Volume 4—Chapter 124: Oath
“What do you mean by vessel of the world tree?” Emilia asked, her voice more collected now, though her body still hadn’t fully recovered.
“Vessel, as in… she is the embodiment of the world tree,” I said.
Emilia frowned, her brows pulling together.
“I don’t understand.”
I paused for a moment, then let out a quiet breath.
“I guess ‘vessel’ isn’t the right word… " It’s closer to an avatar,” I corrected.
Her expression didn’t change.
“I still don’t understand why you’re telling me this.”
I looked at her, then spoke plainly.
“What I mean is… if something happens to her, the world tree disappears. And every world connected to it disappears as well.”
Emilia’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Like if she dies?”
“If she dies, she’ll just reincarnate,” I said. “So that’s not the issue.”
A brief silence followed.
“The problem is me…” I continued.
Emilia’s gaze sharpened as she pieced it together.
“Hmm… I see…” she muttered. “So if you stay awake, and that barrier disappears… the world itself disappears. And everything in it goes with it.”
Disappear… in a true sense.
I didn’t answer.
“I see… I finally understand why you said I’d believe you… and make the oath…”
Her hand lifted slowly.
Even in that dishelved body. Fragments of light gathered, shaping themselves into several spears that formed behind her.
They launched toward me in the next instant.
But they stopped the moment they reached my neck.
Emilia’s arm trembled slightly, whether from strain or anger, it was hard to tell.
“You simply take the world at large as a hostage…” she said, her voice tight. She looked genuinely angry now.
“It seems that way…” I replied calmly. “But just follow as I say.”
The spears remained where they were.
“I’ll be asleep from now on,” I said.
I looked at her, a faint smile forming.
“So please… take care of me.”
The space around us remained still.
And with that…
With that…
With what?
Huh?
Where am I?
Something is touching my neck.
I look down.
“…Woah.”
I stumble back the moment I see it. A spear made of light is right in front of me, close enough that I can feel the heat from it.
My eyes follow it to the one holding it.
“…Ah… right…” I mutter, trying to recall what happened. “I think… we fought for a bit…”
The memory feels incomplete. A short clash, then everything just went dark.
“Wait… isn’t this like a lucid dream?” I say under my breath.
“What’s that dumb look on your face?”
I look back at her.
Emilia… I think.
“So that’s what you mean by sleep…” she says, watching me closely.
“Uh… yes?” I answer, confused. “What are you talking about?”
She clicks her tongue.
“This is frustrating… you’re like a completely different person.”
I frown slightly.
Before I can respond, I notice something.
“…Wait.”
I look around.
“…Why is everything black?”
There’s nothing. No ground, no sky, just empty darkness stretching out.
Then the space shakes.
“Woah.” The whole place trembles.
“Seems like the barrier is collapsing,” Emilia says.
“Barrier?” I repeat.
A sharp crack echoes.
I turn toward it.
A thin fracture appears in the empty space. Light leaks through it, bright against the darkness.
The crack spreads.
“I will abide and make an oath as per your request,” Emilia says.
“…My request?” I look at her. “What are you talking about?”
Before I can get an answer, something forms beneath us.
A blue magic circle appears, expanding outward. Symbols rotate along their edges, shifting in patterns I can’t follow.
It doesn’t just stay under us.
It surrounds everything.
“Hereby, in my name… Emilia Lorena, the Witch of Creation, shall accept thou term,” she says.
Her voice carries something.
The circle reacts.
It splits into two.
One moves to her, pressing into the back of her right arm, sinking in.
The other turns toward me.
“Wait, what is this…”
It reaches me before I can move.
It presses into my right arm.
Glowing
I stare at my arm.
“…What just happened?”
The glow fades completely, as if it were never there.
Then the space cracks again.
This time, everything breaks.
The blackness shatters apart like glass, pieces falling away to reveal something beyond.
Light floods in.
And in the next moment…
We’re somewhere else.
I look around.
“…This is…”
A destroyed Times Square. New York City.
Wind moves through the empty streets.
I just stand there, trying to process it.
“…Am I still dreaming?” I ask.
“Dreaming, huh?” Emilia replies.
She looks at me for a moment.
“In a way you are… but this is reality.”
“You mean… all of this is real?” I said.
If that’s true… then…
I raised my hand slightly and focused.
A small chunk of broken concrete nearby lifted off the ground.
“…Woah.”
It floated.
“What? This isn’t a dream at all…”
I lowered my hand, then immediately tried again.
“…Okay… let’s try something else…”
Flight.
That sounds fun.
Before, I didn’t even realise any of this was real. Now that I do…
I bent my knees slightly, preparing to jump as hard as I could.
Just as I pushed off…
Something hit me.
My body was thrown sideways before I even understood what happened. I slammed straight into a nearby wall, the impact knocking the air out of me.
“Lia!! Are you alright!!”
I heard a voice….
Emilia?
“…Geh…” I groaned, sliding down from the cracked surface. “That… actually hurt…”
I lifted my head and looked toward them.
“…Huh?”
What I saw wasn’t what I expected.
“Ame… who told you to do that…” Emilia said, clearly annoyed.
Standing in front of her was another girl.
She looked… almost the same.
“…Her twin?” I muttered.
Wait.
I’ve seen her before.
In the forest.
“…Hold on…”
My memory tried to catch up.
There was someone else there too.
Come on… think…
“…Ah. Caroline.”
I quickly looked around.
There.
She was lying on the ground, a short distance away from Emilia.
“Lia… you’re so cruel… You don’t know what I’ve been through… Nidhogg appeared in the sky, then I feel someone use power to manipulate time on a massive scale, then your presence disappears,” the other girl said.
Emilia froze.
Her expression changed instantly. Her eyes widened.
“What did you say… Nidhogg? For goodness sake… I regret making that oath now…”
Without another word…
Both of them disappeared.
“…Huh?”
I stood there for a second, staring at the empty space they left behind.
Then I shook my head and turned back.
Right. Caroline.
I hurried over and knelt beside her.
“Hey… Carol… are you alright?” I said, reaching out and shaking her lightly.
A faint sound escaped her.
Then her eyes opened.
She looked at me for a brief second.
Then suddenly…
“Get away from me!!”
She shoved me back with surprising force.
“…Huh?”
I blinked, caught off guard.
What did I do?
Author's Note
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