November 2

“Are you sure about this, Aster? It will be a tough journey and Shia will have to come along. You do understand this, right?” I hope he understands the danger fully.

“I did say no questions, remember? I understand that I may die and I understand that Shia must come as well. But… for her… I would gladly give my life if it means that she can continue on. I know that you would do the same for Kyoko if the chance shall come.”

Aster walked to the kitchen to gather some food and then to the bedroom to grab his bow and Shia’s Quartz-eye Rapier.

“But of course I would. I have always told myself that my life will be forfeit the second that I can save another. And yes, I know she can fight better than me and she will be able to survive longer than me but… If I can give my life, the life she has let me continue, for her to escape or even increase her chances a little by doing so, I would.”

I looked to her now on one knee with my left arm arched behind my back and the other dagger in my right hand crossed over my chest. “As long as you’ll let me.”

She took her hand, put her index finger under my chin, and lifted my head up. She quickly pecked me on the lips. “You are very chivalrous, it’s almost shameful. Of course I accept you; I will also do my best to keep you safe. I am going to go get Julac while you make sure Shia is all right and help Aster with gathering supplies. Thank you.”

She ran as quickly as she could in the opposite way of the shop. It makes me almost forget the situation we are in when I think about my past and how far I have gone.

“Okay, Aster. How are we going to bring her with us? We don’t have a wagon or anything, not even a horse.” I looked puzzled at him while also keeping my peripheral vision on Shia.

“We need to think this out while Kyoko is gone. I would say that we carry her, I can do it.”

“I don’t think that’s the best idea”

“But why not? She is my wife. I want to be there for her.”

“You can be but just think this through. You will need to be the archer, due to your advancement in skill level over everyone else in the group. We already have a quick fighter in Julac and the strongest close combat fighter in Kyo. Please… let me do it. I promise that I will protect her with my life. Just make sure Kyo is covered by your bow and everything will go well.”

“Do you have a plan or will we be running in crazily?”

“Julac and Kyo might know the path the best but if we run across a Mercentry, then we should be okay.” I gave him a nervous smile since I didn’t even believe myself. That is mainly because it was Kyo that took that beast down, not me.

“I’ll believe in you. I am going to go grab some food and whatever medicine that I can from the pantry. You watch over Shia while I do so.”

“Will do.” As the words left my lips, I felt a tug on my torn light tan shirt and turned my head almost immediately.

I then heard a soft tone coming from the person lying next to me.

“You are a nice person, Denny. I can feel it from your words and the way you hold yourself. I hope you stick to your word for Kyoko. Anyway, I trust that you will do your best carrying me. I am not that heavy, never was, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Aster won’t show it but he’s happy that you care so much for the people around you. He fell for me for being the same way.” She had a faint smile full of care as she went back to sleep.

“Of course, you have my full trust.” I said knowing she wouldn’t hear me but knowing it is what she wants to hear.

“Okay, I have four blankets, some ‘special’ mixtures for medicine, whatever food I was able to grab that is non-perishable, and about ten extra arrows for us, just in case. I have one question; can your body accept In-flow magic?” He said with a stern but helpful face like a teacher would give his student. The sparkle barely hid his excitement about being able to share his wisdom with the rest of even one person, me being that one.

“In… flow magic? What is that? It sounds quite scary but can you explain it?” At this point, I felt he was going to use some terms from those fantasy RPG’s that I hear about from classmates whenever I took a break from reading. I also know a few, and I mean a few, from this book I read called “The Underling” by Alice Grey. She never used her real name but had such a giant and beautiful imagination. It captivated me with her word play but sadly she only wrote one fantasy novel. Well, at least in the medieval style.

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“Watch this.”

All light in the room was slowly being drawn towards Aster and a sparkling, bright yellow aura started to appear not around him but around the room itself. The yellow light now mixing with the dark grey of the cobblestone bricks covering the ceiling made a reluctant deep golden color.

Just as soon as it had appeared, it had flown back to Asters hand, where it started crawling up his arms and seemingly absorbed into his skin.

“That was cool. No, downright beautiful and all but that doesn’t explain anything.” I couldn’t even stand up afterwards, maybe from shock of the light show that had happened right before me.

“That’s because I was showing off. I just drew the energy from the room. Test it. Try and stand up.” He had a wide smirk on his face.

Now he is challenging me. Wait… What the hell?!? My… My legs… They’re just shaking but not moving. “What the hell is going on, Aster? What did you do?”

“Like I said, I drew out the energy from the room. As an Ushia, your body is mostly made up of energy. So, as an effect, you wouldn’t be able to use energy that isn’t yours without In-flow magic. Now using In-flow magic, I can use your power of regeneration and that means you cannot use it until I run too low on blood or I give it back. But sadly, there is a downside to this power. You use your own blood to sustain the power. Yes, it may sound a little ridiculous and believe me in my past life, I would have thought the same thing. For this magic to work, you cannot use life energy or spiritual energy to fuel it. Well, in essence, you can use life energy but at that point you will not be yourself. It’s kind of like you are always borrowing your life energy from yourself but not using it. Using life energy for In-flow magic gives the control of your body back to the lender. Your mind.”

So like I said, scary.

“So this… power, should I call it so, lets me take anyone’s power but takes it away from them as long as they are not Ushia, because if they are they will be paralyzed. Also, I can only use the power as long as I have enough blood to survive and I cannot use life energy to fuel it as long as I want to be me. So in my skill set, by using my logic that seems to not work 100%. I can use my regeneration powers so I can’t hit stage one of anemia, correct?”

“Hmm… As long as you don’t take one of Kyoko’s powers then you should be fine.”

“Why would… Oh yeah, Ushia…” I realized quickly that I still don’t know how to even activate these powers. “What do I need to use In-flow magic? Some spell, a magic gesture, or is it easier than that.”

Please don’t be hard… Please don’t be hard.

“Are you sure you are ready? It isn’t going to be that hard.”

Like just like that, all my worries were gone…

“You know what an Ankh is, right? I will need to place a seal in the form of a slight variation of the Ankh but we will need to wait until Kyoko comes back. You need the person you have a contract with to accept the agreement.”

“Will it be painful? What I am saying is will it hurt her?” I said, almost panicked.

“It shouldn’t hurt her; it might cause some hallucinations though. But we will burn that bridge when it passes. I think you should prioritize finding Kyo first, it’s been quite a while since she went to fetch Julac. I’ll stay here and gather anything else I may have forgotten and make sure Shia is sleeping soundly. Stay safe, anything is a possibility.” He patted me on the shoulder as I made my way out of the door.

“Anything is a possibility, huh?” I feel like he’s insisting that something is wrong. Their definitely is something off but doesn’t seem like it is life threatening. I reached down to my belt to find my dagger is hanging loosely inside its normal leather pouch. Additional to that, I have two small sized health pots that I must have unconsciously grabbed before leaving in the other side’s pocket.

…….

It took about five minutes to reach the manor, which is the fastest time by far. I am so proud of myself. Amidst my happiness, there were no guards in sight.

I grabbed the door handle and felt a harsh coldness, almost immediately from the other side. My reflexes kicked in and I reached for my dagger. Not good.

I turned the dagger and the atmosphere was dead.

“Kyo! Kyo! Are you here?! Is anyone here?!”

My brain was in frenzy mode now. My dagger was drawn.

I ran to the main chamber and what I saw was… was…

Oh god…