The Laughing Swordsman

The explosion directly knocked Apollo out and sent him flying into a tree. His head took the brunt of the impact and hung lifelessly.

Maya rushed over. Pieces of blood and flesh were scattered across the snowy floor, but Maya paid no heed, running right over it.

She had seen plenty of blood before.

Once she got to Apollo, she sucked in a breath through her teeth.

"You idiot."

Part of Apollo's chest had caved in. Other than the demon blood splashed over him, bright red blood flowed out of his head.

Maya wanted to help but could only freeze, staring at Apollo.

She had been through many traumatic events. For the longest time, she remained positive and marched through it.

One could say that she was mature, but at the end of the day, she was a kid.

A kid with little experience in the world, yet she tried to overcome it.

She panicked.

Her hand reached out to press against the back of Apollo's head, slowing the bleeding. She noticed that Apollo was also bleeding from his ribcage and tried to cover it as well.

However, she instantly pulled back.

When she touched Apollo's chest, she pushed in the broken rib bone.

Tears began forming on Maya's face. She had no idea what she was supposed to do.

The feeling of helplessness transformed into anxiety.

Then, old memories began to haunt her.

...

"Mom!"

Maya had a scratch on her arm. She scraped her arm on the wooden fence as she walked into a farm.

Tears were forming at the corner of Maya's eyes.

A woman walked out from the stalks of rice plants. The woman was tall, with long brown hair and bright blue eyes.

"What is wrong honey?"

Maya lifted her arm. Blood was forming from a few red markings on it.

"It hurts!"

The woman crouched down and gingerly held Maya's arm. A small frown appeared on her face.

"Oh my, don't worry! Mom will fix this for you!"

The woman pulled out a small cloth. She dusted it off, then wrapped it around Maya's arm.

"There you go! It will be better soon."

Maya looked up to her mother, forcing herself to hold back the tears. She nodded.

"Ok!"

...

Maya always aspired to be like her mother. She thought her mother was kind and able to solve any problem thrown at her.

Yet, she never seemed to be able to replicate it. She always tried to help around the house but caused a mess.

Whether it was cooking, cleaning, or farming, she would somehow break or ruin something.

She would burn the food she cooked, bring dirt inside the house, and harvest crops that weren't ready.

Her mother would always clean up after her. Unlike what she expected, her mother was never mad when she messed up.

That was what encouraged her to keep trying despite her failures. However, once her mother died, she no longer had that courage.

Maya wiped the tears off of her face.

She recalled the first time she shoveled spoon after spoon of rice down Apollo.

His body would bloat and heal itself.

She quickly opened the sack of rice, then froze again.

A snowflake fell onto the bridge of Maya's nose. Then, she broke out into tears.

She did not bring anything to cook the rice with.

She closed the sack of rice and rested her head on it.

Why couldn't she do anything right?

Why did things always fall apart in her hands?

As she spiraled deeper into despair, Apollo's voice came to her.

'...Bullshit'

Maya raised her head.

'I'm telling you that's bullshit.'

Maya stopped crying.

'You saved me, didn't you?'

She hugged the sack of rice tightly.

'Now watch. If it wasn't for you this never would have happened!'

She stood up on her feet.

'So be proud of yourself, Maya!'

Her eyes scanned the forest around her.

There was nothing but snow and trees for all she could see, but then her eyes landed on the gemstone.

The gemstone was in the shape of an emerald. The color was white, but it was also translucent. Currently, there was a red vortex swirling around within its center.

Maya had no idea what it was but thought it could potentially be eaten by Apollo.

She hurried over and tried lifting the gemstone with both hands.

The moment her skin pressed against the gemstone, her vision darkened.

Her body became ethereal, composed of many specks of white dust.

She found herself in a white room and a complex diagram made from red mana revealed itself to her.

This diagram was three-dimensional and slowly rotating.

She was overwhelmed by the number of loops, shapes, and circuits that connected the spell together.

She did not even know what this spell would do, or if it really even was a spell.

In fact, she almost gave up trying to memorize the spell altogether.

But she shook her head. She didn't want to give up now.

Stubbornly, she began to memorize the diagram.

She remembered her mom said that mages cast spells by shaping specific types of mana into certain shapes, dictated by the spell's diagram.

She did not have talent in magic, meaning gathering mana was almost impossible for her.

That worry settled in the back of her mind, but she did not let it bother her for now.

Maya furrowed her brows.

She started at a random end of the diagram and tried to memorize it. Yet, before she could get any grasp on its structure, the diagram would rotate out of the way.

She tried to move, but the moment she had the intention, a rippling pain pierced into her head. After the pain settled down, she realized every second she spent here would damage her mind more.

As the pain increased, she felt something trying to pull her out of this world.

At this rate, she would be unable to memorize anything.

However, Maya had a sudden realization.