Chapter 46: Curing the Poison

I returned to the others, but that's when I was greeted by an unexpected change in the group. Somebody was lying down near Arle, being healed by her. "I'm back everyone… and who's that?" I landed and disengaged my armor. "Dave, this somebody that I know quite well… He's Minotauros." Arle introduced me. "Y-you mean like an actual half-man, half bull? I'm staring at one right now?" I looked at him. "Yeah… but he's hurt… AND poisoned." She elaborated his condition. "Poisoned too?" I raised an eyebrow. "Dave huh? So that's your name… Y'see, I-I was… nipped by a poisonous arrow at my leg. *pant* It's… taking a… toll on me." He revealed the cause. "Wh-who brought this guy back here?" I looked about. "That would be me, Dave. Raffina alerted me of Minotauros' condition when she tried to find you on her own." Ex told me. So she met up with this guy along the way…? And… is that an axe right beside him? I suppose he wasn't able to draw it out fast enough before an arrow got him. "D-Dave!" Ringo and Feli rushed over to hug me. "I guess it's inevitable… you girls always worry for me." I sighed. "Damn right!" They pouted, but then quickly smiled in relief. "We should be worried about Minotauros now… I can't heal the poison myself." Arle brought the bad news. "Don't we have an antidote for it?" I asked around, hoping for a good outcome. "No Dave, we sadly don't have one…" Ms. Accord shook her head. Damn... "There is still hope, but we have to retrieve that witch, meow." Popoi hopped to the ground. "Witch… Of course! She could have something made to serve as a cure! Good idea, Popoi." I regained optimism. "But kitten, I think she'll only listen to you. I doubt we'd be able to ourselves." The cat brought up. "Oh yeah, she's still…" I remembered. Witch was still trapped in Accord's place, unable to leave. "Dave, I can lead you to my place to talk to her. Just make sure to bring poor Minotauros with us too." Ms. Accord offered. "Sure. It'll take more than my armor to fly us there in that case. I'll try and not let that aura from that dragon form flow, but it will be very tiring and straining for me." I said and she nodded to me. I began to go into my dragon form. "Woah…" I heard Minotauros say. "Alright Ms. Accord, climb aboard. Ex, help Minotauros get up here. Quickly now." I gave the orders. "C'mon Minotauros… let's boost you to him." Ex assisted him. "Good. Hey, you think you can hold on long enough for this trip?" I looked back at Minotauros. "*pant* I-I think…" He believed. "For your sake, I hope that you can. I'll be flying quickly after she gives me directions, so don't lose your grip." I told him. "I… won't, Dave." He assured me. I flew them to the house, then slowly put Minotauros down on the ground. After that, I ceased using my utterly draining form, audibly panting. "Allow me to get us inside, Dave." Accord pulled out her house key. The door opened and I got to see the inside of her house. There surprisingly wasn't much to it, at least until we reached the entrance to the basement. The spiral staircase leading down was cold, quiet, and foreboding as hell. The only things that I heard apart from us were ambient noises. I shuddered in fear and shook from the chills this place blew. I didn't move from the top of the stairs and Ms. Accord started to walk down the steps. As soon as she noticed no other footsteps echoing, she looked back at me. "... You must be scared of what could be down there, yes?" She assumed. "I-I'm not just intimidated by it; the cold breeze is giving me a bad vibe." I continued to shudder. "Worry not, I can assure you that it's only Witch down there. Sure, the basement itself looks ominous… but I am honestly telling you that there is nothing scary about it." She comforted me. "Actually…" Popoi opened his mouth before being silenced by Accord staring at him. "Don't mind Popoi, he's just trying to make you feel scared again over nothing. Isn't that the case, POPOI?" She continued to stare at him. "Uh… YES, meow." He gulped. Perhaps Ms. Accord herself is more scary than anything down there. But… she IS going out of her way to bring me comfort… Meh. I felt better after she said the stuff from before. "Here." She held out her hand, as if she eased me into coming down with her. "O-okay…" I went along with. Her hand was very soft, but still firm. I could tell that she still cares for me deeply as her student. This feeling in turn, allowed me to muster enough courage to walk down the stairs with her.

When we reached the bottom, I felt okay to let go of her. "... Where's Witch?" I wondered. "Over here. I will just take this key from the wall." Accord led the way. We walked over to a cell that was nearby, with somebody dwelling in it: Namely Witch. "Go ahead. Talk to Ms. Witch, Dave." She implored me. "W-Witch? It's me, Dave… I've come to… talk with you." "D-Dave?! Is that you?! Finally, someone other than Ms. Accord. But… I'm assuming you already know how I got here." "I… do, Witch. … Regardless, that's not why I'm here." "It's… not? What then?" "Well, it's like this… a lot of other things have happened in the past few days." I proceeded to tell her everything: The appearance of Yogs, our excavation for a specific ore, and the poisoning of Minotauros'. She conversed with me as I went over these points of subject. "I need you to make an antidote for Minotauros. You were the closest to a medicine maker that we knew of. Do you think you can pull this off? If you do, I'll forgive you for trying to take advantage of me, Witch." "O-of course! My time in this cell has taught me that I shouldn't take lustful steps on students. Dave… I solemnly swear that inside of school, I'll treat you as a student… and outside of school, I'll treat you as a friend. Can you accept my oath?" "As soon as you can make the antidote? Yeah, certainly! I can see that you felt sad being here for days. C'mon, let's be happy together in a way that makes both of us comfortable." "You can consider that antidote is as good as done... when I can get my cauldron and ingredients." We nodded to each other after our little agreement and smiled. Accord unlocked the cell and Witch slowly came out of it. We all agreed to head over to Witch's place to have the antidote made. I became a dragon again, carrying Accord, Witch, and Minotauros. "... Urk.." Minotauros suffered. "! Dave, the poison must be really getting to him… please hurry." Accord notified me. "*pant* Got it, Ms. Accord! Hang on tight everyone, this is gonna be rough!" I flew faster, but not before we ran into some big trouble. "*screech*" We heard one screech, then dozens ensued. "What the hell is making all that racket?" I became irritated from the noise. "Eek! It's a flock of harpies, look!" Witch noticed. "Eh? … EH?!" I reacted. "It looks like they all want to sink their talons into us, meow!" Popoi's fur stood up on end. "Oh my, what a bunch of unruly avian women…" Accord frowned. "Wait, THAT'S what they are?! I mean, I know a girl with wings called Harpy, but they don't look anything like her!" My dragon eyes were widened. "Harpy's more angel-like compared to these birdie biotches." Witch commented. "Sh-shit! Minotauros is a prime target for them to claw. *pant* He's defenseless in his current state. Somebody, protect him for me! I can only deal with whatever's directly in front of me while I'm like this." I told Accord and Witch.

They both agreed to handle the harpies from behind me. I knew for a fact that it wouldn't be easy to shake them. I was also sure that the other knew that fact as well. *Dozens of scheeches* They flapped toward us. "Here they come!" Witch got ready. "Let's see if a roar can scare the harpies before we have to fight…" I roared away to see. The only thing that came out of it was that the harpies were becoming even more aggressive. "...! I-I don't think they took kindly to that!" Witch saw. "*pant* Damn it! They aren't scared of me in the slightest… Let's see if an attack will make them reconsider their choice to be hostile. Take this!" I fired a beam from my mouth at them. As much as I tried, they dodged and were simply too fast to be hit. An entire group of harpies soon swarmed my head, clawing at me. Luckily, my scales were far too tough for mere talons to scratch. The only things that I worried about were the possibility of them targeting my eyes, and the accidental unleashing of my aura. "H-hey, help me get some distance away from them! *pant*" I wished. "Dave pull back your head as soon as I say so! Meteor Shower! … NOW!" Witch summoned meteors, then told me to retract my head. I did so and a small group of harpies suffered third-degree burns. Not only that, but their wings were almost entirely ruined. This caused them to fall to their deaths. To the other bird brains, it was like a sign of war. The rest of them charged in and slashed away at all of us, except for Minotauros for some reason. "Ouch!" Accord was the first victim. "W-what in tarnat-?! Gyyaaaaah!" Witch was next. "Ngh-!" I was third. They even messed with Popoi, for a small as he was. "Meooooooooow! Oooough... … Okay… THAT DOES IT!" The cat grew in size, to where he became bigger than me. "Time for you birdies… TO ALL ROT IN HELL!" He managed to grab every single remaining harpie and crush their bones with his paws. With that kind of pressure, their fragile bodies were squished into a bloody mess. Popoi then chucked the remains straight down to the ground. "*pant pant* Nobody does something like that to me and lives to tell the tale…" He shrunk back to his normal size and rested on Ms. Accord. "*pant* Is everyone alright...?" I chimed in. "D-Dave… We're all bleedin' badly because of those damn talons…" Witch reported the prime injury. "It… hurts. I haven't felt pain like this since I was a child…" Accord winced. "I can heal all of us... but only a little at the moment, meow. I'm pooped..." Popoi continued to pant. Even though the cat was tired, he was still obligated to heal himself, Witch, and Accord. After the small heal, they described to me that it was enough to close up the wounds. All three still felt pain though, so they were not in the best condition. I got everyone down as soon as I landed, and Witch began unlocking her house door. "'Aight, get 'em inside, Dave." She told me to. I nodded and downgraded all the way down to my small armor. I had just enough strength to pick up Minotauros, as well as being able to fit through the door. When we got inside, I placed him down on a chair. I panted continuously from bottling up the aura from… that form. "Hey, watch over him for me, 'kay?" Witch gestured and left us to bring out a cauldron. I waited an entire minute, taking deep breaths and regaining my stamina. Holy crap, I hope that I don't have to keep all of that aura inside me ever again after today. I don't think that was good for me do… As my mind wandered over to that thought, I was brought back to reality by somebody. "How about you go and help her, Dave?" Accord suggested. "Wh-why? I don't see a point in two people making something in the same cauldron. Besides... I'm not experienced enough at it to be confident, Ms. Accord." I scratched my head. "No, I didn't mean it like that, kid- er… I mean, young man... You can hand her ingredients as she asks for them." She responded in better detail. "Oh... Well, I suppose it'll make things go by a tad quicker… ... Sure, why not?" I walked over to where Witch went. "Witch? I came over so I could help in giving you ingredients while you make the antidote. It makes the process go by a bit faster. Is that okay with you?" I proposed the idea to her. "If it makes things more efficient, then certainly." She nodded. I hand-delivered ingredients to her as she asked for them throughout the process. I kept doing this until I gave her the eighth and final one. "Good. Thanks for the assist, Dave. Much appreciated, I can handle the rest." She bowed her head.

I left the room to return to where Ms. Accord and Popoi sat, with Minotauros still appearing weak. "... Just who is he? Where did he come from?" I looked at the half-man, half-bull while scratching my head. "I'm not sure who Minotauros is as a person or where he came from either…" Accord frowned. "So far, the only two things that I have learned about him are that Arle knows him… and he has an axe for a weapon. But, it looks like it was left behind where the others are at." I reviewed. "Yes... I believe I saw that very axe in the same spot just before we left." Accord agreed. "He's certainly an interesting fellow, in any case." Popoi added. "Yeah… Say, it's getting a bit late; the sun's starting to go down…" I looked out the window. I checked the time on my phone, sure enough it was accurate to the semi-dusky sky. "It's been a lengthy day for all of us." Accord reflected. A few minutes went by in silence before it was broken by Witch. "Here's the antidote, mixed and ready to go." She held out a cup. Minotauros noticed the cup for a split second. "...! Th-that's… Please, give it to me..." He sat up better in his seat and requested. Witch gave him it and he slowly drank it. "It'll take a bit for it to do the work, but you'll feel new again in no time." She encouraged Minotauros. "Thanks… Hey… I think I've seen you before… but where?" He replied. "I've heard about a half-man, half-bull in years past… are you a servant of sorts?" Witch recalled. "Y-yeah… how did you-?" He stopped. "Witch, do you know this Minotauros guy?" I asked her. "... Not directly. He appears to be the servant of Rulue. It's weird… when I found Rulue within the area of Primp Town for the first time, she didn't have a servant with her. I figured that the whole servant thing was nothing more than make-believe… but, lo and behold-" She was interrupted. "Yeah. I… I was Rulue's servant before we were sent from our world. Say, I'm… feelin' a bit better already. Anyway…" Minotauros told us his backstory involving him and Rulue. He even mentioned that he met with her today for the first time in years. "You must have been very loyal to her if you stayed with her for that long..." I said. "O-of course, I- I admired her. It wasn't without faults though… I messed up many times in tasks that she told me to accomplish, and made comments that I shouldn't have. Back then, her anger was damn-near uncontrollable. Rulue would call me a stupid cow and beat the hell outta me. Today though, I realized just how self-contained that very anger is now. She's probably already aware of me being poisoned, knowing her. I… don't wanna have her worry. Even though she doesn't consider me a servant of hers anymore, my loyalty to Rulue is still strong." He admitted. "You wanna go back and see her, right?" I assumed. "Yeah… it would put her mind at ease. Although, she might still call me a stupid cow. But, it will kinda remind me of the somewhat good old days." He chuckled lightly. "Yes, we should head back for the tunnel. Ms. Witch, you have gained the right to be in your own home again. You are officially free to be yourself for the most part." Accord pushed things along. "Thanks." Witch bowed. "It would be smart of us to go right about now. After all, it's not just Rulue who's waiting for somebody…" I nodded. After I said that, I thought about Ringo and Feli as I flew Accord and Minotauros back as a dragon. Ringo… and Feli… We have been through quite a bit. All the great times, the level of courtroom drama that would only be seen in a soap opera… and all the hardships as well. But then… my mind shifted over to Draco, almost forgetting her. Huh… I wonder where Draco is now. She hardly ever gets a chance to tell me when she leaves me. D-does she not have a cell phone? Well… it wouldn't be illogical… I mean, she IS half-human girl, half-dragon. The fact that she is half-dragon makes me think Draco's understanding of typical technology of today... is mostly foriegn to her. Actually, do I remember where her house is? Damn it... Witch probably could have told me the location if we were still at her place, but alas… night is approaching. And, I now notice that it's- My thoughts stop in their tracks as the wind chill is crazy, considering that I was flying high in the sky. "I-it's fr-freezing…" I shivered. "...! Dave, make an emergency landing. You can't afford to be in your dragon form when it's this cold out… We'll crash if your wings are unable to move." Accord strongly urged me to. "...! Th-that's r-right… A-as a dragon c-currently, I'm c-cold b-blooded." I gave in and made for a landing as soon as I could. I got myself out of that form, reverting back to my bulky armor. "*pant pant* Phew… ... Brrgh… That was a close one." I tried to warm myself. "It seems like Winter is coming early… look." Popoi inched up to the sky. "...! I-it's snow…" Minotauros saw the first few flakes flutter down. "God, already? That's insane…" I added. "It's not just regular snowfall either. Look at the sky, do you see any clouds up there?" Accord brought to our attention. "The hell? I don't see a single cloud…" Minotauros was stumped. "Let's see… what can this be, meow?" Popoi thought out loud. It took me a little bit to figure out just what kind of snowfall this was, but that's when it hit me. "...! This is-! This is a phenomenon known as "diamond dust"..." I realized. "Diamond dust? What's that?" Minotauros wondered, still baffled. Popoi looked at me, with a face just as puzzled. "Diamond dust is something that only happens when the sky is clear. As you can imagine, with the lack of visible clouds: Not much is produced from the actual snowfall. In turn though… you can see the snowflakes shine in the sun or moonlight, and it's a breathtaking sight." I explained. "Wow…" Minotauros admired it. "I've never seen anything like this before meow." Popoi's eyes twinkled, just like the snowflakes. "It is indeed beautiful, Dave. I have seen this before myself, however, that was years ago. Seeing it again brings back some memories… but we should really get back, no?" Accord reminded me. "O-oh! Right…" I nodded in agreement. "I can go through these woods on my own now; I'll only slow you down, kid." Minotauros insisted. "As long as you can get back to your axe just fine, sure. Come on, Ms. Accord and Popoi." I kneeled to help them up to my back. "Hey, Dave! For the short time that we have known each other, you seem pretty cool. Thanks for transporting me quickly for treatment!" Minotauros smiled at me. "No problem!" I happily responded. We waved and I flew off, with Accord and Popoi hanging on to me tightly.

Ringo's POV

Night would come near and we all saw snow beginning to show. "... Snow..." Ex noticed it. "Waaaait, I don't see any clouds… How the heck can it be snowing?" Amitie wondered. "Amitie, this is diamond dust. It happens when the sky is very clear, not much snow is made from this." Klug explained to her. "I-is that why we aren't really seeing clouds up there?" I asked for confirmation. "Yes. No visible clouds or big amounts of snow… but it's a sight to behold, Ringo. See how the flakes light up from the remaining light that is around?" He showed me. "It's incredible…!" I noticed. "So this is diamond dust… Heh. I have almost forgotten how it looked. I haven't stayed in a normal place for many years now. And on top of that, diamond dust is an extremely rare thing to occur. I don't think I've seen diamond dust since I first met my wife. … Now that I bring her up though, I'm… sad. I haven't seen her in so long, and I don't know whether or not she is alive... I lost her in the confines of space..." Ex talked, then frowned. "Ex…" I looked up to him. "... You really need to stop being so depressed with certain things, Ex." Arle told him. "*sigh* I know, I know… ... It's just that I really miss my wife, dearly. She was a wonderful person... and helped lighten up the mood whenever I needed it. I realize that you want to cheer me up from this touchy subject… but I'm not entirely sure if you know what I went through, emotionally speaking. It was something that only I understood how painful it truly was... Tell me, Arle: Do you have a married partner?" He sat down. "N-no, Ex… I don't…" She shook her head at his question. "Then you don't know what the weight of losing your partner would feel like. ... It's one of the main reasons why I became Keeper of Dimensions in the first place. I felt like I had lost a sense purpose, just as I failed to save my wife from the vacuum of space. So... I ultimately decided to be the keeper after placing my trust into Zed taking care of Ess... who I need to remind you, is now a bunch of scrap metal, unable to be recovered to how he was before. His memories won't return due to his memory chip being completely smashed up. It's rendered unusable at this point, with no way to get back the Zed that knew us. If… If only I had backed up his memory on a second chip… … However, I figured that he would be durable enough to withstand most things, if not, anything. Even as a mindless, incomplete dragon... Dave utterly demolished Zed into pieces. A-anyway, losing somebody that you love dearly is one of the most painful things your psyche can experience, Arle." He placed a hand right in front of his face. "... Aw, don't be sad, Ex… I'm sure she's still alive somewhere out there.. ." Amitie sat down next to him. "I… I…" Ex could barely contain his sadness. Poor Ex… If I lost Dave, I would be devastated too. Is it possible that Ex's wife is still alive? From his lamenting words, it sounded like she was whisked away by space. It's almost impossible to survive the cold vacuum of space without a suit for even mere seconds. It's logical to think that she's dead, but… why do I feel like she's still somehow…? My thinking suddenly goes blank.

The next thing I knew, I was in a similar position to how I was when Ecolo gave me a vision during my sleep. "Wh-where… am I...?" I looked about. I noticed that I was at the farthest edge of spacetime. Or at least, that's what it looked like to me. "Ringo." I heard Ecolo's voice, then saw him. "E-Ecolo?" "It's me, I wanted to talk to you. So, I had you receive this vision to hear what I'm about to say. It's relevant to what Ex is lamenting on about." "You mean… his wife?" "Yeah. I could have given Ex the vision, but his mind is too cluttered with sad thoughts at the moment and it looks like they won't go away anytime soon. That is… unless I happen to have some good news, which I do. That's where you come in, Ringo. Tell him this for me: "Your wife survived and I know it, so be glad!"." "H-how, though? How could she survive the cold suction that is the vacuum of space, Ecolo?" "Not "could", did. She did, in fact, live after being sucked up. A small spacecraft that was nearby managed to save her. Although… she did pass out right before it rescued her. As for her current condition… I actually don't exactly know, other than the fact that she was indeed alive after that." "Question, Ecolo." "Yeeeah?" "You're the current Keeper of Dimensions… so why don't you know everything?" "Weeell, if you want an answer to that question… See, I haven't been the keeper for toooo long and I dunno how Ex doesn't know whether or not she's alive. It kinda begs the question: Where's this missing knowledge? I guess… being the keeper doesn't necessarily mean that you're all-knowing. But, nevertheless… tell him that I bring good news. She must be out there in space, somewhere. We're running short on time with this vision, so I'll cut that part short. I want to discuss another thing with you, Ringo." "What is this other thing?" "The Yogs." "Oh yeah…" "These guys are constantly invading the world that Primp is in, as well as dimensions near your world to cause chaos." "*gasp* They're closing in on my world?!" "*sigh* It's not something you should worry about… I'm diverting their attention away from it. With doing that however… I'm afraid that the edge here has been visited by some of these Yogs. Luckily, I'm safe from the smoke from those nasty wicked seed thingies." "How...?" "I assume that due to the unstable nature of this place, as well as the outer part of it... wicked seeds just wilt away and die immediately. They're never properly placed in a stable location and so… yeah. Since the wicked seeds seem to be like that, they don't produce any smoke when exposed to this harsh area. Moving away from the seeds, you guys have already faced and defeated one of the Yogs, yeah?" "Uh... Uh-huh..." "Remember this: That was just the weakest of them from what I could scrounge up, the Yog of H2o, or water. That Yog was only capable of making the algae you saw polluting the ocean water around those isles." "The weakest huh? … Things don't look very good then." "Of course not, dingbrain! But yeah, seven others remain. They'll all be tougher than the first, for sure. If Dave wasn't able to take on the first of eight by himself, that's a big problem." "W-well, that's just because he doesn't have a full grasp on his dragon form yet. If he can stay in it for long periods of time…" "Wooahoho! Lemme stop you there, Ringo. That isn't going to happen… at least, not very easily. It was a trial and a half just to get him to that level. Recall his first transition from big armor to full-on dragon: His transformation was partial and incomplete, because of circumstances that you should ALREADY be aware of." "Right… uncontrollable anger from his hatred towards Vyle at the time..." "Yeah, that's the main contributing factor that caused the anomaly. And then, Dave had to get that evilness out of his system. Within that essence of pure evil, was the very anger he carried as he transformed into an incomplete dragon. Subconsciously, Dave had regained an entirely kindred spirit after the evil was purged. As things stand, he can only stay in his current dragon for about… hm… I would say... seven to nine minutes before becoming tired. It depends on how strenuous one thing is. Additionally, that aura is a weakling killer. Any nearby thing that is at least quite weaker than Dave will be affected by it. This means that you guys often won't get to fight with him against bad guys when he's like that. I must emphasize that this includes you, Ringo. Do you know the level of training that Dave would need, just maintain stamina with his dragon form? It would be the point of transcending human capabilities." "...! He started off as a human with no power to speak of!" "Exactly! He just wouldn't be the same guy you know him to be right now. It'll be downright heresy for a human, converted to a demon, to have the powers of a god! But… I'm sure that we both digress. I'm wasting your time by making you stay here and not wake up. Goodbye, my precious Ringie!"

The vision ended and I woke up on the ground, with Feli clutching my hand. "O-oh, thank God! We got worried when you suddenly passed out, Ringo!" She went in to pick up and hug me. "Are… you alright?" Ex stood back up. "... Guys, I got a vision." I told them. "A... vision?" Amitie tilted her head in confusion. "From who?" Feli wondered. "Was it from Ecolo?" Ex guessed. "... Yeah, it was from him. Ex, he wanted me to tell you something as a form of good news." I said to him. "Good news? Of… what exactly?" I told him the confirmation from Ecolo that his wife survived the vacuum of space. Ex found it extremely hard to believe though, telling me that he would have seen any ship nearby at the time. He told me that he did not see a single other ship around where he lost his wife. "... Did he tell you where we could find her?" Ex asked me. "No... he said that he doesn't know." I replied. "Tch. I think he's just trying to cheer me up... and cover up the fact that my wife is GONE! And while I was keeper... how come the omnipotence that came with the position never revealed to me whether or not she is alive, Ringo?!" His mood shifted to irritation. "U-uh… I-I-I really d-don't know, Ex. E-Ecolo seemed to suggest that keepers don't have complete omnipotence…" I stuttered. "*sigh* Why is my life like this…?" He fell to the ground once more. "I-Is everything okay here?" I heard Raffina's voice echo to us. She and Rulue returned to the scene, with faces showing concern. "No… things are not okay, Raffina…" Klug took off his glasses for a few seconds and frowned. He explained Ex's current emotional roller coaster to them with the least amount of words needed. Rulue remained silent and likely understood the heavy emotion, more than most of us did.

Author's Notes: Dave was able to successfully transport Minotauros to where his poison could be treated. Although, our main character seemed to have repercussions when trying his best to hold in the deadly aura from his dragon form. Becoming very exhausted with short uses of it, he was forced to make haste and turn it off as soon as he could. Also, when he flew as a dragon with things nearing nighttime, the cold air affected Dave too quickly. The cold-blooded nature had his wings move less. So, he made an emergency landing to downgrade himself. This caused him and those who came with him to see a case of diamond dust. Most of the other characters back at the tunnel saw this too. This in turn, had Ex remember his main source of sorrow: The loss of his wife. A little bit after that, Ringo received another vision from Ecolo. He recapped a couple of things and told her that Ex's wife survived the vacuum of space. Ecolo wanted Ringo to bring the good news to Ex. She was released from the vision and told our sad captain of a starship. However, he was too skeptical and got irritated. Rulue and Raffina return to the tunnel to see this state of Ex's. What is to become of Dave if he keeps holding in that aura? Could Ex's wife still be alive, with Ecolo saying that she survived the vacuum of space? Next chapter, Chapter 47: Aura Issues.