Chapter 168: Damaged Souls.

Hannah was still at the ritual dais. She scrambled to gather the ancient scrolls together, but she only had two hands, and they kept slipping from her grasp and falling to the ground. She quickly picked them up again, trying to protect the fragile pages from the rain that had begun to reach even the ritual area.

She looked to the sky and yelled out in anguish, "Why the hell is it suddenly raining?"

Damien smiled wretchedly, at least by normal people’s standards. He seemed far more entertained by the situation than anyone else, especially since the rain was the direct result of his undead’s sorcery. He raised his palm, and a droplet froze in midair before him. With a simple wave of his hand, the frozen droplet shot toward a distant ice boulder.

The tiny projectile struck the boulder with enough force to shatter it to smithereens, sending fragments of ice scattering across the ground.

"Whoa, you’re so strong."

"I wanna be like you, can I?" The only girl of the group of four friends asked with admiration in her eyes.

Damien looked at her for a moment. He felt a faint sense of responsibility, but he quickly pushed it to the back of his mind. He wasn’t the responsible type, and his history had proved that many times. He wasn’t about to suddenly pretend otherwise just because a child happened to look up to him.

Still, he didn’t want her to give up on power either.

Chasing power was the only option Awakened like them had. The world outside the city was filled with creatures that could kill them without a second thought, and being weak meant relying on someone stronger whenever danger appeared. Damien knew that better than almost anyone.

"You will be just as strong when you grow up, all of you will be... I promise."

The four children looked at him with even greater admiration, and Damien didn’t say anything else. He simply watched the rain continue to fall around them, wondering how long the spell would last.

The rain gradually got stronger, forcing them all to run back toward the city and find roofs. Damien, in particular, had to squat with Hannah, who made it obvious that she wasn’t pleased with the rain. The ancient scrolls she had been studying were far more important to her than whatever amusement Damien was getting from the weather.

She made him help her dry out the wet pages using his fire and wind sorcery. Damien controlled the heat carefully, while the wind moved around the pages, helping push the moisture away without burning them. It was slower than simply throwing the pages into a fire, but Hannah’s expression made it clear that doing that would probably result in Damien being buried beneath the ruins.

In the end, even the undead lich became exhausted from the repeated use of its sorcery, and Damien had to dispel it. With the lich gone, he had to rely on his hot breath to finish the work.

The rain continued falling outside as the water washed away and melted the snow that had accumulated for centuries. The frozen landscape slowly began to change. Whole ice mountains shrank and collapsed under the constant rain, revealing the ground that had remained buried beneath them for generations.

Green plants once more rose from the ground.

"Huh, I think it has stopped," Hannah said after realising the night was once more quiet. The rain had disappeared, leaving only the sound of water dripping from the ruined structures and the sleeping Eidolon priest in the corner.

Hannah suppressed her annoyance as she looked toward the creature. She still had no idea why Damien had decided it was a bright idea to keep the last Eidolon as a pet. Something about humanity and the preservation of nature, apparently, though she didn’t really understand his reasoning.

Damien was difficult to argue with, especially when he had already made up his mind.

"The spell’s effects have ended," Damien responded.

Hannah packed up the batch of dried pages and set them aside before bringing another batch over and hanging them above the fire, using the wooden suspension they had made to keep them from burning.

She carefully adjusted the pages before finally sitting down again.

"Do you think we’re going home anytime soon?" she suddenly asked.

Damien looked up. "Didn’t think the Ruins of Humanity bothered you much. You always seemed to have it figured out."

Hannah shook her head.

"The only thing keeping me sane in this hell is knowing that I know nothing. I endeavour to acquire knowledge, because that’s the only thing that can distract me from reality."

Damien seemed confused by her answer. "But you only seek knowledge on how to escape the Ruins of Humanity."

The fire flickered faintly as its light momentarily brightened their surroundings, casting Hannah’s shadow beyond the broken wall behind them. For a while, she remained focused on the ancient pages hanging over the fire, watching them slowly dry.

"I never said it worked," she said faintly.

Damien himself didn’t particularly want to leave. Of course, if the opportunity presented itself, he would take it, but it wasn’t as though he was desperately searching for a way out every waking moment.

"What about you, pretty boy?" Hannah suddenly asked. "What drives the famous dead man of the Ruins of Humanity? Why do you want to leave so badly?"

Damien shrugged, his expression becoming slightly more thoughtful.

"To tell you the truth, Hannah, I don’t know what I want. I’ve never had this much control over my life before, and a part of me is afraid of losing that. But another part of me wants to return home and prove myself..." He paused, searching for the right words before continuing. "I guess, in the end, I’m just another damaged soul, trying to become something he’s not."

Hannah blinked, clearly caught off guard by the answer.

"Wow, I was not expecting that from you." She tried to hold back her laughter, but eventually failed and let out a chuckle. "I only asked for your reason for wanting to leave, not your childhood trauma."

Damien shook his head helplessly.

"Drop dead, Hannah."

"You first."