Little Monster

”People didn’t really recognize her real talent, but Frein’s eyes were more keen than anyone else’s.” ~Kristel Irista

Scuti thought that running two laps around the cloudbark surrounding the High Palace would impress her new mentor. But not only was she struggling to get halfway through her second lap, Frein wasn’t even looking at her. He was somewhere within the cloudbark, but had left to Mill alone after leaving her and Georgery some instructions.

It didn’t matter how fast she ran or whether she emphasized her Siffera or not—she couldn’t comprehend that weird part of the Meiyal Art that he was so adamant that she explored. The important part was for her to keep Gathering and Milling while running.

“You’re very close Princess Scuti, very close indeed!” Georgery urged her on. He wasn’t actually accurate, but it was the encouragement that counted. “Once you finish your second lap, I’m sure he’ll acknowledge your hard work.”

“He’s not…” she said before completely stopping as she ran out of breath. Her feet refused to move an inch more, and it was taking all of her arms’ strength to keep her from plopping on the cloud. After a few ragged breaths, she tried again.

“He’s not even looking at me.”

“Oh, and I was asked to remind you to keep Gathering and Milling,” Georgery said, ignoring her. “Whether you’re taking a break, or running, or falling off the cloudbark, please keep Milling. Quite the strict mentor, indeed.”

At the very least, that part wasn’t difficult. She was using the standard Mixed Milling Form, rather than the Perpetual-Layered version. The idea was for her to get used to both Gathering and Milling while doing other things, instead of spending time meditating. Frein had promised to help her with the harder part once she broke the old habit.

While she could do this process with ease, she couldn’t help but feel like she was cheating. After a few seconds of investing more Milled meiyal into her Siffera, she was able to carry on running. If it had been a formal duel, or a competition, people would be frowning at her.

They don’t know how much more powerful they could be, if only they dropped this stupid tradition. Frein’s words radiated inside her mind. With that promise in mind, she resumed her lap around the cloudbark.

Run, she did. All the while, she felt humbled. Despite the pain in her chest, and how much her legs wanted to give up, she was still standing on the cloudbark. It was proof that she wasn’t all spent yet. That which she thought was everything she could give was just her mind playing tricks on her.

She pushed. At that moment, Georgery stopped his encouragements and simply kept pace with her, providing her ample space to concentrate. His smile was confident and proud.

Scuti found her stride. The realization came as the pain subsided. Here, there was nothing else but running. There was only genuine joy. As if her entire life, she had been caged and this was the first time she had ever broken free.

The discovery was as profound as it was fulfilling. She could run for ages.

When the last bit of her meiyal finally burned and Art fatigue embraced her, she was still smiling and gasping with joy. Georgery caught her before she even slipped off the cloudbark.

“Four laps, Princess Scuti. That was twice your goal. Impressive, truly impressive, indeed.”

It was nothing compared to what Frein had done yesterday. But truth be told, she didn’t expect to reach this far. She wanted to keep going, and the excitement clashed with her strained body.

Tomorrow. Again. No, maybe tonight, after the party.

The Cloudbark Worm brought her to the highest point of the cloudbark, where Frein sat in meditation. There, they waited while keeping a good distance away.

Without even the use of an observation Meiyal Art, Scuti could see the surrounding meiyal disappearing and reappearing around the Visitor. Other Cloudbark Worms were observing him from afar, keeping him isolated but enclosed in case something happened. He didn’t seem to care or mind.

“Observe, Princess Scuti,” Georgery began. “This is what it takes to Mill decimeiyal.”

“Decimeiyal…” she repeated. Ten meiyal resources Milled through Perpetual-Layered Milling Form. “He can’t Mill them all.”

“Correct. The Visitor is still struggling. The meiyal you see appearing from him is not simply dispersion caused by Gathering too much. It’s combined with the other meiyal resources he produced from inside his Exhibit, including his own. Which is why we must stay away until he is done, why he has to Mill in isolation, and the actual reason why practitioners must Mill while meditating. Such a wonder to observe from afar, indeed.”

“What happens if we get closer?” Scuti asked, still busy regulating her breathing. The smoke about her wasn’t as extreme as Frein had displayed yesterday.

She had the mind not to push herself beyond Art fatigue. While she recognized now what Frein had been trying to achieve yesterday, she wasn’t as crazy as him. She didn’t possess the absurd amount of meiyal-charged materials that he did in the first place, and today was supposed to be one of the busiest days ever.

“If we reach closer, we’ll subject ourselves under his influence, much like entering the Nightmare Lands. I suppose he will not be hostile to us, but whether he could control it or not is something we should determine beforehand, not while it’s currently happening.”

The Visitor Gathered with the intensity of a vacuum, leaving a pocket devoid of meiyal that reached right in front of Scuti. She instinctively reached out to feel the emptiness, which was weird for her to notice given that she couldn’t Draw.

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“Greedy,” Georgery said. “Incredibly greedy, indeed.”

Space bent around Frein as he breathed out, as if reality was having a hard time accepting his existence. He opened his eyes and turned around.

“Good work on doing four laps, Scuti,” he said as he walked down the cloudbark. He was still Milling. “I was expecting three at most, to be honest.”

“You said I should do only one,” she replied, trying to stand her ground. For some reason, the Visitor’s approach felt intimidating.

He shrugged. “True, but when you didn’t stop running, I assumed you wanted to make an impression. I noticed you stopped Milling around the second lap, but for a first run, I think you did well beyond expectations. I genuinely hope you’ll keep this up.”

“I wasn’t expecting just running lessons today, teacher,” Scuti said, expressing her fabricated dissatisfaction through sarcasm. In truth, Frein’s words made her too excited to acknowledge the praise properly.

“But you’re already all spent,” Frein pointed out. “And you have a lot of things to prepare for, you said.”

She nodded. “Well, true. But I expect more next time!”

“Next time, you’re doing five laps. If you’re not Art fatigued by then, I’ll teach you something.”

“Deal!”

“Do you need a lift, Visitor?” Georgery asked, sensing the end of their training session.

“Can you send Scuti over first, then come back for me? I need to check on something for a bit.”

The King Cloudbark Worm nodded. “As you are, then.”

Scuti didn’t argue. She had a schedule to keep. But she couldn’t help notice the Visitor staring suspiciously towards the east. When she followed his gaze, however, she only saw clouds and nothing else.

“Do not mind what you can’t see, Princess Scuti,” Georgery whispered. “The Visitor is here for a reason, and you have your own role to play.”

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Scary. Frein was truly terrified of the innate, untapped talent hiding within the Second Princess. People had claimed Frill, Kristel, Katherine and even himself as geniuses of Meiyal Arts. One way or another, the four of them were the current strongest in Irista Nation. And no one could surpass their level.

Well, they haven’t seen Scuti.

More than once, Frein had to pause Milling his decimeiyal and check on the Second Princess. For someone so young, she was limitless. It didn’t take her much to push herself beyond her capabilities.

“She’s a monster,” he mumbled to himself. “Just imagine if she had an actual goal in mind.”

“Is that really a compliment?” Elizzel asked, manifesting beside him now that they were alone. “Also, catching up to her sister isn’t enough of a motivation?”

“You sure you don’t mind the Cloudbark Worms finding out about you?”

She shrugged. “They’re protectors, not rumor mills.”

“Fair enough.”

“What about that catching up thing?”

“Well, it’s a good motivator for sure,” Frein said, looking towards the east. “But more often than not, true strength and power appears when you’re doing it for someone else, not because of someone else.”

“Is that why you agreed to teach her? To help her realize that?”

He crossed his arms. “I suppose. She has a genuine enthusiasm to learn, she’s patient, she knows how to not be annoying, and despite craving for instruction, she doesn’t really depend on it.”

Elizzel lifted a finger. “Some of those are personal preferences rather than objective assessment.”

“I have to agree to be the mentor. Of course I should consider my preferences.”

It was the faunel’s turn to shrug. “Good point.”

“You know, thinking about it, you’re her mentor as well. You should give her some pointers next time.”

“Sure, but don’t think you can just throw this responsibility over to me. We’re one, but just like you said, you chose to be her mentor.”

“Wasn’t planning to…”

Frein clicked his tongue as he walked on the cloudbark, heading to the eastern edge. He sat and kept staring.

“Something’s wrong over there,” Elizzel commented, observing while she benefited from their six-meiyal Siffera.

“I really want to check it out, but I can’t leave.”

Frein couldn’t really pinpoint it, but something about the sky was weird. It was right above Eastrise, unmoving over the past few days. For most people, they wouldn’t even notice it, but those clouds were looking straight back at him as if they had thousands of eyes.

“The Letterman said there would be three, right?” he asked.

“But Nightmare Incursions don’t act like this,” Elizzel said, shutting down his implications. “They’re sudden. Unannounced. This is different.”

“But what if they were only caught by surprise because they didn’t have the same awareness as we do now?”

The faunel opened her mouth to respond, but she quickly pulled back. She couldn’t disagree, but she couldn’t agree either. “I think we should let them know.”

“Let them know what now?” Katherine said, emerging from underneath the cloudbark using her Rivasia. “George said I‘d find you here.”

Frein pointed east with his lips. “Can’t you feel anything from Eastrise?”

The Lady of the Void climbed the cloudbark and sat beside Elizzel, sandwiching her with Frein. She concentrated for a while before ultimately shaking her head.

“You’ve been observing that place for a while now,” she said.

“It’s a sinister feeling, Kat. Like those clouds are just looking at me, waiting for me to get close. Inviting me. But I’m stuck here in the High Palace for three more days.”

“You think we can find a Fragment of Zerax’thum’s Core over there?”

Frein’s eyes widened. He almost forgot about that. “Could that be it?”

“What? Did I get it wrong?”

“We were assuming it’s something related to the Nightmare Incursion instead,” Elizzel said.

“But—”

“Yeah, we know,” Frein interrupted. “But since I’m the only one who could feel it, I assumed people were caught by surprise back then because they didn’t have the same awareness as I do.”

“I don’t feel it, though,” Katherine said.

“So maybe your guess is more accurate.” He considered it as an actual possibility. Zerax’thum’s meiyal was sinister in nature in the first place. “But I’m not fully convinced. I still think it might be the early signs of a Nightmare Incursion that no one’s discovered until now.”

“Then we should let the right people know.” She looked at him with concerned eyes. “You’re not planning on going, right? If you want to sneak away, don’t leave me and Eli behind. We’ll come with you.”

“I keep my promises, Kat. I don’t want to make anyone cry.”

“Too late for that, but I’ll take it. I’ll ask Kento or Verdim to check their communications on Eastrise, and if that’s clean, I’ll ask for someone to make an ocular inspection on the clouds.” Katherine pushed herself to stand. “That should take roughly a day or two, if we send a small group.”

Frein nodded silently and brought himself up as well. His Siffera-enhanced awareness told him of Georgery’s approach.

“Come on,” Katherine urged him. “You should enjoy the party since you’re here. You wouldn’t want to miss Kristel in a formal gown.”

He frowned at that. “You make it sound like I’m looking forward to it. I don’t have eyes for anyone but you, you know.”

Elizzel deliberately coughed.

“You and Eli now.”

“Not like that, silly.” Katherine smiled and started to float. Behind her was Georgery’s looming, creepy smile. “Kristel looks really cute in a long gown.”

The Cloudbark Worm’s smile grew wider. “Indeed. But she’s embarrassingly awkward with it.”

Frein pointed a finger. “I’ll take that bet.”

“What?” Katherine asked.

“I’m willing to bet that the First Princess will take her gown in stride with pride and confidence.”

The Lady pondered to herself. “Considering the things that happened lately, you might have a point.”

As Frein hopped on Georgery’s head while Elizzel returned inside his Mind Palace, he was reminded of something quite important.

“By the way, George,” he began.

“Hmm?”

“No matter what happens today, make sure you don’t let Scuti go back to sprinting. She’ll probably chase that high, but she’d abuse her body for it. She needs to rest and see how her body reacts tomorrow.”

Georgery’s growling laughter sent waves in the air. “And here I was thinking that she had found herself a strict mentor.”

“I am. If I see her running tonight, she’ll get a scolding. You and her both.”

“Then I’ll do my best to keep her from exerting herself.”