"HHHHNNNGGHHH!!!!! AHHHHH!!!"
Raphiel screamed so loudly he was gasping for breath. Even though he was still playing with Gheo and Leona, they both immediately stopped playing and were startled, trying not to panic as Raphiel screamed in pain.
"R-Raphiel?! What's wrong?"
Gheo tried to ask him and attempted to calm Raphiel down by asking, but Raphiel was still screaming loudly as his hand reached for his torso, his hand wanted to grip his torso because of the extreme pain, but he tried to hold back because he knew it would only make things worse for him, and his other hand also wanted to reach for his face, he felt such intense pain in his eyes that he had to squint, tears streaming down his face.
Finally, Raphiel suddenly calmed down; he tried to breathe normally, sweating profusely. Gheo looked at Raphiel with concern, so worried that he had to warm his stomach and forehead, afraid that he might suddenly experience a spiritual sensation.
"Raphiel…? What happened to you-"
Before Gheo could finish asking Raphiel, he suddenly stood up on his own without any help. His gaze was vacant, his pupils had turned white, and his sclera was black, streaked with blood-red tears. Gheo was terrified of Raphiel, but Raphiel didn't fight back, he merely stared at Gheo as he turned halfway around, his gaze devoid of meaning empty and lifeless.
His gaze shifted forward again, and he turned his body, facing the outer window. His steps were stiff yet slow, very slow, like someone in pain who could barely walk.
"Wepal… V-Vector… Alaska… R-… Ruk-A!"
he said as he walked out very slowly. He didn't know what he had just said, and Gheo could do nothing but flee to the back of the room to find Leona, while Leona went to the back room to seal the house so Raphiel couldn't go anywhere.
"Leona… what's wrong with Raphiel?"
Gheo asked, too afraid to speak loudly, so he had to hide behind Leona for cover.
"I'm not sure, and this is the first time in the history of this world since I've been alive, and I'm certain it's related to his ancestors."
"What are we going to do now? We can't just sit here and do nothing-"
CRAAASSHHHH!!! A loud crash cut short Gheo and Leona's conversation, both of them were startled and immediately peeked in cautiously, a little afraid but needing to make sure Raphiel hadn't done anything to hurt himself. But when they peeked in, they found Raphiel lying on the floor.
Without hesitation, Leona rushed over to Raphiel, who was lying on the floor. She sat beside him and began examining him closely. Raphiel's eyes were closed, but there were traces of blood-stained tears. His hands were injured, but worse still, Raphiel had turned deathly pale, as if he'd lost a massive amount of blood.
Stunned, Leona turned to Gheo and asked him.
"Gheo, what's your blood type?"
"Blood? I don't have blood, my 'blood' is acid."
Leona gave Gheo a single blink, then her gaze shifted back to Raphiel as she pondered what her next move should be to heal Raphiel in this condition. But Leona lifted her head again with a very serious expression; she began to suspect and realize what was happening with all of this. Leona turned around, looking at the small bookshelf, her serious gaze never wavering.
Leona looked back at Raphiel's face and then back at the small bookshelf behind Gheo. She slowly stood up and began walking toward the bookshelf.
"Please watch over Raphiel."
Leona paused briefly beside Gheo, instructing Gheo to watch over Raphiel so that Raphiel would also be safe. At that moment, Leona stood in front of the bookshelf, observing her surroundings along with the colors of the books. None of the books had titles or reading histories, they were merely for display.
Looking more closely, she finally tried to pull out a dark blue book, only to find that it actually had a title.
"Are you going to read that book-"
Gheo wanted to ask, but his question was cut off; unexpectedly, the bookshelf suddenly slid inward and shifted to the side. It revealed a dimly lit room no light entered, though lanterns around the library cast a glow.
"Maybe, but I'm going to read the books inside."
Leona entered the room with a heavy heart, she had kept this room hidden for a very long time. It was a dark secret she had concealed for years even back when she was a teenager and first discovered it.
Leona entered the room, a strong sense of unease began to settle in her heart, but she tried to hold it in. She turned to look behind her at Raphiel, who was still lying down, and Gheo, who was keeping watch beside him to make sure Raphiel didn't do anything strange if he suddenly woke up. Her gaze returned to the front.
"Raphiel Borrettius… Borrettius…"
she muttered, searching for a book with the same last name as Raphiel's, Borrettius. Leona spun around, scanning the area for the book she remembered the cover of the Borrettius book was a deep gold. It wasn't considered a valuable item because of its gold color, but rather an ancient book that had survived to this day.
Leona began climbing every bookshelf around her, searching from top to bottom even though her hands grew dirty from the dust and the rarely cleaned space.
The dim light illuminated only a few corners, so Leona often had to feel her way through the books.
Leona was still searching for the book on ancient Aphotemi, the book had existed for thousands of years, but Leona had hidden it away until she forgot about it. She began to pant, her anxiety mounting as her emotions built up. She let out a long sigh and peeked out of the library room.
"Gheo, call Thareon, okay? You know how to do it, right?"
Gheo immediately turned to Leona, who had suddenly called out and ordered him.
"Huh? Oh, okay."
Gheo accepted Leona's order he immediately grabbed some paper and a pen. Uniquely, he used acid ink by biting his finger so hard it caused an acid bleed, so Thareon would know it was Gheo who sent the letter.
Gheo started to forget how to send the letter, so instead he used Raphiel's small bag because it could be sent directly to the recipient. Even though Raphiel had forbidden it, this was an emergency that Thareon needed to know about.
"Leona, I've sent the letter to Thareon."
Gheo shouted to Leona, making sure she knew.
Gheo closed Raphiel's bag, but suddenly Leona appeared from the dark room, startling Gheo.
"... Are you still using the old-fashioned way? What did you write with?"
Leona paused and looked at Gheo, she saw that his finger was injured from a bite.
"...Doesn't the paper get damaged by your acid? If you want to coat it with fiberglass, I don't want my house to have little holes because of your acid." Leona stopped speaking, returning to the darkness.
"How cruel..." Gheo muttered
Her gaze returned to Raphiel, right now she couldn't do anything to help, only watch Raphiel with a heavy heart. His face and even his stomach, looked utterly hollow, and his skin was growing paler by the moment. He couldn't do anything to help at this moment, He wanted to touch him, to make sure his friend wasn't leaving him in such a tragic situation.
Gheo slowly tried to bring his hand closer to Raphael's, feeling Raphael's supple yet wrinkled skin, he even briefly clasped it, sensing that he truly needed blood. If only his blood were red like that of ordinary humans, he wouldn't hesitate to donate his blood voluntarily
Gheo just let out a heavy sigh. He placed Raphiel's hand on his stomach and began to stand up slowly. His thoughts started wandering, could this be a form of worry for his own friend? He walked slowly toward the door, his intention simply to calm himself while gazing at the cool atmosphere. Slowly, he opened the door, but after he opened it
Thareon was already standing at the door, his hand poised to knock.
"Oh? Gheo? You're so perceptive, it wasn't a waste teaching you all those months."
Thareon chuckled.
Gheo was confused; he'd just wanted to clear his head alone, but it seemed help had arrived sooner than expected.
"Uh… come on in. Leona's been waiting for you."
In a low, slightly weary tone, Gheo stood by the door for a moment before opening it for Thareon. Gheo waited for Thareon to come inside until he started daydreaming, but the longer he waited, the longer Thareon just stood silently at the door, his gloomy gaze fixed on Raphael. Gheo looked up at Thareon's face but immediately looked down, afraid to meet his gaze and too timid to even tell him to come into the room.
"Sometimes misfortunes do happen during a journey, but it seems we can't continue traveling anymore, we're being hunted by someone far more skilled at orchestrating the misfortunes that have already occurred and those yet to come."
He exhaled heavily before entering Leona's house, he walked slowly, even pausing briefly beside the dying Raphiel, feeling such a heavy weight in his chest that he could no longer speak of him or even what happened was, he walked forward again, looking for Leona as he entered the dark room. Leona's house wasn't large, it was a minimalist space that could only accommodate about two people, and there he found the room where he had been standing earlier, right in front of the door.
"yo, grandma"
Thareon called out to Leona from inside, he wanted to call out twice because he was so impatient, but he found Leona at the far end of the large bookshelf, reading the book he'd been holding earlier.
She was quite a distance away from him, this massive library was much larger than her house, so walking through it was exhausting, but he still made his way over to Leona.
"Leona."
"Huh?" Hearing her name, Leona immediately turned to look at Thareon. "Oh, hi, you're here. Here, take this book and please translate it for me." Without a second thought, Leona tossed the book she'd been reading at Thareon.
"Huh? That fast? You called me here just to translate this ancient book? Don't you want to talk first about why this is happening?" His expression and tone began to change slowly, showing that he was getting annoyed with Leona.
Leona immediately looked at Thareon, she could tell he was annoyed with her.
"What's wrong with you? Don't get so upset. If you want me to explain, I can tell you. Here's the gist of it, Raphael suddenly went berserk without us, me and Gheo knowing. He wasn't attacking anyone, he was attacking his own body because of the pain in his abdomen. His eyes suddenly turned bright red, and there was even blood in them. Not long after, he fainted, and the blood in his body was sucked away, I don't know where. All I know is that when this happened, his Aphotemi was under attack and was using the blood of his Xenons."
Thareon felt a heavy weight on his chest as Leona recounted everything. He knew the Xenons would sacrifice their souls to Aphotemi as a symbol of loyalty to their ancestors' faith. But that was too cruel no matter how far Aphotemi stood from the Xenons. When their god needed the Xenons, they'd help automatically, but not the other way around. It was a stroke of luck not to be a Xenon, even if it meant walking alone without direction.
Leona looked at Thareon, his face was filled with excessive worry, his thoughts thick with fog. He was truly worried about Raphiel, and Leona knew that Thareon's anxiety was almost the same as it had been during the war twenty years ago, not long ago, which is why it was bringing back his trauma, and surely Thareon wouldn't let Raphiel die a second time.
"It looks like this is going to happen a second time, and it's going to be bigger than the first time."
"You really love your son, don't you?"
"Raphiel isn't my son, but I feel as though he is. Maybe we're too close even though he's hundreds of years old and I'm just an ordinary human, but maybe…"
"You have a fatherly aura."
"I know that. Maybe that's why I feel like Raphiel is my first son after Nil."
After that, he said nothing more. With a heavy heart, Thareon opened the book Leona had thrown at him earlier. He opened it and simply flipped through the pages one by one without reading them, while Leona went back to searching for other information in her collection of books on Aphotemi and gave Thareon some space.