Crystal Magic Adventure: A Tale of Discovery

Chapter 17: Panic Mania Part III.

As blood dripped from her face, Lila's smile became strained. Her mind was a confusing mess of thoughts. She knew she had to escape this prison and get as far away as possible. But on the other hand, the man who destroyed everything and everyone she knew was right here, just a few doors away. Alara was the one who lured her to that cave. After that, she disappeared into thin air.

Lila wanted to pursue her, yet she had no idea where to find her. She was aimlessly traveling, hoping to stumble upon the one responsible for her suffering. Compared to that, Aerlath was an easier and much closer target for her hatred. Especially after he taunted her like this.

Elias... She once thought about spending the rest of her days with him until their hairs grayed out. It's true that he wasn't the most courageous person, but she didn't think he would betray her like that. She didn't want to think about it. Yet the captain's words kept ringing in her ears, poisoning all the good memories and all the dreams she once had.

Carnage, betrayal, greed... Was there nothing else in this world? Where was the virtue of God that Proth preached about? Where was the generosity of good samaritans? Were they all killed by someone more powerful, like Roland was? Like they killed her entire village? No honor, no grace, no kindness—nothing good was present in this world. What was the point of living if there was nothing worth living for?

She bit her lip, now angry at herself. She couldn't think like that. She couldn't just let it all go and wait for her death. Not again. This time, Crystal wasn't here to save her. Out of the jumbled mess that was her emotions, anger was the most prominent one.

Anger at herself, anger at the unfairness of the world, but most of all, anger at Aerlath. So she focused on that to keep going. He killed almost everyone she knew about. He killed everyone she cared about. In his pursuit of fame and glory, he committed atrocities. Worse yet, he reveled in them. If left alone to his devices, he would keep causing the same pain he had caused Lila to the others, unless someone put an end to his madness.

If someone had the right to end his pathetic life, it had to be none other than her, the person who had suffered the most due to him.
Revenge... was a bad thing; her mother used to say that to her. But this wasn't revenge. It was justice.

Justice for all those who had been wrongfully murdered for the whims of a maniac. Justice for what she had to go through. Making him pay for what he did was something to live for. Right?

Lila might have made up her mind, but that didn't change the fact that she was still tied to a chair. She had to break it into small steps. First, the rope that ties her to the chair had to go. Then she had to find a way to open that door. The rest of the plan could wait until she knew the situation outside the door. If those guards were still waiting outside, she might have to wait until they left. They would eventually need to eat or answer nature's call. That would be her best chance to escape.

Her wrists were tied behind her to the middle beam of the chair, with the rope wrapping around her wrists when they took her here. They then crossed the rope between her wrists to cinch the slack, tightening it until it started to hurt. Lila wasn't confident that she could wriggle free, no matter how much she struggled. That left only one option: she had to use magic.

Lila never used her magic to move an object she couldn't see before, but Crystal said it was possible in one of its lessons. She had to get into that weird mindset of believing it was natural for something to move through the air without wings while still keeping an accurate image of the ropes in her head.

If she strained herself, the tips of her fingers were barely able to touch the knot. After figuring out which parts of the rope were going to the tips and which parts were twisting back into the knot, she tried to paint a picture of it in her mind. While focusing on that image, she convinced herself that it was completely normal for the rope to untangle itself.