Chapter 103 - The Secret of Sovereign Icarus
At so point, I fell asleep without realizing it. The warmth of Sisika’s arms made it feel like I was subrged in a hot bath, completely relaxed.
When I opened my eyes, she was staring at , still holding in her arms.
“Good morning,” she said calmly.
I quickly stood up, pulling myself away from her lap.
“G-good morning,” I replied, visibly nervous. “Did I really fall asleep in your lap?”
Damn, how embarrassing…
“You did,” she answered, standing up as well.
I had trained my mind like a warrior and my body like an assassin. How did I fall asleep? I should’ve been able to stay awake for at least three days without any problems.
“How? I just passed out all of a sudden. Did you use so weird magic on ? I’d never let my guard down like that.”
Sisika just shrugged, with her usual enigmatic air.
She grabbed effortlessly with one hand, and before I could react, she ran through the waterfall.
“Fuck! Warn before you do that!” I shouted, still a bit disoriented by the speed of the movent she’d made.
“Don’t curse,” she said, ruffling my hair like I was a child.
I’m being kidnapped, swearing is the least of my problems.
I was about to snap back at her, but as soon as I looked up at the sky, I was stunned.
“What... what is that?” I murmured, surprised.
The sky had two suns.
“This... this is impossible...” I whispered to myself.
At least, it’s impossible in this world...
Sisika approached , and her tone shifted, becoming more serious.
“Nathan, I need to tell you sothing. We’re no longer in the duchy’s territory. This is a wild and dangerous place. I brought you here when I stopped you from leaving the waterfall.”
“What? What kind of madness is this?”
“I can’t explain now, just know that I’m the only one who knows how to get out of here.”
I deserve this...
Looking around more closely, I noticed that the world’s colors were less vibrant, almost faded. Nothing about this place felt right.
“You really are kidnapping , aren’t you?”
“Only temporarily...” she said, then continued walking.
We walked for hours, following a forest path that Sisika claid was dangerous. But I didn’t see anything threatening—not even a squirrel or an ant. She said it was because of her presence that the dangerous creatures stayed away. The more ti I spent with her, the more lost I felt about who or what she really was.
My mind raced with possibilities: maybe she was an Inquisitor, like the powerful mages, such as Professor Adrihna. I knew that Adrihna, if she wanted, could defeat easily without even breaking a sweat. Part of thought Sisika might be on the sa level, but she also did things that defied all the rules of magic I knew.
She could read thoughts, manipulate mana to the point of forcing the awakening of my eyes, teleport, and even teleport to a place with two suns. None of that followed the conventional rules of magic.
“Nathan,” Sisika interrupted my thoughts, “what is a person to you?”
The question caught off guard. We were supposedly on the quick path to the village where my mother and the others were waiting.
“How do you an? A person is a person…” I tried to respond, confused. Sisika, who was walking ahead of , stopped for a mont and turned toward .
“Who is Nathan Evenhart? The body or the soul?” she asked, surprising with the depth of the question.
Why is she asking sothing like that?
“I just want to know,” she replied with an enigmatic smile.
“Can you stop reading my thoughts?” I asked, irritated.
“I can,” she replied calmly, “but the problem is that you’re soone who doesn’t give up easily. If I stop reading your thoughts, you might start coming up with a plan to escape, and I can’t let you do that in this place.”
“I won’t try to escape,” I said. “And I know you’d catch . I have no magic to strengthen myself. I’m trusting you because I understand you’re not a normal person, and neither is this place we’re in. You have a lot of power, and I suspect I haven’t even seen your true capabilities yet.”
She laughed, as if what I’d said was a joke.
“My true capabilities are far beyond these little tricks,” she admitted. “Unfortunately, I can’t use my full power due to a special condition that’s limiting . But I’ll respect your ntal space. If I want to get to know soone, I have to let them show who they are. If I invade your mind, you’ll never think the way you normally would.”
She started walking again while I absorbed what she’d said.
“And how will I know you’re not reading my thoughts?”
“Simple, like this.” She snapped her fingers.
Suddenly, I felt as if sothing had shifted in my perception, like my ears, which had been blocked, were now completely open to hear everything around .
“What was that? That felt weird...”
“I deactivated the ntal link. If it’s turned on again, you’ll know. But don’t worry,” she said, laughing. “I always keep my promises.”
I decided to test her.
You’re annoying! I’m going to escape now! You’re a sexual predator! You’re crazy! Pervert!
I kept thinking ridiculous things to see if she’d react, but Sisika seed to have genuinely turned off her thought-reading ability.
“Can you answer now?” she asked, unfazed.
“Answer what?”
“About Nathan Evenhart. Who is he really? If Nathan Evenhart had changed sothing in the past, would he be here, in this sa place? And if he weren’t in this place... would he still be the sa person? What is a person?”
I was at a loss for how to answer.
“I don’t know how to answer that. My case is... special. Why are you asking these things?”
I’m not entirely Nathan Evenhart... I’m also Icarus.
“That’s a dilemma my kind has faced for years,” she said, her tone becoming more introspective, “and I just wanted to ask soone different.”
“Kind?” I asked, intrigued.
She fell silent at my question, making the atmosphere even heavier.
“You’ll have to make a choice at so point, Nathan. You’ll need to decide if you’ll accept being Nathan Evenhart, or if you’ll let the ghosts of the past continue to haunt you.”
“What do you know about ?” I asked, trying to understand what she truly ant.
Does she know about my other life? Maybe she does, if she’s seen Athena…
“Nathan, people are their mories… rember that. The body is just one elent that makes us who we are. There’s the soul, the body, both created together. But it’s the mories that define a person. That will be important for you when the ti cos. Just know that you can’t keep letting that incident control you.”
“HOW!? How do you know?”
Sisika stopped and remained silent.
“How do you know about the incident? This isn’t so random thing—you know exactly what you’re talking about. You ntioned these things on purpose, how do you know?”
Sisika sighed when she heard and remained silent for a mont, her expression distant. Then she sighed again, almost as if what was coming next was inevitable.
“I’m only here for a short ti, Nathan, and soon I’ll be gone,” she began, her voice strangely calm. “But I needed to tell you this. Don’t bla yourself for what you did, or for the truth you uncovered... it was that terrible truth that made you give up on everything.”
When I heard her words, I knew exactly what she ant, and my body went cold.
The ground felt like it was slipping from under my feet. My body began to tremble, and before I realized it, I had to lean against a tree to stop myself from collapsing. Her words... they brought back sothing I had buried so deeply inside , a mory I thought I’d never relive. It was that mory, that terrible truth that broke Sovereign Icarus, that made give up on everything. If I were confronted by it again, I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
“This... this can’t be happening. No one is supposed to know what I saw that day! No one... no one could have discovered that. How do you know? This can’t be real...” my voice was shaky, my mind in panic.
“Nathan,” she said with a serenity that felt out of place, “don’t worry, only I know about it. No one else can discover what you saw, even if they search through your mind. You made sure to erase and destroy even the existence of that place.”
“How the hell do you know about the truth I uncovered? How do you know so much about ?” I asked, my voice stronger this ti, though my body still trembled.
She started walking again, her expression indifferent.
“I used a loophole, and I’m the only one who can use it. Your secret will die with .”
“What guarantees do I have?” I said, standing up with effort, now overtaken by anger.
“Know that you’re the last person I would ever harm in this world,” she responded without hesitation. “You’re special to . And as for that truth... it only affects you. Why do you think Athena still haunts you?”
“She wouldn’t dare ntion that secret, not even she would do that,” I argued, but my conviction was weakening.
“But she’s only here because you uncovered that secret and couldn’t handle it.”
“STOP!” Athena suddenly shouted, appearing out of nowhere. “SHUT UP! You promised you wouldn’t ntion anything to him—we made a deal!” Her fury was palpable.
Sisika shrugged, as if Athena’s threats were trivial.
“I didn’t reveal the truth about you,” she said, her voice unchanged. “I only ntioned that his past is the reason you’re here.”
“THAT’S ENOUGH! I’ve figured out enough to know what you are, you damn brat!” Athena shouted, her anger growing. “If you say anything more, I’ll ruin what you’re trying to do!”
Sisika completely ignored Athena’s warning, continuing to walk with the sa calm deanor.
“Disappear, as we agreed. I only wanted to get to know him a bit more personally. It seems he’s still not ready to face the truth of what he discovered…” Sisika said.
Hearing that, Athena turned and vanished, leaving the air heavy with tension.
I was sweating, paralyzed by the mory of the truth that led to destroy the last god, the cruel truth that, even as Sovereign Icarus, I was never able to accept. It was sothing so deep and painful that, even after everything I had done, it still haunted .
“I don’t want to talk anymore. Don’t speak to ,” I said, my voice weak.
“I’ll give you so ti, but know that we’ll need to talk again,” Sisika responded, her voice soft, almost out of place. “I need to take you back to your family, but I can’t do that without knowing more about you.”
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