Chapter 103 - The Secret of Sn Icarus

  At some point, I fell asleep without realizing it. The warmth of Sisika’s arms made it feel like I was submerged in a hot bath, pletely rexed.

  When I opened my eyes, she was staring at me, still holding me in her arms.

  “Good m,” she said calmly.

  I quickly stood up, pulling myself away from her p.

  “G-good m,” I replied, visibly nervous. “Did I really fall asleep in your p?”

  Damn, how embarrassing…

  “You did,” she answered, standing up as well.

  I had trained my mind like a warrior and my body like an assassin. How did I fall asleep? I should’ve been able to stay awake for at least three days without any problems.

  “How? I just passed out all of a sudden. Did you use some weird magie? I’d never let my guard down like that.”

  Sisika just shrugged, with her usual enigmatic air.

  She grabbed me effortlessly with one hand, and before I could react, she ran through the waterfall.

  “Fuck! Warn me before you do that!” I shouted, still a bit disoriented by the speed of the movement she’d made.

  “Don’t curse,” she said, ruffling my hair like I was a child.

  I’m being kidnapped, swearing is the least of my problems.

  I was about to snap back at her, but as soon as I looked up at the sky, I was stunned.

  “What... what is that?” I murmured, surprised.

  The sky had two suns.

  “This... this is impossible...” I whispered to myself.

  At least, it’s impossible in this world...

  Sisika approached me, aone shifted, being more serious.

  “Nathan, I o tell you something. We’re no longer in the duchy’s territory. This is a wild and dangerous pce. I brought you here when I stopped you from leaving the waterfall.”

  “What? What kind of madness is this?”

  “I ’t expin now, just know that I’m the only one who knows how to get out of here.”

  I deserve this...

  Looking around more closely, I noticed that the world’s colors were less vibrant, almost faded. Nothing about this pce felt right.

  “You really are kidnapping me, aren’t you?”

  “Only temporarily...” she said, then tinued walking.

  We walked for hours, following a forest path that Sisika cimed was dangerous. But I didn’t see anything threatening—not even a squirrel or an ant. She said it was because of her presehat the dangerous creatures stayed away. The more time I spent with her, the more lost I felt about who or what she really was.

  My mind raced with possibilities: maybe she was an Inquisitor, like the powerful mages, such as Professor Adrihna. I khat Adrihna, if she wanted, could defeat me easily without even breaking a sart of me thought Sisika might be on the same level, but she also did things that defied all the rules of magic I knew.

  She could read thoughts, manipute mana to the point of f the awakening of my eyes, teleport, and even teleport me to a pce with two suns. None of that followed the ventional rules of magic.

  “Nathan,” Sisika interrupted my thoughts, “what is a person to you?”

  The question caught me off guard. We were supposedly on the quick path to the vilge where my mother and the others were waiting.

  “How do you mean? A person is a person…” I tried to respond, fused. Sisika, alking ahead of me, stopped for a moment and turoward me.

  “Who is Nathan Evenhart? The body or the soul?” she asked, surprisih the depth of the question.

  Why is she asking me something like that?

  “I just want to know,” she replied with an enigmatic smile.

  “ you stop reading my thoughts?” I asked, irritated.

  “I ,” she replied calmly, “but the problem is that you’re someone who doesn’t give up easily. If I stop reading your thoughts, you might start ing up with a pn to escape, and I ’t let you do that in this pce.”

  “I won’t try to escape,” I said. “And I know you’d catch me. I have no magic tthen myself. I’m trusting you because I uand you’re not a normal person, aher is this pce we’re in. You have a lot of power, and I suspect I haven’t even seen your true capabilities yet.”

  She ughed, as if what I’d said was a joke.

  “My true capabilities are far beyond these little tricks,” she admitted. “Unfortunately, I ’t use my full power due to a special dition that’s limiting me. But I’ll respeental space. If I want to get to know someone, I have to let them show me who they are. If I invade your mind, you’ll hink the way you normally would.”

  She started walking again while I absorbed what she’d said.

  “And how will I know you’re not reading my thoughts?”

  “Simple, like this.” She snapped her fingers.

  Suddenly, I felt as if something had shifted in my perception, like my ears, which had been blocked, were now pletely open to hear everything around me.

  “What was that? That felt weird...”

  “I deactivated the mental link. If it’s turned on again, you’ll know. But don’t worry,” she said, ughing. “I always keep my promises.”

  I decided to test her.

  You’re annoying! I’m going to escape now! You’re a sexual predator! You’re crazy! Pervert!

  I kept thinking ridiculous things to see if she’d react, but Sisika seemed to have geurned off her thought-reading ability.

  “ you answer me now?” she asked, unfazed.

  “Answer what?”

  “About Nathan Evenhart. Who is he really? If Nathan Evenhart had ged something in the past, would he be here, in this same pce? And if he weren’t in this pce... would he still be the same person? What is a person?”

  I was at a loss for how to answer.

  “I don’t know how to ahat. My case is... special. Why are you askihese things?”

  I’m irely Nathan Evenhart... I’m also Icarus.

  “That’s a dilemma my kind has faced for years,” she said, her tone being more introspective, “and I just wao ask someone different.”

  “Kind?” I asked, intrigued.

  She fell silent at my question, making the atmosphere even heavier.

  “You’ll have to make a choice at some point, Nathan. You’ll o decide if you’ll accept being Nathan Evenhart, or if you’ll let the ghosts of the past tio haunt you.”

  “What do you know about me?” I asked, trying to uand what she truly meant.

  Does she know about my other life? Maybe she does, if she’s seen Athena…

  “Nathan, people are their memories… remember that. The body is just one element that makes us who we are. There’s the soul, the body, both created together. But it’s the memories that define a person. That will be important for you wheime es. Just know that you ’t keep letting that i trol you.”

  “HOW!? How do you know?”

  Sisika stopped and remained silent.

  “How do you know about the i? This isn’t some random thing—you kly what you’re talking about. You mentiohese things on purpose, how do you know?”

  Sisika sighed when she heard me and remained silent for a moment, her expression distant. Then she sighed again, almost as if what was i was iable.

  “I’m only here for a short time, Nathan, and soon I’ll be gone,” she began, her voice strangely calm. “But I o tell you this. Don’t bme yourself for what you did, or for the truth you uncovered... it was that terrible truth that made you give up ohing.”

  When I heard her words, I kly what she meant, and my body went cold.

  The grou like it was slipping from under my feet. My body began to tremble, and before I realized it, I had to lean against a tree to stop myself from colpsing. Her words... they brought baething I had buried so deeply inside me, a memory I thought I’d never relive. It was that memory, that terrible truth that broke Sn Icarus, that made me give up ohing. If I were fronted by it again, I knew I wouldn’t be able to ha.

  “This... this ’t be happening. No one is supposed to know what I saw that day! No one... no one could have discovered that. How do you know? This ’t be real...” my voice was shaky, my mind in panic.

  “Nathan,” she said with a serenity that felt out of pce, “don’t worry, only I know about it. No one else discover what you saw, even if they search through your mind. You made sure to erase aroy even the existence of that pce.”

  “How the hell do you know about the truth I uncovered? How do you know so much about me?” I asked, my voice strohis time, though my body still trembled.

  She started walking again, her expression indifferent.

  “I used a loophole, and I’m the only one who use it. Your secret will die with me.”

  “What guarantees do I have?” I said, standing up with effort, now overtaken by anger.

  “Know that you’re the st person I would ever harm in this world,” she responded without hesitation. “You’re special to me. And as for that truth... it only affects you. Why do you think Athena still haunts you?”

  “She wouldn’t dare mention that secret, not even she would do that,” I argued, but my vi was weakening.

  “But she’s only here because you uncovered that secret and couldn’t ha.”

  “STOP!” Athena suddenly shouted, appearing out of nowhere. “SHUT UP! You promised you wouldn’t mention anything to him—we made a deal!” Her fury alpable.

  Sisika shrugged, as if Athena’s threats were trivial.

  “I didn’t reveal the truth about you,” she said, her voiged. “I only mentiohat his past is the reason you’re here.”

  “THAT’S ENOUGH! I’ve figured out enough to know what you are, you damn brat!” Athena shouted, her anger growing. “If you say anything more, I’ll ruin what you’re trying to do!”

  Sisika pletely ighena’s warning, tinuing to walk with the same calm demeanor.

  “Disappear, as we agreed. I only wao get to know him a bit more personally. It seems he’s still not ready to face the truth of what he discovered…” Sisika said.

  Hearing that, Athena turned and vanished, leaving the air heavy with tension.

  I was sweating, paralyzed by the memory of the truth that led me to destroy the st god, the cruel truth that, even as Sn Icarus, I was never able to accept. It was something so deep and painful that, even after everything I had do still haunted me.

  “I don’t want to talk anymore. Don’t speak to me,” I said, my voice weak.

  “I’ll give you some time, but know that we’ll o talk again,” Sisika responded, her voice soft, almost out of pce. “I o take you back to your family, but I ’t do that without knowing more about you.”