Nggg-, good morning!

That was a pretty good nap-,

Wait a minute!

What happened to that knife?!

Why was I so tired I couldn’t even stick around to check out what happened to it??

Well, whatever.

Hm.

Where am I now…?

Well, it would seem I am still shrouding Allan like a big ‘ol blob of mana, so I’d better form myself.

Shhhhhwiup.

It has definitely become easier.

Alright.

Now, where are we?

F-, forest?

Wow, it’s dark…

Actually, it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that it was still night.

…

I better not have slept for like fifteen years or something or so help me god…!!

Wait, are we moving?

Allan, is that you?

A-, Allan…?

Sitting in the shrouding darkness of a large bush, Allan was all curled up, breathing quickly and ruggedly, clutching a stuffed black cat in his trembling arms. His head was covered with a black cowl, but I could still see his swollen, red eyes, staring blankly into the night.

Is-, is he crying?...

Allan, is this about yesterday?...

“G-, Grandma…”

Allan gently laid out whatever he was holding in his arms on the ground.

I could barely see what it was, but by the looks of it, it was a piece of paper, a pair of glasses, a pouch filled with something, a scalpel, a wand, a little bird mechanical bird, and…

My knife!

Aw nea-,

“...When did the gem get activated…?”

Allan’s voice was almost choked by tears, only barely being able to look questiongly at the hilk of the knife.

“It-, it can’t be…!”

He quickly grabbed the pair of glasses, unfolded them and sloppily put them on.

Hm? What’re those supposed to do?

“Grah!-,”

Allan shouted, but quickly covered his mouth with his hands to silence it, only falling back a little.

“Y-, you!”

Me?

“You’ve been here all along, haven’t you!?”

All along how long?

“I’ll even bet you summoned them!”

Summoned who?

Can you even hear me?...

He stared at me in pure rage.

Nope.

He cannot.

I carefully brought up my hands and made that silent shoving motion, meaning something like “there there”, but he just looked even angrier.

...Don’t tell me…

You ran away from home!?

“Because of you, all because of you, Grandma d-, died! They killed her!!”

Who-, I-,

...what?...

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“You…”

Tears started welling up in his eyes, but he violently dried them.

“If only you never… I…”

What in the world happened?...

...Hm?

What’s that smell?...

Fire!?

You stay right there Allan, I have to check this out.

“Wh-, where are you going? Y-, You’re leaving?? We-, well, go ahead! I’m better off without you!! I’ve always been better off, even without mana! Even though I knew grandma wanted me to be a great mage and believed in me, I couldn’t because I had no mana! But I desperately tried and tried and tried, and in the end, this is what I get! Mana I can’t even control!!”

…

Like a lizard, I silently climbed up the tree.

...hearing him say things like that make my heart wrench, but… he can’t hear me, now can he?

I can’t explain a thing, and…

Oh-,

Oh my god.

It’s burning.

The fire, it’s…

Purple fire?

Allan, you…

He’s crying again.

Oh, my god, this is…

I…

I’m ashamed of myself.

This is just…

Unacceptable.

I pretend like I could be a father to him, and yet, when he needs me the most…

He’s right. It may not be my fault, but if I had just stayed awake…

I could at least have tried to stop it.

Purple fire…

Henry?...

A-, Allan, stay there, I have to…

“What? What are you looking at me for, you monster? I don’t-, I don’t need you! I can do just fine on my own!!”

...Right.

This is going to be pain full, and I don’t know if I can, but…

I need to stretch as far as I can.

I have to be thin, thinner than a strand of hair.

At first, it’s possible to just walk, but after a while, my tail/connection to Allan starts tugging.

I’m not sure whether Allan can feel me tugging or not, but I really don’t think so, so…

I start crawling towards the house, pulling with all my might, burying my non-material fingers into the hard ground.

I can barely feel what’s happening behind me, but I know my legs are gone, entirely stretched out so thin I can’t even use them.

I start using the trees and rocks to pull.

If I were to let go for even a second, I would snap right back with a violent force.

But it isn’t time.

I need…

To keep…

Going..!

Eventually, only my head remains.

I use my teeth and jaws to move forwards.

I feel so sore.

My body is aching.

I can feel the hot winds from the house wafting towards me, and the smell of something roasting over a fire follows.

I can’t feel anything.

Not my legs, not my torso, not my arms, and not even my face.

I might just snap.

But then, I see it.

A little bonfire, around which a dussin or so men and women sit gathered. Over the bonfire, a large boar is roasting.

And beside the bonfire, the house is still lit.

Looking into the small crowd of people, I immediately see him.

Henry.

Henry Tipsdale.

And right beside him…

Fa-, Allan’s Father?...

Arthur Woodsworth?...

What in the name of god are you-,

I forgot.

My concentration was lackluster for a single second.

And as the sound of their laughter reaches my ears, I fly through the forest, my whole body retreating like a yo-yo, and when I finally stop flying through the air, I feel like a pile of string.

Ah, Allan, did you fall asleep?

I’m glad you can sleep, but you can’t sleep out here, there are so many beasts who would gladly have you for breakfast, I…

I have to get you out of here.

Hupp-, he’s grown quite heavy since I last held him, haha…

Twelve years…

Ah, no time to think about that!

Do we have everything?

Plush toy, knife, glasses, paper… yup all here.

Alright.

Time to do what I should have done back in that forest so long ago(still only feels like two days tho).

I’ll call it: - Locate -!

First, I’ll spread out a single strand of mana, thin as a hair, and then, I’ll just move it all around me, like a radar!

Hehehe…

Alright, let’s see…

Tree, tree, tree, tree, rock, big bear(oh lord), tree, tree, wolves, tree, tree… cave!

There it is!

Now, all I need to do is make sure the mana-strand doesn’t move, and then, I can just hurry right along and follow it!

I just have to make sure not to bump into any scary animals, I may not be able to keep them at bay…

Carefully, we made our way through the restless forest, carefully maneuvering around any possible dangers, and, eventually…

Cave!

It’s dark and spooky, but at least it’ll keep me and Allan safe.

Let’s just make sure it’s safe first by sending in a couple of those hairs, and…

Wolves.

There are no empty caves, I guess…

Alright, let’s just put Allan down for a second…

If I were to just have a couple of strands cover him from a distance… I can find out whether he’s safe or not!

Alright, great!

Hmm, I guess it’s time to attack?

I only have a limited amount of mana though, and according to my strands, there must be at least two dussin wolves in there…

I’m sure it’ll be fine!

...Man, it would sure be since if I could light a little flame to see, but…

Hm?

Can’t I just light a torch or something?...

Hmm…

I quickly scour the surrounding area and find a stick.

Neat.

I don’t think I’ll find any bandages or oil or tar, so…

Super-ultra-mega-quick-flame!

- You have lost 1 mana. -

The end of the stick burst into sky-blue flames whilst me, myself, did not.

Very convenient.

Oh, right, since it’s here, could I just borrow this knife real quick?

…

I’ll take that as a yes.

Helloooo, I know you’re in here wolvie-wolves-,

“Grruff?...”

Ah!

It’s a wolf!!!!

No, wait, it’s… red?...

Red wolf.

And not like light-brown reddish wolf, no, this is just straight up a red wolf.

That can’t be good camouflage.

In fact, that will probably make you far more likely to be noticed than any other colour!!

It also has a red orb in it's chest, so...

“Grrr….”

Better get ready…

I raise the knife defensively.

“Wolo… Wolololo!!”

Wh-, what!?

The wolf, it’s waving it’s little front paws, and sitting up on it’s but, making a begging gesture, and…

Awww~

It’s so cute~

Just look at those widdle-,

No, wait!

Looking down at my hand, I noticed it was slowly turning red, but the second I noticed this, it went back to blue.

Wh-, what in the world…??

N-, No! I won’t be fooled!

Come at me, beast!

“Wolo-... grrrr… graff!!”

It gave a loud bark and lunged at me, it’s fangs glimmering by the light of my torch.

The knife in my right hand snaked its way right up, easily lodging itself in the abdomen of the wolf.

Hm, there’s something strange about this knife, it seems to react to my mana, somehow…

If I look closely, I can see how the red blood flowing out of the red wolf's wound starts seeping into the gem on the knife, making it shine brighter.

H-, hey, that’s pretty spooky…

I hope that isn’t what I think it is…

“I’m starving!”

Oh god

It’s Aud*ey II

The wolf whimpered as the blood that would generally just splash on the floor is absorbed into the knife.

Th-, that’s…

- You have gained 21 mana and 13 exp from killing a Red Wolololf. You now have 43/70(+70) mana and 13/70 exp. -

Whoa-, nice!

I feel much more powerful now!

Actually, considering how illuminating this knife is, I don’t even think I’ll need that torch!

Let’s go kill us some Wolololves!!