Solar Mage

Chapter 73: Again

"EUUAAAAAHHHH!!!"

I fall down from the bed in a loud thud, caused by my head. my weak arms barely able to hold me up, as I cough uncontrollably, hardly able to breathe, each breath drying my cracking throat.

Pyro– Pyro—

"HUH– HUHH– KHHKHH!!!"

Through my shallow breaths and vomit, I continue crawling to the window, reaching my hand out at the window where the light from the sun scatters across the room.

Pyro– Pyro— Pyro...

"PYR– HRRUKKAFCSUGH!!!!"

Just as I reach the window, the light suddenly fades, throwing me into the shadow of darkness, my trembling hand pointed at the light unable to be held up any longer as my heart contracts, my throat erupting one last, terrible cough, before my body entirely falls down to the ground, my vision beginning to blur into unconsciousness.

"No... Pyro—"

What? Is that... blood? Did Arcanus' attack hit me too? Ahh– Pyro, it looks like I'll be able to meet you again soon.

As I drop my eyes, I block all thoughts from forming, falling to my false happiness, having no desire to do anything else.

Suddenly, the door creaks open, but I keep my eyes shut.

"Hey there Arthur, I'm just here to do your daily check-up, it won't take too long, so just bear with me–"

This is a familiar voice, but I care not for it anymore...

Seconds after entering the room, the physician finally looks up from their clipboard, and sees me on the floor, under the window, covered in blood. Immediately, they drop their board and start running to me, their heavy stomps causing vibrations in the floor below me.

Huh, what a familiar scenario. I must just be imagining it because I'm on the brink of death.

But they are too late, my mind already turned off, my unconscious body laying in the shadow, face covered in blood.

***

I calmly, upright and still, wrapped tightly in my warm, white blankets.

The sun has set seven times now, seven long days in this extremely realistic dream of mine. I have yet to make a conclusion on whether this is a dream or that I have really returned back in time. But I do know one thing, I am set in one of the worst, and longest memories I have, the pathetic state I was in, in the Mint Estate Clinic, just after my poisoning.

I stare out the window where the sun's light enters the dull room.

Most things in this world are the same as the previous world I lived in. However, some aren't

Looking directly at the sun, I flinch back, away from its red light.

If this world is real, and I truly have regressed into the past, then with all the knowledge I've gained from my previous life where I reached the 9th stage, I can start again, and fix all of the bad decisions I made in my previous life!

A blurry image of three knotted ropes is plastered to the center of my mind, causing my face to wince in pain.

Yeah, I've been getting those terrible memories reminding me that they exist from time to time, and they give me pretty bad migraines, but thankfully the images are blurred.

One of the things I've learned from the theories I read in the Grand Library, and experiencing it myself, is that the mind and mental fortitude aren't imaginary things that exist on a separate plane of reality, they physically exist in our bodies just like mana circuits! Unfortunately, I had to learn it the hard way, my first time gaining consciousness in this dreamworld or whatever, when my memories flooded back into me, I wasn't even able to stay awake for a minute, gagging, and vomiting. Thankfully, my memories stayed, and with them, I managed to create the first lock, which finally allowed me to start thinking clearly.

But, since the mind is a physical thing that I have enhanced and accomplished in my previous life, that also means that the annoying voices from these insane mind fragments, that drove me to insanity, are also back, constantly chatting as they know that I can hear them now because of the One Mind manual I read from the Grand Library, which was really helpful in teaching me how to collect all the fragments together and enhance your mind. It was a really useful manual that was the only reason why I was able to piece my scattered fragments back, but the first step is to release them, and it's more of a perception thing, once you gain the new perspective of the world, it's not that easy to forget, especially when I have no control over my mind and can't perform the next steps! So, I'll just have to put up with this for now.

I turn my head, and look directly straight at the wall opposite of me.

Everything and everyone I've met so far has been normal, but, there's just one thing about this world, or dream I should say, that's quite off, so much so that I haven't been able to even form my first mana circle yet. That being the abnormally red, giant sun in the sky.

I've only seen it once but from what I remember, if the memories are even accurate, and uncorrupted by the other fragments, the sun was definitely red, and unlike the bright sun that only took up a small part of the sky, yet lights up the entirety of it, this new one is much bigger, somewhere between 3 to 5 times. There's nothing wrong about it, the temperature feels about the same as how the air felt inside the library, and so is the amount of sunlight that it gives off, but– it just feels a bit ominous, not like the warm orange, unharming flames of Pyro. It must've been her who sent me back, there is no way, no matter how powerful the attack, that it could kill a god with a single blow. It would at most just make them fall into a deep slumber, which means she sacrificed her safety and remaining life energy to send me back.

Pyro, if you're in this world somewhere, whether it's fake or not, I swear, I will stop at nothing in order to find you, and repay back to you all that you've done for me. I will save everyone in this life.

I stare out the window at the sun, like a hero would after receiving their divine mission. That is, if the hero was incapable of moving, nugget, wrapped in multiple blankets and rope.

Oh right, there was one other reason why I haven't been able to do any of the things I've wanted despite regaining all my memories and stabilizing my mind.

The door creaks open, William stepping through with his clipboard and a tray of food.

"Hey there Arthur, how are you doing?"

He says, walking up beside the bed, and setting the tray of food on the stand.

"Mmmm–mmpm"

I mumble, trying to speak through the ball of bandages stuck in my mouth.

"Woah, don't get so feisty with me, I can't hear you clearly, but I already know what you're going to say, and no, I will not be untying you. Especially not after I found you half dead by the window seven days ago, then finding you unconscious again by the window, but this time you actually managed to climb up to it and almost fell!"

Okay, well to be fair, I wasn't in the correct state of mind at that time, I'm fine now!

He flips through the papers on his clipboard before setting it down on the stand. Then he unveils the metal top from the tray, showing a bland assortment of pills separated in different cups. With one hand, he takes the bandage out of my mouth.

This is my chance to finally speak to him!

Right as I open my mouth to speak, in his hand, he holds all four of the cups, and a glass of water in the other.

Oh for fuck's sake–

He throws all the pills inside my mouth along with the glass of water, the majority of it spilling out of my mouth and being absorbed by the blankets surrounding me, before he immediately stuffs the bandages back in my mouth.

How great, nothing like the taste of pills after eating pills for the last 10 years. And now I get to enjoy some moist, wet cloth that'll linger over me for the next 24 hours!

"Trust me, this is for your own good and safety. I'm a very experienced physician, and no one's ever died under my care–"

walks away to the table where we had created the antidote, taking a look at some paper on the table as he continues to talk.

"Well I mean, you are my first patient since finishing my education with my master, but that's besides the point."

He walks back up with another clipboard.

"Right, yeah, 2 for energy, 3 for nutrition, and 2 poison neutralizers. Check, check, check!"

Finally, for the first time since entering the room, he makes eye contact with me, unamused by the situation. We stare for a few seconds before he makes the first move, taking a chair from the table and bringing it up to the bed, both of us now on the same level.

"Look, Arthur, I know this process is very boring and painful, the other physicians told me not to tell you this, but you are actually making steady progress to recovering! We don't know what the ingredients of the poison you ingested is, so we have no way of treating you. So for now, just direct your anger at me as long as it keeps your heart pumping, and your lungs breathing."

He then gets up out of the chair and grabs his clipboard, calmly exiting and closing the door behind him quietly, as I stare, expressionless, at the door from where he had just left.

Wow, how touching, I might've even shed a tear if he hadn't left my room in such a mess! I WOULD BE ABLE TO RECOVER MUCH FASTER IF YOU JUST LET ME OUT OF THIS HUMILIATING SACK OF WET BLANKETS!!!!