When he was about to grab her to shake her a little, he felt something wrong. Although she had been silent last time as well, it felt different this time. She was standing too defenseless. Though he couldn't see her, there was still a distinct difference between the aura of someone with killing intent and someone with no typical aura at all. He might have thought no one was standing in front of him if it wasn't for him holding her hand.
His heart dropped for a moment. Then he gathered himself together and tried to check for her pulse or breathing. The pulse was easier to find, but his own heart was beating so wildly that it was hard to differentiate between the beats he felt in his nerves and her pulse. He quickly shifted to feeling for her breath. He found her face in a single motion. Her face was cold but not lifeless. He knew he had found her lips when he felt something soft beneath his fingers. He moved his hand slightly up and sighed with relief when he felt her breathing.
Now that he was sure she was alive, he wanted to slam his head against the wall. His power was still there, fluctuating but still present. How could he have thought she was dead? He suddenly felt a ringing in his head. Hurriedly, he felt her breath again. It was unstable and shallow. It felt as though a lot of air was being sucked in and released, but after a second, there was no breath at all—then tiny breaths, and again, a deep inhale.
"Ashleen!" he called loudly, hoping to get her to speak, but he was greeted with silence. Instead, she collapsed in front of him. Her hand slipped from his grip, and she sat down.
He quickly tried to find her, and suddenly, a cold hand grasped his arm, trembling badly. He heard a very faint, almost inaudible voice.
He moved his ear closer to where he thought her face might be. The hand gripping his arm was still shaking uncontrollably, while her other hand clutched his shirt near his waist. This trembling continued.
"I am here," he said, wanting her to repeat her words. He heard her forcefully swallow before she spoke again.
"Da—dark… it—it's dark… I— I saw… orcs… orcs." Her hands tightened their grip even more, and Anik felt as though they could pierce through his skin.
He was taken aback when he heard this. It hadn't crossed his mind that she could have had a fear of darkness. But the trembling hands and voice made it clear. What made him question himself, though, was the last word she uttered—"orcs." She must have had a premonition.
"I'm here. I'm here, don't worry," he reassured, freeing his arm from her grip and moving her arm in front of her, pulling her into an embrace. The trembling began to ease slightly at his actions. He instinctively understood what might help soothe her, so he lifted himself slightly from the floor, moved to his knees, and embraced her as best as he could.
He tried his best to make her feel as safe as possible. Soon, her trembling almost stopped, and she stretched out her arms, hugging Anik tightly. He felt wetness on his shirt and wanted to ask if she was crying, but seeing that she was trying hard to conceal it, he stayed silent.
A few minutes later, Anik finally heard her voice again.
"I'm feeling better, thanks, Anik." Her voice was hoarse, but no longer trembling.
"I'm sorry, but I might need to use that power of mine."
Before he could react, a screen popped up in front of them:
Your area and citizens are in danger. Fulfill your obligations as the representative heads and save your citizens from the orc's attack.
Anik was certain now that she had a premonition. He wanted to exchange memories with her, but before he could ask, she was already gone. The darkness began to scatter away, and Anik found himself a little away from the window, facing it. He saw a small human silhouette flying in the distance. His heart tightened as he felt a familiar aura from that silhouette.
"Let's go," he said, looking at the kid and Akansha.
Meanwhile, Ashleen knew how foolish she was being, but she had no other choice. She had experienced so many premonitions at once this time, each one feeling all too real. She tried different things each time, but she wasn't sure if it was real or not. Still, she needed to do her best. The premonitions she had could be counted on her fingers. In each one, she saw death—sometimes her own, sometimes someone else's. But what was the same in each vision was that she died in every single one. In some, she was the first to die; in others, she died after seeing the death of others. But in none of them did she hear the system's familiar ding signaling victory.
She began to understand what the creature meant by telling her it had done its research on her, discovering her worst fears—darkness and orcs. Both greeted her on the same day. Her heart tightened just thinking about the future.
Ashleen had come to understand how her powers worked in the last few days, especially after using them for the first time. The first time she experienced a premonition was when she entered the first scenario. She'd been excited but also a little scared, and that first premonition had been a single one. But this time was different. When her surroundings suddenly turned pitch-black, she felt her lungs tighten with fear as she struggled to breathe. She had at least ten premonitions in rapid succession. Normally, back in her previous world, when faced with something beyond her control, she would be frightened at first, but that fear would eventually transform into frustration, and that frustration would overpower the fear. But this time, before frustration could take hold, the premonitions continued, one after another. She found herself back in the darkness, each premonition making the trauma and her fear of the dark surge together.
Yet, somewhere deep inside, she let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was just a premonition.
This process continued over and over, and her heart grew heavy from the fear of her companions' deaths, anger at the orcs, sadness, and helplessness. She wanted to tear everything apart.
As for her imagination, she wasn't entirely sure, but it felt like just a switch. Her real power, she believed, had something to do with the frustration she'd accumulated over the past 18 years. She came to this conclusion after noticing that she felt a sense of relief when others suffered. Her real power seemed to be an attribute tied to this accumulation, and that might be the reason the healer lady had said she harbored both purity and evil within her.
For now, she faced two major problems. First, she feared her imagination and premonition might eventually merge into something uncontrollable. This could lead to one of two outcomes: either she would lose herself completely to her frustration, with the premonitions feeding her despair, or she would somehow learn to control herself and become much stronger.
Her second problem was the inability to differentiate between real and premonition, and the difficulty of using her premonitions freely. She was confused, but this time, when she found herself in Anik's embrace, it felt different from before. She had always managed to overcome her fears on her own strength, but this time, she felt that this might be real.
She moved in a direction she was familiar with after having been there so many times. She looked at the scene, took a deep breath, and tried to shake off her fear as she moved downwards.
There were many orcs in the kingdom she was supposed to protect. After clearing the first scenario, a castle had appeared in front of them, and over time, more people, likely NPCs, and various houses and gardens had appeared.
Right now, her mission was clear: save these people from the orcs. There were baby orcs and many adult ones. She remembered her premonition, where she decided to stay behind and transfer mana, just as she had in her first scenario. She stood on top of a high building, pouring all her strength into supporting those on the frontlines.
She had unlimited mana to transfer, but her physical body was far weaker compared to her power. After a few hours, her head felt like it might explode, and her ears buzzed so loudly she failed to hear the warning shouts from people around her. When she weakly turned to look back, she saw a huge orc, nearly as tall as the building, staring directly at her.
Almost at the same moment when she turned her head, she felt something on her lips. She touched it and saw blood on her hands. The orc lifted its hand to attack, but before it even touched her, she lost consciousness and started to fall from the building.
She didn't know whether she died from the orc's attack or from falling, but she surely died because the next moment she opened her eyes, she was in the same dark room.