Tale Of The Half-Blood Wizard - Chapter 97

Mirai means hope. Like her name, this girl was cheerful and liked telling funny stories, a bit noisy, and full of spirits like an ordinary teenager of twelve years old. We got along very easily and pretty fast, and of course, she got a habit of telling funny stories to other people.

Besides telling funny stories, Mirai also loved a teddy bear she always carried with her. She had another friend accompanying her, in the shape of a white bear three meters tall. Zent was a creature similar to Manji whose body was from clumps of smoke-like white clouds that kept following Mirai.

Winnter and I had some similarities, coffee addicted, loved cats, and plants, too. “I have a twin named Summer,” was the first thing she told me.

Winnter was small like a fourteen years old girl. Perhaps she suffered from anorexia. Her hair was right red and stiff, her skin was fair pale with spots on her face due to the site sunlight. One thing that attracted me the most from that girl was a pair of sparkling emeralds.

Winnter eyes were very beautiful. I complimented them out of my consciousness. “You are like my sister. She badly wanted these eyes  that she wanted to steal them,” She said. Winnter was a wizard while Lei was an ordinary human, like me, “I killed her so that she stopped targeting my eyes.” Mirai and I stopped talking once we listened to her.

“Tha” Naar called me when I introduced myself to them.

“Yeah,” I replied to him quickly.

“Can you stay a little longer?” He asked with a pleading expression.

“Alright, I’ll see what I can do!” I pretended to be upset although I was actually happy.

I shifted my attention when I felt Winnter observe my look. “You are not a wizard,” That was not a question, but a statement, and just smiled in response to it. “Wohoo!” it was said out of amazement or perhaps a mock.

I frowned, wondering. “Why?” I was curious.

“You’re the first humans I know who can come to this place and has ‘that’ ability. Wow, you—” she seemed to look for something that suited me. “Wait a minute!” She finally found what she looked for. “Are you a descendant of Youenha?” She was so surprised that she was asking.

I nodded, and both the girls gaped in awe. “It is my grandmother that was great, not me.” I smiled wryly.

…

Four of us decided to go to the city square. The place we visited was called Alter, which used to be the downtown for wizards. It was because the beginners of wizards would come here to buy the instruments they needed.

A long time ago, when the dragon came, he destroyed all important buildings there and that made the function of Alter as the centre of the city for wizards. Later it turned out to be a port city for wind ships and trade.

“Tha, do you know the spell chanted every night here?” Winnter asked.

“It is to summon the dragon, like praise and hope that he would come back, “I was hoping what I said was true. “I don’t understand the meaning of the whole spell, but there are some that I understand.”

“So, apart from the eyes, you also speak various languages?” She made a guess.

I shook my head. “It is just a coincidence.”

We listened to poetry and music performances until very late. Mirai fell asleep when we were about to go home, so Naar could not help but carry her. We did not have the heart to wake her up.

On the way home and before I went back to my world the following day, I wanted to make sure what we were looking for. “So, the danger of that animal is just the horns?” I cracked the quietness among us. They did not reply to me right away so I threw my eyes on them one by one. “Has anyone ever seen it?”

“Aras loves meat. Sooner or later they will eat humans. That is the main reason we have to hunt them. Their horns are just the bonus from it.” Winnter explained.

“Tha, you have to cover your ears when approaching them. The wind blows among the horns makes a melody, mostly sad and heart piercing melody of death,” Naar warned me.

I knew Naar didn’t mean to scare me off. As long as I worked together with him on a mission, he was always serious and responsible for his duty. I also knew that I did not have much time with them, I had another responsibility and Azalea didn’t mind with that.

Luckily Winnter was in my team. Before being imprisoned, she lived with humans. Then she was caught and removed to Heron Valleys and became Azalea’s prisoner at her place. Meanwhile, Mirai was a human-like me. That little girl didn’t have any magic power at all and they both would stay at my house during this mission.

“I am very happy Azalea placed me with you both,” I said, “This way I am not alone and feeling the oddest.”

“What do you mean odd?” Winnter cut, “Do you think we are strange? Wizard who live with human and unstable little girl like Mirai?” She was a bit cynical. Winter was a bit hot-tempered and easily exploded. I should have been careful when talking with her.

“No…I mean…” I wanted to explain, feeling guilty.

“It’s okay, just tell us,” She cut it fast.

Naar patted my shoulder. I knew he was trying to calm me down.

Once we arrived at Azalea’s home, I asked permission to leave. If I did not go home right away I was worried I would be late to work the next morning. “Winnter, this is my phone number. If you go to my home, text me, I will pick you up at the portal. Okay?” I said to her. “I leave Mirai to you”  I smiled at her before leaving.

…

When I reached the forest, it was already one in the early morning. It took about three hours to reach my house and I had to manage my time well for sleeping a bit or I would be very sleepy at school.

The darkness of the forest had been my best friend. Everything felt ordinary because I passed this road so many times. The bus stop was really quiet when I arrived at that place. From another side, I could see a souvenir merchant who was about to close his shop asked me to be careful in this quietness and darkness. I could not say anything but thank him for that.

“Tha”

Faintly I heard someone call my name.

“Tha”

Again. Not long after that, grains of sand were slowly whirling around and shaped two figures I had known quite well.

“What’s going on?” I asked them quickly, “I am sorry but I  didn’t call you. What is going on?” I was a bit panicked. It had been a month they did not show up but now they suddenly came without being invited.

They did not reply to me right away. They sat still on my sides. “What is it? tell me please.” I tried to convince them to tell me the reasons for their visiting me.

“He is here,” said one of them. “He is not afraid of being hunted. He is looking for—”

“the killer of their master,” said the other Manji.

I just got confused. It brought me nothing but confusion.

For me what the Manjis said was really confusing. Instead of playing guess, I asked, “What are you talking about?” I looked into their eyes and searched for the answer there.

“We know what things you do,” One of them said. “Azalea asked you to look for Aras and the creature you are searching belonged to someone who was murdered by one of you,” Then, I understood what they wanted to tell me.

“Does Azalea know this?” I believed if she knew this, the plan would be different. “Did ‘that person’ tell Azalea that she was hunted by Aras. I wanted to go back to Heron but my bus was coming from the darkness and I had to go home. The Manjis bodies were suddenly disappearing right when that transportation stopped in front of me. I got on it.

“Why so early?” The bus driver asked. There were only two other passengers, the driver and me on the bus. “You usually take this route at midday or afternoon, Why on earth going home this very late?” he asked again.

I left his questions unanswered. I just said that I had to go home. The driver only knew me as an employee in a motel nearby the forest.

On the bus, I threw my eyes out of the window. Nothing I could see but the darkness and the shades of the trees. All these views made me sleepy until suddenly a flash of bright red attracted my attention.. I turned my head and sharpened my eyes, and I saw a pair of red eyes smouldering like flames.