Chapter 3 - Future

Now thinking back Theodore felt that he was very lucky to be still alive and well... As well as one could be after living only as a shadow for three years. Granted it wasn't as if there were no gains after all hardships he had to go trough.

For one Theodore had developed something he called “Soul Poison”, it was something he had used to slowly erode Others soul. It was a truly insidious way to kill something now that he thought about it. He had used mana that flowed trough both of of their souls and shaped it in a way that while harmless normally would be able to resonate with his soul, collapsing his targeted parts of soul immediately. It was problematic to set all conditions. Prolonged use of contaminated mana to let it seep in, distress in targets mind, mana that he could use for activation.

Luckily Other had used mana daily, and every time he absorbed it it also coursed trough Theodore soul. So when Theodore finally felt like Others soul was contaminated enough he waited for Other to sleep and initiated attack, figuring that after waking up he would make at least make mistakes in fighting against Theodore's attack.

And Theodore was right. He didn't know exactly what Other was thinking, but it had never truly tried to attack Theodore's part of soul. Only prodding it slightly with its mind. And when he had woken up and found that it was under attack Other had mistaken it as an outer attack, not something coming from within.

Other moved exactly as Theodore had planed and when Other finally reached Mana Well he finally activated “Soul Poison”.

And now Theodore was free to do...

“What am I going to do?” he muttered to himself.

As Theodore was pondering what he was going to do about his future he lifted his eyes upwards and froze.

There was something in the sky that shouldn't be there. He was sure that there was nothing before.

“The fuck” was Theodore immediate thought. He had not made a habit of cursing, but this... “What is that?”

Up in the sky where there should be nothing there was instead a ring. It looked like it was made out of stone, uniform grey in colour.

“No, now its golden, its changing its colour, how? Why? And why is it so... big?”

Theodore couldn't tell how large it was but he was certain that it was huge. At least bigger that the town he was living in.

It sat there unmoving. In the eye of this circle he could make out a pulsating dim light. It too changed colour together with the ring.

A sudden bump awoke him from the stupor.

“Hey, don't stand in the middle of walkway.” complained a man who was clearly rushing somewhere.

“P-please w-wait, what is t-that ring in the sky?” lamely stuttered Theodore, feeling ashamed that the first time he spoke with another person in years and he had messed up even a simple sentence.

“Huh? What ring?” the passing man also looked up, but... “what are you talking about? There is nothing but clouds.” was his answer.

As the man rushed further Theodore heard him say something that suspiciously sounded like “nut-job”.

“That cannot be, its clearly there!” Theodore was perplexed. As he looked around he couldn't help but notice that no one else was looking up. That he alone was staring up the sky and now he gathered some suspicion filled look from passers-by. It was as if he alone was seeing the ring.

--

Theodore entered his apartment still confused. He went to his bed and sat down, his mind still racing.

“Calm down Theodore, surely that ring is not the strangest thing you have seen.” he lied to himself. “Other was also something like that, right? You couldn't explain him either, so just roll with it, its not like that ring will fall on your head... hopefully.”

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The problem was, while indeed he was no stranger to things he couldn't explain, the ring felt... Different. Every time he looked at it he felt like his being was under its scrutiny. As if the ring knew he was there. And sure, Other was directly dangerous, but he at least never felt like there was no chance at all against it. The ring though... Theodore didn't want to find out what it was, not at all.

“OK, but that thing clearly isn't something I should be concerned right, its just hanging there, isn't it?” Theodore comforted himself. “And its not like I can do anything about it, so let it go. I still have to figure out what I am doing to do now.”

And that did it. Reminding himself, that he clearly didn't have anything to do, to aim for sobered his mind. Theodore let his eyes wonder around room. Stacks of Others works was thrown about everywhere, there was little else there besides daily necessities. Theodore knew that everything that was not meant for Others work was here before he moved in.

It wasn't as if Theodore had no plans at all. He wanted to study magic. It was ironic but it just so happened that Others work was very fascinating to Theodore. He felt no aversion to what Other was doing and now that he was free form it he planed to continue. For a moment Theodore imagined himself as an old man, wearing a pointy hat stroking his long beard and reading an ancient tome. Indeed, that wasn't a bad future to strive for.

While Theodore still didn't understand the older works of Other, while under “Soul Poison” others memories seemed to have distorted and latter works were written in English. Other also had made a helpful guide of learning his original language. “Helpful for me that is.” Theodore smiled to himself.

The problem was immediate goals. Theodore was lost of how to act now. He was living without actually needing to do anything for last three years, and now he HAD to speak with people, go to school and who knew what else. “Shouldn't have put it off for that long...” he thought “could not be helped, it wasn't as if I was guaranteed to win”.

After few more hours of pondering he finally went to sleep early. After all, tomorrow he would have to face the first struggle of his new life - school life.

***

The city of Martion was full of scum and villainy. Or at least, Sainna thought it was. Martion was one of the bigger port cities in Welitaina. It was an ideal place for some highly illegal goods to pass trough. And Sainnas family was one of those who profited form it.

Right now Sainna was sitting in car heading to a meeting with a Director of some company she couldn't care less about.

She was now 17 years old, 161 cm tall, blond, petite, brown eyes and everything about her screamed cute and harmless. She also was very irritated. This meeting was pointless as far as she was concerned, but her father had insisted, something about showing their good will.

“At least that old fart has no idea about my plans.” She thought to herself while looking at the giant Ring in the sky trough cars window. “And the world is going to shit anyway, not that I will tell him that”

“Young miss, please correct your smile”

From the front seat spoke her bodyguard, who also happened to be butler of hers. Big, black, and plenty scary, Hall Mirvo was someone who owned a life to her. She knew he had less than stellar past, but he had changed a lot, and now he was someone who truly could look after her.

“Like for example now” thought Sainna as she corrected her smile which had turned form the harmless she tried to always wear to predatory one.

“Thank you Hall, how long till we get to that shithole?”

“Please watch your language Miss, and it would be 15 more minutes before we arrive.” Halls voice sounded bored. If he wasn't the one driving Sainna was sure he would just stare at one point while spacing out. “Actually, that is his favourite pass time” she reminded to herself “that and reprimanding me”.

“So, what is that we have to do when we arrive?” Sainna addressed a question to her secretary. Melita did look capable – semi long grey hair, glasses with thin rims, and a shapely body, which only added to Sainnas irritation. But while she had the secretary look down the actual person...

“Um, wasn't it about the next months ball your father was hosting?” Melita asked

And there it was, she was just not good at remembering things that fell under her duties. She spent most of her time watching one action movie or another on her tablet. In fact she was doing just that even now.

“Ah yes, the gathering of fat and ugly, quite unfortunate that the ball will be cancelled.” Sainna spoke absent-mindedly her gaze not focused at anything in particular.

“As you say miss.” Hall helpfully added. Sainna knew that he actually didn't mean it, it was just an automated answer.

Neither Hall nor Melita didn't question why Sainna suggested that the Ball would be cancelled. They knew better than do it. After all it was not a secret from both of them that Sainna was a seer.

Sainna herself had hidden the fact from everyone else but both of the subordinates of her. She had made sure that they are both loyal to her to the utmost possibility. Neither of them would go against her wishes. And she did need someone to do her dirty job when she had her arms tied.

There was also the fact that despite how Hall and Melita acted they were very capable where it counted and would become irreplaceable in future. Or so Sainna hoped. Future, after all, was a finicky thing and had a tendency of changing.

“We are about to arrive Miss” Hall interrupted Sainnas thoughts.

“OK, lets get done with this and return to home” Sainna spoke, “after all, we still have to plan for that small killing of my dear father, don't we?” “and figure out who to make a contact with, there are some interesting options...”

“Miss, please, your nature is showing again.” Hall added.

“I know, I know!” Sainna exited the car and while doing so her smile changed back to the angelic one she wore in public. “but soon I wont have to pretend, there is not much time left after all.”

As Sainna walked to the entry she let out quiet sinister laugh.

Hall could only sight, as he watched his Mistress glancing to the sky as she so often lately did.