Burning Soul - Chapter 177

“Slumber?

What do you mean by that?” Catherine asked,

“Spirit must have gone to sleep, she means!” Milot once again casually interrupted them,

“Ahh,

Sleep and slumber are two states of mind. In sleep, the rest we take is in the primary state. Whereas in slumber, the rest we take for our mind is in the Supreme state. Sleep is normally accompanied by dreams whereas slumber is the state of the mind that is not accompanied by dreams.

In slumber, the subconscious mind remains active. It is believed that the subconscious mind becomes one with the Supreme Bliss in Slumber.

Such a child prodigy and yet he’s filled with stupidity to the brim.

Well, he’s not wrong.” Amara rubbed her forehead and a slight pain appeared over there. She got up from the couch stretching her legs, her throat clenched a bit.

The couch where she was being seated was a huge one that contained red coloured soft fur all over it. It was the combination of high-end furniture materials with creative styles that was making it look simply unique.

It contained Ace shaped design on it which was being made with golden strings making it look more royal and elegant. The couch also contained big, fluffy, soft and thick cushions.

“What I mean is, something big must have happened for the spirit to go into slumber.

A life-threatening drain on force or even a curse, we can’t be so sure about what happened but something along the lines.” She spoke

The three of them stood there thinking, “But what can be done?

Everyone was stressed with the ongoing situation. The event was really difficult to be dealt with and was making everyone worried.

Catherine slowly walked in circles biting her nails, worry snaked through her, chest tightened with fear. She was trying to meditate on the solution but her brain had become numb at the time.

I mean what is the solution to all this?” Catherine was the first to break the silence.

“We can’t just jump into the Spirit realm, it’s too sketchy! The only way is awakening!

Something big that’d make the spirit break her slumber.” She suggested.

They had already been through that gruesome experience and now doing something just as big for the sake of awakening of the spirit, they all signed in discomfort.

“Don’t worry it is not to be done right away, we can take time and think it over.

Maybe just some time will get it all right, who knows?” Catherine suggested.

“Yeah, she’s right!” Amara backed her up “If it’s a curse we don’t want to mess with it and if it’s just temporary mana drain, she’ll be right back in no time.

But the meaning of that faint aura is that she’s not in the best shape, but she’s alive in there!” That was reassuring for others, it meant Himari was in there just resting.

“So, who’s gonna tell him,” Milot asked the obvious.

“Let’s be honest and tell him,” Catherine suggested.

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.

…

After the ritual was done they let Theo know about everything that happened and the whole story about awakening.

Theo was in the chamber, resting on his bed, looking straight at the chandelier. It was a massive chandelier hanging from the centre of a ceiling wrought with the arms of the house, this chandelier being solid silver. It contained almost 70 to 80 lights in it.

A splendid fire of logs blazed before him on the open hearth, and the light from a great chandelier beat mercilessly down upon him. The whole aura was making him feel satisfied. For instance, he failed to think of his arm which was in pain before.

Adjusting his position the first question he asked was, “So she’s safe!”

“Yeah, let’s say that she’s alive and kicking but don’t you have something else to worry about?” Amara asked, enchanting her eyebrows and stroking her hair flicks behind her ears.

“What that might be?” He replied to which she giggled and said, “Haha, That arm of yours!”

He looked at it and laughed out loud, “What has gone has gone so let’s not worry about it.”

“Does it hurt?” She walked close to him and asked while observing his arm.

“Not that much, Cathy used suppression magic so it’s much better now. But yes, sometimes I feel like it’s there and when I reach out to it….

It’s like, not physical pain but you get it right!” He casually brushed off the question.

“I understand it, I’ll give you a potion that’ll make your pain less evident, it won’t bring the arm back or anything, but it’ll make the pain a little less evident.” She ruffled his hair with a gentle smile.

They all then went to head inside her house. What happened was a little too tiring for everyone. The mana strain was not to be taken lightly, for someone with Amara’s calibre it wasn’t too much but for the wizards there it was a tiring ritual.

To help them gain some mana back and get that lost strength back the maid of the house prepared a special meal. It was Amara’s very own recipe.

A meal was perfectly prepared and contained everything in it which a traveller requires. She cooked egg-based dishes and vegetable dishes, truffles and fresh mushrooms, broth which contained meat and thickened with barley and it also contained Amara’s own ingredients to make it more tasty and nutritious for all.

The meal was absolutely tasty, appetizing, scrumptious, delectable, fit for health and easy to digest.

“I’ll be honest,

If I had a bad day and was tired with life and then had to make something, I’ll prepare a better meal!” Milot mocked in his casual tone thinking she wouldn’t hear him.

“Oh, so you can cook huh!”

She was standing still right behind listening to his rubbish talks with a contorted face and eyebrows closely pulled towards each other and her deep brown eyes being fixed on him, one arm around her waist and the other stroking her hair in an annoying manner with a cold fishy smile.

Nothing could have scared him more when she heard her voice from right behind.

“Shouldn’t we start moving?

I mean it’s a long break and I don’t know how long we have!” Theo noted after finishing his meal.

To his statement everyone quieted down, “He’s right, we should probably get moving, it’s still morning, if we can hurry up, we’ll reach the ruins in the evening.

We will also need some time to prepare for the night, I won’t walk in there at the night of course!” Catherine backed him up.

“I’m in for that, we shouldn’t walk in an unknown place at night! But then…”

He looked at Theo, “Isn’t night the best time to sneak?”

Milot had a point, at night-time people usually tend to care less and are less alert.

After discussing the plan with everyone they finally concluded that travelling should be done in the daytime and investigated in the darkness of the night. As per the information the ruins had a few unknown residents and dealing with them in darkness was in favour of Milot and Theo.

As for others, once the enemies were dealt with, wizards could search freely.

After resting for a while, they decided that leaving the place soon would give them the best chance at reaching the ruins.

“Maybe the little encounter would be a trigger for awakening. Who knows?

We should leave as soon as possible.” Milot commented.

Theo looked at Amara and before he could speak anything she read his words beforehand, “Ah, you don’t need to thank me for anything! Besides, you have the best team you can ask for right now!

Don’t worry about anything else right now, just explore the ruins and you’ll find what you are looking for!”

She then handed him a small packet, it looked like a gift, “This is a small token of gratitude from me.

If you ever need any assistance, just remember me.”

“And what will you magically appear?” Milot frowned at her, narrowing his eyes.

“If I could!

But it might be helpful in some other way for sure” She giggled at her comment.

“I will keep it safe for sure!” Theo accepted it and kept it in his storage.

“Don’t!

Use it, boy.” She laughed generously.

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.

…

After preparing for the journey they left just before noon, not very early but with enough time to make it there thanks to Amara sharing directions.

“Whoa, this stop was worth it!

I mean, c’mon we couldn’t have found the ruins on our own that early!” Milot rose his nose high feeling proud.

“Well, that’s true indeed.

It’s just that the information about ruin is what bothers me!” Theo seemed to be in deep thought

This caught Milot off guard.

“What do you mean?”

He continued, “I mean, it’s an ancient ruin and it has been abandoned, but then how come it has these valuable crystals?

Like, why were there no efforts in getting them back?”

This got him thinking. It was a legit question! If they knew that there was such treasure, why were there no efforts in retrieving it in the first place?

“Thing is, I don’t know and I don’t plan on investigating it right now.

Once we reach there, we’ll know ourselves! Maybe there were some efforts but failed so we are doing it right now, who knows?” Milot, after giving up on thinking, replied.