Vincent watched Lily work in awe. Even if he could speak, it would be hard to explain what was happening before his eyes. True magic.

  It had been a while since his Awakening, and there were no signs this was a dream. He had truly died. Lying at the edge of the reading room, he watched Lily clean up the mess he had caused. Even if he tried, he would struggle to put into words the wonder he felt watching her.

  Magic captivated him. Even in such a precarious state, his mind leapt to its possibilities, wondering about its limits, its mechanisms… but something else caught his attention. His own reflection, staring back at him from the glass case in front of him.

  Is that me… right?

  The reflection looked like him… but different. Younger, slimmer, with a terrible haircut, neglected skin, and a stupid expression on his face.

  He pushed himself up clumsily, careful not to make noise and alert Lily. His knees trembled like a newborn fawn’s, and if not for the nearby shelves, he wouldn’t be able to stand.

  I think I lost a few centimeters of height… they must not have fed me well.

  He examined his body, his features… it was definitely him. He had been resurrected in another world, who knew how long ago, but only now was he truly aware of it.

  "Hey, don’t get up! I don’t want you collapsing again!"

  Lily intervened immediately, glancing his way.

  She scolded him out of concern, but in the process she lost track of the staff. The temperature kept rising and the steam thickened, spreading quickly between the bookshelves until it became a dense cloud.

  "Ah! What did I do? The books!"

  When she lost focus, the spell slipped out of control…

  Vincent analyzed what had just happened. Multiple processes ran in his mind at once: part of him was still trying to adjust his balance enough to stand on his own, but at the same time he didn’t miss a single detail of how the magic worked. He needed to understand this new phenomenon.

  If this keeps up, she’ll soak the pages with steam… doesn’t she know air already contains water? Raising the temperature doesn’t make the moisture disappear; it only redistributes it.

  The girl remained in a panic, struggling to contain the cloud of steam gathering at the ceiling while extending a hand toward Vincent, as if shielding a baby of taking his first steps.

  Slowly, he moved his feet deliberately… one after the other, advancing toward the large window, leaning on shelves, chairs, and tables along the way. Once there, he opened the tall glass panes to let the steam escape.

  “D-don’t do that! You could fall… Oh? Well thought! You’re a genius!”

  Am I? The bar is really low for me, huh…

  The girl cast another spell, this time twirling her staff in a spiral as she aimed it at the window. A gentle current of air carried the steam out of the chamber.

  “Vento aeuris… susu… susuu…”

  The damp breeze passed by him and slipped outside. Before his eyes stretched a world overflowing with green, so saturated it seemed unreal… even the air itself shimmered with an ethereal glow, like something out of a fantasy tale.

  Due to the thickness of the wall, he couldn’t see the base of the tower, but he could see what surrounded it. In the distance, a cobblestone city spread across the landscape; beside it, a forest of titanic trees rose imposingly, and beyond, jagged cliffs carved the horizon.

  The construction of this tower wouldn’t be possible without magic… not with this level of technology. They still use stone walls…

  The tower was as impressive as the magic itself. It had to be nearly four hundred meters high, and even then, it didn’t seem close to the top. Thick golden cables anchored it to the nearby landscape, pulsing with a neon-blue glow that flowed into the structure.

  It’s as if the tower were feeding on the energy of the earth…

  Lost in his thoughts, Vincent hadn’t noticed how close he was getting to the window. The frame and wall were massive, so there was no real danger of falling. Even so, Lily rushed to his side.

  “Vin, what are you doing!?”

  Her overreaction nearly killed him.

  “Did you have another attack? Are you alright?”

  Cornered against the wall, Vincent nodded to calm her, but his lucidity seemed to unsettle her even more.

  “It’s you, isn’t it?”

  Lily stepped back a little to look him over. She studied his posture, his expression… something didn’t seem to fit.

  “Is it really you in there? Do you know who I am?”

  There was fear in her voice.

  Vincent hesitated for a second, unsure if he should lie… but since she seemed to be the only one he could trust in this world, he chose to answer truthfully.

  He shook his head, and immediately anguish clouded Lily’s eyes. Her expression twisted several times, as if she didn’t know how to feel. He detected sadness… but Lily forced herself to return a smile.

  “G-good, just as I suspected. This is good news… I didn’t think it was possible at this point…”

  She slapped her own cheeks to stop the tears, then took his hand and guided him to a nearby chair. Determination shone in her eyes… she looked serious, or at least, as serious as someone with the aura of a hamster could look.

  “Sit here, Vin… I need to check something.”

  He obeyed. She seemed to have been protecting him for some time, so he had no reason to distrust her. Lily sat beside him and leaned in, studying his face carefully, scrutinizing every expression.

  “You don’t remember me at all, do you? What about anything from this world? Do you know where we are?”

  Vincent shook his head. She seemed to understand his situation even better than he did.

  “The you that’s conscious right now… has he been awake for a while, or did it just happen? Do you feel like you just died?”

  “Yee—”

  He tried to answer, but before he could get the words out, Lily had already understood. As if the simple fact that he grasped her question was answer enough. She was bewildered, incredulous… she let her body fall into the chair beside her as if she had just received terrible news. But she didn’t let the sadness consume her; she pulled herself together in seconds and looked at him with determination, setting aside her usual condescending tone.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Listen to me, Vin… whatever you do, don’t let the darkness consume you. You must remain conscious. Your soul is unstable, and if you lose focus-”

  A knot in her throat cut her off. The seriousness in her voice was enough to command his full attention.

  If the darkness consumes me, I’ll die… that’s what I assume she meant.

  “If you let yourself slip away, you may never return… you must focus on grounding your consciousness… your soul in this world.”

  My soul?

  “When the darkness returns and threatens to devour you, you must cling to reality. You’ll feel the waves pulling you under… and that’s because you’re carrying too much. Don’t try to hold on to everything… it isn’t possible.”

  “Ccc-arry?”

  Lily froze at the question. This time she didn’t smile or praise him. The answer was far too important.

  “Your memories… your knowledge, your experiences. If you try to bring them all into this world, you’ll lose everything. You’ll lose yourself. When the darkness pulls you in, hold on to what matters most… and let the rest go.”

  Abandon my memories? My knowledge? What does she mean by ‘what matters’? Everything matters!

  The indignation in his eyes didn’t go unnoticed. Lily knew exactly what he was thinking.

  “Your situation is precarious, Vin… I don’t know if you can…”

  Her voice cracked with anguish, but she forced herself to go on. Vincent had to know.

  “I don’t know if your consciousness can survive in the state you’re in… Awakening so late in a weakened body…”

  Weakened?

  “Look… just focus on yourself, alright? Think about what aspects make you who you are… keep your family in mind at all times.”

  The severity in her voice made it clear she wasn’t exaggerating. Instantly, he evoked the faces of his parents, clinging to them as if they were his last anchor. If Lily was right, even keeping his name would be a miracle.

  The darkness will consume everything.

  Lily pulled herself together and took up her staff.

  “If I don’t get back to work, they’ll come looking for me. We’d better move… but first.”

  She removed the necklace from around her neck and carefully placed it over his. It was a simple rectangular brass pendant, set with a small opal at the center and cryptic engravings etched around it.

  “This will protect you… for now, stay close to me, okay?”

  With her help, Vincent stood up and managed to walk a few steps. The library was immense, occupying the entire level they were on. From the curve of the outer walls, he estimated it had to be about a hundred and fifty meters in diameter.

  Crossing the threshold of the dimly lit library, they stepped into the central core of the tower. Lily kept walking as if it were part of her routine… but Vincent stopped. He froze, unable to take another step.

  The sight before him left him stunned.

  (wip image)

  Before his eyes rose a monumental fusion of stone, organic matter, and magic. The center of the tower was a vast cavity stretching across several floors, wrapped by spiral staircases that ascended from the four cardinal points. At the apex of the core, suspended as if defying gravity, throbbed a gigantic heart.

  From it branched out vein-like roots, spreading through the structure and embedding themselves into the walls, pulsing with a reddish glow with every beat. Those impulses coursed through the entire structure, as if the tower itself depended on that vital flow.

  The magic saturated the air with such intensity that even he, newly arrived and without fully understanding the phenomenon, could feel it. Everything seemed so foreign, so alien… he couldn’t help but move forward, hypnotized by the beating of the heart.

  Without realizing it, Vincent had approached the railing. Everywhere he looked, something defied logic: floating artifacts swarmed through the central void, some emitting light, others carrying books from one level to another as if following an invisible choreography. People in robes similar to Vincent’s leapt between platforms as though gravity didn’t exist.

  There’s no gravity… they’re floating… how is that possible?

  Analyzing his surroundings for an answer, Vincent noticed a pattern after carefully observing the carvings on the railings and columns. Cryptic engravings traced lines across the stone that, when followed with his eyes, all converged on the grotesque heart suspended at the tower’s center.

  Is it because of that thing?

  The heart’s hypnotic pulse clouded his thoughts. It was so massive he could feel the blood flowing from it even at a distance ,each beat vibrating through his body. Its reddish roots followed no pattern; they grew freely through the tower like something organic. One of them rested like a vine against the railing beside him, and he couldn’t resist examining it more closely.

  As he drew nearer, he noticed its composition turned translucent where the tissue thinned. Though somewhat opaque, it allowed him to glimpse the substance flowing inside. Within that tide of blood, something caught his attention.

  Red blood cells that large? No… more like eggs.

  He placed his hands around the artery, pressing gently, trying to slow the flow. The image became clearer. And then he understood.

  They’re not cells… They’re fetuses.

  “Vin, no! Don’t go near the roots!”

  Lily’s voice thundered behind him, but it was already too late. The instant his skin touched the artery, the pulsing flow connected with his body.

  In the second Lily lost sight of him, Vincent had already touched the artery. The rhythm of the heart linked with his own, and like a tidal wave of light, an indescribable energy hurled him back into the darkness. His vision clouded into shadow… and the sensation of his body ceased to exist.

  Suddenly, Vincent once again found himself in the void. Like a receding wave, the tide tried to drag him back into nothingness.

  Now more accustomed to this state, being his second time, he perceived things on a deeper spiritual level… Lily’s words echoed in his mind. “You’re carrying too much,” she had said.

  The burden he carried wasn’t just memories and sentimentality: it is his knowledge, his experience and personality. The more he tried to remain whole, the heavier he became… and the more vulnerable to the tide pulling him away from consciousness.

  He was a greedy man, unwilling to let go. So he kept resisting, unsuccessfully.

  Could Lily be right? Should I let go? But what? What can I release without losing who I am…?

  Faced with the threat to his very existence, he chose to let go of the mundane… things he would rather forget anyway. He focused his mind and began “clearing files” he didn’t need: irrelevant people, embarrassing moments, trivial movies, and catchy songs that still lingered, dormant, somewhere in the corners of his head.

  In the void, the manipulation of his memories felt tangible. He gathered them into his hand, and they materialized as a handful of sand. Slowly, he opened his palm and let the grains scatter into the dark ocean, gone forever. His ethereal body felt a little lighter, more permeable… and in that moment, he regained part of his earthly consciousness and heard Lily’s cries.

  “Vin! Stay with me!”

  She pulled his hands away from the artery, and the tide calmed. The falling pulse pushed his body forward from behind like water rushing back to the ocean, returning him to life. Having abandoned his “vessel” for just a few seconds left parts of his face and limbs no longer feeling like his own. He tried to move them, but they wouldn’t respond.

  “Hey! Wake up!”

  Desperation drove Lily to seize her staff. She still thought Vincent was trapped in the void with no way to answer her.

  “Forgive me for this…”

  “Uss On Volta!”

  With a simple incantation, Lily unleashed an electric shock that contracted all his muscles and sent him crashing to the floor. The pain exorcised the occupied parts of his body.

  Suddenly, he was back in his new body, staring at the pulsing heart at the tower’s center.

  “Vin! Can you hear me? Are you still there?”

  The shock left him paralyzed, unable to respond quickly enough to prevent Lily’s panic.

  “No! Don’t tell me…”

  Lily shook him with tearful eyes. It wasn’t until Vincent managed to show a trace of movement that she finally calmed down.

  “You can move! I thought… I thought you were catatonic. I thought you had ended up like m-

  She choked on her own anguish before finishing the sentence.

  Like me… that’s what she meant.

  “Ugh… I’m such an idiot… I should have warned you. I can’t leave you alone!”

  She scolded herself while poking his body with a finger, as if checking to make sure he could still feel all his limbs.

  “Never touch the arteries again, do you hear me? You’re too sensitive to magic right now, and any external force could take over your body… you’ll already struggle enough just to keep your soul whole with the breathable magic in the air…”

  She keeps talking about concepts as if I already knew them… she still thinks this body is inhabited by my old self.

  Lily grew serious again, increasingly convinced that Vincent understood what she was saying.

  “Listen… this won’t be the last time you fall into the abyss. You’re not safe, and I may not always be by your side to bring you back. You must choose and prepare yourself to let go of many things. Being greedy with your memories could leave you trapped in limbo, stuck inside your own body… conscious, but immobile. Dead while alive.”

  It didn’t take much deduction to realize she was speaking from experience. She had already gone through it herself.

  “Very few have ever come back from that state… and none of them returned intact.”

  Lily emphasized every word, as if she needed to brand them into his head.

  “No one can…”