~ 39: A Camping of Sweets and Sours - Part 4 ~

We talked, teased and joked for some more time, learning about each other. The moon shone behind us as we sat beside each other and heard the forest's musical song. In that time, I wished that dawn would arrive so that I could see how beautifully the sky here would light up as the stars shimmered away, fading from the strong rays of the sun. And how Lucas would shine with the sun or moon behind him like a prince from some far off land, despite the difficult life he leads.

He revealed that he didn't have his parents live with him, and he didn't even care to go look for them if they were alive or dead. In his last year at the Wildon, he wasn't very sure if he would pursue his postgraduate degree there. He carried his blades around, especially for hunting, or rather when he wasn't at the institution. As weapons were strictly prohibited, he only kept two circular blades if he faced any danger on the way to or from home.

I gave him sparse details about my life, letting him ask questions about what I thought was necessary. He only had questions for me about my sea life and scarcely any about school and home. I only told him who I lived with and what they did. I was curious when he posed a few questions about my mother.

His eye seemed to glow when he knew that I was literate in the ancient language of Taulorus. And when he started speaking in that language to test me, I was so surprised that I ended up asking if he was ever a sea child. He responded in the negative and didn't ask or answer any of my further queries.

It was getting late, and I felt the need to ask him if we should leave. He got up before the question was out and held out his hand as he stood on the platform, with his short black leather jacket, white shirt and black pants. His appearance surely outshone mine with the olive green shirt and black pants. I reached him and smelt the mountain air one last time before being swooped away by his magic.

We were somewhere close to the place we first met as I could see the city lights from far. Its brilliance dimmed the fascination of my surroundings. Although we were near the second capital, the first capital where we lived was simple and elegant. The second capital, which had become the country's driving force of finance and trade, was the brightest shining city that the whole region had seen.

But when it came in front of nature, the aesthetic originality ended up getting ruined as the city lighted up nearly half of the mountain. It drained the beauty that originally belongs to the slope lands.

I turned back to face Lucas when I heard loud voices calling out into the night. Hearing my name, I started to panic as I had told him that I had come with my friends, but not that my friends included Aidan. Nobody wanted to see a fight before they walked back home with peace in their minds.

'We can't have you seen by them!' I exclaimed in a hurry. 'What do we do?'

Right then, a light red shell appeared and surrounded us before it disappeared. I met his eye with my perplexed ones. He had placed a barrier — the Barrier of Visibility — to lock out those people from seeing us. The mysterious man had many powers which I was sure I would never be filled in about.

'About our little meeting, I will be seeing you at my place the second it strikes midnight,' he said through the promise bond. 'Then we'll come here and go to a few other places perhaps to perform a few acts.'

'Why is it necessary to tell me all of that?'

'Just so that you'll believe that I'm not up to no good. I hope we can see each other tomorrow on better grounds.'

He disappeared before I could say a word. His faint smell still hung in the air as I paved my path to the voices of my friends. Maybe I was missing his warm presence a little bit for his scent to remain around.

The three of us huddled together when we met again. The squeeze should have taken our breaths away but we all needed the warmth from the chilly air. We sat on the mat once more as we inquired about what kind of adventure each of us had had.

"I was scanning for any wild animals, but they seemed to be locked away behind a secured border," Aidan spoke first. "So there wasn't really any threat, although the animals had smelled us out. The people might have been closing the borders for the day when the growl ran out into the night. What were you up to, Celest? We couldn't find you for half an hour."

"I think I ran a little too deep into the forest and then lost my way," I lied. "I must have zigzagged too much to avoid making a sound that I couldn't find my way back. That was until I saw a distant light, from the city perhaps. I eventually found my way once I heard your voices echo around."

"How boring," Mel replied. "At least I didn't have to deal with any wolves or leopards. The car was a haven. And I'm glad none of us is hurt, although it was a not so interesting day."

We brought out the food packets we had bought in the morning and even gave one to the driver as a token of thanks and kindness. For the first time, getting together at the weekend made us smile with immense happiness as we munched on our sandwiches.

"Do you think any element of magic exists?" asked Mr Loquacious, trying to break the ice.

"I do," Mel answered confidently. "I believe that some of it helps to get people closer. Maybe, you could say that one needs it during dire circumstances."

"I only believe in miracles," I commented. "There's only so much magic in this world for certain things to happen."

Weirdly, Mel and I started coughing simultaneously and nearly choked on our food. I was too caught up with trying to get something out of my throat that I waved my hand at Mel, signalling her to ask the question.

"What in the world did put in here?" she gasped out in discontentment. "Are you killing us now?"

"A magical ingredient to test out a little theory," he replied as he pulled one side of his lips down. "It was to check whether normal humans have any magic in them. Otherwise, how do some develop them?"

The next moment, I was sprawling on my side as I coughed out blood again, with more bits of the white substance, less of the black phlegm and a new purple liquid.