The princess didn't even flinch at my cold tone...Most of the time, even adults grew uneasy when I spoke to them that way a remnant from my days living on the streets...Now I was facing a girl my age who didn't react at all ! Instead, she tilted her head, with that same soft smile which was never quite reaching her eyes
"How sharp," she said. "I suppose I shouldn't expect warmth from someone who tears holes between worlds."
"Ha... What?"
Beside me, Jaipa perked up. "Wait, what?"
Did she catche on us ?.....no that's not it ! Her expressions are telling different story
Before we could react she gestured toward jaipa with elegant fingers "You are a summoner, right?"
"Your summon is... a bit loud...but funny don't you think?"
Turning to jaipa i silently gazed at him and said nothing, but he responded in frustration
"Ha !...he also thinks that...I can just tell by his face!"
Then there was a pause.
Then Jaipa turned to me slowly, like his neck was made of creaking wood...."Am I... am i funny?"
The princess smiled with satisfaction. "Of course "
Jaipa blinked. Then gasped, placing a hand over his chest. "I knew I was special! I felt it!"
Listening to their nonsense made me realize something coming here with them was a complete waste of time...From this moment onward, I started to regret my decision..
"I am not a summoner and i didn't summon him," I said flatly, looking at Jaipa.
The princess's brow creased delicately for a second. "You... didn't?"
"Nope."
Jaipa leaned toward her and whispered loudly, "I actually think I broke into existence suddenly."
The princess looked between us with wide eyes. "You're telling me... he's not your bound spirit?"
"No," I said again. But in reality, Jaipa and I were bound by soul...in truth, Jaipa was a spirit to begin with, but I had no reason to tell her that. Information without gain is nothing but a pile of shit..
After enduring their blabbering for about an hour, some guards came and took her away, saying the queen had called her. That's how we left the princess shortly after the not-so-revealing reveal...
She didn't protest. Maybe she was disappointed I wasn't the grand summoning prodigy she'd imagined. Or maybe she was just amused hard to tell with people like her the ones who smile like they already know how the story ends still, her assumption stuck with me longer than I liked
Jaipa hadn't shut up even after the princess had left, me and my luck always the fool's
"Okay, so just to confirm... I'm not a summon," he said for the fifth time, fluttering beside me. "But also... I might be a summon? But like, self-summoned? Is that a thing?"
"Do I look like someone who reads summoning manuals?" I muttered at him..
"Honestly? You look like someone who burns summoning manuals and then glares at the ashes."
I gave him a look and we started walking back through the unnervingly pristine halls of the castle, but suddenly I felt a small, subtle sway in my steps. Not enough to trip, but enough to make me feel... off. At first I thought I had stumbled on something, but then I felt it again like my body wasn't quite mine
A listener would think I'm just a crazy kid, but I'd been having this feeling from the moment we entered this book.
"Jaipa," I said suddenly.
"Yup?"
"Do you feel... weird, like...?" Before I could finish my words, he interrupted.
"What do you mean by weird?" he asked. "Existential dread? Gas? Emotionally betrayed by the concept of stairs, or...?"
I stopped walking. "No. Like... fading."
He hovered before me gently as i could see the changes in his expression
"Okay.....I was joking ! are you serious? Wait... are you?" His eyes widened looking at me
I nodded
Then jaipa's face, which usually oscillated between smug and confused, shifted to something quieter. "Now that you mention it... I've been feeling light. Not in the good way, Like a disconnection"
Disconnected that was the right word for what I was feeling. I felt glad that I hadn't taken too much time to realize something was wrong with my body and perhaps even my soul. I pressed my hand to the wall beside me. It was cold stone, but I felt like I was slipping through it—not physically, but spiritually.....That's when I realized something... obvious, in hindsight.
"Red," I said aloud
"Excuse me?" Jaipa blinked
"Jaipa... have you noticed something weird about this city? About the color red?"
He stared at me like I was losing my mind. Maybe I was. "We're literally in a city drowned in red light."
"No, not the light. The actual color." I turned to him. "Think for a second did you see any people, their clothes, the flowers, the paintings? Even at the brush shop we borrowed from I didn't see the color red anywhere."
He opened his mouth like he was about to argue, then closed it, then opened it again
"...Holy crap ! "
"Yeah... how the hell did I not notice that simple thing?"
There was no red color. Not a single natural shade of it not in the food, not in the banners, not even in the blush of someone's cheeks.
The world was bathed in red-tinted light, but in reality, the red color didn't exist here, as if these people had never even discovered it. The message we saw when we first came here rang in my mind again: "Fill the well with red liquid "
I didn't understand it back then thought it was a metaphor, some poetic nonsense
But now that I think about it, the chapter we're in right now is called "The Path of Blood"...
Jaipa whispered it before I could "Blood "
I nodded slowly. "The well ! We need to fill it with Blood ! "
He recoiled midair and turned to me "haha
Okay! That's officially the creepiest thing you've ever said ! "
I barely heard him my thoughts were spiraling after thinking for a minute, I said,
"This city... it's not draining our energy ? It's feeding on our souls ! Slowly quietly like a leech with manners. And the only way out is...."
" To fill the well ! ! "
Jaipa's voice cracked, and then he went silent for a beat. "... That's a horrifying twist. I suggest we leave i vote very hard to leave."
"We can't. We don't even know how to leave this place. Even if we try to run, where could we possibly run to? And looking at our bodies, I don't think we have much time left to wander around," I said, standing near the wall my legs were shaking slightly now. "And I think this place won't let us go until we play by its rules."
And its rules were simply given to us from the beginning....
Jaipa muttered, "I liked it better when the princess just thought I was a loud summon."
I took a deep breath. It was different now from all the other places I'd been transferring from that deadly forest to this sick book. Do I even have luck for nice, peaceful places? There was a weight in my chest now. Heavy. Cold. But not unfamiliar the kind that always showed up before something terrible had to be done.
Jaipa must've seen it on my face. He hovered back, eyes narrowing. "Oh no. Oh no-no-no. I know that look."
"So we need blood," I said, my voice low and cold !
"Technically, " you "need blood," he said, pointing at me. "I'm just here for accidental wisdom. That's my role"
"We need to find the well first."
"Oh, sure. Let's go find the creepy, ominous soul-devouring wishing well and fill it with blood. Great plan five stars no notes "
I turned away, walking toward the castle exit "Jaipa."
" Hmm...What?"
"Pick a direction. Any street that smells like fear and panic. That's probably where the people are"
"Oh my god. You're serious."
My hand clenched into a fist. "I'm not dying here."
He flapped nervously beside me. "You say that like you're about to go full horror movie protagonist."
"No, Jaipa ! I'm about to go full main character but !..... not for this fucking world for my own survival, my own needs ! "