As the creature's remains hit the ground with a heavy thud, Herald rushed forward, placing himself between Sapphire and the advancing soldiers.
Up close, the sight of her nearly broke him. Bite marks riddled her arm — deep, jagged wounds where the flesh had been torn to shreds. What should have been blood oozing from the gashes instead pulsed with a black, slug-like mass that writhed and swelled beneath her skin.
"Hu… hu… hu… I'm here," he panted, his chest heaving. He tried to sound steady, but his voice trembled with exhaustion. The wound from his earlier fight with Cerci, the sprint through the forest, and the unending battle fatigue were all catching up to him.
Then came the sound — the sharp hiss of metal unsheathing.
The Imperial knights moved in, forming a tight ring around them. Their swords, engraved with holy runes, burned with a golden glow that reflected off their armor. The light shimmered across Herald's axe and Sapphire's pale face, painting the forest in hues of gold and blood.
"Ha… thank God you're still alive," Herald breathed, steadying his weapon. "I'll hold them back. Take our son and run. Do you remember where we first met?" His eyes darted around, scanning for an escape route.
"You're hurt… you—" Sapphire began, her voice trembling.
"Sapphire!" Herald's roar cut through her words like a blade.
She froze, eyes wide, clutching her chest. Every instinct screamed at her to stay, to fight beside him—but she knew better. Her knees shook as she forced herself upright.
"You better come back alive," she whispered, her voice cracking under the weight of it all.
Herald slammed his axe into the earth. The ground quaked, and a cloud of dust exploded around them, blinding their enemies. In that brief moment of cover, he slipped the Jewel into Sapphire's hand.
"He is our future," Herald murmured, just as Sapphire turned and ran, clutching their son tightly to her chest.
Though trembling, Sapphire carried her child toward the docks of Cial — the very place where she had first met Herald, back when life was simple and the world still felt kind.
"I wonder what it's like out there," she would often say, gazing across the endless water as it swayed back and forth. "It must be beautiful… I wonder what the people are like."
Now she knew. People were cruel.
She limped forward, every step heavier than the last, until the shoreline came into view. A lone boat waited there — old, sturdy, with three strong sails and intricate craftsmanship. The people of Cellist had once mastered a technique to store the wind itself within their ships, ensuring they could always travel, even when the seas turned against them.
Sapphire collapsed against the hull, her strength finally giving way. Carefully, she placed little Chadwick in a cradle upon the deck. Her eyes brimmed with tears.
"We were supposed to come here together… but… now…" her voice broke, trembling with grief.
She lifted the Jewel in her bloodied hand. "They say you grant miracles to those who plead… please, keep my child safe."
The Jewel shimmered faintly, glowing with a soft white light. She tucked it inside Chad's blanket and, with all the strength she had left, pushed the boat toward the open sea.
"May a new dawn shine upon you, my star," she whispered, watching as the vessel drifted away — smaller and smaller, until it vanished beyond the horizon.
Then, with the final light fading from her eyes, Sapphire collapsed to the ground.And silence claimed her.
Deep in the forest Herald collapsed to the ground as all the four blades of the knights stabbed him from all direction, "I hope I managed to buy you enough time" He murmured falling to the ground.
Cough! Cough!
A raspy sound tore through the still air of the fields. Chad staggered upright, clutching his neck. The crimson blood that had streamed down his arms began to retract, flowing backward into his wound until it sealed completely. Within seconds, even the gash was gone — as though it had never been there.
"What… am I crying?" he muttered, wiping at his face. A single tear glimmered on his hand. "What was that? Were those… my memories?"
"Where those my parents….!"
His voice trembled. None of it made sense. Visions like this had come to him before — fleeting, vivid dreams filled with pain and voices that weren't his own. Because of the power he carried, fragments of the past sometimes bled into his mind. Memories not entirely his, yet deeply familiar.
He steadied himself, taking a deep breath. The world around him came back into focus — the ruined field, the choking air.
"Damn it…" he whispered, his fists tightening. "I saw it happen… why couldn't I react? My body wouldn't listen!"
When a person awakens the Mystic, they must follow a path — and that path never changes, the path is chosen on the affinity of a person and thus each person power is different though similar. Chad's path was Time, or the control of event. For one minute, he could bend it, twist it, control every outcome of events within that brief eternity.
But this time… it didn't work. He had seen it happen, but something — something unseen — had stopped him from moving.
"Perhaps it's this barrier…" he thought, turning toward the mansion in the distance.
"I have to get them back," he whispered, clenching his jaw. "We need to leave this place before it's too late."
And with that, Chad began to run toward the house, unaware that the echoes of the past still clung to him.
He finally reached the house, moving toward the door with cautious steps. The silence was thick—too thick. When he pushed the door open, his chest sank.Empty.
"Ha… I have to find out where they've gone," he muttered under his breath, gripping the handle tighter.
Tik. Tik. Tik.
22:0021:5521:50
The sound of the clock echoed through his mind as his vision blurred. Just like in his dreams, time twisted around him, dragging him backward.
In a flash, he saw it all—how James had been taken, where they were headed, the path they chose.
"Alright… so that's what happened," he murmured, steadying his breath. Without wasting another second, he turned and dashed toward the stables, eyes locked on one of the remaining beast its dark main gleaming against the crimson sky.