Chapter 15 -The Lesson-

ALTER VIOLET

“YES!” Said everyone present, kneeling down showing nothing but determination.

 This scene was quite familiar to me but yet different, the opposite. The picture of the ten basilisks that were picked by the king of basilisk himself, They were considered the strongest among them, beings that could even rival dragons, kneeling down to me in fear. 

A feeling of relief washed over me as I told myself, everything has changed for the better good. 

Noticing this, Pearl ordered them to fall back to their post and do what they were told. Seconds later in a blink of an eye, the people kneeling before us vanished as if they were never there. 

“We should go inside before everyone suspects something or send someone to find us,” said the blue-eyed girl going back to her ‘princess act’. “You could go inside,” I responded, looking at the shining stars in the sky.

I suspected that Pearl didn’t expect it because of her fast turning head in my direction, but she got a good look at me and said, “I get it that you want to stay here for a little longer?” My comment was nothing but a silent nod as I walked towards the concrete railings that I was leaning against. 

How long will this last? I asked myself as I gazed at the people in the town dancing and celebrating the coming of the prince, which is not me but Onyx. 

How far is my goal? How many sacrifices will it take? How many tries do I get? Without any awareness of the background, I turned my head to face the castle when my body jolted in fear of the sudden appearance of a face. A face that I didn’t expect to see.

“H-How long were you there?” I asked huffing air from the scare I got.

“About five minutes. At first I thought you were ignoring me but then I raised my aura a little to activate your aura sense but you didn’t budge.” Said the blonde with red tips, giving a giggle after seeing my reaction. “It seems like you were lost deep in your thoughts and important ones at that.” 

Luna's voice was somewhat lost as if she had learned a harsh truth that was sugar coated with lies. I sorted my thoughts to try and change the conversation, “are you excited that you have reached a new level of power?” 

This might actually help her to move those thoughts away for now, I thought. The human girl looked at the ground as if trying to remember what she had just learned from the dinner meeting. “You mean a mana core?” 

My response was nothing more but a nod. “Is there anything you want to learn about a mana core?” I asked, knowing that not every race knows about the role that a mana core takes. 

“Y-Yes” Luna answered, getting ready for a long lecture like before.

“Mana cores are the engine to the body so that it can use mana. Mana rings are something similar but they are only limited in power compared to a mana core. For example, the mana ring doesn’t allow you to store a huge amount of mana in it. On the other hand, the mana core lets you contain a huge amount of mana that allows you to fight battles more efficiently and easier and of course you could strengthen your body along with your spells. Mana rings have a limit when it comes to those abilities, they only last a couple of minutes and even the most capable mages can't pass fifteen minutes without their mana running out.” 

As I stopped, I watched how Luna proceeded to absorb the incoming information that was suddenly dropped onto her. Expecting a confused and overwhelmed expression but instead she looked more composed than normal girls for her age. She has clearly been through a lot and was forced to mature in such an early stage, I don’t want Luna to become the her from the war. 

I want Luna to be able to enjoy her life as much as possible, as much as a girl her age would and to do that I would need to have her experience new things along with Juliette. Or I could just, I hesitated to finish my thought, knowing what I was going to say to myself, I could erase her memory and let her live a normal life here without having her and Juliette involved in these battles…

The ex-Espion then spoke, “Okay, I think I now understand why mana cores are an important tool for a mage, but is that all to this about mana cores? I feel like there is more to the picture you know.” To my surprise, I had forgotten that Luna's intuition was always right.

I hesitated, knowing that there’s a risk of telling her. The more I’d talk, the more my plans would be revealed. “At the moment I don’t think there is any that I am aware of,” I said, not looking her in the eye but by looking beyond the mountains that were surrounding the kingdom, the feeling of guilt squeezed inside of my chest. 

I know myself very well… I need to be strong enough to support this… If I don’t… I won’t be able to be me… Alter Violet.

No. Now is not the time to deal with this. I have to watch this through with my own eyes, I told myself. Before looking at Luna, I give myself a deep, slow breath, “So? When are you going to Inox?” Luna asked, interlocking her hand and fingers together.

It seems like she wants to know the reason why I chose the others instead of her and Julie. “Tomorrow morning.” I answered shortly, “Is that…so.” 

“Listen Luna, the reason why I didn’t pick you or Julie is because both of you need to continue your training and if you both leave, who will protect Ezar?” What I had said was not a lie but also not the whole truth either, the green-eyed girl’s face showed some understanding and satisfaction of the answer. 

A moment of silence came, it had seemed that the party had stopped. ‘Has everyone gone to sleep?’ I said in my mind, looking through the window where we were earlier. I should wrap this up, “I think it’s about time that we get some rest, after all you have a long day ahead of you.” Then again, she didn’t utter a single word and only nodded as if she was having an argument with herself inside her mind. But that wasn’t my situation to pry.