Micah’s eyes fluttered open in his original, smaller form. He looked around to see where he was.
“... Micah sees trees, trees, and more trees—ah, it’s Iröstos Forest,” he said with a big yawn. “Oh?”
A girl with silver hair came into his view, her eyes staring at him as if observing his current state.
“You finally woke up, Micah,” Elysha said. “You’ve been asleep for some time now. Even though you went back to your fluffy form, I could still hear your loud snoring in my head until a moment ago.”
Micah raised a paw, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. “Did Micah really snore that loud?”
“... Maybe, but it’s gone now.”
He stretched his limbs, let out another fat yawn, and surveyed their surroundings. “Anyway, where in the forest are we?”
“Um, not far from the lake,” Elysha responded. “Elder Mera told me to take a break before we continue our studies.”
“Huh? You’re not done yet? Is this session going to last all day or something?” he asked with a raised brow, then flicked his ears as he searched for a certain absent person. “By the way, where did that old witch go?”
“You mean Elder Mera? She went off somewhere,”
“Huh? Why did she leave you alone?”
Elysha paused, sitting on her knees next to a tree beside him before answering, “Because I asked her to.”
“But why?”
“...”
Micah stared at her for a second. “Oh? Is there something going on between you and Elder Merakia?”
She shook her head. “No. Nothing like that.”
Then she looked away and said, “I thought that… if I had some alone time to myself, about the second stage… how everything turned out, I could learn some things that could help me grow and become a better pupil for Elder Mera.”
“Some alone time with Mee-cah, huh?” he smirked.
Elysha shot him a mildly unimpressed look, and he sighed, “All right, all right. No need to get defensive.”
He stretched again, then flopped down on all fours, tail wagging. “So what actually happened at the end of the second stage? Micah’s memory is a little fuzzy.”
Elysha’s eyes drifted to the staff leaning against a tree across from them—the same staff she had used in her last desperate attempt to tag Elder Merakia. She recalled the swirl of butterflies dissolving into theonum sparks.
“I… I gave up,” she admitted softly, eyes downcast. “After trying so many times, I couldn’t even tag Elder Mera. No matter what we did, she avoided them all. I was tired and even mad—and you were losing your theonum energy, too.”
“Ohh, so that’s why you looked so down, huh?”
“Mm,” Elysha nodded, fiddling with a leaf by her side. “After I said I gave up, Elder Mera told me something… something about how every failure is a stepping stone, and that I should think about what I had learned. Then she said that I should rest for a while. So… here I am, with you.”
She placed the leaf on top of Micah’s head. He looked up and said, “This is Micah’s new hat now.”
Then he changed the subject and asked, “What’s your plan now? What are you going to focus on next?”
”Um, I want to focus on learning theonum and getting more used to manifesting it, you know?” she replied. “I want to get better at controlling theonum, and even trying out some ways I could use it besides orbs and wind. Micah, do you remember when I was—”
“EHHEHeehhh?! Really?!”
He jumped and exclaimed in reaction, earning himself a confused look.
“... What? Why did you do that?”
“Micah—uh,” *cough* “no reasons, not that it isn’t good news or anything,” he quickly recovered. “But hey! Now that you’ve learned how to use theonum, doesn’t that make your growth pretty fast for any kid in this forest? Mostly thanks to your one and only Zhivopian friend, of course! That’s right, me! Micah!”
“Hm…”
“Well, not one and only Zhivopian friend, actually…”
He found himself looking away and sweating slightly. Elysha tilted her head, picked him up with her hands and asked, “Oh, is that why you are like that?”
Micah’s ears twitched, and his tail fluffed up slightly. “Eeehhh?! Why are you picking up Micah like this?” he stammered, cheeks turning slightly pink under his gray fur. He wriggled in her grip, but Elysha held him steady.
“And n-no, I mean… well, yeah, but… it’s not like Micah did it just for that!” he quickly added. “Micah helped you because we’re friends, and Micah wanted to support you!”
“What? No, that isn’t what I mean.”
“Huh?”
“I’m talking about the trial with Elder Mera,” she clarified. “During the butterfly explosion, I used too much of your theonum energy.”
As if someone had flipped a switch in his memory, Micah’s eyes widened. “Ah, yeah—that,” he said, nodding. “Micah nearly passed out from that massive drain! And—let Micah go!”
Elysha finally set him down, and he gave himself a good shake, fluffing up his fur. She sighed, looking over at her staff leaning against the tree again. “It’s because I don’t have control over my theonum core. And so, if I keep using your core, I might use too much again… and then you’d have to sleep a lot because of me.”
Her fingers clenched slightly against her knees. “I still have a long way to go.”
Micah, hearing the concern in her voice, stopped fussing about his fur and stepped forward. He placed a tiny paw on her hand.
“...”
For a moment, neither spoke, letting the wind among the leaves fill the silence.
“… Micah,” she murmured, shifting her gaze toward him.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Yeah?”
“… Thank you for being there for me.”
He flicked an ear, managing a small grin. “Of course, Elysha! That’s what friends do. We’ve got each other’s backs—through the good times and the bad.”
“It’s just… even though you helped me by letting me share your theonum core, I still can’t control and use my own core,” she confessed, her shoulders drooping. “I’m scared that if I can’t learn how to do it, Elder Mera might be disappointed in me.”
Micah watched her expression, his tail swishing back and forth. “Do you really think Elder Merakia would ever be disappointed in you? She’s the one who’s pushing you to learn, sure, but she also understands you’re still new to this.”
“Hm… I get that.”
A brief silence followed.
Then, Elysha shifted slightly. “… Hey, Micah?”
“Hmm? Yes, Elysha?”
“I’m sorry, it’s just that my theonum core, I—” she hesitated, lowering her gaze. “I feel like I keep using you—”
“No-no! Don’t apologize,” he cut in. “Micah chose to help you willingly, and Micah would do it again! We’re in this together, remember?”
“Oh… Okay…”
“Don’t mention it,” he reassured her. “You’re growing and learning every day. It takes time to master your skills. Just know that Micah will always be here to support and encourage you!”
Hearing his words, Elysha felt a wave of release wash over her. She smiled softly. “Thank you, Micah. I'm happy to have you by my side.”
“And don’t forget, you owe me lots of food—delicious food, especially,” he added, puffing out his chest. “That’s the price of having such an amazing friend, right?”
Caught off guard by his remark, Elysha replied, “Uh... um, sure! I’ll make you any kind of food you want! Elder Mera can teach me how, I think.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear!” Micah beamed, his tail wagging faster. Then he stretched, yawning. “But for now, I think it’s time for me to go back to sleep.”
“Go back to sleep? Again?”
“Uh-huh! Micah doesn’t know how long this break will last, but when my theonum energy fully recovers, you will be able to continue using magic at Micah’s maximum efficiency!”
Elysha watched as Micah’s small form shimmered, his body dissolving into soft light until only a familiar pendant remained—a small, glowing stone resting in her hands
She picked it up and held it gently close to her. “Sleep well, Micah.”
~ ❈❇❈ ~
The little girl stared at the pendant, then sighed deeply, feeling its faint warmth linger for a moment before it faded, leaving her alone in the middle of the woods.
She leaned her back against the tree behind her and looked up through the leaves, catching fleeting glimpses of the sky in the swaying branches. With Micah asleep and Elder Merakia nowhere in sight, a heavy silence fell around her.
“Honestly... I don’t know where I really am right now,” Elysha murmured. She hugged her knees and lowered her head until her chin brushed the fabric of her dress. “I’ve been trying to follow her, but… she always seems so far ahead.”
Her mind wandered back to the training stage—the attempts to tag Elder Merakia with theonum. It felt almost surreal to remember how her guardian had effortlessly danced around each attack. Elysha could still feel the residual awe—and frustration of witnessing Elder Merakia’s prowess.
“... I want to be like her,” she whispered, “but I don’t even know how…”
Another sigh slipped past her lips and she dropped to the grass, her arms still wrapped around her legs in a fetal position. “I have to wait for Micah to wake up. What am I supposed to do now?”
Silence answered her.
The Forest of Iröstos, which she had known as a comfortable place, with its quiet rustling of leaves and birdsong, now felt larger, emptier—almost intimidating without Micah’s expressiveness or Elder Merakia’s guiding presence. Elysha couldn’t help but feel her heart fluttering with fear and uncertainty.
She closed her eyes, trying to imagine Elder Merakia’s face, wondering what she would say to her in this moment.
‘It’s okay to cry, Elysha,’ came the soft echo of her guardian’s voice in her mind.
“Cry?”
She could almost see her guardian’s compassionate eyes looking at her.
‘Yes, giving yourself space to express your hidden emotions is not only the first step in overcoming an obstacle, but also in overcoming fear and finding the will to move on, Elysha.’
The words felt gentle, comforting, and warm, but at the same time, Elysha sensed the weight of her emotions bearing down on her chest. “... It’s hard,” she admitted, voice barely audible.
‘Why?’
“I don’t know,” she murmured, shaking her head. She turned her gaze downward, focusing on a patch of grass close to her knees. “I don’t understand… Why do I feel this way?”
‘Please tell me. I am here for you.’
Elysha sat in silence, her thoughts racing. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to the cloudy white sky stretched out before her. “... I don’t understand, why? I don’t know…”
‘Why is it that you don’t know?’
“...”
Elder Merakia’s voice remained silent, waiting for her to continue. After a moment or two, the words spilled out between trembling lips.
“Why me…? Why…? Is there something wrong with me?” her emotions spilled out, tears burning at the corners of her eyes as the words flowed. “Why can’t I connect with my theonum core? Is it really broken? I don’t know. Do I not even have a soul identity?”
‘Elysha…’
“I... I’m scared, I’m scared of what is wrong with me.”
She raised her hand and pulled the keyhole-shaped stone attached to her necklace, clutching it in her grip. The cold surface of the object felt strangely reassuring, but it did little to calm the turmoil in her heart.
“There’s this scary feeling in my head ever since that time in the garden,” she continued, burying her face against her knees. “Why won’t it go away? I don’t know… I want to know…”
‘Elysha…’
“GO AWAY! You are NOT Elder Mera!! GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!”
A sudden gust of wind swept through the forest, whipping her hair around her face and causing the branches and leaves to sway like an eerie premonition. Then, as quickly as the wind had come, the world was silent again.
The voice was gone.
Elysha pressed her trembling hands to the ground, trying to steady herself. She looked around as a numb kind of disbelief washed over her. Slowly, she curled her fingers into fists, brushed away the tears that had gathered in her eyes, and turned her gaze back to the sky.
“I can’t… I can’t be like this anymore,” she muttered. “What should I do…? Why can I not know myself better? What happened on the day when Elder Mera found me?”
Who am I?
She swallowed hard, the question echoing in her mind. Within inside herself, all this time, she’d wondered about her identity, about the part of her that should be able to wield theonum freely—her own core.
Yet here she was, relying on Micah to supply her with power. Unable to tag Elder Merakia. Unable to even keep from scaring herself with doubts.
“I can’t let my emotions get to me. Not anymore,” she said.
Her voice was firmer this time, though still laced with the tremor of recent tears. She held the keyhole stone close to her chest. “I have to find my own story.”
At that moment, Elysha made a decision.
There was a reason she had come here to begin with, and that was to impress her guardian, Elder Merakia.
She raised her hand and covered her right eye, then closed both eyes, remembering the day Elder Merakia discovered her. It felt as though she’d been born into the world at that very instant, with no recollection of her past—only the unshakable sense that the person who found her cared for her.
That memory still resonated in her mind.
‘I hope I can show Elder Mera that I can learn magic, that I can be as good and smart as she wants me to be,’ a trembling breath escaped her lips. ‘I want her to see that even if my core is broken and bad, I can still be a mage. I can still be…’
She clenched her hand over the spot where her broken theonum core resided, a small ache echoing in her chest. ‘I… I don’t care how long it might take, no matter what happens from now on, I can take the pain… I’m going to learn everything I can and keep going until I can make Elder Mera proud of me—I want her to be proud of me.’
A fluttering sense of fear stirred in her chest, but the thought of Elder Merakia’s proud smile, and Micah’s unwavering support, kindled a determined will within her.
If it meant recovering her missing past and discovering her lost identity, finding out what had happened before Elder Merakia had found her, then it would all be worth it in the end for the little girl.
The questions of the mystery are beginning to overwhelm the little girl, but she doesn’t want to lose the burning flame inside her.
She wants to continue her story until the end.