Many, many thoughts
𝗔 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗼…
A small, blue glowing light floated through the lifeless, gray-white town.
From the gray sky, snow slowly fell, floating here and there, piling on wherever it can land on. Whether it's on the open road or ceiling, they piled to a height where leaving only almost half a door is revealed to mortal eyes.
With a couple more flaps-no, just repeatedly flapping his wings through the town, he looked down.
"..."
A fog appeared in his head, and in it, pieces of pictures were reenacted in his head, like rewinding old videos.
From up above, the blue butterfly saw the street where he once walked across many times. The old school decades ago where he went to. The empty food stores across the street, filled with mochi and other delights.
In many, many of those places, he accompanied Anna. In many of those places, many years ago, he was with a gir-
'...hmm?' Amor thought.
'Who was that girl?'
Who was she? Who was she? Who was she? Why am I suddenly thinking of this now?
This isn't a flashback, isn't it?
Still, these thoughts repeated over and over like a broken radio.
Was he getting memory loss now? Perhaps the memories of the broken soul, his previous reincarnation, was full of gaps and holes. Yes, it was a remnant, floating piece of energy.
'...but who was she?'
Did he really have to use dream magic for something as trivial as this?
…this is his curse of randomly thinking random things again, isn't it?
The Lord God Almighty truly is cruel and thoughtful in his ways.
Truly, it was a dream.
A dream so beautiful that a person can only watch from afar, like an animal looking up at the moon. That was what makes a dream so wonderful.
Fluttering past another cold gust of wind, he above another streetlight lamp pole. Just like with the others, a tiny pile of snow piled on top of the lightless pole.
It had already been a few minutes since he had left the group.
The butterfly had fluttered through the city at a slow pace. Alas, all he could see was the monsters and those two children. Now, the city is only populated by the non-intelligent creatures...along with some corpses.
Corpses he didn't recognize, but these creatures…
"..."
From around the corner of a building, he spotted one. Alone on the street, a seven feet tall, fiery humanoid walking around with seemingly no purpose.
Its long arms reaching where its knees should be were lazily swung about. It lumbered off to a direction with seemingly no purpose.
A one star monster.
From the low quality and quantity still infused in the air, as well as its non-sentient mind, an educated guess is surmised.
He'll find out when he gets its core.
Still…a one star fire monster, surviving amidst the cold snow...how ridiculous.
The blue butterfly's dim light bloomed brightly, like a bright star appearing in the night sky.
The monster turned around, and it abruptly exploded into dust and particles.
A small dim red orb, the size of one-third of a pinky finger, dropped onto the cushion that is snow.
From the sky, Amor fluttered down. Just as soon as he landed on it, a sudden hodgepodge of 'emotions' flooded into him.
He simply erased them all.
With it, Amor sent it to the Realm of Dreams.
The blue butterfly became as still as a statue on the snow. Amongst the gray and white colored world, the butterfly's blue light was like a beacon in the night.
Then, flapping its wings, it fluttered off into the sky.
"..."
Like Amor thought, this is not the byproduct of the First Calamity. This is not even related to 𝘩𝘪𝘮 at all.
This…this was something else entirely.
It reeks a stench…a stench like that girl in the Realm of Dreams, when that girl became a…
…
The lost lamb prayed to the Lord God Almighty for an answer. For guidance, like a shepherd, guiding his sheep.
The lost lamb prayed, and prayed, and prayed.
And the lost lamb didn't hear anything.
However, the lost lamb already knew the answer.
…
All 'monsters' born from mana have a 'core.'
The 'core' is the heart of an elemental creature like the fire monsters. For creatures of flesh and blood, the core assists the creature with mana, similar to a second heart.
The 'core' is the monster's 'DNA.'
To humans and other beings, it is similar to the 'status screen.'
What makes up its growth, its potential, its future-the core is the monster's blueprint; its foundation.
Like humans repeatedly circulating their mana inside of them, the core is also similar, for it is like a muscle.
Keep using it, and the 'muscle' becomes stronger.
That is what makes monsters so, so feared and fearsome.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘺 is a monster of a rarity of three stars. Therefore, it has a rank three core.
In other words a 'rank three monster.'
It is said that a monster's soul dwells in the core. Its memories, its emotions, its will-it lies inside the core.
Without the core, a 'monster' wouldn't be a 'monster' anymore. It would simply be a husk of a body, withering away, or it'll dissipate into particles like the elemental beings when they lose their core.
So…do monsters have a soul then? Are monsters accepted into heaven too?
If not, then Amor will make it happen.
For he is a monster too. And so will his granddaughter be, soon enough.
…
The blue butterfly continues fluttering about, even as his curse of thinking made more and more theories, such as-
'Where are the humans at?'
There were many theories that could be taken into consideration. Perhaps they all escaped during the time, being rescued by the military when Anna was sleeping...
During the week while Anna was sleeping, the blue butterfly only surveyed the surroundings of the house.
Amor had never bothered to leave the forest. So, all he could see was the smoke rising from a distance.
A few short days later, the early spring had fallen into an unnatural gray snowy blizzard. The gray clouds expand across the sky; the cold winds howled and the heavy white snow never-ending.
In a matter of a day, it was the picture of winter.
Perhaps the military had already brought them out? There were large tire tracks in places where the snow cannot reach.
Speaking of the military...
The blue butterfly can barely recall the military of Seyna Baa.
In short, their technology cannot compare to the top first world countries. Although Seyna Baa is barely one-forty-fourth as large as one of the top countries, it's not far off from strength.
Probably
So even if the country is weaker compared to first world countries, it should be able to defend itself, albeit taking into account inevitable casualties.
'Then where did the military go then?'
Amor knew that there would actually be no way for 𝘢𝘭𝘭 the military soldiers and human civilians to just…die.
Or freeze to death, starve to death, or be crushed to death.
Humans are fragile, yet innovative and can adapt. The Calamities can all testify for that.
Amor is sure of that. He is definitely sure of that.
If he would ask them all, they cannot simply deny that humans are just vermin to be exterminated.
The Lord God Almighty truly is omniscient, seeing humans for their potential.
Perhaps…perhaps then, Charmeine was righ-
"..."
He's thinking too much again.
So moving on…even though the fire monsters truly are real monsters to humans with no mana, they can still be taken down. Strong, yet slow. Large, yet drunk...these monsters can be defeated with unconventional means=
𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮-!
A muffled explosion echoed throughout the town. Throughout the part of town where the blue butterfly dwelled.
So, he fluttered towards it.
Dodging and weaving through the buildings; through the cracked windows into office spaces, past the dark hallways, and through the many more rooms, he emerged into the gray-white lit world.
Ahead of him, a large, broken department store. Enormous and foreboding, the large building stood there, silent and almost menacing.
Lifeless, empty.
Through the cracked and broken windows, in the shadows of the dim building, he saw two children.
Lying on the cold floor like marionettes whose strings had been cut, they laid there, unmoving.
Two children, with white hairs.
The blue butterfly fluttered closer to them.
He watched as the boy reached out to the unconscious little girl in vain hope, he soundlessly screamed, but no one came to help.
Amor kept watching.
The two fire monsters approached the little girl. Slowly, step by step, they walked closer and closer, and the boy crawled towards them close, albeit at a snail's pace.
Eventually, the two monsters inevitably towered over the smaller child, and the white-haired boy fell onto the ground. The boy fell silent, as he closed his eyes.
Amor kept watching.
And watching.
And then, he saw 𝗶𝘁.
And then, he heard 𝗶𝘁.
In the ocean's gray waves, flowing and ebbing onto the 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲, he felt 𝗶𝘁s presence.
So the blue butterfly shone its light. From his wings, a luminescent dreamy blue shindee out, gleaming like the ocean's waters reflecting the starry sky.
===============================
'𝘐 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘈𝘭𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺…
𝘛𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦.
𝘈 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦.
𝘈 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘦.
𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳,
𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦.
𝘈𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵; 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨; 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦.
𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦.'
===============================
Amor knew the boy would accept it.
And the boy accepted it.
…
Eventually, he watched from afar as the three companions Anna found walked through the forest.
As they walked closer to the house, the blue butterfly looked into the shadows. The dim forest, under the gray sky, was dark.
The hidden shadows, the darkness-it grows.
Amor knows 𝗶𝘁 lurks around in the shadows.
That 𝗶𝘁 is always waiting.
That 𝗶𝘁 is always watching.
Every thought. Every breath. Every action.
𝗜𝘁 watches like a predator hidden in the tall grass, waiting for its prey to let down its guard.
𝗜𝘁 lingers nearby. The butterfly knows it.
The feeling of something staring at his neck from behind. The whispers in the darkness. The horrid laughter.
It was a good thing he cursed it when he first sensed it.
That awful stench again.
It was so, so familiar.
'There,' Amor thought.
In the shadows of a bush, something watches the group from afar. Its pitch black eyes that pull those who look into it deeper into the darkness observed them one by one.
𝗜𝘁 looked at a girl in a hooded coat. 𝗜𝘁 looked at a girl wearing a puffy cap. 𝗜𝘁 looked at a boy holding a metal pipe.
Last, 𝗶𝘁 looked at at a frail, little naive girl.
𝗜𝘁s haunting eyes never left the girl.
'Cursed creature, never enter this forest again. Never enter my sight again. Never hurt my granddaughter again.'
The beast slinked into the shadows.
Amor only looks around once more before fluttering back to Anna.
He knows it'll be back. 𝗜𝘁 will always be watching.
Tonight, the blue butterfly will be on watch. Then the next night. And then the next.
The blue butterfly will cease flapping its wings.
Not yet.
…
Faint, gray-white light filtered in through the doors of an old house. It lit the room it shined on, albeit not as bright. Yet, the light was still bright enough to see where one can place their feet ahead of them.
But that is not the main source of light.
A few yards away, a low-wooden table was placed on the floor. With it, the table was accompanied by-
"Wow...it's so beautiful..." a frail, naive white-haired girl said dreamily.
Her eyes sparkled like she watched a blue butterfly, still as a statue, on the little cardboard home which was on the low-square table.
It had been almost ten minutes since the three people sat on the floor around the table. Each person sat on each side, for there was one pillow on each side.
"Indeed…it is beautiful," a blonde girl slowly said.
Placing the wooden staff by her side, she intently stared at it, looking as though she's counting every pattern on its wings.
A white-haired boy quietly nodded. Placing his elbows on the table, he leaned forward, staring intently at it as well.
Indeed, it was beautiful, because it literally glows in the dark.
Literally.
The dreamy blue pattern on its wings glowed as though it reflected light. The boy knew it wasn't reflecting anything, for the almost-afternoon light barely brought enough light to make it glow so bright.
Instead, the butterfly was as bright as a blue lamp in a dark room, creating shadows in all directions.
'Was it magic?' he thought.
It was similar to the light on the staffs of Anna and Avalow, and yet it was stunning. It truly was mesmerizing and seducing, just like-
"-the light…it's just like…" he mumbled. "No…is it the same one?"
It was so familiar, and yet-
"Hey, is something wrong?" someone asked from his left. Looking away from it, the boy saw the blonde girl looking at him with concern.
He glanced at the shadow behind the girl. Then, his eyes glanced at the other shadows. In the corner of the room, under that one table, the hallway-
The boy shook his head.
'It's not here. It's not here. It's not here…' he repeated to himself like a mantra.
"Nothing, I was just thinking about something…" the boy muttered, and his eyes returned back to the blue 'lamp.'
The blonde girl kept staring at him.
Suddenly-
"You all have decent tastes for beauty. He's very stunning, isn't he?"
All three heads swiveled. From the dark kitchen, a shadowy figure walked out.
𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬.
𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬.
𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬.
As the figure slowly approached the table, the light shone onto her feet. Then, onto her sweatpants, to her gray jacket, and finally to her black-haired head.
With her, the girl carried in her hands a tray of four porcelain teacups and a teapot.
Placing it on the table with 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬, she began passing around the teacups.
"It's been a while since I had guests over…my apologies for the inconvenience."
"No, no, you're too polite," Avalow quickly shook her head and quickly bowed.
Anna also quickly shook her head and quickly bowed.
"The electricity isn't working, so I had to use a lighter to light it…"
"No, it's okay to take your time. Really, it's alright-"
As the two older girls exchanged polite excuses, another girl spoke up.
"Um, Miss Anna? What is its-I mean 𝘩𝘪𝘴 name?" Chaya said. An edge of tentativeness filled her voice..
"His name is…Amor," Anna simply replied, pouring out the steaming hot tea into the first teacup.
"Amor…" the girl whispered, and she looked back at the butterfly as the blonde girl whispered a "thank you" in the background.
Walking around the table, she filled Jonah's and Chaya's teacup, in which the first nodded his thanks, while the latter thanked her.
Finally, she slowly filled her own tea cup.
Placing the teapot back on the tray on the floor, she sat at the last side of the table. To her left, her staff laid quietly beside the pillow.
'Phew…first steps to greet others as the host of the house…completed,' Anna thought.
How bothersome and tiresome. A consequence of having people over at her house.
It was a good thing she had all this practice in the city when people came over to her house to greet her parents, otherwise-
'My…parents?' she suddenly thought.
Wait-
"Ugh…"
All of a sudden, pain throbbed in her head. Her arms trembled as she clenched her hands, her fingernails digging into her palm. Just before she reached for her forehead, the blue butterfly glimmered a tad bit brighter.
The pulsing headache vanished as abruptly as it came.
As the girl shook her head, she heard a voice from her right.
"Anna…are you alright?" Avalow asked.
"No, I'm not fine. Thank you for asking."
The blonde girl blinked. Then someone else suddenly spoke from Anna's left.
"Um, Miss Anna…I have another question."
Anna only nodded her head, and the white-haired girl nervously talked.
"Amor…when did you find him?"
"I found him in the forest…from just an egg on a dying leaf. Then, I raised him all by myself. About a week after he hatched, he turned into a cocoon. About another week later, the beautiful butterfly he is now. That's basically his life's story."
"Wow…" the girl whispered again. The black-haired girl blinked as she watched the little girl stare intently once again at the butterfly.
'Does Chaya like butterflies that much-'
"Hey…" Jonah suddenly said. "Is the butterfly glowing blue because of the magic-I mean, mana? Butterflies aren't supposed to glow like that…right?"
The little white-haired girl nearly stood up.
"Yes, yes! I'm also curious about that too!" Chaya said, clear excitement infused into her very being.
"...I don't really know," Anna said, after a moment. Avalow looked at the butterfly and shook her head.
"I have no idea either."
"...I see…" Jonah said. "Alright then. Next question. Is the original color of mana blue?"
Anna and Avalow both nodded their heads simultaneously. The boy nodded his head at them.
"So why is mana blue? I saw both of you using a blue light on your magic staff. That's its color, right? "
"Yeah. We used the light as the color blue because it's the easiest," Avalow said. "Of course we can change its color to colors like green or pink, but its original color is blue. So simply using its original color is less taxing, and we can conserve more mana in case of emergencies."
Jonah nodded his head once more.
"Okay then…so why is mana blue?"
The blonde girl blinked. Anna also blinked. The two girls looked at each other, and then back at Jonah.
"Your question is not how to use mana, how to see it, nor how to control it, but…why it's the color blue?" Anna asked.
The white-haired boy just scratched the side of his head.
She turned to look at Avalow, but the blonde girl was looking elsewhere besides her. If she was whistling, then it truly would've ticked Anna off.
Somehow, she knew Avalow couldn't whistle.
'Alright then…more work as the host I guess.'
So, Anna silently closed her eyes.
"..."
"..."
"..."
In a few seconds, beneath her eyelids, she saw the scene playing out in front of her. In another few seconds, in her ears, she heard voices alongside the scene. Finally, after another few seconds, in her mind, the emotions infused into the voices and the scene.
Together, they created a memory, akin to a video recorded to watch in the future.
[Memories of ???]
It felt…nostalgic and old. Incredibly old.
As though she had seen it, heard it, and felt it a long, long time ago.
Then, she opened her eyes.
"When man first looked up to the sky…" Anna suddenly said. "Long, long ago, they saw a large blue sky encompassing them all."
All of their eyes looked at her.
…
It looked down on them from above, so impossibly huge. So impossibly imposing.
Seemingly so vast, endless, and never ending.
When the blue ocean's waves flowed and ebbed, touching their ankles, they looked past it. In the distance, at the end of the horizon, they can't see the end.
Man wondered how the sky and the ocean are utterly infinite, and they, the humans, so…finite.
When they try to comprehend it, the meaning becomes mysterious, for it is unknown why the ocean and sky stretched beyond their comprehension.
That is why the color of mana is also referred to as vast and endless, encompassing so many possibilities and 'solutions.'
The color blue is the meaning of what is limitless, vast, and endless, just as when these people saw the sky and ocean. The farthest line that they can never reach with their small, fragile hands.
That is what makes blue so special.
…
"..."
"..."
"..."
No one talked as Anna sipped her tea.
Her throat hurts terribly.
'I need more tea to quench it.'
It was a good thing they were all silently looking at the blue butterfly, whose light never grew dim or brighter.
Maybe he twitched his antennae or wings once or twice, but otherwise he never moved.
'Good job, Amor. Keep distracting them,' she thought.
Anna savored the silence.
And so, as the cruel laws decided, since she enjoyed it, it meant it was a good thing. And good things never last.
"…however, we already surpassed that," Jonah said after a moment.
"We surpassed beyond our limits, and we can now reach beyond the skies. Now we see an empty black space, along with other planets and stars…"
Avalow blinked her eyes many times.
"...yes," Anna said. "That is why by going up to space, by understanding what the ocean and what the sky is, down to the smallest atoms and particles, the meaning of blue has been devoid of meaning."
She then looked into her tea cup.
Her quest for quenching her throat had made the teacup empty.
So, even as she reached for the teapot and began pouring more into it, she never stopped speaking.
"We know now that the sky isn't limitless. It is vast, yes, but compared to the stars in space, it is incomparably minuscule. We looked beyond the sky and the ocean's horizon because we already knew their size. Space…space is much more vast, mysterious, and endless."
𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬-!
Even when Anna softly placed the teapot onto the tray beside her on the ground, a soft, yet loud ring slightly echoed.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Once again, it was quiet in the living room.
All of them stared into their teacups. If one was a spectator, looking at them from afar, one would see that they looked as though they seemed to be pondering something truly worth pondering about.
'Kids younger than thirteen can do that?' Anna thought.
'No,' she realized. 'Edgy kids can do that.'
Wait, was she edgy too? Oh no.
Then, one of the edgy kids snapped out of their ed-pondering thoughts about what life is.
"...so…shouldn't the color of mana be black then?" the boy asked. "Because of space and all?"
Anna took another sip of the tea. It was no longer blisteringly hot.
"...anyways, that is why mana is blue-"
"Wait, did you even explain 𝘸𝘩𝘺 mana is blue-?"
"Yes, I did."
"...what?" Jonah asked. "No, you just said the meaning behind the color-"
"No, she did talk about why mana is blue," someone suddenly interrupted.
Jonah looked at the interrupter. The blonde girl's eyes were closed as she brought the teacup to her mouth.
"Because we perceive blue to mean endless and vast, mana is formed that way," Avalow said.
Jonah scrunched his eyebrows.
"...you mean…that we…humans…made it blue? 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘦 it?"
Avalow then took another sip of the tea.
As she did so, the blonde girl breathed in the scent of the wafting steam. She breathed in deeply through the nose, and exhaled out through her mouth slowly.
"...I don't know either," she said with blank eyes and a wide ,'U' shaped smile.
The white-haired boy's face was the physical manifestation of what it means to be confused and bewildered.
"What…what kind of answer is that? Is it just me? Am I really dumb? I…I just don't get it…" he said, bending down his head and scratching it with his hands whilst his elbows were still on the table.
"It's okay…" Chaya whispered. She had long scooted next to him and patted his shoulders. "I think I also don't get it too."
"That's right. It's fine Jonah," the blonde girl nodded.
"You don't need to understand why it's blue. There are just too many theories for that. You need to understand its meaning. That is where the source of its strength lies."
The white-haired boy just shook his head.
'Perhaps they're the type that are geniuses in a subject, but they can't explain it well to others,' he thought.
Jonah nodded his head as he returned back to staring at the blue butterfly.
'Yes, that's right. They're just on another plane of existence…'
While he was staring at it, a sigh exhaled.
"This is quite superb, Anna. What kind of tea is it?" Avalow asked.
"This?" Anna asked. "This is oolong tea...more specifically, the medium roast oolong. I had it stored four years back. It's just a simple process of boiling water and steeping it...''
"Huh…"
Annal droned on and on, while the blonde girl nodded and nodded.
The girl went on and on about other things like the differences in tea, but she wasn't really a true tea connoisseur.
She herself was barely adequate in the art of tea making, dabbling here and there. Of course there was more to it, along with other steps, but she was too lazy.
As she paused for a moment to drink more tea, the blonde girl suddenly asked-.
"By the way…since you know how to serve and make tea…are you some kind of noble?"
"...noble?" Anna said, confused. "No, nothing like that. I learned it from my grandpa, and from other old people in the city where I lived. I had a lot of practice, as guests usually came over to visit my parents, and I-"
She abruptly stopped. She dug her fingers into her palm. She waited.
And waited.
And waited.
The girl even predicted the flinch, and yet…
"..."
The pulsing headache never came.
Anna looked at her hand. Where she dug her fingers into her skin, purple and red stretched across her pale white skin.
She slowly opened and closed it. She opened it again, and closed it.
It was just a pinch of pain.
While she was clenching and releasing her hand, she heard someone scooch across the carpet.
"Are you okay?" Chaya asked, her bright, clear eyes looking into hers.
"Would you believe me if I said yes?" Anna asked even as she kept looking at her hand.
Chaya tilted her head.
"Um…no....?"
The black-haired girl nodded.
"Then yes."
"???"
The blue butterfly suddenly fluttered his wings, and the white-haired girl immediately looked away from her.
'Thanks Amor,' she thought, and she felt the response of the familiar 'brush' against her 'mind' once again.
It was good to have a friend who knows what you want.
...
Hours passed, and night finally fell.
Thank the Lor-who again?
Anyways, nothing truly noteworthy happened. They spent the rest of the time drinking tea, relaxing, and what other nonsense when they're all tired and lazy.
In a moment of their conversation, Jonah briefly mentioned they had arrived at the town for the festival, which happened last week.
'So, it's been more than a week since I slept then?' Anna thought at the time.
As the time passed, she noticed that Jonah and Chaya had a lot of questions. She also has questions of her own, in which she needs to dwell on.
Alone, her social meter was already empty.
Either her mind was tired, or the use of mana earlier in the day made her exhausted. Maybe it was the consequence that came along with the prolonged use of mana inside the body?
Anyways, time to rest.
By herself. Amor can come with her.
Finally, the moment of a person's energy being at their lowest arrived, for the white-haired girl began yawning.
Anna immediately proposed they all rest, and they fortunately agreed.
Within thirty minutes, down the left side of the hallway, opposite of her room, Anna prepared a room for the siblings, as well as another for the blonde girl.
She made sure to close the door for the latter.
Maybe even add in a little something there.
Just in case.
…
Darkness overshadowed white, as the gray clouds turned even darker deep in the night.
Clouds still covered the sky, darkening the moonlight that once shined once free, and the snow, if only for a moment, stopped falling.
Only a winter wonderland laid before the black-haired girl, extending far into the depths of the forest.
Wearing the same coat around her, Anna sat cross legged on the backyard porch, staring into the depths of the forest.
To her left, there was the staff. To her right, a sketchbook silently laid next to her, but it was left alone.
A cold, yet surprisingly gentle gust of wind breezed past her, ruffling her hair.
Besides her, on top of the sketchbook, Amor made himself at home.
The blue butterfly only flapped its wings once whenever the gust of wind came.
As the girl looked over yonder, the thoughts that she had suppressed risen from the depths.
With it, came so, so many thoughts.
So many disorganized thoughts. It was suffocating, it was stressful, it was-
Then a dim blue light shined next to her, and she breathed out a white mist.
Soothing, warm, and among many other things…tranquil.
Anna closed her eyes as she basked in its light. With each breath, less and less weight fell onto her shoulders and chest.
Eventually, her thoughts became organized and sorted. It became more…doable.
The girl tugged her coat's sleeve.
During the night, when the expanse of snow never melts, she barely felt anything at all. Even when she wore a simple cloak and sweatpants, she should be feeling a chill, especially against her face.
Yet…it wasn't too cold. Perhaps because it wasn't snowing?
Anna returned looking back at the picturesque scene.
'It could be made into a painting,' she suddenly thought.
"..."
That came out of nowhere.
Anna shook her head.
After all she's been through, she couldn't believe so much could happen in one day. First the monsters, magic, meeting new people, and then a status screen?
No, not in one day. It was in the span of a week.
In all this, there was a small feeling in her heart, a feeling of regret. A regret that wished that she would have forgotten about her dream.
She looked up to the sky.
A different sky, yes, but it was still the sky.
A sky that she and another girl looked up to together at night.
Then, she quickly began patting herself. Sitting up straight, then relaxed, sitting up straight then relaxed, shrugging her shoulders repeatedly, twisting her head left, right, up, and down, the girl shook her arms quickly,
Finally settling down, she looked again back at the depths of the forest, for footsteps came up to the door behind her.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
𝘛𝘢𝘱.
Then, there was a pause.
That is, until the sound of the door sliding open softly, along with sliding it close. More footsteps followed after, walking up to her back…no to her right side.
"Can I sit here?" said a voice.
"You can, but I wouldn't want you to."
"..."
A few seconds after the pause, Anna heard the floorboard 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘦𝘢𝘬 heavily to her right.
"...then I'll just sit here."
The black-haired girl looked.
Under the shadow of the night, although almost hidden by the very dim light, most of the girl's face was clearly that of the shade of red. Her mouth was distorted, and her eyes very, very, very dilated.
Still, the girl looked straight ahead.
Avalow was very thin-skinned indeed. The conundrum was that the thin-skin girl did it anyway.
Anna looked back out into the snow-white world ahead of her. Actually, that was incorrect. The snow was a bit gray because so little moonlight pierced through the dark gray clouds.
Although it was annoying…she raised the blonde girl in the 'potential respected, and good people' list.
The blonde girl also didn't talk. Instead of straightforwardly telling her why she was he, she also opted to look at the forest.
"..."
"..."
If there were crickets, they would be screeching by now.
'When will she go back inside?' Anna thought.
Before she could even curse her, the blonde girl suddenly talked.
"We never really had a chance to talk, but...who are you?"
Anna slowly looked at her. Avalow was dangling her legs from the porch. The blonde girl didn't look back at her as she kept talking.
"Even though we haven't known each other in an entire day…you mystify me. You're a stranger, I know that. Yet, I felt as though I'd met you long, long ago. It's a strange feeling."
Anna looked back at the forest.
She wished it could just take her away.
This talk is supposed to happen when they really know each other. What happened to common sense and manners?
'Oh, that's right. She's a village girl.'
Now she understands. And now she still hates it.
Heck, she was even trying to use her bond inside her head to tell Amor to do something. The blue butterfly didn't twitch, not even once.
"Yet, my gut keeps telling me I'm right," she said. "But my eyes can't. I just can't understand you. No…"
Trailing off, Avalow shook her head.
"Perhaps I do understand you, but I don't want to. I don't want to admit it, for…"
"..."
Anna waited, and waited, and waited. Yet, something was on the tip of Avalow's tongue, the black-haried girl could see it.
But she wouldn't speak it.
"...nevermind."
Another breath of white clouds escaped Avalow's mouth as she leaned back, placing her hands behind. Then, she looked up at the dark gray sky.
'...what's there to look at?' Anna thought.
'I should've just stayed in my room.'
Fortunately, the silence became serene. No longer awkward, minutes passed as the two girls stared at whatever was interesting.
Even Anna felt as though she could relax.
But she couldn't.
"I don't know who you are…" Avalow suddenly said. "But I guess I have no right to say that, seeing as I came barging in on you, whilst bothering you for the whole day."
"..."
Anna secretly bumped her up more on the list.
Self-aware and honest.
Very nice.
"I have secrets I don't want to tell, and you have secrets you don't want to tell," the blonde girl said.
"..."
"So let's see what I can tell you...hmmm..."
Avalow tilted her head as she turned to look at the dreary sky.
"I really am a village girl, and today was the first time I had been to a place like this."
Anna kept looking at the forest.
She felt the urge to pick up her sketchbook.
"Maybe one day, if we spend enough time with each other, I'll finally trust you and tell you what you want."
Anna nodded, but just then, Avalow raised her finger as she looked at Anna..
"However, at that time, you'll have to be able to trust me enough to tell me your secret, right? Isn't that fair?"
Anna nodded her head.
That was logical enough.
After a few more minutes of watching the snow, Anna decided it was time. She felt her back was hot from the sweat of awkwardness.
Mustering up the courage, just as she stood up, so did Avalow.
"It's getting late, so let's rest for now," Avalow said as she turned to Anna, who looked back at her.
"Tomorrow, we should be able to think up some plan to survive in this chaotic world."
"...sounds good enough," Anna said.
The blonde girl smiled. This time, it was a warm smile. A bit forced, but she could see it for what it is.
Not the awkward or overly large one.
Anna smiled back.
It was a small one, but a smile nonetheless.
Then, Avalow's eyes became blank, and her smile grew to a wide 'U' just as Amor fluttered on top of Anna's head.
The black-haired girl watched the other girl walk back into the house. As Avalow's footsteps slowly faded away, the black-haired girl opened her right hand upward.
Amor fluttered down from her head and onto her opened palm. Looking at him, she sent her 'thoughts' to him.
'Is it okay to be friends with her, Amor?'
The blue butterfly never responded. Perhaps this village girl might be a new, potential friend.
Even if this new friend of hers might try to kill her one day.