Chapter 154: One Hundred and Fifty-Four: Creeping Doubt

Before I knew it, I was asleep once again. I wandered from dream to dream, and it seemed like I wasn’t going to wake any time soon. Then from somewhere in the distance I heard a voice that felt familiar to me.

“Theo… Theo… You need to wake up. Theo, you need to… If you don’t, you’re going to d… Theo…”

I opened my eyes.

“Theo.” Lillia said from next to me.

“Oh Lillia.”

“Morning. I thought you weren’t going to wake up again. I’ve been calling you for a while now.”

“That was you then… It’s morning already. I thought you were going to wake me for dinner.”

“I was, but you ended sleep right through and after I cooked you dinner!”

“Sorry!”

“That’s okay.” She laughed. “I’ve made breakfast, are you hungry?”

“Yes I am.”

“Good. Wait there, I’ll bring it right over.”

Lillia left and went to the room next door, as she did my attention was drawn to a rattling noise from the window at the side of bed. There was the face again, they were mouthing the same thing at me. The only difference now was the look of desperation on their face.

“What is it?” I asked without thinking.

“What is what?” Lillia asked as she returned with a tray full of food in her hand.

“That.” I said pointing at the window.

“The window? There’s nothing there.” She said before looking at me with a concerned face.

She placed the food down on the bedside table and sat down next to me, pressing her hand against my forehead.

“Are you feeling, okay?” She asked.

“I feel fine, maybe just a little tired still…”

“You haven’t recovered. Here you should eat this.” She said grabbing the tray and placing it on my lap.

“Thanks.”

I shook off the strange felling and begun tucking into the breakfast she had prepared me. A smile returned to Lillia’s face as she saw me eating the food.

“That was great. Thank you!” I said placing the knife and fork down on the empty plate.

“I’m just happy to see you eating again!”

“I was wondering…”

“About what?”

“When you found me, was there anyone else? Apart from the party members I mean. Someone you didn’t recognise.”

“Someone else? No there was no one else there at all. I don’t understand, why would there be someone else?”

“I just wondered…”

“Are you sure you’re feeling, okay?”

“I am.”

So, she didn’t find Celine’s body. That could mean she was still alive too, but if she were, why didn’t she come here? I could understand her wanting to stay away from Lillia, but she would have been able to find a way not to be seen. She was a succubus after all. Was I just seeing things in the window? Or was something keeping her out like a barrier.

“Are we surrounded by a protective barrier here?” I asked out of the blue to Lillia’s surprise.

“A barrier here? No, this is just a cabin on the edge of the woods. Don’t worry though, it’s safe here and I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Thanks.”

So that wasn’t it. But what was going on here? I hadn’t really thought about it before, but I was exhausted, and I had only just woken. I know I was supposed to have been injured, but I felt drained, I had only felt this once before…

“I’m just going to take this away and clean up.”

“Okay, thank you.”

As soon as Lillia left the room, I could see Celine’s face at the window again. She was panickily banging away with no sound. This couldn’t just be in my head. I had to get a closer look. I carefully climbed out of the bed and slowly made my way to the window. As I got close, I could clearly see Celine. She stopped banging and was mouthing something once again. I could just about make out some of what she was saying.

“This isn’t… That isn’t… You have to…”

Then my legs gave out from under me. I hit the floor hard and lost consciousness for a moment. The next thing I knew I was being carried and placed back in the bed by Lillia.

“What were you thinking?” She said sounding a little annoyed.

“Sorry.”

I didn’t tell her what I saw. I didn’t think it was for the best, at the very least I would just worry her. Something was going on here, Celine was definitely trying to tell me something. She was trying to warn me. There had to be some reason why she couldn’t enter here.

“It’s okay, but you really should rest.”

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“I will.”

I was so tired that I fell asleep not long after I’d been returned to the bed. In my dreams I heard the voice again. I heard Celine.

“Theo… Theo! Theo!!”

“Celine?”

“Finally! You can hear me?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have much time left. If you don’t act soon, you’re going to die in there. That isn’t Lillia, you need to kill the image to be able to escape the prison. You still have you wea…”

I was pulled from the dream from the sensation of being gently shaken.

“Theo.” It was Lillia this time.

“I’m awake.”

What did Celine mean? Kill Lillia… I couldn’t and how could this place not be real, it felt real. That was definitely Lillia, I was sure of it. Even if I wasn’t I wouldn’t be able to overpower her in the state I was in right now.

“You were talking in your sleep…”

“Was I? I hope it wasn’t anything embarrassing.”

“I couldn’t really make it out don’t worry.”

“That’s reassuring… Say Lillia, what are our plans once Siofra returns?”

“Make sure you rest and get better of course.”

“Right, but after that?”

 “After? Hmm, well I think the three of us should go somewhere far away and safe. Somewhere the alliance and demon lord’s forces can’t find us.” She said with a smile.

“We aren’t going to go back to Dunshelm, to help with the fight?”

“I’m going to keep you safe.”

“But if the others are dead, they’ll need the help even more than before.”

“I’m going to keep you safe. I won’t let you go!”

I couldn’t imagine Lillia being so willing to give up in her duty on the people. She had never expressed an interest in giving up before. She would put herself in danger for the cause, she was doing more than most adventurers. Would she just give up like this? It didn’t seem right. The last thing Celine said ran through my mind. Did she mean weapon? My hand fell to my side, and I felt the hilt of my sword. As I gripped it my head spun, like I had suddenly been flipped over. It was as if I was standing up, but my eyes told me I was still laid in bed. I remembered the last thing that happened before I lost consciousness before I woke up here.

“What’s the matter Theo? You look bad again.” Lillia said getting closer.

I knew what Celine wanted me to do, but if I was wrong about this situation, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

“I think you should try and sleep again.”

I slowly pulled the blade from its scabbard, as I did the image of my friends being trapped ran across my eyes. I spun the sword forward and thrusted hard. There was a little resistance, then it pierced Lillia’s chest. My head shot with pain as I looked at what I had done. Lillia’s hand gripped the blade and blood oozed from the edge of the wound.

“W-why?” She asked, coughing up blood as she did so.

Her legs gave way from under her, and she fell down. The blade was pulled out as she did and when I glanced at the floor, she was already laying in a pool of her own blood.

“I’m still here what is this? I’ve killed her!” I said out loud. “No, no, no, no!”

Then the room went dark. The next thing I knew, I was stood in the deserted village, and it was night. My sword was still in my hands dripping with blood. I nervously glanced at the floor, hoping not to find Lillia’s body there. There was no body at all, but there was a pool of blood and a spattered trail of it led away from where I was standing. My first instinct was to follow the trail, but a single step was all it took to wobble me. I felt just as drained as I had in the dream. I sat down before I fell and pulled out my potion pouch. At the same time the rest of the party started to come to.

“Huh what’s going on?” Asked Altria.

“How are we here?” Asked Serin.

“We were caught in a trap of some kind. If it was anything like what happened to me, you were probably caught in a dream state…” I answered knowing there would be more questions.

Not that I knew the answers myself. We needed to find Celine and we needed to find the person or thing that laid the trap if we wanted answers.

“You mean none of that was real?” It was Beth asking this time.

“None of it.”

“But I thought… Actually, forget it.” She laughed.

“How did you get us out of there?” Asked Liz.

“I’ll explain later. For now, we all probably need to take potions and restore some strength. The trap seemed to be draining us. Then we should find Celine.”

“Are you sure she wasn’t a part of this?” Asked Liz.

“She’s the only reason we made it out. I’m assuming the rest of you didn’t find a way out?”

They all just shook their heads. Everyone quickly took their potions, there was no telling when the one that set the trap would return.

“Master! Finally…” Called out Celine. “Hurry, they’re still alive. They’ve just retreated for now.” She said as she reappeared next to me.

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