He felt dizzy as he woken or rather winded as others would say, the sudden pour of those memories and that was, he felt himself grow rigid and cold, tears threatening to pour out but he forced a smile towards both of them, Marisa look downright concerned but didn't know what to say, while your father had an expression of calmness, but you could barely see the mix of emotions pass near his eyes but you didn't comment about it,
You looked at your father and only a flicker of emotion was what you see, you forced yourself to calm and look at both of them and hoarsely asked, "What's your diagnosis?"
Marisa looks perplexed and seemingly confused at your reaction instead, just because you are brilliant at magic doesn't necessarily mean you are lacking at socially but she did definitely notice the somber situation, she was moving her arms in a back and forth, and his father was looking at Marisa calmly,
True, his father knew a lot of things about magic but that doesn't necessarily translate to magical prowess, the ability to read doesn't translate towards latent magical potential, he merely followed what Marisa told him to do,
With both of them staring at the woman who was anxiously rubbing her hands, "From what we can see, I looked at his soul. There are definitely are changed but that seemed more on prior on events before my sudden apprenticeship with his uncareful use of magic"
" Though I do question with how he actually does magic, from what I've seen, " She takes a teaching pose " To use magic, there needs to be somewhere for it to gather, to manipulate and direct that flow of essence, which is a very generous summary. Now we know that the strength of the material, can affect how magic can be used, for example wooden foci, it has a gem in the staff used for directing that essence in the formation of a spell"
"Yes, indeed and now looking at you the way you deal with combat, the material used for manipulating magical essence, paper despite its thinness, if done right it could be used in a form of that of a shrine priestess or a priest, depending on the religion on which the impression is taken from, as what we've recalled magic can be influenced"
A startled cough came from his father, Mapulon and Marisa looks at him with concern, " Dad, You okay there? ". He tried to speak but he coughed more.
"I'm fine, " he groans as he felt his body shake from trying to suppress the coughing, but it made it worse instead, Mapulon approaches him and slowly rubs his back in a soothing way, his father relaxes and his coughing lessens but doesn't go away, Mapulon looks at him with concern.
" Hey would you get the rubbing alcohol, I think he's got a fever, " he said, you position your father in a resting position with his head, you felt something stir and physically recoil at your touch, you hear it try to skitter away but when you look at it back there was nothing there, it would be fine if Mapulon noted that as some sort if figment of his imagination,
But doing it like that is a recipe for disaster, he could list countless instances where Marisa has noted about a French magician talking about stealing dwarven tech, not noting the fact there was a dwarf sitting near him, and as expected the Dwarf handled it with care,
And with the notorious nature of dwarves, it nearly certainly gets bloody frankly if that magician wasn't actually joking then there would have been blood on the floor, he was sweating from that experience told the magician towards the Youkai friend, Marisa had
Though from the way Marisa faces friend, though and the way she greets people as if they were friends, that would certainly explain it and with her charisma that was expected too, anyway just like what Mapulon said, magic leaves impression and that certain flicker is certainly concerning, he knew what it might be and from the memories he received and the magic he practiced every day,
He certainly knew what it was and yet here he was hesitating, all he needs to do was identify it and attempt to purify it, he was pacing back and forth, his mind attempting to circle one trying to use a ritual that his master wouldn't notice, something subtle.
Clenching his fists and unclenching, a ritual in mind and he looked to see Marisa carrying a cold compress in her hand, medicine in one hand and the water bottle, sensing the atmosphere she then said, "That one was something I didn't anticipated earlier, for that I'm sorry"
Mapulon tried to ask, but a hand raised before he could and his eyes narrowed in focus, a glint of a calculating face appeared before her with him now in full focus, Marisa continues and say, " It is certain that there are effects towards the Ritual, your father assisted"
"You weren't expecting that the side effects, were that severe?" his words intoned in a question but stated as if it was a fact, Marisa looked at him with a surprised expression
"Correct, only these types of reactions depend on lot of variables, do you remember what I said earlier?" Mapulon looked impatient at the reminder but nodded anyway
"For a person to react like that…" she paused at that as if thinking of an example "It would need for let's say if a person from someone who was touched by divinity, or trained by divinity were to say to cast a ritual, they may feel discomfort or unease in their presence, demons react towards them like that"
"But, most of the times when that happens it would need that either the person is an active practitioner in it, or someone tainted by it" She saw a flicker of dismay in Mapulon's face and she looked and smiled reassuringly " Don't worry your father isn't tainted, I've looked up at his aura with nifty artifact of mine" she coyly smiles at him, with a gem in her hand, it rendered what Mapulon the things he would have done in order to remove a non-existent demon, he merely looked at Marisa for that,
She laughed at his expression and turned serious which Mapulon regarded her with his attention, and says , " Don't worry, I'll handle things from there on… I am not a magician if I could not handle a simple demon like that" A ghost of a feral expression was on her face, despite the pleasant face, he shivered at those words and tensed at that,
If she noticed then she didn't give a reaction to that, she only visited this time, to take notice upon his father and the strange way Mapulon, her apprentice was moving, he was eerily good at picking up the lesson she taught him and a way of picking up things like from when she looked at Mapulon when he went to buy ingredients for his magic,
He seemed to know as if he knew he was going or rather he was forcing himself look like one, it was one thing that Marisa herself judges as a odd quirk and with the way he looked like as if searching for something that doesn't exist, she knew a lot of people who had weird quirks and left that aside, but nevertheless she has other tasks to do,
Looking down the list, There were couple of things that needs solving and as urgent as this and the need to interfere with it, she resisted the urge and merely looked at Mapulon and said, "Looks like there isn't anything urgent but do contact me in this number, anyway see you later" she handed him a paper slip with a number on it, Mapulon grabbed and it typed it on his phone and looked at the number and hurriedly ran towards the gateway, where Marisa was getting on her broomstick,
"Wait? How did you get a phone! Didn't think you would be one to buy one for yourself…" He said in a way that believed what Marisa was what she gave her,
Marisa looked at Mapulon like he was dumb and he was mortified with what he said, she snorted at that and speed away to the skies, Mapulon with his phone tucked in his shorts mortified entered back towards the house, checking first on his dad, he was sleeping soundly and that his temperature wasn't really that high but was still sick,
Mapulon wondered if he should do try it at least one given that Marisa told him explicitly not because of an artifact she had, he tried finding reason to do so, but it quickly dwindled, true he has information about removing demons and all, but with the state he was in and the memories?
Forget about purifying it, he might not have enough energy to kill one after the release, he shuddered at the thought of a demon being unleashed at his town, with him chastised at that, he began to prepare a small meal instead for his father and dinner for him, a simple soup of sinigang with pork, with small cup of rice
He is currently having a fever, best he had at least a fulfilling meal, while confined in his bedroom, from there he fed his father and changed his clothes, he himself ate and started preparing for his online class and prepare to pass the project he had been working on,
As hours passes by and nears on midnight, with two online classes and an output that he just passed, like that the day passes of like nothing happened, he arrives at his bedroom, looking at these surroundings, he saw upon on his work three wards for privacy, a warning sign and something to keep out the cold during these nights.
Looking at the paper talismans, he started on preparing parts of ink and a tagboard below to not at least make mess of his living space, he prepared clean talismans freshly made, a brush of ink and his self, he practiced first on a set, the first one was a gust of wind,
He slowly puts the brush and carefully puts the symbol for it while carefully adding magic as if weaving cloth towards it, a slow process but a needed one, he felt shake but forced his hand to steady and within moments the talisman was there,
It shined momentarily of a green and went back to its original color, he did it to several talismans and papers, and after 2 hours he had a steady suppl of them, he felt himself breathing hoarsely but not out of breath and his body tired, he safely put them inside his pouch and wiped of the sweat with a hand-towel he grabbed before going here,
Then he stood up and lined up the chalk in a manner of ritual just like he remembered and did as what he has seen, and he felt something brush upon his head or rather his mental part of his being, he shivered at the touch a foreign specifically, yet he continued anyway,
He could see the barebones of the ritual and see what it was actually used for, some sort of ritual to strengthen the ties between the goddess herself and the priest, he was priest before hand and wanted to try it again, the only the thing he would get as a backlash was the lose of chalk and dignity but he was the only one so it still remained,
All it was felt to do what he saw in his memory, he was clumsy at first not even getting the points but slowly it became more graceful and elaborate, he felt the foreign touch much more present and he knew who she was and what it was, there was something that entered in the boundaries and he knew it too,
He opened his eyes to see the goddess looking at him with strange fondness as if trying to see who it was and he regarded her, so he spoke , "ehh" was all he could say as the goddess took upon herself to personally crush his skeleton as possible, he didn't know what to say and all he could do was, tap at the goddess crushing him,
You look at the goddess, she was crying, he didn't know and which such a heartfelt hug, and actually looked at the face of the goddess, you were stunned yourself, you know she was and yet you stiffen and hugged her back harder anyway, moments of peace lasted and he looked at his goddess/step-mother,
You looked at her closely and feel that it's less pronounced and seemed more fragile at best, he looked at his patron goddess and said, " You feel less pronounced…" and your goddess looked at you with sadness and said, "You have grown as it but do you even remember why I let you practice that in the first place?"
She seemed hesitant in continuing but all he concentrated where she stood and one look could tell that she was already vanishing but not to slow, "That was just a measly attempt in creating a foothold for me to stay here, even then with the other religions such as Christianity and Muslims, I couldn't gather enough faith for that"
He grimaced coming to the conclusion, "with during that time when the fires occurred at that event, the wards that you have placed centered around my faith dwindled, no one believed in me and it waned it might and thus that is the reason why that village got destroyed"
He was shaking but forced himself to calm at the blunt statement by his former goddess that was just slowly fading by he had couple question before she went back where she came from, the ritual he did was just an attempt to do what his goddess tried to instruct to him, but with the lack of faith and the increasing competition, that wouldn't work at all,
She looked at you and smiled sadly, and said, "Don't worry Mapulon, you have been a worthy priest during your time and age, but even then compared to your peers you were but a child and merely tried your best at doing your work. You tried healing others but you had only limited resourced to draw upon, and your skills limited to banishing small corrupted wolves along with healing minor injuries."
"I treasure are time together despite the hurdles as goddess herself not primed for combat of the darkness, but a nature goddess despite what you have achieved with you in that state, only time could tell, I'd love to stay but you can't keep on powering this ritual forever and the spells I've taught are your things that I've made up yet you made it real anyway,
Don't worry you have friends and your father may be mysterious and may raise a red flag but he is trustworthy, and as a final gift," he looked at the goddess and only felt like he was suddenly forced back living the past but one blink she was still there fading out, she touched your head and felt something bloom in your soul specifically
The goddess looks at you and smiled warmly, "I'm always watching after you and that woman you saved back then? She's in heaven too! She sends her regards to you!"
Mapulon tried to keep going on but neither was he full of mana, he tried to keep ongoing and but it didn't work out and tried to reduce the capacity of the ritual itself, yet she was still fading. She lied he knew himself after all when a god/goddess fades back towards its roots as it's faith in it dwindle, she wasn't going somewhere and as it was a permanent fade, there was no ritual to attempt to contact her or establish a foothold when one fades it's always permanent,
He stood there, and yet no tears went out. All he felt was the draining of his energy and the last words his mother told him was of that woman and the remembrance of that day when he stumbled upon that temple, it was raining at that time and he fully remembered it as his memories came back in full force.
A child walks on the streets huddled,
His eyes nothing present and with only his body seemed to remain,
Walking from one street to one street,
His hands received no alms nor food,
Rain started pouring, it hit his head and a head wound agitated,
He started walking faster towards the abandoned building,
There was nothing in there except a matt and some things he didn't recognize,
He stood there with his meagre clothes and waited for it to stop raining, yet it didn't
As he searched withing the old building he gathered things, from parts of the room,
A broken mattress, a unopened water bottle and a few clothes bigger than his size,
He slept there hungry and a orphan. He couldn't but moments later,
he hears a melody from a far despite the hunger he slept soundly for the first time.
The memory flowing in his brain for just one last time, and a blast of nostalgia hit him, a tune in the melody and the simple times of her and the presence of her, part of him broke that day hearing it just for the first time, something heat rose to his eyes and to first time he felt the emotions in him welled up,
Frustration, entered his body and question seized him up and as if something unveiled his heart for the first time and felt like colors brightened at that day, he trembled there and alone, a reflection of the choices he made up today and the first time ever he cried.
Author notes: Despite reading this for the second time again for checking errors, I still felt crying despite me being the author and a conclusion towards the search of what Mapulon do, though me somehow making it through this, I liked the dialogue between the goddess herself and the main character. Though not exactly what I was aiming for it was satisfying to write the ending, despite my poor poem skills.