Aetheric Chronicles: Reborn As An Extra

"This is... me."

Aurelius stared, wide-eyed and dumbfounded, at Rhea. His mind raced, trying to make sense of her words. His body, bound and immobilized, could do nothing but watch as she stood over the lifeless figure lying before her. His heart pounded in his chest, the tension growing unbearable with every passing second.

Her voice, cold and distant, cut through the silence again, as if she were talking more to herself than to him.

"No..." she whispered, her gaze fixed on the motionless body. "I was her... There was no Rhea. There was no me..."

'...!'

Aurelius's pulse quickened, his breath coming in short, shallow bursts as he struggled to comprehend what she was saying. He wanted to speak, to demand an explanation, but the gag silenced him. All he could do was listen, helpless and confused, as Rhea continued.

"My big sister... Evangeline..." Her voice trembled, not with emotion, but with the weight of an old, bitter truth. "She doesn't see me as her little sister because she cares for me... No." Rhea's eyes darkened as they lingered on the figure. "She sees me as a replacement... for her."

Aurelius's eyes darted to the figure lying on the cold floor. The pieces of her words began to fall into place, but none of it made sense. Who was her?

Rhea let out a soft, mirthless laugh, her lips twisting in a bitter smile. "She won't even call me by my real name..." she muttered, her voice thick with resentment. "I'm not me to her... I'm just... a shadow of someone else. Someone she lost...

someone she's trying to recreate." She clenched her fists, her knuckles turning white.

"Master Veda's no different," Rhea continued, her voice cold but steady. "She never saw me as her disciple… just a replacement. A stand-in for her first disciple... for Liora. Haha... Like master, like disciple, isn't that right..." Her shoulders sagged under the weight of the name, as if the very mention of it drained her.

Aurelius's heart sank as he watched her struggle with the words, his mind swimming in confusion and dread. He had always known Rhea to be strong—kind and independent, filled with determination. But the woman standing before him now seemed fractured, as if she were barely holding herself together.

Rhea's gaze shifted away from the lifeless body and fell upon Aurelius. Her eyes, once lively and determined, now held a strange mixture of exhaustion and accusation.

"And you..." she said quietly, her tone bitter yet resigned. "It's the same for you, isn't it?"

Aurelius's breath caught in his throat. He tried to shake his head, to deny her claim, but the ropes around his body held him firmly in place. His wide, pleading eyes were the only response he could give her.

Her expression remained unreadable as she continued, her voice soft, almost fragile.

"I'm just a good replacement to spend time with, right? A convenient stand-in... someone who's just close enough to fill the void and share your pain."

Her words struck him like a blow to the chest.

Aurelius wanted to scream, to tell her she was wrong, that he never thought of her that way. But the gag stifled his voice, leaving him powerless to refute her.

Rhea's eyes bored into his, searching for something, though Aurelius wasn't sure what. Understanding? Reassurance? Or maybe... she was just looking for confirmation of what she already believed.

The silence between them stretched on, thick and suffocating, as if the air itself had grown heavy with everything left unsaid.

'R-Rhea...'n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Aurelius's heart ached. He wanted to reach out to her, to show her that she wasn't a replacement, that she was more than that. But all he could do was stand there, bound and voiceless, watching helplessly as Rhea stood at the edge of her breaking point.

She sighed, her expression softening for just a moment before the cold, distant mask slipped back into place.

"Maybe... it's not their or your fault," she murmured, almost to herself. "Maybe it's just who I am now... A shadow."

She turned away from him, her shoulders hunched in defeat. "A shadow of a girl who no longer exists."

Aurelius's chest tightened as he watched her retreat back into herself. The words she had spoken, the weight of her past, all of it crushed him under its gravity. He had never seen her like this before, so broken, so detached from the person he thought he knew.

Rhea took a deep breath, her voice barely a whisper as she finished. "I guess... that's all I'll ever be."

And with those words, the room fell into a tense, oppressive silence, leaving Aurelius to grapple with the overwhelming realization that the woman before him—his friend, his ally—had been carrying this weight for far longer than he ever knew.

But how could he tell her she was wrong? How could he save her from the pain that had consumed her so completely?

He could feel her slipping away—lost in her own anguish, her identity tangled in the shadows of others. But he couldn't stay silent. Not like this.

'I have to do something. I can't let her drown in this…'

Desperation surged through him, and Aurelius bit down hard on the gag in his mouth, ignoring the searing pain in his teeth and jaw. He strained against the bindings, pushing his mouth open as much as he could, the ropes cutting into his skin, the taste of blood filling his mouth. But he didn't care.

With a final, forceful push, the gag shifted enough for him to speak—barely.

"R-Rhea…"

His voice came out hoarse and strained, but it was enough to make her pause.

Rhea stiffened for a moment, her back still turned to him. Her silence gave him the courage to continue, his voice a mix of urgency and exhaustion.

"Y-You're wrong," Aurelius rasped, struggling to get the words out, "You're not… a replacement."

Her shoulders tensed, but she didn't turn to face him.

"You're not just some shadow of someone else. You're… you, Rhea. You're… strong. You're kind. You… you're real."

Rhea let out a bitter laugh, shaking her head. "Strong? Kind? Real? You think… that's me? Don't fool yourself, Aurelius."

"I was just pretending all that time."

Aurelius grimaced, the pain in his mouth a dull ache compared to the agony in his heart. He needed her to hear him, to understand what he was trying to say.