"Bell! Bell, where are you?" Ellie yelled. She, Andrea and I were in the middle of searching for our son in the dark forest. We hoped that he hadn't made it far. The woods around us stretched for miles and miles, and the only guide we had was our mana perception, which had a limited range. The three of us spread out in a line to maximize our search radius as we traversed deeper and deeper.

All the while, I was bitterly thinking about what had happened. I was a terrible parent. If only I had listened to him, he would still be here with us. If I had explained the situation better, he wouldn't have run after that vampire.

What was worse, we should have gone after him right away when he left, but we just stayed there, rooted in place like a pair of idiots. Ellie collapsed on her knees, and my heart sank. It took us at least a minute to recover from the shock of Bell's angry exclamation, upon which we asked the villagers to take the body of the mimic to the village hall, and to wait for us while we searched for our son.

I recalled earlier today when we were eagerly waiting at home to celebrate his fourth birthday. While Ellie and Andrea went to the trading post with Bell and Lily, I had taken a short excursion to Faeris to buy him a present: his very own lute. Ellie and I came up with the idea because he would always drift into a peaceful fantasy world whenever Ellie hummed a melody. We were sure that he would love the chance to learn to play some music. All of us were waiting for him to come back from the market.

But even though we waited and waited, he didn't come home. He didn't return by dinnertime. Ellie started to go ballistic and Andrea was doing her best to calm her down. I tried to not overthink it, but my gut told me that something had gone terribly wrong.

Worried sick, we formed a search party with the other villagers and left Lily with one of Andrea's friends. We looked everywhere that we could think of. The market, the pond, and even back to the trading post. After we searched for at least two hours, we heard a loud bang from across the lakeshore. By the time we arrived, we found a bloodied mimic.

A pang of fear shot through us as we assumed the worst had hapened to our son. Ellie and Andrea didn't spare any mercy in destroying it. That's when Bell appeared, seemingly out of thin air.

To our relief, he was safe and sound, and had a mana core to boot!

'SO WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?!' I angrily punched a nearby tree trunk with full force, causing it to dent. My hand bled and my knuckle bruised, but the pain didn't even register.

"Jean?!" Ellie quickly ran up to me and pulled me into a tight embrace. "Please don't... I know it's hard, but we have to find B-Bell right now, okay?"

My wife's eyes were brimming with tears as she clung to me. What was I doing? Wasn't getting emotional the reason why Bell got angry in the first place? I needed to screw my head on straight. The priority right now was to find Bell and bring him home safely.

"You're right. Sorry Ellie," I said, hugging her back. "Let's go find our son."

We continued the search.

'Shouldn't we be there already?' I asked from atop Coffee's head. I was concerned, because we had been walking for at least fifteen minutes. And my head was slightly pounding for some reason.

'I think we're almost there, but... something's off,' she slowed her walking speed and lightened her steps.

Like she said, the area around us was... too quiet. Before, we could hear the breeze rustling the leaves on the ground or some of the manaflies buzzing around. Now, there was nothing. My mana perception was hinting at something above us, but that was impossible. Unless something was on the trees, everything else should be too far away to notice.

'Wait here. I'm going to see what's going on,' I notified my companion and jumped onto a nearby branch. The pines were prickly as I ascended the tree, but I oozed my way up using the branches as handlebars. My body was part liquid, so it didn't take more than ten seconds to climb high enough to see the surrounding area.

'What the fuck?!'

'What's the matter?' Coffee inquired.

'There's some sort of dome-shaped magic circle overarching the entire forest.'

'You're kidding, right. Give me a second.'

I heard the rustle of branches below as Coffee made her way to where I was. Her head popped out beside me.

'Hoooooooooly shit,' she whistled.

'Do you know what it is?'

'That's definitely an Emperor Class Chaos Spell. If that's a devastation-type, we're fucked.'

A gigantic dome of violet light encompassed an entire third of the forest, and we were at the center of it. There were countless streams of illegible symbols and patterns spanning the dome in strips, converging at the apex, which appeared to be a small, black hole. It was absorbing the symbols at a slow pace and growing in diameter, traveling down the length of the dome.

'Shit. What does that mean?!'

'It means: GO GO GO!'

The two of us quickly made our way down and dashed for the village, Coffee leading the way.

'Devastation-type? What's that?!' I asked.

'It means this area's going to be disintegrated as soon as the void matrix gains enough chaotic mana from that dome.'

'Void matrix? Chaotic mana?'

I could almost hear Coffee's mental sigh of exasperation. 'The void matrix is that black thing in the center. It's a connection to the 'void', which is an alternate dimension where black mages can freely manipulate and unleash spells from a distance. Chaotic mana is one of the ten classes of mana that manipulates entropic uncertainty. How do you not know this?! Did you not go to school?'

'I told you, I just got my mana core today! How did you even go to school?! You look like you're only 4 years old.'

'I'll explain later. But that's impossible. Your mana core is fully mature, which takes at least ten years of dedicated training after the awakening. Unless slimes are an overpowered race? Do you guys start off with a fully developed core?'

'Not to my knowledge...' My mind raced. The gift I got from the dungeon hive was more valuable than I thought. 'Wait, you said from far away? Like from somewhere else in the dungeon?'

'Obviously. But this level of magic is beyond what one person can accomplish. To generate a void matrix of that size and to manifest a chaos dome of this volume... It would require at least ten King Class magicians and a phantasmal level item. The backlash is immense too; they'll be in hell for at least a year and the item will break,' Coffee seemed to be thinking through this situation quite thoroughly.

'What about an Emperor Class magician?'

'There are no Emperor Class magicians, stupid. Were you serious about your mana c--'

'Fuck. If this spell is that costly to cast, why would anyone even target this place?! It doesn't make sense. There's nothing out here except a small village...' My thoughts trailed off.

There was nothing out here. That is, until today.

...Was it because of Coffee? There was nothing else that I could think of. But that didn't make sense either. Why would they bring her all the way here to kill her? Was it even the mimics who were casting the spell? Was it one of the other kingdoms?

Whatever the case, it probably involved Coffee and that mimic, but to what extent, I didn't know. Surely Coffee wouldn't know either, given her current state.

'It's probably my fault, though I have no idea why,' Coffee admitted. Apparently she came to the same conclusion I had. 'Wait, stop running! Shit, fuck, this is absolute bullshit. I'm so fucking dumb. Why didn't I think of this before?'

She skidded to a stop and I almost crashed into a tree stopping my momentum. I collected my jiggle and faced her inquisitively.

'Did you figure out why they're attacking us?'

'No, but I figured out why we aren't getting any closer to the village. Remember? CHAOS mana. It's affecting our perception of direction. Wouldn't be surprised if it's affecting our perception of mana too.'

'It can do that?! What are we going to do?'

'Reverse it of course. All mana can be counteracted. Jarod's Third Law: For every action done by mana, there is an equal and opposite action. You just have to gather your mana and match wavelength to that opposite action, and extend it like a bubble around you and me.'

'Yeah. Okay. I'll just, you know. Do that.'

'Oh shut up. Close your eyes and do what I say. This is a crash course on Chaos mana. If you fail, we'll probably die.'

'Great encouragement, teacher.'

'I said, shut up. Gather your mana at a point in your body; this is the initialization stage. Good. The mana you've collected right now is your naturally attuned type, which seems to be Collision. It's great for things like that air bullet you're so fond of, but it's hard as hell to manipulate outside your body because it's colliding with everything.

'Now the second step is tricky, but not impossible. It's called the conversion step. You have feel the flow of the Chaos mana and generate a counterclone that may not have the same amplification, but the exact same frequency--' she explained.

'In English, please,' I said instinctively. Oops.

'English?'

'Uh, I mean, in simpler terms, please.'

'I was getting to that. While you're maintaining that mana cluster in your body, explore your surroundings until you sense the mana in that Chaos dome. Everyone experiences something different, but you have to will your mana to copy what it's doing, except shift it one semiwavel--'

'One thing at a time!' I complained. While keeping my mana condensed near my core, I concentrated on trying to feel whatever she was talking about.

Nothing... nothing... tree mana... tree mana... more tree mana... AHA!

My senses bordered on a mana... surface that was acting strangely. Each particle seemed to be... not a particle. More like a wave? But also a particle? And also a wave at the same time? My head began to hurt just trying to understand it. Good thing that my responsibility was just to copy it. If I actually had to understand it, I'd probably win a nobel prize in physics or something for doing that.

I willed my mana to copy each particle-wave's movements. A full minute passed. Then two. Then five.

...

Behave like a wave, but not like a wave, sort of like a wave, but still not a wave...

Ten minutes passed but it seemed like an eternity. Both a particle and a wave...

Didn't I learn something like this back in highschool? Or was that in one of the mangas I read?

...

Fuggles mctuggles wtf am I doing...

Sigh. Deep breaths, Bell. Deep breaths.

...

So, it behaves like a FUUUUUUUUUC--

- Please wait a moment... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf8FCLT8S6A)

So, it's easier if I imagine that the particle is vibrating horizontally while the light within the particle vibrates vertically. Yes, I'm definitely getting closer to mimicking whatever that thing is. But there's something missing. What is it? Ah, of course, the frequency of the vibration. I need to match it to that weird beat.

Short short long short, short short long, long short long short, long short long.

Coffee's voice reentered my thoughts.

'Yes, that's perfect. Now offset that beat by half. That's pretty good, you aren't such a blumberpuss after all. Now for the third stage, which is spatial manipulation. Use that mana as a shield by creating a bubble around us,' she said, hugging me closer to her chest.

I imagined the mana particles expanding around us like a bubble, but encountered resistance as soon as it reached the surface of my body.

'Keep going. Push. That's the Chaos mana that you're trying to repel,' Coffee encouraged.

Centimeter by centimeter, I extended the bubble around us until both of our bodies were enveloped in it. I had to maintain my focus, or the bubble would start to wobble and I was afraid that it would fall apart.

'Congratulations, you've now learned an intermediate level spell called Chaos Field. You can leave the rest to me. Just focus on keeping the field up and run--' Coffee stiffened and cut off her train of thought.

'What's wrong?'

'I can sense your parents' mana presence 200 meters to our left. The chaos mana was masking their presence from us before,' she said with a poker face.

Happiness filled my heart, but I could tell she was still apprehensive after their last encounter. Unfortunately, there was no time to console her properly. We were on a clock. A clock with a deadly alarm set for the near future.

'Let's go. I won't let anything happen to you, I promise. I'll explain the situation and we'll all get out together,' I assured her, gears whirring in my head trying to figure out what to say.

Coffee just nodded and moved in my parents' direction.

'Mom!'

"Bell?! Jean, Ann, I've found Bell!" Ellie shouted, a smile growing on her weary face. It froze when she saw who was carrying me, but she didn't say anything until the other two caught up.

"Bell! Mom's so sorry. I should've explained..." Jean's voice trailed off as she also saw who was carrying me. She frowned, but her former hostility towards Coffee was nowhere to be seen. Andrea's face was stoic.

I took a deep breath.

'Mom, I'm sorry about running off like that. It was inappropriate of me to say what I did, and I'm so sorry. But right now, I need you to try and get past your prejudices about the vampires. Coffee, the girl holding me right now, is not our enemy. I can explain more later, but for now just know that she helped me find you. We don't have much time. We have to--'

"Why can't you explain it now? What's the rush?" Jean asked quizzically, crossing her arms.

'There's an Emperor Class Chaos Spell surrounding the area. We have to go. Now!'

"Bell? What are you talking about?" It was Ellie's turn to question him now.

'Look up at the sky!'

They all looked up and gasped.

We were in a small clearing of the forest, and the sky could be seen directly above as a clear violet sheen, with an abyssal void of black growing in diameter with every passing second.

"What's a Chaos spell? I've never heard that type of magic before... How do you know about it?" Fear began to grow on Ellie's face as she realized the situation they were in.

'Coffee told me. There's no time, we have to go. I'll tell you later. This area's going to blow at any moment.'

"WHAT?! Lily!" Andrea, horrified, looked back towards the village, except that she was facing the wrong way.

Fuck. They must've left Lily back at the village. Well, we would have to head there anyway.

'We have to go get her. Let's go back to the village, but you will have to follow Coffee and me. The Chaos mana around us will prevent you three from having a proper sense of direction.'

"But why won't you two be affected?" Ellie was baffled.

'Because I taught Bell how to counter the mana with a field of her own,' Coffee calmly explained before I could. 'There's no time for arguing. We really have to go, especially if you want to save this Lily, along with the other villagers. Bell, maintain the field.'

Without warning, Coffee started dashing headfirst into the woods, quickly followed by the other three who were taken by surprise.

"...Coffee, was it? Why are you helping us?!" Jean yelled. "We made it clear before that we saw you as a hostile."

'I have no intention of being your enemy, and Bell made it clear that she'd do everything she could to convince you of this. I'm placing my trust in her. I also don't have any desire to see innocent people die,' she responded.

Jean's eyes widened, but quickly refocused and hardened, this time towards the village.

I felt that there was some kind of misunderstanding going on with the whole 'she' and 'her' thing whenever Coffee talked about me, but I thought it would be pointless to bring it up now. I just hoped that it would resolve itself soon.

Soon, we emerged from the treeline and arrived back at the lakeside. We all greeted the blue glow with fleeting joy. We had been without proper vision for so long. But there was no time to relish; death was knocking on our front door.

"Everyone! We have to get out of--" Jean started hollering, but stopped at the sight of a group of villagers standing in front of the market square. Everyone had already packed their carts, and there was a familiar face among the crowd...

"LILY!" Andrea screamed and dashed forwards towards the small, green blob wearing a leaf on her head.

'Mom!!' Lily cried, hugging her mom in a tight embrace.

"What's that vampire doing here?!" A villager yelled yonderway.

"She's with us, now. We'll explain later," Jean said sternly. "We have to get as far away as possible as fast as we can."

The villager tightened his lips and nodded firmly.

"We've packed everything, including your family's belongings. Sorry for the house intrusion, but the situation called for desperate measures. We're ready to go," he hastily recounted.

Jean nodded in thanks.

"Onwards!" Jean yelled, leading the group down the main road towards Faeris. I guessed that the chaos mana didn't have much effect when there was a clear path to take. I relaxed the Chaos field spell and allowed it to dissipate. The mental strain disappeared as quick as it had come.

"Ahem," came from behind Coffee and I. Ellie tapped Coffee's shoulder and looked at her expectantly. Coffee immediately understood and gave her an awkward grin. She passed me over to my mom, who hugged me tightly.

"I'm so glad you're safe, Bell. I love you so much," Ellie said, nuzzling my forehead with hers.

'I love you too mom. I'm sorry about what I said before...'

"Yeah, you were mean," she pouted. "Don't make your mom cry again, okay?"

'Mhm. We'll have a long talk once this is over,' I assured her. 'There are some things that I have to tell you and Jean too.'

I decided that it would be best for them to know the truth about me after all. The reincarnation bit. The talk I envisioned was going to be difficult, but I was determined to make things right. No more secrets, no more lies. Most importantly, I wanted my parents to trust me and my decisions, and be willing to discuss important matters with me.

Looking around, the villagers looked scared, but determined to escape. We quickly made our way to the edge of the village, where the Chaos spell ended. Above, the abyssal black void began to churn like a funnel cloud that represented death itself. The wind began to pick up.

BANG. CLANG. BOOM.

"What is this bullshit?!" Screamed someone up ahead.

"No way..." murmors began to start among the crowd of villagers.

A blinding light was seen up ahead, followed by another and another. Blasts of water, earth, wind, and fire were thrown against the violet dome surrounding the area, to no avail. Noticing what was going on, Ellie and Andrea collected their mana and unleashed the powerful ice spear used to kill the mimic before, but it just shattered like glass against the Chaos dome.

Jean grabbed two swords from one of the carts and began to slash at the dome wall. It was like a cat clawing at its scratching post. Several other villagers were banging their fists against the wall to no effect.

The turbulent winds of the Chaos Spell began to gain power, and I could see lightning flash at the core of the terrifying storm, which is what the black hole had turned into. Thunder crashed and roared as the gales gathered to become a raging torrent.

Time was running out.

The spell would be upon us soon, and everything would be decimated.

Fuck.

I opened my mana perception, and sensed a high density of Chaos mana flowing from the wall. There was no more time to think of a new plan. It was clear what I had to do.

Struggling out of my mom's arms, I jumped onto the floor. I steeled my resolve and gained my balance, staring at the task in front of me bitterly.

"Bell?!" Ellied cried.

At this point, my mom's cry was but a faraway one. I had gone into a hyperfocused mode so that I could do what I had to do. I gritted my teeth as I fought the desire to come back to the present.

I had to save my family. I wouldn't let either of them die. Not again.

I gathered about 90% of the mana in my core and consolidated it into a ball of vibrant crimson.

Initialization complete.

The nature and behaviour of the mana shifted to a particle-wave duality that mimicked the Chaos mana in front of me, except its frequency was timed half a wavelength off so that it would cause negative interference.

Conversion complete.

I then pushed this mana towards the edge of the violet dome, encountering hell of a lot more resistance than the first time I tried this. I had to increase the amplification of the interfering wave by pouring more of my mana into it. I probably had 1% left, if even. With every drop of willpower I had left, I urged the mana to form a bubble in the dome, just large enough to fit an adult slime through.

Spatial Manipulation complete.

'EVERYONE! GO. NOW.' I screamed, fighting to keep my consciousness alive. If I blacked out now, everything was over.

The villagers began to scramble through the strange hole in the violet wall, understanding what was going on. Andrea and Lily began to clambor towards me but Jean forced them to go through the hole, telling them that she would help Ellie and I through. Hesitating, Andrea picked Lily up and jumped through, but not before giving us one last worried look.

Ellie started to bend over to pick me up, now understanding the situation.

'NO!'

"But why, Bell?!" Ellie began to cry as she tried again to pick me up.

'Mom, if you pick me up, it's over. The only reason why I can manipulate this thing is because I'm on stable ground. It's hard enough talking. Please, go. Save yourself--'

"No, Bell. I'm not leaving you--"

'MOM! YOU HAVE TO GO. NOW!' I screamed. I couldn't hold this hole open for much longer.

Jean appeared behind Ellie and chopped her hard on the neck, causing her to pass out. She grabbed the falling Ellie and carried her towards the hole. She took one look back towards me with a look that I would never forget. She had tears streaming down her cheek, and a devastated look of grief in her eyes. But her tight lips showed that she had steeled herself for this. Her shoulders shook uncontrollably and her knees wobbled, but she was slowly able to make her way outside the spell field.

'Thank you, mom,' I smiled. 'I love you both so much.'

There was only one person left, and that was Coffee. She was standing in front of the hole, with a finger on her chin as if she was debating whether to go or not. Why was she just standing there? She's so fucking stubborn. So fucking stupid! I struggled to keep the hole open for another second.

'COFFEE, GET THE FUCK OUT OF--'

'I was wrong. It isn't a devastation spell,' she said, smiling. At that moment, I lost control of my Chaos field, and the hole closed. I began to lose consciousness as the tempest of darkness in the skies started to leak tendrils of black mana over twenty meters long. The roaring thunder and wind were muffled as Coffee wrapped her arms around me. As my vision faded, I could feel Coffee's warm body against mine.

...

My consciousness...

...

...

Fading...

...

...

...

'It's going to be okay.'

...

...