Chapter 14: The Ghost on the Leaf

  Age: 11 Years Old.Location: The Great Canyon Road (Overlooking Zone 2).

  The Royal Carriage of the Helios Kingdom was a fortress wrapped in silk and gold. Enchanted with Rank 4 Gravity Suspension, it floated over the uneven cobblestones of the mountain pass as if sliding on oil. The iron-rimmed wheels hovered an inch above the ground, humming with a low, magical vibration. The exterior was plated in white enamel and gold leaf, reflecting the harsh mountain sun with blinding arrogance.

  Inside, however, the atmosphere was less "Royal Dignity" and more "Bored Pre-Teen."

  Slumped in the corner, hugging a wooden practice sword like a teddy bear, was Princess Elara de Helios (Age 12). The First Princess of the Kingdom was currently drooling slightly onto a silk pillow. She had the silver hair of the Royal Family, but right now it was a bird's nest of tangles. Despite being the Heir Apparent, she looked like a tired soldier. "Are we there yet?" she mumbled into her pillow, not opening her eyes. "My legs are cramping. I need to practice my swings..."

  Opposite her sat Elena Valerius (Age 9), the newly awakened Saintess. Elena sat stiffly on the edge of the plush seat, her posture perfect but brittle. Her small hands gripped the fabric of her blue dress until her knuckles turned white. Her golden hair hung limp around her face, and her sapphire eyes eyes that the Church claimed could see the blessings of God were dull. She was fixated on the abyss outside the reinforced glass window. The Foggy Swamp.

  Sitting next to the sleeping Elara was their guest. Princess Amara (Age 12) of the Verdant Kingdom.

  Amara was striking. Even at twelve, she possessed the sharp, ethereal beauty of someone touched by the spirits. She hailed from the Spirit Kingdom to the East, a land where humans lived side-by-side with nature spirits. Her hair was the color of polished jade, flowing like living vines down her back. Her eyes were a soft, glowing emerald, lacking pupils. She wore robes of woven silk and living leaves that rustled softly even when she didn't move. She was a Rank 2 Spiritualist, a prodigy who saw the world not in shapes, but in Souls.

  She watched the younger Elena with a soft, sad expression.

  "Your soul is crying again, Elena," Amara whispered. Her voice was melodic, like wind chimes.

  Elena didn't blink. "I'm fine, Sister Amara."

  "Liar," Amara smiled sadly. She reached out a pale hand, hovering it over Elena’s small shoulder. "It feels heavy. Like a bird trapped in a cage of iron. You are suffocating the spirits around you."

  Amara looked at the air around the child. To her [Spirit Sight], she could see tiny particles of golden light Lesser Spirits of Light trying to nuzzle against Elena, attempting to comfort her. But they were being repelled by a thick, gray wall of grief.

  "Why do you stare at that place?" Amara asked, withdrawing her hand to sip her herbal tea. "The Abyss. It is full of angry souls. Monsters. It is noisy."

  "It's not just death," Elena whispered, her breath fogging the enchanted glass. "He is there."

  "The ghost brother?" Elara yawned, finally sitting up and stretching her arms. Crack. "Elena, seriously. It's been four years. Even I couldn't survive down there, and I'm a Sword Genius. He's dead. You need to let it go."

  "He's alive," Elena insisted. Her voice wasn't loud, but it was absolute. Of course, she felt nothing. Her "Saintess powers" gave her no signal, no pulse, no faint heartbeat from the abyss. The Church said he was dead. The world said he was dead. Even her own divine intuition was silent. But she refused to listen. "I just know it," she whispered, clutching her chest where her own heart beat for two. "He wouldn't leave me. Not like that."

  Elara rolled her eyes, grabbing a strawberry tart. "That's probably just a giant frog with a similar heartbeat. But whatever makes you sleep at night."

  The carriage began to slow down. "Your Highnesses," the Knight Captain’s voice came through the intercom. "We are passing the Lotus Cliff. The horses need a moment to rest. Would you like to stretch your legs?"

  Elara kicked the door open before the carriage even stopped fully. "Finally! Freedom!"

  The View from the Void

  The three girls stepped out onto the cliffside road. The wind hit them instantly a warm, humid gust carrying the scent of ozone, sulfur, and ancient rot.

  They were standing on a ridge three hundred meters above the swamp floor. Below them, the world ended. It dropped off into a churning ocean of white mist, so dense it looked like milk.

  "Ugh," Elara groaned, pinching her nose. "It smells like wet dog and rotten eggs. Why is this a tourist spot?"

  "Because of the Mana density," Amara explained, walking to the railing, her jade hair whipping in the wind. "But the spirits here are twisted. Rage. Hunger. Pain."

  Elena walked to the very edge. She grabbed the cold iron bars. She leaned over, dangerously far. "Cain..." she whispered into the void.

  "You can't see anything, Elena," Elara said, chewing on her tart. "It's just soup. White, poisonous soup."

  "Please," Elena turned to Amara. Her large blue eyes were swimming with tears. "Sister Amara. You are a Spiritualist. Can't you ask the wind? Just once. Please."

  Amara looked down at the pleading child. She sighed. ‘She is so stubborn.’ "Fine. But only for a moment. I do not like touching the mana of this place. It feels sticky."

  Amara raised her hands toward the white ocean. Her emerald eyes began to glow. "Spirits of the Gale," she chanted softly. "Part the veil. Show us the truth."

  It wasn't a spell; it was a request. WHOOSH. A massive column of air descended from the cliff, drilling a hole through the thick cloud layer. For ten seconds, the view cleared. A shaft of sunlight from the heavens pierced the opening, illuminating a secluded pocket of Zone 2.

  "Oh..." Amara gasped.

  Below them lay a black lake. The water was like obsidian dark, glass-like, and perfectly still. Giant Emperor Lotus leaves floated on the surface. And in the center of the lake... stood a figure.

  "Is that..." Elena’s voice caught in her throat.

  It was a boy. He was shirtless, wearing only trousers made of rough black leather. His skin was pale, glowing like white marble under the sudden spotlight of the sun. His black hair was long, reaching down to his waist, unbound and wild. He wasn't sitting. He wasn't swimming. He was standing on a single lotus leaf.

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  He was on one leg. His right leg was raised, knee bent in a perfect geometric angle. His arms were extended in a graceful, circular pose. The leaf he stood on... it didn't sink. It didn't even bob under his weight.

  "Whoa," Elara whistled, dropping her tart. "Is he... standing on the water? Is that Water Magic? Or is he just really light?"

  Amara’s eyes widened. She activated her [Spirit Sight]. She expected to see a powerful Mage using Mana to float. But she saw... Nothing.

  "He has no color," Amara whispered, her composure breaking.

  Usually, living beings were bright flares in her vision. Red for anger, Blue for mana. But this boy? He was clear. Transparent. There was no Mana in his body. Not a drop. And more importantly, there was no Ego. He blended perfectly with the wind, the water, and the leaf.

  "He is one with Nature," Amara breathed, her voice trembling with awe. "He has shed all worldly desires. He has no anger. No fear. He is... a Lake Fairy."

  "A Fairy?" Elara raised an eyebrow. "He looks like a skinny human boy to me. Nice balance, though. His core stability is insane."

  "No," Amara shook her head, mesmerized. "Humans are noisy. Their souls are loud. But him... he is pure. He is empty. He is part of the swamp itself." She looked at him with the fascination of a collector finding a rare butterfly. "I have never seen a soul so... pristine."

  (She was completely wrong. Cain wasn't "Pure." He was using [Stealth: Breath of the Dead] to hide from a predator. It wasn't spiritual enlightenment; it was biological camouflage.)

  Elena didn't care about spirits or fairies. She saw the scar on his shoulder the one he got when he fell from a tree at age five. She saw the posture. "Nii... ni?"

  She screamed. "BROTHER!!!"

  The Meditation of the "Fairy"

  Down on the lake. Three hundred meters below.

  ‘Silence.’

  I was in the middle of a delicate operation. I was practicing the Fourth Form: Cloud Stepping. But more importantly, I was trying not to die.

  About fifty meters to my left, submerged in the mud under a pile of rotting logs, was a Rank 4 Swamp Hydra. It was sleeping. If I made a sound? It wakes up. If I used Mana (if I had any)? It wakes up. If I emitted even a tiny bit of "Killing Intent"? It wakes up.

  So, I had to become a rock. A leaf. A vibration of air. I was doing great. The Hydra was snoring. My balance was perfect. And then...

  “BROTHER!!!”

  The scream hit the lake like a physical brick. It echoed off the canyon walls. Brother... Brother... Brother...

  The water rippled. Bubbles rose from the mud pile fifty meters away. The Hydra shifted. ‘Oh, fck.’*

  I opened one eye. My Enhanced Vision locked onto the cliff. I saw the hole in the clouds. I saw the sun. And I saw the three girls.

  One silver-head (Elara). One Jade-head (Amara). One Crybaby (Elena).

  The Jade one was staring at me with sparkly, obsessed eyes. ‘How did she find me?’ I felt a cold sweat on my back. I was using [Stealth: Breath of the Dead]. I had erased my presence, my smell, and even my body heat. To a normal Mage, I should be invisible. I should be a hole in the universe.

  Then I remembered. ‘Jade hair... glowing eyes... Spiritualist.’ I read about them a long time ago in the Valerius library. Unlike Mages who use their own Mana like a battery, Spiritualists are cheaters. They don't look with their eyes; they borrow the senses of the "Nature Spirits" the wind, the water, the trees. It didn't matter how well I hid. The wind itself had snitched on me. The air I was breathing had betrayed me to her.

  ‘So I am completely exposed to her type? Even my highest assassin techniques are useless if the environment itself is a spy?’ This was a disaster. It meant my perfect stealth had a hard counter. ‘What a headache. I need to develop an anti-spirit technique. But I'll think about that later.’

  Because right now, I had a bigger problem.

  The Hydra’s eye a slit of yellow reptilian malice began to open under the water. The water around my leaf rippled. I had 0.2 seconds. If I stayed, I would have to fight a Rank 4 monster while protecting my "Secret Identity" from the spectators above. If I waved, Elena would never stop bothering me.

  ‘Tactical Retreat.’

  I looked up at Elena. I didn't wave. I didn't smile. I gave her the flattest, most annoyed frown I could muster. A look that clearly said: You are noisy. Go away.

  Then, I engaged my Core. I dropped the "Empty/Nature" facade. I exploded with pure kinetic energy.

  Shadowless Step: Burst.

  BOOM. I didn't push off the water. I kicked the air just above the water, compressing it until it became solid, then launching myself sideways.

  To the naked eye, I didn't move. I simply ceased to exist at Point A and reappeared at Point B (behind a thick mangrove tree). The leaf remained perfectly still, mocking them.

  The Aftermath

  "He's gone!" Elena shrieked, nearly climbing over the railing. "He vanished! It was him! He looked at me!"

  "He returned to the wind..." Amara whispered, her eyes wide with wonder. She didn't see him move. He was just... gone. Like a spirit returning to the ether.

  Amara grabbed Elena’s shoulders. "Elena! You didn't tell me your brother was a Nature Spirit!"

  Elena blinked, tears streaming down her face. "What? No, he's a human! He's Cain!"

  "No human can move like that," Amara said firmly. "I saw his soul. It was... blank. Pure. Untainted by the filth of the world. He is a Lake Fairy." Amara’s cheeks flushed pink. ‘A Lake Fairy in the shape of a boy... living alone in the poison...’ Amara smiled. It was a beautiful, innocent, yet terrifyingly possessive smile. ‘I want him. I will take him back to the Spirit Kingdom. He will be my best friend. My masterpiece.’

  "He's fast," Elara muttered, her hand drifting to her sword hilt. Her warrior instincts were flaring. "That wasn't magic. That was pure speed. Interesting. I want to fight him."

  "He's alive," Elena sobbed, collapsing onto the ground. "That's all that matters. He's alive."

  The Knight Captain hurriedly ushered them back into the carriage as the mist began to close up the hole in the clouds. "We must leave, Your Highnesses! The Wyverns are stirring!"

  The carriage rolled away. Elena wanted her brother back. Amara wanted a pet Spirit. Elara wanted a sparring partner.

  "It was him!" Elena sobbed, pressing her face against the cold glass as the carriage rolled away. "Let me out! I have to go to him!"

  "Elena, stop," Amara said, her voice gentle but firm. She pulled Elena back from the window. "Listen to me. I am a Spiritualist. My eyes do not lie." Amara looked at both Elena and Elara with a serious expression. "That... thing... we saw? It was not a human."

  "But he looked exactly like Cain!" Elena insisted.

  "That is exactly why it is dangerous," Amara explained, shaking her head. "Think about it. The Mana density down there is poisonous. A human without a Mana Shield would melt in minutes. Even Elara couldn't survive there for an hour, let alone live there for years." Amara pointed back toward the mist. "The Spirits of the Swamp are tricksters. They are malicious. They can read the hearts of those who look into the abyss. They saw your grief, Elena. They saw your memories." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "They created a phantom. A lure. They wore the face of your brother to trick you into jumping. If you had gone down there... you would have found nothing but mud and death."

  Elara nodded slowly, crossing her arms. "She has a point. No human has zero mana and moves that fast. It defied physics. An illusion makes more sense."

  Elena stopped crying. She looked at Amara’s sincere emerald eyes. Amara believed what she was saying. To a Spiritualist, Cain's "Empty" stealth technique looked exactly like a Nature Spirit or a Ghost. ‘An illusion...?’ Elena thought. ‘A trick of the mind?’ It was logical. It explained why he didn't call out. It explained why he vanished into thin air. But her heart screamed otherwise.

  Elena wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She sat back in her seat, her face turning cold and composed. "Okay," Elena whispered. "Maybe you are right. Maybe it was a trick."

  "It was," Amara assured her, patting her hand. "You are safe now."

  Elena looked down at her hands. ‘I am weak,’ she realized. ‘Right now, I cannot tell the difference between a Spirit and my Brother. I cannot survive the poison to check.’ She clenched her fist. ‘I will not jump today. But I will not forget.’ "I will become stronger," Elena vowed internally. "I will become a Saintess so powerful that no poison can touch me. And then... I will come back. I will tear that swamp apart until I find the truth."

  "Driver," Elara shouted, breaking the mood. "Drive faster! This place gives me the creeps."

  The carriage sped up, leaving the swamp behind. But the seed of doubt and determination had been planted in the Saintess's heart.

  Down in the swamp, hidden behind a tree, Cain wiped slime off his face. "Finally," he muttered, drawing his cleaver as the Hydra erupted from the water, roaring in hunger. Cain grinned, his eyes flashing red. "You woke up grumpy, didn't you? Me too. Let's dance."