Silver's POV
Impatience gnawed at me.
Zoah needed to treat the patient now. Every passing second felt like a slow, deliberate cruelty, stretching time into something unbearable.
To distract myself, I let my thoughts drift… back.
Ever since I met Zoah, my life had veered off its old path, swallowed by something I didn't fully understand.
People noticed. Of course they did. My friends complained, their voices distant, almost irrelevant now. I had no space for them anymore, only Zoah remained, like a gravity I couldn't escape.
But it wasn't just that.
Something else had changed.
Something… unnatural.
Before coming to this competition, I had gone swimming alone. It should have been ordinary. It should have been forgettable.
It wasn't.
I didn't drown.
Instead, I moved through the water like I belonged to it, like
those flawless divers I used to watch on television. The water wrapped around me, cold yet comforting, like an embrace I had known long before I was born. It didn't resist me.
It welcomed me.
And then
I slipped.
Not physically.
Mentally.
A trance pulled me under, deeper than the water ever could.
And I saw her.
A woman stood before me no, not just a woman. She was otherworldly. Draped in royal garments that shimmered like liquid light, she radiated a presence that was impossible to ignore. A goddess.
In her arms, she held a young girl, no older than six. The child's face was calm, eerily so… especially compared to the silent tears streaming down the goddess's face.
"Don't take her away," the goddess pleaded, her voice trembling with a power that could shatter worlds.
"It's too late, Mama," the girl replied softly. "I am now an enemy to water. If I stay any longer… I will die."
The words struck me like a blade.
"I will transfer my energy to you. You will survive," the goddess insisted, desperation bleeding into every syllable.
"No." The girl shook her head, firm despite her age. "We must accept my fate."
"This is not your fate!" the goddess cried. "You were meant to be queen after me, the Seven Legendary Witches foresaw it. And yet… here you are, a prisoner, suffering for sins that are mine. How can life be so cruel?"
The girl reached up, her small hand brushing against her mother's cheek.
"Mother… fate will always take its course. No matter what. If I was truly meant to be queen… then one day, I will return. I will come home… and reclaim what is mine."
The certainty in her voice was chilling.
"No matter what happens," the goddess whispered, her voice breaking, "you must stay alive. You must come back to me."
With trembling hands, she placed a necklace around the girl's neck, a delicate piece, marked with the symbol of a fish.
"Don't worry," she said softly. "This will protect you on Earth…"
"No matter what… you must return to Osirianni. Safe. Whole."
The words echoed and then everything shattered.
My trance was ripped apart by a sudden disturbance.
Hands. Rough. Urgent.
A swimming inspector.
His face was twisted in confusion… then fear.
I wasn't swimming.
I wasn't drowning.
I was floating, suspended unnaturally in the water, unmoving, effortless… as though the water itself refused to let me sink.
For a moment, he thought I was dead.
I saw it in his eyes.
He reached for me.
And the instant his fingers brushed my skin, I jolted violently, breath crashing back into my lungs as if I had been dragged from another world.
I shoved him away.
"I'm fine," I snapped, my voice sharper than I intended.
Before he could question me, before he could see too much, I hurried out.
I ignored everyone when I got home.
Didn't answer greetings.
Didn't slow down.
Didn't breathe properly until I was alone in my room.
Then my hand rose, almost on its own and touched my neck.
And I felt it.
The necklace.
The one I was warned never to reveal.
It lay hidden beneath my shirt, as it always had.
Untouchable. Permanent. No matter how many times I had tried in the past, it had never come off. It wasn't something I wore.
It was something that belonged to me.
Or worse
Something I belonged to.
Uncle had called it a protective heirloom.
Father said it was a parting gift from grandmother before she died.
But now…
Now it all sounded like lies.
Because the necklace around my neck was identical.
Identical
to the one the goddess had placed around her daughter's neck.
No.
Not identical.
The same.
A cold shiver crawled down my spine.
Why did they feel familiar to me?
The girl.
The goddess.
Why did their voices echo inside me like forgotten memories clawing their way back to life?
And the most terrifying question of all.
Why now?
Why did all of this begin the moment Zoah entered my life?
It felt like he was a magnet… dragging something buried deep within me to the surface.
My past.
…
My past?
The thought felt wrong.
Unfamiliar.
I lost parts of my early childhood, yes, but that was because of some chronic illness my mother never fully explained. Or at least… that was the story.
She told me fragments of those lost memories. Gentle ones. Happy ones. I even wrote them down in my diary to preserve them.
There was nothing dark.
Nothing broken.
Nothing like this.
So why did my mind keep whispering otherwise?
Something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
The door opened.
Zoah stepped in, and the fragile thread of my thoughts snapped instantly.
Only then did I notice Uncle was still there, seated, distant… lost in his own worries. His eyes flickered toward Zoah, searching for answers he was too afraid to ask.
Zoah held a small bag.
My eyes locked onto it.
Herb B.
If that was truly Herb B… then he had succeeded.
He had healed her.
A flicker of relief stirred within me.
Good.
We were one step closer to saving Violet.
"What's next?" Uncle asked, his voice low, heavy.
Zoah didn't hesitate.
"We need Herb C."
Of course we did.
There was always another step. Another burden.
Another cost.
I exhaled slowly, exhaustion finally crashing into me like a wave I could no longer hold back.
"Okay… that's enough," I said, my voice firm despite the fatigue. "I'm exhausted. After everything today, the shouting, the cheering, the tears, the chaos, I've had enough."
Zoah's gaze sharpened.
"You want to quit?"
"No." The word came out instantly. Sharp. Final.
I met his eyes, unflinching.
"We rest. Just one day."
"Violet can't wait," he replied coldly.
I ignored the edge in his voice.
"Violet isn't here," I said, just as cold. "And one day won't kill her. But pushing ourselves like this might kill us. We need strength if we're going to finish this."
Silence followed.
Tense.
Heavy.
Then
"She's right," Uncle said at last. "We take a break tomorrow. After that, we continue."
I smiled faintly.
Not out of joy.
But because, for now
I had won.