... Wait, the barrier is dissipating," Rin said.

"Oh? Oh. I can feel it too."

"That's odd. Did she maybe hear us?"

"That would mean she's conscious. Lilia, can you hear us?"

"Y-Yes," I managed to utter.

"How are you feeling?"

"Very dizzy...and hurting..."

"Do you think you'll be able to get up and walking for tomorrow?"

"I...don't know."

"Well, I hope you will. Tomorrow is the first day of school, and you'll be required as an honor student to attend."

"The...first day? How long did I even sleep..."

"A few days," the nurse said.

"I see..."

"Try as you can to get back up for tomorrow and come back to the academy. I might be the principal, I cannot excuse everything from you."

I could hear him leave, even as my eyes stayed closed. I sighed, opened my eyes and forced myself to sit up. I asked the nurse what time of the day it was, to which she replied it was nearly time for dinner.

"Then, I'll take my leave. Can I ask for a favor, though?"

"Sure. What do you need?"

"Please tell Riogh I'm sorry for basically sending them to their doom. And that I'm happy they're alive."

I got out of the bed, noticing I still had my school clothes, and walked out. Every step was an excrutiating pain running up my leg through my entire body, but I endured and slowly, yet surely, walked all the way back to the academy.

As I arrived to the front door, the guard was surprised to see me and asked if I was alright. I simply replied I wasn't but that I would endure, and entered. As I walked through the place towards the dormitory, Lynn noticed me and came up to me. I ignored her and continued my path, struggling ever more as the pain was now overwhelming from the endless steps taken from the castle to the academy.

I entered the dormitory as my legs collapsed. I didn't care. I used the wall to get back up, barely having my legs work, and headed up the stairs. I could tell I was being looked at weirdly. I could tell whatever was happening would have a serious impact on the next day. But I couldn't care. If I had to go to school tomorrow, I will go. I have a very important duty to do. Protect Sayuri and the other kids.

I got into my room and went directly to the bathroom, made a bath, sat on the floor, cleaned myself, and entered the bath, falling asleep instantly.