Danmachi: Fated Hero or Foolish Demise?

Chapter 5: Ais Wallenstein (A Girl's Past)

Amidst the thunderous night, a young golden-haired beauty found herself sprinting back to her familia's home. The dark clouds responsible for the horrendous downpour perfectly blotted out any chance for the radiance of the moon to reach the surface. Leaving the streets relatively dim, with the only illumination source coming from the magic stone lamps placed on the edges of the main roads.

The maiden's blue boots with white stars were being covered, and partially filled, by both the rain falling from above and the many puddles she would run through. Each puddle failed to be given anything but a mere moment to reflect the poorly lit face of the girl back at her before they were stomped through, sending water upwards along with ripples through it.

With the Fall season starting to close, the air, especially at night, was frigid. This, combined with what appeared to be unrelenting and massive gusts of wind occurring occasionally, led to conditions that matched some of the coldest days of Winter. So much so that it was enough to start negatively affecting even those with Falnas, at least the lower-level ones.

The effects of these dreadful conditions became all too noticeable on the girl's clothing. Every part of her body was soaked so completely that it was as if she had gone into a river or lake. Her armor started to have a visible layer of frost forming around it. Her hair acted like a sponge with how much water it had taken in. Simply put, she had never felt so cold before.

Although her lower-than-normal internal temperature was not attributed to the conditions she was physically experiencing. Her wet clothing, frost-covered armor, and gusts of the freezing air that passed over her; all felt warmer in comparison. This inadvertently led to her body failing to adequately respond as it only responded to what occurred earlier.

Her body was aggressively shaking, but it wasn't to produce heat in response to the cold. Her breaths failed to be classified as even remotely warm, causing no fog to be created. Her mind found itself unwavering from the numerous strikes of lightning occurring throughout the sky above her. Her ears could not be deafened by the crashes of thunder that accompanied the lightning, as the words of the boy she had been conversing with earlier still rang clearly through her head. Her constant blinking failed to remove the image she was running from.

An image that, instead of fading away, only remained as prominent as it was when she first laid her eyes upon it. An image of a sight she had never seen until a few fleeting moments ago. An image that made her recognize just what exactly her words caused. An image of the boy she had only known to be pure in nature corrupted by such an intense hatred at himself, paired with a face of sheer despair with possible tears running down it. An image that served as a way to remind her just how badly she failed to comfort him.

For every moment she closed her eyes, no matter how short they were closed, the image flashed so prominently in her mind it was as if she was reliving it. The image of her white-haired friend rejecting what she believed to be sound advice was followed by his reasoning. That was the image her mind was tormenting her with. Her mind practically screamed out about what she did.

"I...I hurt him!! I hurt Bell very... very badly!!!"

In Ais's pursuit to comfort an emotionally distraught Bell, her words were perfectly crafted... to do the exact opposite she envisioned doing. The moment she suggested that Bell perhaps place his desire to reach the one he loves on pause was when nearly everything she said and did after achieved more harm than good. Paired with her incomplete statement of wishing for him to not end up like her, ultimately fed into the despair he was feeling.

While the blame cannot be entirely placed on her, as she had no knowledge or awareness that the girl he had been referring to was her, it resulted in what can best be described as an unknowing rejection of Bell's feelings.