Time passed amid the scent of fresh grass and the lowing of cattle. Before he knew it, the year had become 842.
Coming to the pasture each day to tend the cows and keep Historia company had become Aeternus's habit.
The victory in that conflict had been like carving a window through the gloom of Historia's world and letting light shine in.
Aeternus had not merely honored his promise through actions. He had shown her another possibility—
When faced with injustice, one could resist. One could even win.
The timidity and sorrow on her face gradually faded like morning mist scattered by sunlight.
In their place came more and more smiles, pure and genuine.
Those smiles blossomed only for him.
Aeternus was not only her protector; he was also her sole window into the “normal” world beyond the fence.
He told her how grasshoppers in the fields could leap so far, how fat the wild rabbits Busch caught were, and what strange but loving new dish his mother Luna had attempted this time...
These ordinary daily details, unremarkable to Aeternus, were full of novelty and warmth to Historia.
She greedily absorbed those fragments, piecing together the childhood beyond the fence that she had never been allowed to have.
"That stream... is the water clear?"
One day, Historia gazed at the sparkling stream not far beyond the pasture fence, its gentle babbling reaching them, and asked softly.
Her eyes held an unmistakable yearning and a cautious trace of longing.
Aeternus looked at her figure, cut apart by the fence's shadow, and something stirred in his heart.
That wooden fence was not merely a physical barrier. It was the prison of her soul.
"Yes, very clear," he answered, his voice softening involuntarily. "You can see the smooth pebbles at the bottom, and sometimes little fish swim past. In summer, it feels especially cool when you put your feet in it."
Historia lowered her head, her small hands unconsciously twisting the hem of her faded, repeatedly washed dress.
Stepping beyond that fence was something her grandmother Krista had strictly forbidden.
It was a line she had never dared cross, a fear deeply rooted within her heart.
Aeternus did not urge her. He simply waited quietly for her to find the courage herself.
After a long while, he held out his hand to her, palm up.
His voice was soft, yet carried an encouragement that brooked no doubt:
"We're only going to take a look. We'll be back soon. No one will notice."
Historia raised her head. She looked at Aeternus's steady, gentle eyes, then at the stream that was so close and yet seemed impossibly far away, its rippling surface glimmering with freedom.
The struggle in her heart was plainly written across her face.
In the end, her yearning for freedom and her unconditional trust in her friend overcame the fear that had bound her like shackles for so long.
She took a deep breath. As if it took every ounce of strength she possessed, she placed her small, cool, trembling hand into Aeternus's warm, dry palm.
At that moment, invisible shackles seemed to quietly loosen with the warmth that passed between their fingertips.
Holding her hand, Aeternus led her like two little conspirators. They carefully avoided the main house's gaze and slipped through a broken gap in the fence they had long since discovered.
When her feet stepped onto the soft grass outside the fence, grass that did not belong to the pasture, Historia's body visibly stiffened.
Then came a nearly dizzying sense of liberation, along with a faint feeling of guilt.
But it was quickly drowned beneath overwhelming novelty and joy.
The stream was indeed as clear as Aeternus had said, its water flowing with a gentle murmur.
Historia crouched beside it and, for the first time, reached out to touch the cool current, feeling the delicate caress of ripples over her fingertips.
She could not help letting out a small sigh of delighted surprise.
Watching the radiance bloom across her face, Aeternus unconsciously smiled from the heart as well.
Sunlight fell over their two small figures, while the stream reflected their carefree silhouettes.
The air was rich with the fragrance of grass and damp earth.
That moment was pure and beautiful.
For the time being, it shut out every shadow cast by the future and the past.
It was only the beginning of countless “secret adventures.”
Over the days that followed, they explored the stream upstream and downstream, learned about different wildflowers and insects in the nearby woods, and shared more secrets and laughter that belonged only to the two of them.
Historia's eyes grew brighter, and her smiles became more numerous and more natural.
The fence still stood, but in her heart, it was no longer an absolute boundary that could not be crossed.
For her, that single step was a tremendous leap toward freedom and her own will.
It was the first vivid stroke of color Aeternus painted across her gray and white world.
At the same time, Aeternus had never ceased exploring his own ability.
He discovered that his connection to the [Paths] was becoming increasingly stable and profound.
At first, Historia had needed to touch him.
Later, she merely needed to be near him.
And now, even when he was home alone, far from the pasture, he could occasionally enter that [Accelerated World] as long as he concentrated intensely and shut out all stray thoughts.
Though he could maintain it for less time, and the mental exhaustion after leaving it was more intense.
Through diligent training, entering the [Accelerated World] for one or two brief seconds to instantly plan a combat strategy in his mind or analyze a complicated movement no longer caused severe headaches.
It was as though his brain had begun adapting to that brief overclocking.
Busch was no longer surprised by his “astonishingly rapid progress.” He simply believed the boy was extraordinarily gifted and willing to work hard—a raw gem awaiting polish.
Yet Aeternus could also clearly feel that he had reached a bottleneck.
Entering the state was still not stable enough, like a receiver with poor signal.
The duration of the [Accelerated World] remained limited to a little over ten seconds.
And whenever he tried to forcibly prolong it or deepen the connection, the familiar sensation of his mind being torn apart immediately struck him, warning that he had reached his limit.
The growth of his ability seemed to have hit a ceiling.
It made him restless, but there was nothing he could do. He could only attribute it to the limitations of his age and physical development.
One quiet night.
As usual, after confirming that his family was sound asleep, Aeternus lay in bed and attempted his daily ability training.
He emptied his thoughts and focused his consciousness on that familiar sea of white sand, trying to find an opportunity to break through the bottleneck...
Suddenly!
An unprecedented sensation swept over him—
It was not a successful entry into the [Accelerated World].
Rather, the entire [Paths] itself seemed to have been violently shaken from the outside by an invisible giant hand!
An intense tremor originating at the level of his soul pierced through him.
It vanished after only an instant, so quickly that it could almost have been mistaken for a hallucination born of mental fatigue.
But Aeternus abruptly sat upright in bed, cold sweat instantly beading on his brow.
That was not an illusion!
The [Paths]... what had happened?
Had that pillar of light undergone some change?
Or was the abyss that devoured everything expanding?
Or perhaps... had some powerful existence intervened, or had another “unexpected visitor” like himself forcibly entered this realm?
Doubt and a faint unease wound rapidly through his thoughts like cold vines.
He tried to focus again and connect to the [Paths], but everything felt normal, as though that violent tremor had never occurred.
All that remained was an inescapable premonition that a storm was coming.
With this unresolved mystery and lurking unease, Aeternus tossed and turned until exhaustion and confusion finally dragged him into sleep.
Yet sleep brought him no peace.
His “dream” was no longer a chaotic collection of fragments, nor his familiar solitary journey through the sea of sand. Instead, a powerful, unfamiliar force dragged him once again into that boundless white realm.
But this time, he was no longer alone.
A girl stood a short distance ahead of him.
She appeared to be slightly younger than he was. Her neat short hair was blond, and her delicate face was drawn tight, as though covered in a layer of frost.
Her icy blue eyes were full of vigilance, confusion, and shock she was doing her utmost to conceal.
They swept rapidly over this bizarre space, assessing the surroundings and potential threats.
She wore ordinary cloth clothes, a little worn but scrupulously clean.
Her stance possessed an unusual steadiness. Her fists had unconsciously clenched, and every muscle in her body was taut.
She was unlike an ordinary child.
She was more like a small beast that had instinctively entered an absolute defensive state in unfamiliar surroundings, ready to lash out and wound someone at any moment.
Aeternus's heart shook violently, and his breath nearly stopped.
Who was this girl?
How had she appeared here?
Had she, too, been swept into the [Paths] as an Eldian?
But her bearing, that trained posture...
He opened his mouth, just about to utter a tentative syllable:
"You..."
However, the blond girl seemed to have been thoroughly alarmed by this sudden, unfamiliar environment and the figure before her—the only person she could regard as either a source of information or a threat.
Her intense vigilance made her choose the most direct course of action—
Strike first!
The instant Aeternus spoke that single word, her gaze sharpened. Her slight figure shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Her speed far exceeded that of an ordinary child, and her movements bore obvious traces of systematic combat training.
She went straight for Aeternus's wrist.
Her intent was obvious: subdue him and seize control of the situation!
Aeternus hastily responded, trying to block her.
But in this unstable space of the [Paths], made unstable by another consciousness forcefully intruding upon it, the [Accelerated World] ability he relied upon seemed to have been disrupted or suppressed by some force.
He could not activate it at all!
He could only rely on the still-immature fighting skills he had developed over these past days and the evasive methods Busch had taught him.
The gap between them was obvious.
The girl's movements were smoother than his, her application of force more precise. She had clearly undergone strict, systematic instruction.
She easily deflected the arm he tried to use to block her. With a swift, ingenious trip, she simultaneously drove her elbow viciously toward his chest—
Though her strength still lacked the polish of an adult, her technique and ruthlessness had already taken shape.
"Ugh!"
Aeternus let out a muffled grunt. His body fell backward beyond his control, crashing heavily onto the cold white sand and sending up a small cloud of dust.
Before he could struggle back up, the girl had already darted forward.
Using her body weight and skill, she pinned him down. One hand clamped onto a vulnerable point on his shoulder like an iron vice, while her other hand hovered alertly in the air, fingers slightly curled, ready to deal with any counterattack or strike at his vital points.
Those icy blue eyes were close enough to touch.
They were filled with cold scrutiny, an unquestionable threat, and a task-driven ferocity that did not belong to someone her age.
The sea of sand was deathly still. Only their hurried breaths overlapped.
With suppressive force and an air that permitted no resistance, the girl hurled her cold, wary voice at the restrained Aeternus:
"Where is this?"
"Who are you?"
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