Ch #15

"Speculations all around"

Sunlight filtered through the forest canopy, casting beams of light in an otherwise dark world. Tendrils of smoke snaked upwards from the recently extinguished fire. They were about to set out, heading for the Ashen Mountain.

Kai had already traveled quite a distance from the patch of grassland he had been dropped into three days prior. Had it been three days? He wasn't sure, but he somehow knew the time without any point of reference... His guess? It was the timepiece.

He summoned the pocket clock, the chain cuffed to his wrist appearing along with it. It had formed a connection with him after completing the legacy trial. Had it acknowledged him or something? He checked his records for any changes.

/***

{Clock of Fantasia}

Rank-1 Legacy artifact (soul-bound)

Tier: 0

Type: Charm

Abilities: {Space-time pocket}

A unique relic, concealing a pocket of the uncharted. Key of the end, tending to the flow of time is but a fleeting role; nurturing wisdom is its true essence. It bestows formidable mental and spiritual fortitude.

***/

Huh... Its abilities were visible now to Kai. Its description still tickled his mind. A Key of the end. What did that mean? And the trial it had issued; would there be more of them? He could only speculate. The description of the ability itself was much more succinct.

/***

{Space-Time Pocket}

A secluded pocket of space-time, untouched by external forces.

***/

Like storage? Maybe he should check. He hadn't tried to use any of its abilities until now. Getting up, he tried to move the beast he'd slain last night into the Subspace. Should he think about storing it while holding the timepiece? Nothing. Focusing, he tried again, willing it to enter the pocket-space. Maybe it needed mana to work. Thinking so, he pulled a bit of mana from his necklace and sent it to the timepiece.

A strange feeling crept up his hand from the timepiece. It was like an ethereal string connecting the timepiece to his mind. It's working! Trying to grab hold of the string with his mind, he thought of storing the remains of the creature. A bit of mana gathered at his palm then fizzled out. Did it need him to touch the object or anything?

Placing his palm on the burnt hide, Kai tried again. This time the artifact worked without a hitch. The body disappeared right in front of his eyes. Quite trippy.

"Woahh!! Where did it go?" a curious childish voice rang out. Lumi had woken up.

He grinned as if doing a magic show. "I used a little magic, you see, and put it inside this." Kai held the timepiece up for her to see. He willed for it to appear again. The body appeared right by his palm.

Lumi looked with wonder at the body appearing and disappearing. Kai had been troubled about the little girl. He didn't know why she'd run off last night. Was Kai that scary? He guessed it had to do with her condition. Traumatized... It still troubled him to see the girl shrink at the sight of fire. But she seemed to have recovered a little. At least last night hadn't left another scar on her fragile mind.

"Lumi, we're going to start moving now," Kai put away the corpse and the timepiece. "Don't run off again, okay? There are lots of monsters in these woods."

She replied with a quiet, almost inaudible whisper, "I won't..." She might have been feeling a bit ashamed, running away and then being saved by Kai. Not to mention, she'd stolen all the food when she left. He guessed the vine had come undone because of her as well. But he didn't berate her for it. She was afraid, and rightly so.

Walking along the forest undergrowth, he could see blurry figures moving about in the forest. They were all pretty far, and he'd notice them coming closer. He'd found Lumi in the darkness of the night because of his eyes. She had a dim shimmering golden hue around her. His own body also glowed a dim shimmering yellow hue.

Kai didn't mind the quiet. But Lumi was just 9. She'd feel much more at ease with a little small talk, and he had a lot of questions to ask her. "Lumi, do you remember how you got here?"

Taken aback by the sudden question, she tried to find the words to answer. "Uh.. I.. I think I was left here? I was... taken by a bunch of bad guys from my kingdom."

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"Your Kingdom? Was your father a high official or general?" Kai could think of why the girl would be talking about kingdoms. All monarchies had been destroyed in the war. Children have such unique worldviews.

She didn't seem to answer right away. A sob. Her feeble little arms clutched onto his coat tightly. Kai stopped squatting down in front of her, holding her arm. "Are you alright, Lumi?" She didn't respond, trying to stifle her sobs and hicks.

"It's alright, Lumi. Why are you crying? Can you tell big brother?" As he tried to probe, it only made her cry more.

Her words broken by her tears, "Papa was the king, I was gonna be a princess. They killed him." She started sobbing incessantly. What had he done now? Kai picked her up in his arms, sighing inwardly while comforting the girl. Why did he take a babysitting job?

"It's all right, don't cry." Kai tried to comfort her with his words, but he knew he wasn't good with them. Instead, he held her close and waited for her to calm down. He needed to understand her situation and find a way to help her.

Her sobs had drowned the noise of the forest. As she calmed down, he wiped her tears with his coat. "It's alright, Lumi. Don't worry, big brother is here for you." She nodded at his words.

As they continued their journey, he held onto her arm protectively. Several times, he chose alternative paths to steer clear of potential obstacles ahead. Engaging in a fight was not something he desired, especially with the little girl in tow. Avoiding such conflicts was more advantageous for him, given his reliance on external magic power.

Based on her description, Lumi didn't seem to be from Earth. There were no monarchies on earth anymore. Neither did her descriptions match anything else. But the dryad had said she appeared out of thin air. What was going on? "Lumi, can you see the records?"

"The records?" Lumi asked with confusion. Kai didn't know how to explain it either. "It's a bunch of floating runes, with your name and your um... status I suppose. You just have to think about the records, and it should appear."

She listened to Kai, imagining some floating screen with words. "Woah! I can see it!" She waved at the air, trying to touch the runes. Kai had tried it too, to no avail. "It says something about a class here, but Lumi never went to school."

Kai didn't know if he could believe her accounts of her past. He had a hunch that her memories had gotten jumbled up because of the curse. An eternal dream, what had it done? Pondering upon the situation of the girl, he sighed. "Neither did I, Lumi. What class does it say?"

"Uh, it says Dreamweaver, a class for those with great imagination. What do you think, big brother Kai?" She looked at him inquisitively, a curious little expression on her face.

"I can't tell. We'll have to look into it, don't we." He smiled. Being called big brother weirdly tickled him. Weird but good.

Kai opened his records to compare with hers. That way he could try to glean some information before they reached any kind of civilization.

\***

Dormant Kaiser

Class: Fantasia Logia

Profession: ---

Core: Bronze (Heart core)

Attributes: {Moerei}; {Mark of the raven}; {Mystic Eyes}; {Fortified mind}

Artifact: {Epoch}, {Clock of Fantasia}

Abilities: {Analysis}

***/

"Lumi, can you see any profession? Or is it like blanked out?"

The girl looked at the air, tilting her head. "It's empty. Am I supposed to have a profession?"

"No, don't worry about it. I don't have a profession either."

"Really?" She looked at Kai with her big beady eyes. Her eyes seemed to have gained some glimmer in them. He imagined if eyes were the window to one's soul, then children must be the most innocent things in the world. Kai ruffled her hair. "Really. Now let's check the other ones. Do you have a core?"

Talking about her class and core cleared up a few things for Kai. Her records were similar to his, having the same elements. She seemed to have a variant core as well. A gold light core. He wondered how it worked.

Lumi seemed sheepish about something. "What is it, Lumi? Something bothering you?" She hesitated a little before meekly asking him. "Um, big brother, what are angels?"

"Angels?" Kai raised an eyebrow. "What's this about? Do you like angels?" He didn't think Lumi would ask him about angels of all things. He took on a pondering look. "Angels... How do I say this? They're celestial beings, you know. With wings and all. Radiating light from their body. They're kind and helpful too, protecting children like you."

Personally, Kai didn't believe in angels. They were manifestations of religious or spiritual ideologies that uphold a hierarchical order. Simply put, they represented power. He put the thought out of his head, nothing but a waste of time. "What's this about again?"

"Um, there's something like Race Half-angel in here, big brother." She said pointing seemingly at empty air. Kai, surprised, cast analysis on her again.

\***

Dormant Luminara (9)

Class: Dreamweaver

Profession: ---

Core: Gold (Light core)

Attributes: {Light-bringer}; {Arcane Lifeblood}

Condition: {Traumatized}; {Excited}

***/

Analyze seemed to glean information out of the target. And it included information he knew about the runes as well. It's quite handy. The hungry status was gone, but the traumatized status remained. It would probably take some time for her to become completely normal.

/***

{Light-bringer}

Born through an unholy union, where magic and man intertwine. The descendant of Gregorie; mystic realms and earthly phenomena converge, as probability bends to your presence.

***/

She was the descendant of an angel... His mind raced. Angels were real? This was wild! If Angels were real just a race like all the other ones, then it would be nothing of concern. But what if they were angels just like those described in the books on earth? Then were there gods too?

He hastily put a stop to his thoughts. What good did gods do anyway? It didn't matter if there were gods or no gods. They hadn't descended when humanity needed them. They hadn't heard his prayers to save... It didn't matter. And it was just a bunch of speculation anyway. Just because there were descendants of angels didn't mean that gods were real all of a sudden.

What was more important was that his records didn't include a race, while hers read as half-angel. Did it mean anything?

"Is it bad?" Kai woke up from his stupor with Lumi staring at him. "What? I didn't hear you."

She shifted a little unsure. "Is it something bad? Half-angel?" Oh... He'd scared the little girl going silent all of a sudden. He needed to stop staring at empty air, lost in his thoughts. Another thing to add to his growing list to fix. He ruffled her hair. "No, silly girl, it's not bad at all! I was just thinking about some things."

He would be careful. Leaving a bad impression on kids was too easy.