Lilia's Tale

Chapter 47: Release

I stayed in the cell for what felt like yet another unending nightmare. My advanced boredom quickly and consistently turned into anxiety for the future. No matter how many times I forced myself to think about other things, it always came back to my mind. What will happen when Miyu's collar fails to immobilize me? Why would they even want to immobilize me?

Time flew by as my mind degenerated further. The sounds of footsteps in the hallway were met with hope, and ended with despair, as they weren't for me. Time kept flying by, punctuated by the infrequent visits for this horrendous soup I forced myself to eat...

Footsteps. Hope. Despair. Back to this unending fear for the future. Over and over. Sometimes, soup.

More footsteps. Unwanted hope. Expected despair.

"Lilia-san," I suddenly heard in a painfully recognizable voice.

My eyes opened wide as I quickly turned towards the entrance. The veteran soldier was at the doorstep of my cell, opening up what I saw as my deliverance.

"The Great Alchemist is ready. Come along."

I stood up, shaking from this unbelievable turn of event. Was I finally going to be released? Could I finally go back to a more normal daily routine than over-thinking the same things twice over consistently?

He led me to the same room as always. Inside, I could see Father and Miyu-san, talking together. I could not catch any of what they were saying. However, their face as they turned towards me was one of worry.

"Hi," I forced myself to say.

"Was that week in prison really that bad?" Father asked.

"I guess, yeah. Lots of things flying through my mind. Enough to feel like I was locked inside some weird, metaphorical nightmare for the rest of my existence."

I sighed and turned towards Miyu.

"Can we get this over with so I can do other things please?"

Her expression was one I could not read. She nodded, went to what I assumed was her bag, took out a golden collar, and approached.

Here it is. The moment where everything goes wrong.

Miyu put it around my neck without saying anything. It was placed above my pendant's chain so it wouldn't interfere. She then went back to her bag, grabbed a small chisel and came back to carve something into the collar.

The carving took only a few seconds. However, as she was carving, I suddenly felt drained of my energy. It lasted but a second, yet it was one where I felt my consciousness fade away and almost fell down. I was perfectly fine after that instant, although it left quite the impression on me.

"The spell seems to be working," Miyu said to the man. "If you want to restrict her movement, the sentence is 'Golden Restriction Collar, activate the Degeneration Spell!'"

As Miyu said that, I felt my neck explode. Everything inside of me started heating up to unbearable levels. My insides felt like they were melting as I writhed and screamed in pain. This was a feeling I knew. One I could not recognize, but that had a weird, dreadful sense of déjà-vu.

The intense shock stopped. I knew it realistically only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity to me. I could not see anything clearly, nor could I hear anything but white noise. I could tell I was laying on the ground, but it was as far as I could go.

I stayed conscious for a long time afterwards, although I was completely unable to understand anything that was happening around me. My body was numb the whole time, unable to be moved no matter how hard I tried. This was also a feeling I knew, although it was also significantly amplified than what I had felt before. It was like the time my magic circuits admittedly got injured.