The burrow shook. Rabbits hopped around everywhere and fought off the noisy laserbears. I stood there ...powerless. Why is this happening again?
Lifeless bodies of rabbits and fairies alike littered the ground. I willed myself to act but nothing happened.
“Azu, don’t stand there! We need to evacuate!”
Mishelly pulled me along. The back of a familiar rabbit disappeared as he went to a higher floor. I stretched out my hand to stop him. “Sym, wait!”
Suddenly I was outside. It wasn’t the jungle but a familiar mountainous area. I was surrounded by rabbits and we were facing off against the Sarian goddess Biian.
Paula was on the floor next to Paul, full of laser holes, seemingly dead.
“Ahh, what a beautiful hat you have!” Biian teleported to me and was holding my hat.
“Huh? What?! Noo! Give it back!”
Biian laughed loudly and tore it to pieces.
I reached out and...darkness.
I was gasping for breath and my head hurt. I felt around. Everything was soft. I checked my hair, my hairpin was still in. What is going on?
A [Lightball] illuminated the darkness. I was in my room inside the burrow and I was in my bed.
“A dream? A nightmare? It felt so real...”
Drowsiness washed over me and my eyelids became heavy.
“I need to stay awake!” [Insomnia] only prevented me from falling asleep. I crawled from under my sheets and fell off my bed. It didn’t hurt but the impact aided me in staying conscious.
“Stupid [Acedia].”
Any attempt to look into [Acedia] was met by drowsiness, losing focus, or losing motivation. Truly a dangerous curse. It might be possible that I need someone else to lift it from me which is a big problem.
It would need someone specialized in curses, like other Misha or curse adjacent races, or find someone as well versed in magic as I am, which...is unlikely.
I sighed as I rested my back against my bed. None of those options seem realistic. Unless...
Agnis seemed to have dived into my research and even created the coveted [Hattrick] I’m sure he would help me out but...he’s on a different continent. Gregory’s race also seemed to have ties to curses.
All my answers are back in Kaledon... How am I supposed to fly back without falling asleep and falling into the ocean? And that’s ignoring the millions offairies flying around.
“I frgot! The fairies!”
I got up and ignored my messy look and left my room.
The rabbits stared at me as if they were looking at a ghost.
“She’s awake!”
Several rabbits jumped at me and showed their affection.
“Of course I’m awake! You guys act like I died or something. Wait...for how long was I asleep?”
I rarely wake up by myself since it was known I had the [Acedia] curse. Someone always helped me wake up but I woke up by myself this time.
“That’s not important! It’s good that you’re awake! Wren was so worried!”
The rabbits agreed and tried to avoid telling me for how long I was asleep.
“Rabbits, please...”
“Well...4 full moons have passed since you were awake and...”
“What?! I’ve been sleeping for 4 months?!”
This can’t be, right? The rabbits seemed serious. It didn’t seem to be a prank.
I still recognised the layout so the burrow hadn’t changed. I ran toward Wren’s room but it was empty.
“Huh? Is it nighttime?”
My internal clock was in shambles. I couldn’t tell if it was day or night and how much time had passed.
The rabbits gathered around me, applied nature energy to me and led me back to my room. The nature energy helped me organize my thoughts and emotions better.
They sat me down on my bed and brought me food and water.
“Thank you, I apologize, I didn’t mean to sleep for so long. What about Mishelly and... Sym?”
Yannick’s wife, Juvia, chased the other rabbits away and explained the situation to me.
They had been unable to retrieve Sym’s remains fully, he had been torn apart by the fairies with hardly anything left. Mishelly was fine.
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The Carrot room had served the rabbits well. Several other similar missions to retrieve Carrot rooms had been successful but not without casualties.
The population of fairies had decreased greatly but for unknown reasons. It isn’t safe to go outside but non-combatants can go outside when careful.
The threat of fairies had been greatly decreased which had relieved pressure off the dayshifts. The nights were still as dangerous as before.
“I’m so sorry. I wish I could’ve helped...”
“Nobody holds it against you Azu, while not as severe as [Acedia], multiple rabbits have been hit by curses created by the one you call Cockroach, we understand.”
I know she meant well but it didn’t make me feel good at all.
“...Also, we might need your help soon as other problems came up that we can’t deal with. There have been discussions about it but our community had been divided on it.”
“What problem? Why is it so controversial?”
“It’s the spires...the idea is to have you and some rabbits deal with the spires while the rest continue combatting the fairies. Some say it's too big of a responsibility to put on you while the other side says that this might be more in your expertise as we are unfamiliar and unequipped to deal with it. Both sides make valid points but it’s going nowhere as we need your input.”
I had completely forgotten about the spires. Sure we passed one almost every day during the day shift but it had been pulsing nature energy so it wasn’t a problem. Of course, the spires pulsing another element would be a problem.
Can I take this responsibility? I have been met with failure after failure lately, what if I can’t handle this and the spires go out of control? I am a researcher but I know nothing about these things, I’m barely better equipped to deal with this. They do however pique my interest. What is their mana source? Do they generate that mana or do they convert it? If they convert it...
“Oh...this is bad...I will take the spires! I need to know something!”
I tried to get into action but my vision went dark as my eyelids didn’t cooperate and I fell backward onto my bed.
Someone shook me awake but it wasn’t Juvia, it was Wren. “Hey, how are you feeling? I heard that you woke up last week.”
“Ugh, Wren...I need help to stay awake. I don’t know why it’s getting worse...”
“Probably stress and fatigue, the rabbits that had been cursed by Verruka’s clones also had their curses worsen. Unless there is another explanation, I’m aware if, I think it’s stress.”
Wren helped me up and started braiding my hair. “I heard that you’re interested in dealing with the spires but that can wait. We need to find out how to lessen this curse. You will certainly die out there if you are out there as an untreated narcoleptic.”
“You’re right. Can you at least send out some rabbits to scout the spires and find out if the surrounding mana is getting drained? If the spires generate mana but if it’s converting mana, its draining it from the surroundings, most likely...”
Wren wrote something down on a leaf and nodded. “We will. We will also gather materials for a drink that might keep you awake then. We are unable to help with magical means on alleviating it though, my apologies...”
“That’s fine. I might be able to find something if I can stay away. Something for focus and motivation would also be appreciated.”
Wren noted it down and nodded. “I’m sorry to have to ask you all this, we prefer to solve our own problems...”
“It’s the least I can do for having you treat me as one of your own.”
Wren got up, walked toward the door and stopped. “We will wake you up when we have everything. I’m sorry but you might lose one or two more months due to sleep.”
Wren tossed over a carrot and left.
1 or 2 more months... Resurgence due to stress...
That’s it! All I need to do is relax! Take a long bath...
We don’t have baths here... How about a stroll through the jungle!
Dangerous fairies everywhere... My skincare supplies have run out and I only have perfume left...
“Do...do I need to find new hobbies?”
Having to find a new hobby stressed me out which made me tired.
All that’s left is eating cake and tinkering on skills but I’m getting sick of carrot cakes and tinkering requires focus... I will just force myself to not fall asleep.
I hung upside down from my fan and started looking into [Acedia]. I don’t have to dispel it completely, only get rid of whatever puts me to sleep.
The magic circle was full of junk, all to waste time and fake complexity. They must have been remains of the skill that was used as basis.
Creating skills with mana control is not as neat as creating them like I do. I might find clues if I can find out what skill had been used as a basis.
A group of clusters activated the moment my drowsiness set in.
“Aha! How sloppy! No mana masking! So that’s what puts me to...”
An impact knocked me awake. My headache was killing me but at least I was awake. It will be a race, would I destroy the mana clusters responsible for putting me to sleep first or would I go stupid from falling on my head?
My plan got revised. I would [Levitate] upside down with my hat strapped to my head. [Levitate] would have an active mana involvement so I would fall the moment I dropped asleep.
My pride was hurt a bit that gravity was more successful in keeping me awake than the [Insomnia] I had created.
The origin of [Acedia] became clear after several headbutts with the floor. Several rabbits had come to check on me due to the ‘bonk’ sounds but I assured them that I hadn’t gone crazy, yet.
The clusters were similar to those found in [Sleeping Beauty] and [Scatterbrain], a skill that puts you to sleep for 100 years, which is forever to humans, and a skill that destroys your focus. It’s a nasty combo when put in perspective.
The clusters pulsed mana again and I woke up on the floor yet again.
My headache was immense but it aided me in staying awake.
Another upside-down attempt and I moved the clusters around to obstruct the mana flow.
10 minutes went by, 20 minutes went by, 2 hours went by. There was no end in sight but one thing was clear. I had yet to fall asleep. I did feel drowsy but no loss of consciousness yet. My focus was waning, however.
“This should be enough for now.”
I messed up and dropped [Levitate] before I could orient myself.
Someone shook me and I awoke in my bed. “No! I thought I fixed this!”
“Calm down Azu, we have reason to believe this was different...we have spent the last day treating you for a concussion...” Juvia placed her hand on my forehead and applied more nature energy.
I wasn’t sure to be happy or relieved.
“So I have been out for just a day?”
“Honestly, I’m surprised. I expected you to be asleep for at least 1 or 2 more months. You might hate this but you need to rest. Dropping yourself on your head isn’t one of your brightest ideas I’m afraid...”
“Thank you, Juvia. I will reflect and try to rest where possible.”
I accepted a basket of fruits and vegetables before she left. She had been considerate and excluded carrots. My life doesn’t depend on them but it has been dominating the rabbits' culinary specialties in an attempt to make them more palatable.
I never had an issue with them but I got sick of them after just a year, I can’t imagine having to put up with this for the rest of my immortal life...
The sweet fruits were tasty, I let the others be. The magic circle of [Acedia] got opened again and I messed with clusters until I fell asleep. I choked the mana rune cluster that supplied mana to the [Sleeping Beauty] and [Scatterbrain] clusters to ensure that even less mana arrived at them.
The alarm cock, which had been useless since I got it, got instructed to make noise at 8 in the morning. Hmm, that’s too early, how about 10? 11 is better! Let’s go for that! “Now for a test. Time for a nap.”