The day had started out normal. Though, Avures didn't sleep at all that night. For the rest of that night, he had sat up on his bed, thinking about the vision he saw. As such, Avures struggled to keep himself together during the day. He moved and spared sluggishly. Everyone who went a round with him could see it. And though Avures had tried his best to hide it, there was no going around it.
"Avures...you look awful today. I saw you were up when I woke up. Are you okay?" Rael held her battleaxe to her side.
"No. I don't feel okay at all." Avures lowered his sword.
"Everyone else has been telling me that you seem sick. Talk to me." Rael walked over to the edge of the arena, and sat against the wall. She patted the ground beside her and smiled. Avures slowly moved over, sheathing his sword.
"I don't really know where to begin. It's like a jumbled mess of different occurrences." Avures slid down the wall and rested on the ground.
"Something has seemed a little odd with you lately...besides your hand of course." Rael looked at her friend with concern in her eyes. "Tell me about it."
"I-...I had been seeing someone." Avures pictured that girl from before in his head. His "Guardian Angel" so to speak.
"Oh...you were seeing someone...I see..." Rael's voice grew real quiet.
"Not like that." Avures glanced over at Rael. She giggled in response. "But I've been seeing all these places, these things for a while now. I don't understand most of them. I feel like I'm going insane."
"Hmm...what have you been seeing? Anything recent?" Rael leaned forward and looked at him. Her arms were wrapped around her legs.
"The most recent thing..." As Avures looked at Rael, the mental image of her cold, dead body flashed in his mind...those lifeless red eyes that had held such warmth and comfort...he started to shake.
"Avures?" Rael got up on her knees and crawled closer to Avures. She put her hands on his shoulders. "You don't have to say it if you don't want to."
"Rael...I-..." Avures looked into her eyes. Those bright red eyes...the worried, yet caring look she gave. It all seemed so reassuring. Avures took a deep breath. "Rael. In a vision, I saw you and George...dead."
"Avures..." Rael sighed and shrugged, taking her hands off of Avures. "I'm sure nothing bad like that would happen. Georgie is pretty strong. And so am I! I think you got sick from the lack of sleep or something and hallucinated it or something."
"No, Rael. You don't-"
"You don't need to worry yourself over something like that. Though...I really appreciate that I'm at least in your thoughts. That you care enough about me to be worried." Rael reached her hand out to Avures as she stood up.
"I'm sorry...I guess I got worked up over nothing." Avures took her hand as she helped him stand back up.
"If you're not feeling well, you should go talk to Mister Zen or Miss Grula. I'm sure they might let you take the rest of the day." Rael said.
"Maybe..." Avures balled his fist.
It wouldn't be long before lunch time was called. As everyone had walked out of the arena to go chow down, Avures stayed behind once again. Miss Grula had already left the arena. But, Mister Zen was still there. Avures needed some sort of answer.
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What he saw was something privy to him through the use of whatever ability attached itself to his hand. This vision...all these visions...what exactly were they? Avures had one theory. They were showing the future. Rather than the past, or an alternate reality, or so forth...he was being shown a possibility. As much as he wanted to ignore and forget the disturbing imagery and feelings...they contained the clues he needed to decipher it. But, there was no doubt about it. He felt that cold, lifelessness from Rael's skin when that version of him touched her. It would haunt him forever.
"Mister Zen." Avures walked up to his teacher.
"Oh, Avures." Zen had been meditating, levitating himself off of the ground. He lowered himself. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"I did as you suggested last night." Avures lifted his hand.
"Hmm? Did you now? Any sort of conclusions or hypothesis?" Zen grabbed Avures's hand with his own.
"I definitely saw a vision. It was something that most certainly didn't happen...at least not yet." Avures glanced to the side.
"Interesting...that would be...spacial then. And if you conclude that there was a sort of finality that hadn't been real in our world currently..." Zen let go of Avures's hand. "Then that does seem to confirm the theory. Avures Kovar...or either by pure coincidence, you had latent time abilities trapped within you."
"My running theory is..." Avures looked into his teacher's eyes. "I can see the future using this power."
"Shall we test it out real quick?" Zen asked.
"I do want to test it further, but I did happen to see something...disturbing." Avures shot his eyes away again.
"Need to discuss it?"
"No...But I do need to find someone." Avures knew deep down that if he made the vision known to anyone else, it could completely blow up. He could only entrust this information to one other person.
"I see...well, I could teach you a technique on how to locate someone fairly easily. However, I want to put your ability to the test."
"I...if that's what I have to do, then so be it."
"Do you remember how much Flow you channeled into your ability?"
"It wasn't a crazy amount, but it was enough to make me...giddy."
"Try putting in a minimal amount this time. Lots of abilities that depend upon Flow can be altered by the amount used."
"That makes sense..." Avures brought his hand up. He needed this technique from Zen. Remembering that feeling from before. The flow of mana, the pulling of Flow...Avures imagined himself bottle-necking both of them into his arm.
"I'm going to name a random number, one to one-hundred, in a few seconds. Tell me what-" Zen didn't even have time to finish.
A quick flash of light overtook Avures's vision. In it, he saw himself and he saw Zen. It was like the vision he had last night, except it seemed more...focused. He watched Zen's lips move...
"Five." Avures held up his left hand, holding all five fingers up.
"Eh-ha." Zen was bewildered. "That was so sudden. How did you do that?"
"I only did as you said. I limited the Flow and mana to it. It seemed way more...focused." Avures rotated his hand, studying it.
"Eesh...to think, you've been getting overwhelmed by your own ability because too much Flow had been used on it. I really feel bad now about doing that to you a couple of days ago. Now you also have a better way of using that ability. Though, I wonder if your ability has any offensive uses..." Zen rubbed his chin in thought.
"Ahem." Avures cleared his throat.
"Right. Right. Okay. This was something we'd teach you guys later before the practice contracts...but, if you ever want to find someone in specific, and track them...you can use an extended method of sensing mana. I'm sure you remember how to outright sense mana from when we taught it a while back. You sort of channel it into your soul. You probably even do it subconsciously now. Right?"
"Yep."
"So. That feeling can be tapped into. You can actually track sources of mana. Using the same method, but instead pulsing it outwards after channeling, you can differentiate similar sources of mana. Rather than feeling a large area of mana, it starts to formulate into individual signatures. From there, you can sort it yourself. It's actually pretty easy to do. Just keep in mind, when seeking someone using this, they'll know their being located. A skilled magic user can even tell who is seeking them." Zen explained.
"Wow. Was it always that simple?" Avures raised an eyebrow.
"Mhm. You'd be surprised. There's lots of uses for mana at a basic level. The basics are the foundation for all types and casting, don't you know?" Zen tapped the side of his head.
"That makes sense." Avures scratched his head. "By the way, is it alright if I take the rest of today off? I wouldn't normally ask, but it's really important."
"You're usually a pretty hard worker when it comes to learning. Go ahead."
"Thank you, Mister Zen. I'll see you tomorrow." Avures waved at his teacher before quickly moving out of the arena.
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Avures rushed to his room. He got changed as quickly as possible into his casual clothes. Though he looked "pauper-ish" by city standards, it didn't matter. He was heading into the capital. Avures hardly gave anyone a chance or moment to look at him. Within a few minutes after leaving his room, he was already passing through the front gates. Tumae, the capital, was only around a twenty minute walk. However, the real challenge would be finding George.
Avures had gotten in the city with no issues. He walked a little while past the walls and into the business district. Once he felt far enough in, that was when he began his search. Avures focused in on himself as he stood at the corner of a sidewalk. He could feel a large horde of mana all around him as people walked, talked, and did other things in the city. It was all encompassing. Zen's words made more sense now. This would be a skill for later during Lancer work. Avures breathed in, letting his mana pulse out from his soul. He imagined the pulse flowing outward from his feet. He could sort of see a wave erupt from him and ride overtop the people around him. Though no one else could see it, Avures was astonished by how many individual pieces of mana he could see with this.
From random people walking around, to the animals fighting for survival, or the pets owned by others, to even the most mundane of items that have a hint of mana stored in them from an enchantment. Everything glowed up. Though notably, it was quite slow. Aside from Lancer use, it really didn't have any combat implications. But now that his view was wide, much wider than he could have imagined. Avures tried to remember George's mana and how it felt. It was pretty easy. After all, he just saw him yesterday. He could visualize the glowing cease on a lot of people, but a single blimp remained. Avures saw that he was some ways away and sighed. But, nonetheless, he marched on.
Of course, Avures finally got George in his sights. Where else would he have been? He was at a bar, that is, one that had outdoor seats. He sat out in the sunlight, downing some sort of drink. Avures crept his way on over from the street he was on. As he got closer and closer, George slammed his bottle on the table.
"You've got some nerve...tracking me down on my day off! If you want to go! Then I'll-" George turned his head around to greet Avures. "Oh. It's just you lad. Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
"I took the day off." Avures walked up to the table.
"Ah...I see. You wanted to take a day to hang out with your uncle George huh?" George smiled. "Take a seat, lad."
"Well. Kinda. I don't know how to explain what I need to say." Avures obliged, taking a seat across from him.
"Is it bad?"
"Yeah...real bad." Avures tapped his fingers on the table.
"Need a drink for it." George held his bottle out towards Avures.
"I don't think that's legal." Avures pushed it away.
"Bah. Still. What's going on?" George took another drink. "Less dodging around it, more talking. You came to me after all."
"I'm sorry. It's just not easy."
"Ya know, Avures. You've always struck me as the weak-willed type." George pulled out a cigar. Putting it in his mouth, he brought his left index finger up to the end of it. A small flame appeared at the tip of his finger, lighting the cigar.
"What?" Avures looked down at the table. George breathed in, and released a puff of smoke.
"Yeah. I like you lad, but I won't lie. I'm really not sure what Rael sees in you." The cigar in his mouth moved with his words. "I'm surprised to see you made it this far in the Academy. But, Rael's 'prolly been dragging you through it if I had to guess."
"That's not true." Avures looked up at George.
"Then tell me what's going on, lad. Stop your fucking muttering and stammering. You said it was real bad. Spit it out!" George slammed his fist on the table.
"Okay!" Avures slightly raised his voice. He didn't like George's provocations. "But this is three-fold."
"Oh fucking hell." George rolled his eyes. "Go on then."
"Firstly, this is more of a personal question, but...I know you're a sort of hunter or something-"
"I never did make my career clear to you two...I hunt cultists." George took another puff of his cigar.
"Right. Then you might have something. Would you know anything...on the Ozix Cultist attack on a village some fifteen-" Avures didn't even get to finish before George slammed his fist on the table again.
"God dammit!...yeah...Sorry to get all worked up, that one isn't towards you. A bunch of those Ozix worshipers attacked that village and burned it all to the ground. It happened at the same time me and my brothers were conducting a raid on other cultists. We were too occupied. If we had known..." George took another puff, grabbed his cigar, and took another drink before putting it back in his mouth.
"There's other cultists?" Avures tilted his head.
"Yeah, lots of twisted bunches of them." George shook his head and blew smoke out his mouth. "Between them and those Ozix freaks...me and my men are always busy. So, why ask?"
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"I think I'm from the Kovar family. The one that was specifically targeted during that attack. If you know anything about that, tell me, but it's the next part that matters more." Avures put his right hand on the table. "The reason for my theory is this. My hand is attached to a sort of "innate ability" as Mister Zen would put it. I can see the future using it. I've already confirmed it."
"Oh hell...a time ability...that would put you in the running I guess. But no, I didn't know much about the Kovars so I couldn't say. That is kinda important. I'm glad you thought to come to your Uncle George for that one. But sorry I don't have an answer, lad." George stated.
"There's more. The main reason I came to talk to you about it...I tried to tell Rael, but she blew it off and you're the only other person that I feel should know, and the only one I can trust." Avures put his right hand on his face, mentally preparing himself for that imagery again.
"You can tell me, lad. What is it?" George finished his cigar, putting the rest of it on the table.
"I had a vision of the future last night, where I saw both you and Rael...dead. Here. In the capital. In a back alley." Avures's vision felt shaky as he looked George in the eyes. The cold dead skin...her lips partially open...the gaze of nothing within her eyes. Even George...George's eyes widened.
"Avures. Lad. Are you sure?"
"Yes...the only thing I could figure was that it would be the night of her birthday. There would be no other reason for her to be in the city itself otherwise."
"Then...if it was both me and her..." George raised his face up slightly. His nose twitched as he sniffed the air. "They're here...in the city. At least one of them. There's a lot of implications in what you've told me then."
"So, there's someone planning an attack? On you and Rael?"
"There's no doubt about it...and from the way it sounded...yeah. Avures." George pulled something off of his waist. A blade. "I know you're just a kid still, but you're the only one who can help me. You saw this vision. You know Rael. There's no doubt that this future would-be assailant is after her."
"Are you sure?"
"They have to be. I can't explain the details of it to you right now. But I need you to trust me." George took the blade and stabbed it into the middle of the table.
"I tr-..." Avures looked at the blade. He froze up. It was that knife. That long knife he saw in Rael's back...could he trust George?...What other option did he have?... "I trust you."
"Okay, because there is no avoiding this. I need to take that person out, or else there will be a lot of trouble. Your help is integral."
"I understand...what do we do?"
"Alright, Lad. Here's our plan..."
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"Think you understand that?" George pulled the knife out of the table and put it back to his waist.
"I think so..." Avures leaned back in his seat.
"I know I'm puttin' a lot of pressure on you, but you need to pull through." George took a deep breath and finished his bottle. "You and Rael should be out of harms way if it all goes to plan."
"I'll do whatever it takes." Avures leaned forward again.
"Good man..." George smiled. "Oh, you had some other third thing, right?"
"Oh. Uh. Yeah. Way less important in the grand scheme of things. But, I'm trying to make something for Rael for her birthday. I'm going to make her a necklace. But-."
"Lemme guess. You ain't got any money for the stuff you need."
"Yeah, that's the short of it."
"Here. C'mon. I'll buy you the stuff you're needing." George got up from his chair and stretched.
"Is it really okay?" Avures stood up as well.
"Why wouldn't it be? Look, you're a student. I know you're gonna be broke until you're doing contracts. Let me help ya, lad."
As per George's offering, and Avures's request, the two of them traveled to a nearby shop. They obtained lots of materials needed for Avures's idea. The idea itself? A pearl necklace. Though, not actual pearls. Avures knew those were way too expensive, even if George had offered. Instead, he got lots of supplies that he could use to make fake pearls that would even shine. Avures had a bit of know-how on doing that as well. So it all worked out...
"You're really gonna make seventy-some of them?" George raised an eyebrow at Avures as they walked down the street.
"It shouldn't be hard. They take a few hours...but I have six days until her birthday...so no big deal." Avures walked alongside him, carrying the bag of supplies. While walking, he happened to spot somebody he recognized. The man happened to be coming towards them.
"Hello again, student-from-the-other-day! How odd to run into you again, huh?" Meius waved to Avures and George. "And mister George Mottis as well."
"Hi, Mister Valkir." Avures waved back.
"Meius? What brings you outside the Academy?" George waved as well.
"Oh, I'm just on the hunt for some ingredients. Particularly, Junswath. Know of anywhere nearby that sells it?" Meius put his flat hand over his eyes, exaggerating a searching motion.
"Must be some trouble if you're having to get some of that, eh? If you go down that way, take the first right, and then take the next left, there's a flower shop that sells buds of it." George pointed his thumb behind him.
"Ah, thank you! I don't have time to small talk now, so forgive me George. See ya." Meius speed-walked past the two of them.
"You know Mister Valkir?" Avures asked as they continued to walk.
"Course, I'm a certified Lancer. I went to the school and all just like ya are now. And don't let his looks fool ya, Meius was Deputy-Headmaster when I went there too." George shook his head.
"So he's even older than you then..." Avures scratched his head.
"He's aged like wine while I've aged like milk...-oh. By the way, lad...That's not right, about the six days thing." George stopped. "Rael's birthday is in two days."
"What? But she said it was in six days...five now..." Avures froze in place.
"Two days. The day after tomorrow-Oh..." George visibly cringed. "Lad...she's testing you."
"What do you mean?"
"She lied to ya, thinking you wouldn't know the difference." George shook his head. "You wouldn't have known either. But, now you do."
"I feel...awful."
"No wallowing, lad." George put his hand on Avures's shoulder. "You've got to make it right!"
"You're right...I'm gonna make it right!" Avures slightly raised his voice.
"That's the spirit!...er, make sure you stick to our plan throughout it all though." George took his hand off of Avures's shoulder and patted him on the back...
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By the time Avures made it back to the Academy, the sun was setting. George and him had spent a massive amount of time together in the capital. Avures wasted no time getting back to his room inside. He quickly opened up the door and slammed it shut behind him. He had work to do...however, Rael was already there on her bed. He froze in place at the door, realizing she was right there, already stalking him.
Avures looked back at her. She had a raised eyebrow and squinted eyes. He knew that she knew about the bag in his hand. There was no use hiding it. Avures slowly walked over to his bed and sat down on it, not breaking eye contact.
"What-cha got there?" Rael watched Avures like a hawk.
"Bag." Avures lifted the bag up and then sat it on the ground.
"What's in it?" Rael gestured her head towards it.
"Stuff. And things." Avures let go of the bag, leaving it on the ground.
"Mind if I..." Rael instantly jumped from her bed to Avures's side of the room. "Take a peak?"
"I do mind. It's private."
"You're totally sus right now!" Rael pointed a finger at him. "I know you don't have money!"
"Believe what you want. Just leave my stuff alone. I'm gonna turn in for the night. That lack of sleep last night is killing me. Goodnight, Rael." Avures laid himself down on his bed, not even bothering to change clothes, and pulled his blankets over himself.
The truth was that Avures was beyond exhausted, so much so that he was even unwilling to play his own little mental games. That, and he was confident that even if Rael peaked at what he had gotten, she wouldn't be able to discern what it was that Avures was doing. It wouldn't take long for Avures to fall asleep. His body had been practically eating away at him all day, longing for sleep. Before long, he was silently asleep. Rael had still been standing over him as it he lay down. Rael pouted, seeing as Avures wouldn't be giving her anything close to a real answer along with his secretive behavior.
She saw the open bag on the floor next to the bed. She wanted to look...but Avures did tell her not to. Her heart started pounding. Why would he insist on her keeping out of it? It had to have something important inside. Her birthday gift?...there was no way in her mind. Avures never got her a gift.
Would there even be any harm in looking then? Rael slowly crouched down. Putting her hands gently on the edges of the bag, she pulled it open quietly. And inside the bag...was art supplies and a bag of gold? Rael stood back up, leaving the bag on the floor. She knew for sure Avures didn't have money before. What gives? How did he get that money? As she watched him sleep, a thought passed through her head.
Did she really know or understand Avures that well? He was gone for most of today, and returned with a whole bunch of stuff. Rael felt like her and Avures did most things together. They usually talked about it too...or did they?...Rael walked over to her bed and sat down. She gripped the edges of her bed. No matter how she felt, no matter what Avures felt, no matter what either of them said...there always seemed to be a slight disconnect between them. Rael felt that Avures was hardly ever truly open with her. Then again, it seemed that way with everyone. But she couldn't help but shake off that feeling...that feeling that he was more open with other people than her. Even if it was by a small amount, it seemed that Avures withheld things from her constantly. She looked at how easily him and Lylas or Ventrix got along.
She wanted to get along good with them too. And, she felt like she was doing a good job. But, she didn't want to lose Avures in the process. It felt like a pointless balancing act. She sighed, laying down flat in her bed, and falling asleep...
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The next day came. Another day of class, but the last one for the week. Two days off would follow, however, Avures was in an unfortunate and time based situation. In order to make Rael's gift, he needed time alone to do so, and that could be hard. And with class being all day basically...he'd have a limited amount of time to work on it. That's why he had made moves to buy time before-hand. Avures woke up much earlier than usual and made an appeal to his teachers. The plan was for Miss Grula and Mister Zen to hold Rael over after they were all dismissed. Of course, that could only buy him so much time...
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"Please. I'm not asking for much." Avures placed his hands on the table.
"So that's why Rael's being held back right now?" Olicia sat down at the table.
"I managed to convince Mister Zen and Miss Grula to help. Even if only for a few minutes. But that's why I need your help. I need more than a few minutes. Just keep her away from our room for a few hours." Avures darted his eyes back and forth between the table and the door to the cafeteria.
"Why are you being so secretive about it?" Olicia raised an eyebrow. "You could just tell her you're working on a gift and that it's a secret so she needs to stay out."
"She won't take that for an answer. It's just the way she is." Avures shook his head.
"Ya know...I'll gladly do a distraction for ya. That's nothing. But, ya got a large workload on your hands. Sure ya don't want help with that?" Lylas looked at Avures.
"I can manage it...just give me the time." Avures pleaded.
"Fine." Olicia shrugged. Everyone else nodded their heads.
"Thank you, so much." Avures bowed and ran out of the cafeteria.
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Avures wasted no time hurrying back into his room. He flung the supplies from the bag onto his desk and got to work. Clay, water, paint, string, and a small needle. He would basically take a pinch of clay, form it into a ball, poke a hole in them with the needle, let it dry and harden, and paint them. The real arduous part of this, the real difficult part...was the sheer amount of time needed with the clay hardening and the paint drying. Not to mention the sheer volume of them he had to make. To fill out a full necklace, Avures would have to make over fifty of these. Seventy-five to be exact.
And he needed it done tonight. Tomorrow being Rael's birthday, Avures already had to make other preparations. He was going to be gone for most of that day. It was needed in order for his and George's plan to succeed. The gift was a two-goal item. One, as a present from Avures. And two, to help tide Rael's feelings over until he came back. When objectively thinking about it like that, Avures cringed, knowing how bad it sounded. But, in the grand scheme of things, it was needed. Avures didn't want Rael to die...the image of her dead eyes flashed in his head. He gasped and shook his head.
"Anyways...yeah. I haven't seen em since class. So, I think Avures is in his room..." A loud voice put a lot of emphasis on Avures's name. Avures figured it was Lylas from the way it sounded. Avures scrambled. He quickly closed up shop, putting all the supplies he was using back into the bag. The make-shift and drying pearls were carefully put in a desk drawer. The bag was put under the desk. Avures took a quick glance out the window on Rael's side of the room. The sun was setting. He had already spent a few hours on this, and he hardly made any progress. Avures pulled out the Volume 4 book and opened it up to a random page.
Avures pretended to be reading the book as Rael opened up the door to their room and entered. Shutting the door behind her, she looked over at him.
"Hey again, Avures." Rael waved as she waltzed on over to her bed and lay down on it.
"Hi, Rael." Avures flipped a page.
"That was exhausting. Getting held over. Jeez..." Rael sighed.
"What did they hold you over for?" Avures put down his book.
"A whole lotta nothing, really...they just wanted to make sure I was getting the combat stuff a little better." Rael sat up. "If anything, they should be holding you over for that. You fight so slow."
"Well I'm sorry, I think?" Avures stood up from his desk and sat on his bed.
"You should be, slowpoke. Miss Grula calls it "a lack of intensity". It kinda fits. You're never really intense. You kinda just look like that all the time." Rael smiled and pointed at his face. "You never seemed phased by anything."
"Never phased by anything, huh?..." Avures didn't like displaying emotion, especially when he didn't necessarily feel it either. But it made him think about that image again...
"Rael!...Rael!...please!..."
That vision...he wasn't crying...but he was in distress. That version of him...he felt something, but he couldn't put it to words.
"Oy. Avures, you alright?" Rael appeared to suddenly stand in front of him. She waved her hand in front of his face.
"Sorry. I zoned out." Avures shook his head. He still didn't know if everything was going to turn out okay. And the truth was, it was eating him alive.
"Looks like it. Anyways...I'm pretty exhausted. So, I'm gonna turn in. Goodnight, Avures." Rael walked over to her bed and threw herself face down in it.
"Goodnight, Rael." Avures sighed. He at least had more time now. Rael going to sleep early gave him the extra bit he needed. Avures waited for a while until he heard Rael lightly snore. Once that happened, Avures grabbed his bag of supplies and exited the room.
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Quietly exiting the room, Avures sat down at the end of the hall. He carefully brought all the supplies out of the bag. Avures had managed to finish five earlier. His odds of finishing this before morning weren't looking good. But, nonetheless, Avures continued forth. The reason he had moved to the hall was that there was a lantern in the hall. But also because if he started to use the paint, Rael might smell it and wake up.
And so, Avures would spend another few hours working on the fake pearls. Sitting on the hard wood he was working on, Avures would carefully set the finished ones to the side of him. He'd then start working on a few more. The thing was, he only finished about five earlier, and just finished about eight more. Avures knew that a lot of time had passed. He could feel it. He was starting to get frustrated. There was simply no way he could get this all done in time. Avures put down the clay and rested his head in his hands.
"Are ya still seriously working on that?"
Avures looked up. Lylas stood in front of him.
"Yeah...and I'm not even anywhere close to being done." Avures shook his head.
"Well...it really sounds like ya have an issue on your hands." Lylas turned away from Avures. "Of course, I'm sure there's some people...some acquaintances...who'll help if ya ask..."
"It wouldn't be the same..." Avures continued to sit there.
"So what then? Ya would rather just disappoint Rael? Is that it?" Lylas turned back, leaning over in Avures's face.
"N-no. I just-"
"Ya just what? Ya got nothing, Avures. You've looked out of it for the last two days, man. Can ya let us help ya?"
"...sure..." Avures slowly stood up.
"We'll finish these in my room, 'kay? Imma get the others." Lylas helped Avures pick up the rest of his supplies and fake pearls, moving them into his room. Shortly after that, waking and gathering Ventrix, Olicia, and Bif. After some instruction on what to do, the five of them sat down together in Lylas and Bif's room and worked together.
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"See? We can get this done in no time." Lylas carefully brushed a small clay ball in paint.
"Yeah...I'm-" Olicia yawned. "I'm glad to help."
"What has been going on with you lately, Avures?" Ventrix looked over at the boy.
"It's hard to explain. Not complicated, but..." Avures carefully sat down a painted pearl. "I don't know. I shouldn't say."
"Oh, come on, bro. After all. "We're in this together". Aren't we?" Bif nudged Olicia. She elbowed him back.
"Well...I had a horrible premonition. I won't go into the details, but it's been haunting me since I saw it." Avures could almost feel the touch of her cold skin again. "So I'm taking it upon myself to make sure it doesn't happen...which is actually something else I could use all of your help with."
"Avures..." Olicia looked at him. "Are...you okay?"
"Yeah...I just-...I'm going to be gone for most of tomorrow." Avures couldn't seem to make the pearl's shape right with how much his hands were trembling. "Rael's birthday is tomorrow. I have to take care of something in Tumae. But I'll be back before sunset. Could...could you guys spend the day with Rael? At least until that late?"
"Of course. I'd be honored to help you." Ventrix smiled towards his friend.
"So, I assume it's something for her then?" Olicia continued to look at Avures.
"Something like that." Avures wished it was only for her. Avures didn't want to put Rael in the center of danger, but if it would save her later... "I promise I'll repay you all somehow. I really don't deserve your guy's help, so I'll do what I can to make it even."
"Then make it two million gold. That'll be your debt." Bif finished a pearl and giggled. "But really...you don't have to worry about it, bro."
"Is...is it really okay?" Avures asked.
"Yeah. Plus, this is for the girl you like. It's a good enough cause for me." Bif responded. "And you can say it ain't so all you want...but it's pretty obvious that the two of you are like that."
"Muscle-brain is right. This is all a favor to a friend too...ya know?" Lylas sat down another finished pearl. "You don't have to owe us."
"I know it hasn't been long...three months...are we really friends?" Avures looked around at the four of them.
"I'd consider you my friend." Ventrix sat down a pearl.
"I have no reason to hate you or dislike you. I feel like you're a good person too." Olicia started molding another pearl. "I know that all sounds impersonal, but I'd consider you my friend."
"I'd say you're a buddy of mine." Bif grinned a toothy smile. "Though, you're a bit of a softie honestly. Also like, the polar opposite of me."
"Ya know I'll be there for ya, Avures. Imma always have that respect for ya." Lylas pointed his brush at Avures before continuing to work.
"Thank you all...it...it really means a lot." Avures felt his lips trembling, but he withheld. "But, it leaves me with one last favor to ask."
Everyone in the room looked to Avures.
"Could you all..."
"Throughout everything, you've been my only real friend."
"Please...keep being my friend..."
"I just don't want to be left behind..."
"I don't have to be your only friend either."
"Be Rael's friend too?"