He woke up.
Slowly.
The ceiling.
The room.
His breathing.
“I’m…
alive.”
He tried to sit up—
Pain.
Not just in his body.
In his mind.
It felt as though he had been drained to the very bottom, as if something had consumed all of his mental energy and left behind a heavy, hollow emptiness.
He sat up with difficulty.
Amy was there, seated in a chair beside the bed.
In an unusually calm voice, she said,
“Don’t move.”
He looked at her.
“What happened?”
Karl, Gene, and Noor exchanged glances.
Then Karl spoke.
“That’s what we’d like to know from you.”
Silence lingered for a moment.
Then Daron answered slowly,
“I used it.”
He placed a hand against his head.
“But not like before.”
His fingers tightened slightly.
“I saw everything.
Too clearly.”
He drew a strained breath.
“But I couldn’t endure it.”
Silence settled over the room.
“Your body collapsed,” Gene said.
“And so did your mind,” Karl added.
Daron looked at them.
“How long did it last?”
Amy answered quietly,
“Seconds.”
His eyes widened.
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That sensation had felt like an entire world.
He lowered his head.
Then he smiled.
This smile was different.
There was understanding in it.
“I get it now…”
Everyone looked at him.
“My ability…”
He paused.
Then continued,
“…its potential is truly enormous.”
His gaze sharpened.
“But my mind is too weak to bear it.”
The others watched him with curiosity—and a hint of sympathy.
He turned toward them.
“I realized something even more important than that.”
A confident smile appeared on his face.
“Abilities aren’t something that exist for us to rely on completely.”
He swung his legs off the bed and stood.
“They aren’t something we build our entire existence around.”
His voice grew firmer.
“They exist to complement us.”
He clenched a fist lightly.
“To become an extension of who we already are.”
Everyone stared at him.
Then, one by one, they sank into thought.
A different kind of silence filled the room.
Not uncertainty.
Contemplation.
The first to break it was Noor.
“I understand.”
She looked down briefly before continuing.
“That actually explains a lot.”
She folded her arms.
“Abilities.
Willpower.
Amy nodded in agreement.
“Willpower is the foundation of all living beings.”
She smiled faintly.
“And abilities exist to support us on the path toward true will.”
Silence returned.
Everyone remained lost in thought.
Each person tried to process the conclusion they had reached together.
Eventually, they decided to eat dinner and get some sleep.
Returning to the embrace of sleep wasn’t difficult.
The mental exhaustion was more than enough.
The next morning, he woke to the sound of Amy knocking on his door.
When he opened it, she stood there with a bright face completely free of fatigue.
“Come on, you lazy bum!”
She grinned.
“Everyone’s waiting for us.
Today we’re taking a break and having some fun.”
Before long, they met up with the others.
For once, they were dressed like ordinary people.
No armor.
No visible weapons.
Just normal clothes.
For some reason, it made Daron feel as though they had become human again.
The day was genuinely enjoyable.
Filled with laughter.
With aimless wandering.
With no goal beyond enjoying each other’s company.
Gene turned out to be exactly the kind of person who quietly looked after everyone.
He was the type to pay for the food before anyone even thought to ask.
As for Karl, he never stopped praising himself—his looks, his strength, his elegance.
But later, Daron discovered that Karl had a crush on Mary, the guild receptionist.
The expression on Karl’s face when he was confronted about it was so painfully amusing that Daron nearly burst out laughing.
Amy, naturally, spent the entire day throwing jokes and sarcastic comments at everyone.
Karl’s innocent affection for Mary became her favorite target.
As for the usually quiet Noor, she displayed a surprising enthusiasm whenever she explained complicated topics she referred to as “general knowledge.”
She could move seamlessly from the history of ancient kingdoms to the different species of plants found in the forest.
It was obvious that she loved knowledge in a quiet, profound way.
It was a bright day.
A warm day.
At its end, they celebrated with a large dinner before returning to their beds, carrying hopeful promises for tomorrow.