Flint's P.O.V
As I succumb to the spell of the red-haired woman, I fell down to the deep nothingness. It was a great fall before I reached the ground, but neither did I feel pain nor see anything, except for a glowing orb of light in the void. Its white noise echoed throughout the blank space while its luminosity gave me enough relief that I wasn't lonely. Thinking of seeing through it, I walked towards the light.
I felt grief as I saw my parents' faces worrying about how I am doing. My mother glanced at father, telling him something and cried. My father then caressed my mother's cheeks and hugged her.
"Ma... Pa... nobody listens to what I say..." I sniffed as I knelt down in misery.
"I should've just stayed..." I sobbed. "I'm too weak for this shit!"
I punched the ground out of anger and sorrow as my voice echoed in the empty space while I cried alone in the empty space.
"I can't even protect the ones that have saved me..."
"Imagine, having three souls bound in one person"
A woman's deep voice came from behind my back. And there, I saw the legendary glowing feather on the ground. I ran and tried to pick it up but suddenly, I was stopped by a gust of wind.
I woke up by the sound of men yelling and sounds like pounding. Was it all just a dream? I got up to find myself in some tent and saw Trinity wearing the witch's clothing while laying her head on the bed
"Trinity! You're alive!"
She was sleeping, but then, she woke up after a moment and said: "You...awake..."
"What is this place? Where are we? Where's Narcilla? Did you kill the witch?"
She gave me a soft pat on my shoulder and replied: "We... safe" I took a deep breath as I relieved and calmed down.
"What happened?" I asked again.
"Trinity... don't... know..." she said as she raised her eyebrows.
Come to think of it, she wasn't there at that time. Where could she have gone? And how is she wearing different clothes when it's not her size? Not only that but wearing a witch's cloth? I'm pretty sure she had worn a dirty loincloth when we first met.
"Hey kid, you're finally awake." the voice of made me look at the tent's entrance. He was the man that I met in the forest.
"Where are we?" I asked
"You're in Kingdom Glasslid's noble headquarters at the moment" He replied as he walked into the tent and paused. His face is somewhat surprised by Trinity's appearance while Trinity tilted her head, confused.
"Good news, the witch had been contained" he continued as he sat down on a chair.
"By whom?"
"The mage" He answered.
"What about the elf?" I asked.
"The chick's just about fine, though she is sleeping right now." he paused as he lit up a cigar and smoked
"There's a feast happening in the camp tonight. It would be nice if you fill your empty stomachs with us"
"Thank you, I'll catch up with you later" I replied.
"Okay..."
He left the tent and Trinity stood up with her loosed clothing.
"Let's... eat..." she said with a smile.
I nodded and left the tent with Trinity. It's a relief that Narcilla is alive and well. Maybe the knights took care of her as well. What I don't understand though, is how Narcilla is still alive when she's the "witch". Not that it's a bad thing, but how? Things really are starting to get bizarre.
We saw people dancing around a large bonfire, men and women yelling with glee. I stared at them in wonder while Trinity tightly held my hand.
"What's wrong?" I asked, but she didn't reply. She seemed to be scared of the fire.
Then as we walk by a number of people, we saw a large table filled with many leftovers of the wide variety of viands and beverages. They looked delicious and I was hungry, so I walked faster to the table and treated myself. Trinity followed me as well. We ate a lot until we were full. There were times that Trinity would reach out into some bottles of booze but I stopped her from doing so. She's still very young, she can't drink.
From a distance, a drunk man in a sleeveless shirt approached me and called. "Hey, you *hic* "he wants *hic* to meet you..."
"Who's he?" I asked.
Before he was going to make a reply, Trinity answered: "Mage..."
"Oh, kid *hic* you know him?"
Trinity nodded and I asked him "Where is he?"
"There's no any dwarf *hic* man carrying a book *hic* in his size in this camp" he replied
"But no *hic* women would be able to swallow *hic* a cock as large as his book... WAHAHAHAHAHHA!!" He laughed on his own joke and we just uneasily sat there, waiting for him to go away until he added:
"Oh wait... But you can!!! AHAHAHAHAHAAH!!!" This time, he laughed very hard like an old man while we could literally smell his breath reek of booze.
Talking to him is helpless, so I stood up, held Trinity and get on with it. We walked down on a straight path away from the bonfire and saw a bearded man reading on what seems to be a huge old spellbook. He must be the mage that man talked about earlier.
"Stay here," I told Trinity, and she nodded.
I walk towards the mage as he closed his book and stood up, "You must be an acquaintance of the elf."
"Yes I am, sir" I politely replied "She saved my life"
"How sweet. Though the kid was the one who extracted the witch's soul from her body to this weapon" he said as he turned his back on me and faced me to return the scimitar from the elf's hut. "I believe this is hers. It's quite a rare weapon, lad. Return it to her." he added.
"No, sir" I shook my head and "That weapon belongs to the elf"
"Oh, pardon," he laughed "Keep it until she wakes up, I still have a lot of things to talk about"
“What is it, sir?” I asked.
“A surreptitious tale from my world about a certain phenomenon in our world, the…” he suddenly paused.
“Sir?” I puzzlingly asked.
“The Mana Sky” He said with a rough tone in his voice.
“In the city of Midgard, magic is everything, everywhere and is used everyday. Devices were made with magic, buildings were built with magic, and so on. The source of magic, as you know, of course, is-”
“Mana” I interrupted knowingly.
“Right on. Of course" the mage replied "Most of the mana used in devices is artificial. Processed into a more flexible type of energy. One night in the city of Midgard, there was this street where it was all lit up with street lamps powered by mana. It was, without a doubt, the most popular street within the city. Countless races from all walks of life were there to bask in the light from these mana-powered lamps.
But there was a very young boy named Neuis. He was not your typical, young, spry child. Whenever he looked passed the street with the mana-powered lamps, his face was unchanging. Still stiff from the dreary cold air in Midgard. He couldn’t feel it. He couldn’t see it. The color for him and only him, was dull. He was different, and he knew it. But little does he know, all of that would change through one event.”
“While on his daily route through this lamp-lit street, he saw something that caught his eye. He flinched at this unknown sight. It was blue, and unlike the color the lamp emitted, it was alive for him. It was real for him. He could feel it pulsing and moving with a life of its own. For the first time in his life, he felt like a kid his age. He looked around restlessly. To his dismay, he couldn’t find it and almost gave up. But once again, he noticed the same blue light again, as if it was calling him, telling him to keep looking around. He looked all around, but didn’t see it again. He sat down on a bench, and suddenly everything was pitch black. He sighed in the dark. It was a mana outage. It would be back and bright as it always was. But for some reason it was still bright. It was that same light again. He looked towards the blue light, stronger than it has ever been.”
“It was the sky. The sky shone a sky blue and he was mesmerized by it. Even after the lamps were relit, he still looked toward the sky. He was still looking at it… until her mother found him. Predictably, he was scolded. Harshly. The mother understood Neuis and told him that sky you’re looking at right now, is the Mana Borealis. The mana in the sky so concentrated that it shines naturally on its own even if untouched by anyone. It happens once every month, and the color depends on the season. In the winter, it shines a variety of blue. Summer, yellows. Spring, greens. Autumn, oranges. Each a spectacle to behold in an entirely different ways from each other. There was a better place to see this sky, only Neuis’ mother knows, as well as his father and a few other exploratory people. It was no secret, but rather an unknown place that few know. Neuis’ mother brought him there and he was elated.”
“The sky he saw on that street was already breathtaking as it is. But what he saw on that small hilltop was even more than that. It couldn’t be described into words. He thanked his mother for showing him this place. After they went home, Neuis changed in a lot of ways, a precocious brat turned into an open and bright child. Many years would pass by. Neuis became a fine magic knight that served Midgard with all his might. Until disaster would strike against this young man.”
“While on patrol in the service of the kingdom of Midgard, he and the squad he commandeered encountered a skirmish in progress. While taking charge of this encounter, a Mana Storm was brewing due to the excess magic cast by both parties. He wanted to save all of them, including the people who started the skirmish. He confronted the Mana Storm by himself, knowing that he would not come out of this unscathed.”
“Fortunately, the Mana Storm was neutralized, and the skirmish had died out with no real casualties. Neuis, while still alive, however lost his right leg, left arm, along with his vision. After being resuscitated, he was still fully functional even if you consider his severe injuries. When he heard that his vision was never going to come back to him, he was devastated. Even after some rehabilitation, he remained despondent due to his lack of vision.”
“But why?” I asked seriously. “Even if he had lost his sight, left arm, and right leg, he was still fine right? Why did he remain despondent from his sight?”
“It was because he couldn’t see the sky ever again. Even after numerous years, he still went to see it, even though one would soon outgrow such childish desires. Even after getting married and having a child at bay, he still remained so.”
“So, he remained that way until he died?” I asked.
“No, no, of course not. That would be no fun now would it? Being like that until he dies old. Not interesting at all. You see, one day he asked his mother to go to the Mana Sky, not see it but instead feel it. After going to a cliff overlooking the sky, he and his assistant waited for a Mana Sky to pass by. The time passed by felt like ages to them, but they still waited for it. Finally the Mana Sky was there. Although he could not see it for himself, he could feel it as if he was on that same street again. He went closer and closer, until… he fell into the Mana Sky itself, being absorbed by its powerful mana. After falling into it, no one has ever seen him ever since then.”
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