TF Chapter 66 Safe

***Danny***

The air around senior Nat started shimmering, distorting the surrounding light, making him appear as if he was underwater and I was simply looking at him from above. This phenomenon resembled that which happened when heat was being expelled into the air. Was his spirit actually interacting with his surroundings...or was it his body? Side-eyeing the creature, it was still trembling, its feet shifting within the mud as if hesitating, ticked off by something.

I decided to transfer my senses to my spirit, an action that caused a drastic change in my expression, causing me to withdraw my spirit as fast as I could. His spiritual powers had actually been hot and heavy! Spirit could actually have mass!? What was with this situation?! The circumstances prevented me from straight up marching towards him and asking everything that was in my mind.

Even those forgers who had reached the third stage didn't have--- wait!? That guy who had been missing a lot of skin like some sort of zombie had managed to cause our spirits to feel a faint burning sensation that time!? But that hadn't been on the same level as what senior Nat was releasing!?

Sounds of something attracted my attention, where I caught the creature edging away from this place slowly. If it had had ocular senses like us humans, I would probably have seen terror within, as its current actions made me feel that very clearly. It was terrified of whatever new spiritual power had appeared on senior Nat.

This was worth pondering, after all, even forgers didn't have such powers, so where had it experienced these powers, developing terror and fear from them? Was this planet not as simple as we had originally thought? Had the forgers hidden something from us?

I decided to drag those thoughts to the back of my mind for now, warily keeping my spiritual powers upon the creature while my eyes were still trained at senior Nat.

I believe everything within this world has an origin...even these bizarre changes that were happening to senior Nat. The creature's current visage already eliminated it as the possible cause, but it was most definitely the one which had influenced this metamorphosis in senior Nat's spiritual powers, that I believed.

A change once again appeared on senior Nat and not one of the good ones. This was worse. His skin started getting blisters, as if he had been plunged into a fire.

My heart sped up at this development. It appeared that those out of control spiritual powers were heating up the very particles in the air, causing true heat to appear, not just that which was illusory and intangible.

What had caused the change in his spiritual powers?

There was even the beginning of a glow, which was produced by particles having too much energy.

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This had just become troublesome. I was cursing inside even though I knew that it wasn't going to solve this problem. The creature, though acting strangely fearful, was still here. Any course of action I could try had the possibility of giving birth to a terrible outcome.

This tension filled moment was broken by the trembling of his eyelids. He was about to open his eyes! The sheer elation that spread through me with that one simple thing almost caused me to feel as if I had become lighter, so I heavily suppressed it and even took the initiative to inch closer to the direct path that the creature could take to attack him. I had made a terrible mistake before... Now, even if I had to die, I was going to make sure that nothing happened to my chosen one.

I had always wondered why the people in our clan had harped extensively about the need to stick with your chosen to an end. Now, I had also developed a kind of resolve; that I would never let senior Nat die before me. The previous me, the one from before the forger training was probably laughing at me if it still existed, having taken an alternative decision. Even I right now was experiencing a bit of disbelief about the fact that here I was, placing someone else's life before even mine.

The eyelids pulled back, revealing a pair of eyes that almost caused me to shout out loud and run away from this place. The rims of his pupils had turned a yellowish orangish and reddish amalgam of colors that when combined gave the impression of looking at the sun in our solar system from outer space. Though, the color was different, it was a cruel reminder of the time when he had been possessed.

Had that same circumstance appeared?! But we were far from the continent on the sun in our solar system!? Unless...could it be that that thing had hijacked his body from the possession before?

The eyes were different though, and not dead/emotionless like before. Instead, these ones had a manic glow within them, as if the person had decided upon something crazy. Like throwing away their lives.

The forest undergrowth released a cacophony of sounds causing my gaze to snap towards the source, only for me to only get a glimpse of a back as the creature sped away, its terror having won over its curiosity.

My posture, which had been in the preparation of countering the creature relaxed greatly, a breath I didn't know I had been holding making its way out of my lips.

I raced towards senior Nat, only stopping myself upon reaching the a few meters away from him, making sure that I was outside the range of his spiritual powers. Just being near almost caused my skin to start losing its moisture. Steam had started to accumulate near him having come from the vaporised water in the mud, almost obscuring my gaze.

"Senior Nat!"

I called out as loud as I could without surpassing a certain level that would draw every forest dweller to our location. Though the denizens lacked something akin to ears, their spiritual powers alone allowed them to sense artificial vibrations in particles, an ability which far surpassed the mere ears of we humans.

"Nathaniel!"

I called out a second time, this time clashing my spiritual domain upon his, though I screamed out loud as my spirit itself burned, with the pain akin to experiencing the horror of fire upon my very skin.

"NATHANIEL!"

This time, I let go of all my restraints and shouted with such power I even had the illusion the very air had warped.

Finally, a light of recognition appeared within his eyes before those spiritual powers were absorbed back into his body, those eyes of his turning to gaze upon me.

Even with all the wounds on his body, be they external and internal, he didn't shout. He didn't cry and he didn't even appear to be feeling anything. Had his body become numb? I felt a prick of pain in my chest. He had experienced so much that a situation like this had become the norm to him.