Elegy: Lost Shadow

Anemone wiped her tears as soon as she saw the door open. She quickly dived back into her sheets as she turned to see who was coming in.

 I couldn't sense a thing. Is this what normal people have to deal with all the time? I guess, I am also going through Counter Inversive Strike. She saw a black sleeve past the door before a man wearing a black coat came in. His face was covered by a bull patterned black mask. He uncovered his face as soon as he entered the room.

 "Oh, it's just you Walter."

"Yes, it's only me unfortunately. I assumed that since it's been two days, it is high time one of you woke up. Granted, I did show up yesterday as well," he said before he removed the hood covering his head.

 "Just a random question Walter. Why are you wearing your coat and even covering your head when it is super hot outside. It may only be morning but it is really sunny."

"No reason in particular. Now that I know you are awake now, I best be on my way. I kind of felt partially responsible since you all got hurt while buying me time. Seeing that it is taken care of, I can be on my way."

 "Are you planning on leaving town?"

"Yes. I am heading to Varaline Centralis."

 Wait, that's the same place we are going. She pulled out her half star necklace from her shirt. Upon seeing this, he added, "I take it we are going to the same place then. You are knight candidate as well."

 "Yeah. I was wondering if it was possible for us to go together. I mean, we are heading the same way," Possibly meeting the same deadline, "So what do you say?"

 He took a seat on a chair before he said, "I will pass. I see no merit in my doing that."

She sighed before adding, "Merits are there. Traveling in a group will reduce risk, don't forget, we met a bystier and we barely survived that experience."

 "You barely, I was fine and I would have been fine regardless of how severe the injury I might have incurred while fighting."

"Seriously, you want to go there. Fine then, you said something about partial responsibility earlier. Kano hasn't woken up yet, so you can't leave since you were partially responsible. Besides, out of all of us he was the one who was severely injured. So you can't just leave like that.

 So you have to wait for him to wake up just like me. Because of that, we will leave together. You can even follow us if you want. Since you don't see a merit in us going together."

 "I get your point. I will travel with you. I get the feeling that you won't stop until I do."

"Naturally. I would have guilt tripped you if I had to," she said before she smiled.

"I will keep that in mind then."

 She got out of her sheets before she sat on her bed. Her body ached with every move she made. "Walter, have you tried checking up on Kano? Can you tell me how he was when you brought us here?"

 "He was burnt."

"I know that. Tell me something else, like how was his pulse or his temperature or something. You know, those kinds of details."

 "His pulse was weak and he was kind of cold."

"What else?"

"I think that was everything."

 "I don't think you get what I mean….can you just tell me what room he is in. Better yet, just show me. I will see for myself."

 "Sure."

 As soon as stepped on the floor, she felt a strong sting in her left foot. "Ouch." She looked to her feet only to see that they were bandaged up. I guess Uncle didn't perform any form of magical healing on me. That probably means even he couldn't find a way around my strong allergen factor. It must have rejected his magic as well. I guess that he only examined me.

 "I almost forgot," Walter said, "You sprained your left ankle. Mr. Asa said that you should avoid walking without support for roughly a week if you don't want it to get any worse. He also left crutches for you."

 "You should have mentioned that earlier."

"You never asked about yourself."

"You can't use that point to win a debate."

....

 The hallway stretched before them. It was dimly lit and eerily quiet, the sound of their footsteps was the only sound to break the stillness.. Anemone said, "Seriously, you are covering your head again. There is no point in you doing that, you are indoors."

"Just drop it," he added before he wore his mask. Completely covering his face.

 She sighed as they continued walking. This building is pretty big.

"This is the room. Apparently, we must observe silence, lest we risk waking up the other patients, " he said before opening the door. They walked in.

 She took a seat on a chair while he leaned against the wall with his arm crossed. She held out her right hand aiming it at the bed where Kano slumbered. She closed her eyes only to remember that she couldn't wield magic anymore.

 I almost forgot, I can't use magic for the time being thanks to counter Inversive Strike. I hope my cool down time after overusing my magic that one time won't be too long. I don't think I like living without my abilities. She then dropped her hand, her frustration faintly visible in her expression as delved deeper into her thoughts. Walter's sudden words brought her back to reality.

 "Miss, What were you attempting if I might ask?"

"I was trying to examine his spiritual vibrations. You know, since the last time I sensed them, they were kind of weak. But my magic won't respond for the time being so I can't find out."

 "I understand."

"By the way Walter, just call me by my name. Don't keep calling me 'miss', my name is Anemone."

 "Okay, miss."

She sighed in disbelief before she said, "Seriously. I guess you won't quit then. What's the big deal, my name isn't even that complex to pronounce."

 "There is no reason in particular."

Silence loomed across the room for minutes before it was suddenly broken by the sound of Anemone's stomach growling.

 "You are hungry?"

"It appears so." Something's wrong here. I felt no change in my body. I don't even fell the slightest hunger but my stomach growled? I know that I haven't eaten for the past few days since I was unconscious but this makes no sense. Can I not feel hungry the same way I can't see color anymore?

 "Let's go by Score Resurgee. It is the earliest opening inn." At least from what I have seen.

"Fine."

…..

 As I dined at Score Resurgee, my thoughts constantly drifted to the person I hadn't yet visited. Hardly had I finished eating when I rushed back to the clinic. Unfortunately, he was yet to be conscious. According to uncle, he was going to wake up fine since he received magical healing. Lucky, people with weak allergen factors must have it nice.

 Immediately I was done with the visit, I returned to my room. That was the first time that I relaxed since I woke up earlier today. As soon as I did, all the pent up exhaustion came rushing down. I slept like a log afterwards. The following day, I received the greatest news. He had just woken up.

 Anemone rushed to go and check up on the boy after receiving news of his waking. The person responsible for the news delivery was non other than Walter. Who, following this delivery, jumped out the window for reasons unknown. Maybe it could have partially had to do with the cold weather.

 No sooner had she heard the news than she quickly grabbed her crutches. She rushed out of the room, moving as quickly as her injured body could take her. Until, finally, she made it to his room. To the little boy's room. She took a deep breath before she opened the door..

 She opened the door before adding, "Hey, how did you sleep?" As soon as she saw his conscious face, her heart buckled from the wave of relief she experienced.

"Miss, is that you?" he muttered as he sat up.

 "Yeah, it's Anemone actually." I was worried because the last time I sensed his magic, there was a wave of flames heading his way. According to Walter, the boy produced a white flame which gained color to protect himself when my magic couldn't. Because of that, he hurt himself and ended up in his condition. The biggest proof of failure at protecting him.

 "Ummmm…..Miss Anemone then. Is that _okay?"

"Sure," she replied, her voice even, "Huh…I just tried calling you by name but I don't seem to know what it is. Do you mind telling me?"

 "Not at all," Anemone smiled as she thought, So well mannered. I wish I could help find his parents.

"My name is…Nyambe Chimeralana."

 "Nyambe..huh..that's a great name. If you are hungry, we should hurry and get some food." This is odd, his physical appearance is far different than the last time I saw him. For starters, his pupils are dilated, probably covering roughly seven eighth of his iris.

 It also seems as if his canines have lengthened. That plus the fact that his nails seem longer and sharper, kind of like talons.

 Before he could offer a response, they heard a thud by the window. A silhouette of someone teased strongly at them as they looked at the window. The curtain blew open as they saw a mask

 Feeling startled, he jumped into Anemone's arms. He was shivering as he hyperventilated. "That…that's him! He followed me here."

 "Calm down! Calm down. Relax," she said as she brushed her hand against his hair. "Walter….what the hell? Couldn't you have just used the door? You frightened the child."

 Walter walked in before he took off his mask. "If I used the door, I wouldn't be here right now. The time is currently noon so everyone wants to eat. It is too busy to move around freely lest you forget, this a clinic and a big one as well. So I took a shortcut." He put a leather bag made from animal skin on the bed. A black thread ran through the opening, completely sealing the top. The leather was dyed purple with a whiter tint.

 "I assumed that he would be hungry seeing that he only just woke up so I rushed to get him food by Score Resurgee. I will leave it here. If you don't mind, I will take my leave now miss." Much like how he came in, he jumped out the window to exit.

 He left again. It is weird. Same thing happened again yesterday, as soon as we came back from Score Resurgee, he disappeared. I feel as if he is avoiding my company like the plague. "Hey Nyambe, you can relax now. He has gone. Why don't we have lunch?" She opened the bag only to see two lunch boxes.

 "He brought two?….I guess one must be mine." She smiled as she began opening them.

Uncle returned not long after. He came to perform an exam on Chimeralana to investigate what exactly was behind his partial transformation.

 From his findings, it was discovered that Chimeralana had entered a permanent magic release state on account of his leaking spiritual vibrations. Because of the fact that his spiritual vibrations were always vibrating at a rate faster than those of an ordinary person, he was always prone to instability.

 Apparently, he solidified his place when he used his property-less flame to burn through something he couldn't understand. The magic of that thing is still sealed in his system, locking his ability, not as property less but as Parts of it.

 The only way to revert him back to normal is to expel that magic, which sealed highly unlikely since it had already integrated itself into every part of his system, or to simply dress him in a piece of clothing made from property-less Crystalis. From his explanation, it seemed as though the property-less Crystalis would allow him a temporal perfectly humanized state by absorbing the spiritual vibrations that were leaking out.

 I stayed in Nyambe's room for the rest of the day. At dusk, he fell asleep. I guess having all that magic leaking out for a prolonged period of time must take its toll.

 Anemone sat in Nyambe's room graced only by the eerily cold silence that graced her. The reddish horizon was all she was graced for a view. She heard the sound of the door knob turning before saying, "Hey Walter, you were gone for a long time."

 He opened the door before replying, "So I take it that you can sense me."

She turned before she added, "Only a little. I have been exposed to your spiritual vibrations for quite a while so I can tell you apart. The only problem is that I can only sense people within ten meters of me. Beyond that I can't even sense a speck of vibration."

 "I see. Did you hear, this town as a curfew. No one is allowed outside past the 22nd hour of the day?"

 "21st actually. I also knew that. I am thinking of waking Nyambe up so that we can have supper. Is Score Resurgee still open though?"

 "I think it should still be, I did visit it yesterday at a much later time and I found it still operating."

 "I will wake Nyambe up, you can wait for me in the hallway if you'd like."

 The stroll to Score Resurgee was more or less uneventful. The almost empty streets weren't helping much either. It really is a ghost town. Throughout all that time, all I had to look back on were my thoughts. Every new thing I had learned about magic. I had to commit that information to memory so that I can use it in the battles ahead. Before I knew it, we had made it.

 No sooner had they walked in than the innkeeper stood in a daze staring at them. The plates she held slipped as shock was eerily visible on her face. Hardly had the plates hit the ground when she embraced Nyambe. Her speed was nothing to scoff at as Anemone couldn't even track her. Before she realized a thing, the innkeeper was right beside her. The track she left was that falling sparks as though wood was being burnt.

 A loud cry could be heard before Nyambe muttered, "Mo....Mom." He too began crying. The cries of the mother and son were all that filled the room as everyone stood in a daze. No understood why they were crying. But they all thought it had to be big news since a woman as reserved as she was had just broken down sobbing as though she was child. Anemone smiled before she thought, she was the mother. He really is lucky, he found her sooner than expected.

 Anemone couldn't help the tears that were rushing down her face, part of it was because she was filled with joy. The other part, a strong pain squeezing tightly at her throat making her feel suffocated. At the time, she couldn't understand it as she watched them both. Walter, who stood beside them that whole time wondered why Anemone was crying too.

 There was a problem that was bothering him, When that woman dashed towards us, I held out my hand. She effortlessly tracked it and avoided it. Nothing at all about what she did was normal. Just who is this woman and how on earth did someone escape her, after taking her child?