Two hours later, the three young channelers found themselves aboard one of Shin Itami’s private jets. Even for a man with the clout of Shin, Rueben had to admit that he was surprised how easily they were allowed to leave the island nation of Merricent without so much as a passport for either Roun or Zadavia. But given the circumstance, he couldn’t blame Shin for calling in all the favours that he no doubt had to in order to pull his son out of harm’s way – along with the seemingly mundane young woman that had managed to get herself mixed up in all of this. As these thoughts raced through his mind, he grimaced slightly from the residual effects of the battle, breathing heavily as a burning sensation raced through his veins.

“Hey, you alright man?” Roun questioned as they had finally settled, opting to break the silence after almost an hour of flying.

“I’m fine.” Rueben muttered, once again clutching his arm as he did.

“Really?” Roun’s eyebrow tipped upwards as he focused his attention on Rueben’s body, and took note of the oddly familiar chaotic energy coursing through his internal zeta-flows. “Cuz you don’t look very good at all.” He paused as he tried to place where he’d seen such a condition before. “You actually remind me of a sickly kid that I go to school with.”

“That’s impossible.” Rueben shook his head. “I know all too well what’s wrong with me and it’ll subside in a few hours – if this sickly friend of yours was afflicted by the same thing that I am; he’d probably be dead.”

“Okay Mr. Melodrama—” Roun shook his head. “—but it looks like almost the exact same thing that Kanrei has while channeling.” Roun replied, getting up from his seat and making his way over to where Rueben was sitting.

Rueben’s gaze narrowed as it shifted towards Roun.

“It burns when you channel right – feels kinda like little that feeling you get when the fizz from a soda comes through your nose, but ten times worse and inside all your veins?”

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Rueben nodded with some shock. “That’s exactly how it feels.” He replied. “We call it mana-burn. It’s a side-effect of haima’sa attacks – their energy is extremely infectious.”

“Well I call it annoying. Rei’s energy does pretty much the same thing.” Roun replied, referring to the youngster by his nickname. “—but it’s nowhere near this bad. I’ve sparred with the kid a couple times – taken a good few hits too – his horas is debilitating during battle but the effects usually last a couple of minutes… one hour tops.”

“That’s interesting…” Rueben muttered, his eyebrow raising as he pondered the possible connection between the odd youngster and the haima’sa threat that they once again faced. “These effects can last the better part of a few days but still… what you’re telling me shouldn’t be possible.”

“Yeah.” Roun shrugged. “Well you get used to this kind of stuff when you’re in the special placements program. Ordinary channelers are often bad enough but the eight of us pretty-much destroy convention on a daily basis.”

Rueben just chuckled.

“Yeah, well I suppose there’s a lot out there that ‘convention’ doesn’t take into account.” Rueben smirked and rested back, hoping to sleep off the effects of his mana-burn. “You should get some rest too. If you’re lucky, when we arrive in Genaisa your father will fill in some of those blanks for you.”

“Yeah… here’s hoping.” Roun nodded, before making his way back to his seat across the aisle and opposite Zadavia.

“So, how’re you holding up?” He inquired to the young woman, who seemed too annoyed to even make eye-contact with him.

“Terrified. Confused. Angry.” She sighed heavily. “–but otherwise fine I guess.” She added without even looking up.

“Yeah, I’m really sorry about all of this.” Roun apologised with a long sigh of his own. “Not exactly the first impression I wanted to make – and unfortunately I have no idea what the hell is going on so I can’t even tell you why you’re mixed up in all of this.”

“Well that’s reassuring.” She scoffed lightly.

“Yeah, I know.” He chuckled lightly. “But mark my word, I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to fix this and get you back home safe.” He added. “I owe you at least that much.”

Zadavia just turned her head and looked out the window, causing Roun to sigh heavily again.

“You should get some sleep – the flight to Genaisa is a long one and you’ll want to be well rested when you meet my parents.” Was the last bit of advice he could give the young woman before he too reclined his seat, like Rueben before him, and powered down to get some rest.

All Zadavia could do was the same and hope that when they arrived, some of her questions would be answered.