Chapter 75 – In which they bring light (8)
After crossing the white barrier, a magnificent sight unfolded before Vern.
Between stone arcs and columns, liquid metal flowed up, defying the rules of gravity.
As it swirled and burst, it resembled raging fire.
Vern looked around, as the pounding pain in his skull that never seemed to go away these days, worsened.
His vision was turning blurry.
‘It didn’t change at all…’
When he saw the change in the barrier, he thought that perhaps the garden inside would change, but it was still exactly as he remembered.
Vern quietly stretched out his hand and touched the flickering metallic flame.
From what he heard from others, those flames were scorching hot, but when they curled up around his hand, they felt just a bit warm.
Vern stood silent, playing with the fire for a long time.
Until his heart calmed down.
‘Then let’s walk around a bit to check if anything has changed.’
He clearly knew that was just an excuse to spend a little more time here, but he couldn't help it.
The memory of dying, being estranged from his siblings with no certain clues to where they are, the 300 years that passed and the country, he put his heart and soul into, verging on the brink of collapse.
There were so many things occupying his mind.
So many things he had to solve, but didn’t even know where to start.
With heavy footsteps, he strolled through the garden that didn’t change at all since ‘That Night’.
Perhaps the light of the first dawn froze this place in time.
Vern wasn’t sure, but if that was the case, he wished that the time was frozen a bit earlier.
Just a few seconds earlier.
Unknowingly, he strolled into the deepest part of the garden.
The space opened here and created an empty plaza surrounded by flames.
Real flames, no metallic ones.
On the ground, a painting, so big it looked abstract if one didn’t look at it from air, glistened in the sun.
Vern crouched down at the edge of the plaza and absent-mindedly mumbled::
“I wish you were here. I wish anyone was here.”
And then he hid his head in his arms and cried.
*-*-*
Crack.
Vern halted in his tracks when his ears caught a strange sound.
He was on his way out of the Fire Garden, when a commotion drew his attention.
As he nimbly maneuvered the labyrinth of flames, he quickly found the source.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Someone, a young girl was jumping through the flames.
It seemed that she used a side entrance to get in here, but as the way forward was blocked by the flames, she tried to get through with jumping.
But…
‘Isn’t it hot?’
Even if one’s heat resistance was high, those flames were beyond common sense.
Because if they couldn’t burn you, they would cut you down.
Perhaps the girl knew that, because she was aiming to jump over the smallest flame.
She stared at it with extreme focus and then… Jumped!
But just at that moment, the flame grew and reached out, as if trying to catch her by the ankle.
She screamed:
“Eek!”
Though it was unknown if she screamed because of the flame or because of Vern who caught her before the fire could reach her.
“Careful.”
He said as he put her down on the other side.
She looked up at him, opening her eyes wide as if trying to get a better look at him this way.
He met her gaze.
“…”
“…”
An awkward silence continued.
‘Right… She probably doesn’t know who I am.’
When Vern was worried how to introduce himself.
The girl spoke first.
“Zombie brother.”
“… Yes?”
Vern blinked in surprise.
The brother would be correct, but zombie…
Then he recalled how the previous Vern spent the last few years bedridden and decided that zombie was also correct.
“Yes, nice to meet you, Young Lady Hibis.”
He bowed theatrically.
But the girl didn’t seem to like it, as she frowned.
“That old bastard just calls me Hibis. Zombie brother should also do that.”
‘Old bastard…?’
Vern looked at the girl in front of him again.
An eleven years old girl, Hibis.
The third child of the late Archamage Belleder.
And a younger sister of Crimo and Vern.
The only person that would dare to address her just by the name would be Crimo.
“Is Crimo an old bastard?”
“Yeah.”
Hibis nodded with a grave look on her plum face.
“He took mom away and then stole her title.”
Vern nodded thoughtfully, though he wasn’t sure if he understood.
‘Did he tell her that Archmage Belleder went away?’
When Belleder died, Hibis was eight.
Perhaps Crimo thought that Hibis wasn’t ready for that conversation and told her something to cover it up… Or perhaps he himself wasn’t ready to have that conversation.
‘Whatever the reason, there is no way that she really believed it, right?’
They may not be the geniuses his siblings were, but Vern knew very well that children were much smarter than adults gave them credit for.
Hibis must have known that her mother was dead.
‘But perhaps she still indulges the illusion in hope of her coming back.’
Vern thought it was good, though it seemed to have a strange side effect of Hibis hating Crimo.
‘I still have no idea why she calls him old, though.’
Maybe the age difference was too big.
Vern didn’t press on that and instead asked:
“What are you doing here, Hibis? Shouldn’t you be studying?”
Vern wasn’t really sure what Hibis should be doing at this hour, he was only guessing from what was a usual daily schedule of upper class in Rubrun.
Hibis’ expression turned sour.
“I hate studying what the old bastard gives me.”
… He seems to have found another reason for Hibis’ hate of Crimo.
He tilted his head and asked:
“Okay, does it mean that you’re skipping your lessons right now?”
She stared at him. Hard.
“I’m not going to give you out, don’t worry.”
She stared at him slightly less hardly.
Vern decided to sit down on the ground and motioned for her to also do that.
She followed.
“Why do you hate studying?”
He didn’t really know Hibis… It was probably the first time in his life he was having a conversation with her, but his instincts kicked in before he could stop himself.
“It’s boring. All they teach me is how to turn one rock into another.”
“Ah… Elemental conversion…”
Vern nodded. That was a quite advanced magic topic , but it wasn’t something a young child would enjoy.
Or preteen…?
Vern wasn’t actually sure of the difference between the two.
If you’re old enough, everyone looks like children.
“Well, it’s okay not to study it so hard, if you don’t have interest in it.”
“Can I not study magic at all?”
“Sure. But there are a lot of things you can use magic for, so it’s very useful.”
“But all I do is draw ugly circles.”
“Ugly circles, huh…”
Vern smiled.
“Then how about it?”
He stirred his mana and drew a butterfly in the air.
Under his mana control, the butterfly flapped its wings and circled around Hibis.
The girl opened her eyes wide.
“If you get really good at controlling mana, you can paint with it. You can even change your mana color.”
As he said that, he drew two more butterflies, purple and yellow, to join the red one.
Hibis blinked in amazement and stretched out her hand towards the butterflies.
The red butterfly softly landed on her hand.
Vern smiled and then started to explain to her the method of painting with mana.
They didn’t get anywhere really with that lesson, because Vern had to come back before Crimo started to worry that Vern fainted somewhere, because he spent too much time in the garden, but Vern promised Hibis to return and teach her again.
*-*-*
Like that, the second week since the siblings’ memories returned ended.
*~*~*
Author's note: *checks the notes* Yes? Are you sure it was only two weeks? No. You're joking, right? Right?
I also found some old drawing of Vern with a butterfly. I don't think it was for this scene, but it fits so here you go:
*Only hair, eyes and some decorations are colored.
image [https://64.media.tumblr.com/e2fab4aab1e392f062174233a7fe6a2a/c06debb12c88d400-6e/s2048x3072/9513c402b4c19b065fb28ee34aa2a1b66d9f52e1.pnj]
[ID: A rough drawing with a sketch underneath of a young man with long, black hair with some red lining. He is sitting in a not so comfortable looking pose, with one hand in the air and a red butterfly flying above it. The other hand is hidden in the big sleeves of the robe. His eyes are red, and he has two earrings (purple and yellow) on one ear.]