The Beginning Of A Phobia

When Pel returned, the kids looked different from before and he could tell it wasn't just because they had eaten. Their formally pale skin had gained a lot of color and he concluded that she must have done a pretty good job taking care of them.

Crista noticed him and walked to where he was, some of the kids followed her but the majority of them had their eyes plastered on Taxao and though they were curious, none of them voiced it, it was understandable that they still had some closure, after all it was a great improvement that they took the initiative to approach him.

"What did you do to them?" Pel asked with an amused smile. He was naive to think that they had a self-healing mechanism without a system still the duration he left her was not enough for such tremendous changes to occur so he was curious.

"I was going to tell you about it...the mana here is corrupted like you know but this corruption is affecting their core which would explain their sickly appearance and inability to awaken" Crista explained with a serious expression.

Pel gel his chin while contemplating. "Ah so they're not awakened, that would explain why Ken was weary but what core are you talking about?"

"Well I don't know if I'm right because of the different concept but it shouldn't as a capacitor that channels mana from within" Crista said.

Seeing his confused expression she continued. "Ability users without manacore utilize the mana around which reduces their efficiency greatly and the evidence of that is low mana capacity but with a core, the body can continue to evolve even further and mana stored in the manacore should be purer but when it's corrupted the whole meaning is lost"

Although the sounded unsure, Pel was still surprised by the amount of information she had on this kind of stuff.

Ito was feeling kind of embarrassed at his host and uploaded most of the information he read to him. Pel was surprised and couldn't help but think that these were nicely written, it was either that these writers could foresee the future and wrote these as guides for what was to come but he considered the possibility crazy but if he had learned anything from his time on earth, it was expecting the unexpected.

Putting the thoughts aside, he asked for more details from Crista about how she was able to help the kids and to his surprise, her strange ability helped her dispel the corrupted mana from their core, but...

"So why didn't you dispel it completely?" he raised a brow. According to her, she left some part of the core still corrupted not driving it away completely.

"There would be too much commotion and would draw the attention of the Awakeners we saw outside" Crista said.

"Why do you think so?"

"It's hard to describe but the moment their core is healed, they will be awakened" Crista said seriously.

"That makes sense" Pel sighed before staring at the kinds once more, surprisingly one had gained enough courage and walked closer in Taxao's direction.

Pel watched the little boy who was shorter than Taxao walked till he stood in front of him. "Miss Crista, is this a toy?"

Taxao's iris narrowed down on the boy and Pel held himself from laughing. "I am not a toy"

Crista smiled awkwardly and took the boy away as well as the other kids before returning to Pel. "So why we're looking for me anyway, I never assumed you'd be done so early"

Her words reminded Pel of the reason he came looking for her in the first place but now he felt no need to proceed with the earlier plans and Crista might be able to help Ken's mother.

He then gave her a small briefing on the way but since Ken never told him the reason for his mom falling ill, it was all just speculation.

"I...might bit be able to do much if the reason doesn't involve mana and I think that boy is hiding a lot" Crista said.

Pel shrugged. "Obviously, he comes along as a paranoid being, might be his nature but I don't plan on forcing him because I like his little sister, make me access myself if I were ever an older brother...anyway I'm also more curious now about the Rift but we can't stay for too long"

* * *

"You're back so soon" Ken greeted with a dark face he did not even try to hide that he did not want them there.

Pel smiled wryly. "At least pretend you miss me"

Ken did not even have the strength to roll his eyes and eventually opened the door. "You still can't see her"

"At least let Crista have a look" Pel said feeling slightly annoyed but his growing irritation dissipated with the appearance of Lisa.

"You came back, Taxao as well!" she exclaimed happily dragging the dumbfounded Kerki along with her.

'I wonder if it's safe to let them play together after all...whatever it's too late now anyway' Pel's mind shrugged as he stared at the duo, he also made a mental note to get Taxao some clothes since his being constantly naked did not sit well with him, but he was even more surprised by his slow reaction to this kind of thing though decided not to think too much about it.

After another series of arguments, Ken finally succumbed to letting them see his mom. He led them to the room on the left and opened the door with care.

A lady in her early thirties lay on the bed with her eyes closed, she was so white that if not for the contrast in whites, she might be mistaken for a Kerki but while their white was bright, the lady's was dull and had the aura of death looming over her.

Pel narrowed his eyebrows and several lines sat on his forehead. "How did she become like this?"

He just had to ask because he had never seen this kind of thing in his life and even when Ken described his dad's death he imagined the situation would be terrible but seeing the woman lying there partially dead he felt a sense of gloom which alerted his cells.

Pel's expression turned grim normally he would be just irritated with creepy crawl and all things considered gross but it was so bad to be defined as a phobia but now staring at the body, his heart started trekking to his stomach and goose pimples filled his skin. This was going to be one long...long ride.