Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable in this story. They are owned by Kore Yamazaki. I just play with her characters.
Author's Notes: This time, I apologize it took me more than a month to update. I took a two week break from writing, as I realized that I had been working on this story non-stop since February of this year. I needed it to clear my head, I guess. A chapter full of fluffy goodness came out as a result. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy this. :)
Chapter 10: A Birthday is Better When Shared
Elias opened his eyes and found himself in his Magecraft classroom. There was no light, but he could see just fine in the darkness. He wondered why he was there and looked at the things in front of him. Just empty desks and seats. Then the door of the classroom opened by itself. Curious, he went through it and was in the hallway, equally dark and absent of light as his classroom.
He walked a few paces and saw a human body lying on the ground. Filled with concern, he rushed towards it and saw who it was more clearly. It was Renfred. Elias knelt down and touched the Sorcery professor's body to wake him, but as he did, it disintegrated right before his eyes. Then as if it was a trigger to an event, Elias was suddenly surrounded by human bodies. This time they were of his colleagues and other staff members, William Blake, Gideon Liones, Harriet Patrickson, Adolf Stroud, and even Headmistress Liza Quillyn. He walked towards each of the body, and the same thing happened. They all disintegrated as soon as he touched them. Why was this happening?
A shadow ran past him, and he went after it. It was laughing as though it was mocking him for his sluggishness and inability to catch up. Suddenly, the shadow stopped, and he finally saw who it was. It was Chise. Strawberry-colored hair and green eyes. Finally feeling at ease upon seeing her familiar face, he asked, "Why is everyone disappearing when I touch them?"
"You ate them." Chise the shadow answered with an accusing tone in her voice.
Elias's eyes widened at her reply. What did she mean he ate them? He distinctly remembered just touching them with his hands. "No, I didn't."
"You lie. Can't you taste their blood in your mouth?" Chise the shadow asked, and in an instant, his skeletal mouth was filled with human blood. So much that he vomited it out, the metallic taste permeating in his tongue. Still, his skeletal mouth wouldn't stop being filled with blood. He motioned his hands to stop himself from continuing to vomit, but it only stained his hands bright red.
"Make it stop!" Elias screamed in desperation, though muffled by the blood that won't stop filling in his mouth. He fell down to his knees in his anguish. How can this end?
"Why? Don't you like the taste?" Chise the shadow sneered, and human blood suddenly stopped filling his mouth. She walked towards Elias and held his wolf-skull of a face with both her hands, forcing him to look at her. Elias finally noticed her eyes. They were still green, but there was something malevolent and wicked in them.
"You're not her." He said with certainty. No. His real Chise's green eyes always shone with kindness and gentleness. This was a poor imitation. And now that he knew, he pried away the hands that were holding his skeletal face.
"Am I not? How can you be so sure? I'm giving you the chance to be true to yourself. How long will you force yourself to be kind to them when all you want is to eat them? Do you think they care if you are kind to them?" Chise the shadow argued. Then she reached inside her chest and ripped out her beating heart. She looked at Elias and extended to him the hand that was holding it. "Here. It's alright. You can have me too. I don't mind."
Elias stared at the heart that was before him. Try as he might, he could not stop his mouth from watering. A freshly harvested beating heart. It must taste delicious. He wanted to eat it. God, even if it was a shadow of her, he wanted to eat Chise's heart. He had almost reached out his hand to grab it when suddenly everything around him began to bend and distort. Without delay, he was transported to another place.
Now he was sitting on the floor in a dungeon, magical chains wrapping around all of his limbs and skeletal mouth, binding his movements. So much that he couldn't even change how he sat on the floor. In front of him were prison bars, and a familiar face that he had not seen for more than half a century since he lived with Rahab. A man with chest-length blonde hair and blue eyes so cold and sharp that they could cut steel.
"She gave you everything. And you repaid her by eating her. I wish I had never met you. I wish I never brought you to her. I hope you rot in hell, in this life and in the afterlife, you disgusting monster." The man said with icy fury. Then without one more look, he walked away from Elias, the sound of his retreating footsteps reverberating loudly in the dungeon.
Elias had never felt so cold and alone in his life. He knew that the man had every right to be furious at him. He ate their master, after all. But he wanted to say that he didn't intend for it to happen. That he was… what? What excuse would be enough for the crime he committed? Even if he begged forgiveness from that man, Elias knew he would never deserve it and that that man would never give it. There was nothing that he could do that would change what happened.
In that moment, he began wishing that he could just have the courage to erase his existence. Perhaps the world would be better off without him in it.
xxxx
Elias woke up from his dream with a start after hearing a constant knocking sound. He turned to his window and saw Renfred's messenger bird relentlessly tapping its beak on the glass. Instead of the usual annoyance he felt about that, he was utterly relieved. The dream, or nightmare, he had was something he wanted to escape from, and he was glad for the reprieve he got. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was ten minutes past 5 am. Then he stood up and headed to the window to let the messenger bird in. It perched itself on his desk instantly, and Renfred's voice rang out.
"Ainsworth, meet me at the College entrance today at 10 am. I need you to teleport Adolf and me to the Dragon Aerie."
Elias brushed his hand across his wolf-skull of a face, feeling a bit dejected. He had just dreamt of the man he knew who lived in the Aerie, and now Renfred was asking him to accompany him going there. Was the latter part of his dream, the vision of his memory, a premonition or an omen of some sort? "Why?" He asked Renfred, and he couldn't help the trepidation that laced in his voice in that one-word question.
"The Dragon Keeper wants our help. Two dragon hatchlings were stolen by poachers."
"What does that have to do with us?"
It was Renfred's turn to express a sigh of defeat. Or at least, that was how it sounded to Elias's ears as he heard it from the messenger bird. "Well, aside from the fact that there is a pact between the Aerie and the College, this is also related to the lost Testament of Carnamagos. The Dragon Keeper said the poachers used an imitation of my transportation device to flee. The bastard thief copied it through my lost arm."
"So, he or she is stealing dragons now. What for?" Elias wondered out loud, knowing that Renfred too had no answer.
"I don't know. But I need you to come with me to the Aerie to investigate." Renfred said, in a tone that Elias knew meant that the Magus had no choice.
"I'll see you at 10, then." He reluctantly consented, and the messenger bird flew out of his window without another word.
Unable to go back to sleep, Elias sat on his bed contemplating his dream and the task he would have to do. He was not much of a believer when it came to the importance of dreams, but try as he might, he couldn't help but feel shaken. He even saw Chise in it, and though he knew that it was nothing but a malicious counterfeit of her, he couldn't deny that he had wanted to eat her heart as she handed it to him. He shivered at the thought. Eating Chise. He knew he almost did that fateful night she was running from Zaccaroni and sought his protection, only to have her face to face with his Naga form. He was just an ordinary professor to her then, but now that he was something more, he couldn't fathom why he would dream of such a thing. He would never eat Chise. He would never even want to.
It was a good thing the scene had changed, though if it was for the better, he couldn't decide. He saw Lindel as how he had last seen him. Seventy-five years ago, with Elias chained and locked in a cell in Farplace, awaiting his sentence from the Tribunal of Magi while the Dragon Keeper was staring at him with eyes filled with so much hate. Lindel Lindenbaum. The man who had saved him from his endless wandering in a forest amidst a stormy winter night and brought him to Rahab. His heart hurt at the mere thought of her name. Even now, seventy-five years later after his heinous crime, it felt like his heart was being pierced whenever he thought of her. What must he do for the guilt to go away? What must he do to gain salvation when what he did feels like something that can never be forgiven?
Elias strongly shook his head to steer his thoughts. It had been a while since he had such. Before, they plagued him at every minute. But now with Chise constantly around him, he could forget everything. Forget that he was a monster. Forget that he was a criminal Mage. But he knew that the rest of the world would never will. And that included a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Dragon Keeper, even if they had not seen each other in seventy-five years.
xxxx
Elias felt his feet plant on mossy ground as soon as his mind finished concentrating on teleporting himself, Adolf Stroud, and Renfred to the Dragon Aerie. He looked around to see if he had his bearings right. The Aerie was in Iceland, but of course, it was specifically nestled somewhere remote, obscure, and closed to tourists. It was primarily in Fjaðrárgljúfur, a spectacular series of canyons with a long, winding river at the center of a valley surrounded by towering mossy cliffs.
Loud roars and flapping wings caused Elias to look up, and he saw a herd of mature Uils and Beannas flying overhead. He smiled at that, feeling amazed at seeing the magnificent creatures in action and somehow relieved that his teleportation was accurate. Dragon hatchlings too ran past them, and Elias looked further beyond the direction they came from to see the man he dreaded to see. Lindel was walking towards them with another set of dragon hatchlings in tow, the perfect image of a loving shepherd and a protective Dragon Keeper. As soon as they saw him, Renfred and Adolf rushed towards him to greet him, but Elias stood rooted to his spot, wishing that Lindel wouldn't notice him. Yet the Magus knew that wishes never come true.
"How dare you show your skull-face to me, you man-eating monster." Lindel hissed as soon as he saw Elias, pushing past the two Sorcerers, his voice so cold and filled with vitriol that it was as if the Magus was stabbed by a very pointed icicle straight through his heart.
"Lindel…" Elias looked at the man who he once deemed to be his brother, imploring. Imploring what, the Magus didn't know. All he knew was that he didn't want to be looked at the way the Dragon Keeper was looking at him right now.
Yet the way Elias said his name seemed to have fanned the fire of hate in Lindel even more. His eyes flashed in anger, and he snarled, "Don't speak my name with your horrid mouth! I don't want to hear a word from you!" The Dragon Keeper then turned to Adolf Stroud, his ire unstoppably increasing, never minding that the Sorcery researcher was his precious student that he hadn't seen for years. "Why is he even here!?"
"Lindel, he is part of the team sent by the College to investigate the poaching of the dragon hatchlings. We also used his teleportation magic to come here—" Adolf tried to say to placate his former master, but the Dragon Keeper would not have any of it.
"I do not care! Remove him from my presence this instant!" Lindel commanded firmly, not caring if he sounded childish and petulant. He simply did not want to see Elias. He didn't want to remember what that monster did seventy-five years ago.
The two Sorcerers sighed in defeat. They both knew the reason for the Dragon Keeper's animosity. It was a risk rousing the Dragon Keeper by coming to the Aerie using Ainsworth's teleportation, but they had no choice. It was the fastest method of transportation since the Aerie was not yet in Renfred's transportation database. Still, Renfred couldn't help but feel remorse for forcing Ainsworth to come with them. "Ainsworth…" He entreated the Magus gently, a silent plea to make himself scarce.
"It's alright. I will be by the river's deep end. Let me know when you are done." Elias said, his head hung low. He turned around and motioned to the riverside, never looking back at the man he always dreamed to call brother again.
Elias walked alongside the river deep in thought. True to the expectations he had early this morning, Lindel met him with hostility. And the Magus knew all the blame lies on himself. Even after seventy-five years, he never expected that he would be forgiven, least of all by Lindel. Perhaps even if he survived another hundred years of incarceration in the College and he was set free, Lindel would still not forgive him. No, there was no salvation for him anywhere.
Wanting to distract himself, his eyes scanned the area he was in. The riverside was surrounded by great trees, each sprouting from mossy boulders. No, not boulders, but bodies of Uils who have returned to the earth. There was a group of dragon hatchlings gathered on his far right. He decided he would like to try his hand at petting one, but when he came closer, they dispersed immediately, running away from him as if he carried a plague. He chuckled darkly at that. So much for the chance of touching a real dragon.
Then Elias's eyes settled on something sitting at the far end of the riverside. It was fully covered with moss that Elias mistook it as another boulder at first glance. He walked closer to it, touching the gray surface, surprised when he found that they were scales that were peeling off and flaking away. It was a dragon. An aged Uil, in fact, that was about to return. He rounded around its corner to gaze upon its face and found that its three pairs of eyes were staring at him curiously.
"Oh, how unusual. A creature of the unknown is beside me, neither human, spirit, nor fae. Yet you smell oddly of thorns and shadows." The Uil spoke with a deep, gravelly voice while regarding Elias with kind white eyes. So opposite from the blue ones he had seen earlier.
"So it is true what they say. No one can fool a dragon's senses." Elias said, before flopping down on the mossy ground beside the old Uil.
"Is this old dragon so interesting that you decided to be near me?"
Elias let out a small chuckle at the Uil's presumption though he knew that it was just a joke. What made him go near the old dragon anyway? He didn't know himself. So he decided to just state the facts. "Not really. The young ones just feared me and scurried away, and I've got nothing else to do except look at the river."
"You can't blame them. You are an unknown. Even dragons can fear the unknown."
"So they say." Elias said nonchalantly, yet he couldn't stop a feeling of resentment growing in him whenever beings, be it humans, fairies, or dragons, judge him so. He had deemed it long ago that he was an odd, incomplete set. Even Rahab didn't know what he was. And it was something that he was searching the answer for all throughout his long existence.
Again, not wanting to delve in those thoughts, Elias shook his head and decided to change the topic. "You are dying." He observed and mentioned to the Uil.
"Yes." The Uil admitted without hesitation.
"An Uil returns to the ground it was born in. To be a tree. I read it somewhere from a book in my late master's study." Elias replied, remembering the book he had read long ago. It was published before the existence of Dragon Aerie. The book even had drawings of the different kinds of dragons, and he recalled asking Rahab where he could find every single one of their kinds.
"Correct."
"Are you hurting?" Elias wondered out loud with a hint of worry. After all, he did not know if the Uil he was talking to was dying because of illness or old age.
It was the Uil's turn to let out a chuckle, which came out as a deep rumble. "Not as much as the hurt in your heart, dear Child of Thorns."
"Did you—?" Elias turned his head instantly towards the Uil. He knew that dragons can read minds and memories, and he felt like being subjected to it was a breach of his privacy, especially since they were both strangers to each other.
"I wouldn't dare. But with the way Lindel treated you earlier, let's just say no one can fool a dragon's senses."
Elias let out a sigh of relief. Then a moment of comfortable silence passed between the two. He thought about what it would be like to be dying. For many long years, that was all what he wanted. Yet he couldn't bring himself to do it by his own hand. And now that Chise was around him constantly, he seemed to have forgotten that desire. Except for this moment when he saw Lindel's blue eyes look at him with such abhorrence again. He didn't know why, but it had made him want to dive into the river's deep end and drown himself there. The only thing was he feared what would await him in the afterlife.
From all the novels he read about humanity, people all seemed to fear death, some even going to the length of finding a way to immortality. He looked back at the Uil and decided to ask for his opinion, wanting to know if the old dragon too felt the same. "…Are you afraid?"
The Uil turned his head further to Elias's direction, the movement causing the calm birds perched on his boulder-like body to flee away. "Not even a little. We dragons have lived long enough to know that death comes to us all. So we live centuries of our lives without regret. Yet there are also some who are long dead and are just waiting for their bodies to die."
"Are you sure you are not reading my mind? That is quite rude, you know." Elias glowered, realizing that what the Uil had said earlier about reading his mind was a fib.
The Uil let out another chuckle, its sound reverberating throughout the expanse of the riverside. "A peek, perhaps. What is your name, dear Child of Thorns?"
"Elias. And you?"
"Nevin." The Uil answered softly, regarding the Magus now with knowing eyes. "Elias, the living should not envy the dying. No matter how bitter their circumstance is. For someday, you may never know who you might save and who might save you."
"I…" Elias was lost for words upon hearing Nevin's sound encouragement. They were wise words, he knew, and he just didn't know what else to say as a reply. He was still tongue-tied when he heard footsteps headed toward their direction. Renfred and Adolf were finished talking to Lindel, and they were walking towards him.
Nevin noticed that they were about to have company, and so he urged the Magus, "Go, they are here. The next time we meet, I may be a tree, but I would still gladly have a conversation with you."
Elias reached out his hand to touch Nevin's face again. When it didn't feel like it was enough, he leaned his human forehead against him, wanting to etch his encounter with the old dragon to his mind palace. "Thank you. May you return peacefully, Nevin." He breathed out, before taking one last look at the kind stranger who showed him more compassion than any other people he knew aside from Chise.
xxxx
"I'm sorry. Have you waited long?"
Chise asked him with a small smile and a hint of worry in her fair face as she approached him in their usual spot in the hill in the gardens. Elias had just come back from the Dragon Aerie and, with all the emotions that resurfaced in him from coming from that place, was relieved to see her again. It was over two weeks now since the night he first visited her dorm room and found her sick and unwell, and she was now fully recovered and back to attending her classes. Still, at the back of his head, he couldn't help but worry about the same thing happening to her again. About the Research Labs conducting experiments on her again and again without a care for her life.
"No, I was just a few minutes early." Elias told her and watched her sit down on the grass beside him. It was the start of winter now, and Chise was dressed in a green coat and khaki pants. He wished he could examine her arms and calves just to see if there were scars that remained on her skin from the shallow wounds that he had healed. Last week, she complained to him that the scabs were itchy, and the only things he could do to help her were to advise her that she shouldn't pick them and to give her an ointment he thought would alleviate her suffering.
"How was Iceland?" She asked a little merrily, eager to know more about his trip.
Yet an image of an angry Lindel only resurfaced on Elias's mind, and his reply came out sounding frustrated which was, try as he could, not what he had intended. "I didn't exactly go there for leisure."
"So you said in your letter. It's just…" Chise paused, catching on the subtle hint of sullenness in his voice. True to his word, Elias now informed her whenever he was going away on a mission through encrypted flying letters that she would magically find slipped through her door. And having taught her to do the same, she would instantly send her replies to him, confirming that she had read them. And when she sent her reply this morning, she had bid him a happy trip. It was obvious now through his crimson eyes that it had been neither happy nor pleasant.
"I'm sorry. I just haven't been anywhere except England and Japan. And I sometimes wonder… what other places would look like." She said as a reason for her cheerful questioning about Iceland, something that she hadn't expected Elias would be surly to.
Elias took a deep breath, knowing that he shouldn't push his one and only friend away just because of something he couldn't name. "No, it is I who should be sorry, Chise. It's just… I don't know what I'm feeling right now."
"Tell me?" Chise reached out her hand and placed it on his shoulder. Though it was cold where they were, he instantly felt warmth through the contact, enough to make him relax and describe what he was feeling.
"Like there's a cloud of constant rain hovering over me whatever I do and wherever I go?" He tried his best to explain to her. He was already feeling this even after Nevin gave him much encouragement about the living and the dying. Was it all because of how Lindel reacted to seeing him and of how hopeless their relationship now was?
Chise tried to infer from his analogous description. What would a cloud of rain represent? Something dark and gloomy, she knew. "Perhaps that would be sadness."
"Sadness?"
"That's the feeling you get when you remember something you regret. Or something very unpleasant. You feel like you can't escape it whatever you do. Like rain that would not go away." Chise elaborated, and she felt grateful when she saw understanding dawn on his crimson eyes. She knew then that she had hit the right spot. "What happened in Iceland?" She asked, filled with concern for him. He had told her in his letter to her that he was going to investigate the poaching of dragon hatchlings, but she had a feeling that there was something more that had happened.
He looked at the cloudy night sky above them to avoid meeting her eyes. Perhaps contemplating if he should tell her the cause of his sadness, Chise mused. She decided to wait patiently, and it was after ten seconds when Elias spoke again. "…I saw someone I dreaded to see for seventy-five years."
"Who?"
"The person I used to call my brother. He was my master's first apprentice. And my master was… the human I ate." Elias then looked back at Chise and saw that she was not surprised. It only meant one thing to him. "You know?"
Chise nodded slightly, feeling a little ashamed at her little transgression. "I asked around. I'm sorry. I know I should have asked you instead." But it was not something that could be easily asked from him. And though Chise wanted to know more about why he had eaten his master, Rahab, and how it happened, she held her tongue. If he had admitted to her this bit of information now, she deemed that he would tell her the whole story someday. So she thought of what troubled him right now, and she decided to ask about it instead. "Your brother hates you now?"
"Anyone would because of what I did."
Chise wondered what to say to him that could help him in his sadness. She thought of what her own family had done to her and of the feelings they evoked from deep within her. "I… used to think I hate my father for what he did to our family. Taking my brother from me, and leaving me and my mother which ultimately led her to hating me. But now, as time went by, I think I changed. Now, I would be happy to see him again and welcome him as if he had never left. I guess… what I'm trying to say, Elias, is that family is family. And the bonds are not easily broken, no matter how unforgiving a sin you committed." She said to him, yearning to give him hope and erase the forlorn look in his crimson eyes.
"He has hated me for seventy-five years. Do you think he will stop by the hundredth one?" Elias breathed out, and though they might sound sarcastic to average ears, she knew that there was an inkling of hope hidden in his words. Akin to a child wishing and waiting for another Christmas present to come in another year even when the recent Christmas had just passed.
"If your brother truly sees you as his brother too, he will come around." Chise offered as a comfort with a smile. He didn't smile back, but in his eyes, she saw a glimmer that meant he appreciated her words. "Now before I forget, I have to give you something." Chise extended her hand on the grass before them, and then she recited the incantation for Conjuring. In an instant, three containers appeared before them. The first one was a large, boxy metal tin and the other two were pink, round plastic Tupperwares of equal sizes.
"I see you've now perfected Conjuring." Elias observed, feeling proud of his mentee.
"What can I say? I have a great mentor." Chise smiled at him, and then she handed him the boxy metal tin. Elias received it with a curious look and opened it. It was filled with chocolate chip cookies. He looked back at Chise in wonder, and she gave him a little giggle. "I made them using the dormitory cafeteria's kitchen. In exchange for all the cookies I ruined while practicing Conjuring in your quarters. And I remember you said they were your favorite. Try one, and tell me if I've got the sweetness right."
Elias fished out one cookie and happily shoved it into his skeletal mouth. After chewing, he contentedly said, "It's better than the ones I buy from a store."
"You're too kind." Chise laughed at that. She knew she could have done better by making them more soft and chewy, but if he was pleased with them already, she felt grateful too.
"And the others?" He gestured his arm to the other containers.
"Well, I'm sure they do not go well with chocolate chip cookies, but I made them as well." Chise said as she opened the plastic containers. Elias peered and saw that they were some dishes made of pressed rice wrapped in some kind of edible sheet. "This one's sushi, and the other one's onigiri." Chise pointed at each.
"Food from your country? Why?"
Chise felt her cheeks blush. "Because it's my birthday. I wanted tonight to be special."
"Your birthday? Why didn't you tell me beforehand? I should be the one making tonight special for you." Elias chided, remembering how humans celebrate their birthdays. And even how he would celebrate his own when Rahab was still alive.
Chise shook her head and gave him a warm smile. "You being here makes it special enough." She extended her hand that held the container of the onigiri and, in an instant, an image of her offering her beating heart to him flashed in his eyes, causing him to pause. "Elias?" She called out to him, suddenly wondering why he spaced out.
Elias mentally shook himself and took a piece of the onigiri. Chise couldn't help but hold her breath as she waited to hear how it tasted to Elias. The one he took had tuna and mayonnaise as a filling, and she wasn't particularly sure if he would like it.
"It's delicious. Thank you, Chise." He managed to say after chewing, berating himself that he knew he would have said the same thing if he had proceeded to eat Chise's heart in his bloody nightmare.
"I'm glad it turned out fine then." Chise beamed from ear to ear, feeling relieved. "Please help yourself. There are more."
Wanting to distract himself from the thoughts of his nightmare, Elias decided to help himself to Chise's cooking. From time to time, he asked questions about the food that he was eating. What were the ingredients? How did one cook them? And when were they usually eaten? This eventually led to talking about birthday traditions and customs, and they began to compare how birthdays were celebrated in Japan and England.
"Don't you have to blow a candle on a cake and make a wish when it is your birthday?" Elias asked offhandedly, while picking another sushi. He particularly liked the delicate taste of the salmon nigiri and the sweetness of the maki.
"I already did. At least the wishing part."
"What did you wish for?" Elias enquired, hoping that she would let him know. He knew he would do everything to grant each of her wishes if he could.
"It's a secret!" Chise giggled and blushed, causing Elias to chuckle along with her. "Come to think of it, when is your birthday, Elias?"
"I don't have a real one. I can't even remember being born. But I can tell you the date written in my identification papers. It's on August 17th."
Chise took a mental note of it. He was a child of summer then, even if his birth date was made up for legal reasons. She remembered the dream she had of him and Rahab where they were talking about him taking his master's surname. She wanted to ask how they came up with the date, but instead she asked, "Do you celebrate it?"
He looked back at the cloudy winter sky again, avoiding her gaze. Now she understood that that was his habit when he talked about things he didn't want to share. "I used to before. When I was still living with my master. Now I don't. I see no reason to. You now know why."
"What did you two do on your birthdays?" Chise probed even further, even when she saw in Elias's crimson eyes that he didn't want to answer anymore. Yet he could never deny her anything. Not even when reliving memories hurt him.
"…She would cook special food, bake me a cake, and decorate the cabin we lived in. My brother would visit. They would sing me a birthday song while I wear a very tacky birthday hat. Then they'd ask me to make a wish. And I would always wish for another day like it to happen again next year." Elias recounted as if it just happened yesterday. The truth was this was one of the memories he kept locked inside his memory palace, something he never wished to visit because it reminded him badly of what he had lost due to his crime. "What about you, Chise?"
"I wish I could say the same. But I've never…" Chise trailed off hesitantly. She suddenly wondered what was even worse, having a memory of a happy birthday celebration only to never have it again, or having never experienced one at all. "Perhaps when I was very little and my family was still together. Yet I now don't remember any of it."
"All the more reason to have a proper one then." Elias reached out his hand and placed it on her strawberry-colored head. She was so precious to him that he wanted to give her more for her birthday. A gift for her and a real celebration that commemorated her life, just to show how important she was to him. He thought of how to make that possible, but when he withdrew his hand from her, she mistook it as something else.
"I'm sorry, Elias. Does it pain you when I ask personal things about you?" Chise asked quietly, though with a little reluctance, as if she was treading on thin ice.
"Why do you say so?"
"Your eyes get distant. As if you don't wish to speak of them to me." She stated, and she wanted to say more. She wanted to say that there was nothing he could say that would make her think less of him. That he could trust her completely, the way she trusted him. That she wanted to know everything about him, to peel away all his layers and heal all his wounds and scars underneath. She wanted to say, but she just couldn't bring herself to.
"I'm sorry, Chise. Perhaps it's because I had never talked about them with another person. But if you ask me what is bothering me right now, it is never your questions. It is because of a dream I had. Or a nightmare, I should say."
"What was it about?" Chise asked, unable to stop herself again, and Elias looked away. She knew she was requesting him to reveal another layer of him to her, and she silently, desperately wished he would do so.
Elias remained silent, yet Chise never once took away her gaze from him. He marveled at her determination to know things about him. Even the things he didn't want to tell her for fear of losing her. Nonetheless, his Chise could be stubborn when she wanted to. With a sigh, he told her of his most recent nightmare, the one that still sent chills to his bones whenever he thought about it. "I saw bodies of people I know on a floor in a hallway of the College. I walked towards them and touched them, and they disintegrated. You ran past me and told me I ate them. Then you ripped out your own heart and offered it to me. And I… I wanted to eat it."
Chise's eyes opened wide as she heard him recount his nightmare. It was indeed gruesome at its best. No wonder he hesitated in telling her. Elias eating her. It must be one of his greatest fears. Yet she knew in her heart, no matter the situation, Elias could never bring himself to do it. So she reached out her hands to his skeletal jaws, turned his head towards her direction, and looked straight to his crimson eyes. "That would never happen."
Elias's eyes closed at her touch, but a lingering feeling of disbelief at her words was grating on his insides. "How do you know? I ate a human before. My master even. I could do it again. No matter how I try, I'm still a man-eating monster, Chise. Perhaps it would be safer for you if we were no longer frien—"
But before he could even finish his sentence, Chise instantly leaned closer to him and grabbed fistfuls of his embroidered robe with her two hands. She shook him strongly and in a desperate voice said, "Don't say it! Don't say it because I can never bear it!"
"Chise…" Elias breathed out her name in shock. This was something he had never seen from her, and he didn't know what to do. She was trembling and shaking him strongly, as if it was the only way she could do to make him take back his words. When it was clear that he wouldn't, she rested her forehead against his chest instead and spoke the words that would forever bind his heart to hers.
"You are not a monster, Elias. You never are to me. So don't say that we should never be friends anymore. You are the best thing that ever happened to me here. You asked me what I wished for my birthday. I wished for you to never leave me. Or if you ever will, for you to take me with you."
Chise looked up at him then, her eyes filled with tears. There. He had made her cry on the very night of her birthday, and Elias's heart constricted at the sight. Both of his gloved hands reached out to cup the sides of her face, his thumbs wiping away her tears. Then swiftly, he gathered her in his arms, embracing her tightly and wrapping her shivering form inside his embroidered robe. For a moment, it seemed like time stopped as they savored each other's touch and warmth, comfort and apology mixing together in the silence.
"I would, you know." At last, Elias spoke up, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Hm?"
"Take you with me. Somewhere far where they could never hurt you. I'd do it in a heartbeat. But I can't. My magical bindings have tracking spells, and they would throw me instantly back to Farplace should I attempt an escape."
Chise felt the rumble of his deep voice as she rested her head against his chest when he spoke. She couldn't help but feel a flutter in her heart at the idea he voiced out. That would be quite a dream, wouldn't it? To be somewhere far with Elias, free to live their lives however they wanted. Especially with what the Research Labs did recently to her, she finally saw herself through the disillusionment. "I know. But thank you for wishing it though."
Elias nuzzled his skeletal head on hers, somehow feeling relieved that she didn't balk at the idea however farfetched it seemed. "Does it make me selfish, Chise? Are you scared of me now?"
Chise shook her head, took one of his gloved hands in hers and squeezed it, a simple gesture of reassurance for him. "If that makes you selfish, then I guess it makes me one too for wishing it to happen all the same."
xxxx
Chise blinked her eyes as she stared at the computer screen in front of her. It was a Sunday morning, the day after her birthday, and since she and Elias didn't have any plans, she had thought that she might as well start on the task she promised herself she would do two weeks ago. She had been putting it off since she had to catch up with her school work due to her absence when she became ill. Now, she was in the College's main library, searching for any book that would give her more information about Rahab. She had typed her full name 'Rahab Melamed-Ainsworth' and nothing showed up in the online library catalog system. She then tried typing for 'Rahab Ainsworth', and the same thing happened. What was wrong here? Tory Innis had told her that she was one of the greatest Magi that ever lived when she was at the Research Labs more than two weeks ago. So there must be information about her somewhere. She didn't doubt all of it, but she couldn't explain why nothing showed up in the system. She scratched her head in her confusion.
"Ah, you have to use only her first name and maiden name in your query. That's her penname. And the library system only accepts and searches for the exact same words. That's why the results won't show up." A male stranger occupying the seat beside her peered on her computer screen and suddenly said. Chise turned to him in shock, startled by his intrusion. He had dark hair, looked to be around in his early twenties, and was wearing spectacles. When he saw Chise's surprised face, he raised both his hands in apology. "Sorry. Didn't mean to pry. I had the same trouble when I was doing a research about her on one of my graduate electives. I just wanted to help."
"No, I… thank you." Chise managed to say, and then she heeded the kind man's advice. She typed 'Rahab Melamed' on the search field, and true enough, many results showed up. She scanned them and found that there were around twenty books written by her. Most of them about branches of Magecraft: Conjuring, Teleportation, Elemental Magic, Potion-making, Mind reading, Transfiguration, Sleep Magic. There were even about some subjects she knew nothing about: Necromancy, Thaumaturgy, Metamorphosis, Skin-walking.
Chise sat in her seat in awe. If Rahab had this much knowledge, it was no wonder that Tory Innis dubbed her as one of the greatest Magi that ever lived. She continued to scroll down the list and something caught her eye. A book titled Neighbors in Great Britain. She knew that book. It was the very book about the Fae found in Great Britain that she had read the night Elias almost ate her. She quickly took note of its call number and searched for it from the bookshelves. When she found it, she took a seat at one of the chairs in the sitting area.
Chise traced the embossed letterings on the front cover of the hardbound book. All this time it was written by Rahab all along, and she didn't even know. How could she know anyway? Beneath the title of the book and its picture of Tir na Nog, the name of the author was just spelled out as 'R. Melamed'. But now armed with the knowledge about the identity of the author, Chise proceeded to read the book thoroughly. She scanned the pages one by one. On the copyright page, the original publish date was written 1922. Then before the table of contents, she found the dedication page. There, what she had missed when she read the book the first time was right before her eyes.
To Isaac,
All I do is for you.
To Elias,
You grow every day, and I'm proud of you.
May you love the world as I do.
There was no doubt about it. Rahab loved Elias like he was her own son. She even dedicated one of her books to him. What happened to both of them? She knew she wanted to know for sure. Chise then flipped to the very back of the book to see if there was something about Rahab written there. Unfortunately, the only thing she found was a very meager description about her.
Rahab Melamed, born in 1671 in Syria, is an accomplished Magus and Master (Yud level) who used to hold one of the Seven Seats in the Tribunal of Magi from 1808 to 1858. Recently known for receiving the Cross of Valor for her contributions to the First Great War, Rahab enjoys gardening, boating, and teaching Magecraft to her apprentices.
Chise let out a heavy sigh after reading the short biographical note. It was nice knowing those things about Rahab, but she wanted to know more. Mostly, she wanted to know how she died and what Elias's part was in it. She supposed she could just ask Elias himself, but she knew that she didn't have the guts to. So she guessed she would have to dig deeper. Maybe there was a book about famous Magi that had a more in-depth biography of her. She certainly did not have any dreams about her and Elias anymore. With nothing left to do, she stood up and just decided to check out the book in her hand. She had not finished reading it after all, but she would like to continue reading it at the privacy of her own room.
When Chise went back to her dormitory and opened the room of her door though, she found another of Elias's encrypted flying letters on the floor. She picked it up, and as soon as she opened it, the encryption deactivated and she was greeted once again by his cursive handwriting.
Come by my quarters today as soon as you have the time.
Chise felt a smile spread across her face. She had not thought of spending time with Elias today except for their daily nighttime rendezvous, thinking that he might need some space, but still, she was happy that he had expressed his desire for her company. She placed the book written by Rahab on her desk and decided to head out again. Soon after, she made her trek to Elias's quarters and was in front of his door. She knocked and waited. When no one answered, she knocked again, and then she heard a click and the door opened by itself.
Confused, Chise pushed the ajar door a little and decided to take a peek. "Elias?" She called out hesitantly. No one answered, and so she decided to let herself in. When she did, she was surprised when the door locked by itself. The whole quarters was pitch dark which was strange because it was late morning. She suddenly felt uneasy. Where was Elias and what was happening? "Elias? Where are you?" She called out again as she walked while extending her hands in front of her and groping in the dark.
Then she felt something pat her head, and in an instant, light filled the whole quarters. Elias was standing in front of her, holding a birthday cake with one lit candle. "Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to you!" He sang softly in a rich baritone voice. Chise tried to feel the thing that was placed on her head and realized that it was a birthday hat. She looked around the quarters and saw that it was decorated with paper lanterns and balloons of pink and white. Then behind Elias, on the wall above his dining table that was filled with food, was a banner spelled out as 'Happy Birthday Chise'.
"Happy birthday, Chise." Elias greeted her once more, and then he walked closer towards her. "Blow the candle?"
Chise nodded and then blew the candle on the birthday cake. Elias gave her a clumsy smile and placed a gloved hand on her strawberry-colored head. She couldn't stop her eyes from tearing up because of all his efforts. He did for her exactly what he had told her yesterday evening—just how he would celebrate his birthday with Rahab. It didn't help that this was the first time she had a proper celebration for her birthday. Realizing that and overcome with emotion, her tears now flowed from her eyes and she sniffled and wiped them with her coat's cuffs.
"I've made you cry again." Elias observed somberly, unsure of what to do.
But Chise shook her head adamantly and said, "No, silly. Sometimes girls cry when they are happy. They are tears of joy, Elias." She gave him a small smile, a little embarrassed that she had cried, and then she embraced his middle. He returned the embrace with one hand while he held the birthday cake on the other.
"Now before we eat, I have something to give you." Elias said as he broke their embrace. He placed the birthday cake back on the dining table and gestured for Chise to sit on one of the chairs. And then he walked to his desk, took the large, gift-wrapped box sitting on top of it, and handed it to Chise. She took it with both hands with a smile.
"A teddy bear?" Chise asked in wonder after opening the wrapped box. It was a large stuffed-toy, about the size of half her body, in the likeness of a bear. Its body was plump and soft and had brown, fluffy fur and big black eyes and snout.
"Yes. I think it is the best one I've made, even though I haven't made one in seventy-five years."
"You made it?" Chise repeated, uncertain if she had heard him right the first time. She looked at the teddy bear once again and somehow couldn't believe it.
"Yes. One of the skills my master taught me. We used to make them every Christmas as gifts for the children of her acquaintances." Elias explained freely, and Chise noticed that he no longer had a distant look in his crimson eyes.
She beamed at what he said, picturing a younger Elias and Rahab sewing teddy bears during Christmas time. She hugged the teddy bear to her chest and inhaled its scent. She was very pleased that it somehow had the same rain and forest air fragrance as him. "I love it already. Thank you."
"I took the liberty of putting a little trick inside it. You'll see it should you place it beside you when you sleep and wake up in the morning." Elias added, while putting away the torn wrapping papers and gift box. When he was through, he gestured to the food on the table before them. "I know it's not much and it's a little early for lunch, but let's eat?"
Chise agreed and looked at the food set before her. It was just a simple feast of spaghetti, fried chicken, garden salad, and her birthday cake which was chocolate. Simple, just as he had implied, but the fact that he made the effort of preparing them for her made it special to her already. She thought about what he had said yesterday night about wishing for his birthday to happen again next year, and she couldn't help but do the same. If this was how one celebrated birthdays, she wanted it to happen again and again. Most especially because she was with him.
They ate while talking from time to time. Now that Chise had mastered Conjuring and was somehow getting the hang of controlling her magical energy, Elias talked about the next steps he planned for her. Chise listened intently at his words. From what she gathered, she would still need to learn spells with precision until she could reach the point where she could totally control her magical energy. Elias spoke of her learning Elemental Magic, adding the fact that she could use it to defend herself should the need arise. He was talking about Elemental Affinities when he noticed Chise finally in a daze and spacing out.
"Is there something troubling you, Chise?" He asked, his voice low and deep, concern for her well-being always at the forefront of his mind.
Chise blushed and looked away, embarrassed that he had caught her inattention. I want to know what happened that made you eat Rahab, she badly wanted to say. But she knew she could never bring herself to. The answer to that question should come freely from him. Instead, she focused on a different subject that had also not been far from her mind. "Are you going away again next weekend for your mission?
Elias tilted his head to the side, surprised that she asked about his other necessary activities. "I'm not sure. It depends on Renfred. I only do what he commands me to. Why do you ask?"
Chise bit her lip, unconfident if what she would say next would make any sense. "I just thought of something… about the poached dragons you might be asked to look for. Do they sell for a very high price?"
Understanding quickly dawned on Elias's crimson eyes. "The auction?"
Chise nodded, glad that he understood her idea. Elias turned his head upwards in astonishment. His Chise did always have a keen mind. "It might be a good lead. Thank you, Chise. I'll suggest it to Renfred."
A comfortable silence then enveloped both of them. Chise decided to become mindful of the taste of the food she was eating. The spaghetti had just the right amount of sourness, and the fried chicken was crispy. Though she never said it out loud, she quite liked Elias's cooking. This was the second time she had eaten a meal in his quarters, and with the way he would prepare food for her, she felt absolutely cared for. And she knew she should say something about how he makes her feel.
"Elias?" She hesitantly called out as he was carefully separating bones from the meat of the fried chicken. She looked around his quarters again and gazed at the decorations. Then her eyes fell on her teddy bear birthday present, and she could not help but feel warm and fuzzy. When she turned her gaze towards Elias, his crimson eyes were on her, patiently awaiting what she would say. "Thank you. For all these."
He gave her one of his clumsy smiles. "I told you yesterday night, didn't I? That you deserve a proper birthday celebration."
"I wish…" Chise paused, remembering the story he had told her yesterday night. And then she looked straight into his crimson eyes and beamed. "I wish for another day like this next year."
"That is one wish I'm sure I can grant, Chise." Elias replied with certainty, the memory of her other wishes that she confessed to him yesterday night still fresh on his mind.
I wished for you to never leave me. Or if you ever will, for you to take me with you.
xxxx
Chise woke up the next morning from one of the most restful sleep she ever had. She looked up at the ceiling, wondering if there was a time when she woke up this way. She even had a good dream. She dreamt of her family, her mother and father holding her hand as they walked to the park. Then her father lifted her up on his shoulders, and her mother brushed a hand on her strawberry-colored hair, telling her that she would be an elder sister. It was a memory, she knew, but she couldn't remember ever dreaming about the same thing before. She hugged her teddy bear tightly and became surprised when something hard hit her nose.
Crystal flowers had grown on the forehead of her teddy bear. What happened? What did it mean? Was this the little trick Elias hinted about yesterday? She should ask him right away. Without further thinking, she gathered the teddy bear in her arms and bolted out of her dorm room. She made the trek to his quarters, not even aware that she was still in her pajamas. When she reached his door, she knocked. No one answered. On the second try, she heard heavy footsteps inside, and then Elias grudgingly opened the door, looking all sleepy and grumpy in his pajamas.
"C-Chise?" He muttered in disbelief upon seeing her, rubbing his eyes just to make sure he was not seeing things in his sleepiness.
"I'm sorry, I—" Chise paused, and that was when she had the sense to look at her watch. It was 7:38 am. It hit her then that it was still too early for Elias to wake up. He once told her that he wakes up at around 10. Yet he was already in front of her, so she might as well show him the reason she came knocking on his door this early. "This?" She held the teddy bear in front of him.
Elias looked at the teddy bear, and a look of satisfaction spread on his skeletal face. "Ah, so it worked. I'm glad." He picked one stem of the crystal flowers and handed it to Chise.
"What is this?" Chise wondered out loud, as she received with her hand the crystal flower Elias picked.
"Flos magicae. Special seeds that grow flowers once they absorb magical energy. I planted them inside your teddy bear. I know you still release excess magical energy when you sleep. When you keep the bear close, it will absorb your excess magical energy and the seeds turn them into crystal flowers." He calmly explained, the sleepiness disappearing from his voice. "Do you like them?"
Chise looked at the teddy bear and at the crystal flowers on its forehead. It was the first gift she ever received from him, and she marveled at the level of care and concern he had for her which he showed through his gift. "They're very beautiful." She breathed out softly, hugging her teddy bear to her chest again.
Elias looked closely at Chise then, finally taking in the sight of her. She was in pink pajamas, all creased and wrinkled, and her strawberry-colored hair was tousled and sticking out in many different places. Still, she looked more beautiful to him more than ever. "Tell me, Chise, did you have a good dream?"
"I did. Was it because of the teddy bear too?"
"Perhaps. It's stuffing is made of cottonfly wool. They're supposed to help you get good dreams as you sleep." Elias explained, relieved that another feature that he planned for the teddy bear worked out right. "But I think it would be more comfortable if we talk about it inside. Care for some breakfast?"
"Yes." Chise grinned from ear to ear at his invitation, and Elias opened his door wide to receive her once again.
xxxx
Additional Notes: Did you die from the fluffiness? I hope you didn't because I've got more planned for these two. Here are some notes about here and there:
Fjaðrárgljúfur (sad that I don't even know how to pronounce it) is a real place in Iceland. But instead of a series of canyons which I described here, I think it is only one in real life. At least, that's how I see it in pictures. I haven't been there yet. Nonetheless, go search for an image and you will be amazed at how much it looks like a Dragon Aerie.
Rahab as a 'Yud' level Master is borrowed from Mairimashita! Iruma-kun. I decided to borrow it, since it is in keeping with the Hebrew theme. 'Yud' is the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and in the context of this story, it is the highest level of Master a Magus can obtain.
Flos magicae is just the Latin of two English words, 'flower' and 'magic'.
What do you think about this chapter? Feel free to write a review to share your thoughts. :)
AL-AB93, BlueNachturne: Thank you for always encouraging me! I really appreciate it! :)