With nothing else special happening in the morning, the afternoon soon came, followed by the evening as per his schedule. Aiden had dinner with Tina, and once done, after a little while, he was escorted to his room. Much like an autonomous little man, Aiden climbed into his bed without needing any assistance or raising a fuss. I couldn't help but silently praise Aiden in my mind for how much he had grown, but there was a tinge of sadness in it as well.
As Aiden quickly fell asleep, I took back control, still lying in bed, waiting for the caretaker to finish her duties and take her leave. After a while, she left, leaving a lamp lit in the room, casting it in a soft, moonlight-like glow. A couple of minutes passed until I finally decided to leave Aiden's bed. Just as per usual, I wanted to first make sure that she didn't come back.
Stepping out of the bed, my eyes went straight for the item she had left behind on the desk. It was a magical device, functioning much like a night light. With the recent surge in new technology, such devices had become commonplace in Fiendfell. Placed on the desk, the same desk I usually used for inscribing my runes, it struck me as odd. Had it been another day, I might have doubted there was any significance to its placement, but a glance at the glass window that allowed me to glimpse the atypical sky outside told me otherwise.
Blessed with literally three different moons, basking the continent beneath them with light, Eldoria rarely ever has to worry about nighttime darkness; today was one of these days, apparently with an incoming storm.
"Good thing you’re asleep, considering how much you hate what storms come with," I couldn't help but internally muse, staring at the charged clouds above.
Putting my urge for conspiracy theories aside, I activated my spatial ring and pulled from the rift my two runic sheets, a Node-incribing Quill, and two samples of purified manacyte.
As per "my" routine, it was time for my [appraisal] and [memorial magic] training. I would soon be running out of runic sheets and manacyte, which meant that I'd soon have to contact Dungeon Master 02. He made it very clear that he's not going to like being taken as an errand boy, but he's the only one I can rely on for this. In order to not have this look like a mere errand, I have to show results, prompting me to once again ask for his help. Ideally, before I contact him, I would prefer that both of my skills reach level 3. So, no time for skipping.
After inscribing a familiar summoning rune twice and activating the said summoning runes with purified manacyte, using Crow to promptly exterminate the summons, my training, which took over an hour and a little more, came to an end.
I wasn't able to level either of my skills, and it was fine. I would've been surprised if I were able to level them up at all. "From the look of it, I have just enough resources to level appraisal and..." while muttering to myself, I came to a halt as a yawn escaped. It seemed that it wasn't only Aiden who had well-adjusted himself to this routine, but me as well, since my body, which was technically Aiden's, was claiming its rest as soon as I finished his training as per usual.
Mentally calling for Crow, the shadow creature that came in the form of a harmless yet scary-looking crow, landed on my hand before promptly turning into a black fog that merged into my body. After putting the node-inscribing quill away into the rift where it belongs, I walked up to the drawer to put aside the spacial ring.
The ring was too large for Aiden's finger to wear every day, so it was best to store it where I kept the device used to either contact Dungeon Master 02 or Dungeon Master 07. I closed the drawer and took a couple of steps back, my eyes fixed on the window from which the raindrops sprinkled against the glass window. The rain finally arrived from the brewing storm, and with it flashing lightning.
Upon thoughtful consideration, I pushed the drawer and used it to climb to the window. I reached for the curtain to close it, but in that moment before I could pull it shut, a vibrantly bright lightning flashed. However, it wasn't enough to take me by surprise. What did catch me off guard, however, was what it caused, which I didn't expect.
"Hm?" a voice rang out in puzzlement as I let go of the curtain and brought my hand up to my eyes to rub away the sleepiness. As I finished, my gaze landed on the spectacle before me, which prompted me to mutter in surprise, as I didn't manage yet to manifest fear, "Light...ning!"
Needless to say, after that, the one in control was not me, but him, Aiden.
The strong lightning flash woke him from the slumber he should have been in, but not only did it wake him up, it had the effect of bringing him forward, causing him to snatch control away from me. Aware of the bad consequences this could lead to, I began to wage a battle for control to suppress him into slumber. But before I could do so, something else happened—an earthquacking thunder rumbled, causing Aiden, who, in his fear of lightning and thunder, backed away from the window, failing to notice in time that he was in fact atop the drawer.
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"Aaah!"
What are you doing? I couldn't help but lament at the sight without being able to do anything.
He fell with a thud to the ground yet completely ignoring the fall he just went through, Aiden stood up and ran away from the window where one could see the lightning flash through, to his bed, where he used the sheet to cover his gaze away from the flashing lightning, which it successfully did, but what it was not able to do was sparing him of the sound the of thunder’s rumbling.
"Thunder! Thunder!" He whimpered panickedly.
His fear of lightning was something he's never outgrown, and to be fair, he was only three, so the only way I could think of to fix this problem was to take over control. But strangely, I was not able to. Instantly, two equally possible theories came to me as to why this was the case.
The first one was that fear or something equally strong was locking him as the one in control—to be fair, this was his body, so it would be very disillusioned of me to think that there wouldn't be an instance where it would be the case. I just pretended that it would never be the case.
The second reason I could think of was that unlike the other time before, when I snatched control from Aiden, today he hesitated. As to why I hesitated, the answer came to me along with the confirmation of both his first and second theories. It came in the form of yet another whimper from Aiden, "Maa... where are you, it's scary."
Hearing him demand my presence amidst his whimpers, I felt the same joy I always did whenever I heard that little boy call me "Maa." It was a feeling of warmth and love that filled me to the core. At that moment, I couldn't deny it any longer—I loved this kid.
As much as I wanted to reveal myself to him at that moment, I hesitated. I didn't want to introduce myself as just a parasite feeding off him; I wanted to find a way to reveal myself without causing him any distress. Then, I remembered another application of my innate ability—spawn.
Determined to follow through with my half-baked plan, I wrestled for control against Aiden. This time, it was much easier to take over. Instead of suppressing him into a slumber-like state, I allowed him to remain conscious as I activated my ability.
A jet-black fog began to seep out of me, and instead of summoning a shadow creature from it, I controlled the fog itself. I had it engulf the entire room, creating a barrier that blocked out both the flashing lightning and the rumbling thunder. If it weren't for the night lamp, the room would have been pitch black.
Now, I had a few options to make my presence known without revealing myself as a voice in his head. One option was to use my available shadow creature summons, Crow and Cat. But I had another alternative in mind, one that provided me with a better opportunity. The only question was, after the reinitialization I went through, would I be able to pull it off?
Feeling confident in my decision, I activated my spawn ability in a way that manifested another "summon." Unlike my other summons, this one was special—it had the ability to speak. Surrendering control back to Aiden, I was intrigued to see his reaction.
As he slowly emerged from the blanket he had shielded himself with, his eyes widened upon casting eyes on the silhouette standing in front of him. It was a dark, vague, ever-changing outline that shifted between resembling an adult and a child-like figure. I hadn't expected it to look this nightmarish, but it was too late to back off now.
"Maa?" he mumbled, uncertainty lacing his voice. He looked unsure about my identity, and I couldn't blame him—it didn't look like me at all.
"Are... you one of Maa's pets?" he asked, wiping away his tears before approaching the shadowy figure fearlessly, excitedly even.
"No, I'm not," I began to answer, but then I hesitated upon considering what the consequence of answering that would be. Upon careful consideration, I, instead, said, "No, I'm not, but she sent me."
He looked unsettled to see the shadow creature speaking, but once he registered my words, his face lit up with joy. "Maa?" he asked, eagerly. Then, his expression turned inquisitive. His gaze tried to lock where the summon’s eyes should be however with how ever-phasing and ever-changing the summon was, it was a daunting task. "Where is she?"
"She's not here," I replied, anticipating his next question. "She's somewhere else and can't join us."
"She can't join us?" he repeated, disheartened.
The shadowy silhouette nodded.
"Why?" he asked, his voice tinged with confusion and sadness. Aiden's voice quivered as he asked, "Is she angry with me?"
The shadow promptly shook its head.
"Of course not. Why would you think she'd be angry with you?"
Panic flashed across the child's face as he frantically recounted the events of that day, his eyes brimming with tears. "I opened the door, then they spoke to me, then they... hurt Owl and Crow..." His voice trailed off as he struggled to hold back his tears.
Hearing his words, I realized that the memory of what happened was still vivid in his mind. He hadn't forgotten about it.
Anger surged within me, but I knew there was no one to redirect that anger toward. Instead, I focused my attention on the sobbing child before me.
Kneeling to his level, I reached out and wiped away his tears. "Come on, it's okay," I reassured him, my voice trying once again to be gentle, because it was almost as eerie as my summon appearance was. "Maa isn't angry with you. She knows you didn't mean for anything bad to happen."
Aiden's tear-streaked face turned upward, his eyes searching mine for reassurance. "Really?" he whispered, his voice filled with uncertainty.
"Yes, really," I affirmed, nodding gently. "Do you want to know how I’m so certain?"
He nodded vigorously.
"Because she knows you’ve been a very good kid. She knows you’ve been strong. She knows you’ve been brave," reaching his head for a pat which he calmly accepted, I said, “—and most importantly because loves you very much, Aiden."