LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 4: Tragedy
Five months had passed since Yuki had been sent to this world. He had practically lived as the son of Mary Emberveil during those five months—cleaning, carrying heavy stuff, and things like that. During this time, Yuki was learning how to cook from Mary and how to wield a sword from Rin—she had informed him that this world was practically a hell in which every second could be life or death, and it was survival of the fittest. If you couldn't fight, you'd be easy pickings for those who aimed to decrease the population. Everything had a high value, and knights sometimes turned on each other in order to live. Almost everyone had a bounty, and bounty hunting was the easiest way to make money, which made normal jobs just as dangerous.
Some people in this world had inherited a disease called "Entharia," which seemingly deprived people of emotions and caused them to have a lust for blood. This caused a scary number of people to become cannibals and was a leading reason why the world only knew killing and war.
Bandits were highly common in this world due to the fact the king vowed to control everything. He was a leader driven by nothing but greed for power, and the only means he knew of gaining that power was through intimidation, which seemed to work—but a lot of people trained for years in an attempt to combat the king. During the short time Yuki had been in this world, he had noticed how dark it was. The clouds always covered the sun and moon, and the world always seemed like some sort of dystopia you'd see in modern-day movies.
Today was a seemingly average day in this world. Yuki was outside watering the crops Mary had growing behind their house when Rin came out in a hurry—something was wrong.
Rin began to shout as soon as she laid eyes on him. "Yuki, you need to come inside immediately. Something has happened!"
Yuki had never seen Rin so panicked. In all reality, she seemed to be terrified.
"Alright, I'm coming." Yuki got up from the crops and hurried inside.
Rin led him in, and waiting for him on the floor was Mary with clothes scattered around her, as if she was in the middle of doing the laundry when this happened—she seemed to have collapsed, but as of now, neither Yuki nor Rin knew why.
Yuki lifted Mary onto his back and took her to her bedroom, laying her on her back on the bed. He went to the kitchen and brought in two chairs, placing them beside the bed, sitting on one as Rin sat on the other. Rin had warmed up to Yuki a lot, which allowed him to see the harsher side that Mary mentioned upon their first meeting.
"So what happened?" Yuki gave Rin a concerned look.
"I have no idea. I was just helping her with the laundry when she suddenly collapsed in the middle of the hallway." Rin looked extremely worried—it was evident something like this had never occurred before.
Yuki let out a long, worried sigh. "Find a doctor. I don't doubt you know one despite your sheltered nature." He took note of Rin's slightly more terrified face. "You do know you and Mary are the only two people in this village that I actually know, so you're going to have to be the one to do this."
Reluctantly, Rin eventually agreed. "Fine," she said, heading out in search of a doctor.
Yuki used the usual checks for illness that he knew from his previous world, like checking the patient's temperature and such, but to no avail—everything about her seemed fine, so why had this happened?
Yuki slumped back down in his chair and waited for Rin's return, hoping that when she came back, she had succeeded in her task.
After about forty-five minutes to an hour, Rin returned with a man who seemed to be in his 60s. Before Yuki could say anything, the man already began to introduce himself.
"I'm Doctor Elric Varn. Now could you please move aside so I can examine the patient." The doctor was stern but also fairly mindful. As Yuki moved to the side, the doctor began to do all sorts of strange tests. He rubbed his fingers from her shoulder to her eyes, poked the back of her ears, made small incisions on her legs to check her blood, and things like that.
After a while of these tests, the doctor finally spoke up, looking at Yuki and Rin with sorrow. "It's Plathorum." Yuki stood unfazed, but Rin let out a sharp gasp and began to tear up.
"Um, Doctor, what's Plathorum?" Yuki either seemed stupid or like he was joking around, but the matter was dire, so the doctor told him.
"It's a disease caused by Plathoria seeds. Those seeds very rarely fall from trees and float through the air, and they're almost undetectable. My guess is that she unintentionally swallowed one." The doctor paused. "It's bad because there has been no found cure, only medicine which prolongs its effects. These effects include vines growing in your veins, ears, and other hollow tubes in the body, and it always results in death."
Yuki stood still, frozen with shock. He had finally felt what it was like to have a mother, and now he was watching that dream crumble in front of him. He knew this world was horrible to its residents, but why did she have to go so soon?
"Take this medicine. It should slow the process of the disease, giving her another two months, I'd say. She'll die by next week otherwise. I always keep it on hand in case of dire situations like these."
Yuki took the medicine, but his eyes and legs were still frozen—she was going to die!
"Surely there's more we can do! There has to be some cure!" Yuki shouted in disbelief. He knew if the doctor said it was inevitable, then it probably was, but Yuki didn't want that. He knew it was selfish, but he couldn't let go. It was too soon.
"I'm deeply sorry. I suggest you make the most of the few months you have left with her. You have my prayers and condolences."
Yuki looked over at Rin—she was devastated, even more than he was. She looked to be on the verge of tears.
Slowly, Yuki finally said something to break the silence, his voice low and slightly shaking. "You're right. Thank you, sir."
In a similarly low tone, Elric responded, "You're very welcome, and I'm sorry there isn't more I can do." Elric began to leave the room. "I must be going now. If you need me, I'll be in the doctor's office just south of here."
The doctor left. And immediately after hearing the front door close, Yuki felt a weight suddenly embrace him—it was Rin. She planted her face into Yuki's chest, and he could hear her muffled crying. Yuki didn't know what to do. He was successfully holding in his tears. He lifted his hand and placed it on Rin's head, caressing it in an attempt to calm her.
"Don't cry. She's still with us for now. Save your tears for when we lose her—don't use them up when we still have a chance to save her."
"B-but the doctor said—"
Cutting her off, Yuki interjected, "I don't care what the doctor said. I promise you I'll find a way to save her. I'm not going to just let her die."
"Really?" Rin looked up at Yuki, wiping her tears before planting her head back into his chest. "Thank you."
Weeks and weeks passed. Yuki spent all his time in the library located next to the doctor's office researching Plathorum in an attempt to find a cure. So far, he had come to no success, but he had made progress—finding out that fire and cauterisation were both ways to stop the vines of Plathorum from spreading throughout the circulatory system, though not remove them, and the patient would become more susceptible to other infections.
Yuki looked out the library window. It was already dark, albeit day and night had almost no difference in how bright they were—night time was always slightly darker. Yuki put the books he was reading back and slipped on his signature coat, leaving the library.
The night was noisy—this world always was. Yuki doubted if the world even knew what silence was. The world was never quiet.
The light breeze made the walk home more bearable, especially since the ground almost always seemed to be covered in mud and dung—it was horrid, but Yuki had learned to look past it. After all, he had to live in this world now.
After around fifteen minutes of walking, the house was finally in sight. Yuki sped up his pace, ready to tell Rin about the advancements in his research.
He opened the door. It was almost silent. Usually, he would be greeted by Rin, but something was different. He could very faintly hear crying from Mary's room. Yuki rushed to the door.
He gently opened it.
The scene that met him was Rin crying into the limp hand of Mary. Yuki was confused.
"What's going on?"
Through sniffling breaths and struggling to speak, Rin got out the sentence: "Her heart… it's stopped beating."
Yuki froze as if turned to stone. Only one month had passed. She wasn't supposed to die yet. And as if he himself had died, Yuki's life with Mary flashed before his eyes—remembering all the big and small moments with her, how she taught him how to cook and clean and farm crops, the tour of her house, their very first conversation when Yuki woke up in this world. As Yuki stared at her lifeless body, all those memories seemed distant. He had only known her for six short months, but in that time, he felt as if she was truly his mother.
In that moment, Yuki couldn't speak. Tears formed in his eyes and slowly fell down his cheek. He hadn't cried since his father's death almost a year ago.
Yuki dropped to his knees, his face in his hands as he cried. Not only had he lost another person he cared about, but he had failed to keep a promise he'd made—he had failed to save Mary like he said he would. He had failed again, and it had happened far too soon.
As he cried, he felt a familiar touch. Rin lifted the top of his body up and hugged him, crying into his shoulder but attempting to speak words of comfort into his ear, just as he had done one month prior. But her words failed—for both he and she had no optimism left, unlike a month ago when Yuki believed he could save Mary.
After a few minutes, Yuki broke off the hug. He stood up and picked up the body of Mary—the way you would carry your newlywed wife or the way you would carry a fallen soldier. In this case, it was the latter. He took her outside.
Yuki placed Mary's body gently on the ground and began to dig a hole, using the shovel he asked Rin to bring. About six feet in depth and length, and about two feet in width. Then he picked Mary up and gently placed her in the hole before covering it up. He didn't know what he was supposed to do, but he was aware that this world hadn't invented coffins.
Yuki walked inside to an open cabinet full of shiny stones and old relics that Mary had collected—the very same cabinet where she had left his keys and phone when they first met.
Once back outside, he placed the rocks and relics above where her body was buried as a stand-in gravestone. He etched into one of the bigger rocks, using another rock and a lot of scratching:"Mary Emberveil, 678–703."Yuki had only recently found out her age and the year it was.
Both Yuki and Rin knelt beside her grave, holding back tears as they offered her their prayers.
After a very long time, the two headed inside, unsure of what was even left to do. They were mentally lost. They went to the kitchen and sat in silence until the early hours of the morning before Yuki finally spoke.
"So what do we do now?"