Chapter 33: The Path of Nothingness

  Marie awoke slowly, her eyes opening to soft light spilling through the curtains. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was. The ceiling above her was neither cracked plaster nor the underside of a wagon. It was made of dark stone, smooth and lightly polished, reflecting the light in muted waves.

  She blinked, turned her head, and saw the heavy curtains, the carved wardrobe, the soft carpet with her boots tossed carelessly in the corner. It was all still there. No, she hadn’t dreamed it. For the first time in years, she had slept in a real bed, and for the first time in years, she had a room that was hers.

  She stayed there for a while, staring at the ceiling, trying to make sense of it. Yesterday had been… too much. Her mind replayed the day in flashes; it felt more like a bad bedtime story than actual memories. She had followed a Demoness who turned out to be an elf into Tiara, the so-called Jewel of the North, to buy supplies with an actual mithril coin, then somehow ended up in a dungeon with Sevrin and got beaten half to death, only to be rescued by that same elf, who was also a hellish being from another world. The rest was just as absurd, and by the time they had explored the mansion, her thoughts had already started to blur.

  But the most absurd thing that had happened yesterday was her class evolution. How was that even possible?

  Marie sat up slowly, the blanket falling from her shoulders. She’d heard stories about evolutions before, rare cases that changed people in more ways than one. That a [Unique] or even a [Rare] class could alter a person’s mind, body, and sometimes their very being. Some said it felt like rebirth; others claimed they could feel their old selves fading away.

  Marie waited for something like that, a spark, a whisper, anything that would prove something inside her had changed. But there was nothing. No rush of power, no divine clarity. Just a quiet stillness.

  She should have felt different. Instead, she only felt… dull.

  The storm of emotions from last night—fear, grief, anger—all of it was still there, but muted, as if wrapped in cotton. It was strange, almost like remembering someone else’s feelings. She tried to summon the same despair she’d felt when she realized her class was locked forever, that she was now doomed to be one of the bad ones, an underling to the Demon Princess, and nothing more than a servant, but it all felt distant, hollow even. Marie pressed a hand over her heart and frowned. “Empty,” she whispered.

  For a moment, she wondered if that was what the change really meant, not power, but losing something she hadn’t noticed was gone.

  She shook her head, stood, and began to dress. Her robe hung neatly on the chair beside the bed, and she pulled it over her clothes. When she caught her reflection in the mirror, she hesitated. The woman staring back looked almost calm, but not in a comforting way. Something had changed. She looked older, more composed, maybe even more distant. Or was that just what trauma did to people? Maybe it wasn’t change at all, just exhaustion. Or… maybe she had finally accepted what she had become.

  She tied the robe shut, exhaled slowly, and turned toward the door. Whatever had changed in her wasn’t going away, anyway.

  Marie went downstairs to the common room on the first floor. Sevrin was already there, sitting at the table and eating an apple. The rest were nowhere to be seen.

  For a moment, her emotions stirred again—irritation, sadness, anger at this madman—but then they dulled just as quickly. It was a strange, detached feeling. And then the warning from last night echoed in her mind: The path of nothingness is irreversible.

  She bit her lip, testing herself, and even that felt strangely muted. So, she pushed the thought aside and spoke instead.

  “You’re already awake? Or still awake?”

  Sevrin looked up, chewed once more, and took another bite before answering. “Still awake. You know I don’t sleep much.”

  Marie nodded and pulled out the chair beside him, sitting down quietly.

  Normally, Marie would have broken the silence first. She felt the urge now too—to talk to Sevrin, to tell him that they needed to talk, that he had lost control over the last few months, that he was losing himself, that things couldn’t continue like this.

  But somehow, it didn’t feel important anymore. It was as if they had already crossed some invisible finish line, one she hadn’t even known they were running toward.

  Last night, after her forced class evolution, she had lain awake for a long time, thinking about everything, especially about Sevrin and how things had turned out between them. Somewhere between those thoughts, she had found a strange sort of clarity.

  So instead of all the words she had rehearsed in her head, she just said quietly, “You changed.”

  Sevrin stopped mid-bite and looked at her.

  Before he could answer, Marie added, “But it doesn’t matter anymore. I realized something yesterday, so I’ll ask you one question.”

  She saw his eye twitch, a small sign of irritation.

  He pressed his lips together. “What did you realize, Marie?”

  She smiled, though it felt hollow even to herself. The expression seemed to catch him off guard; maybe he hadn’t seen her smile in months.

  “I realized that you’ve lost yourself,” she said quietly. “Bit by bit. Maybe it was the book, or maybe you were insane from the start, who knows. But that’s not the question. That’s a fact. The question is, did you hide your class from us?”

  Sevrin’s face shifted through several emotions in a heartbeat: irritation, surprise, anger, shock, and back to anger again.

  “I… I’m a [Cultist], same as everyone else,” he said finally.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Marie didn’t look away. “You know what I mean. Your subclass. You’re no [Acolyte], are you?”

  For a long moment, he said nothing. The two of them just stared at each other. Then, finally, Sevrin exhaled slowly. “No,” he said. “I’m not.”

  Marie only nodded at the confirmation and stood up. “Me neither, not anymore. We’ll speak with the others when there’s time. Things need to change, or we’ll all die because of you.”

  Sevrin rose as well, ready to protest. It was his temper, and somewhere deep down, Marie had once even loved to argue with him. But now, it just felt senseless.

  By the time he straightened, she was already walking toward the stairs. She didn’t look back. Sevrin turned after her, his mouth opening as if to shout something, but in the end, he stayed silent. Maybe he was too surprised by her words.

  Marie went down to the kitchen. The morning light poured through the tall windows, bathing the black stone counters in gold. She paused for a moment, marveling again at how unreal it all looked in daylight. Then she checked the supplies, the ones the Princess had bought for them, and began preparing breakfast. Cooking had always been her thing. Back in the old days, she and Garron had taken turns, but she’d grown so used to doing it that it felt strange not to. The quiet rhythm of it, the cutting, stirring, and heating, grounded her in a way little else did.

  By the time she finished, she had arranged everything neatly on a tray. Marlon had come down by then and helped her carry the dishes back upstairs to the common room, where the others had already gathered.

  They began to eat together in silence. Sevrin and Marie ignored each other completely, and for the others, that wasn’t strange at all. They were used to it. The two of them always argued, so no one said a word.

  Since everyone was there, Marie wanted to bring up the matter of Sevrin’s and her class, and maybe see if anyone else had gotten a new one as well. She decided to wait until everyone had finished breakfast, but just as she was about to speak, a loud boom echoed from outside the house.

  Everyone turned toward the tall windows, where they saw the Demon Princess flying, with actual wings, slamming someone through the air. The sight was so unreal that no one moved at first. Sevrin reacted before anyone else, pulling out his ritual dagger and shouting,

  “We’re under attack! Someone’s attacking the Princess!”

  He was already running before the words had fully left his mouth. The others followed, stumbling over chairs and half-finished breakfast, rushing out through the front door into the clearing.

  It was quite a sprint from the mansion to the lakeside, and by the time they arrived, Marie was out of breath. The air still smelled of smoke and hot metal, and the ground trembled faintly beneath her feet.

  The fight, however, was already over when they reached the scene. The Demon Princess stood before another demon, taller than any man Marie had ever seen. His molten skin still smoked, and the ground around him glowed faintly red with heat. Behind him rose a dark, newly forged structure of black stone and iron. Marie had never seen anything like it in her life.

  For a moment, none of them moved. The Princess’s wings were still spread wide, her sword glowing faintly in her hand. She looked like something from another world.

  “Princessss!” Sevrin’s voice finally broke the silence as he rushed ahead, his dagger still drawn.

  The Princess turned her head toward them, her crimson eyes fixing on them. “And what exactly do you think you’re doing here with your daggers?”

  Marie bent forward, still trying to catch her breath. “We… we thought you were under attack… we wanted to help…”

  The Princess sighed, lowering her sword as the last of the black flames faded around her. “Well, thank you, I guess? But no worries. This is Igrath Mawforge, our new smith, and we just happened to have a little sparring session.”

  Marie’s gaze shifted to the towering demon standing beside the forge, smoke still curling from his shoulders. It should have terrified her. Another demon, bound to the Princess’s will. But instead, she only watched quietly, her pulse steady. Surprisingly, she didn’t panic. Yesterday, she would have been on her knees, trembling at the sight of another hellspawn. Now she simply observed, calmly analyzing the scene. It was strange, but the fear just wasn’t there.

  When she looked at the Princess now, she didn’t see a monster anymore. She saw a beautiful, regal woman, someone who looked as if she had been born to rule. It wasn’t entirely what Marie truly felt, but somehow it also seemed right. And she was realistic enough to understand why her perspective had shifted so suddenly. There was only one reason for it: her new class.

  Still, it wasn’t all bad. She would have to live under the Princess’s command anyway, perhaps for the next ten years if they even survived that long. Better to see her as something awe-inspiring than something to fear every time she appeared.

  The Princess looked back at them and smiled faintly. “But it’s good that you’re here anyway. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

  Marie exhaled slowly, finally catching her breath after their run from the mansion. The others stood beside her in silence, all eyes fixed on the Princess. When the Princess’s gaze turned toward them, Marie straightened her posture without thinking. The words came out naturally, without hesitation.

  “As you wish, my Lady.”

  It felt like the right thing to say. And perhaps, she thought quietly, it was.

  The Demon Princess paused, slightly surprised, her eyes resting on Marie. For a moment she seemed to study her, as if trying to understand something she had not noticed before. But then she turned her gaze away and looked at the others.

  “Well then,” she said, her tone calm again, “since we are all here, there is something we should discuss.”

  The tension eased a little as she continued. “I plan to stay here for a while, and if this will be our base of operations, then we need to build around it. We need a small settlement, something functional, safe, and independent from the outside world. Food, supplies, maybe even a few defenses. I do not want to rely on nearby towns.”

  Marie listened quietly. The idea did not sound foolish at all, even if the word “base” was new to her in the way the Princess used it. A self-sustained place to live made sense, especially after what they had been through.

  The Princess began giving out tasks. Garron was to scout the area around the clearing and check how far the forest reached toward the lake. Sharen and Tristan were told to look for good spots where summoned buildings could stand without crowding each other. Marlon and Sevrin were to help outline the layout of the new base, marking paths, storage zones, and places for defenses. Marie was asked to inspect the supplies they already had and make a proper list of what was missing. The Princess wanted to know which resources they still needed if they were to live here for a while; food, tools, basic materials, and anything that might be useful once the base began to grow.

  It all sounded strangely practical. The Princess didn’t speak like a creature of chaos at all, but like someone planning a settlement.

  When she was done, she looked over them once more. “I need to return to Tiara soon. If anyone requires something, now is the time to ask.”

  No one spoke at first. Seeing their silence, the Princess nodded slightly. “Good. Then you will coordinate with Igrath while I am away. If anything happens, report to him.”

  At the mention of the demon’s name, everyone turned instinctively toward the forge. The towering figure of Igrath had already vanished inside, the glow of molten metal flickering through the open doorway.

  The Princess looked at them one last time. “I will return soon. Do not disappoint me.” With that, she turned and walked back toward her mansion until the dark doors closed behind her.

  For a few moments, no one spoke. Only the faint hiss of the forge and the distant rustle of trees broke the silence.

  Sevrin was the first to move, lowering his dagger and letting out a quiet sigh. “You heard her,” he said. “We have work to do.”

  The others began to disperse, each heading toward their assigned task. Marie stayed for a moment longer, looking toward the direction where the Princess had vanished.

  She would need to talk to her later, she decided. About her new class, about her concerns with Sevrin, and about what came next. But not now. The Princess already had enough to handle, and Marie did not want to impose.