novelraw Chapter 84: Changes
Chapter 84: Changes
"Sorry I don’t know what happened I hope I could have helped and thank you...rest now" Kei said with a voice full of sadness and without thinking used her fire magic.
The fire enveloped the corpse of the Crow and with the intensity of the fire after some time only ashes of crow remained Kei, just waited there and after consoling herself said.
"Now let me find that careless idiot who let you die"
She again stood up and now with anger in her steps marched towards the man still believing it to be someone else, as soon as she went near him, she was shocked to recognize him.
"Kelly!"
Kei shrieked, her voice sharp with panic as she rushed toward him. Dropping to her knees, she grabbed his shoulders and pushed him gently but urgently, forcing him to lie flat on his back. Her breath hitched the moment she really looked at him. The figure beneath her eyes was unmistakably male, undeniably familiar yet completely altered.
If it weren’t for Kei, someone who had spent enough time observing his face she might not have recognized him at all. But she did. The angle of his brows, the faint crease near his eyes, the structure beneath all those impossible changes there was no doubt about it. It had to be Kelly. There was no one else. No other explanation. They had fallen together, and only the two of them were here. Still, her mind refused to reconcile the images.
The Kelly she knew, and the one lying in front of her now felt like two entirely different people. His body looked unreal, sculpted to the point of absurdity, radiating a presence that made her pause despite herself. Kei swallowed, heat creeping up her face despite the situation. No matter how she tried to reason it out, no matter how sure she was of his identity, her thoughts kept tripping over the same impossible conclusion.
’This can’t be Kelly... but it is’
"Am I... in some kind of illusion...?"
Kei kept muttering under her breath, the words tumbling out unfiltered as her eyes traced his body repeatedly, as if staring harder might make it make sense.
"What happened to him... he’s changed... no...fuck changed...he transformed into something unrecognizable..."
Her gaze lingered, unwillingly drawn to the sharp lines of his frame, the unnatural definition of muscle that looked carved rather than grown, the way his posture even in unconsciousness felt wrong, heavier somehow.
"What’s with those muscles... and even his face, when did it get so defined..." Her throat tightening, she continued.
"And that hair... that colour... that’s not normal. None of this is normal..."
She clenched her fists, forcing herself to look away before her thoughts spiralled further. That was when her eyes landed on it the dried, distorted husk lying not far away. What was left of the beast looked less like a corpse and more like something that had been emptied. Kei’s breathing slowed.
"...Just what happened here?"
Her eyes flicked back to Kelly, then to the lifeless remains, then instinctively thought back to the state of his summon.
"...And his summon is gone too..."
The realization hit her harder than she expected. Her fingers curled into her palms, nails biting into skin.
"...Is this because he tried to save me?" she whispered.
The thought refused to leave her. No matter how hard Kei tried to push it aside, it sank deeper, lodging itself in her chest like a weight she couldn’t breathe around. It felt heavy, suffocating until, all at once, it was as if someone had dumped icy water over her head. Her scattered curiosity about Kelly’s changes vanished instantly. What remained was helplessness.
A quiet, crushing kind of helplessness that made her clench both fists until her knuckles turned white. She frowned her gaze fixed on Kelly’s face. Even in unconsciousness, his expression was twisted, as if he were still trapped in pain he couldn’t escape. Kei swallowed.
’Just what happened... while I was unconscious, Kelly...’
Her chest tightened further.
’Is it because of me that his summon died...Did I become a burden on them too...’
The questions echoed in her mind, unanswered, gnawing at her as she sat there beside him, unable to do anything except watch.
Kei forcefully cut off her train of thought, pushing down the guilt that was beginning to spread through her chest. If she let it grow, she knew it would swallow her whole. She took a slow breath and looked around again. Her eyes inevitably stopped on the dried, distorted husk of the beast lying nearby. A chill ran down her spine.
"If one’s here... another can’t be far," she muttered under her breath, her voice low and tense. "I must get the hell out of here. First thing first let’s leave this place."
Her gaze shifted back to Kelly’s unmoving body.
"I don’t think he’s waking up anytime soon either..." she sighed, rubbing her temple. "Well, can’t help it." A faint forced smirk tugged at her lips.
"Upsy-daisy, prince."
With that, Kei bent down and tried to haul Kelly up, slipping his arm over her shoulder and bracing herself to help him stand intent on dragging them both away from this place, no matter what it took. However
"Motherfuc...this guy is heavy... those muscles aren’t just for show, huh...Still my whole body hurts by just carrying him along."
Kei half-joked to herself as she finally managed to get him upright, Kelly’s weight leaning heavily against her. She adjusted her grip, gritting her teeth, and straightened up with a strained breath.
"Now where to go..."
She looked around, turning slowly, eyes scanning the barren, alien terrain. Rocks, uneven ground, distant shadows nothing that even remotely resembled a landmark. The silence only made it worse. After a few seconds of staring blankly, she let her shoulders slump.
"...Should’ve taken those survival shows more seriously," she muttered. "And my mana’s not regenerating faster either... ugh." She rubbed her forehead, clearly done with overthinking.