episode_0197

It was a particularly vivid, everyday scene.

“Neria.”

It was perhaps about a year after Astro was founded.

Neria was busy processing a mountain of tiresome documents.

Suddenly, she was asked a question.

“Do you still… have nightmares sometimes?”

The speaker was the slit-eyed boy.

He was observing Neria with a worried expression.

Perhaps it was due to the dark circles under the girl’s eyes.

Yuda had even set aside the remaining work he was doing.

“…”

Neria couldn’t answer immediately.

Rampages and nightmares had followed her her entire life.

One was due to her innate power, the other due to a trauma imprinted later in life.

In the case of the rampages, Yuda had placed restrictions on her starlight, so it wasn’t an issue.

But even the boy had no way to deal with the fear that had sunk deep into her heart.

Because of this, he was always worried about Neria’s condition.

Wondering if her wounds would leave scars.

“Master-nim, that, that is…”

The girl was flustered.

She hadn’t thought her own fatigue was noticeable.

She didn’t want to worry her Master-nim, but she also couldn’t lie.

Neria merely hesitated to speak, deferring her answer.

However, with just that reaction, Yuda grasped her true feelings.

Neria was simply rigid, always easy to read.

“So it’s true.”

The boy smiled faintly.

It wasn’t his usual playful smile, but one that felt somewhat bitter.

He idly fiddled with the quill pen hooked on his fingertip, as if deep in thought.

And then, before long, he spoke.

“Wounds can’t heal easily, can they?”

“…”

“Neria, how should I put it… you always seem lonely. You’re quite reluctant to accept others. Perhaps it’s a defense mechanism born from your past.”

A burn deeply seared.

From the unhealed cracks, pus dripped.

That torment writhed as if it would never subside.

It constantly whispered in her ear that she was alone.

That’s why Neria was always lonely.

-Your fate is truly tragic.

-Your light will become a raging inferno, burning those you love, and in the end, even the world itself.

-Child, please do not seek happiness from the outside world.

-For even if you struggle, you cannot change your destined fate.

And she was always afraid.

That even those by her side now might vanish if she closed and opened her eyes.

That she might ruin everything, just as the Monarch had whispered in her prophecy.

If so, should she leave this world?

Her silver pupils quietly sank into darkness.

“Still, I believe you’ll realize it someday.”

However, whenever that happened, the boy would hold Neria’s hand.

Like the memory of a harsh winter day with a blizzard.

A warmth that hadn’t changed in the slightest.

And an affectionate smile.

“The fact that Neria is no longer alone.”

A voice that declared with certainty.

Warmth spread through their clasped hands.

“Perhaps around you, Neria… there might be more ‘homes’ than you ever imagined.”

Home.

Neria didn’t understand the boy’s words.

As far as she felt, her life was that of a loner who could ignite at any moment.

The girl held the unbroken sentence in her mouth like a piece of candy.

As she mulled over the fleeting moment in the settling silence.

Suddenly, the door burst open with a crash.

Crash!

“Hahaha! So you were here, Captain-nim!”

“Oh dear… Sir Kyle. Knocking is a gentleman’s basic courtesy.”

“My apologies. I’ll keep that in mind next time!”

“At any rate, welcome. I happen to have some paperwork left; would you mind lending a hand?”

“Gasp…”

“You’re startled.”

“Grumble…”

“I just threw it out there, so you don’t have to stiffen up like that.”

“Whew! That’s a relief. You know I’m terrible with pens, don’t you?”

“It might not be a bad idea to learn while you’re at it, though.”

“Grumble…”

“Just kidding.”

A bustling, continuous daily life.

Next to the slit-eyed boy stood a red-haired man.

And beyond the open office door, members who were also looking for Yuda with Kyle could be seen.

Even though they were all wearing pure white robes, each had different eyes and expressions.

Among them, there was even someone who had brought tea for the two busy individuals.

“Um… V-Vice-Captain-nim.”

Hesitantly.

The approaching member timidly placed down the teacup.

The rattling noise was particularly wearying.

“You always work so hard.”

Perhaps it was due to her uniquely sharp impression.

The member seemed utterly tense.

Neria, on the other hand, quietly looked down at the teacup.

The surface of the lightly brewed black tea she usually enjoyed.

It was a thoughtful gesture for Neria, who had been working for several hours.

Behind the teacup, other members stood awkwardly smiling.

-The fact that Neria is no longer alone.

-Perhaps around you, Neria… there might be more ‘homes’ than you ever imagined.

Why was it?

That the previous conversation brushed past her ears.

“Hmm!”

“Heh heh.”

Kyle and Yuda had stopped talking.

The two of them were watching Neria and the members.

The smiles on their faces, for some reason, held a sense of pride.

Neria awkwardly avoided their gaze.

‘Strange.’

Her inner self stirred.

She felt uneasy.

Neria couldn’t understand this unfamiliar feeling.

She merely rolled the words she had heard from the boy around in her mouth.

The question carried a fresh, subtle scent.

‘Home…’

A girl who was never meant to live.

A wanderer denied life by the world.

Therefore, Neria couldn’t accept its meaning.

She thought it had no connection to her.

Because she had given up on that notion.

“…I will drink it gratefully.”

However, she simply quietly picked up the teacup.

Warmth slowly crept into her fingertips.

The coziness that flickered over her lips was pleasantly bitter.

***

Her eyelids slowly opened.

Beyond her fine eyebrows, silver eyes were hidden.

Perhaps due to burst blood vessels, the color was somewhat red.

Neria exhaled the breath that had risen to her chin.

“Haa, haa…”

The girl’s appearance was a wreck.

Stab wounds lined her arms and legs, and deep gashes remained on her right face and shoulder.

The nightmare that had seeped into her wounds slowly corroded the surrounding areas, turning them black.

The burning pain seemed to devour her remaining sanity.

Neria struggled to gather her fading consciousness.

“You’re a nuisance.”

Before her stood a blood-red woman.

Unlike Neria, not even a speck of dust clung to the Dawnseeker’s sleeves.

Since an invincibility frame was active, it was impossible to inflict damage on her.

Unless her only weakness, pure starlight, was used to burn her.

The nightmare would be eternal.

‘Is this the end?’

Neria bit her lip tightly.

Even so, she struggled to move her frozen legs.

Her delayed movements failed to evade the attack.

Darkness flashed.

Slash!

The nightmare slashed across her arm once more.

The seeping darkness shook her consciousness.

The girl’s legs stumbled, and her vision blurred.

Neria couldn’t resist the surging hallucinations and auditory illusions.

It was because she had already been pushed to her physical limits.

-Disloyalty, you say.

The Dawnseeker’s nightmare draws out a person’s darkest aspects.

Memories, traumas, fears, sorrows… all that dwells deep within the heart.

It combines and replays each fragment.

The next moment, Neria was lying prone on a barren plain.

-Interesting… you’ll be useful in many ways.

-Let’s take this child into our fold.

The Monarch with a greedy smile.

When she opened her eyes again, Neria was trapped behind cold bars.

Heavy chains bound the girl’s arms and legs.

The old man looking down on her had a perpetually cold gaze.

-You are destined to burn everything you love.

-There is no path to happiness for you in this world.

-Please, do not harbor any futile hopes.

-Otherwise, life will be absurdly cruel.

And next.

What was reflected this time wasn’t some old memory.

It was an unfulfilled future, precisely the possibility the girl feared.

The monster with silver hair… the form she feared most herself.

Hot tears streamed down her cheeks.

-This power… I never wanted it in the first place.

-Why did the stars choose me?

-Why did it have to be me?

In the nightmare, the girl was incinerating the world.

She turned a tenth of the continent into ashes, emitting light with every step she took.

White dust. Even in a world where nothing remained, the star was alone.

Despair was mixed with her tears of blood.

It was a horrific scene.

“Haa, haa…!”

Neria breathed roughly.

Her mind was a jumbled mess.

A terrible hallucination, with the nightmare intertwining over it.

However, the girl had no time to calm her inner turmoil.

Because the voice that followed drowned her.

-Neria.

And next.

How many times had the nightmare changed now?

This time, Neria stood upon the devastated Astro headquarters.

The bodies of the members lay scattered, and soot remained everywhere.

In the center of that chaotic mess, the girl faced her Master.

More precisely, she had plunged a dagger into his heart.

The half-opened slit eyes blinked.

-Why, why… *cough*.

-I trusted you, but why did you… everyone…

-If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have taken you in.

A reverberation that felt like it pierced her lungs.

Neria, even while crying, continued to stab the boy’s heart.

The serpent whispered in her ear even with its dying breath.

-I hate you.

A terrible nightmare.

It precisely pierced the most sensitive spot she had hidden all this time.

A trauma that would have shattered an ordinary person’s mind.

However, Neria’s case was vastly different from the ordinary.

She exhaled a ragged breath between her lips.

“Ah…”

Suddenly, her consciousness rose.

Even after being consumed by the nightmare, she had regained her senses.

Before her flickering vision stood the Dawnseeker.

The woman swung her sword with a relaxed smile.

Swish!

“Ugh…!”

Neria dodged the attack that had surged right in front of her.

And then, as if breaking a combo, she plunged her fist into the Dawnseeker’s abdomen.

With a powerful thud, the woman’s body was sent flying backward.

It was a clean counter.

Thwack!

“?”

The woman seemed flustered.

Of course, thanks to her invincibility status, she hadn’t taken any real damage.

However, her opponent, whom she had been certain was completely dominated by the nightmare.

It must have been surprising to see her shake it off.

‘How?’

The Dawnseeker gazed at the girl with such eyes.

Neria gently massaged her aching arm.

Her voice was laced with venom.

“Resentment, and hatred…”

At the same time, faith existed.

A faith that had taken deep root, fertilized by time.

“…My Master-nim would never say such words to me.”

It was true.

Because he was endlessly merciful to those he cherished.

Even if Neria were to stab him in the heart, he would simply embrace her and tell her not to cry.

Someone who would calmly wipe away the moisture from her eyes.

And then, someone who would give a painful smile.

-I told you I’d be alright.

-So… won’t you come back?

-To our home.

Like that harsh winter day.

To the girl, the boy was a being of such profound meaning.

Thanks to him, Neria could regain her fading consciousness.

Those nightmare-like words had, ironically, pulled her back to reality.

Paradoxical as it was, this too was based on the trust the two of them had built.

A truly genuine heart, too real to be erased by a mere night’s nightmare.

The girl realized.

“It’s not… over yet.”

Her silver eyes, which had been dim all this time.

For a moment, faint sparks flew across their surface.

Her previously shaky breathing had now calmed down.

Neria’s gaze was directed towards Yuda behind her.

A faint light shimmered in her tightly clenched fist.

‘Perhaps that’s what he meant.’

A hazy consciousness.

The girl looked up at some realm, almost within reach, yet just out of grasp.

Neria was breaking the shell that had imprisoned her.

In the darkness, a star twinkled.