For Humeyin, there was no concept of time.
There was only pain.
It tore through every part of her.
Her body.
Her blood.
Her meridians.
Her soul.
It wasn’t the kind of pain that came from an injury.
It was something far worse.
It felt as though countless invisible hands were pulling apart every fiber of her existence, tearing her apart and forcing her back together before tearing her apart again.
It was as if someone was chopping her body parts and mending them together only to chop them once again. And with each cycle, the pain was intensifying two fold.
Humeyin wanted to scream.
She couldn’t.
She wanted to move to exert some form of control over the situation.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t do that either.
She didn’t even know whether she still had a body.
At times, she felt as though she were drowning in an ocean of fire.
At other times, she felt as though something was crawling through every inch of her body, reaching places that should have been impossible to reach.
And then there was her soul.
That was what frightened her the most.
The pain wasn’t limited to her flesh.
Something was hurting her soul.
Manipulating it.
She could feel an unbearable pressure digging into the deepest parts of her existence.
Am I dying?
The thought barely formed before another wave of agony swallowed it.
She lost herself again.
She had no idea how long it lasted.
Minutes?
Hours?
Days?
Perhaps all three.
Eventually, something changed.
The pain began to recede.
Humeyin remained unconscious, but somewhere within that darkness, she became aware of something else.
A strange sensation.
Something had been removed from her.
She couldn’t understand what it was.
For as long as she could remember, she had always felt as though something was restraining her.
Not chains she could see.
Not shackles she could touch.
Yet they had always been there.
They had followed her since childhood.
They had tightened whenever she encountered sunlight.
They had made her body suffer whenever she absorbed too much Light Essence.
They had forced her to hide.
To cover herself.
To fear the sky.
To fear the sun.
To fear the very light that ordinary people took for granted.
But now…
Those shackles were gone.
Humeyin slowly became aware of her surroundings.
She still couldn’t move.
Her body felt incredibly fragile.
It was almost frightening.
She felt as though her bones had become hollow glass.
A single leaf falling onto her body might be enough to break something.
Even the slightest impact seemed capable of causing serious injury.
Yet despite that weakness…
She felt free.
Completely free.
Humeyin remained still as she tried to understand the sensation.
There was no pressure.
No warning.
No instinctive dread.
No suffocating feeling crawling through her body whenever she sensed Light Essence nearby.
For the first time in her life, she couldn’t feel the danger surrounding her.
The realization slowly spread through her consciousness.
The light…
She instinctively searched for it.
Nothing.
There was no overwhelming reaction.
No burning sensation.
No instinct telling her to hide.
No feeling that the surrounding Light Essence was trying to devour her from within.
Humeyin’s heart began beating faster.
Is it gone?
A strange impulse suddenly emerged within her.
She wanted to run outside.
Right now.
She wanted to open the doors.
Step beneath the sky.
Stand directly beneath the sun.
Feel sunlight touching her skin.
The desire was so strong that she almost acted on it immediately.
But something inside her restrained that impulse.
She didn’t know what had happened yet.
And rushing outside after awakening from an unknown procedure would be foolish.
So Humeyin controlled herself.
Slowly…
Very slowly…
She opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was Aksai.
He was sitting nearby.
His appearance was considerably more exhausted than she had ever seen it.
His clothes were damp with sweat, and there was fatigue written across his face.
Yet the moment their eyes met, his expression changed.
Relief.
Followed by satisfaction.
Aksai smiled.
Humeyin stared at him silently.
She didn’t know what he had done.
She didn’t know how long she had been unconscious.
She didn’t even know whether what she was feeling would last.
But for the first time since she could remember…
She wasn’t afraid of the light.
And somehow, that realization mattered more than anything else.
Humeyin’s lips parted slightly.
“Lo.. Lord Aksai…”
Her voice was weak.
Barely more than a whisper.
But Aksai heard it.
His smile widened.
“Well… turns out I indeed have some meager capabilities. Welcome back, Lord Humeyin.”
Aksai didn’t give Humeyin much time to think.
He raised one hand and gently circulated his druidic power.
A soft green light emerged from his palm.
It wasn’t dazzling or oppressive. Instead, it spread through the cave like a gentle spring breeze, enveloping Humeyin’s weakened body in a warm radiance.
Humeyin closed her eyes.
The green light seeped into her body, repairing the damage left behind by the bloodline experiment. Her fractured tissues began healing. Her exhausted muscles regained their strength, and the microscopic injuries scattered throughout her body gradually disappeared.
After some time, the green radiance faded.
Humeyin slowly flexed her fingers.
Her body was still somewhat weak, but most of the injuries were gone.
Aksai nodded in satisfaction.
“Your vitality is recovering faster than I expected.”
He looked at the black bandages covering most of her body.
“Now, I’d like you to remove some of those bandages.”
Humeyin hesitated.
She understood why he was asking.
Yet the thought of exposing herself to the surrounding Light Essence still made her instinctively nervous.
For most of her life, sunlight had been synonymous with pain.
Even the relatively weak illumination inside the cave had always made her uncomfortable.
Still, Humeyin trusted Aksai.
She slowly reached for the bandages around one of her arms.
She unwound them.
A patch of pale skin was exposed to the ambient light.
Humeyin immediately tensed.
The familiar sensation returned.
A faint burning sensation spread across her exposed skin.
Her eyes widened.
It didn’t work?
Fear flashed through her heart.
But before she could react—
The sensation changed.
The burning disappeared.
In its place came something she had never experienced before.
Coolness.
It was gentle and refreshing, like a soft breeze passing over her skin.
Humeyin stared at her exposed arm.
Nothing happened.
No pain.
No burning.
No swelling.
No terrifying accumulation of Light Essence.
Instead, the exposed portion of her body felt more comfortable than the skin still covered by the bandages.
Her breathing gradually steadied.
She stared at her arm in disbelief.
Then she removed another bandage.
And another.
Aksai didn’t stop her.
Humeyin continued until every bandage had fallen away.
She looked at her exposed body.
Nothing happened.
She was safe.
A strange realization slowly took root inside her.
I don’t need them anymore.
Humeyin reached for her outer robe.
Aksai understood what she was thinking but said nothing.
She removed it.
The cave’s faint illumination touched her skin.
Still nothing happened.
In fact, Humeyin felt even more comfortable.
For the first time in her life, she didn’t need to hide her body from the light.
She stood there silently for several breaths.
Then her eyes became misty.
She looked toward Aksai.
There was no need for words.
Aksai understood.
He smiled faintly.
“Go.”
He snapped his fingers.
A rumbling sound echoed through the underground chamber.
The formation surrounding the cave ceiling activated.
Stone shifted.
A circular opening slowly appeared above them, revealing the sky outside.
Morning air immediately flowed into the chamber.
Humeyin looked upward.
The horizon was still dark.
The sun hadn’t risen yet.
But a faint golden glow had already begun spreading across the distant sky.
Humeyin’s eyes trembled.
For a moment, she simply stared.
Then—
She flew.
Her body shot upward through the newly created opening.
She passed through the cave ceiling and emerged into the open sky.
Aksai followed immediately.
He didn’t dare let her out of his sight yet.
Humeyin continued climbing.
Higher.
Higher.
The peak of the mountain soon appeared beneath her.
Wind rushed past her face.
Her hair fluttered wildly behind her.
She didn’t care.
For the first time in her life, she could fly beneath the open sky without covering herself from the coming daylight.
Then the horizon brightened.
A golden edge appeared beyond the distant mountains.
The sun was about to rise.
Humeyin stopped in midair.
She looked toward the horizon.
Aksai hovered several dozen meters behind her, silently watching.
The first ray of sunlight finally broke across the world.
It touched Humeyin’s face.
She instinctively closed her eyes.
She waited.
For the burning.
For the pain.
For the familiar sensation of her bloodline going out of control.
Nothing happened.
Instead, she felt warmth.
Gentle.
Natural.
Almost comforting.
Humeyin slowly opened her eyes.
The sunlight reflected in them.
For several breaths, she simply stood there in the morning sky.
Then a tear slipped down her cheek.
She laughed softly.
Not because anything was funny.
But because after all these years, she could finally experience something as ordinary as sunlight without fearing that it would kill her.
Behind her, Aksai smiled.
He didn’t interrupt her.
For now, there was nothing left to say.