The air was still and thick with the scent of damp earth as Arlot completed the final leg of the test. He was returning to his master and friends—a team tasked with discerning the hidden Qua Crystal curses and abilities of one another. He carried the weariness of the jungle, but his heart was focused on reunion.
Suddenly, a pained cry shattered the silence. "Please help me, the fire is burning my face and ears!"
Arlot stopped. It was a Melusine, one of the non-inherently evil creatures who, despite their reputation for trickery, were under the protective duty of crystal users. He knew better than to trust a desperate plea, but his duty compelled him.
He pushed through the undergrowth and found her—a Melusine writhing in agony, a bright, unnatural fire clinging to her face and ears. It was a Shar's user spell, potent and designed for cruelty.
"Don't worry, I'll help you," Arlot said, his voice grim.
He reached out, trying to touch the fiery distortion on her ear, but the moment his fingers neared, a searing pain shot up his arm. The Melusine shrieked. "Fuuuuck!" Arlot recoiled, clenching his right fist with his left hand, a guttural rasp escaping his lips.
Miles away, Necrass, one of Arlot's teammates, caught the faint, strained sound of his voice. She recognized the unique rasp of a crystal user in deep distress. Without hesitation, she changed direction, pulling Asy, the team's spell neglecter and healer, with her. The sound was coming from the North.
They found Arlot hunched over, his face pale, and the Melusine trembling. Seeing them both in silent anguish, Asy immediately understood. "It's not physical," she murmured. "It's an illusion spell."
With a practiced motion, Asy dismissed the powerful illusion, shattering the deceptive torment that had bound them both. The fire vanished. The Melusine blinked, the agony draining from her face, replaced by shame as she realized what she'd put Arlot through.
She reached out, a gesture of apology and concern, and touched his arm to see if he was alright.
The moment their skins connected, the Melusine froze. Her face contorted into an expression of raw fear, trepidation, and sudden, aggressive instinct. She spun and attacked Arlot with a desperate, fearful strike.
"What are you doing, Cruz? And where is your attention at?" Arlot's Master, having just arrived, demanded loudly.
Necrass rushed to Asy, her voice trembling. "Are his curse stacks full now? Tell me, Asy." She feared the hidden curse Arlot carried had been activated by the Melusine's touch.
Asy placed a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder. "No, his fine. The spell will crack soon. After that, he will be fine; it's just an illusion spell." Her tone was reliable, a steady anchor in the chaotic aftermath.
The cool, damp air of the Lana Forest clung to Arlot as he lay still, the echo of the Melusine's attack still ringing in his ears. His friends and his master, Klaus Weaver, had arrived just in time to rescue him. Klaus's presence was enough to send the Melusine into a sorrowful retreat; she hadn't intended to strike the one who sought to save her kin.
"You should be careful around those creatures, Cruz," Klaus admonished his student, his eyes sharp with disappointment.
He turned to another student. "What were his stacks again, Vance?"
"It was around dyo, sir," Asy Vance replied in a manner that was perhaps too well-mannered for the tense situation.
Klaus's voice turned acerbic. "Just two stacks and you're crawling? You fool! What will people say about me—that one of Klaus's students is unable to dodge an attack from a stupid Melusine and ends up groveling on the ground? How pathetic!"
Arlot heard his master's cutting words, and to everyone's surprise, tears welled up in his eyes. Klaus, witnessing Arlot weeping, felt a flush of Inward embarrassment for the young man. He's never acted like this before, Klaus thought, his mind racing. Is he gone mad since she attacked him? Has he lost his mind? The Melusine, creatures of deep empathy, rarely attacked those who came to help them, only striking when they sensed danger or perceived an evil soul In their rescuer.
No, it can't be. Arlot is not a person to be considered evil. Klaus wrestled with the messy thoughts. Shaking his head, he ordered his students to retreat for the day.
Sometime later, the seven individuals, including Master Klaus and his students—Arlot Cruz, Asy Vance, and Necrass Blight (considered the main members), along with three students from an academia in another nation, for a trial, gathered at the edge of the Lana Forest. The sun was about to dip below the horizon as they prepared to return home.
Necrass and her friend took the same path home, but Arlot found himself walking alone toward Seahaven, the city where he lived with his family.
"I'm home," Arlot announced as he entered his house. His father, Orian Cruz, was reading a book in the sitting area directly in front of the door, while his mother, Elana, was busy cooking in the kitchen. His older brother was absent, having spent months away, dealing with various creatures with his superior skills and experience, and earning a high salary—a stark contrast to Arlot, who was still a mere newbie.
Later, as they ate dinner, Elana, curious about her son's path, asked, "Dear, have you found anything about your curse? And what is It?"
Before Arlot could answer, Orian interjected with wisdom born of inequality. "Listen, son. Think of a nation as a human body, and the government as its brain. When you trim your nails or cut your hair, we feel no pain. But when you nick a finger or scrape a knee, a sharp agony shatters the body's attention, drawing every resource to the wound. That is how the brain works—and how the government should work.
Yet, in our nation, it is tragically different. When the weaklings—the poor—fall, the brain registers nothing; their suffering is but a trim of a dead nail. But when the same misfortune touches the richer or those in power, the whole system lurches into action, granting them a swift, dedicated hospitality they have never earned.
They do not deserve this elevated attention, not simply because they are in power, but because they have proven utterly incapable of comprehending, much less wielding, the true responsibility of that power."
Orian swallowed hard, the bitterness of his words far outweighing the simple taste of his meal. He looked from his son to his wife, wondering just when—and how—a system so perfectly designed to ignore the suffering of its own body would ever be forced to change.
Everyone soon went to sleep after a long chat. But Arlot's night was different. He saw the dream again—a vivid, terrifyingly real vision of another world. In this world, he was working at an electrical shop, serving customers while his boss yelled at him. It was then, amidst the chaos of the dream, that he realized: he was dreaming. His memories of his real world flooded back. Somehow his soul got swapped into this one.
When he realised that his in a dream the dream he was seeing all about the another world all shattered.