The Runic Alchemist

[The World of Illusions, Inside the Memory Trap of Damian, Current Time – Lucian's POV.]

Lucian could not explain the things she was feeling, seeing the peaceful face of a stranger that had turned out to be the real Damian.

The face she was used to seeing all these years and had deep memories of.. that was the fake one.

No. It shouldn't be called fake.

That too was Damian.

The boy.. the young Damian she had heard rumors about as a kid had never lived past five years.

It was always this person in her arms that was behind that beautiful face.

Lucian had no idea what that mage and the waygate-like spell were all about — they clearly did something forbidden with the space-time element to get this Damian from his world to hers.

He didn't choose to take over the body of this young boy — instead, he was thrown into a strange world with no explanation, and he made the most out of it.

The scene finally changed — the mage performed the spell and summoned the man into the body of a child.

Then the cycle started again — the little kid abandoned by his mother. Lucian felt anger and frustration seeing it.

Then came the scared little boy, hearing the Sunblades argue about his fate, not truly even understanding what was happening.

The other young kid — the real Damian — trying to protect someone close to him.

Lucian smiled, seeing the bravery of a child.

This boy had no power, no weapon, and he was still just as brave as ever.

Trying to protect the people he loved..

People he loves.

Did he say that just to wake her up? It was real, right?

Sam tried Damian's suggested words — "Memory trap" and "Time loop" — in the scene of adult Damian falling asleep and waking up as the kid.

It didn't seem to work.

The cycle changed — again came the baby, the strange man with a metal object in hand, the frustrating and eerie silence beside the bleeding boy, and then the mage and explosion.

Sam tried to play with Damian's emotions, saying all their names with phrases like 'Help them,' 'We need your help,' and even the loud shouting of 'Wake up!' — but it did not work.

Maelor also tried some things, but the result was the same.

Lucian had no idea what to say to young Damian, but still, even she tried saying some things that only she and he knew.

There was a slight change in his face, but it barely lasted a second.

The next cycle came, and she used the same sentence, slightly altering it — and the same thing happened. But again, it did not hold.

"It's always like this.. Keep trying. You can get through to him," Sam said.

Lucian just nodded.

"Yeah, he himself said you can do it," Maelor also added in support.

Lucian did not voice the thoughts going through her mind while nodding though —

They could take it, but the unconscious figure of the new Damian..?

Could he take it?

Who knew he wasn't already gone..

Lucian felt a lot of pressure thinking this cycle might be his last — or the one after.

Each sentence she said had to be thought out carefully and used in a perfect moment.

The new cycle came and Lucian got ready —

She decided to try the scene with the young Damian, who was glaring at the nice woman from his last life, being uncomfortable with an ugly man constantly trying to talk to her.

This was one of the few chances where she could approach him.

Sitting beside him on the bench, she said,

"Sometimes loving someone means you let them fight their own battles."

The young Damian's face changed from anger and frustration to one of pure disbelief as he turned his face to the side and saw Lucian with his little, clear, beautiful eyes.

Lucian could not help but smile and said — even though she knew she had used up her one sentence already —

"Trust, Damian. Trust. Please have faith in me and wake up.."

The boy seemed to be in complete bewilderment.

But then the scene changed, and everything started repeating in the same way as it always did.

"That was good. Just a few more times and it will work!" Sam exclaimed beside her.

Lucian nodded, with much more faith this time.

She was the one most surprised that it had worked somehow.

Finally — something that had worked in their favor.

Lucian looked at the boy sleeping beside them —

This had to work!

The scene changed.

The black-and-white structures reformed to take the form of a room.

Lucian noticed a dark shadow covering the sleeping new Damian — slowly starting to get bigger and bigger.

What was going on?

There shouldn't be anything in this scene casting a shadow this big.

Lucian looked up —

And saw, in the middle of the run-down room of the Sunblade's villa, a dark formless liquid or energy suddenly leaking out of thin air.

It formed a big enough mass, slowly gathering until it covered the window from which the sunlight was coming inside the room.

"What the hell?" Lucian heard Maelor curse beside her.

Sam grabbed Damian's sleeping body hurriedly and dragged him towards them.

Lucian and Maelor stood ready in a defensive position.

Placing Damian behind them, Sam walked into the middle of their formation — his hands buzzing with small electric threads running between his fingers.

The cycle was going on without any interruption —

The scene soon changed to another one.

The liquid darkness, leaking and becoming a floating puddle, remained the same though.

The liquid soon started changing into a humanoid shape — and seconds later, a pitch-black man came alive.

The eyes were deep red, smoky, and slanted upwards.

The skin of the man was darker than night.

He was completely naked, the lines of muscle clearly defined —

Yet there was nothing below the waist.

As if the dark skin was not skin at all, but a skin-tight rubber-like cloth of some kind.

"Ah, there all of you are.." said the monster-like figure which could only belong in nightmares.