The world of solid outlines made from black and white, and inhabited by greyish forms that keep moving from one place to another. Tall to short, thin to fat, all forms walked here, on legs of two or more. Their forms were many but also the same as in a sense, one could gaze past them. The only noticeable thing that set them apart, the one that screamed difference was the size and colour of the orbs within their chest, the place where their hearts should belong. That’s the world from Rayen's two brown eyes. It was a tasteless world which seldom catered to anyone’s interest, if any. Look at it over time, and anyone would lose interest. As the entity born in the empty void with the same colours, Rayen also lost his interest in looking at this world. The monotonic colours of grey had a strange indifference to them, the one he was most familiar with as he too was born with that colour. The orbs meanwhile, were the things he once chased after. Thus his eyes would naturally seek them out. But not every orb can catch his eyes, like a well-experienced chief at the end of his career, he’s very picky about the things that are worthy of his interest. First of all, one shouldn’t lie to him on their first meeting, a very high ceiling to cross. Then comes the ‘interest’ part, for all Rayen knows, it's the duty of orbs to get his interest, not his. It was the same with Bella or any other. The owner of the orb had to do something different, something that resonated with the indifferent entity called Rayen. Should it be called an extremely difficult endeavour with a low rate of success? The answer would differ from person to person, but luck seemed to be with Rayen, for he found a person just after arriving in Oasis, who was willing to take such a risk.
Azir, in his attempt to save Rayen from a falling building, struck a note with Rayen that his presence was now felt by him. “ How the hell did I lose?” That very person was sitting on the hard cold floor of his house, scratching his hair. In front of him was the black and white board on which the white king was surrounded from all sides. It made him irritated, not only because he lost, but also because of the opponent who defeated him. In front of him sat two beings, a boy and a dog. It would have been alright had it been the boy, but destiny had it the other way. Azir was defeated by the dog. In just ten moves no less. Azir glanced at her extended paw as she took away the small bottle of honey with leaking saliva which dripped over her chin, where she increased her hair to form a goatee. As if she was some great strategist of her time. Rayen started to rearrange the pieces in a well-practised manner. This was Azir’s eleventh loss for today. Seeing Cherry licking the honey with joyfully stretched eyes, he couldn’t help but ask “ Why does anyone teach a dog how to play chess?” He thought that whoever did it had very bad taste. He could understand teaching a dog about some tricks, if he overextended his thoughts, maybe help with house chores. But the dog’s skill in front of him puzzled his mind. ‘Are you so lonely? You can’t find another human to play against so you taught a dog how to play chess? Are you autistic?” He ended up thinking.
“Woof.” Cherry, who couldn’t read the mind, was more than happy to answer. Through, she would answer anything as long as someone gave a barrel or two of honey. Rayen beside her had firmly set on his job as the walking dog to human translator. The only thing was, he was not a very good translator. For Cherry woofed for a long time, ten minutes for her glorious glory, five minutes of her easygoing life of laying in a cave, one minute for when a female came and tricked her into becoming a guard dog and another ten minutes at the end about her comeback plan. Rayen did his job to the best he could and compressed the context of all her woofs into one word, Revenge. It's not that Rayen comprehended the story of Cherry, just that he never wrote anything more than five words. It was the ceiling where he stopped writing and started to look for a common word. Revenge was the word Cherry repeated multiple times over her end part. Thus, it was the word that he wrote.
Azir looked at the word, then at the honey-dripping face of Cherry and gave up thinking. Not only because Cherry kept woofing despite him saying otherwise. But also as he felt himself becoming more and more stupid, the more he tried to understand the thinking of a dog. Instead of wasting his time, he looked at Rayen, who was staring back. Looking at those brown eyes, Azir felt a little unwell, but he couldn’t tell why. Those eyes lacked emotions, with only his reflection staring back at him.
“Rayen, do you have something to say?” This question had been asked many times, but Rayen would tilt his head after hearing it, just as he did now. Azir couldn’t help but scratch his head, a little annoyed. He wanted to talk to someone other than a dog, which he could barely understand. He refused to learn from the book, ‘Woof and Woofs of Cherry’, that she gave him. He was a teenager, and since Rayen, who looked a year younger than him, just sat across from him, Azir refused to talk only with the dog. ‘How do I make him talk?’ Azir knew Rayen was a picky eater. He won’t communicate with just anyone, and not that he couldn’t. It's a personal interest issue, he concluded. That made it problematic for Azir, how to generate interest. He had already tried many things, just yesterday he even juggled three balls into a ring while Cherry jumped from its middle with a somersault. Rayen doesn’t blink at that, which makes both of them despair. The boy for lack of Rayen’s interest, and the dog for loss of her honey which was tied to Rayen’s getting interested. Azir shook his head with a bitter taste in his mouth. ‘Even the clap at the end was only because-wait.’ His thoughts suddenly stopped and looked back at Rayen who was still the same. “I got an idea.” He said with an excited face. He quickly goes to get his blank slate and chalk.
Rayen on the other hand soon found himself sitting in the front as Azir and Cherry discussed something among themselves. Cherry’s tail started to swing with excitement the more she listened. But that was for normal eyes, under Rayen’s eyes, the orbs released some small golden threads that lingered at the peripherals of their surface. Almost transparent. Soon they turned their heads towards him.
“Rayen, now I will give you some words. You have to remember them, OK?” Azir asked him. Rayen never understood what he wanted from him. He never did. But that never stopped him from nodding his head. Soon Rayen was shown a slate with words written on it. Who are you? Waiting for him to remember them, Azir gave him another word. Rayen. Seeing him nodding his head, Azir said “Remember, whenever I ask ‘Who are you’ you have to reply to this, no matter what. Got it?” Rayen nodded his head. But Azir and Cherry held their breaths. It couldn’t be helped, this was the only way they thought could make Rayen more normal. What defines someone as normal? Was it the ability to understand the very meaning behind the words, or the ability to recognise a set of words before choosing an appropriate response? Can it be called dead if one day a magical golem could be made to reply to all questions in an almost human-level tone, despite its not understanding anything itself? Many people would doubt to say no. Azir was one of them. As much as he knew, if Rayen could be made to reply even in such a small way, it was just a matter of time before he would be seen as normal.
Rayen. When the boy in front of them suddenly wrote it, Azir and Cherry exploded with joy and jumped from their seats. Rayen was a little slow, and somewhat jerky when he wrote that, but it didn’t matter to either of them. Azir was happy that he could now talk to some, despite him being somewhat restrictive, it was an improvement over the statue like Rayen. Cherry was happy that she finally found a way to escape the impending doom that she had been feeling for some time. After all, Rayen’s head almost exploded by the executioner, and she was having nightmares about the punishment she would receive since then. Now, she no longer feels like that but instead the moment to ask for a reward. She started to jump around as she woofed at the ceiling like a wolf on a full moon and circled Azir and Rayen. In her dreams, she was already given a lake of honey to bathe in as her reward. Azir was more grounded in reality than her. He started to write full sets of keywords for Rayen. Rayen looked at this, the golden light surrounded the orbs with every so strong brightness. He felt attracted to it, for it was similar to one he was searching for whenever he went to an empty world at night. Similar to the one from Bella. If there was anything they could make him return to a place again and again, it was this golden light. If he was asked, if he would do anything for this light, he wouldn’t hesitate to say yes. Every time he repeated the words of Azir, the brilliance would keep shining.
At this time, a small ripple appeared in the still eyes of Rayen. He raised his left hand, in an attempt to reach out to this light. It was so close, he was almost there and the thing sought would be within his reach, but an anomaly happened. A knock sounded from the door. Azir looked at the door, wondering who might have come to meet him. But Cherry was faster. She moved her nose and smelled the air and a familiar scent entered her nose. Her eyes widened in surprise, for she had not done with her plan about asking for forgiveness yet. She couldn’t let others know that she almost made Rayen burst like a watermelon. Ignoring the shouts of Azir as she knocked him down while also using him as her springboard, she jumped high and escaped from the open window. Leaving the hand of Rayen hanging in the air, grasping at the emptiness. He looked at Azir who was rubbing his painful butt, he found that the golden light had disappeared. He paused for a moment, and then the ripples in his eyes vanished like a dream as he took his hands back. He had never reached what he was searching for, he was used to it. He did what he was good at, and moved on, like he always does.
“My window?” Azir on the other hand ran right after Cherry. Only after making sure that there was no damage to the window did he breathe a sigh of relief. He didn’t see Rayen’s small action and opened the door. “ Who are you guys?” He asked the guest. There were a total of three people, two men and one female. One old and two adults. The adult male had long brown hairs with slight curves at the end, while the female had short but red hairs. Both were dressed in rather plain clothes white shirts and lower for men, while the female wore a blue top and white pants. He noticed blue earrings on the female which looked rather costly and didn’t match with her overall plain attire. The old man was the only one Azir was familiar with. He was dressed in light khaki clothes with an old face, the face which read bored. He was the same knight that Azir first went to report the lost child Rayen, who then told him to take Rayen away. Remembering the past, Azir suddenly made a dark face and asked. “ You have not come to ask to take care of these two guys too, right?”
“No? Why would you think that?” Joseph asked Azir with raised eyes. He felt he was being assumed to be a lazy bureaucrat, but that thought was soon replaced by a big smile as he introduced the two people. “ Here, let me introduce them. The man on the right is called Baru, while the woman is called Anatalia. They are the relatives of that child.” he said with a rush of words.
Rayen looked at the lying ‘person’ in front of him and tilted his head sideways. He could see the two orbs being very familiar to him. Namely Bardar the brown orb and Cellia, the blue orb. He ignored the lying orb and glanced at the other two. Cellia at this time was hugging Azir as she kissed his cheeks while saying. “Thank you for taking care of Rayen.” Bardar too was saying thanks to the now suffocated Azir, but more restrained. Since they came to pick Rayen up from his friend, they decided to come with a disguise. After all, when people hear they are closer to Bella and are closely related, they start to behave less than normal. Not in the traditional sense of respect, but borderline devotion to the one they call Great Mother. They didn’t want Rayen to lose his only friend. Entering the house, the trio sat on the ground, without caring about the lack of furniture. “This is a nice house,” Joseph said as he took a glass of water from Rayen with some unease. He felt the boy in front of him was looking through him as air, rather than at him. Cellia then made Rayen sit in front of her while she used her little magic to clean Rayen’s hair. She looked at the still breathless Azir in front of him and smiled. She initially planned to even shed some fake tears to make the reunion more natural, but after thinking about Azir being only a teenager, she decided to end the meeting with a hug.
“You are his relatives? Brother and sister-in-law?” Azir meanwhile asked them as he looked at the duo in front of him. Their faces didn’t look anything similar in terms of appearance or otherwise.
“Of course, though it is easy to prove with the help of Cherry, but where is she?” Bardar said as he started to whistle to call back Cherry.
“ Over there.” Azir pointed at the open window and said with a strange face. “ She ran away after hearing your knock.” His words made Bardar pause, only to shrug later. He had long since gotten used to her strange behaviour. Seeing him like this, Azir almost confirmed that they were not lying. After all, if nothing else, Rayen listened to Cellia when she asked him to sit down near her. For others, it doesn’t matter, but for Rayen, it was the most authentic piece of paper for closeness. “ How did you enter Oasis?” Azir asked as he looked at their faces. Both Bardar and Cellia looked young, and Oasis rarely allowed young people to enter here.
“About that, we entered this morning. The rules got changed recently.” Bardar said with a casual tone. They made changes to the rules this morning itself. He had all the reasons already prepared for long. For their background, they were small merchant families, who came to leave their grandmother with Oasis. But it was the bad luck that Rayen got lost during the process and they had to camp outside since that day. Today was their lucky day because Joseph told them not only they found Rayen, but they could also enter the city. It was not that elaborate of the lies, but given the person in front of them was less experienced in worldly affairs, they decided to go with it. They have all the records to prove it anyway.
“ I see, so you will be taking him back soon?” Azir asked as he suppressed the uneasiness from his chest. Their background doesn’t matter much to him regardless, only that his only friend might be leaving him soon. He started to feel some sadness as his eyes lowered some, despite him expecting such a scene in the past. After all, Rayen was always a lost child that he found, not a resident of Oasis. Rayen found Azir’s azure orb suddenly starting to give out some grey light, the same way it gave out the golden light. For he tilted his head, Cellia hit Bardar with her elbow which made him cry out.
“You don’t have to be sad. We might not be leaving for long.” Cellia ignored the questioning eyes of Bardar. After all, she felt he still couldn’t read the room, much less deal with other people. She smiled with a reassuring smile and said. “We might be neighbours soon. Because the new city lord almost emptied the treasury of the Oasis during his rebuilding efforts. Oasis is now almost unable to pay for its employees. So they are making some big changes to generating revenue.”
“ Really?” Azir heard her rather assured voice and looked up towards Joseph, who gave a nod with a bad face, for he had not gotten this month's salary yet. Azir released a breath of relief and praised the new lord for being so lavish with his spending. Only to remember that he would be living under such a lord and frown. He felt the future was not too bright for Oasis. He shook his head to remove such messy thoughts and asked back. “ So when will you be coming back?”
“The application is submitted and it should be done soon.” Bardar who finally had the chance to take the topic away from his lack of financial discipline answered. “ In the meantime, we will be leaving Oasis for a time.”
“ How long?”
“You won’t be able to miss us. It's a short trip.” Things were already decided like such. Azir thought of some and from his secret compartment, he pulled out a bag of coins. Which he handed over to Bardar.
“Some days ago, we went outside and placed some bets. It was the share of Rayen and Cherry.”
Bardar looked at the bag filled with gold and silver coins. He didn’t care much, in a ring match if Cherry even if she didn’t bet on the winner, she would make him one anyway. He could count on his hands the ways she could cheat there. So it was not that surprising for him that Azir won so much. He gave the bag back and said, “You can keep this. You took care of Rayen for so long. We can’t accept this money back, in light of your help.”
Azir wanted to refuse and give it back, but Bardar was even more stubborn than him. After all, he used to debate the magic theories, and rarely ever had he refused to budge on his point. He pulled out the fancy words of consumption-based economy and individual contributions. Making Azir lose his words for he didn’t even know many words that were thrown at his face. Cellia on the other hand was busy with Rayen’s hair, who himself was seeing the epic duel between two stubborn people. Joseph meanwhile was the only casualty for he didn’t know what to say. He wanted to say ‘If none of you want money, send it to Oasis donation funds so that I can get my salary.’ But after thinking some, he felt the upper section of people would be first to get their salary while he may be the last, he decided to remain silent.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“ So, we will be leaving them.” It was not until the afternoon that the debate finally ended in Azir’s defeat. He couldn't be compared with Bardar at all. His throat became dry after some time while the opponent didn’t even flinch. He didn’t even notice the lack of sadness he initially had when Rayen was about to leave. Cellia gave him another hug. And after some thinking, asked Rayen to do the same. The boy was confused, but when he hugged Azir, he felt some warmth flow into him. He looked down and found some golden light coming from Azir’s orb. It ended when he pulled back. For a moment, he wanted to keep hugging Azir, but Cellia was already pulling him with her by that time. It was under such, that Azir soon found himself alone in the house, again.
***
From the balcony of the city lord’s manor, the entire city could be gazed at once. A newly built clean city, with well-made structures, wide clean roads, and the formidable walls that tower at the end. And most of all, the lack of decade but mostly burnt houses as well human corpses, like the time when Bella left the city. Her white dress fluttered along with her hair as the wind roared in her ears. Her eyes looked at the city she vowed never to return to. With her hands on the railings, the scene of a breathing city filled with people couldn’t help but make her smile. But when her gaze landed outside the towering walls, at the endless rows of tents built on the red sands outside. The smile dissipated, and a deep frown cast itself on her face which had few wrinkles to it as compared to before. She turned back and gazed at the three people in the room. The old maid Shasta was standing with her bowed head. A fat man who was the acting city lord of Oasis till some days ago, Bladurus. Unlike Shasta, he was kneeling with his hands up in the air, and hundreds of beads of sweat on his face. And finally, Rayen who was training his mana control with a cube on the sofa. Bella looked at the maid and asked with a displeased tone. “ Shasta, can you hear something from outside?”
“No, Great Mother, I can’t.” She shook her head.
“That’s right. And it was the time for training bands.” Bella cleared her left ear and told in straight words. “ Tell them to either play the bands right or go home to play a lullaby. I don’t want to see them the next day.” Her tone was not too high, but it still made Shasta shudder. She knew Bella was not joking about her words. She always does what she says.
“I will make sure of it.” Shasta bowed and walked outside, almost running with her old body. Bella didn’t care and looked at her son kneeling in front of her.
“Tell me, Bladurus. Do you know why you are being presented like this?” she asked the sweating man.
“ Yes. Because I made a mistake.” He stuttered while answering. “ I should have done more to protect Rayen.”
“Did I not do a good job at teaching you? Pray tell. What do we call people like you?” Bella’s face was still as water but it only made Bladurus feel more nervous.
“That…a deaf fool with power.”
“That’s right. A fool that won’t even know why he died.” Bella nodded with a smile, and asked with a thoughtful look. “ How should I deal with you? Should I marinate you and throw you into the nest of scavengers with a constant healing spell? They sure would love their treat.” Seeing his body fat shaking with huge turmoils, she wondered about the feasibility of such punishment being more and more thought-provoking. But first, she needed all the culprits here. “ Where’s Cherry?”
“ We are unable to find her. If you give me a chance-“
“How much stock of honey do we have in Oasis?” She cut him off and asked. “ Go and shout at the sands that you are going to throw away all honey into sewers in fifteen minutes. If she doesn’t come, throw it away. If she comes, then throw it away in front of her eyes. Got it?”
“Y-Yes.” Bladurus knew Cherry could listen to everything that happened inside Thar. Thinking of her end, he felt a little at ease. At the very least, he’s not alone in suffering.
“Since you heard it, what are you waiting for? The time limit is fifteen minutes.” Hearing Bella remind him, Bladurus stood hastily and ran away like Shasta. It was just that he was too fat despite being a knight, and each step sounded like a giant jumping on the floor. Alarming the guards who thought it was sounds of battle. Bella waited till he left and turned to the last person in the room. “ Rayen.”
Rayen looked up from his cube hearing the familiar sound, but then he tilted his head with confusion. There was no golden orb to be seen. In place of it, was a huge icy-blue orb, surrounded by a lot of black murkiness at the peripherals. A little bit of grey too, but it was too little as compared to the black.
“ What happened Rayen?” The voice came again, but with no golden orb in sight, his eyes started to look beyond the shadowy outline that held the orbs within. Soon, he turned his attention back to the cube.
“ Rayen.” The voice called him again. Bella looked at Rayen who moved his head at her words, only to look back at the cube a second later and sigh with helplessness. She came in front of him before kneeling to his level. She gently held his head to make him look straight at her. “ Rayen, it's time you come out from your state of confusion. The world expects a lot from you, even if you don’t want to stand up to it. I still hope to hear your denial. I won’t allow you to ever walk again without facing it.” Her words only made Rayen more muddleheaded, he would have tilted his head if she hadn’t held it with her hands. For he can see the source of the voice, the familiarity was there for him to see, but the orb which was he expected. Ignoring the unknown has always been Rayen's norm. It was his attitude since he found himself being rejected in the endless broken worlds. If there was ever a time when he would have asked questions about the very discrimination, the eternal loneliness made it disappear. Now, he no longer asked about things beyond his little eyes, he only knew how to walk, just walk. But Bella couldn’t allow him to continue any longer. So she said, with a much gentler tone “ Rayen, it's time you stop running away.” She extended her right hand forward and waited patiently. It took time, an hour. During this, she didn’t look away from Rayen’s eyes at law. Those eyes that make others unwell due to lack of emotions, couldn’t sway her away. Rayen was much more muddle-headed, he couldn’t look away from the strangeness that he felt. By holding his head, she took away the only thing he had ever had, freedom. As much as the words meant less for others, for Rayen, it was everything. There’s no problem regardless of its size or otherwise, that could not be solved by him using the simple action of walking away. Before he was called upon from the endless walls of the world with a face of death that ever so peeked out from the vertical cracks on the very fabric of space. In the endless darkness without any semblance of time, faced with the rather indifferent attitude of entities more alive than he could ever be, made him developed the art of survival. He doesn’t remember whether it was by choice or lack of it, knowingly or unconsciously, with purpose or accident, he created the very thing that makes one alive–A goal.
“Rayen, what do you want to do?” Her question entered his ears.
Could there be a being without a life goal? Simple as a four-letter combination made it to be, all beings who called themselves alive seek it. From the blinding warmth of the day to the freezing dark of the night, they just walk towards it. Like the prisoners bounded by the chains, they had to walk. Perhaps it was this lack of goal that others rejected the very presence of his existence. Or perhaps it was something more insidious that was lost to the time. In the endless march of time, the very first instance that he came to be, he felt empty. An emptiness that could only be matched by the very place he was born in, but the presence of others made him know he needed them to get this feeling away. But it was a wish that was denied. At some point, when everything other methods was exhausted, unconsciously, his goal contracted to something that would never end. Roaming. At first, it was to meet the being who would end his emptiness that rather changed to his way of life. The only way that I remembered till now. The simple motion of walking took away all the indifference that he felt since his existence. Soon, the very action consumed even the emptiness. It was all he had, but now, even that was taken away. Bella grasped the very essence of Rayen. Taking away his freedom, made him feel something different, something unknown. A feeling long lost to him, Restless. He knew the voice was from the golden orb, it was calling him. He had to walk, he couldn’t stay still. He had to find it, to watch it up close, and most of all, feel its warmth through his hands. He tried to move his otherwise less-than-free body, but his mana got overshadowed by the new Bella in front of him. She might not have the same control over mana as Rayen, none have, but she was just more strong. Enough to make Rayen not move an inch. Other than his left hand, and the eyes with small turmoils, everything else became still. Was it a desperate attempt or the dawn of understanding? Bella was not sure. But she got her wish, Rayen’s hand moved and landed atop hers. Rayen himself was not sure, if only he could go back to his inner world, he would have found the sky shining with a godly amount of brightness. Not as much as when the golden orb nestled into his heart, but enough to still daggle the already bright world.
Bella, who felt the rather cold hand of Rayen, understandably due to the lack of many body functions of Rayen couldn’t care about the nit and gritty of the process. Her lips stretched sideways, as the smile bloomed on her face. She stood up with Rayen following suit and turned back towards one balcony for the last time, she could now hear the much louder sounds of the marching band. Remembering something, her right hand came closer to her mouth as she released a small white fog from her mouth. “Let’s go,” Bella said with a wide smile that went ear to ear. Rayen’s cube slipped away from his hand and into the sofa but no one picked it up. Behind them, the outside temperature started to go down at an astonishing speed. Dark clouds appeared in the clear sky and soon, white snow started to fall all over Oasis as well as beyond. But it had less to do with Rayen and Bella now. They walked through the set of corridors and arrived at the third floor. Other than a few, all people were transferred out from the mansion so it felt relatively empty. But the room in front of them was important for it was guarded by two knights who knelt immediately after seeing her. She dismissed them with a wave of her hands as one of them opened the door, but she suddenly raised her hand again to stop them. The door was only half open, but it was enough for her to see inside and others to hear the sounds from there.
“ How dare you? Hexagons are the bestagones.” What appeared was a bunch of angry voices. A small group of people were strangling each other’s collars. Two men, one young while the other old. Their arms are up at their collars, and whenever they talk, saliva jumps from their mouths as an excited kid on a trampoline. Bardar was the young man. He was so busy in his actions, that he noticed the door half opening, but no one else noticed. “ Hexagons are the best suitable shapes with star-blessed geometry. How dare you say they are inferior to circles?”
“Because it's a fact.” The old man with half bald head and almost unkempt short white eyes resorted back with equal force. Named Karvi, he was the head magician of the research division. From the gaps in his collar, one could see the deep scars on his chest. He didn’t care whether the person in front of him was the supposed future lord of Thar or not. All he knew was that the person in front of him was denying the studies of the past as ‘not that good’ and as a fellow researcher, he had a duty to correct his wrongs. “ Circles are the very essence of magic. When you draw one, you just know its magic.” He shouted back.
Bardar, not to be outdone, started his counterargument. While Cellia was trying to separate them. Well, trying but without coming too near to both, for she wanted to avoid getting splattered with their saliva. She didn’t understand how a casual discussion about magic suddenly turned into a brawl. She now felt that whenever Bardar tried to justify his blowing up the researcher's convent as an attempt to show his theorems, while not getting a ban for life seemed to have some truth to it. ‘Just what these guys were doing during such important meetings? Do they come with a club and beat anyone who disagrees with their new theorems?’ Her body shuddered at the thought. She shouted at the duo in front of them. “ I said, stop both of you, or I will knock you guys out with my club- I mean my anchor.” Her words fell on deaf ears.
Bella looked at the scene in absolute silence before turning to Rayen and saying, “ Rayen, stay here for a moment.” She then entered the room and closed the door. The sound cut off as the door closed, but there was no door for Rayen’s eyes. His eyes pierced the shadowy outlines of doors to look inside. He could see the icy-blue orb suddenly shaking with huge waves of what he knew as mana that overshadowed all others inside. It was only after five minutes that she came back and took Rayen inside. The room was different from before, now it was covered in white snow all over the things. Bardar and Karvi were kneeling on the ground with some front on them, while Cellia was standing at the side with a down head. Rayen noticed some grey light coming from all three orbs but it was not much. In the meantime, Bella started to talk to others. “ So, could our future rule of Thar, the one who is dignified for his post, and not an idiot who wields a stick for talking, tell us humble few if our proof of concept is ready or not?” Her eyes were as sharp as her words.
“ Yes, let us show you.” Bardar almost jumped from his spot, he knew if he delayed, he would probably be handed on the wall. With the help of Karvi, he brought in a table similar to the one he used for golem designs. Made from clear glass, everyone can see the densely packed yellow runes all over its body. He made Rayen put his hand at the top of the table and then placed a mana stone at the side chamber. It was the white solid cube which released the wisps of white smog into the air. A distance away from the table, near the centre of the room, a big red circle with multiple spells as well as runes was drawn. Cellia walked to the centre of the circle and said to Rayen. “ Rayen, be at peace.”
Cellia then placed her hand on her heart, and closed his eyes. Her vision changed as the magic circle glowed beneath her and so did the table in front of her. She found herself in the world of black and white. But instead of getting shocked, she released her mana to better control the magic circle and moved ahead according to their planned path. On the top of the glass, a projection of images appeared. The world was made of black and white, with orbs in the shadow forms. While they tried to understand it, a visible mana thread rose from the point of view of Rayen and moved towards Bardar’s soul. Under the astonished eyes of everyone, the thread ignored all substance of reality and got entangled with her soul. Cellia shivered at the sensation that came from the depth of the soul and so to Bardar. Before coming here, she even placed many soul-defensive artefacts on Bardar just to check the limitations of Rayen. But none of them even reacted to her spells at all. It made no sense at all. She felt her whole theory of souls being undone in front of her very eyes. She hastily cut the connection and took her hands away. Some time passed, but no one spoke. All the people here could be considered among the top powerhouses of this world, with the best artefacts that this world could offer. But despite that, all it took was the eyes of a single child without even proper body, mind or ability to express or feel others' feelings to touch the deepest and most guarded part of them. She soon ended the chanting and everything returned to normal.
“ So, those orbs are the souls. As for the colours, we need to investigate.” It was after a deep silence that Bella asked them. She looked as before, but her eyes seemed to be not present for the discussion. Bardar and Karvi said something after but she didn’t listen much to them. It was only when the window suddenly broke and someone jumped inside with the familiar sounds filled with rage that she came back to herself. She looked to the side and found her long-lost friend, Cherry. With her sharp eyes and perked-up ears. She had just finished dealing with the fiend called Bladurus who had the audacity to try throwing her honey into sewers. Now running high on her victory, she had arrived to deal with the main mastermind behind the scenes. With especially sharp teeth which she was showing in full. This made Bella’s thoughts return to normal. She moved her hands and a bottle of blue potions appeared in front of her. She threw it towards Cherry. The bottle opened in midair and the blue liquid inside flashed with unnatural speed before directly entering Cherry's mouth, which was still in the middle of barking. She choked and coughed some as her body started to wobble here and there before falling on the floor. Soon, some white froth appeared from her mouth as her body twitched. Rayen on the other hand grabbed one scribble from the table and wrote her last words, Honey for life. It was not that he liked the situation, but he was conditioned to do so. It was a part of his routine now. Others just looked at his words without thinking much. They all could understand Cherry’s words.
“Great mother, what did you put in that potion?” Karvi asked seeing the rather anticlimactic end of their guardian. Below his neck, some green lines started to appear on his dark skin but soon receded.
“ A strong lemon extract with enhancements to make the flavour long-lasting.”
“No wonder, it's lemon after all.” He said with a gloating look. He remembered one time Cherry eating his research papers when he forgot to give her honey. He felt much better today. He rubbed his rather dry hands and walked towards Cherry. “ Let me mark the places where we might need to inspect later.” He pulled out the brush and black ink. Ignoring the presence of everyone who looked at him with strange eyes, he started to draw on the face of Cherry. Even Bella’s eyes twitched when she glanced at the unsuppressed smile of his as he drew a pile of lemons on her fur. “ Eat my research papers huh?” Everyone heard his murmurs.
“Bardar, take her and do in-depth research. If she starts to wake up, throw another potion into her mouth.” Bella ignored Karvi’s small thoughts and threw a pouch at Bardar. For she knew, she was not done with Cherry’s punishment quite yet.
“ Grandma, there’s something about Rayen.” Bardar didn’t move straight away. There’s something that only he noticed. Since all people here could maintain normal sanity in front of Bella, he called her like he usually does. “ Rayen’s doesn’t seem to be stressed by controlling golems.” He had this doubt for some time and now it was confirmed. The table he made was almost similar to a golem with almost similar controls. It connects directly to the soul of a user. From the experiment just now, according to Bardar’s understanding as well as general observations, Rayen, when controlling the golem through a connection with the soul, feels neither tiredness nor strain. Must know, it was one of the three ways to move a golem, and also quite restrictive on the user. The control requires extensive training and first-time use usually tires out a person. There’s nothing of such sort for Rayen. It was a minor skill compared to gazing at the souls but for Bardar who only focuses on golems, it was not a small matter at all.
“I will keep it in mind for the future.” Bella gave him a nod of understanding. But she didn't want to focus on it for the time being. Looking at the Cherry in front of them, they have quite a lot of work stretched out for them. They couldn’t afford to turn their attention elsewhere. “ Let’s get to work.”