Two days ago. Roughly a day after Cipher had left.
Elaine and Elara sat across from each other, a chessboard between them.
Elaine stared at the board, her gaze growing serious. She had been outmaneuvered again. Every move she made, Elara countered perfectly.
She looked up at her sister.
Her eyes narrowed.
"How come you’re so smart yet you can’t talk properly?" she asked. "Are you hiding something from me?"
Elara had a confused expression.
"Hide?" she asked.
She held up a finger to her chin, tilting her head in thought.
"Hide?"
Then her expression brightened, as if she had discovered something profound.
She pointed at Elaine.
"Sis like Brother Cipher," she said.
Elaine almost choked on her saliva.
"What? Where did that even come from?" she asked.
"Hide?" Elara asked.
"No, I’m not hiding anything," Elaine said quickly.
Elara had a confused expression.
She pointed at herself. "Elara like Cipher."
Then she pointed at Elaine. "Sis like Cipher."
Elaine facepalmed.
"How do you even come to such a conclusion? Just because you do doesn’t mean I do too."
At that moment, Elara’s expression suddenly changed.
"Cipher?" she asked.
"That’s right, Cipher. Just because..."
Elaine was about to continue when she noticed something strange.
Elara was bleeding through her eyes.
Red streaks ran down her cheeks like tears of blood.
"Cipher. Where? Where? Where? Where..." She continued rambling, her voice growing more frantic with each repetition.
"Hey, what’s happening to you?" Elaine rushed to her side, immediately casting healing magic. Golden light flowed from her palms, but it didn’t seem to help.
"Where? Gone? No? Light. No more light. No." Elara continued rambling as Elaine struggled to calm her down.
"Elara, look at me! Focus on my voice!"
Then suddenly, a golden aura erupted from Elara’s body.
The force knocked Elaine backward. She flew across the room...
Iris, who had heard the commotion, came rushing through the door.
Elaine slammed into her, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
"What’s going on here?" Iris asked, pushing Elaine off of her.
Then they both witnessed the scene before them.
Elara knelt in the center of the room, pressing her hands together. The pose was identical to how Elaine prayed to the Goddess.
A golden light began shining from her body, growing brighter and brighter until it was blinding.
Elaine shielded her eyes. "Elara!"
When the light finally subsided, they lowered their arms.
Elara had turned to stone.
...
Cipher nodded upon hearing the story.
"So that’s what happened," he murmured.
"What happened? Is she going to be okay?" Elaine asked, her voice trembling.
Cipher smiled. "Don’t worry. She’ll be fine."
He looked at Elara through Appraisal.
He had to say, this girl was quite something.
Looking at her status, he saw the cause of her turning to stone. She had somehow recovered the Resurrection skill.
From what Elaine had said, this had happened about a day after he left. That roughly coincided with the time he had died inside the gate.
She had mentioned before that she could track him. If that was the case, then she must have sensed his death.
After that, she somehow managed to recover her Resurrection skill.
One theory was that when he died, imported skills returned to their owners.
But that wasn’t true. He still had the Resurrection skill. And Maya never got back her Sword Mastery skills even after he died.
The second theory - the one he was leaning more toward...
According to what Elaine had described, Elara seemed to have willingly done something to herself. Well, not directly. She was praying before she turned to stone. So she was probably praying for the Resurrection skill.
And after her prayer was answered, she was hit by the curse once again since she had already used the skill once before.
He wondered why she had prayed for the skill.
Was she planning to use it on him?
But why?
Was the Time God behind this?
He moved closer to her.
"Elara. It’s Cipher. I’ll take the skill just like before. You just have to let go if you can hear me."
He activated the Import card.
Elaine stared expectantly, her hands clasped together.
In the next second, a golden light shone from Elara.
The stone cracked.
Pieces fell away, revealing her body beneath.
Elaine rushed forward and hugged her tightly, sobbing as she held her sister.
"Thank you, Cipher. Thank you so much," she said between tears.
Elara blinked slowly, looking around in confusion before her gaze settled on Elaine. She raised a hand and gently patted her sister’s head.
...
A few minutes later, the three sat at a table.
Elaine and Elara on one side. Cipher on the other.
"Let me see your hand," Cipher said.
Elara extended her hand toward him.
Cipher held it and used Export, returning to her the Resurrection skill he had patched. Since she could always get it back, it was better to just give her the fixed one.
Elara’s eyes widened.
She was about to speak when Cipher placed a finger on his lips.
She noticed this and did the same, mimicking his gesture.
He nodded.
"What’s up with you guys?" Elaine asked, noticing the strange interaction.
"It’s a secret," Cipher said.
"Secret?" Elara asked, tilting her head.
She then looked at Elaine.
"Ah, secret." Her expression brightened. "Sis Elaine likes..."
Elaine’s hand shot out, covering Elara’s mouth completely.
"Ah, what is it? Something got into your mouth?" Elaine said, her voice unnaturally cheerful. "Let sis fetch it for you."
She leaned closer to Elara, her eyes carrying a threatening glint.
"Spreading misinformation is bad," she whispered. "Sis will be really sad if you do that. Okay?"
Elara could only nod.
Only then did Elaine let her go.
"Elaine likes what?" Cipher asked, raising an eyebrow.
Elara glanced at Elaine.
Elaine gave her a look.
"Umm..." Elara paused. "I forgot."
Cipher looked at Elara, his eyes narrowing.
She shook her head quickly. "Brother, can’t. Really, can’t say," she said, waving her hands.
Cipher then looked at Elaine.
She adjusted her hair, feeling self-conscious under his gaze.
He let out a sigh. "Well, no matter."
He returned his attention to Elara. "Let’s talk about you. What happened?"