Mid Afternoon - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan
- Michael Cotorel ~
*tap-tap-tap-tap* "Haah…" -What am I doing…-
It had been about an hour since things started calming down, a whole day after the disaster.
I had been one of the leading figures of a group that carried people to dical wards, helped treat the wounded, and arrested thugs that broke into noble estates, but even though I was absolutely exhausted, I was still walking around the city.
But I wasn’t walking around to help people. Instead, I was walking around trying to solve my own ntal dilemmas. -Just what am I missing… Is acknowledging it not enough?-
Deep within my mind, I was staring at a pair of broken, rusted shackles.
It all started several years ago, a few years after my progress in magic theory turned stagnant. At the ti, I was unable to accept the reality that I, a man who dedicated his whole life to the pursuit of innovating and improving magic, had simply run into a roadblock.
To escape that reality, I ca to convince myself that I was actually at the peak of magic, the apex of humanity. But even still, deep down I knew there was another peak within the clouds.
Regardless, the idea that I had reached the limit of mankind only further suffocated my thoughts, leaving to mindlessly grow my reserve with no end goal in sight.
But that's when the false reality I'd created for myself ca crashing down around .
Just a few days prior, I had seen a child use spells that were unheard of and use mana to seemingly bend the rules of the world.
It was a scene that opened my eyes wider than they ever had been before, allowing to set my sights on a peak within the clouds whilst reinvigorating my intrigue and excitent to develop magic.
But I was once again left with a conflicted feeling. -I thought I resolved my problem... Why do I still feel.. drained…-
The world in my mind steadily grew darker and darker the more I questioned myself and my choices.
But that was when a calm voice pulled out of my mind. "Sir, are you alright?"
-Huh?- Looking up, I saw a knight donning silver armor giving a worried look. -Oh.. I wandered to the plaza...- "Y..yes, sorry. I guess I just got lost in my thoughts."
"Haah, alright. Just be sure to pay attention to where you are walking, you could cause an accident."
His voice was oddly comforting. "Thank you, sir. I will keep that in mind." As I gave a polite gesture to the man, he moved back over to his post at the entrance to the plaza.
Unable to keep my eyes from wandering, I quickly found myself staring at the dragon lying unconscious in the middle of the plaza.
Over the days since the speech, whenever I saw her, my heart would ache, but sohow, at that mont.. I felt indifferent.
*click* It was at that mont that I felt like I heard a shackle unlock.
-Huh?- My thoughts instantly started to beco clearer as the fog that had hovered in my mind for years started to dissipate.
-T..that was it?- I had an odd mix of feelings start to well up in my stomach the more I thought about it. -The shackles I couldn’t find no matter how hard I looked, were hiding in plain sight…-
*clank-thud* The sound of shackles falling to the ground echoed through my mind as I looked around at the world around in a new light.
I saw the dark clouds on the horizon flash with lightning, and saw a bird land next to to pick up breadcrumbs.
I looked around the street and saw an apple break open after being blown off a stand by the wind, and saw a gold coin in a noble's hand glimring in the sunlight.
I kept seeing all these things.. these normal, easily explainable things, but sohow, I could only question myself. -Is it really all because of mana?-
For the first ti in my life, I started to question the foundations of nature and magic. -Is mana really what causes these phenona?-
As I finally left the area around the plaza, I continued to look around and question everything I was seeing.
It made a part of feel stupid, but at the sa ti, I felt intrigued. It was truly a refreshing feeling.
Countless what-ifs ran through my mind as I continued to walk through town, and before I knew it, I found myself walking into the smithy with a youthful smile on my face.
*Clang* *Clang* *Clunk* The sound of tal being hamred echoed through the air with a thodical rhythm.
*fwip* Pushing aside the coarse cloth, I ca in to see Udall hamring at a refined piece of tal.
"Welco back, Michael." His voice sounded exhausted before he turned to look at . "You seem to be in a good mood. Did you finally sort out your thoughts?"
*creeak* The chair creaked as I turned it around to face Udall. "I guess you could say that." Finally sitting down and letting my legs rest, I felt relief fill my body, which only further fueled my curiosity.
*fwip* The cloth in the door made a noise as it was pushed aside. "You’re finally back! I'm surprised you lasted that long, oldie." Mollie’s voice was surprisingly energetic.
"Haha, you’re calling him old?" A smug smile ca to Udall’s face. "He's only 47. He's literally 23 years younger than you."
"So what? My youth is eternal!" She put her hands on her hips and held her head high like a confident child.
Udall’s smug look didn’t go anywhere though. "Uh-huh… Suureee-" *CLANG* His voice was cut short by a soft tal plate being slamd into his face.
The plate had molded to his head perfectly, so when he pried it off, he was left with a rough mold of his face.
Finally turning it around, the plate only showed the general contour of his face, but nonetheless, he looked back up at Mollie with a sly smile. "At least one of us is aging well-" *CLANG*
"Pfft-hahaha!" I couldn’t hold back my laughter as another plate ca slamming into his face.
My thoughts were light, nimble, and youthful, and although I was physically exhausted, my mind was still full of energy. -When was the last ti I felt this young?-
- Vasilias ~
"Uwaahh…" I let out a deep yawn as I ran my fingers through Ilios’s fur.
It had been a couple of hours since I finished my procedure on Oliver, and thankfully, his condition was starting to look better.
His internal bleeding was the first thing to heal, with the bruising disappearing quite quickly with a bit of my assistance.
As for the swelling, it only increased for quite a while, even causing his skin to break open and bleed on his forehead, but once the swelling finally started to return to normal, his condition greatly improved.
Thanks to mana and the incredible healing ability of humans in this world, it wouldn't scar, and once his skull healed back, it would look and feel as if nothing happened.
-Humanoids are surprisingly resilient considering how fragile their bodies are... - Looking at Oliver and seeing him start to move and wake up again, I reached over his head and nullified a few neurons that were firing, making his movent stop imdiately. -Man… Maybe it's just him, but his mind is like clockwork...-
Over the few hours prior, I had been watching his mind very closely in an attempt to learn about it, and I did actually discover how to do several things.
After studying how the pain receptors, nerves, and mind all communicated, I learned to quell the pain from his shattered skull so he would only feel a slight headache, but this quickly led to finding a way to put him back to sleep when he was in the process of waking up.
Shockingly, it wasn’t too complicated either. As I kept a close eye on his brain, whenever he initially started to wake up, a set of about 6 neurons were triggered by a chain of neurons that led to where the nerves communicate with the brain.
Putting two and two together, I made the assumption that the 6 neurons were sothing akin to an ergency wake-up response, and as expected, when I nullified the neurons fired from them, he would stop waking up and fall back to sleep.
-To think magic would make sothing like this even possible...-
*tap* *tap* *tap* *tap* As I was thinking to myself, I noticed soone sneaking down the hallway outside.
I was still letting my aura loose at that point, filling the room with so much mana that if I didn’t have control over it, it would be deadly to humans.
But before I could even bother restraining so of it, the door opened. *Click*
My aura imdiately washed out into the hallway like flood waters.
Lucy, who was the one in the hall, still stood at the door, completely frozen with a slightly pale face. -She probably ca to check on Oliver…-
"I'm doing sothing important, so I need you to stay out of the room for a bit. Oliver is fine." Not wanting her to co inside and give any kind of distraction, I closed the door without any more thought.
Silence filled the hallway for several seconds before she finally backed away from the door and sat down against the wall. *tap* *tap* *thump*
"Haah…" -I guess I can't bla her for being worried...-
*rustling* "Mmmm…" Ilios shifted around so at my feet, getting extra comfortable as he rested.
"Lucky…" *pat-pat* -I could really use a nap right about now, too…-
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