An Invitation (4)

Clara leaned her back on the tree as she watched the young man feed his mana to the silver chain. How long had it been? An hour, maybe two? Time flew by as she closed her eyes and felt his magic spread to their surroundings.

The plants around them took the spreading mana as nourishment. Flowers bloomed all around them.

She smiled. She could feel the speed of his growth. It was almost astounding how quickly he had adjusted his mana flow to keep this up for so long. She absentmindedly tapped on her stat bracelet. Maybe, just maybe, they could make it in time.

A calendar popped up in the semi-transparent interface. Only a few weeks were left until the preliminary matches against local academies. Clara sighed, while she was sure they would beat those opponents with ease, she wasn't so sure about their international opponents. Once the main event in Japan began, Aether would need to be able to take care of himself.

She watched the young man as she pondered. He had a solemn expression on his face. It was difficult to believe he was the same person as the blushing young man in the cafeteria. She chuckled, he was fun to be around, and even more fun to tease.

Aether suddenly shook, his hands trembled, and he stopped feeding his mana to the chain.

"Aether?" Clara asked as she hurried closer to him. Had something gone wrong?

"I think this is enough for today." The young man sighed and stepped out of the chain. He pressed his palm against his forehead as he leaned his back on a tree. "It's working, and it's much faster than I expected, but now I have a headache."

Clara chuckled. "That's normal, you used your mana in a way you hadn't done before. You should rest for a bit, then we can do other exercises."

Aether's eyes widened. "No, no more exercises today." He shook his head, then immediately regretted it as it only made his headache worse. "I need some rest, and then I need to study for next week's exam."

Clara paused mid step. "Study?" She asked, her eyes wide open. "You – we're preparing for a tournament!" She exclaimed. "You can't waste time with that!"

Aether shook his head. "I can, and I need to. Don't worry – I will get to the level you want me to get in time." He sat down, leaned his head against the tree trunk and closed his eyes.

"This tournament is more important than you think." Clara's serious tone surprised him. "I can not lose." She pressed on. "I need to win." He felt her finger press against his forehead.

He opened his eyes. "We won't lose. You said you wanted me – I still don't quite get why – then I want you to trust me." His silver eyes met with the beautiful second year's dark blue eyes. They remain like that for a few seconds as Clara hesitated.

"Fine." She hissed. "Ten thousand mana." She placed her hand on his chest, right over his heart. "One week before the preliminary rounds. Can you do it?"

Aether smirked, then nodded. "If you let me borrow the chain, yes."

Clara laughed. "Sure, why not. But remember, you need to do it out in the open." She said with a smile. "If there is not enough flora around to absorb the dispersed mana, it can cause wildmagic anomalies."

Aether nodded, then lowered his gaze towards Clara's hand resting on his chest. "Umm," He hesitated. "If you stay like this for any longer people will start getting the wrong idea." He reminded her tilting his head towards the building and the walkway not terribly far from where they were. He was hoping she would back off a little, but contrary to his expectations, Clara only smirked.

"What wrong idea?"

Alarm bells began to ring in his head as he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her away. "I should go and get some rest." He mumbled, quickly getting up and hurrying away. The sun was quite hot today, he could feel his skin burning up. Especially his face.

Clara chuckled as she watched the young man leave, clearly flustered. "I should visit you later." She whispered, then turned her back on the Academy and headed out towards the woods. Aether's plea for her trust, and his promise to meet her expectations rang in her ears. She could clearly picture his expression as he spoke those words.

She trusted him. She wasn't sure why, as it made little sense. She barely knew him, and yet something about him made her want to protect him. A faint smile appeared on her lips as she softly hummed a tune. She trusted him, but she was still going to make sure she had another plan ready just in case he failed.

It didn't take her long to reach her destination – an area marked on the map of her stats bracelet. The place Uncle Soren had told her about.

It was a small lake in the forest. A lake, which reeked of death and corruption. As soon as she stepped out from among the trees, she covered her nose. "Disgusting." She hissed and stretched her left hand forward.

As creatures – bodies of the dead, reanimated through necromancy, began to crawl out of the water, Clara clasped her hand around seemingly nothing. "Bow of Light!" She called upon her power. A longbow, made of pure golden light, took form within her grasp. With no hesitation, she touched the string and an arrow appeared.

"I need that thing you're guarding." She said, her expression twisted with disgust. "I'm sorry." She released the hooked arrow.

Aether sighed. Not only had he gotten completely flustered, but he had also forgotten to thank Clara. One would think what she had shown him was meaningless, especially considering his real power, and his status as a servant of the Yotsura Clan.

But there was a reason why the hidden world refused to meddle with the common world. Magic worked ever so slightly differently here because it was so far away from its core. Despite all of his knowledge, Aether was much weaker up here than he was down below, in the hidden world. And so far, no matter what he had tried, he hadn't gotten past that barrier that difference caused.

"You gave me the key to my salvation, Clara." He whispered, raising the chain up in the air. The last rays of sunlight reflected off the chain. "I will help you reach your goal."