Youngest 258
by Cristae258
At that moment.
“The spell circle’s done—let’s go!”
Rubian had finished inscribing the sigil that would lead down to the royal palace’s underground.
Yet Khalid had hardly moved for some time now. To be precise, since she’d told him all that had happened in the tower.
“…My soul, you said?”
“Yes. My soul drifted off somewhere and came back. I just explained it, didn’t I?”
“…”
“Hey, what’s wrong? I get that it’s something to be shocked by. …Don’t tell me an ancestor spirit is riding your body again.”
Rubian had expected Kal to react as usual—unfazed, angry, maybe letting loose a string of curses at the Mage King.
But instead, he looked deeply agitated.
“Why are you clamming up now?”
“…”
Even as her worried blue eyes drew closer, Khalid couldn’t calm the turmoil inside.
He remembered the Dragon God’s voice from long ago.
“The cost of meddling with a human soul will be severe.”
“Will you truly abandon the memories of eternity?”
Yes.
That was it.
Even as a child, he’d feared—though he could never remember the past clearly—that he might have once tampered with someone’s soul.
And now…
“Kal?”
“…Wait, just—wait… ngh.”
It was Rubian’s soul?
“I…”
“Khalid!”
“I’m the one who stole your soul?”
At that moment, Rubian froze. So did Leviathan and Rosetta, who had been watching nearby.
A strange, unsettling wind swept through.
“…What did you say?”
Thump.
Thump, thump.
A heartbeat—whose, it was impossible to tell—thundered in their ears. And then—
Found it.
Thump!
The black mist that had settled everywhere suddenly pulsated deeply.
It began to gather, as if with a will of its own, forming a small whirlwind before swirling like a miniature storm.
A dry bolt of lightning crashed in the distance. In the sky above, ashen storm clouds coiled into a menacing spiral.
Let them see the “hidden time.”
A mighty surge of magic swept across the entire palace.
Rubian recognized the power instantly.
“No…!”
Her eyes went wide, and she rushed to act—but—
Fwoooosh—!
An enormous light swallowed them all in an instant.
It began in the cave where Khalid had once been imprisoned.
His eyes fluttered open, fettered in shackles.
‘Someone’s here.’
It was a night bathed in a peculiarly chilly moonlight.
‘A human has stumbled through the barrier by mistake… Why does the Dragon God’s power remain so still?’
Just as he was thinking this, a small silhouette hesitated at the entrance.
‘A woman?’
Before he could make out who she was, something silver flashed in the gloom.
A dagger.
“Hey.”
Khal found himself calling out without realizing it.
Tumbled silver hair, pallid cheeks, a pitifully gaunt, frail frame.
But most of all, it was her eyes that drew him in—their dim, lifeless clouding, as though she existed only in patient expectation of death, with no will to live at all.
A strange sense of déjà vu struck him.
She seemed… almost like he had been, before he was trapped in this cave.
‘Ah.’
Now he remembered—he had been waiting for something, too…
But what was it?
“If you’re planning to die, at least walk a little farther before you do.”
“…”
“Rotting corpses stink, you know.”
The words tumbled out before he could stop them.
Usually, the Dragon God’s magic would have dealt swiftly with any human who made it here by mistake.
But tonight, the Dragon God was quiet, and clarity returned to Khalid’s mind.
‘…She’s come here to die anyway.’
What was the point in driving her off, then?
But in that instant—
The woman slowly turned to look at him. For reasons he couldn’t explain, it was hard to look away. And as their gazes met—
‘White as the moon.’
A hood, pressed low by the wind, slipped back, revealing a cascade of radiant silver hair.
She was expressionless, as if every emotion had been stripped from her. But Khalid saw it—her impassivity was a shield, a means to endure some deep sorrow.
He knew that feeling well.
‘…Has she harmed someone with that dagger?’
He made that guess based on the blood staining the cuff of her sleeve.
‘If I let her go, she’ll just go die elsewhere.’
Thud.
At the thought, his heart gave an odd, involuntary lurch.
Why?
‘What is this feeling?’
He couldn’t make sense of it, so Khalid said whatever came to mind, reaching out to detain her—half-unconscious, almost.
So now, he no doubt looked like a lunatic, a beggar scrambling for cake crumbs fallen to the dirt. Still, he didn’t care.
“…Why are you locked up in a place like this?”
Her voice was unexpectedly clear.
Khalid’s heart pounded even harder.
‘…I heard her voice.’
And somehow, it—
“…”
Once more, without knowing why, he couldn’t stop talking to her.
She said she wanted him to kill her.
In exchange, she would release his bindings.
“That’s impossible. You have any idea how complex the seals are on these shackles…”
“Maybe for you.”
“What?”
“Not for me, though.”
“…”
Her eyes suddenly flared red.
At that same instant, the Dragon God’s long-dormant power within him stirred.
She was back.
Back?
“—Cough, cough!”
Then, she collapsed.
It seemed she’d strained herself just to analyze the shackles’ structure with magic. Even that pushed her near her limits.
“It’s just because I’m low on magic. Once I stop the time magic, your chains will be simple enough to—”
“Time magic?”
His body moved of its own accord. He could feel his shadow lashing out, restless.
‘Stop it.’
The chains at his ankles stretched to their limit as he reached his hand through the bars, gripping her slender wrist.
Stop!
“You… can control time, can’t you?”
The words spilled out, not quite his own.
Don’t overstep.
How dare you threaten her?
For the first time, Khalid used his own power to suppress the dragon’s magic. Time had made the dragon’s power weak enough, at last, for it to be forced down.
The woman had no name.
She only said they called her the “Seventh.”
‘So I thought she was some pitiful girl, just like me…’
But no.
Here was someone even more pitiful than I was.
“You said you escaped from the palace?”
“Yes.”
“Then take this chance to pick a decent name.”
Worn out by her coughing fit, the woman slumped wearily against the bars.
“…A name?”
She turned her head the slightest bit.
“Yeah.”
“No thanks. Don’t see much point.”
“Why? Still planning to die?”
Her pale hand was tightly wrapped around the little dagger.
“Yes.”
‘How can anyone be so resolute?’
Not that I’ve known many women…
Khalid licked his lips and spoke.
“It’ll be tough to kill yourself with that little knife, like I said. But… If we get out of here, then—”
“If I get out?”
“I’ll kill you, just as you wish. At once, and painlessly.”
At that, the woman finally turned fully to face him.
“Really?”
She actually brightened at the thought of being killed.
“…Yes. So until then… don’t do anything reckless.”
“All right. …I’d better recover my strength quickly, then.”
At last, she slid the dagger back where it belonged.
Then squirmed about, suddenly flopping flat-out in front of his cell.
“Well, good night.”
“…What are you doing?”
“Healing.”
“…”
“Sleeping’s the fastest way.”
She folded her hands on her chest, gazing up at the ceiling with tightly shut eyes.
“Hah.”
What a peculiar creature.
Khalid stared incredulously at the girl, who didn’t mind sleeping rough outside.
The moonlight on her face was dazzlingly pale.
“Unbelievable.”
Staring at the silvery hair spilled carelessly across the grimy floor, he let out a low sigh and reached out again through the bars.
“…What are you doing?”
She asked.
“I don’t know. I… don’t know myself.”
His large, rough hand gently supported the round back of her head.
If he could have, he’d have put his arm under her neck, but even this was as far as he could reach.
“I just wanted to.”
“A hand for a pillow—never had that before.”
“First time for me too.”
“You’re a bit strange.”
She rolled over to face him. The feel of her cheek on his palm was so soft, so delicate, Khalid almost forgot to breathe for a moment.
“No one’s ever treated me kindly like this.”
“…”
“So strange.”
After mumbling those words, she closed her eyes. Maybe she fell unconscious the instant she did.
But before she slept—
That faint smile she showed him…
Khalid, unwittingly, witnessed it as if by accident.