Chapter 237
The days in Theem'dra passed both quickly and slowly.
While she could endure her fingernails turning black or growing longer,
As the mutation began spreading throughout her body, Tika gradually became less like Tika.
Without realizing it herself, she ate not only food but also leaves, wood scraps left over from carving boats, dirt, and such things.
She ate live fish whole or chewed raw mushrooms that Yesung had told her not to eat, yet remained fine.
Of course, when her mind returned while eating, she would be startled and throw away whatever was in her hands.
But the time she could control herself grew shorter and shorter.
Her skin, which had gone beyond pale to white, had a luster that could never come from a human.
Her golden hair that proved she was a Shambhala person was also gradually darkening.
Tika didn't want to show it, but she became more depressed day by day. Shan, watching the depressed Tika, also felt unwell.
When Tika tossed and turned in bed sniffling at night,
Shan would look at Yesung's empty bed and cry out inwardly, asking when he could come and whether he would come at all.
But the sea remained calm and there was no hope in Theem'dra.
How many weeks had passed like that?
"Tika."
"...Shan."
"You came all the way out here again? It's gotten cold lately. Let's go back."
"Just wait a little longer. I haven't been here long."
Tika swept her completely black hair, with no trace of gold left, over her shoulder.
Waves swept sand away and scattered with white foam.
Shan looked out at the distant sea beside Tika, but his eyes saw nothing either.
Tika had been coming to the sea more and more recently.
Probably because she wanted to check when Yesung might return.
But despite her waiting, the sea remained just as heartless.
Shan pulled her shoulder. His hand was wrapped in an unfamiliar, subtle feeling of flesh.
"You know the weather's been strange lately too. It's been continuously overcast but no rain comes."
"Yeah... But being here makes me feel at ease. At home, I don't know what I might eat, right? Here, at most I'd eat seawater or sand."
Even at Tika's joke, Shan didn't laugh.
A very long time had passed since Yesung left.
Honestly, Shan thought Yesung might have abandoned them and gone somewhere else.
Even if he had crossed the sea to go to new lands with many other wondrous things, he wouldn't resent him,
But if that were the case, he shouldn't have said he would definitely return before leaving.
Hiding his melancholy feelings, Shan asked Tika.
"Since Yesung said he went far away, it will take time for him to come back too."
"Yeah. I know. I don't know how far away he is, but I keep looking anyway, you know? It's strange."
"It's not strange. I think about Yesung returning to Theem'dra a lot too."
"Because of me?"
"That's part of it."
A suddenly much colder wind swept past the two.
Tika seemed not to feel the cold, but Shan stuck closer to her and said.
"It'll get colder if we stay here. I'll check later whether Yesung is coming or not. So let's go in."
"Shan, I."
Tika, not taking her eyes off the horizon, murmured.
"It's okay if Yesung doesn't solve this. It doesn't matter if he failed or if things didn't go well with the terrible being."
"Tika."
"But I hope Yesung returns to Theem'dra."
"......"
"It's bad to think Yesung will solve everything, right? So I wasn't really expecting him to defeat this thing called Idra. But Yesung returning is a different story, right? It's natural for the three of us to be here together, right?"
"Tika..."
"So I hope Yesung comes back soon. You think so too."
Though she tried to speak cheerfully, deep in her voice was sadness that couldn't be hidden no matter what.
Shan understood Tika's heart.
Tika loved Yesung. She liked Yesung very much, differently from how she loved Shan.
Shan felt the same way. While Anutara was someone to be respected, there was always distance.
But Yesung wasn't as perfect as Anutara. If you looked closely, he had sloppy aspects and sometimes said unexpected, strange things.
Yet at the same time, he devoted himself to Shan and Tika.
The affection this stranger from the desert outskirts poured on him and Tika was deep.
They had just encountered him a bit more often and shared a few more conversations than other Shambhala people.
Yet Yesung had treated them well as if he had intended to do so from the beginning.
Yesung's attitude wasn't noticeably affectionate.
But his dry affection was soft like sand touching bare feet, and sometimes blazingly hot like a desert heated by sunlight, enough to be startling.
Why he had been good to the two was still a mystery,
But there was no doubt about the fact that Yesung loved them.
That's why Shan and Tika had let Yesung into their fold at some point.
From a desert outsider to the concept of 'us.'
And now the two had lost a component that made up 'us.'
Shan had to admit it. He also hoped Yesung would return soon, as much as Tika did.
"I understand your feelings. I believe Yesung will return someday. He said so when he got on the boat. Not to lose hope."
"You still remember that? Shan is amazing."
"It would be stranger to forget. So what we need to do here is wait. Yesung will return. Until then, we have to protect Theem'dra."
"Yeah. I think Shan is right."
For the person who would return soon, to maintain unchanged Theem'dra.
Shan suddenly looked up.
From the overcast gray sky, something cold and white was falling.
*
[Believer. Didn't you know your shoulder was broken?]
"How would I have known that? I thought it kept hurting because I was constantly rowing."
[It wouldn't be strange if that arm just snapped off right now. The believer is certainly quite insensitive.]
"The ligaments or muscles must have ruptured. Anyway, it's fortunate I don't need to get a boat when returning."
[Be grateful for this being's mercy. Foolish believer. Crashing your boat into a glacier. You almost would have remained on the ice floe forever with no way back.]
"It's not like I wanted to do that."
The white glacier cutting through the black and blue waters raced refreshingly forward.
He was desperately avoiding the wind behind the glacier, relying on the ice mass.
Aphoom-Zhah, sitting on the highest point of the glacier, spoke while his long white hair fluttered.
[But it seems you did want to. Isn't that right, believer? I saw you trying to open the Yellow King's book to give up.]
"I wasn't trying to fall into the sea! More than that, I'm going to die of hypothermia at this rate!"
[You were the one who said to go as fast as possible. Believer, stop being capricious. Before I turn you into an ice corpse.]
Due to the issue of being dunked in the sea twice, his clothes had long since frozen stiff.
On top of that, he was cheerfully getting hit by wind, so enough said.
It was so cold that he wished he had just one more proper blanket,
But he couldn't expect such things from Aphoom-Zhah.
Curled up tightly to preserve what body heat he had, tears came to his eyes.
He thought that when he returned to Theem'dra, he would bask in warm sunlight for 24 hours straight.
After ten days of such bitter cold passed,
The glacier controlled by Aphoom-Zhah glided across the sea and returned to familiar land.
The sky was ashen gray with heavy clouds.
[Get off. Believer, or are you already dead?]
"I'm not dead yet...!"
Aphoom-Zhah, who had brought the glacier to the waters in front of Theem'dra, leaped down lightly.
When he awkwardly climbed down from behind the glacier, the sea, much warmer than where Aphoom-Zhah had been, wrapped around his legs.
Ah, if there was heaven, it would surely be a place like this.
[You have a dazed expression. Believer. Do you have time for that? The disgusting smell of Idra is already wafting strongly.]
"I was planning to go there first anyway."
As soon as they splashed out of the water, they headed toward the house.
Since he couldn't count how much time had passed, he couldn't know precisely,
But thinking that Shan and Tika would be waiting desperately for him, he hurried his steps.
Arriving at the house expecting Shan and Tika's bright smiles,
"...It's gone."
The house was mostly destroyed.
When he had left, everything had definitely been fine.
They had cleaned the path in front of the house thoroughly and applied tree sap to every gap in the wooden house to prevent rain from getting in.
They had even transplanted Tika's favorite flowers and bushes to plant nearby.
Shan's fishing tools hanging neatly on the outer wall was the Theem'dra he remembered.
But the house he saw upon returning with Aphoom-Zhah was like ruins.
As he slowly approached, the half-broken door dangled,
And inside was a mess of rotten fruit, overturned beds, straw, and torn cloth.
The humid smell of mold wafted from the floor, suggesting rain had fallen.
While he stood staring blankly at the sight, Aphoom-Zhah, who had followed behind him, glanced inside and said.
[Has Idra's avatar been here?]
"Avatar, you mean."
[It's what the believer is thinking. A foul smell wafts. It leads that way, shall we go see?]
The direction Aphoom-Zhah pointed was toward where the river was.
Seeing that, he ran without time to think.
Apart from his whole body creaking and being painful from not healing, the words that it smelled like 'Idra's avatar' rather than 'Tika' made his chest tighten coldly.
Even when out of breath, he didn't stop and ran like a madman until he reached the place where the river and sea connected,
The place where Shan and Tika had pushed his boat and seen him off.
Someone was standing there. Long black hair was fluttering in the lonely wind.
"...Tika."
At his unconscious murmur, she turned toward him.
She was not Tika. She was just a transforming avatar with thick traces of Idra.
Long, blade-like sharp fingernails,
Smooth, lustrous porcelain-like skin,
Jet-black hair as if molded from pulled darkness.
Tika's eyes, which had always been a soft blue, were gradually being eroded by blackness.
Her lips were bright red. A tongue that licked red lips like those of Idra he had seen that day glistened.
At her feet, Shan lay collapsed.
Idra who devoured everything.
Disgusting Idra who could only exist by constantly eating living things.
Idra who would eat Shan through Tika, then devour herself to be reborn as a complete avatar.
The rustling sound of grass stopped.
Beside him, Aphoom-Zhah asked.
[What do you desire, believer?]
"...Anything is fine?"
[My capricious believer who practices betrayal. Your one and only god is by your side. What do you fear? With your exclusive god, one who will be your strength, behind you, what do you hesitate about?]
He felt sick. Everything seemed to be distorting.
On the riverbank, right nearby, was Idra wearing Tika's appearance.
Behind her was the person who had pushed the boat he rode and wished for his return.
The voice that had shouted to stay healthy while submerged in water up to the waist, the affectionate eyes, the hair that sparkled yellow like a wheat field still remained with him.
Aphoom-Zhah's cold breath tickled his earlobe.
[Ask for whatever you desire. Then I will make it happen.]
"What I want is."
He couldn't breathe.
Where do all the stolen things go?
Where do the things humans have robbed by gods go?
"Lord of the Extreme Realm, flame of living ice. Your humble believer dares to ask of great you."
Those of us who remain,
Where can we find the others who were taken?
"Please make that avatar of Idra kneel before me."
Idra, unable to contain her surging appetite, leaped up toward him.
Aphoom-Zhah laughed.
[That's more like it.]
-Snap.
With the sound of snapping fingers, ice that surged from the river struck Idra's avatar, Tika, who had leaped into the air.