Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1450: You lose control of your emotions so easily when it comes to that pathetic thing you call love

”Are you sure he woke up?” Xara frowned as she stared at Aether’s unmoving body.

Emberlyn nodded, her expression tight and serious, fingers curling into the fabric of her sleeve. ”I am sure. Believe me. I saw it clearly. His fingers moved, not just once... they reacted, like he was trying to pull himself back.”

Xara hummed softly. Her eyes traced his form, lingering on his arms, his shoulders, the faint lines of muscle beneath his skin. She pressed her fingers gently against him, searching for tension, for resistance, for even the smallest involuntary twitch that might confirm Emberlyn’s claim.

But there was nothing.

No tremor or stiffness.

Only Aether’s steady breathing.

Xara straightened slightly, her gaze returning to his hand. ”Are you absolutely certain it moved?” she asked quietly.

Emberlyn clenched her fist, ”I told you, I saw it with my own eyes. It was not my imagination. His fingers twitched, just like someone struggling to wake up from a deep dream.”

Xara hummed again, her expression growing more thoughtful. It was not that she doubted Emberlyn’s honesty.

It was simply that bodies did strange things when pushed too far. Muscle spasms could appear after prolonged immobility, especially when the body had been stretched or stimulated by others.

She exhaled slowly, then reached out and gently slapped Aether’s cheek, careful not to be rough. ”Aether... can you hear me?” she asked, leaning closer. ”Are you alright? If you are there, give us something. Anything.”

Only Silence.

Xara straightened and shook her head, turning as if to leave. Before she could take a step, Emberlyn moved in front of her, blocking her path.

”B-But I saw him. Please believe me. We cannot just walk away. We have to do something.”

Xara met her gaze and shook her head slowly, ”His body is fine, and his soul is not damaged. There is nothing more we can do right now. If he is unconscious, or trapped somewhere beyond our reach, only he can find his way back.” Her eyes softened as she spoke, but the truth did not change.

Emberlyn bit her lip, struggling to hold back the fear that threatened to spill over. ”But when?” she whispered. ”How long are we supposed to wait?”

Xara did not answer immediately. She turned back toward Aether, ”That... depends on him.”

In the end, that was all they could do. They had no technique left, no hidden method to force him awake without risking something far worse.

They were already afraid of what might happen if they interfered too much. His hand still shivered faintly, refusing to heal, as if caught between existence and loss. The sight alone was enough to keep them from acting recklessly.

They did not fully understand the magic involved, but from Delphine’s words, one thing was clear. When Aether tried to save her from those unknown creatures, something had gone terribly wrong, and his hand had been taken.

They believed that his hand still existed somewhere, alive and bound to him, but kept with that unknown creature.

The only way to retrieve it, or destroy it completely so that his body could finally heal, was to find it.

But how they were supposed to do that?

They had no records, nothing that could lead them forward.

They knew almost nothing about the Eternal Prison, not even in the Elven Library!

And even less about the creature that now carried a part of Aether with it.

Xara and Emberlyn stared at Aether, neither of them speaking.

[The view] seemed to slowly draw closer toward Aether’s forehead, passing through skin, flesh, and bone, slipping beyond the limits of the physical. It descended deeper, into a space overflowing with raw, shifting energies that did not belong to no living being could hold it.

Clusters of tiny, sparkling colours collided and separated, breaking apart and reforming like unstable stars. They were connected thin thread of light that pulsed everywhere like neurons.

They surged forward, crashing into one another like fragments of creation itself, as if existence were constantly tearing down and rebuilding in the same breath.

As the view pushed further inward, the colours thinned, their brilliance fading.

One by one, the clusters vanished, swallowed whole, until nothing remained except endless darkness.

”Arrh!!”

Aether groaned, his ghostly body twisting violently as he struggled to move. Every part of him felt restrained, as if invisible chains pressed him down.