23.4
“Let’s go John, let’s go!!!”
Bang, bang, bang!
The sun had just set into the sea’s horizon, marking the start of their Sunday evening. As per the usual, the Perxins would to dine out at one of the many restaurants of their choosing.
Tonight, the Perxins had decided to visit Chang Zen, the richest state in the Eastern Continent.
The old capitol was home to many of the technology developed by its geniuses, and certainly was the most technologically advanced place in the world.
Chang Zen was where the rail system that connected all five states was invented, incidentally, it was also where the National Academy was.
Aside from his brief time in the National Academy in Chang Zen, John barely had any memories of the place, for once schooling hours were over, he would be on the first carriage back to his home in Shi Jou.
Set aside the impossibly tall buildings that spanned to the heavens that he caught a glimpse of, John hardly knew the place well. Not only was it the largest state in the Eastern Continent, but it was also the oldest among the five.
“We are late, John! Mama and Papa are waiting!!!”
“I’m coming, I’m coming!!!”
As soon he exited his room, Serene’s hands snatched his hand, dragging him to the carriage where Uncle Edgar and Aunt Dalene had been waiting.
“We are ready!!!” Serene closed the carriage door as she announced to the driver. “Hehehe…”
Whip!!!
They took off before John even had time to quip at the giddy expression that the tigerkin had on her.
Naturally, he knew why she was so excited for today.
They were going to Chang Zen’s shops in search for a magic tome to teach the basics of magic casting.
Ever since John divulged to Serene that he knew magic, and offered to help her in developing hers, the pair had been frantically looking for resources for proper magic casting.
Alas, it was impossible for them to get a hold of magic casting instructions in their State Academy.
For Shi Jou, where both Sarvods and Perxins resided in, had strict rules of prohibiting minors from attaining such tomes until they are of age.
On the road, he and Serene jested on the possibilities of the type of magic that she would specialize in.
To which went along the lines of ‘making someone’s head explode’ and ‘giving uncontrolled diarrhea that lasted for a week’—in reality, magic such as these did not exist, one could say it is possible to make it work, but the amount of mana and skill required for such a silly trick was absurd to make it viable.
Two hours later, John and the Perxins arrived at one of the restaurants that towered above the industrial city that it was in. John barely paid any attention to the food—like always, thanks to Serene—all that registered to him was that the place was catered towards people of higher echelons alike.
His thoughts, were instead focused on the various ways that he could and would teach Serene magic. Debating whether he would even break his own rule of not using magic to help her.
Sure, he would have to keep it a secret, so long as nobody but the two of them knew about it, there would be no harm done.
His parents would be none the wiser to his achievements nor be able to exploit him.
This would be something that only he, held full control of, without being berated or demanded to feel or think otherwise.
And Serene would be his co-pilot in this little fiasco.
After their dinner, the four of them went to the lower levels of Chang Zen, where the merchant districts dwelled.
In daylight, when the sun was the strongest, sun rays could barely reach the merchant district, for these streets were towered by the upper town district that encompassed all that is great about modern day Chang Zen.
Weirdly though, the same could not be said for the merchant district when it was night time.
It was only when the sun set, and when true darkness came for the state of Chang Zen, did the merchant district truly thrived.
Artificial lights beamed across the whole place, breathing in a vigor that was unparalleled even in the upper levels of Chang Zen. Stores that were barred with steel opened, food stalls were set throughout the various parts of the open road, people flocked into the merchant district in the night like flies towards a dung pile.
This was the ‘true’ heart of Chang Zen, and one of the important places for the Eastern Continent’s constant economical flow. While the upper town district was equipped with facilities of all kind to ensure safety and accessibility to all, it could not compare to the abundant and dirt cheap prices that the merchant district had to offer.
If John and Serene were here to find a magical tome to learn magic, the merchant district of Chang Zen was the best place in all of Eastern Continent for them
“Papa, do they have bookstores here?” Serene tugged at Edgar as the sight of unusual inventions flocked their view.
“Sure, they do. The store that mama and I are heading to has one, I happen to know the shopkeeper there.”
“You don’t normally go visiting bookstores, Serene. What’s so magical about Chang Zen that made you want to study.”
“M-magical!?” Serene yelped, her tail stood up at her mother’s question. “N-not really, J-John was the one who wanted to visit!”
“H-hey!” he gave the girl a small push. “I-I said it would be nice to go to one, not—”
“Now, now,” Edgar placed himself between the two of them. “You can buy as many books as you want but you have to remember, Chang Zen is a big place, it would be a big problem if…”
“…we got lost.”
John and Serene both finished Edgar’s sentence.
“Don’t worry, Uncle Edgar, wherever Serene goes, I’ll make sure to follow her. Besides, the store is opposite of the one you and Aunt Dalene are going to.”
“It’s you that we are worried about, John.”
“M-me? Aunt Dalene, what are you talking about?” flustered for leaving such an unreliable impression on the Perxins, John was at a loss for words.
“There was that time you got lost when we were in Ban De,” Dalane replied quickly. “Thankfully Serene saw where you went.”
“…”
“Ha!” Serene poked at his shoulder, her striped tail waving behind her as she so often would whenever she was amused.
“Your wanderlust needs to be kept in check, John. Especially so as a child, help is not always around for you, think of the consequences if you also endangered others if you aren’t careful. What if Serene got hurt?”
“I would never—”
John stopped when the thought of an injured Serene appeared in his mind, tattered clothes, bruised skin, torn hair. The sheer mental image of such a thing happening to his closet friend override his stubborn nature,
“Yes, Aunt Dalene. I’ll keep that in mind.”
John remained quiet as he walked with the Perxins, mostly because Serene would not let the matter of him getting an earful from Dalane go.
It was not every day the tigerkin girl found something on him to tease, especially when John was the one who mocked Serene whenever she made silly mistakes.
Her teasing only stopped when Edgar and Dalene arrived at their venue. Edgar escorted the two of them to the bookstore, handed each of them a few coins, gold and silver alike for their purchases.
Thanking Uncle Edgar, the two trotted into the rustic bookstore whilst whispering among themselves.
“Are you sure this is a bookstore?” John whispered to Serene’s ear.
“Ah!” startled, Serene leaped backwards with her hands covering her human ears with her long bangs.
“I told you to not whisper there…”
She complained as she looked away from John. Her feline ears drooped as she often would whenever she was startled.
“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Beastkin, for the most part, only have two ears that resembled the animal counter parts that they are from.
Like all tigerkin, Dalene had two ears atop her head.
Serene however, has a human father and a beastkin mother.
Instead of fully taking after Dalene Perxin’s tigerkin traits, she too the human ears that came from her father side, making the tigerkin to be an oddball who had 2 pair of ears, human and tigerkin.
While her feline ears were the most evident part of her body—along with her striped tail—her human ears were the most sensitive compared with her feline ears.
That was why John spoke to her there. But Serene herself was easily embarrassed that she had four ears, and preferred not to show her human ears.
“This place does look weird…”
At the girl’s comment, the duo returned their focus back to the ‘bookstore’ at hand.
There were shelves and shelves of books laid before them, however, the same goes for the unusual items that laid among the shelves. Items, ranging from tree roots of unknown origins, glass jars that hosted full sized animals, glowing jars and vials that seemingly composed of half the bookstore’s light source.
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“Uncle Edgar did say it is a bookstore, right?”
“Papa did…”
“And he said he knew the shopkeeper… I think we will be f-fine…”
The two of them huddled up against the other as the eerie smells and miscellaneous items that they had never seen surrounded them from all sides.
The deeper the entered, more bizzarree items appeared to them, whisking away their initial purpose of finding a magic tome and replacing it with a heightened sense of caution.
“John…I think we should leave…” Serene uttered, her hands shook despite holding onto John’s arms.
“But we haven’t got what we came here for.”
“A-alright…let’s start looking…” still shaking and clutching onto him, Serene started to browse through the nearest shelf before her. “T-there’s not much books on magic here, John.”
“I think this is more of the alchemy and chemistry section,” John noted, his eyes glued to the few books that were placed alongside the countless jars and vials. “Look, this is part is just like one of our textbooks… Serene?”
When he turned to look at the tigerkin, Serene had stopped holding onto him. Instead, she held one of the store’s vial in her hands, her emerald eyes glued to the glowing blue liquid that sloshed about in the glass tube.
“What are you doing?”
“I found it!” her voice exploded from excitement. “I think this is it!”
“That’s definitely not a book, I can tell you that.”
“No, you goodball! This is a cure for my ears!” Serene moved the vial before John. “Read what it says.”
Lowering his brows in doubt, he squinted, “Made for beastkin: The Cure for four ears. Once taken, allow up to three days for undesired human ears to disappear, leaving only your beautiful beastkin ears to be the only pair of ears. Ingestion only.”
What the hell?
“I wonder how much is this? I’ll look like mama…” Serene’s voice trailed when she noticed the darkened expression on John. His usual expression was nowhere to be seen, all that was left was the hardened expression that Serene saw on the first day they met.
“No.”
“W-what do you mean no?” the girl forced herself to smile, not understanding the reason for John’s shift in attitude.
“You can’t buy this, Serene.”
“Why not!?” her voice blasted his face like a tiger’s roar. “I’ve always been made fun by my cousins because of my ears!!! Even at school, you heard what they called me!!! Four-ears!!! Why can’t I get this!?”
“This is permanent, once you’ve taken this you can’t regrow your human ears back,” John’s voice was low. “I-I can’t l-let you…”
He knew that she had a complex about her four ears, but she never once mentioned to him she hated them.
His heart shuddered to hear such a proposal from Serene, the girl whom he entrusted his secrets to. Yet, not once had she spoke to him about her hatred of her human ears.
He thought Serene having four ears were odd and quirky, but not once had he thought that they looked ugly on her. Both her human and feline ears were on the dainty side, if anything they complimented her whimsical personality more than anything.
At the split second he decided.
“I-if you want to buy this so badly, then f-forget buying the tome. I w-won’t teach you magic…”
He may have said those words to prevent her from obtaining that potion, but John would be lying if he was not as agitated as she was.
“You are lying,” Serene’s tail puffed upwards, the hair that was on it all stood up in unison, her emerald eyes stared daggers at John.
“No.”
“Why do you want me to suffer!?” Serene roared. “You are selfish, John! You just don’t want to see me be happy! If only I didn’t have an extra pair of—”
“It’s because I don’t want you to suffer, you stupid cat!!!” John’s voice boomed throughout the bookstore, causing the nearest jars to vibrate in his anger. “Think about what happens when you lose your human ears! You might lose your hearing forever! Think about what Aunt Dalene would say! And what about Uncle Edgar!? What about your father who you got your ears from!? Would he want to see this happen to you!?”
“I-I…j-just…”
“What about me, Serene!? You’ve never told me about this at all!!! I thought w-we don’t keep secrets from each other!!! And you never told me you hated them!!!”
John’s voice shook Serene to her core, her eyes shook in their sockets as tears glistened around her.
!!!
Realizing he raised his voice and instilling the fear of god within his best friend, John froze.
A withering hand grasped at John’s heart, for the sheer realization that in his anger, he acted just like his father in an attempt to stop the girl from doing something stupid.
“I-I’m sorry,” John uttered those words and dare not to say anymore. “I’ll go get Uncle Edgar, I’m sorry, Serene.”
He never meant any harm, but here he was, making her cry because of he did not want her to be hurt.
In the process of preventing Serene from doing bodily harm to herself, John had unintentionally wound her heart.
The irony was apparent to him.
He can’t say he understood love well. But young John knew what was necessary to keep her from harm, if she ended up hating him from this point onwards, he was more than willing to become the martyr. For this was the extent of John’s dedication towards his relationship with her, as long she could be happy, he was—
“Don’t go…”
Serene grabbed his hand, stopping his call for Uncle Edgar.
“W-what about you…” for the first time ever, Serene’s voice squeaked in a soft tone that could only be said to be a kitten’s innocent plead. Causing John to turn to her with a bitter expression in his eyes.
“…”
“T-tell me w-why you are a-angry at m-me…”
“Me? I-I….”
“Why d-did you shout?”
“Sigh… Because I know I can’t stop you, Serene. Because I don’t like it, because you never told me how much it affected you… You told me to not keep secrets from you… B-but you are the one w-who…” his voice cracked as he felt moisture at the corner of his eyes
John raised both his hands to Serene’s cheeks, his eyes drooped like a sad puppy, rubbing the base of his palm against her cheek as he moved his fingers close to her ears.
“My best frie—” John halted his words and shook his head. “My Serene, will always have four ears. Two sensitive human ears, and a pair of tangerine ears on top of her head. Sure, it shocked me when you first showed me, but I think… I think…they are beautiful.”
His small boyish fingers gently ran at the back of Serene’s human ears, caressing her as though her would to a docile animal, all thoughts of her being a beastkin related to tigers left his mind. At that moment, all that was in him was to tell her what he thought with the small hope of changing her mind.
Mmmm…
The girl nuzzled against his hands causing young John to quickly retract them when he realized he overstepped his physical boundaries with a girl, especially when it was with her sensitive human ears.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
Instead, Serene held tightly onto his right arm, rubbing her own cheeks onto his palm like the feline that she was.
“Serene…umm...” John made a voice, unsure that he may have awakened something in the tigerkin.
“I promise, I w-won’t ever think of r-removing my ears again,” whatever lingering doubts of her own appearance abated. Leaving the blissful expression of a Serene who seemingly melted in John’s hands.
“I—” John wanted to say something, seeing that she changed her mind, he decided to let her be.
“What is thisss? Two little children in my shhoooopp?”
Pang!
“Ahhh!!!” Serene jumped to John’s back at the raspy voice. The vial that she had been holding in her other hand fell to the ground, causing glass shards to spread along with the glowing liquid.
“Hahahaha!”
Behind John and Serene, stood an elderly looking woman whose back was slightly hunched with pronounced creases across her body, cackling in delight for having startled two children.
“Edgar was just as easily startled as you when he was your age, little tiger. I am Miss Elisabeth, owner of this store and used to tutor Edgar when he was just like you,” the lady introduced herself to Serene. She then turned her attention to John, “Like father, like daughter. All you had to was to make a funny sound at the right time, and Edgar would…”
…
…
…
“Would what?” John unable to bear the sudden pause in Elisabeth’s voice smiled in amusement. He could not imagine a time where the confident uncle Edgar to be so easily startled just like Serene.
Elisabeth have stopped speaking and moving, her eyes however moved about in their sockets as her face warped into a flurry of unexplained emotions.
“Is she having a problem?” Serene whispered in John’s ear.
“I don’t know… Maybe she is old?”
“Miss Elisabeth?” Serene called to the elderly woman. “Are you—”
“Boy, are you aware …”
In the smallest of voice, those words came from the shopkeeper’s mouth.
“What?”
“What did she say, John?” Serene and John turned to look at Elisabeth, but the unusual expression on the woman had vanished and she was back to her gleeful expression moments ago.
“I apologize for the force of habit I accumulated from my hobbies,”
Elisabeth gestured towards the various items that was around them, indicating towards the various miscellaneous items that did not belong in a bookstore.
“I was going to ask if you were looking for any books in particular.”
John and Serene cast each other a glance, seemingly to speak amongst themselves with just their eyes, indicating something along the lines of:
“You tell her.”
“No, you go tell her.”
“No, not me, what if she does ‘that’ again? My tail cannot take any of her pranks anymore.”
“You’re the one who wanted a book.”
“No, you wanted to teach me.”
After their intense unspoken conversation, John gave in when Serene pushed him towards Elisabeth.
“We…uhh…were looking for a magic tome,” John scratched his head, still giving a look at Serene for betraying him—forcing him to ask all the questions. “One that can teach the basics of magic…including how to use them.”
“I see, so we’ve got a pair of inquisitive children today. I have just the book at the counter ahead, come with me.”
Without much question, John marched forwards with the peculiar shopkeeper, Serene followed closely behind him.
“Don’t worry about the potion, John,” Elisabeth uttered in a small voice, wiggling a small vial in her hands. “I’ll keep this away from the cat. I can’t have both Edgar and Dalene coming after me. Much less you, hahaha.”
“That’s—” John stopped himself when he saw the same blue vial Serene broke in Miss Elisabeth’s hands. Immediately, he turned behind to locate the shattered glass and spilt potion he last saw it, but there was none to be found. “How did you…?”
“What can I say? These are perks of being a witch.”
“A witch!?” overhearing the conversation, Serene shouted. “Don’t t-try to curse us! I-I’ll make s-sure...y-you…”
“I won’t. Edgar is my student, you two are like my own children to me.”
Elisabeth brushed off the empty threats as she reached for one of the books by the counter.
“Besides, I am more interested in my own research and books than to bother myself with outsiders.”
“Huh.”
“Don’t sound so surprised, little one.”
Elisabeth said as she handled the leatherbound tome to John.
“I may know more about you than yourself.”
John flipped through the thick book, making note of the various sections of that was laid in it. Contents ranging from different types of magic, users, history, and even outdated techniques were organized within the tome itself. The content was exactly what he needed to teach Serene but there was only one glaring problem.
“Miss Elisabeth, where’s the title and author for the…”
By the time he spoke, Serene and Elisabeth had moved away to a tea table by the shop’s windows, with Elisabeth holding Serene’s palm. Worried that Serene might be pranked by Elisabeth again, John hurried over.
“What are you doing?”
“Kitten here doesn’t believe that I am a witch. Therefore, I offered her a palm reading. I can’t read minds or tell the future, but I can know a lot about someone with just this.”
“She’s lying, John,” Serene gave young John a look.
John still confused how Elisabeth convinced Serene who was afraid of the shopkeeper moments ago raised a brow at his friend.
“I wouldn’t say so… She made it so that you didn’t break that—” John stopped speaking when he turned to look at Elisabeth. His face frozen when he saw her finger upon her lips, lips that were lush with youthful vigor unlike ones that he had seen moments ago.
“What?”
With a finger still at her lips, the witche smiled at John indicating for him keep quiet
“A-are you seeing it, Serene?"
“Hmph! All I see is you being a goofball like always, you are trying to scare me again, aren’t you?” Serene turned to face Elisabeth, unaware of John’s sudden shock.
What?!
His mouth was agape. The elderly woman that handed him the magic tome had vanished, all that he saw sitting across Serene was a tall lady in her twenties, with a pair of emerald eyes just like Serene, draped with an oversized witch hat that had not been there moments ago.
Blink, blink, blink.
John rubbed his eyes.
He continued blinking as he focused to assess whether his eyes were playing tricks on him, or that he accidentally inhaled something that caused his perception of the small elderly lady into a youthful woman who wore a large purple hat.
The elderly lady was nowhere to be found, almost as if what he saw earlier was an illusion or perception trick that was played on him.
Is she a La’tu? Related to Uncle Edgar?
Serene looked to be oblivious to what he was seeing. Decided that he would ascertain the truth, John walked behind Miss Elisabeth.
Puff…
Taking the opportunity, John blew his breath into the oversized hat on top of ‘Miss Elisabeth’, hoping that if what he was seeing were an illusion, his breath would certainly just pass through the image of this woman and her oversized hat.
“Ahhhh!” the shopkeeper yelped as a hand flew towards her head, holding the oversized hat on top of her.
“What is it? What did you see!?” Serene still focused on her own palm asked in excitement.
“It is nothing…” Elisabeth replied. “There seems to be a meddlesome presence in your life, wouldn’t you say so, Serene?” she threw a quick glance a John, winking at him briefly before returning to Serene’s palm reading.
“What the heck? How are you not seeing this Serene?”
Unsatisfied, John raised his hand, this time with the full intent of grabbing at Elisabeth’s oversized hat to debunk whether it was just his hallucination or a work of the lady before him.
“I’m sorry for ignoring you, my cutie. But Serene here needs my attention, I have left something for you at the counter, you can’t miss it.”
C-cutie?
Face red, John lowered his brows as he turned his gaze away from the two females, where he was greeted with miscellaneous items throughout the supposed ‘bookstore’.
No normal person needs so these random items, unless she is trying to brew a potion—
Then it hit him.
This woman claimed to have an unusual hobby, could easily use magic without anyone noticing, her hiding behind an appearance of an old lady, the equipment in her store that had nothing to do with books, vials and vials of mysterious substance located throughout her store.
She is a witch! Not the magic caster type of witch, but a real one, a real witch!!!
It explained the oversized hat, her youthful beauty despite knowing Uncle Edgar long before John or Serene was born.
Though witches are the common term used for female magic casters these days.
But in ancient times, witches were a class of powerful female magic practitioners that held power beyond any mortal’s comprehension.
While far from gods or demons alike, their powers alone could allow them to stand toe to toe with the champions from the Higher Races.
The most common depiction of witches had painted them with horrible wrinkles and layers of warts on their face, it was common knowledge that such witches lost their beauty when they become corrupted by their own power and dabbled into acts that went against the natural order.
Much like wise sages, witches lived prolonged lives due to them increasing their mana pool, and if one retained their beauty after such a long time, it meant they were as pure as witches came by.
As John thought to himself, a visible fog condensed above Elisabeth’s hat, giving him a message:
‘You can accept the gift on the counter, or I’ll give you a present of my own, little cutie.’
“What gift—”
The words faded, leaving John in confusion as fog above her took on the shape of a giant pair of lips that flew towards John for a big kiss.
!!!
All questions regarding the second present were expelled from his mind.
Nope, nope, nope! I am not accepting that! Not from an old woman like her!
John bolted to the counter, leaving Serene with Miss Elisabeth. It did not matter she was an evil or good witch, John was not going to stand around and be harassed by the witch and her fog kisses.