IX - The Story of Love: The Restoration
From what blowing have been telling her, forces nearby continued to clash.
Yet, Alvieha had something to do before even concerning herself with whispers.
As she arrived at the town square, people were already there. Nuns were lined up at the sides and so did parents. In the centre, children gathered.
A young girl named Marie, the child wearing a black cloak, everyone. Those who were caught up in the entire ordeal.
Two feet slowly made their way into the centre of the crowd. Young eyes followed her back, curious, half-nervous. But, they didn't need to.
"According to what I heard, there are those here that were tricked by bad men. The sad thing here is that, because of what they did, some of you may never be able to use magic ever again."
Unrest slowly rose. Mothers were shocked. Fathers got nerves struck. Even the nuns didn't fail to express pity and sadness. Most of all, children began to show tears.
"But, that's why all of you are here."
Out of her cloak, Alvieha spread her arms wide, fingers close to one another. With her head held high, her eyes were at the skies.
She began to mumble. Words that flowed out were soft and low, and foreign to the ears of the minds, young and old, that stood near her. Alvieha, then, had her eyes shut.
She began to concentrate.
While words still left her lips, a film of white light began to cover each child in the square. Slowly, they ascended in the air, not as high as the rooves of homes, but not too low for an adult to reach without jumping.
Some felt excited; others felt scared. One child was about too wet his pants.
For seconds, they were suspended in mid-air, unstable. But, when Alvieha stopped speaking, all the children became still. Their bodies ceased moving. She opened her eyes.
"Nil desperandum."
At those words, the brilliance encasing each small body began to glow further. From the outside, each child was becoming covered with so much light, adults couldn't make out of the youth.
But, beyond their skins, minuscule particles began flowing into their veins. Riding with blood, the tiny portions of matter quickly spread all throughout their nervous system, reaching each muscle and tissue present in a child.
Alvieha stayed silent, but parents around her were starting to worry.
She knew that.
From their eyes, what's happening could appear as a ritual of negative nature. Some of the anxious would be racing towards her within moments.
But, she didn't falter. Besides...
The procedure was about to end.
After a few more seconds of agonising patience, children began to descend slowly into the solid streets of Nairn. Some still had light around them when they reached the earth, others lost theirs while reaching for the pavement.
More seconds later, all light dissipated from the area. The victims have all landed safely.
Slowly, Alvieha retracted her hands into her cloak. She glanced left and right, checking for any irregularity, before speaking once she felt satisfied.
"The magic I just did to each and every one of you kids is to simply restart your bodies, eliminating the fact that mana was just removed from you. Now, all should be the way it should be. However, there may be lucky ones here whose magic development was accelerated. But, overall, none of you can no longer be incapable of using magic."
At the end of the announcement, people began to cheer. Children quickly to their parents, crying tears of joy for what happened. Other young ones immediately tried to create magic, but mostly failed.
The nuns approached Alvieha to express their thanks and Alvieha simply responded with a smile.
Once all settled, the female mage returned to the church, to check up on Sister Theresa. A little girl accompanied her.
"You just got healed, Sister Theresa," Alvieha said with concern while holding a knife and a fruit. "You can get back to sleep if you want."
"In that case, why are you peeling an apple?"
"I didn't say this is for you. This is for me and Marie-chan," the woman handed a cut piece to the little girl on the bedside. "We have to be careful of your sugar intake."
"Apples don't give you diabetes."
"Oh, please. Your skin is so dried up, the slices would instantly dehydrate inside your mouth. If you still tell me that dried fruits don't give you diabetes, we'd really need to have your brain checked ou– Hey! Get your hands off my apple, you wrinkly witch!"
The room filled with life.
Alvieha, Sister Theresa, and Marie shared a few laughs and more apple slices for some time, until none was left and Alvieha excused herself to the kitchen. Marie stayed with Sister Theresa who slept to rest afterwards.
While the telepath was busy filling herself with more apples, heroes arrived at Nairn.
Using Finral's portal, ten people arrived into town. For Gauche, he instantly searched for his sister. For Yami, he quickly looked for a toilet. The other captains relaxed for a bit, while a young man with ashen hair instantly fell unconscious. He was taken care of by people with golden cloaks who were with them.
Alvieha looked for Cirxen's reinforcements. And she found them outside the church doors.
"Thanks for your hard work, honeys."
She didn't come as a surprise for any of them.
"When Cirxen gave me a ring dead at night, I was certain it had your name written on it," a male with silver hair spoke.
"It's been a while since we saw you, Alvieha," the man with green cloak added, not before cackling.
"Alvieha-san, it's nice to see you again." The woman with a helmet sounded more accommodating, yet, as serious as the first guy.
"Still, I really appreciate you three coming all the way here."
"If it wasn't for Cirxen, I may haven't even bothered leaving my house."
"Don't say that, Nozel-san," Alvieha closed the gap between them and ran her fingers up his chin. "I believe you got some frustrations out of your system thanks to that."
"Why didn't you yourself go there," the man with sharp features asked.
"I had something to do here," Alvieha was calm, while images of Gauche being pissed at her flashed in her mind. "I couldn't leave."
"In that case, I would like to return to our base now, Alvieha-san, if it's okay."
The hooded lady continued being cheerful. "Well, allow me to send you guys myself as thanks for the help you've done. I'll send a word to Cirxen myself later."
One by one, Alvieha sent off the three captains to their respective destinations using the same way she sent Finral and Gauche away earlier that day.
After the lady has sent Jack the Ripper back to his base, Alvieha went to look for Yami and talk about the incident.