I reincarnated as an elf .......and married the yandere villainess.-Chapter 36:illusion

Atheline moved further back but the cracks didn’t stop, they surrounded him going under the tree roots.

Lights of different colors shot out from the multiple cracks, blinding him for a moment.

Blue, white, red, purple, green, brown, and other mixtures he couldn’t even place.

Atheline was left too shocked to even move as he watched the lights converge, twisting around themselves.

His breath caught as he looked at the unnatural phenomenon that was happening in front of him.

"...multiple elements.." he said softly in shock.

’How is this even possible... I must be hallucinating that must be it’

Even just thinking about it made him dizzy. Despite reading almost every book in the main library about elements and Aether, he had never heard of elements converging together.

It’s mainly believed that they don’t align at all. Elements cannot mix together but a miracle was happening in front of him.

The elements tangled until the light left the ground under Atheline’s shock. Before he could even react, the lights shot towards him too fast for him to evade them.

The moment it touched his body, Atheline screamed. The invasion wasn’t gentle, the elements were forcing their way into his body.

He jerked back violently as something tore through his Aether channels and hit the tree behind him but Atheline’s mind wasn’t on his throbbing back but on something far worse.

His core.

His wind core.

He felt it, the smooth calm wind Aether circling his core shatter like glass as the other elements forced their way into his core.

"NO...!"

The world exploded into pain so searing he felt it in his soul. His core the very thing that made him akin to his heart had broken and now, the calm Aether had no way to move.

All the elements moved through his channels.

His Aether channels burned as the fire element seared through them.

The other elements weren’t to be outdone. Each of them tortured Atheline in their fight for dominance.

The chain around his neck had become so hot that it felt as though it was burning into his skin, but Atheline was too far gone to notice.

He screamed as he clawed at his chest, gasping but the air wouldn’t come, his lungs were frozen from the inside out. This made his breathing feel like knives were digging into his throat.

Lighting tore through his nerves forcing his muscles to spasm uncontrollably. He didn’t even know how to sort the elements as they passed through passages that were never meant to pass Aether, forcing their way through creating a pathway of their own.

And beneath all the madness, something heavy pressed on his body pulling trying to push him down

Earth.

Heavy and suffocating. It felt as though a mountain was on top of his body trying to crush him.

"STOP....!" He choked through the pain.

But it didn’t stop, it only got worse. His body was being forcefully adjusted a process he himself couldn’t even fight against.

He felt like a puppet.

’Why is everything going wrong today!’

His mind began to fracture.

Thoughts started to bleed in through the pain. Memories of his life of everything that had gone both so right and wrong at the same time.

Then in his haze;

She appeared. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

She wasn’t real but something his mind had conjured in his desperation. A figment of his imagination born from desperation.

But she was there standing in front of him, complete, and had the usual confident smirk she carried.

"...why...?" His voice broke.

The illusion didn’t answer, it just watched him like she always did while he talked about anything.

She did it the same way she always did, which he had found a little endearing.

"...Tell me, tell me it’s not true," he begged.

A wave of power coursed through his body, bringing another shot of pain. Blood dripped to the ground.

The illusion didn’t answer him but warped before it changed into the one he had seen before. Dark elves kneeling before her as she sat on the throne, confidently.

Atheline chuckled, a broken laugh.

"So... it’s real..." he whispered tasting the clarity of the situation.

The illusion stepped closer to him and looked down at him on his knees barely keeping upright.

And this time, it spoke.

"Some of it was."

His eyes widened.

"No..."

The voice was hers. Exactly as he remembers not even an in tone wrong.

Gentle and soft.

Atheline felt as though he was being destroyed fully.

"Stop..."

"You knew who I was," the illusion continued.

"I didn’t!" He snapped, shaking his head violently his hair coming loose," I didn’t know!"

"You choose not to see."

"I TRUSTED YOU!" The words ripped out of him.

The power inside flared in response to his emotions. The fire in his veins burned harder while the lightning scorched his body parts with painful strikes.

Atheline groaned his hold on his chest growing tighter. He collapsed, barely catching himself.

"Was... was any of it real?" He whispered again.

The illusion tilted its head a little to the right. Atheline’s breath caught. A familiar motion that he used to find comforting

"Does it matter?"

Something inside him snapped.

"IT DOES!" He roared.

The power that had been locked inside his body exploded outward.

The ground underneath him cracked further and sank in. Trees around him fell and some cracked under his power.

In front of him, the illusion broke into pieces before it merged again but fainter.

"Then.. Why are you running?" It asked softly.

Atheline didn’t know how to respond. That question cut deeper than anything else.

Atheline froze, his breath stuttered.

"I’m not running..."

The words felt weak, even to him.

The illusion stepped closer. It was close enough that he could almost reach out. He tried to lift his hand but it proved impossible.

His body swayed.

"Then why didn’t you stay?"

No answer.

Atheline knew what would have happened. Because if he had stayed, he would have believed the strange woman.

That terrified him more than anything.