Lilia's Tale: Freyja's Endeavor

Chapter 54: Dream

At that point, my energy had run out. I could no longer focus on what they were saying. One thing certainly stood out, however. I...almost died? Was that why that feeling of...melting from the inside felt so vivid and familiar?

I woke up again, the same yellow lights surrounding me. The pains I had been overwhelmed by were still present but far more manageable. My mind was still muddy but I took it upon myself to at least try to sit up.

My body did not agree with me. It was as stiff as a rock and as disobedient as a wild dog, but I eventually pulled through as people kept shouting my name around me in disbelief.

It took me some time to calm down and power through the pain, as I eventually managed to make my hearing and talking function again. I painstakingly opened my mouth and barely muttered a few words:

"Good morning..."

The shouting restarted for a bit, though thankfully was cut short. Cassandra ended up being the one to talk.

"Lilia, how are you feeling?"

"...Pain..."

"...That is to be expected. Let me ask differently: How is your mind holding up?"

I tried to say something but the pain had started to become too much. I ended up sitting there, barely able to move my mouth, unable to utter a sound.

"I am to believe it's still not in any capacity to answer us," Inari commented after a while. "We should keep healing her just in case."

"You two have been overworking yourselves," Tanaka-sensei disagreed. "I'll handle it from there."

"I'll be fine to continue, but it is best I use a weaker spell," Cassandra replied. "I may have a high magicule recovery rate, I am in no way capable of holding this level of consumption for much longer."

"That should be fine. Now that she is conscious, the biggest problem is dealt with."

A dimmer yet more soothing yellow light appeared. I could not feel much of an effect on this unbearable state I was in at first, but I could tell it had some effect, however small it may be.

It took a long time before the pain had subsided enough that I felt able to talk again. The wait was difficult, having to stay conscious, but I thought it worth the effort.

"My head," I said.

"Lilia!" Cassandra suddenly shouted. "How is your mind doing? Are you still sane?"

"I...guess so."

"That's relieving to hear..."

The light emanating from her quickly grew dimmer as she fell to the side. She fell all the way to the ground in a loud thud.

"Hey, are you okay?" Tanaka-sensei asked as he stopped his own magic. "She just fainted," he added after a short silence.

"I'm...sorry."

"...I can't say it's your fault, Lilia. They went too hard on you, though they recognised it and worked hard to make up for their mistake."

"...I see."

"I will go find Inari-san that you're fully conscious again."

He then left. I had time for myself, but any attempt at thinking was met with a powerful headache, preventing me from trying to find any answer on my own. Even finding questions was difficult. I may be conscious, I certainly wasn't mentally capable.

They came back and Inari immediately ran to the bed below.

"...She fainted from overusing magic."

"I thought so too, so I put her on the bed for her to rest. I will have to ask Mark to find a replacement for her until she wakes up."