Aiden gradually regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was that his back was pressed against a soft surface, then he realized he was lying down. On his first attempt to open his eyes, he felt the anger of the light on his retina, until on the third or fourth attempt he finally got used to it.

What he found were four walls that were more than familiar to him, the soft surface was his bed and the source of the annoying light, an energy-saving bulb attached to an outdated fan hanging from the familiar ceiling.

Still in a state of confusion, he lifted the upper part of his body and when he did, he spotted something, his pupils dilated when he saw the long white strips with red stains on them.

—What does this mean!?

The first aid bandages covered in blood were scattered throughout the room. They were not his, although his whole body ached from the experience of the day before, he was sure of it, and that meant they could only belong to the other person who was in the room.

Then he noticed the papers that were on his chest and fell on his legs when he got up. It was a letter addressed to him:

"If you are wondering about the bandages, don't worry. As you can see, I'm almost like new! Of course, you can't see me, in fact, probably none of this makes sense to you, right? Just read to the end. You'll have to take my word for it this time."

Aiden slightly wrinkled the papers, enough not to ruin their contents; he was being careful. The question to the strange message appeared, with the same speed the answer came, confirming his assumption, the next line he read said everything he did not dare to formulate.

"I shouldn't have let you get involved after all. Just look at yourself, you're a normal guy who doesn't belong in this world. I won't let you be part of this world! You know? The reason I came to this city, I…, despite getting violent with you, the truth is that I enjoyed your silly antics so much that I almost forgot it. Every once in a while, you know, I think how hard it is to do this alone, how unfair the world is, and I'm forced to act strong.

»I have to be the strongest. That's what I thought, why not let him help me? That was the moment I decided not to involve you.

»I came to protect the people who are in danger without knowing it, not to be saved. I went through so many problems to be able to enter this official city and yet, I caused all kinds of disturbances. I realized that I still have a lot to learn, but I am a hunter, I must act as such from now on, no matter if I have to face the world alone. Just… Let me be selfish and capricious with this end, so as the end of us I want to thank you properly. Thank you, Aiden… I hope you can also continue and strive to become the kind of man you aim to be.

»It was interesting the time we spent together, but we are from different worlds and although it was unjustly short for me, they are good memories."

"Att: M.K." was written at the end of the page.

The feelings written with trembling lettering were just what he expected, but somehow, anyway, they had reached a deep part of his heart.

His conscience did not understand the weight he felt. He did not find the courage to accept why because despite being present, he was not part of what happened in that room, of the decision. He was no more than a burden, the cause of a girl's pain.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

When Maika probably took one of the toughest decisions of her life, one that could easily put an end to this, Aiden was there, and his opinion did not matter, his will did not reach her.

Just moments ago, the sound like a bag of potatoes impacting the dream permeated the 6×4 space; Aiden was unconscious. Moments that had passed, and he could do nothing to change it.

—Now… Kh! —A sudden pain spread from his right side to his belly.

Maika took a second to catch air, and in that second her clothing was stained with a bright red. She lifted her shirt to the height of her stomach to show her abdomen covered in bandages, these, in turn, covered with large irregular red spots at irregular intervals. The same ones she had tried by overusing magic.

—It's not that bad… Aiden still takes priority —she said, almost exhausted.

What she was going to do required a substantial amount of magical power, so treating her wounds would have to wait to ensure the procedure to follow.

Maika arranged the human sack on the floor as if it were the protagonist of a wake and placed it. She had lost most of her instruments in school, luckily, she could improvise; it turns out that the rags, which used to be Aiden's clothes, would do the trick. The spell was known by every mage, so much so that it was useless against others of this world because as soon as they noticed the forgetfulness, they would easily break the spell. Maika took five pieces of fabric the size of a finger; leftovers from the dolls that represented the basic elements, drew a symbol on each one, tied them up like balls and placed them on Aiden's chest.

Maika recited the chant and the five balls levitated several centimeters, then they began to rotate in the direction of the hands of a clock. The revolutions were increasing until the balls became blurry and began to emit each one its light: red, blue, yellow, green, brown. A couple of seconds later they were decelerating until they stopped, still shining, and began to rotate in the opposite revolution. Just like before, the revolutions were increasing; however, when it seemed that it was about to reach its maximum speed, something happened, disrupting the process. The luminous balls shot out in different directions each.

—Did it fail!? Is it that I don't have enough strength? —Maika examined what happened and having reached a conclusion: the problem came from her concentrated concentration, and fatigue helped. She corrected the mental image and tried again. She repeated the process the same as last time, this time the five-pointed star lasted substantially more, but before it stopped completely, the same thing happened again.

Maika couldn't explain why the process was interrupted, but this time the spell lasted longer, which meant that it probably had an effect. Puzzled, to check if the issue was on her part, she used and executed a healing spell perfectly on herself.

—The regeneration worked. I didn't administer enough power, that's why I kept failing, but his memory should be sealed anyway.

The poor plants outside the building were forced to share some of their energy, stimulating Maika's cellular reproduction, fortunately there were many.

However, it was not a complete recovery, at most her wounds were patched. She tore off the bloodied bandages, although a bit pale, her skin looked good considering it was peeled and hole-ridden recently.

With caution and a loving gaze, she put Aiden in bed, leaving one last caress, she was about to go fight alone. She noticed a pen and paper set doing nothing on the desk and couldn't resist the sudden urge. Even if that boy didn't understand her message, ignorant that for better or for worse, she had protected him from being affected by the supernatural.

At most, Aiden would wake up with a light head and confused. That was what he had hoped for.

And so, Aiden was left alone in the room, looking at the floor and all the bandages scattered on it.

—Damn… —He clenched his fists until the point where he could feel the circulation, when he remembered what he was holding, he immediately let go—. Is this the end of my story?