The passage of time flew by me, like I was inside a chrysalis being pampered and protected, just waiting for my wings to sprout. It was like I was stuck in the realm between the physical and spiritual...

On a midsummer solstice, where the villagers celebrate their upcoming bountiful harvest by giving out flowers to each other, a mother had decided to give her wreath that she painstakingly created to her son who was sleeping.

Estella with both of her hands laid down the wreath on her son Philip's head, she then gently caressed her son's hair and told him a story about how her life went, her husband's day, and the neighbor's day, every day for the past three years, without ever missing a single day.

"Hey, did you know? this solstice it seems that we will be harvesting the most pineapples ever seen in years! I bet you would like to eat until your mouth feels raspy." but there was still no response...

Estella just smiled back at her son, still laying there feebly, with a peaceful look on his face.

"It's okay, I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes...

B-By the way I heard our neighbor Alicia apparently have gotten pregnant, and all of her family came home to celebrate, but when the baby came out, it had the same green eyes as her brother, but that trait only appears when both of the parents have green eyes, isn't that kind of funny?" Estella then went on to change the topics until she fell asleep while holding her son's hand...

On her dreams, she was always inside a room that would be flooded with water, however every time she would try to run, her body and the objects around would completely remain in stasis, until she became asphyxiated.

There was no going forward or backward, only guilt that can't seem to wash away, as every time she woke up,

she would completely forget everything that just happened-

However, this time it was different, she felt a single touch on her head, and that was enough to pull her out of that nightmare.

With her head lying beside her son's stomach, as she opened her eyes, the lights reflecting through the windows began to reappear in her sight.

A familiar silhouette then started patting her while she was half asleep, she couldn't help but feel comforted by its tender hands.

She then leaned on forward, but when she came to be fully awake, she could not contain herself-

"P-Philip! Is it really you? I-I'm not dreaming, am I?" Estella asked in disbelief.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Tears began to fall from her eyes, uncontrollably, while she hugged her son as tightly as she could.

"Sniffle! Sniffle!"

Estella couldn't contain herself; she had been longing for this day to come, even with just a tiny fraction of hope, then all of a sudden just like that-

In return Philip seeing his mother's affection also hugged her tightly, it just felt like that's what he should do, it just felt right for the moment....

Several mixed emotions surged throughout her like timed had slowed down for her, while she remembered those painful memories, starting from day one...

"Hmmm? interesting..." The surveyor reacted in fascination because he had never seen such a thing before, as he hid his expression in front of the adoptive parents. But whether that fascination and hiding his expression was done with pure concern and intentions was still unclear.

"S-So can you tell me what's wrong with my son?" As Estella grabbed the surveyor's hand with both of her hands.

"I'm sorry ma'am as I don't have any knowledge of what your son's race is, I can't help you." The surveyor replied with a compassionate tone.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The answer left Estella helpless and heartbroken,

"N-No..."

However, during the first days she remained enthusiastic. So, her and her husband did what they could by ailing his symptoms with the little medical knowledge that they held...

On the first day, they notice that Philip's fever was still rampant, so together, they each grabbed damp cloths and cleaned his body all over, before resting him to bed and leaving one of the damp cloths in his forehead.

They then went to bed, thinking that their son would wake up the next day...

On the second day, noticing that Philip's fewer is down, but his face still had that agonizing expression, her husband went on to gather herbs for numbing the pain. Meanwhile she stayed beside her son to guard him.

And that is when she began telling him stories as if she could still hear him.

"... Your dad went on to gather herbs for you, hopefully you'll wake up soon."

But as days turned into weeks...

"He'll wake up soon, right? Dear?" Estella spoke in a tired voice as she leaned her head and fell asleep on her husband's arm. Both of them sat on the chairs next to their son's bed and took turns watching him.

And as weeks turned into months...

"Hey, I miss you—I love you..." As Estella kept on convincing herself that if showered her son with affection, eventually she'll get through to him...

Until finally, the months had turned into a year-

The clouds were unusually thick and heavy, turning the morning into an afternoon, it was as if the clouds weren't letting any of the sun's brightest light slip through, they were covering whatever remains of the sun.

That day the rain wouldn't stop pouring...

Estella, unlike her usual self, for the whole day didn't tell any story or speak to her son for the whole day, she couldn't bring herself to approach him and talk to him.

She just stared at him...

That night Estella slowly approached her son, each step creaking through the crevices of their roof brought upon by the rain.

Without any change to her expression, silent tears came crashing down from her eyes, and she was brought to her knees.

"I-I'm Sorry, Please Forgive Me! That's right! It's all my fault for not appreciating you enough, I must be being punished! I didn't mean any of those things I did the first time we met! I deserve it!" Her voice was filled with rage but at the same time there was a hint of sadness at her every words.

The tears kept on flowing while her voice cracked and turned soft, almost like a whisper she said,

"S-So please just wake up..."

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Simon on the other room, pretending to be asleep, heard everything that she just said.

He knew that something would happen with how suspiciously his wife was acting since morning, but he didn't expect this.

Simon then thought 'If I knew that this would happen, that it would cause this much pain to my wife, I shouldn't have just adopted the kid'

But he quickly shaked of that thought, he wasn't that kind of man, this is not how his father raised him to be, those words aligned with the thoughts and feeling of Simon during that time.

So, he gained the courage to face his wife at that time, even if she didn't want him to see her in that state.

He became a shoulder that she can lean on, even though he himself is on the verge of breaking down too.

And with someone to depend on, Estella picked herself up, piece by piece.

She didn't give up on her son...

But now those painful memories were slowly being washed away, like those tears that changed from coming from sorrow to happiness.

Then as Estella was continuing on hugging her son, not willing to let him go, Philip uttered his first words after a while, "Hey mom, what about the pineapple? and what were you talking about? Alicia's baby...?"

***

It's been a few days since I've awoken and quite frankly, I've been having a hard time adjusting to my new body.

I feel light like there were restrictions that have been lifted off of my body, like some part of me had been corrected.

But most importantly of all, after I awoken, I can now finally use magic...