Out of the town and in the open fields uhe night sky gave Fumiko some peabsp; It was small, rgely having only a slight ge on her. She may have escaped the real world, but the one in her mind never could be outrun. As such, she was ruly free or safe.

  At first, she only wao calm down from the panic attack with the townspeople. Her heart had mostly recovered from it, but the thin yer of sweat over her body made it very difficult tet. There wasn’t much around, so she just stopped when she o and sat down.

  Staring up at the moon slightly veiled behind the clouds of the night, Fumiko tried to find some calm from it. Though, it had an uling feeling on her even though she couldn’t pce it. Defying the expectations, the moon ositioned in a way that it would have been seen if it had been closer to the equator rather thahe south pole as they were. Just another illusion of the world of Atntis.

  But she found no fort in the night sky. A fn and unfamiliar sky gave her nothing. Though, she was quite certain that none of that mattered. It was merely a point to pin on and use as ay excuse.

  The longer she remaiill the more likely it was to return. And she could already feel it ing back to her. The voices and the images. The feelings carved into her skull. She stood up and started to wander. Anything that might get her mind off it.

  She wandered harder, as though that ossible. ‘This isn’t w…’ It really wasn’t. Walking faster away from the town just was running. And that did nothing. She couldn’t get away from what was chasing her.

  Fumiko stopped again. She had to accept her situation. Accept was to of a word for what she wanted. Manage was definitely closer. She couldn’t accept it. She never could, that was the problem. “I o get my mind off of this. I ’t even think. If I do, I remember…everything.”

  Remembering was the biggest problem. She waet. It was just impossible to do.

  Chapter 327 – Misjudged Purpose

  A small fme sprung up from her palm. It was desperately trolled through thin strands of magic. Several of the threads blew around in the wind unected at the ends. The fme suddenly went out. “Damn…it’s so small. I’m not used t with them that small. Whenever I’m fighting I want them to be big and powerful. Trying to keep it small is nearly impossible.”

  She sat down finding that her legs were getting tired from the ovement. Weaving magic didn’t o be standing. The stray threads of magiging around her she called upon once more. It wasn’t something that she was going to let beat her. “e on you do it!” A bit of a smile came over her face staring into the red glow of her fire.

  Eventually, the fme colpsed again. Repeatedly, it happened over and ain for her. Attempts ged a little as she tried to figure out the problem. In the end, she colpsed in the grass, uo figure it out. “Why did I want to try to do this again?” she asked herself as she looked up at the stars.

  As she tried to remember why she even challenged herself to making such a small fme, her eyes began to close. Sleep fell upon her once more. A little bit of peace rested within the developing lines on her face.

  A peace that always remained short lived. Fumiko jumped up out of her sleep. Another day, anhtmare. She looked down the hill at the vilge that they stopped by today. “They’re getting prepared… It’s endless, the celebrations…”

  It hardly came as a surprise to her or anyone iraveling band. Even though they had already e from one party, the pce that they visited wao do the exact same thing. They felt pelled to eain their new King. Though, it was also likely a way to release the stress. No one pined.

  Fumiko kept her opinions to herself. None of the others seemed to uand. They weren’t having nightmares like her. The ghosts of their deeds didn’t seem to haunt them. They could sleep through the night. She had to pick random times when her body would allow it for her to sleep. And still only in small bursts.

  Her hand immediately started to draw out magi within. She only started doing such things i day, but she was already getting used to it. It worked for her. So there was no reason to stop.

  It started out with it being her routine. But the voices were still crawling towards her like zombies after the heroes in a horror movie. She could feel the pounding in her chest getting worse. Fumiko turned her head to stare at the red glow. “Just the fire. Only the fire.” The fme reflected in her eyes as she stared.

  The pounding eased off. And the undead disappeared. She kept focus on the magiot pletely paying attention to actual work. Which meant that it snuffed out quickly. If it was to work she o give it her attention.

  “Damn, I o focus. I know I do it.” She made it into a dare almost. Something impossible that might be achievable. She didn’t know if she could do it. It seemed reasonable, but definitely far beyond her reabsp; But it gave her a goal. And important to her for a few reasons. “If I do this I’ll have a lot better trol over my magibsp; It won’t go out of trol anymore.” It was the only reason that she was willing to aowledge though. The other reasons were never said or even thought.

  Moving her fihrough the air, she started to manipute the threads once more to create the delicate fme. It fought with her. Such detail wasn’t something it wao do. It wanted power. It wahe c flow of her magic to feed through and grow. The fme was hungry.

  A starved fme only sted for so long. But she kept trying. She was very certain she would be able to get to it.

  Days tio pass in the same sort of pattern. She parked herself outside of whatever pce they were visiting that day and practiced her magibsp; It made the days go by surprisingly fast. The usage of her magio loired her. Her body seemed to be adaptier to her calling upon it.

  “Almost there…” The fme she worked with had a better life to it. It still fought her for more power. But it held together. She could do it for longer, even though it always colpsed. “A little smaller…” So she begaing herself in different ways. She wao know how little magic she could use. How effit she could make it. There were so many questions she had that o be answered.

  Traces of excitement would sometimes pop up during her sessions. They rgely went unnoticed by her. Her focus was directed outwardly on her magic rather than inward at herself.

  However, it was all she could manage. Progress was her only purpose. It kept her mind focused. She gained ground from the training. Every waking moment had been ed with her practibsp; It was the only way. The moment she paused or stopped it came back to her.

  For all of the effort, she uood her powers better than she ever thought she would. She could see the endless horizon of growth potential. But she could see it now. It en for her to take. And she jumped in after it.

  Fumiko screamed, pulling away from Haruo. Her memories rammed through her head. She fell backwards to the ground, all of her magic fading away. Locked withihe battle for the truth or the enforced truth burrohan her fme. “I kill…I must… Everyone’s dead…”

  Blood dripped from the numerous wounds Haruo sustained. He could feel how lightheaded he was from the fight. There wasn’t a lot that he had left to give. His body didn’t like him moving around and he asked to move again for him. ‘What’s wrong with her? Is she fighting against the brainwashing?’

  He started to get ba his feet. Inside his muscle and whatever else the metal ran through, pined greatly against his movements. ‘How much longer I st like this? It feels like everything is finally starting to catch up. But I o be sure things are over with Fumiko. I ’t allow myself to pass out without being sure of her.’ Every step he made dropped a heavy foot to the earth as if he was teris. Nothi right anymore. “…Fumiko…”

  When he dragged himself over to her side, she had fallen pletely baable to move. He could see pain across her fabsp; Betweewo of them, she was definitely in a better state than him. His animals did leave her with some injuries, but nothing as severe. So he k wasn’t for her wounds that she made a twisted expression. ‘What’s going on inside her mind?’

  In a few moments, it came to a stop. Crity came back to her eyes as she looked up at Haruo. He watched her trying to tell if she was going to resume her attabsp; However, she made no movements to try.

  “…Haruo…”

  “Still wanting to kill me?” He didn’t really have the time to try to evaluate her on his own. His body was deteriorating fast.

  Her expression ged a little, going a little ft to his query. “Not really, if I did it’d be other reasons.”

  “Takako?”

  “She’s still in my head. I feel her trying to motivate me.”

  “So it is mind trol?”

  “Something like that, it’s a little plicated.”

  “ you move?”

  “No…”

  Haruo k dowo her, though it was very heavily done. His body began to respoo him. “Takako?”

  “Part of it… I’m still under her trol, but you mao make me remember something important.”

  “Something important?” He really didn’t know what he had done apart from questioning her iions. Which was all he could assume that he did. ‘So she was fetting something and that shocked her out of the trol?’

  Fumiko’s eyes moved around seeing the questioning look in Haruo. She wasn’t surprised. “You wouldn’t uand. But it was enough to make Takako’s influence csh with what I had fotten. I’m awake, but I really wish I wasn’t.”

  “Are you in pain?”

  “It’s a different sort of pain. I don’t have her numbing influenbsp; Almost nothing is under my trol, but my sciousness is awake now. I remember everything I’ve done.” Fumiko blinked her eyes. It was the only part of her that seemed to have any trol. And not even that was pletely true.

  “You don’t seem affected from what I see.”

  “That’s because Takako’s not allowing me trol over my emotions. It’s a weird feeling. I know I have guilt, crushing guilt, but I ’t react to it.” Her eyes blinked again clearly showing how much she wanted, but could do nothing. “I’m not sure if this is better or worse. It’s probably the only thing keeping my body from moving for Takako.”

  Leaning over to Fumiko, he tried to see what he could do for her. He had no way of imagining such a feeling. It seemed like a pletely impossible sort of thing to empathize over. He could just try to make her feel fortable. “I’m going to take you away from here.”

  “Takako’s mind has an endless reabsp; You ’t take me away from her.”

  “I know. But with the two of us in this dition, we’re only going to risk further harm by staying in a bat zone.” He gnced over in the distance seeing explosions of light going off where he imagined someone was fighting.

  As he lifted her up, pletely limp, Fumiko gnced over at Haruo. “You’re still expressionless.”

  “I be helpful without expressiion.”

  “But you’re in pain.”

  “As are you.”

  “But I’m uo express it. You if you wao express it, but you don’t. Why?”

  “There’s no need.”

  “But there’s a reason for it.”

  Haruo looked at the gate that pletely barred their way. He didn’t have his hands free. But fortuhere was damage to the wall from someone else. Making his way over the debris and rubble, he tried to focus on other things than his personal life. But Fumiko wao know.

  “How do you do it? Like it doesn’t get to you?”

  “It’s just the way I grew up. I realized when I was youhat there were people that lived off it. So I dehem what they wanted most.”

  “But you no longer o do that, right?”

  “Yes, but it is who I am now. I shut them off.”

  “I’m not sure if I envy or pity you.”

  “I’m not asking for either.”

  “Idiot…”