The Grand Mage's Bequest
The shadow that had poured through the torn rift, writhing as though it would devour the world, vanished completely. So too did the tentacles that had sprouted from my body like extra limbs, and the rifts in reality that had claimed Pirel.
I stared blankly at Viran. The grand mage’s corpse gazed at the cross-section of her rotting left arm with hollow eyes, her expression one of exhaustion.
“Viran… just now…?”
Viran’s face was deathly pale. She had always looked like a corpse, but now she looked even more so. Still, she managed a weak smile.
“Ah, yes. You can see for yourself, can’t you? I did exactly what you’ve been doing every day.”
There had never been any need to ask. The only magic capable of banishing the shadows of another world as though they had never existed had been obvious from the start.
“Time…”
I couldn’t even finish the sentence.
“Yes. I rewound time. I’ve known the theories behind time magic for ages, and after watching your ability I understood how to apply them. Still, it was my first attempt, so it was a gamble… but it worked on the first try. Of course it did. I am a grand mage who has lived for centuries, after all. And a genius.”
She said it while her body continued to rot. Perhaps that level of pride was required simply to call oneself a grand mage.
“So look. I saved the world. And you, of course.”
It was the childish boast of a grand mage who had lived more than two hundred years.
“Still, I’m tired. Even if it means letting my entire body rot for a few weeks, I’ll need to rest and restore my circulatory system… Though I must admit, those things from beyond are impressive. To think they could create a monster capable of wielding such grand magic as naturally as breathing.”
I looked at her in a daze as she mocked me in that way, then asked in a foolish voice, “Are you going to die, Viran…?”
“I doubt it. A body that is already dead cannot die again. …Probably.”
“Probably…?”
“Yes. I designed the magic so that reconstruction would be possible even after the body was destroyed, but I’ve never tested it. That is, I’ve never died before. No matter how curious I am, I never wanted to experiment by dying. Especially when success wasn’t guaranteed.”
I stared at Viran with doubtful eyes. To speak so calmly even while facing death… it was very much like a grand mage who had lived so long inside a corpse.
“Well, the theory is perfect, so the odds of revival are high. My mana circulatory system is only depleted, not destroyed. Still… once I come back, I’ll need an entirely new embalming.”
The grand mage forced a crumbling smile.
“Now then, even after I remake my body there will be much to do. I should study this cabin. Thanks to everything that happened, the place is riddled with wounds in reality. That said, Lady Kaira.”
Viran raised her right hand and traced several simple spells. Before I could understand what they were, I heard a soft click.
“Ah…”
It was the sound of the metal restraints on my hands and feet unlocking.
“I have something to give you. While my body still remains, I’d like to explain it briefly. As you can see, I’m in no condition to move. There are two spellbooks beside the measuring device outside. Would you fetch them for me?”
“Of course.”
I glanced once at Viran’s slowly collapsing form and once at Pirel’s face, now peaceful and restored as though the horrific corruption had never touched her, then stepped outside the cabin.
‘Ugh… my feet are freezing…’
The cold floor of the early-winter morning stung my bare soles. It would have been nice to find my boots, but I had no idea where Pirel had tossed them after stripping me. There was no time. Viran had looked urgent.
I hopped across the yard to keep the chill from sinking into my bones and headed for the small front garden. Beside the measuring device that had witnessed yesterday’s chaos lay several sheets of paper that appeared to be analysis results, along with two spellbooks.
They were not mine. Viran must have kept spares; the covers were worn, but the pages showed no signs of use. I picked them up and returned to the cabin.
“Ah, you’re back.”
I spared a quick glance to confirm Pirel was still sleeping safely, then held the books out to Viran.
“Hm? What are you doing? Why are you giving them to me?”
“Weren’t these what you needed?”
Viran let out a soft laugh, her face steadily losing color.
“No. At my age, casting magic from books would be rather unseemly. Those two volumes are yours. I had enough time, mana, and computational power left after extracting the measuring device’s records to transcribe my own grimoires using several layers of Ashien’s Dancing Staff.”
“What…?”
“You don’t seem to understand,” Viran said. The laughter had vanished from her voice. Though it was beginning to crack as her vocal cords deteriorated, her tone remained clear.
“I am leaving both books to you as a gift.”
She gestured at them with her chin.
“One contains everything from the minor tricks I developed to the grand spells I created, as well as several great magics that are difficult to learn elsewhere. The other holds the geometric techniques required for those spells, several mathematical theories I devised myself, approximation methods for when analytical solutions are impossible, and lists of adjustable computational parameters.”
Viran finished without pausing, then coughed and smiled weakly.
“It may be difficult for you. I didn’t write it at a child’s level… but take them anyway.”
“Why…?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
The dead eyes of the grand mage flashed once.
“I taught you a spell, even if only in name. That makes you my disciple. It is a teacher’s duty to pass on as much knowledge as possible to the child they have taken as a student… though that is only a joke.”
Viran lifted herself slightly. Something flaked from her severed left arm with a soft pat. Rotten flesh dust carrying the stench of a corpse.
“Lady Kaira. As I said, and as you originally planned, entrusting Lady Pirel to the Denomination would be wise. The God of Light will use her body to prevent those things from beyond from descending, if only to protect the world he inhabits. Lady Pirel will likely live best as a nun or priestess.”
I nodded slightly. Nothing in the plan had changed.
“But what about you, Lady Kaira? There are few places in this world that would take you in. And you are even more vulnerable than Lady Pirel. You, who now walk around draped in rags of torn reality.”
I bit my lower lip. I already knew that…
“I just poured every last bit of computational power I possessed into rewinding time, even carving away at the mana circulatory system that sustains my body. Lady Kaira, didn’t something feel strange to you?”
“Strange… how…?”
“While you were unconscious, I looked through the books inside your robe that Lady Pirel brought. I also examined the childish magic you created and the diary you wrote. You used one of those spells every time you rewound time, didn’t you? Clinging to memory so desperately.”
It was the story of Kaira’s Secret Diary. Why did that matter…?
Wait.
“Ah…”
The memories…
They remained.
The memory of witnessing that horrifying existence from beyond, and the memory of it grinding my personality to nothing and swallowing me whole—both were still there.
Memories that should have been erased by the grand magic of time reversal.
“Something from beyond has taken root in your memories with terrifying persistence. Those memories, now parasitized by a transcendent being, have completely escaped the timeline of reality. A mere time reversal can no longer purge the influence of those things from beyond. I don’t know when it began.”
Viran added with a bitter smile, “Well, it must be disappointing that the magic you worked so hard to develop has become useless.”
So that was it.
Perhaps it had always been parasitic upon memory itself. If I had erased the memories of what happened in the forest before things reached this point… maybe we wouldn’t have come this far.
But I couldn’t have done that. If the corruption had remained even after the memories were gone, there would have been no way to respond at all. Even if erasing them had been the correct choice, I could not regret a path I had never taken.
“That is why you are in danger the moment your mind weakens even slightly, Lady Kaira. Never forget that there exists an entity that will twist and tear the world apart the instant a crack appears in your memories. If such a thing manifests through your body, the outcome is obvious, isn’t it? Without a great mage like myself beside you to save you, your personality will naturally be destroyed… and perhaps the world as well.”
Viran paused to catch her breath, then continued.
“That is why I am giving you the power to protect yourself. Learn the grand magic that no university would ever teach from the books I have given you, and watch over your own body. Whether you master it is up to you. This is all your teacher can do. And… ah, there is one more thing I can give you.”
Viran lowered her head slightly.
“There should be a ring on my severed left arm. Yes. The same ring that turned Pirel to stone. It contains nothing but cruel destruction spells, but you are the only one in this world who can truly use it. Only you, who can recharge a magic that would normally require dozens of mages and a long ritual, can do so with a single time reversal.”
I followed Viran’s gaze and looked down. Something glinted inside the puddle of bandages and melted bone fragments soaked in foul decay. It was a ring, caked in filth.
“Use it carefully. Even so, it contains spells capable of reducing a massive dragon to dust in an instant.”
I hesitated for a moment, then asked, “…Are you sure it’s all right to give me something like this?”
“Why? Does it feel like too much?”
“Not exactly…”
I lowered my head, then said what I had to say.
“I don’t know anymore. Am I… really Kaira…? There’s no guarantee that I’m not that horrifying thing from beyond, perfectly mimicking human emotions and fear after devouring her personality completely. Am I… really Kaira? I can’t believe it anymore. I… can’t trust myself…”
My voice was thick with tears, but I managed to finish. Viran looked at me with pity and smiled gently.
“Heh…”
She even laughed.
“How adorable, Lady Kaira. If you’re capable of such anguish, then perhaps that is proof enough. Even if the time reversal I risked my life for was meaningless, and the one crying before me now is merely an incomprehensible alien monster wearing Lady Kaira’s skin… well, that would be acceptable too. How delightful, the thought of a transcendent being from beyond being ensnared by a human heart.”
“What are you saying…?”
Still, the words reached me. It was the grand mage’s own arrogant form of comfort.
“Now then… you should leave. Also, I am a woman, after all. An old one, but still.”
“What?”
“…This body will collapse soon. Even if reconstruction succeeds, it will take weeks, and until then I’ll be nothing but a nauseating mass of rotting flesh and floating bones. …So I don’t want to show you such an ugly sight. I’d rather remain the beautiful and magnificent grand mage in your memories.”
I understood. She didn’t want to show either me or young Pirel a form that would haunt our nightmares. Then I remembered something.
“Wait, Viran! I’ll rewind time for you. I’ve never failed at that! I can definitely save you…”
I reached for her, hurriedly pulling the cloth from my hands, but Viran raised her rotting right arm to stop me.
“No. Don’t. Absolutely not.”
Her voice was startlingly firm.
“What…?”
“You said you still have the memories from earlier, didn’t you? That power of yours to rewind time is a cruel gift from an unspeakable evil. It is nothing more than a tool the evil from beyond installed to tear reality apart. Just like with Lady Pirel, anything touched by that power will bear the scars of those rifts. If you use it on me, I will likely suffer the same fate.”
She was not joking. The usual mocking, leisurely expression had vanished from her face; Viran was speaking with complete sincerity.
“If I were to be eroded, and that existence were to manifest through my body afterward, there might truly be no next time for this world. I don’t believe my strong mind would be eroded by something as simple as a single time reversal, but there is always the possibility.”
I understood. Viran was considering the worst-case scenario. The fact that she had saved me remained undeniable.
“I understand. Then I’ll wake Pirel… or even if she doesn’t wake, I’ll put her on the horse and leave right away.”
I looked down at the naked Pirel and hesitated. It was a cold winter morning; I needed to dress her quickly. Clothes… right. Pirel had thrown her clothes off in the front garden, just before turning to stone. My boots… I could ask Pirel once she woke.
I draped the two books Viran had given me inside my robe, then lifted Pirel with a grunt and began walking heavily out of the cabin.
“Um… Lady Kaira…?”
Viran’s voice came from behind, completely drained of strength and so cracked it was difficult to understand. I turned my head slightly.
“Yes, Viran?”
“No, not that name… Could you call me something else? Just once?”
“Something else…?”
Viran shook her head weakly.
“Yes. Um… well… I taught you magic and even wrote books for you. So… I’d like to hear it one more time. The name you called me when that existence from beyond was eroding your body…”
I understood immediately what she wanted. Standing before Viran’s collapsing form, I forced a smile.
“…Master. Thank you.”
In that moment, even though decay had spread to her face, I could tell that Viran was smiling with satisfaction.
“Yes. I’m sorry… for treating you both like toys as I pleased—”
A wet pop echoed, accompanied by an unbearable stench. Viran’s words ended there. The decay had reached inside her vocal cords. I turned my head and stepped out of the small cabin marked by the scars of torn reality, still looking worriedly at the sleeping Pirel.
The journey was nearly over. Our final destination was Poscotia, the holy city at the heart of the Light Denomination. It was less than two days away.