บท 25: Eating Origin
"So, does that mean that we're parting ways here?"
Even if it was hard for me to mention, I still continued to let it out.
She's been a part of our journey, after all.
My chest felt heavy, and I noticed my hands unconsciously close. I continued to look at Kirllia in the eyes as I waited for her answer.
She also looked straight at me, and I could see her blue eyes flash purple and return to blue again, but it doesn't matter.
From our journey outside Illa, towards Phione, and now we're in front of the Trinity Mountain Range; almost a month had passed and she felt more real than with I was with Three.
Now did I think about it... I currently have no people which I could call a friend. Maybe Three but, we haven't seen each other for a long time already. But now Kirllia suddenly appeared, and she's the only person I could call almost as a friend.
How do you establish friendship anyway?
She still doesn't answer, and Aunt Arc also went quiet.
I don't know how much time had passed already, so I let out a different set of words instead.
"Can we be friends?"
Her eyes wavered and I could see them quickly flash purple again for an instant, before she chukled... her hands held her belly and it turned into a long laugh.
"Pff...pfffttttt...!" Aunt Arc also tried to suppress her laughter, and quietly turned away before repeatedly saying 'Friend... Friend... Pfft...'
Seeing them made my face and ears feel hot, until it slowly reached the back of my neck.
"What...!? Can we? Or can't we?" I folded my arms in front of me and turned sideways, avoiding their glances.
"Well, of course... We can. Now that I think about it, I only have a few friends..." Her eyes looked straight at me again, and I could see traces of tears on her face that were recently wiped. There was a faint smile on her face then she continued.
"If you insist, then I'll be your friend," then she went closer to me and patted the top of my head. One side of her blue hair dropped as she leaned over towards me, and her face was so close I could feel her breath.
"So during our travel, you don't think of her as a friend, Kaff?" Aunt Arc recovered from her incessant giggling and asked me.
"Well, I kinda did. But how do you know if someone is a friend? I mean, I rarely ever have friends." Except from the two that I left from my previous world.
"Good question. By the way, how exactly old are you right now?"
"Six. Turning seven next year."
"So young...!" She covered her mouth with a gasp, and stay stunned for a while before Aunt intercepted and followed up by saying 'He's a genius, right?'
"Erm... What about my age?"
"I thought you'd be eight or ten based from your height and way of speaking, but six? Just what did your parents fed you to be like this..." Just how tall am I right now for you to confuse me with an eight year old? Anyway, I'm my previous age plus my current.
"Speaking of food, do you know of a cube as small as this, and glows in blue? If I remember correctly, the center was glowing with golden light, too."
"You mean a Source Time Chest? That's a rare item. How did you know about it?"
"I'm just curious about it since I've seen it on a book, but it didn't had a description."
"Oh. I didn't think that there was a book that showed how it looked like. Or is there a book like that, really?" Her eyes turned into a glare and I could feel an intimidating pressure from her...only to disappear after about three seconds.
With a sigh, she continued.
"It doesn't look like you're lying. It's a very important item, especially for one of those three factions. They could keep a rare herb inside, and it won't rot. It also increases the possible age of the plant, and preserve it until there's sufficient energy that it can absorb from the outside to use for the plant that's inside. We should prepare to camp first, before I continue to tell more about it."
We all agreed then setup the tents. It's really a good thing that we got Flame Orbs. Aunt Arc could control it to make fires and melt ice as water, and even boil it for a few minutes to purify even for a bit. I could see that our tents were still intact, but from being defrosted and frozen, there were already signs of stretching and wear and tear.
I hope we could see Dad soon.
Once we rested, Kirllia told me about the Source Time Chest. Apparently, besides from any plant being able to reside and grow inside, it could also store trees.
But how did it did that? She said that it usually absorbs all sorts of magical energy available. She then named the types of energy the Time Source Chest could absorb:
Source Energy, the energy Vates and Demons commonly use for magic; She also said that Gemmatria is only a copy, but she didn't elaborate much on that.
The Demons however, they have an innate affinity for source power, and their whole body is made of source power. It explains now why they just disappear when killed. They could also move around their source spirit, which is the red orb that usually glows and hovers above them.
Vital Energy, the energy that the Civil Corps use, the very same energy that the Beast God also uses. It's said that it's able to prolong their life, and that the Beast God has already lived for more than a thousand years because of that. All the beasts are able to contain this energy using their beast cores, and while humans can't naturally generate and contain them, the feather that the Beast God gives temporarily bestows them a man-made core at the heart.
Natural Energy, the Merchants Union use, to develop their powers on the same level of the other two types of energy. It's usually harnessed using source spirit, but a different set of books and manuals have been made available for purchase by the Merchants Union are used to contain this energy. Upon reaching the mage-level, they can already fly without problems, compared to Source Energy.
Valon's energy, is an energy unique to the God Valon, who is currently missing for about a hundred years already.
There are seven different types, which leaves three more unknown. She said her master and I have the same type of energy, and it must probably be one of the three unknown.
Aunt and Father use Natural Energy, which they got from the Merchants Union.
Kirllia also uses the same type as her master's, but that's strange because I'm not able to feel any similarities with her.
I got my suspicions, but since she says it so, then I'll believe her for now.
We already packed up as soon as she finished her narration and she decided that she'll follow us for now, as she's already almost near her place, it wouldn't hurt to make a few more walks together with us.
'Walks' seems a fancy name, I bet she just wants to accompany us for a bit more too.
As we climbed the Trinity Mountain Range, I noticed that the wind was slightly getting weaker, but the temperature still persists and is only further decreasing.
Reaching the top was a matter of time, and we can already see the horizon coming to view. The white mist got heavy as we rose, obstructing our vision almost completely. Aunt Arc and I held hands, and I can still see Kirllia because her barrier was starting to flicker because of the mist.
***
We walked upwards for an unknown time before bright light suddenly entered my eyes, making me narrowly squint.
I felt a lot warmer here and released both my barrier and the Flame Orb's.
Upon opening my eyes and blinking a few times more, I saw the vast and endless white beyond. The two suns that were about to set was on the horizon, and I could see the moon already. Looking below, there were only white clouds, blocking the view below with white. The top of this mountain range looked like a long road that stretched towards the horizon.
I couldn't see the end but I could faintly make out that this long rock formation on my right was curved towards the east going south.
This was only the first part of the Trinity Mountain Range, so I guess there will be a point where this long mountaintop splits into two towards the far east going north.
The left part of this mountaintop however, was angled a bit towards the north already, signifying that we're near the west side of this part of the mountain range.
I suddenly felt alone even when I have people around me.
Finally, I noticed the smell of earth whenever a rain ends. There was a hint of moisture and I felt seeing the color green and blue as I breathed in. I can't explain why it felt like this, it must be synthaesia activating.
"What a grand view," I could see Aunt with her hands on hips, repeatedly breathing the air in and out with a heavy manner. She somehow let out her white aura as she did this, and suddenly sat cross-legged on the ground while closing her eyes.
"This place is untainted by activity of life, and all sorts of energy gather on these mountaintops."
Kirllia explained then also sat cross-legged on the ground, taking off her red hoodie. Silver and red swirls of light gathered as she closed her eyes. It looked like various stars were gathering towards her. Her red fur coat fluttered lightly as this happened.
Seeing both of them make use of this opportunity to increase their power, I was a bit envious because I didn't really know how to gather energy from the surroundings, since the only source I could get Origin from is from that vortex inside me.
I tried sensing my surroundings, but... It's really a fact that I can't do it. Source spirit must be a factor in this phenomenon.
It's best to just recollect my thoughts instead, and think about how will we be able to find Dad in a vast place like this.
***
After an hour or so, they were still sitting like rocks, so I became really curious about what was happening to them.
I gathered a wisp of Origin in my hand, then tried to touch Kirllia with it. If she really does have Origin, then there's a possibility of me connecting towards her energy.
The moment I sent my wisp towards her along with the energy that she circulated...
*sffwoop*
Her closed eyes slightly twitched, and sweat formed on her forehead. I felt my connection lost with the Origin that I sent, so I once again formed another... only to be absorbed again.
This time I tried a thicker strand of about an inch then tried to touch her with it, only to be lost again. It feels bad saying this, but it looks like she's sucking my Origin.
More sweat formed on her forehead, and she started to pant a little, her cheeks flushed a bit. Strangely, looking at her figure like this made me a bit...attracted.
I'll just stop doing this, and hope it didn't do her any harm. First time I absorbed this blue vortex felt hell, so it must probably be that.
How about Aunt Arc?
With that, I gathered another wisp and sent it to her, then got sucked in without any reaction from her. Her aura instead fluctuated a bit, and she let out a faint smile...so I pumped an inch of Origin towards her.
The white aura that surrounded her disappeared, then it was replaced by a faint blue one. I sent another inch of Origin towards her again, only to disappear and cut off from my control.
Just what the heck is happening?
Getting more curious, I gathered Origin in my hand and examined it. I can see that there's already a few strands of golden light mixed within the blue vortex that circled.
I tried to gather more of Origin, and compressed everything to a single point. Azure finally turned into golden, it was around the size of my thumb. I kept the tiny vortex afloat, and slowly made it move in front of me so I could see it properly.
Seeing it felt cute, so I spun it further and faster; if I'm correct, it should be able to form a bit of wind now.
About a few breaths of time pass, and the surroundings also turned slightly azure, and gathered towards the tiny golden orb in front of me. The winds even started to gather, and I can see the clouds that covered the view below were also affected, getting dragged within.
Not yet... This isn't done yet.
***
Kaff continued spinning the golden orb until he saw it become denser and denser, dragging all of the winds and all sorts of energies towards him, until it slightly increased in size.
He already lost focus of his surroundings, only seeing the tiny golden vortex at his front.
His companions, Kirllia and Arc, got their meditations distracted, and only saw the energies gathering towards Kaff.
"What is he doing?" Kirllia asked.
"I don't know what Kaff is doing, but it surely looks dangerous."
"I can say the same. I saw and felt that same energy burst when we were back at the Merchants Union, and thought there were Master-levels fighting. What the heck is your nephew made of?"
"Ugh, don't ask me. Ask his parents instead."
The two continued to watch as he continued to gather the energy around him.
"...hey, is that tiny vortex growing in size?" Arc's eyes squinted as she leaned over to look forward at Kaff.
"Seems like it. Is he gonna destroy this mountain?"
"Pfft... No way. Just put up your barrier instead."
The two of them erected their respective barriers, only to easily fade away as it got sucked into the golden vortex.
"Oh no..."
"I think we should get away from him a few meters..."
"A few meters? If you want to die. I'll go over that big rockwall over there---" Arc dashed as she talked, and tried to successfully erect her white barrier. Kirllia followed over and got inside Arc's barrier, creating another layer inside. She even brought out her dagger that looked like an ice-pick.
They looked over with boredom from the distance until there was golden light all over the place.
"Done."
They both heard him let out that word, then the vortex stopped spinning before they noticed that the golden vortex enlarged to the size twice of his head.
What happened next stunned the two women; He opened his mouth, then the golden vortex compressed once more, and turned into a solid red color...and went inside his mouth.
"Wha!?"
After seeing his throat move along with the sound of a gulp, the two went out of their hiding places and went near Kaff.
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