Chapter 58: A Silent Morning?

Unwilling to stand up or even open my eyes, I keep snugging into the blanket and onto the warm body in front of me. Just as I was about to fall asleep again, someone knocks on our door.

Ce:" Sigh... I'll open it, keep sleeping." My voice was still darker from just waking up and I sounded really sleepy. Of course, I was sleepy after all.

Cia:" Okay..."

There was not many people around that haven't seen my upper body yet, so I opened the door with just my pants on. Laurin was the one to wake me up at such an early hour. Noon was way too early man!

L:" Excuse me Cecil, I wouldn't interrupt if I didn't know what I had to say was actually important"

Ce:" Alright. Do you need me to put on a shirt or are we staying here?"

L:" We need to go down into the mines for quite a bit, I suggest a jacket"

Ce:" Fine... Give me a minute"

I go back inside and tell Cecilia that I was leaving for a bit, then search for my clothes. Woah! We had a really nice closet, it was a really light door that blend in with the wall really well. It looked more than a decoration than a door, actually. I'll take a look at this later.

I quickly grab a jacket and put on my shirt and then go back out - while I put on the jacket on my way. On my way out the door Cecilia grabs my hand.

In her still very sleepy voice she starts:" I'd like to establish something" Right before kissing me for a second. It was a rather rash kiss, but who am I to complain?

Cia:" A goodbye kiss! Got a problem with that?"

Slightly holding back my grin, but not at all succeeding I say:" Sure, it's way too short! But I have to live with that for now. Reserve some for me!"

Proud of my choice of words, I walk out the door and let Laurin lead the way. It felt weird to be a part of the army again, after the days of recovering and the time I spent with Cecilia... I'll have to get back into it as fast as I can.

Ce:" Can you tell me what happened in the last days?"

L:" I have a written report, but a brief summary would be: Ores and materials are more than enough to get ourselves armed, the smithy is running perfectly. We should be able to head out in seven days"

Ce:" Keep in account that the armors and weapons weight changes. We need to get our soldiers used to that before battle, or it could cost us quite a bit"

L:" Do those few kilograms really make a difference to humans? I find it rather unnoticeable"

Ce:" Trust me, humans can't just ignore that change. And I doubt elves can either"

L:" More importantly, can you get us down these ladders quickly?"

I raise my eyebrow, right before I grab him under his shoulders and jump down the stories in one go. I land on my mechanical leg and suspense the fall easily. Moving around really does feel good... I might want to go training again, maybe I'll take some people with me - it's more fun that way.

Ce:" And now?"

Still in shock, his face goes pale a few seconds after we landed.

L:" ...Don't... do... that again, please."

Ce:" Scared of heights?"

L:" We are used to digging below, not flying above"

Ce:" And still you choose ladders instead of stairs. Effectiveness over feelings?"

L:" Rather it's avoiding the risk of the large tunnels to collapse. That's why we don't want any of you large ones down here either."

Ce:" Sorry..."

L:" Ah, we arrived. Take a look at this weird wall"

Behind a pile of compressed dirt I see a faint blue glimmering. I step forward, just to get struck with an awfully screeching sound. It sounded like the measuring orb that burst into shards back at the academy. Now that I mention it, it also had the same colors that my seals had. They even glowed in the same, slithering manner. Small waves of light were washing over the wall, without listening to Laurin, I keep digging more parts of it open. I had to see what this was. I just had to.

Hours passed until I dug around in a circle around it. After cleaning the last bits of dirt of with the help of a few watermages, I start inspecting the 'wall'. Well, now it looks like a gigantic ball of water. Of... I've seen this before. What was it...

Cia:" Mana. It seems to be solidified mana"

The message was sent into my head, so the screeching sound didn't interrupt it. Mana? Right, I saw traces of mana in the air once, they did seem similar. But how did it get this compressed... Just to check if it wasn't like the measurement orb experience, I touch it and put my own mana into it. On to point my hand touched, I see a darker blue float into the orb, slowly moving towards the invisible center of the ball. At some point, I got unable to look, because the middle of the orb was glowing too bright. Without looking, I send more mana into it - waiting for some kind of reaction.

Several tries later, I catch Servve walking up to it aswell. From what I could read off his lips:" It has to of some use some" soup?! No... "use?" Probably that one... "what you are doing here" and then he started forcing mana into it. Unexpectedly, a cry sounded from the ball of mana then pushed him back several meters. Laurin, Rhage and Tohrin also get rejected - although Tohrin was allowed to send some mana a bit longer than the others. One person after another tries, they get thrown further and further. Until I smell a faint note of cherry and grass. The ball calms down and only lightly knocks the soldier away. It was more of a boop than an actual way to get some off.

Cia:" Just send my mana into it right?"

Ce:" Prepare to be thrown away though, it doesn't really like people"

Her mana starts flowing into it, it has a similar kind of movement to my mana - but it's color was entirely different. Kind of weird to be honest. Red mana? Who ever heard of that? To my surprise, it was dragged to the middle, just like mine. Shortly after it got into the bright circle, the light dims down and a crack is audible. Another one. Then the ball just breaks, revealing a little winged creature which I knew by my whole being. My favorite character of any of the books I read: A Cryophoenix. More easily said, the ice phoenix. A small bird looking at us with wide eyes was too much, the small footsteps it took towards us were too cute. Pat Pat Pat, it reaches us then flaps his wings in front of Cecilia. I pick it up, then place it on Cecilia's shoulder. I knew for effect that Cryophoenix were only cold to those they didn't like, so I placed it on her shoulder. It looked at me, then spat out a small icy breath into the air and gurred. I might like this thing too much...