by Cloe D Frost
Soon, Elaru held a small potion bottle filled with a clear liquid and scrunched up her eyebrows. “How certain are you that this will work?”
“100%” Ixos stated emotionlessly, with burselpine sticking out of his mouth.
“How long before he is completely cured?” Elaru couldn’t help but inquire. It would be for the best if Kiel regained consciousness after she left the premises of the Eryey family mainhouse. Otherwise, that would raise many questions. Questions that she wasn’t ready to answer.
“5 minutes or so.”
Elaru smiled gratefully at Ixos Eryey. “Thank you, uncle Ixos.” She even gave him a quick hug.
Ixos Eryey froze for a second when he received the hug, after which he responded by petting her head.
* * *
Kiel Rroda felt as light as a feather, as if he was floating in the sky without any weight. Howling of the wind was strangely soothing to his ears.
As his consciousness stirred, his Mind spread around him like a veil, touching, feeling the world.
Kiel’s eyelids slowly fluttered open to see an endless expanse of gray clouds.
He was flying next to Elaru, surrounded by the Invisibility and Reflection barriers.
The Reflection barrier shrouded them in a bubble and prevented any particle from entering or leaving the bubble. Besides preventing the two of them from leaving their scent, it also had an additional benefit that showed its value only at high-speed flying.
Usually, if they were flying at high speeds, the air would be hitting their faces so hard that they would have trouble breathing and wouldn’t even be able to open their eyes.
This time, the air was hitting the Reflection barrier instead so they could enjoy their flight. However, judging by the sweat drops forming on Elaru’s forehead, enjoyment was far from her mind at this point.
Flying at such high speed for prolonged periods of time would be taxing for anyone. Elaru also had to sustain an Invisibility barrier and the Reflection barrier. The Reflection barrier was particularly hard to sustain under the constant barrage of air particles colliding with it like a tsunami.
Elaru’s mana regeneration was enough to sustain the consumption, however, the wild current of mana that she kept channeling surely put a lot of pressure both on her body and her mind. Just because her soul could sustain the magic didn’t mean that her mind and body could.
As Kiel blinked his sleep away, as the fog inside his mind lifted, his heartbeat couldn’t help but accelerate in panic. “No!! The exam!”
Elaru didn’t turn to look at him, seemingly concentrating hard on sustaining her spells. “We’ll make it.” She responded with conviction.
Kiel looked at his pocket watch, and his heart dropped into the pit of his stomach. At this rate, we won’t make it!
Yet he didn’t voice his worries out loud. Elaru was clearly doing her best. Complaining now wouldn’t help at all. It might even impact her concentration and make them even later than they would be otherwise.
He could ask her to release her Acceleration on him so he could fly by himself, but that would make them lose more time than they would gain.
Kiel clenched his fist so hard that his fingers turned white.
What happened? Why am I not inside Muni, but flying above Ashar?
The last thing he remembered was feeling sick. But besides a slight headache and a feeling of grogginess, he felt perfectly fine now.
What happened??
The questions were eating at him from inside. With great difficulty, he resisted asking them. He was afraid that Elaru couldn’t spare any concentration on a conversation right now.
However, Elaru caught on to his unvoiced questions and started the conversation on her own initiative.
“You got poisoned.” She stated blandly. “Apparently, your family are losing their patience. They went as far as to hire a Shadow to kidnap you and prevent you from taking the exams.”
Both his blood and the expression on his face turned icy cold. “Oh?” Kiel stated frostily. “I’m surprised that they didn’t just off me. Would have been much simpler.”
Elaru glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. “…I am glad you are taking this so…well.”
Kiel snorted. Indeed. His blood wasn’t boiling, his chest didn’t hurt. There was no shock, no pain, no sadness, no sense of betrayal.
No. What he felt right now was cold derision and despise.
He had always known that the only person in his entire family that had any resemblance of familial affection towards him was his father. As for the rest of them, they either couldn’t care less or would love it if he just dropped dead.
The only reason why he wasn’t buried somewhere in a ditch right now was because they didn’t want to risk provoking the wrath of his father for an inconsequential person that posed no threat to them.
He didn’t dwell on the cold-blooded actions of his relatives. It was a pointless endeavor.
What bothered him right now was only what happened while he was unconscious and whether he would make it to the exam.
“What happened? Explain it to me clearly.” Kiel demanded.
“Well… you called out to me before fainting… so I came.” She responded.
Kiel waited for her to continue.
“I found you being carried towards the exit of Muni, so I interfered and snatched you. Then I went to find you an antidote for the poison.”
“You make it sound so simple. Snatching me from a Shadow? Snatching a bone from the jaws of a lupax would be easier.”
Elaru tried a few times to say something but stopped herself. Finally, she sighed in resignation. “I am familiar with that world…the darkness of society I mean… Papa made me sign up to be an operative of the Shadow Lodge for some time.”
“…of course he did.” Kiel stared at her with a blank face.
“It was an educating experience.” She defended.
“…of course it was.” Kiel still stared at her with a blank face. Elaru stared back incredulously. Kiel seemed… too… emotionless about it?
It wasn’t that Kiel didn’t believe her or didn’t care about it, it was just that he already understood that Elaru Wayvin was a person with a shady background.
There were simply too many clues. The things she knew couldn’t be read in a textbook.
She knew what could and couldn’t be stolen, and how to lie and deceive people. She was proficient in avoiding detection, disappearing so that even one of the 15 noble families couldn’t find her.
Invisible, traceless. If she didn’t have the qualifications to be a Shadow than no one had them.
It didn’t come as a surprise for him to hear her say that she was familiar with the Shadow Lodge. In fact, for a while now he suspected that she was either an assassin, a spy or a thief. Or all three in one package.
She even admitted having broken out of prison. If he thought her to be as pure as a freshly fallen snow, he would be downright stupid.
Although she claimed that she earned her equipment by doing perfectly “legal quests” he clearly remembered her view on what’s legal and what isn’t: “It’s not illegal if I don’t get caught doing it.”
Recalling that statement, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
* * *
Author Note
This chapter is dedicated to Christian (PapaD). Thank you so much for supporting Aethernea! I am so glad that you decided to try something “different” and gave Aethernea a shot. ;)
Coming up in the next episode:
He wanted to know. He really wanted to know.
They were still just two people unwilling to share their innermost self with others.
Kiel’s laugh became louder and more bitter. “Does that mean that no matter how hard I try, no matter how powerful I become, I will never be able to hold fate in my own two hands?”
Elaru looked down to her left hand. “Perhaps, fate is not something one can hold in a palm of one’s hand.” She murmured, her eyes glazing
over with sorrow.
Kiel’s heart was thumping so hard that if she wasn’t speaking telepathically, he would surely not be able to hear her voice. Even the loud sound of wind got completely overpowered by the frantic beats.
Episode 78 – Fate needs two pairs of hands to hold
Episode 78 – Fate needs two pairs of hands to hold
Previously:
Elaru goes to see Ixos Eryey, asking him to make her an antidote for Fever Touch – the poison with which Dusk Rose knocked out Kiel. Ixos succeeds in making the antidote and Elaru hurries back towards Muni. Kiel finally wakes up after consuming the antidote and Elaru explains how he got poisoned by a Shadow hired by the Rroda family.
* * *
Kiel shook his head and thought about Elaru’s explanation that couldn’t even be called an explanation, considering how lacking in details it was.
He understood that she didn’t want to talk about what happened. That she had many secrets she didn’t want to share. If he asked her how she defeated the Shadow or obtained the antidote, would she even answer?
Was it even a good idea for him to know the truth?
He wanted to know. He really wanted to know.
But if she told him about it, he would become an accomplice to a crime.
Perhaps her choice to skim over it was not just a matter of trust. Perhaps she was protecting him in her own way. There were many ways to extract information from people in this world. Ignorance was sometimes the best defense.
Not to mention that it was perfectly understandable why she wasn’t willing to share her darkest secrets with him. They only knew each other for several days. If he were in her place, he wouldn’t be sharing his illegal activities with her either. He would never let his emotions take control and prevent him from being cautious.
Aetherneal bond connected their minds and souls, but it didn’t make their hearts one and the same. They were still just two people unwilling to share their innermost self with others.
Kiel’s eyebrows furrowed as he dissected what happened and carefully chose which questions to ask. As he searched his memories, he realized he had no idea how he got poisoned in the first place.
Was it the perfume? He did remember how nauseated he felt by the scents. But that didn’t make sense. If it was in the air, why didn’t anyone else feel sick?
Did someone prick him with a needle?
He remembered girls swarming around him. Grabbing his arms coquettishly. There were also people who introduced themselves. But surely, he would have felt it if someone pricked him?
Finally, he squeezed out a question: “How did I get poisoned?”
This was something he absolutely needed to know. He never wanted this situation to repeat. What he despised the most in this entire world was being weak, being unable to protect himself, being a damsel in distress.
Familiar bright red flames flashed through his mind.
Never again!
Only when his fist started producing cracking sounds did he realize just how hard he had been clenching it.
Elaru glanced at him from the corner of her eyes and couldn’t help but sigh. “It was a rare poison called Fever Touch. It is transmitted through physical contact. The Shadow rubbed it on his palm.”
Kiel’s eyes widened. “A handshake! I got poisoned through a handshake?!”
Suddenly, a deep sense of helplessness swelled up within him. “There is such a thing? How am I supposed to guard against that? Jump away in fright from any physical contact? Cover my whole body in cloth leaving no skin exposed? Wear gloves and a scarf?”
That time, he promised that he would never again allow himself to be so helpless. That he would become strong. That he would work harder than anyone else, surpass everyone else.
He thought that he could learn from this experience so that nothing similar would ever happen again, only to realize that he couldn’t find a fault in his previous behavior. Should he stop shaking people’s hands just because one person poisoned him through a handshake?
Should he wear gloves for the rest of his life because of one time he was poisoned?
Elaru smiled wryly. “You’re right. Living like that… always on your guard… suspicious of everyone… it isn’t a nice way to live. And for you, who is trying to be a social butterfly… it isn’t an option…”
Kiel chuckled self-deprecatingly. “Are you saying that there is nothing I can do about it? That I cannot prevent this from repeating in the future? That I’ll always be someone’s prey?”
Elaru’s eyes glazed in thought. “There are measures you could take to protect yourself… You could develop an immunity for some of the poisons that are the hardest to defend against.”
“There are a countless number of poisons out there. I will never be able to develop an immunity to all of them. A weakness… there will always be one that is my weakness.” Kiel argued.
Elaru didn’t respond. He was right.
He could select a few to guard against, but different kinds of poison were so numerous that one couldn’t even learn all of their names, let alone develop immunity to them.
Kiel’s laugh became louder and more bitter. “Does that mean that no matter how hard I try, no matter how powerful I become, I will never be able to hold fate in my own two hands?”
Elaru remained silent.
Just like Kiel, she had always sought to control her own fate. She worked harder than anyone else, she had more opportunities and backing than anyone else. And yet, no matter how “in control” she felt while dealing with the world around her, in reality, there were far too many things out of her control.
Eighteen years of struggle and she was still no closer to changing her own fate.
Elaru looked down to her left hand that was slightly trembling. “Perhaps, fate is not something one can hold in a palm of one’s hand.” She murmured, her eyes glazing over with sorrow.
She stared at that hand, covered by dark markings, for a while. Suddenly her eyes widened until they became as wide as saucers. They brightened up, like two balls of flames.
Her sorrowful expression morphed into enlightenment. “Fate isn’t something that can be held in the palm of your two hands.”
Her right hand that was holding Kiel’s arm suddenly grabbed Kiel’s hand instead and brought their intertwined hands upwards to their eye level. “Perhaps, fate is something that needs two pairs of hands to hold!”
Kiel’s heart skipped a beat, his mind froze, and he stared at their intertwined hands in a stupor. His eyes landed on Elaru’s face. She was glowing brightly like the sun, excitement flickered in the depths of her eyes.
“Perhaps that’s what Aetherneal bond is all about. A way to control fate!” Her eyes moved from their intertwined hands and locked with Kiel’s. “It takes two! It takes two people to control fate!”
Kiel opened his mouth several times to respond, but his mind was completely blank.
“Kiel, alone, you will never be able to fully guard against your enemies.” Elaru exclaimed confidently.
Kiel’s face fell. That’s not good news. Why are you saying it in such an uplifting tone?
“But, you are not alone!” She smiled brightly, and the whole world stood still. “Not anymore. I am with you.”
The brilliance of her smile grew even further. “I will always be with you. It is alright if there are things you can’t do. What you can’t do, I’ll do in your stead!”
Kiel’s heart was thumping so hard that if she wasn’t speaking telepathically, he would surely not be able to hear her voice over the loud sound of his heartbeat. Even the loud sounds of wind got completely overpowered by the frantic beats.
His emotions stirred. He could feel her sincerity through the bond, her emotions spilled into him. There was no greed, lust, or desire, no hidden agenda. Just pure and simple…
…pure and simple what? What emotion is that?
Kiel’s heart skipped a beat.
Elaru’s bright smile turned gentle, and she looked a
t him with a strange sentiment. “And what I can’t do… for that… I have you.”
Kiel felt a strange burning sensation erupt in the center of his chest. He could almost feel his always frozen heart melting under it.
Abruptly he turned his face away from Elaru to hide the pink spreading over his cheeks.
Silly. Sappy. Foolish. Ridiculous.
I just don’t understand how the brain of this girl is wired.
One moment cunning and secretive, the other innocent and honest like a new born baby.
If it weren’t for the fact that emotions he felt through their bond couldn’t be faked, if it weren’t for the strong resonance between them, he would have thought that she was trying to seduce him.
And ironically enough, it was working.
He fought desperately to regain his calm. He didn’t want to feel this way. These… emotions… were doomed to cause him endless trouble. Emotions… were better left frozen and buried in the deepest parts of his consciousness. Replaced by calm logic.
“I don’t want to rely on anyone. I want to be strong enough on my own.” Kiel exclaimed, his eyes still avoiding looking at Elaru.
Elaru stared at him for several seconds before retorting: “Relying on others isn’t a sign of weakness. No one can be invincible by themselves.”
Kiel’s pupils shrunk and the disarray in his mind suddenly stilled.
If he had been told this at any other time by anyone else, he would have paid it no attention. He would have thought it to be an excuse for personal weakness.
But in the light of what happened today, Kiel realized that if he didn’t have a connection to Elaru, if he didn’t have a true ally, he would have been kidnapped and locked within the Rroda mainhouse. His dream of enrolling into Muni would have shattered into dust.
And he would have been powerless to stop it. Not even gods were invincible, let alone he, a mortal. No matter how powerful he became, he would not be able to control everything by himself.
If it were so easy to defend against a Shadow, then they wouldn’t be as dreaded as they were. Even heads of noble families wouldn’t want to antagonize a Shadow.