Anna's journey. First part

Anna's POV:

As I placed the weird stone inside the small space at the base of the throne, a blinding light engulfed my vision, making me unable to see anything as I started feeling my body growing lighter.

Once the bright light faded, I found out I was now in a completely different place. Looking around, the pillars and form of the surround looked the same, but the throne, the dead bodies and Ethan were all gone. Panicking slightly, I started shouting Ethan's name as loud as I could, hoping that he would somehow hear me, but it was all in vain.

'Did that strange statue got him?' I asked myself as I curled up into a ball and started crying. I cried and cried for hours, with my eyes closed, hoping all of this was a bad dream and I'll eventually wake up, but I was mistaken. This was no dream, and Ethan was not with me anymore. He was probably dead, like my father, like old man Cunt...

'No, Ethan will come. He will come.' I said to myself, trying to push all those dark thoughts away, but it was of no use. No matter what I said to myself, how much I wished for it, how much I hoped, even after almost an entire day, Ethan didn't come.

I was already slightly dizzy, probably from all the crying and hunger, and as I felt my consciousness slipping away, I mumbled to myself:

"If you really died Ethan, we'll be together again soon."

As darkness slowly appeared at the corner of my vision, images of the time I spent with Ethan started playing through my mind. I remembered the time I first peered into his eyes, eyes that seem to contain their own World, their own Universe. Eyes so blue that peering into them made you feel like you were floating through the sky above..

"Oh, how I wish I could see that beautiful sky again…" I mumbled to myself.

I remembered his smile, a smile that always brought light to my world, a smile so simple and pure, a smile that will gently caress my soul and made me forget about everything that is wrong with this world.

"How I wish that your smile would push away this darkness that is slowly taking me now.."

"Why are you not here, Ethan?"

"I miss you…"

"Please, come back to me…"

As I felt a wet tear falling down my check, my eyes finally closed and my vision darkened completely.

I felt myself floating through darkness, my mind unable to form a single thought. After what felt like an eternity, a lonely eternity, as I was slowly drifting through the darkness, a small ray of light appeared and started brightening the space around me. Clarity also started coming back to me as I pushed myself to open my eyes.

What I saw, was something that it was hard to even describe. Bright specks of light were floating gently all around, each a color of it's own. Whatever was happening, wherever I was, it was simply magical.

As I was staring in wonder all around me, a small speck of golden light floated in front of me. Intrigued, I extended my hand to touch it, but it just floated away, dodging my hand. Driven by instinct, I started chasing after the speck of light. I followed it through empty space, passing by specks of light of endless amount of colors, but my mind was only on this golden one. I felt that if I lose track of this speck of light, that would be the end of it all.

Seconds passed, minutes, hours, days, years, decades, centuries… in the whole space, full of stationary specks of lights, there was only a girl chasing after a speck of golden light.

After who knows how long, it stopped and I finally managed to grab onto it. As my hand and the speck of light came into contact, the space, the other lights, everything disappeared and I appeared inside a completely white room.

A mature woman with a transparent body was sitting on the ground in front of me. Her golden hair looked ragged and it was slowly turning black from the roots. There were also black specks all over her body and she looked sick. Seeing me appear in front of her, she raised her head with difficulty and I noticed that one of her eyes was golden while the other was completely black.

"You came back." A tired voice sounded in our surroundings but her mouth didn't move at all.

"Who are you?" I asked, confused by everything that was happening.

She didn't answer my question and just slowly extended her hand towards me. I was confused but slowly extended my hand to grab hers. There was a deep pity inside my soul as I looked at her ragged image.

As I grabbed her hand, a disgusting feeling started spreading all over my body. Looking down, I noticed small back creatures bitting on my body continuously, crawling all over it. It scared me so much that I let go of the woman's hand. As soon as I did, all the creatures disappeared like they never existed in the first place and the voice sounded in my surroundings again.

"Child. I need you to help me."

This was the last thing I heard before I appeared inside the ruins from before again. I was initially confused, not really remembering what happened, but soon images started coming back to me. I remembered getting separated from Ethan and appearing in these ruins. I remembered falling asleep and floating through empty space for what felt like forever. I remembered the pitiful woman laying on the ground.

As all these memories started returning to me, I felt my eyes heating up slightly and the same voice from before started talking in my ear.

"Child, I give you all the power I can right now. Grow stronger and once he comes back to you, help him. He'll need all the help he can get when fighting against the demons."

Once her words ended, informations started flooding my mind. Informations about demons, magic, war and finally Ethan. I saw Ethan fighting the golem inside the ruins and using the same device as I did before appearing inside the magic circle created by a girl. That was where the images stopped but it was enough.

"It's enough. He's alive. He didn't die."

I mumbled to myself with my fists clenched. As long as he was still alive, there was still hope.

Sitting up, I knew that sitting here was pointless. Ethan was teleported to a completely different place. Browsing through the information that was now inside my head, I understood that outside our small village at the top of the mountain was a whole world full of people. A world that was in danger of getting devoured by the demons. I skipped looking deeper through all that information for later.

"Did the 'he' you mentioned means Ethan? Will he fight against the demons?" I asked out loud, hoping from an answer from the voice from before, but none came.

"Whatever you meant, we could never reunite if the world got devoured. I'll use this power that you gave me to fight as well."

With my conviction renewed, I started looking for an exit from this place. It didn't take long before I found a tunnel that looked like it might be the exit. I started running through the tunnel, but soon I arrived a portion without lights. Looking though the information that appeared in my mind, I soon found a spell that might be useful. I followed the instructions and soon a small ball of light appeared over my hand.

"So this is magic…"

I mumbled as I made the ball of light float in front of me and started running forward again. After I got out of the tunnel, I was greeted by a wide forest. I wanted to find other people, so I chose a direction and started walking. I kept walking for three days until I finally started getting tired.

Climbing on top of a tree, I remembered the time I rested on top of a tree with Ethan and old man Cunt. A smile appeared on my lips as my thought ran to Ethan.

With the same smile on my lips, I closed my eyes and went to sleep. Once my mana recovered and I woke up, I started thinking that there might be a spell that could help me cover more ground faster.

As I started looking through the information that I received from the world, I didn't find any spell that might help with that, but I found a spell called World Catalyst. Using my mana, I cast the spell and writing made out of light appeared in front of me.

[

Anna - Avatar of the Will;

World Energy: 0/90 000;

Health: 300/300;

Level: 30;

Vitality: 30;

Strength: 30;

Agility : 30;

Mana: 600/600;

Mental: 30;

]

Looking at the writing that appeared, I smiled and mumbled to myself: "I remember Ethan saying something about being level 3, I'm already level 30. I wonder how will he react when he finds out I'm stronger than he is."

With these thoughts in mind, I canceled my spell and resumed my search. It took another two full days before I finally found a village. Looking at the ragged wolf pelts I was wearing, I checked to make sure they covered all the important parts since I didn't want to expose myself to anyone except Ethan and started heading towards the village.

The people looked quite strange and there was a feeling that made me want to throw up the closer I got to the village. Forcing myself to ignore the feeling, I approached one of the people in the village and asked: "Hello, can you tell me where I am?"

The man didn't even stop when I walked in front of him and bumped into me before continuing his walk like I didn't exist.

"Is he blind?" I mumbled to myself and proceeded to speak to another villager, but the same thing happened all over again. Confused, I kept trying to speak to the people inside the village one after another, but the same situation kept repeating itself.

Since I didn't manage to speak to any of them and the feeling of disgust was growing stronger, I kept distancing myself from the village until that feeling disappeared and sat down at the base of a tree.

"What is wrong with all these people?" I asked myself as I started browsing the information from the world will for an answer. It took me a while until I finally got my answer.

"Mind control. So it's also the demon's doing. I wonder if I can free them?"

With this thought in mind, I decided to carefully read through all the information I received from the world will. It took my over two days to truly make that knowledge mine. After I was done, I opened my hand and, channeling my mana, I created a small mana crystal with a magic circle inside it.

'I hope this works.' I said as I took a deep breath, stood up and headed back towards the small village. Ignoring the nauseating feeling, I walked up to the first person I saw and placed the crystal on their chest. The crystal started brightening as soon as it came into contact with that person's body, but even after waiting for a while nothing seemed to be happening.

Confused, I released the brainwashed man and tried using the crystal on another one. After more than twenty tries, I walked to a man sitting on the ground with a lost look. The moment I placed the crystal on his body, there was finally a change. His lost eyes became focused once more and he quickly grabbed my hand.

I was startled and pulled back right away. As soon as the crystal stopped coming in direct contact with the man's body, his eyes became lost again. Taking another deep breath, I placed the crystal on his body once more. This time, the man didn't try to grab me and just looked at me with tears streaming down his cheeks as he said: "I'm sorry for scaring you. Thank you. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome." I replied, a bit embarrassed at being started so intensely by a man and continued: "Are you all right now?"

The man nodded and looked towards my hand that was pressing the crystal against his chest. Then, he remembered something and said: "Please, Goddess. You must help my wife and daughter as well."

I was startled by him calling me a goddess and said: "I'm no goddess, this is only a simple spell. I'll help your family, but I must first make sure that you won't lose contact with the crystal or the spell will be undone. It's possible it will hurt a little, but try not to move."

Seeing him nod, I channeled my mana and pushed the crystal into the man's chest, right above his heart. The man clenched his teeth, but didn't let out a single sound. Once the crystal was safely embedded in his body, I took back my hand and said: "Can you show me where your family is?"

The man stood up and started leading me deeper inside the village. I followed after him and we soon arrived at a small house. We stepped inside and saw a woman breastfeeding a small baby girl with a blank look. The man walked up and hugged the two before turning his hopeful eyes on me.

"I will try to do the same, but you must know that it doesn't work on everybody. I don't know why yet."

After he told me he understood, he stepped back and I created a new crystal. Only making two of them drained me of almost my entire mana pool. With a trembling hand, I place the crystal on the woman's chest.

'Please work! Please work! Please work!' I kept telling myself, but reality doesn't always go the way we want it to. Even after a long time there was no change to the woman's blank look. Closing my eyes, I let out a sigh and said: "I'm sorry. It didn't work."

I didn't see the man, but the silence after my words was heavy enough. The man eventually let out a sigh and said: "What about my daughter?"

I looked at the small baby and said: "She's too young to tell if it will work or not. All I can do is to embed the crystal inside her body and hope it works."

There was another long break before the man said: "Do it, saintess.". I didn't bother to correct him and proceeded to embed the crystal into the little baby girl's arm. I ignored her cries with a heavy heart and finished the process. Once I was done, I cast a healing spell to remove her pain, stepped back and said: "It's done. Judging by her loud cries, it might be a sign she's all right, but I can't say that for sure."

The man came, picked up his daughter and turned to bow deeply towards me. After that, he sat on the bed near his wife and started playing with the little girl. The image was heartwarming, but I just couldn't bring myself to smile as I looked at the woman who stayed to the side with a blank look and her robes still undone in the chest area.

"You two should leave the village. The demons come from time to time to feed. If they discover you are no longer under their control they will probably kill and eat you."

The man nodded and said: "I know, saintess. I could still hear and see everything while I was under their control, but I just couldn't move a single muscle, like I was a prisoner inside my own body."

"That sounds… terrifying." I replied, too scared to even imagine what that felt like.

The man lifted his head towards the ceiling of the small house and said: "I heard the demons say that there are some people still fighting against them in the far north. I think I'll take my daughter with me and join them."

"Can I also come with you? I'm also interested in joining the fight against the demons."

The man nodded and said: "Can you wait outside for a moment so I can say my goodbyes to my wife? I'll join you right after."

"Sure. Take your time." I said and left towards the door. Once I opened the door, I turned back and saw the man hugging his wife while soft sobs kept coming from his direction. Closing my eyes to stop myself from crying as well, I stepped through the door and walked outside.

Sitting on the ground near the gate, my mind went to Ethan as well.

'At least I know that you are still all right. Do I even have the right to be sad right now?' I mumbled to myself as my eyes slowly closed and I fell asleep. The mana I spend creating those crystals made me too tired to stay awake.

When I opened my eyes again, the man was sitting next to me, his daughter nowhere in sight. There was a piece of paper on the ground near me. Picking it up, I noticed that it was a hand drawn map.

After I picked up the map, he said: "Saintess, I apologize, but I can't come with you. In the end, I can't abandon my wife here…"

"But the demons…" I replied, not understanding what exactly happened while I was asleep that made him change his mind.

"I know. When they come, I'll just take my daughter and try to hide… Let's hope that will be enough." he then stood up and started waking back towards his house. His back looked so lonely and sad that it was hard to even look at.

"I guess only by taking care of all the demons can these people be truly free…Sigh.." I mumbled to myself as I picked up the map and started walking out the village. On the map there was a big area circled and Anti-demon fighters was written on top of the circle.

With a heavy heart, I left the village behind and started heading towards the circled area on the map. I now had one more reason to fight against the demons.