Novels2Search

053. Girl

Sirius entered the common room filled with narrow wooden beds. The wall was filled with large windows, covered in strange material. It looked like coloured glass shards in the Church's windows, but the panes were much larger and let much more sun inside. Additionally, the material was much more translucent, almost transparent. Eyes of the Forest was amused by Sirius' fascination at every small detail in their culture, but he had to stay put until his full recovery, so she had to usher him inside the room.

"This is your bed, your backpack is under the bed. That dangerous crystal of yours is hidden in the vault underground. If you need to interact with it, just ask, but I would strongly advise against it."

"Thank you. Where is Seth?"

"Manasnake? He seemed to take liking in daughter of Whisper of Nature."

Eyes nodded in the direction of girl around Sirius' age. Her ashen hair was tied in braids, decorated with shining stones and glassy pearls. To her side was a thin braid with a couple of coloured beads, carved with symbols. Her black eyes contrasted with pale skin and white eyelashes, glinting like a snow on a grass. Seth was enjoying her company in her lap as she sat in her bed playing with him. Snake happily flickered in and out of existence, glad to feign anger and play dead. When he noticed Sirius' look, Seth quickly darted at his partner, coiling around his neck and licking Sirius in cheek.

"Hello, Eyes of the Forest." The girl weakly said, her voice ringing like a wind chimes.

"Just Eyes, daughter of Whisper. How are your lungs?"

"The treatment wore off faster."

"More blood?"

"Mhm..."

Eyes of the Forest sighed. "This is your neighbour, he will be here for quite some time. Foreigner, you don't have a title yet, so come up with something temporary. Nothing grandiose, just your origin is enough." She said to Sirius.

"Call me Friend of a Snake." Said Sirius with a polite smile.

"Sounds good. Is Snake for short fine? Now, get accustomed, I need to consult another doctor on the illness."

"Thank you." Sirius answered, watching Eyes leave the room.

"Hello, Friend of a Snake.." Girl said, a sudden clanking sound making her wince in pain.

"Are you alright?"

"My illness. Eyes said it is since birth." She spoke almost in whisper, accompanied by the glassy ringing.

"I am sorry."

"Don't be. I never seen manasnake before."

"We are together since I remember myself. He usually hides from other people, so I didn't expect him to leave the backpack." Sirius sat on the back side of the bed, facing the daughter of Whisper.

"They rarely bond with humans. Very shy and prideful."

"Seth is like that, yes. In my village he would never show himself to others."

"He was lonely."

"How did you know?"

"He told me."

"How?"

They both looked at each other in awe.

"Do you not have your Eyes?"

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"Not open. My Astral Body is not in condition to do so."

"Then how did you bond?"

"It's like... intuition? Seth is good at non-verbal communication."

"You are strange." She weakly smiled.

"No you are. How did you talk to him, I don't get it?"

"You just need to feel what he feels."

"What do you feel?" Sirius asked Seth, gaining the blank look of slit eyes.

"It does not work like that. Touch his mind. Concentrate."

Sirius put his finger on Seth's head, trying to feel around with his mana only. Around him was the calm breeze of the energy in the air, among which stood two foreign objects. One that was larger circulated the mana in pulses, forming a moving sphere around the girl. The smaller one was barely noticeable, shaped like a tube, becoming denser and disappearing from the astral world. The small tube suddenly became viscous, melding with Sirius' mana. Sirius felt his hand fall through the place in front of him, as this ethereal shape took on the appearance of Seth, his head shining with solid energy.

*Relief.* Sirius felt with his soul.

"Seth?"

*Agreement.*

"I am so happy..." Sirius stared blankly into the room, talking to the thin air, as tears began filling his eyes.

*Know.*

"Can we really talk now?.."

*Concern.*

"Why?"

*Fracture. Think.*

"So what?"

*Hard.*

"Yes, me too, buddy." Sirius felt his head fill with lead.

*Rest?*

"Sure. We can try again tomorrow."

*Agreement.*

Sirius fell face first into the bed. His mind spun, and breathing was hard. It was impossible to guess how much time has passed, but finally Sirius found strength to turn around, plunging into the pillow.

"You are alive." Daughter of Whisper giggled.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"The room is full of your mana. I thought your Sprit ruptured."

"How is that?"

"Spirit holds mana inside. When ruptured it spills. Like a gooseberry."

"No, I am fine, I think." Sirius quickly inspected his Astral Body. "My reserves are just drained, no big deal"

"You don't know. Your control is bad. Wasteful even." She talked under the breath, fighting the damaged lungs.

"Is there a better way?"

"Hard to describe... No breath."

"Sorry. I will be here for a week, no less, so we can talk later. We both must recover a bit."

"Yes." She nodded slightly.

"What a day..." Sirius sighed.

The door opened, and Eyes of the Forest entered the room, walking up to the girl's bed. She stood still for a moment, warily observing the surroundings.

"Is he alright?"

"He talked to Seth. He is bad at that."

"I said to recover, not drain your last bits of energy, you runt!" Eyes waved her hands a couple of times, and walked to the Sirius, and began shoving the energy into his body. "Now, take in all your damned mana. If you are counting times you nearly died, add one more due to your stupidity! You still have the wound from the parasite, and the uncountable entities draining your energy. Until I say so, no casting, even to warm your bed, or you might set it aflame. Got it?" She explained, while Sirius was suffocating under the pressure of his own mana returning inside his mana pool.

"Yes..." He pushed out of himself.

"Good. Daughter of Whisper, come with me. We might have devised a new procedure for you."

"Thank you." Daughter of Whisper carefully stood up and followed Eyes out of the room.