"Murphy had been gone for the... uh, maybe the thirty-seventh day?
The passage of time in this godforsaken place, the Lightless Sea, was truly absurd. Before falling asleep, I always grew frustrated, feeling as if I'd been trapped here for nearly a century. But after waking, there'd be a moment when I clearly realized it might have been only a month.
These past few days, though, my sense of time had grown increasingly hazy. I knew the Lightless Sea's 'assimilation' was changing my mind's ingrained perception of time passing.
That was an extremely dangerous sign.
It meant that even though we hadn't ventured deep into the heart of the Lightless Sea, we still couldn't escape the shaping and alteration of its mysterious power.
As a psychic master, my first instinct was to flee this godforsaken place immediately. But every time the thought arose, I ruthlessly crushed it. I had to stay here and wait for that little guy, who might never come back.
Mm, compared to my situation, Adele seemed to be in even worse shape.
For several days in a row, I'd seen her standing alone in front of the observation deck, gazing toward that faded region, like the 'stone that watches for her husband' from another world's legends.
To be honest, I was even a little jealous of her state of mind.
I could never regard Murphy as the absolute center of my life and very existence the way Adele did. But then again, Shani had been avoiding us all this time, as if she'd done something she didn't want anyone to know about.
In fact, she probably had, right before Murphy left.
I'd thought I'd feel disappointed or angry about it, but in truth, I accepted everything with a calmness I could hardly imagine. Perhaps it was