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1.

He remembered watching a certain video on the internet when he was young.

It was back when there were no proper regulations in regards to using the internet; a time when one could google everything they wanted. A friend whose name he had forgotten once showed him the video.

Said video was a distant shot of someone who got caught by a EF5 tornado that stretched from the ground up to the heavens, covering a large plot of land.

The tornado swirled around, uprooting buildings, trees, even people in its wake as if they were weeds.

What would happen to people who got caught by that tornado?

Well, if they fainted due to the hypoxia, then they’d be considered fortunate.

If they had been crushed like a tomato in a blender by the debris inside of the tornado however, then they would be the most unfortunate of them all.

In any case, the sight of how helpless humans were in the face of Mother Nature kept him up at night for days.

It was only after he found out that Korea was generally safe from such a tornado due to how its terrain worked that he was finally able to have a good night’s sleep.

As for why he remembered such a thing at this exact moment, well...

“...!”

The sudden storm of particles tilted his whole world.

This feeling of being caught up like a poor ant in an antlion pit made him think that this was probably what that person who got caught up in that tornado felt.

He didn’t even have the leniency to scream.

Particles surrounded him from all sides; up, down, right, left.

His distortion field was shattered in less than 0.2 seconds.

While his armor lasted longer; 10 seconds.

In the darkness that resembled the bottomless pit of hell...

Boundaries between space and his own body started to blur.

The particles freely tore through his body that had lost all its defenses, soaking his body like seeping poison.

His vision had long turned pitch black; even the strange sounds that he had been hearing felt distant.

Not only that, even his sense of smell and touch disappeared; it was as if he was sinking endlessly.

There was a certain emotion that he felt as he did, but it wasn’t fear.

It was loneliness that gripped his heart so hard that it made his teeth clatter.

-Woooong!

Finally, with the thin line of his consciousness finally snapping...

Siwoo was swallowed by the sea of particles.

2.

All the chaos earlier felt like a lie.

The strange sounds that threatened to tear his ears apart disappeared, and once again, there was only suffocating silence.

As if everything had been a dream, Siwoo stood perfectly still in that dark space.

“Just what...?”

Remembering that the last words he muttered were ‘For fuck’s sake...’, he somehow felt silly.

He had risked his life to come here, but in the end, he ended up dying without being able to see Amelia’s face—a pointless death.

If there was one thing that was of note though, the feeling of him falling endlessly, the storm of particles that destroyed his distortion field in 0.2 seconds, and the feeling of his magic circuit bursting was still vivid in his mind, proving that he was still alive.

“...Wait, where is this?”

This place...

Is dark...

At first, Siwoo suspected that his ‘autonomous defense’ thing got activated again, just like the other day.

Back when he sunk into his Ain, and his other self took control of his body.

But soon enough, he realized that it wasn’t the case.

Because he could feel the solid ground under his feet, and he couldn’t see any big magical structures in the distance.

“...”

The unknown begot fear.

Randomized space was like a black box; anything could happen when one were to open it.

As long as the purpose behind this space was left uncovered—

At that moment, a little girl passed by him.

A familiar girl, the girl he had seen before.

Unlike before though, there wasn’t any golden light emanating from her, and her body shape, height, and silhouette overlapped like a decalcomania.

“Hey, Kid! It’s dangerous here!”

Rather than worrying how she got here, who she was, or where they were, the first thing that came to Siwoo’s mind after seeing the girl was fear that there were others who got caught up in this place.

At first, he tried to place his hand on her shoulder while calling out to her, but...

-Tap tap tap tap!

She dashed away with the speed and momentum of an Olympics’ athlete while straightening her tiny hands frontward.

It was to the point that he could only see her side view.

But somehow, the girl looked familiar. Extremely so.

“Hey!”

He stared blankly at the girl who was moving away like a runaway train.

Just what is going on here...?

As he asked that question to himself, he noticed something.

On the path that the girl tread on, ‘footprints’ remained.

It was like a forest path, with weeds and wildflowers trampled by feet—a fresh, new forest path.

Siwoo quietly followed the trail, gripping the Red Branch tightly in his hands.

Let’s see where she went. Carefully.

And then, something happened, like a miracle.

In the midst of the darkness, a forest bloomed.

It was as if he was witnessing an Ancient God creating heavens and earth by creating the void. The darkness was dispelled like dawn, and a splendid light bloomed beautifully that it hurt his eyes for a moment.

“Ugh...!”

The light was blinding.

Coming from the girl’s body, it illuminated the darkness, as if she was scraping off black crayon covering a colorful landscape painting.

As he looked around, he noticed that the forest was familiar to him.

It was a forest filled with wing nut trees—their pointed leaves fluttered in the wind, like ladies waving their handkerchiefs.

The darkness was replaced by a summer day with the refreshing smell of the soil filling his nose and the chirping of the songbirds echoing beautifully in his ears.

“Huu... Huu... Huu...”

In the midst of such scenery.

The girl was crouching between the huge tree trunks, her eyes flashed like a wild beast, keeping a close eye on her surroundings.

“Don’t worry, I’m not trying to—”

Amidst his confusion, he tried to comfort the girl so he could ask about the situation, but then he noticed something about the girl that made him feel like he just got hit on the head with a hammer.

Blonde hair with part of her hair braided.

Blue eyes that looked clearer than even the summer sky.

And a witch’s hat that looked too big for her head.

“Ame...lia...?”

Her sharp nose and quivering lips, the way she was breathing roughly.

Every part of her reminded Siwoo of Amelia, of her beauty that was hard for him to forget.

“...”

Once again, his mind was thrown into confusion.

Why is she here? Why does she look so young?

Why is she so guarded with me? What did I do wrong?

Questions popped up one after another, but then soon come the realization that he had asked the wrong questions in his head

“Amelia! Where are you?”

A dignified voice echoed from the forest path the girl had just passed, adding certainty to his new realization.

At the same time, the little Amelia hid under the tree like a mole.

She was trying her best to hide, even though her big hat didn’t do her any favor at all.

“Jeez, Amelia. This isn’t the time to play hide-and-seek!”

The person who had just passed Siwoo and quickly found the hiding Amelia was a witch.

Just like Amelia, she had blond hair and blue eyes.

However, unlike Amelia who possessed the kind of beauty that made it difficult to approach her, there was ‘warmth’ in this witch’s beauty.

The cloak wrapped around her body was familiar to Siwoo, so he quickly guessed her identity.

She was the previous Marigold.

He didn’t know who her name was, but she was definitely Amelia’s master.

After passing by Siwoo—as if he wasn’t there—the previous Marigold crouched right in front of Amelia, muttering in a hoarse voice.

“No. I don’t want to study.”

“But you’ve been doing well! Come here, after you’re done studying, I’ll make you the tasty cocoa that you like, okay?”

“...No.”

“Even if I add some marshmallows in?”

Looking back to Amelia in his memory, she was an extremely cold and difficult person to understand.

She definitely wasn’t someone who could be goaded with hot cocoa.

“...Five.”

But apparently she wasn’t like that when she was younger.

Amelia raised her head.

Saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth, while her eyes sparkled with joy.

“Alright, five marshmallows and two gingerbread cookies. How about that?”

“G-Gingerbread cookies...? Really?”

“Have I ever lied to you~?”

“A-Ahem. I-I love studying, actually...”

“Mhm, I know, I know. Come here, my baby.”

With small steps and flushed cheeks, Amelia snuggled into her master’s arm.

Then, the scenery flashed, like fireflies in the darkness.

As Siwoo had realized, this was the fragment of Amelia’s memories.

“How could our Amelia run so quickly? You’re as quick as a squirrel~”

He watched as the master-apprentice pair disappeared down the forest path before quietly following them.

3.

Siwoo didn’t know why he was able to peek into Amelia’s memory.

His best guess was that her particles somehow got connected with the Palace of Memories, one of his self-essence magic.

But that didn’t mean his situation was any good.

His body could be turning into a tattered rag outside, and he didn’t know what was waiting for him at the end of this.

Maybe, in the end, this was all for nothing.

Merely a waste of time.

But, he had this vague conviction.

That this scene before him...

Were ‘memories’ that she treasured, ‘memories’ that she deemed important.

The memories’ flow wasn’t consistent.

There were parts that were cut off without context, like a broken videotape, or parts where only images flashing by.

But, in all those memories, Amelia’s presence was like a shining star.

Sometimes, she’d snuggle in her master’s arms, sometimes, they’d cook together, play the violin together in front of the animals, pick pretty flowers together while putting them on each others’ hair... There was a memory where she threw her homework into the fireplace and ended up getting chased by her master.

In all those memories, she was shining.

Like a light that illuminated the darkness, like the flames of a warm fireplace, driving away the empty darkness and filling it with pretty memories.

“...”

Siwoo just stood there, watching them.

The previous Marigold was a good teacher.

In those endlessly flowing scenes of memories, it was clear that she cared for Amelia as if she was her real mother.

Whenever she kissed Amelia’s round forehead, Amelia would dig into her arms with a smile on her face.

He remembered how cold and detached Amelia was when they first met.

But this Amelia had an incredible amount of energy, as if she had never ran out of it.

She was bad at studying, and always tried to run away from it.

And she spent half her day with a smile on her face.

It was hard to imagine that this was the same Amelia he knew.

Siwoo’s lips, which, at some point, were spread wide, began to distort all of a sudden.

Seeing how she used to act, he felt a sense of foreboding for what was about to come. Every moment the master-apprentice pair spent their time together, there was this ominous feeling lingering about.

Currently, he was watching them having breakfast together after waking up.

After that, they packed their lunch boxes and went out somewhere before lunch.

He felt as if they were doing this to build as many memories as they could.

As if they were desperate to add one more picture into their album before their relationship was cut short.

In some memories, they’d take up their easels, canvases, and pencils, then they’d sit on the unmanaged barley hills and paint something together.

Some memories had Amelia playing her violin, giving her private concert to her master.

There were also memories of them fishing or swimming together in the nearby lake.

At night, they’d go to the roof and lie side by side to look at the stars together.

Occasionally, they’d wash their bed sheets diligently, stepping on them in a tub full of bubbles.

Other times, they’d buy ingredients to make apple pies together in their cabin.

“...”

Now it all made sense.

All these memories—where she shone the brightest, just like a fairy—were the memories that were all too familiar to him.

Because these were all things that Amelia had done with him.

Suddenly, his conversation with Takasho came to his mind.

‘Love is simple. It’s just wanting to share your happiness with someone.’

The warm days that he thought was a deception due to his momentary anger and feelings of betrayal were precious memories for Amelia.

All she wanted was to experience all these memories again with him.

Siwoo was struck speechless.

His breath was caught in his throat, as if he had swallowed something hot.

The moment when he was unable to control his emotions, spewing out harsh words at her, flashing in his mind.

In front of him, who was venting his emotions at her...

What did she want to say to him?

What words were left unsaid back then?

Frozen in a daze, he felt discomfort creeping in.

If she was that desperate to relive these warm daily lives, then...

The scene shifted to Amelia lying on her bed.

Though she oftentimes was lively and energetic, there were times when she’d lie in bed, coughing violently without being able to lift a finger.

The previous Marigold was sitting at her bedside, wiping her sweaty body with a handkerchief.

With a haggard expression and worried eyes, she stared at Amelia, stroking her forehead.

Amelia coughed a few times before asking.

“Master. When can I become a witch...?”

“Hm~? Maybe a year or two after your coming-of-age ceremony?”

“I want to become a witch quickly. So I won’t be in pain like this, and I can live happily together forever with you, Master.”

“...Then, get well soon so you can study again, okay?”

“Ugh... I hate studying...”

That tragic fate that the witches accepted as common sense.

The previous Marigold hid that truth from Amelia all this time.