Never in Renee’s wildest dreams would she have guessed what Lirion was referring to. As soon as he led the two girls outside, he suddenly released a large amount of magical energy, also known as mana, into the air. 

At first, Renee was dazzled by the brightness of his magic and found herself wondering if she was ever going to reach that level of power and control. Then, she realized his mana was forming into a defined figure. The next thing she knew, she was standing before a very large bird that was created from Lirion’s mana. 

It was white and as large as a bus with a wingspan even longer. Much like the nythrals that attacked her earlier, there was something about its form that wasn’t completely solid, as if the creature wasn’t as physical as real animals. It was pure white, almost like a cloud trapped in a defined shape, and its surface sparkled in a way that reminded Renee of ice crystals. 

Beside her, Anise gasped with shock and delight. “Oh, it’s beautiful!”

“What’s this?” Renee asked, unable to help her curiosity.

“Believe it or not, it’s also a nythral.” Lirion explained, confirming Renee’s suspicions. “But you don’t have to worry about this one—it’s under my control. The one that attacked you two earlier were infected by Eris’s malice and are driven to spread destruction.”

Lirion climbed onto his nythral’s back, which was large enough to support the three of them. 

“Is this safe?” Renee questioned.

“Trust me.” Lirion reached out his hand to pull her on as well. 

Surprisingly, sitting on a giant bird was more comfortable than she thought. It was neither cold nor warm to the touch. It also felt soft and almost intangible in a way she imagined clouds to feel, but also solid and sturdy at the same time. She marveled at the strangeness of it all.

After Renee was seated, she pulled Anise up behind her.

“Ready?” Lirion asked. When both girls gave their affirmation, the nythral launched itself into the air so fast that the breath was sucked out of Renee’s lungs. They hurtled toward the sky at a terrifying speed, climbing higher and higher with every second. Then, just as suddenly as they launched into the sky, the nythral leveled out and the air turbulence stopped.

“Wow!” Renee said when she glanced down over the world below. “The view from up here is beautiful.”

Poor Anise, who was hanging onto Renee for dear life, did not make any comments aside from squeaks of fear.

Lirion was right about one thing—flying on the back of a nythral is much faster than a car. Much, much faster.

“What is a nythral, by the way?” Renee asked. “I know they are also called chaos-creatures, but what are they?”

Lirion turned back as much as he could in his position. “Sometimes, when enough mana accumulates, it forms a semi-consciousness. It is not alive and not sentient, but it has something of a will of its own. Think of hurricanes and tornadoes and whirlpools. They sort of have a will of their own, but no one ever mistakes them as sentient creatures. A nythral is nothing but enough mana to exist as a ‘thing’. Any saint can create one.”

Renee shuddered a little to remember the wolves. “They seem so alive.”

“Yes, they are good at mimicking life forms.”

“You mentioned that the ones from before were infected by Eris’s malice.”

“Nythrals are supposed to be neutral—neither good nor evil. People with strong wills can impose their intention onto them, like I am doing now with this one. Unfortunately, so can Eris. Since magic is stronger in the aether plane than in the physical plane, nythrals usually form in the aether plane. As you know, Eris is also in the aether plane. She infects all the nythrals with her desire to destroy and cause chaos, then she sends them through small holes in the Boundary to the physical plane.”

“Why can the nythrals go through the Boundary but not Eris? Isn’t she stronger?”

“Yes, but she’s not as strong as the Boundary. Sometimes, areas in the Boundary grow thin—thin enough for something as small as a nythral to slip through, but not thin enough for Eris to break through. In all of history, Eris has only breached through the Boundary twice. Even now, she is still trapped on the other side of the Boundary, but I don’t know how it will hold her.”

“You said she broke free from her seal.” Anise voiced her confusion from behind Renee.

“That’s something else. The Boundary is the seal between the two planes. The last time she breached the Boundary, we placed a seal on Eris that locks her consciousness and forces her to become dormant. The second seal is the one she broke free from. For the last one thousand years, there have been no nythrals attacks because she wasn’t there to infect them with her malice. The nythrals attack today is proof that she’s awakened and is back, even if she is weaker from all the time she spent sealed.”

“I see.” Renee replied uncertaintly. “And the nythrals I killed… what happened?”

“You can’t kill a nythral because it’s not alive. You destroyed it, technically. You damaged the integrity of its form enough that it dissipated. When that happens, its semi-consciousness vanishes along with its form.”

“Huh,” was all Renee could say. Stories had painted nythrals as monsters created by Eris, but she now realized that they aren’t exactly the villains the stories made them out to be. 

“How did you find us earlier?” Renee asked, changing the topic of the conversation again.

“We were also attacked by nythrals earlier. I was chasing the tiger one, and it coincidentally led me to you. I’m glad I destroyed it before it harmed either of you.”

“Are you a third-year student?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“I can’t believe that we’ve been in the same school for the past three months, and we never crossed paths until today.” Renee said incredulously. “What do you remember about me?”

Lirion lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean? I remember a lot about you.”

“Anything specific?” Renee asked.

Lirion thought for a moment before answering, “You are fluent in the main six languages. Your favorite color is pink, but you also wear a lot of white and off-whites. You love gold and silver accents, but you prefer gold over silver. Your favorite flower is the wild rose. You love music, or maybe it’s dancing you prefer, and you hate wielding a sword.”

It took all of Renee’s composure not to let her jaw drop open right there in then. Almost all of Lirion’s statement were accurate. How did he know her so intimately? Do all the other saints know her that well?

After a moment of stunned silence, Renee managed to recollect herself. “For your information, my fluency in six languages is not because of my past life. I worked hard to master all six main languages, understand?”

“And I used to think Matthias was the most academically inclined one.” 

For a brief moment, Renee thought that she saw Lirion let loose a smile of amusement, but it was quickly covered up by his aloof composure again. 

“We’re here.” Lirion suddenly announced as they started to descend.

Renee was startled to realize that they had already arrived at their destination while she was having a conversation with Lirion. 

After Lirion landed the nythral somewhere close where no one could see it, the nythral dissipated in a similar manner to the nythrals that attacked her.

The three of them entered the hospital, where Renee immediately checked in as a visitor.

“I’m here to visit my parents, Juliette Arlinus and Marcus Callista.” Renee said to the receptionist. Then, she paused and turned to Lirion and Anise. “If you don’t mind, I would like to go alone.” 

“That’s fine.” Anise responded. “I’ll wait out here in the lobby.”

Lirion nodded in agreement. Renee shot both of them a grateful look before heading away to her parents’ room. She had visited them several times before, although less often once her university classes started.

Pushing open the door, she was greeted by the familiar sight of her parents lying down in two separate beds, hooked up to medical devices that keep them alive in their comatose state.

“Hello, Mom and Dad.” 

Juliette Arlinus looked just like her daughter, with the same black hair and golden eyes, although hers was currently closed. “Sorry, but I couldn’t bring any flowers today. I know wild roses are your favorite too, Mom.”

Renee found that talking aloud to them often helped. It made it easier to pretend that they were still there, although their current state feels more like death. She sat down next to her mother’s hospital bed and laid her head on sheets so she wouldn’t have to see her mother’s unconscious face. For a moment, she felt like a small child again, curling up next to her mother.

“So, I recently found out that I’m the reincarnation of the eleventh saint. You know, the one you named me after? Turns out, she’s my previous incarnation. The only problem is that I have no memories of my previous life, and I’m still trying to harness my magic properly.”

Renee took a deep breath before she continued. “There’s even worse news. The goddess Eris is supposedly back, and we saints have to fight her again like we did a thousand years ago. But, I’m scared. I’m afraid that I’m too weak right now. I’m afraid that we’ll lose and this world will be destroyed and it’ll be the end of everything I know.”

Renee couldn’t give up hope now, but she was also filled with dread at the thought that she might never see them again if she were to die fighting Eris on winter solstice.

“Wait…” Renee suddenly stood up again. “The car accident was on the summer solstice. Eris also broke free on the summer solstice. That’s not a coincidence, is it?” 

She almost made that connection back during the question with the saints, but she was ultimately distracted by the thoughts of having to fight a goddess. 

Renee turned back to look at her parents again, as if expecting them to wake up from their months-long coma to answer her question. “I remember seeing a creature on the road right before the car crashed. I think it was a nythral.”

There was a ringing in Renee’s ear as the feeling of anger settled in her chest. “No, I am certain it was a nythral. Eris must have sent it after me because I’m one of the saints. It was supposed to attack me, not you. You weren’t the target at all. You both got injured because of me.” 

She reached over to take each of her parents’ hands. “Mom, Dad, I will avenge you. No matter what it takes, I will defeat Eris and wake you both up again. So please hang on for me.”

Then, without another word, she exited their room.