Resonance [2]

"Urgg…"

I sat up while massaging my forehead. It felt like I was waking from a long dream.

I stood up while leaning on the tree on my side.

Wait, tree?!

My eyes widened in shock. Not because there was a tree beside me but because my body phased through the said tree!

In shock, I examined my body.

My see-through body felt light. So light that my feet didn't even touch the ground.

I was floating!

"What the.."

A few minutes later, I concluded I couldn't touch anything and could freely fly anywhere.

Then I flew high into the sky.

Looking down, my shock only grew.

A few hundred feet from where I opened my eyes, nothing existed!

Navigating my way through, I realized that the darkness was a sort of boundary I couldn't cross over.

I floated back to the place where I opened my eyes.

Maybe I will find some clues there.

"Is this a kindergarten?"

Little kids wearing colorful clothes were playing with each other.

Only a few kids remained inside the 2 story building while most of them were playing outside.

A few teachers were looking over them as they played with see-saws, swings, or slid down a slide.

It was a fairly typical kindergarten with nothing extraordinary.

"Where am I?"

The last thing I remembered was Eth shouting something.

I floated while shouting. But it seemed nobody could see me.

"Who is that?"

I squinted my eyes. A black business suit, a light-colored shirt, and a business-style tie.

He was dressed differently than other teachers.

But I changed my evaluation in the next second.

Two black horns on his forehead, wings on his back, and a thin tail.

That person wasn't human.

He was a demon.

I was floating over when the demon suddenly turned. He looked straight into my eyes and smiled.

Taking a step forward, he unfurled his wings and bowed.

"Master, you are finally here."

He spoke in a respectful tone as he hung his head down.

Did I know him?

I again carefully scrutinized his appearance.

"Caim?"

I had never seen him before properly, and inside my soul, he looked pretty haggard. So, it took me a moment to recognize him because of his now clean appearance.

"Do you know where we are?"

Only now did I realize that it was Caim was also floating and transparent like me.

"I believe I know, Master."

I looked at the kid Caim was staring at. Black hair, mean-looking emerald eyes, and the center of the kids' attention.

I unconsciously frowned and moved closer to him.

"Then my sis came and wiped the floor with all the bad guys."

-Clap! -Clap!

The kids started clapping with twinkling eyes.

The mean-eyed kid raised his chin as he was being showered in attention. Then he kept on telling more stories about how his sister defeated bad guys.

Most of them were pure nonsense, but still kept the attention of the kids who didn't know any better.

In the middle of his bragging, another kid came and stood in front of him.

"Eth, again?"

She smacked the mean-eyed kid and pulled him inside the class.

The mean-eyed kid protested, but the girl smacked him again, saying that skipping classes was wrong.

"Master, we are inside your memories."

I blankly nodded my head.

Those kids looked different from what I remembered, but I recognized them.

How couldn't I? I saw those faces almost daily.

They were Eth and Isabell.

Did this mean I mean I was inside Eth's memory?

But why?

I recalled everything that had happened before and reached a conclusion.

'Resonance'

Was this why Eth was trying to stop me from touching him?

Dammit!

Not only this. What was happening in the real world?

I still don't know what the ratio of time dilation is here. I need to get out of here quickly.

"Follow me."

I decided to follow Eth.

There should be a clue on how to get out of this place.

After that, I kept watching over Eth for the whole day, but nothing noteworthy happened.

The only thing I saw was that he was a troublemaker and Isabell had to always apologize after his stunts.

Other than this, I also found that this miniature world always moves with Eth as the center.

"Since when were you here?"

With no clue in sight, I decided to talk to Caim. He might know more about this.

"Since master was reborn in this life."

My throat constricted. Has he been seeing Eth's memory since Eth was born?

'Does this mean I need to watch Eth's entire memory?'

I bit my nails.

'And why is he here?'

Was I seeing this memory because of Resonance? Or because of something else?

***

PLACK-

Leon changed the flowers on Nathan's bedside and opened the curtains.

It had been only a single day since Nathan collapsed, but it felt way longer to him.

After Susan did something to Nathan, she left, saying she had to do something. He hadn't seen her since then.

Leon still couldn't wrap his head around what he saw yesterday. The sight of an Aura user using a magic circle was etched into his mind.

"Haaa…"

He sat on the couch and poured himself a glass of water. Ever since he fought that Royal Demon, nothing had been going his way.

Nathan had collapsed. Also, his life would be in danger if he tried to breakthrough again. But knowing his personality, Leon didn't think he could stop him.

Though it was wrong of him. Leon wished that Nathan would never reach peak Iota rank.

"Why did she tell me about her Physique?"

Why did Susan go out of her way to help Nathan? She had been targeting Nathan since day one.

Maybe Nathan hadn't noticed, but Susan had always been watching his actions closely.

Leon was certain that she was up to no good. But he wasn't sure anymore.

Was there a motive behind why she kept a close watch on Nathan? Was it connected to why she helped him?

"I'm still not sure about this, too."

Leon pulled a black card with golden patterns on it from his pocket.

This was given to him by the Huntress, telling him to come to Goliath Unit if he wanted to know about his stigma.

Did they know something about his stigma? Or was it some kind of elaborate scheme?

The biggest problem was his Art. He had been training for years, but only now did he achieve a breakthrough in it.

Now Leon understood that the reason for his zero progress in his sword art was that he hadn't been able to use his stigma.

But how did his master know about his stigma?

Leon had only once used his stigma before the dungeon incident. Back then his master and he didn't even know each other.

How did she know his stigma to incorporate it into the sword art?

"Urg.."

Leon snapped his head in the direction of the groan.

Nathan groaned and moved his hand.

Nathan had gained consciousness!

"Nathan, are you alrig-?!"

Leon, who was rushing to Nathan, froze. Nathan slowly sat up and looked at him while massaging his head.

"Where am I?"

The way Nathan spoke and acted was different from usual. But this wasn't the reason behind Leon's shock.

"Nathan, your eyes... They are green."