Please read this on Wattpad or AO3, I'm begging you. Trust me, you'll enjoy it much more.
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The Divine Protection Of Aging.
It grants a simple, but useful ability, the ability to pause and unpause the holder's aging.
Contrary to it's name, it doesn't control the aspect of aging, only being able to stop and continue the process.
Should've just been called The DIvine Protection Of Stopping Aging if it can't control it. Was what the holder of it thought.
Still, the usefulness of this ability couldn't be underplayed.
If one were to use it properly and live very carefully, it would be something akin to immortality.
Of course, there are some other uses for it, one of the most useful being: Always having the learning capabilities of a child.
One shall not underestimate the mind of a child. It's much better at soaking information in than any adult's brain.
This is the main reason why the holder of this ability, while having lived for 50 years, is still in the body of a child.
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"Look after Shaula, ok?"
These words of his Teacher, he would never forget. This mission he was given, would always be his number one priority.
No matter how many books he read, how much knoweldge he gained, these words always floated on the very top of his mind.
Almost like an inflatable ball in a pool.
What a weird comparison. Teacher has definitely poisoned my mind.
The weird words that only his Teacher said, which sounded alien, had undoubtedly seeped into his mind through all the interactions he has had with him.
These words weren't just limited to conversations, no, his own name was something similar, or so he guessed.
After all, what kind of name is Lesath?
While he had never met a person with a normal name, as he had never left the safe confines of Pleiades, he could guess that it wasn't a normal one.
After all, The Books Of The Dead in the Taygeta library housed names much different from his own.
The name Shaula was no exception.
The name of the mabeast created by Daphne with the help of Teacher, didn't have a name that matched this world's standards.
The name of the tower Lesath has lived his whole life in - Pleiades, also sounded strange.
But he wasn't complaining. Far from it.
The weird name signified a connection between him and his Teacher, which made him feel a special kind of emotion.
After all, his earliest memories are of him being taken care of by Teacher, so his name making that connection even more apparent, makes him feel very happy for it.
To think that if my real parents had just attached a bracelet to me, my name could've been something completely different...
His Teacher always avoided talking about Lesath's real parents or how he found him, but he could guess by himself what had happened.
He was abandoned when he was a baby, and so Teacher took Lesath under his wing.
It felt kind of weird to think about it, but he was glad he was abandoned. It led to him being adopted by Teacher, and he couldn't think of his life going in any other direction.
He could still remember how bad his Teacher was at taking care of him at first.
Ah, the good ol' days. But that's enough reminiscing, I have to finish this book.
Lesath was reading a book. A book about magic, poisons and curses.
He had read numerous similar books, not just because his Teacher had instructed him to, but also because he didn't have much else to do.
And just like all the previous books, this wasn't his first time reading this one. He had reread it multiple times, all for the sake of perfectly memorizing it.
This was the second mission he was given. To memorize all the books that his Teacher left him.
And unfortunately for him, he was becoming scarily close to completing this goal. Of course, he didn't know that this would be a detriment for him just yet.
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"Come on! Let's do something!"
Lesath: "*sigh* Fine." He closed the book he was rereading.
Contrary to the sigh that escaped his mouth, Lesath was grateful for her presence.
Shaula: "Yay! Let's go!" She jumped in joy with the broadest smile she could make and started dragging him away.
Reading books and doing nothing else isn't possible.
The human body gets bored of things quite easily.
Which is why he was grateful for being able to talk and do things with Shaula every now and then.
He would get bored of books, do something with Shaula, and get back to reading books.
A simple cycle, but it worked.
It constantly kept him working towards his two goals as well, so he didn't see the need to change it.
I feel dizzy.
Shaula was running way faster than he ever could, so his body couldn't handle it well, even though he has been through this situation more than a hundred times at this point.
After not too long, they had arrived at the spot where Shaula would get training in.
Well, she was the one who called it training. In reality, she couldn't get better at something she was already perfect at, so this was just an excuse to shoot some mabeasts.
Shaula: "Are you ready?!" She was just like a child, unable to hide her excitement at all.
Lesath: "Wait a bit." He put his hands on his knees.
The dizziness hadn't gone away yet, so he had to take a little bit of a break.
Shaula: "Aww. Why are you so brittle? You should just grow up already." She pouted.
Lesath: "I don't want to make my already hard mission even harder, Shaula." He answered with an exasperated face.
After a small break, Lesath's childish body finally recovered.
Both of them took their places beside each other.
Shaula: "Ok, Google! Hell's Snipe!"
Lesath: "Hell's Poison!"
They shouted this simultaneously.
Immediately, a needle started gaining an immense amount of heat, but that wasn't where it stopped, a thick layer of greenish poison had been applied on top of it.
Then, at the speed surpassing the speed of sound multiple times, the needle shot out, leaving a greenish-yellowish trail behind.
The Hungry Horse King, who had somehow got to the surface, was the one to whom the projectile was aimed towards. And before it could even react, its massive horn got completely separated from his body.
This is why I always question my usefulness in this situation.
Lesath was the one who 'applied the poison to the stinger' or so his Teacher used to say.
The power of the poison couldn't be underestimated, the leftovers of the Hungry Horse King's corpse had shriveled up and became pale looking. Even bones couldn't escape the sheer terrificness of this poison, but the problem was what it was used with.
The stinger is already enough...
Let us say this once again: The power of the poison couldn't be underestimated, the leftovers of the Hungry Horse King's corpse had shriveled up and became pale looking.
Corpse.
Lesath didn't see the point in adding poison to the mix when the attack was as devastating as it was.
"It's not about the effectiveness, it's about the meaning and the symbolism. Not everything has to be solely for purpose."
Was the excuse his Teacher gave him.
But well... it's kinda fun doing this with Shaula.
Even though his contribution was questionable at best, he didn't mind that he didn't bring anything to the table. It was fun to synchronize his magic with Shaula's and he was pretty sure she was of the same opinion.
"Ok Google!"
As soon as the 'ready' command was said, he prepared his magic again.
"Hell's Snipe!" "Hell's Poison!"
Another needle shot out, with the familiar green-yellow trail behind it.
Immediately, a person fell to the ground with a huge hole in his body.
Huh? Wait, a person?
When Lesath looked closer, he saw a person in black/red clothes with a hood completely covering the head.
A Witch Cultist...
He hadn't seen many of them, since the only opportunities to see them were like this one (already dead), but he had heard about them from his Teacher a little bit.
Their main goal was apparently breaking The Seal of The Witch Of Envy, which wasn't a big problem for him or Shaula.
They were extremely weak and they hadn't even started getting beyond Sand Time since 10 years ago. Before that, they couldn't even get in their range.
All in all, they were just practice targets.
And there's a whole lot more of them.
The previously yellow view of the sand, was now covered by an ominous black. But ominous was all it was.
The dozens of Witch Cultists were all trying their best to reach the tower, but were either killed by Shaula and Lesath or by the mabeasts below before they could make any significant progress.
Lesath: "Hey, can I use my ultimate move now? This is probably the only time I'll get to use it in another couple of years."
Shaula brought her finger up to her chin in thought.
She wanted to keep shooting the Witch Cultists, as it was kinda fun, but Lesath's ultimate move would wipe out most if not all of them, leaving very little for her to shoot.
But then, she came up with brilliant idea
Shaula: "Why don't you kill half of them, and I kill the other half?"
Lesath: "Sure. I'll take the right."
This could also test my ability to correctly measure my power.
He started gathering his mana.
Shaula: "Infinite Hell's Snipe!" She shouted, not long after the talk.
Show off.
Due to her biology, it was no problem for her to use her ultimate move immediately, while Lesath had to slowly build up mana.
It didn't help his mentality that the power of the needles she shot out were already destroying the cultists one after another.
By the time he would gather enough mana, almost everyone on Shaula's side would already be dead, he calculated.
Finally, I'm done!
"Poison Doom!"
A huge amount of poison appeared in the sky and started falling right on top of the numerous cultists.
They couldn't react well to this because it was so massive and came out of nowhere.
...Is what Lesath thought.
In reality, making poison out of mana was unheard of, so what surprised the cultists wasn't its scale, but its unrealness.
Still, it's not like they didn't act at all. Some shot fireballs at it, some covered themselves in an earth dome, but-
It's useless.
The fireballs got eaten up with nothing happening, and the earth domes couldn't withstand the sheer power of the poison as it ate straight through them.
Shaula: "The acid is so cooool!"
Lesath: "It's not acid!" I shout in protest. This wasn't the first time she mistook this.
Shaula: "But that's what Master called it?" She innocently cocked her head to the side.
Lesath: "He said that as a joke! I'm supposed to be poison!" He pointed to himself.
But as he realized what he just said and with what intentions, he couldn't help but descend into thought.
...Why do I take that so seriously? Why am I so serious about being 'poison'?
Sure, his Teacher has told him that he was supposed to be a poison master, but he didn't expect for himself to be so set on about this.
Whatever. Go away, negative thoughts.
He waved all these weird thoughts away and focused on the real world again.
Shaula: "Hellooo? Earth to Lesaaath." She was poking his cheek while saying that.
Lesath: "Stop it. I'm not a baby." He tried to force Shaula finger away with his small hands, but was unable to.
Shaula: "But you are!" She kept poking his cheek.
Lesath: "You're the one who's acting like a baby! When will you act like an adult?!" He put all his strength into his little hands, but nothing changed.
Shaula: "When you'll start treating me like one!" She answered without pause.
...She's right.
He was surprised at how accurate Shaula was.
Because of the mission he was given, he had treated Shaula like a child, doing everything she asked, making sure she would never feel alone and all that stuff.
But I don't really have a choice, do I? And her acting like a child doesn't really bother me.
He didn't really care how Shaula acted. And how else was he supposed to look after her?
He didn't really have any ideas, so he wasn't about to change how he acted.
Lesath: "Yeah yeah, alright. Now stop poking me!" I glared at her.
Shaula: "So cute!"
Lesath: "I'm not!"
And so The Two Star Keepers spent their time yelling at each other, yet still having fun.
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As soon as he took a bite, he wanted to throw up, but he forced his previous food to stay down. He chewed as fast as he could, and forcefully gulped it down.
Lesath: "It doesn't get better no much I eat this bullshit." He said, as he glared at the food in front of him.
Shaula: "That's not how that word is used." She said, as she casually took another bite.
So lucky.
Once again, because of her biology, she could eat mabeast's meat just fine, while every time he did, he had to stifle his urge to throw up.
Lesath: "Then how is it used?" He asked, a little annoyed and curious.
Shaula: "Bullshit - is when you don't believe something someone said. In this situation, dogshit would be a better pick."
Since Shaula was created before Lesath was even born, she spent much more time with Teacher, and so was much more accurate on his weird language.
Lesath: "Hai, Shaula-sensei."
Shaula: "Hm!" She puffed her chest out.
She's just like a kid.
Just a little bit of praise was enough for her to get full of herself. Hell, it didn't even have to be praise, if she felt like she was above somebody, she would immediately feel ultra important.
That was just how childish she was. It brought him joy to see her acting like this.
He bit the cooked meat again.
"Ngh."
Good emotions don't make this any less agonizing.
He had hoped that happiness would dull the taste, but the tounge couldn't be tricked by emotions.
I shouldn't have used all my mana on that spell!
Due to not being used to casting his ultimate move (totally not because he was jealous of Shaula's power), Lesath had put too much power into it, and his mana had been totally exhausted.
Otherwise, he would use Yin magic to separate his taste receptors from his brain, and just eat this normally.
He bit off a piece of meat.
He immediately felt his stomach start turning. The smell of vomit filled up his nose.
He spit out the piece as fast as he could.
Lesath: "No, I can't eat this. I'm gonna wait till I recover some mana."
His stomach was still upset and he still felt like he was about to throw up.
Lesath: "I'm going to the Green Room."
He walked out of his room, which they used to eat since it was much bigger than Shaula's, and headed to the Green Room next door.
As soon as he entered it, he immediately started feeling better. Not by much, but he will take anything at this point.
Lesath: "Ah~. It's so much better in here. Thanks Pleione."
Pleione was the name of the spirit that dwelled here, or at least what his Teacher called it.
He didn't know whether it actually had a name, as Shaula had never called it by one, and no one besides his Teacher called it that, but he decided to follow his Teacher's words.
Now that I think about it, Shaula might actually just have no idea Teacher called it Pleione, as she's never had to go in here. She's so strong, that she's never actually hurt or sick.
It was yet another reason to be jealous of Shaula.
Still, since she doesn't know Pleione's name, it means that I'm the only one who can actually correctly address the spirit. It's information only I have, so I guess it's not too bad that she never gets hurt.
...Who am I kidding. I'm just making excuses. There's no way those two things are equivalent.
Knowing someone's name was not on the same level as having an extremely powerful body.
He just didn't want to feel jealous, especially of Shaula. He didn't want their friendship to suffer.
Well, we've been together for 40 years now, so there's no way something like this will actually break our friendship, but that doesn't mean I want to feel like this...
Lesath: "*sigh* What should I do, Pleione?"
Silence was all that answered him.
Lesath: "Yeah, of course. What did I expect?"
...
Lesath: "You know, I'm really jealous of Shaula. She can do powerful magic without even trying, she can just as easily pick up massive boulders or run up the entire tower without losing even a little bit of breath. And the worst part, she didn't even work for all of this! When I have to read books for days on end, she can do it from birth!
"But it's not like it's her fault. She was made, and she doesn't have control over what powers Teacher and Daphne gave her. All she can do, is use those powers.
...
"Do you think that I could do something to fix this jealousy? I mean, I haven't really been through this situation before, and I don't feel like talking with Shaula will change anything for the better.
"She's too pure for this. She's too pure for me. I don't want her to feel bad about herself just because she makes me jealous. What should I do?"
Another silence followed, yet this one... felt less lonely.
The sensation of being healed combined with the sudden warmness that Lesath felt, made it seem like Pleione was genuinely listening.
Lesath: "...What am I doing?"
When he finally said what he felt like out loud, he immediately understood just how stupid he was being.
Lesath: "As if complaining will do anything. Jealousy isn't that simple."
He never went through anything similar, yes, but what he learned from his life, is that nothing will happen if you do nothing.
Lesath: "Instead of just pointlessly complaining, I should be becoming better until the idea of jealousy is gone from my head."
If he becomes better than Shaula in everything, then being jealous would literally be impossible.
Yes. That's what I should do.
Lesath: "Thanks for listening, Pleione."
Just as soon as he finished talking, the door to the room opened.
Shaula walked in.
Lesath: "Why did you come in here?"
There was absolutely no way she was actually hurt or sick, so it was pretty surprising for her to come here.
She walked up to Lesath.
Shaula: "Well, you want to read, don't you?" She said as she extended a book to him.
...
"Hahahahahaha!"
Sudden laughter filled the room.
Shaula: "What is it?! Don't laugh at me!" She puffed her cheeks.
"Hahahahaha!"
Shaula: "Stop laughing!" She stomped her feet.
"Hahahaha... ah."
The laughter filled with relief stopped with a sigh that signified utter defeat.
Shaula: "Why did you laugh like that?!" She glared at him.
Lesath: "Don't worry, I just lost." He said as he wiped away a single tear.
Shaula: "Hm? How did you lose?" She cocked her head to the side, her anger completely replaced by confusion.
Lesath: "Like I said, don't worry about it." He took the book from Shaula's hands.
While I was complaining about Shaula, she was getting a book for me to read.
I utterly, completely and totally lost to her childishness and kindness.
The negative thoughts and negative feelings that filled up his mind, completely vanished at this interaction.
I can't be angry at someone like her.
Lesath: "Thanks." He said this with a small smile.
He opened the book and started to read the contents of it.
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"Come on! Let's do something!"
Lesath: "Sure." He closed the book he was rereading.
Once again, he was grateful for her presence.
Shaula: "Yay! Let's go!"
She grabbed him just like she does every time, and started running.
Ok, I have a trick up my sleeve this time around.
Lesath: "Don't worry about me being non-responsive, ok Shaula?"
After getting a nod from her, he separated his brain from his body with Yin magic.
Yes! I'm not getting dizzy!
He had no idea why he had never thought of this before.
Sure, the feeling of being separated from your body wasn't something he was used to, but it was better than being dizzy.
This doesn't take much mana either.
Yin becomes harder to cast the more resilient the person you're casting it on is.
But if you reverse that, it means that if the person is welcoming it, it takes much less than any other magic.
I'm a genius!
The reason he hadn't realized he could do this before, was because using magic for small inconveniences has never crossed his mind.
His Teacher always told him that magic should be used in moderation and carefully, so he had always thought of using magic only for necessities, not for small things.
Now that I think about it, Teacher definitely used magic for small things. Why did he teach me that magic was dangerous?
It was weird to think about, but he decided to put that thought on the back burner.
After what he felt like enough time passed, he stopped the magic.
Shaula was already poking his cheek.
Lesath: "How many times did I tell you to stop doing that?!" He stepped back to avoid her finger.
Shaula: "But you were completely unresponsive." She stood up straight.
Lesath: "But didn't I tell you not to worry?!"
Shaula: "I wasn't worried, I was using the opportunity!" She smiled.
She can be so sly sometimes, that I wonder whether she's just acting like a child.
Lesath: "Yeah yeah, whatever. Let's get to shooting."
He looks and sese a small little black speck across the yellow sea of sand.
I can never understand how she knows when someone gets close to the tower like this. It's almost like she has a sixth sense or something.
The black speck, upon closer inspection, was a Witch Cultist.
Only one?
Yesterday, there were about 40 of them, yet today, only one was coming forward.
"Ok Google!"
The ready command that they had agreed upon was said.
"Hell's Snipe!" "Hell's Poison!"
The familiar yellow/green trail followed the needle that was shot out.
And yet, the moment the spell came close to the target, it was completely neutralized, and the poison covered needle fell to the ground, slowly eating away at the sand below it.
Lesath: "What?!"
This was something that has never happened before.
Not only did the Witch Cultist survive their attack, she neutralized it.
Is this the Witch Cult's elite?
There was no other explanation for the power disparity between the previous bunch and this woman.
The woman looked very different from the previous ones as well.
Instead of clothes covering her whole body, only her legs and hips were covered by the familiar black robe.
Her upper body was almost fully nude, the bandages over her large breasts were the only coverage she had. The nudity fully showed the tan and toned body of a warrior with multitude of battle scars and burn marks that she had.
Her skin was almost fully covered in these scars, yet none of them seemed recent and all of them were different. Some were from sharp wind blades, some were from blunt earth blocks, some were from fire, some were from ice.
But this wasn't the most surprising thing about her.
What the hell is wrong with her face?!
What stood out most weren't the scars on her body, but the skin on her face.
On the upper left part of her face, the skin was moving around very fast, almost as if something was about to burst from the inside.
On the upper right part of her face, the skin looked so dry, that it was wonderous that it hadn't fallen off yet.
On the lower left part of her face, the skin was charred, with orange, yellow and red mixed in, these colours resembling veins.
On the lower right part on her face, the skin was floating around, slowly but constantly shifting and moving.
And covering her mouth, where all these parts met, a huge block of metal could be seen, with a jagged upper part, almost resembling teeth.
She is definitely not normal. Even magic can't make an abomination like that.
Even her hair wasn't normal. Half of it was a blinding white, while the other half was so pitch black that the robe seemed light in comparison.
Shaula: "Mother?" She whispered.
Lesath: "What did you say?"
Shaula: "No, nothing." She shook her head.
When Lesath looked at Shaula a bit closer, he could see worry, sadness and longing in her eyes.
What kind of memories did this woman make Shaula remember?
"Ok Google!"
His focus immediately shifted to preparing his spell. It was muscle memory at this point.
""Hell's Snipe/Poison!""
Their voices intermingled, the synchronization clearly showing the bond they shared and the time they spent together, the resulting magic was stronger than any of their previous ones, yet, even that was not enough. Once again, as soon as the needle got close, all its heat and momentum got completely erased.
Lesath: "Dammit."
He hoped that a more powerful and concentrated shot would do it, but it now became clear that their normal strategy wouldn't work here.
Lesath: "We need to come up wi-
*BANG*
Before he could even realize it, Shaula had forcefully lowered his head down to the floor.
Lesath: "Eh?"
He didn't understand what happened, but his skin started getting goosebumps.
*BANG*
This time, Shaula shoved him away to the left, while jumping to the right at the same time.
Thanks to the angle being better this time around, he could see what caused these bangs to happen.
Right where he and Shaula used to stand, a familiar yellow streak of light could be seen. It was gone not even a second later, but it was still clear what it was.
That's Shaula's magic!
If Shaula hadn't shoved him away, he would've surely gone out of commission.
This is bad!
But he couldn't even get a second to think as another *BANG* reverberated through the air.
This time, two yellow streaks of light had met each other in the middle, cancelling each other out.
Shaula's countering it!
Shaula: "Think of something!" She shouted at him, while shooting out yet another stinger of hers.
Everything was progressing way too fast, and Lesath had never been in such an intense situation before, but he forced his mind to calm down and come up with a plan.
Think about this calmly, Shaula can buy me time... but how much?
Lesath: "How much longer can you keep holding her off?!" He shouted to make sure Shaula could hear him through all the loud bangs happening.
Shaula: "As long as you need!" She smiled with confidence.
That's good. Be calm, you have all the time in the world.
He took a quick deep breath to calm down.
That woman clearly copied Shaula's signature magic. And she didn't just copy it...
He looked at Shaula and saw how she kept firing faster and faster.
The intensity of the shots keeps increasing and the interval between them keeps shortening.
That woman is clearly becoming better and better at using the spell.
The gears kept turning in his head, using every bit of information he had.
Whenever Shaula's spells got close, they got neutralized, so overwhelming her with spells doesn't seem like a good idea.
There's the option of exhausting her of her mana, but...
He looked at Shaula again. She wasn't struggling, hell, she was having fun, but he still didn't want to risk it.
Aya... Shaula's really crazy if she's enjoying this. Stop! You have to think of a way to defeat the woman.
If we just exhaust her of her mana, she'll just come back later, that's not what we want. He shook his head.
It almost seemed hopeless, until he remembered one small detail.
Wait... Shaula's spell got neutralized, but my poison didn't.
...It's worth a shot.
He stood up and casted some poison right above the woman. She jumped away to avoid it.
I knew it. My poison is our win condition.
He started chanting for the finishing move. He had to make sure she wouldn't be able to survive this.
Lesath: "The Nine Poison Hells!"
The woman got surrounded by a dome of poison. But that wasn't all, another dome of poison materialized, and another, and another.
All in all, nine layers with different poisons and different properties all instantly surrounded the woman.
The job is done. He smiled at his work in satisfaction. That was a bit scary, but nothing too ba-
*BOOoOoOM!*
A massive explosion happened with the woman at the center, completely obliterating all the different poisons.
The power of it was so great, that the air itself distorted, making the sound feel broken and wrong.
When everything subsided, there she stood.
RIght in the middle of the massive crater, with the metal piece that used to be on her mouth nowhere to be seen.
She stared daggers at both Lesath and Shaula.
She opened her mouth-
*BAAAANG*
The next thing he saw, was a huge beam right above him. Shaula had forced him down before he could react again.
The huge beam wasn't any singular colour, but all of them at once. Every single colour was combined in a chaotic blend, all in the pursuit of power.
At this terrifying power, Lesath didn't react with fear, but with confusion.
How is that stable?!
Spells that combined every element at once existed, but they were very meticulous, with very delicate control needed to make sure everything goes right.
Yet right in front of him, was a complete mess.
The elements were not properly mixed, instead, they were allowed to ravage as much as they wanted.
This shouldn't have been possible, it went against everything his Teacher had told him.
No, not just his Teacher... it went against the very laws of this world.
The chaotic, jumbled mess in front of him, wasn't something that should've been allowed to exist in this world.
This... Lesath wouldn't allow this to exist.
I'll kill her.
This wasn't at the point of protecting the watchtower, he couldn't allow something like that to exist.
He refused to accept that this was magic. This wasn't how it was used. This wasn't what his Teacher spent his life researching, and he felt like she was just looking down on his Teacher's life work.
Nobody looks down on his Teacher.
I'll kill her.
He repeated that thought to make sure it drove his entire being.
He stood up and looked down at the woman again.
She opened her mou-
"Hell's Poison."
Her mouth became full of poison, and even though that didn't stop the attack, it slowed it down enough so that Lesath could dodge it.
The poison started spreading through the woman's body, but she acted quick and blew off her jaw, which was the part poisoned, with an explosion.
It was quickly healed back up, but the necessary time was bought.
"Death Poison."
It was his first time using this spell, as it took too much mana for its effectiveness and Hell's Poison was normally enough, but this situation required it.
A small little drop of golden poison fell on the woman's finger.
It was spreading very slowly, slowly creeping up her palm.
She blew her palm off, and it regenerated as good as new.
That won't work. It's a sure kill poison.
She opened her mouth to send another beam, but nothing happened.
The skin on her face was becoming normal, it was losing its magical effects. Her hair was also losing colour, becoming a boorish grey.
Her mouth was moving, she was trying to cast spells, but that wouldn't work.
It's a SURE KILL poison.
It started with her exposed belly. It was starting to become golden.
She pulled a dagger and cut her belly off, but that didn't help.
Her insides were already golden.
She wasn't bleeding, but she couldn't do anything to stop the poison from spreading.
Shame it doesn't hurt.
It was a poison with the sole purpose of killing. Pain, which alerts the body of danger, is actually a good thing for staying alive, so the poison wasn't painful at all.
But it's good that she won't survive this.
No matter who you are, if this poison touches you, you're dead.
The woman's body kept getting more and more golden.
Her legs were already fully infected, she was unable to use them, unable to move them.
As it slowly crept up to her head, she kept losing more and more functions of her body.
Unable to breathe, unable to walk, unable to use her hands, her heart stopped and all of it finished with her brain losing all functions as well.
All that remained was a golden statue, blending into the golden sand around it.
./\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\.
Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate.
Hate was all she could feel.
Hate for what was happening around her, for what made all this fire, for what made her closest friends' nerves fry, for what was killing everyone around her.
Magic.
Magic was the sole reason for the despairing scene in front of her. Every single one of the cries in her village was because of that cursed thing.
Magic...
All her pain was because of magic, her memories were stained with red all because of magic.
I'll destroy it.
She hated it. She wanted it gone.
I'LL DESTROY MAGIC.
She vowed to make sure no magic would exist upon this earth.
.\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/.
Shaula: "So cool! What even was that?"
When Lesath looked back at her, she had stars in her eyes at what he did.
Lesath: "That was the strongest poison in the world. If you can even call it that." He said, not quite confident.
Shaula: "Hm? Why are you unsure?"
Lesath: "It's more of a curse than poison. While Hell's Poison also uses some elements of curses, it still mostly works like poison. Death Poison on the other hand, is just a curse with a poison visual effect." He explained to her.
She fell into thought for a bit, before asking another question.
Shaula: "How does it work then?"
Lesath: "It directly affects the Od and Gate of the target and then spreads from there. It completely seals magic, negates any healing the target might receive, and slowly incapacitates the target until all their bodily functions are gone."
It was a truly terrifying spell.
Once it gets inside your system, there's no escaping it, no healing from it and no cure for it.
All you can do, is look as you slowly keep turning into a statue.
Even without pain, it's terrifying, even if just because of the slowness and inevitability of it.
Shaula: "I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that." She frowned as she imagined herself in that situation.
Lesath: "Nobody would. Not even I or Teacher would survive something like that. It has no cure after all."
Shaula: "Then Master would just never get poisoned by it. He can't die after all." She grinned.
Lesath: "Sure." He didn't even try to argue.
For some reason, Shaula was sure that Teacher couldn't die. And he had long ago stopped arguing with her, as it was just pointless.
Lesath: "I'm going to the Green Room. That took almost all of my mana."
He departed from the balcony, a little bit drowsy from the events that happened.
.▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒.
That's it.
He had done it.
He had completed his second mission.
He could perfectly recall any piece of information from any book.
Let's test this again. Book 16(Hell's Poison Test), page 10 is: "-son consists of multiple other poisons all perfectly blended together to make an acidic, but still spreading, perfect, most effective poison. The poisons included in it are: Whale killing poison, Snaketwo's fast spreading poison..."
...
...I remember everything.
As soon as he confirmed his success, an immense feeling of euphoria washed over him.
The second mission, which took him 30 years of nothing but reading these darned books, had finally been completed.
The amount of peace and gratification he felt couldn't be described.
It felt like his life's work was finished.
...Oh wait. It didn't feel like it, it actually was.
I still can't believe it.
Denial was the first stage of grief, but also the first stage of happiness it seemed. Even now, what he did felt unreal.
After all, memorizing more than 50 books word for word? That's a really hard task, even if you have the brain of a child.
To say that he was proud of himself would be an understatement. He felt like he was above anything and everything. That was how good he felt.
This is the best feeling in the world.
His throat was a bit dry, so he tries to bring a cup of water to his mouth, but can't. His hand is shaking.
Lesath: "I'm that happy, huh."
It wasn't just his hand shaking, he could feel his entire body shaking.
Not just his mind, but his body was congratulating him on this achievement.
"Oddamn."
That was all he could say to describe how he was feeling.
Any other words had a meaning, a definite correct way to use them, but the words of his Teacher weren't like that.
He didn't understand them. They didn't have a solid meaning to him. So using them to describe his state of mind felt correct.
"Holy shit."
I actually flippin' did it.
Only now did he properly process that. Only now did tears start coming out of his eyes.
The tears started hitting the floor, but he didn't stop them. He didn't want to stop them.
These tears represented all the days he spent doing this. All 30 years were condensed into these small droplets of water.
"*sniff* I wish this feeling wouldn't stop."
His snot and tears kept coming and coming, but he didn't care.
He just kept basking in the intense happiness that he felt.
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He woke up. His bed in shambles just like always.
Lesath: "Ugh. Why do I always move around in sleep so much?"
Contrary to his annoyed voice, the feeling of elation from yesterday hasn't disappeared yet.
He stared at the ceiling in disbelief.
Lesath: "I Oddamn did it."
He repeated this once again. The words still felt a bit unreal, even though a day has passed.
Lesath: "I'm such a cool person." He smirked.
He got off his bed and dressed up.
He sat down at the table, and started looking, but his eyes couldn't find the target.
Lesath: "Oh wait. That's right, I finished everything."
He always had a book for him to read on the table, so he just did the same actions as always without thinking about them.
Lesath: "That means I finally have free time!"
He excitedly exited his room, but once he did, he stopped in place.
Lesath: "Um... What the hell do I do though?"
The Watchtower wasn't a place with any attractions.
He hasn't really noticed it before, as he's always been busy with reading books and spending time with Shaula, but the tower wasn't really the best place to have fun.
Now that I think about it, how does Shaula spend her time?
He had no idea what Shaula was doing when he wasn't with her. Maybe she actually had something fun to do?
Lesath: "She's probably in her room."
He walked up to her room, and opened the door.
Lesath: "She's not here." He frowned as he looked around the small room.
Where else could she be spending her whole day?
He went to the stairs leading to Celaeno(the floor below) and looked down to see if she was there, but once again saw nothing.
There's only one logical place left. Though I guess it's dumb of me to think Shaula thinks logically.
Still, he couldn't think of anywhere better, so he went to the balcony that they used to 'practice'.
Once he arrived, there he saw her, sitting on it, looking if someone got close.
So that's how she always knows when someone is close. She just constantly sits here. But doesn't that... get boring?
Lesath: "Hey, Shaula!"
She perks up at her name being called.
Shaula: "Lesath? What are you doing here?" She turns to him.
Lesath: "Well, I don't have much to do. I've already memorized all the books, so that past-time is gone."
Shaula: "So we can spend all out time together now?!" She stood up in excitement.
Lesath: "Yep!" He answers her with the biggest smile he can.
Shaula: "Yay!"
She runs up to him and hugs him. His face ends up buried in her.
At first it was fine, but she didn't let go even after 10 seconds.
Is she spinning around in happiness?! He was starting to feel sick and depraved of oxygen.
Her grip was so strong, that no matter how much he tried to get out of it, it was futile.
Lesath: "Can't... breathe..." His desperate plea ended up unheard by her.
He could feel his vision going black with his stomach turning.
...
..
*GASP*
At the last possible moment, he was set free.
*cough* *cough* *GASP*
He was taking in all the oxygen he possibly could.
*blergh*
He was unable to stop the vomit from going out of his system.
*pant* *pant* *pant* *pant*
His eyes were watering with tears of agony.
Lesath: "My Od." Speaking words sent him into another coughing fit.
He spent another good 20 seconds recovering until he was fine.
Lesath: "You should be more careful with your strength, Shaula." He looked at her through his cloudy vision.
Shaula: "I'll be more careful next time. I'm sorry, I was just so excited."
She was looking down with guilt written all over her face. The beaming smile was nowhere to be seen and it was replaced by a frown.
Are those... tears?
In the corner of her eyes, a small amount of water was gathering.
I had never seen her cry before.
Even though Lesath had seen her sad or guilty a bunch of times, her tears were not something he had ever seen.
I... hate how they look on that face.
The face that was supposed to be the brightest, the most cheerful, was being tainted by those despicable droplets of salty water.
Even if it was her fault, I don't care. She can be sad, she can be guilty, but without those annoying ass tears.
He stands up, his back hurts from the hug but he pushes through it.
He stretches his arms towards her.
Lesath: "Come." He says with a serious face.
Shaula: "But!-
Lesath: "Then control your strength! I believe you can do it!" He stops her negative spiral with a shout. "Come." He extends his hands even further and makes a grabbing motion with them.
Shaula: "Alright..."
She slowly comes up to him, kneels down, and 'hugs' him.
Lesath: "Harder."
Shaula: "Eh?"
Lesath: "You're barely touching me. How can that be called a hug?"
Shaula: "Um, alright."
She tightens ever so slightly.
Lesath: "Harder."
Shaula: "But!-
Lesath: "We're gonna do this until you get it right. That way, you'll never hurt anyone ever again." He smiles as he hugs her back.
Shaula: "...So I'll be able to hug Master when he comes back?"
He freezes. He wasn't sure what to say.
Shaula believes that Teacher will come back, but Lesath has long ago accepted that he won't be coming back.
Only Lesath could fight against the disease that is aging after all.
And yet... I can't bring myself not to lie.
Lesath: "Yes. So that you can hug Teacher without hurting him."
Shaula: "Mhm. Thanks."
The Two Star Keepers spent their day learning how to properly hug.
The amount of hours Lesath had to spend in the Green Room to heal his back will be omitted.
.▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒.
He enters the balcony with his head held up high.
Shaula: "Lesath!" She springs up as soon as she hears his footsteps.
He doesn't reply and just keeps holding his head up high with a smug look on his face.
Normally he at least says something. Why is he not replying? Shaula thought.
Shaula: "Um, is everything fine, Lesath?"
At that, he raises his head even higher, he was practically looking at the sky at this point.
Lesath: "Can you not tell?" He scratches his nose.
She could see his nose growing longer.
She blinked to make sure she was not seeing things.
Shaula: "No...?"
Lesath: "I'm taller now!" His head goes even higher.
Shaula: "You... are?"
She walks up to him, but doesn't notice a difference.
Lesath: "Yes!" His smug expression becomes even smugger.
Shaula: "I don't see it though." She innocently states.
Lesath could feel his entire body freeze in shock and pain.
He had grown surprisingly much in the past week, and yet, Shaula was completely ignorant to his growth.
Lesath: "Can you really not see it? I'm clearly much taller than I was a week ago!"
Shaula: "But I don't see it." She innocently repeated.
Lesath: "That's fine. Just wait a couple of years, and I'll be way taller than you!"
He tried his best to hide his pain behind his smug smile.
Shaula: "Alright."
Ugh. She's so innocent that she doesn't understand my pain! But that's fine. In a couple of years, she'll be forced to realize that I was short just because I was still in the body of a child!
After finishing his mission, staying as a child was unnecessary, so he decided to grow into an adult and stop his age there.
Being an adult was much more convenient than being a child, after all.
I also remember that Teacher said something about adults' brains being better at keeping previously learned information, so this is also to make sure I don't forget anything. The human brain isn't perfect after all, it forgets things with enough time.
Shaula: "Why did you come up here today?" Shaula's words snapped him back to reality.
Lesath: "Well, I didn't have anything to do. I could reread the books again, but since I know every word in them, it's a waste of time and also very boring." He sighs.
Shaula: "So we are going together for the whole day again?!" Her smile reached from ear to ear.
Lesath: "Yep!" He said, just as excited as Shaula.
But even though both of them were so excited a minute ago, once they sat down and looked upon the endless sea of sand, which are exactly the actions that they did the previous week, they couldn't say anything.
Their excitement quickly died down, and boredom replaced it.
Lesath was getting restless, but he couldn't say anything. All the possible topics that he could talk about, had already been said the previous week.
They had already talked about Teacher, about 'Mother', about magic, about the witch cult, about that one woman from the witch cult, about Shaula's adventures with Teacher, about Reid, about Volcanica, about the Books Of The Dead, about the trials, about the tower, about the security measures of the tower, about the weird words of Teacher, about Satella, about the other Witches, about Alec Hoshin, about the books that Lesath read, about everything that could come to their minds.
The list was long, but they could talk 16/7 or even more, so the large amount of topics had been exhausted very fast.
The longest one was about Shaula's adventures with Teacher, but due to Shaula being unable to see anything else when Teacher was in her field of vision, the amount that she travelled and the amount of stories she could tell didn't line up.
She's way too love-struck.
So the topic that should've been able to last them half a month was reduced to a mere three days. It was quite the disappointment for Lesath.
Argh! But I can't just here doing nothing! That's too boring! He impatiently scratched his head as he thought of something to do.
Shaula even looked at him as she was surprised by how he was acting.
But just as his scratching got fast enough to make his hair fall out, he stopped.
Lesath: "That's it!" He stood up with a triumphant expression.
Shaula: "What's 'it'?"
He turned to her with a smile.
Lesath: "I'm gonna make poison in the air, and you're gonna shoot it! It's both fun and useful!"
Without even thinking about it, Shaula agreed and got excited once again.
Lesath prepared his magic power and summoned poison in the shape of a target. Shaula sniped it almost immediately.
They repeated this a bunch of times, Shaula was perfectly hitting the targets everytime no matter how far away they were and how small they were.
She's really good, but what about this?
He moved the poison right after Shaula prepared her magic.
You'll miss!
But contrary to what he thought, the shot still perfectly landed.
Shaula: "That was interesting! Do that more!" She was pumped at the thought of a moving target.
...That took a lot of effort, you know?! Your firing speed is ridiculous, so moving it at the right moment takes a lot of effort! He complains in his mind.
But that doesn't matter. Just you wait, I'll definitely make you miss! He gets pumped up as well.
And so, the friendly rivalry between Shaula and Lesath started, completely unbeknownst to Shaula herself.
./\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\.
The Divine Protection Of Aging.
Contrary to what the holder of it thought, the aspect of aging was completely under the user's control. However, the subconscious is taken into account.
It doesn't matter what the user thinks or what the user feels, the real feelings deep inside are what truly dictates the authority, and the reflexes of self-preservation are above even those.
The human body doesn't like becoming younger, multiple problems both mental and physical arise when becoming younger.
But in reality... What is age? What does it mean to be younger? Is aging growing? Or is aging the process of cells losing their ability to replicate?
That also depends on the user's perception.
These are the reasons why the holder kept being the same size, a combination of self-preservation and perception. If the holder thought of aging as something else, then it would work completely differently, he would've continued to grow, but his cells wouldn't deteriorate.
But let's stop that thought there. You aren't here for things like 'What is aging?'. You are here to read the story of The Two Star Keepers.
Now... shall we see what happens when the user of this divine protection is bored of life?
.\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/.
Bored. He was bored.
Three years have passed, and he has already grown into an adult. Due to not having common sense, he thought this was normal, so he didn't think much about how fast it happened.
He had stopped his age, but he was bored.
He had tried everything at this point, but he couldn't do anything to entertain himself.
He thought about leaving the tower.
"Look after Shaula, ok?"
But it was immediately shot down.
He didn't want to do anything anymore.
Speaking with Shaula didn't bring him any emotions. He even made some games to play, but those were too boring to last long enough. He was no genius, he couldn't come up with a game that would last an eternity.
He even started cutting himself to feel something, but even that lost its appeal with time.
Nothing made him feel emotions anymore.
He wanted to die, but...
...
"Look after Shaula, ok?"
...That was the only reason he was still alive. The request of his master to look after Shaula.
He didn't want to leave Shaula alone, but even that want was slowly losing its power.
His promise was the only reason he stayed alive... for more reasons than one.
If this promise didn't exist, he would've already died of old age, even if he didn't know about how his ability worked. After all, the subconscious has control over it.
So not only was this promise saving him from himself, but also from his Divine Protection.
...
...
...I'm sorry.
But he could feel it. His selfishness was slowly taking over.
He didn't want to spend an eternity being bored.
The responsibility of looking after Shaula was slowly losing to his desire for this to be over.
I couldn't keep my promise.
Unless a person would arrive in this tower in a couple of months, his promise would be broken.
...
Tears started hitting the floor.
How long has it been since I've seen my tears? How long has it been since I've felt like this?
He was kinda happy that he hadn't lost all his emotions by this point in time. A weird mix of regret sadness and happiness, that was what he felt.
They were his first emotions in the last year.
Sadly, they were also his last.
.▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒.
"Hmm... I'm bored." She said as she looked upon the golden sea of sand.
"Time to play with Lesath!"
She quickly stood up and started running to Lesath's room.
"Hey Lesath, let's do something!" She excitedly shouted as she opened the door to his room.
But she was met with silence.
"Geez, are you sleeping again? You've been sleeping way too much recently."
She walked up to his bed. Lesath was completely under the blanket.
"Come oooon. Wake uuuuuup." She started shaking him.
But nothing happened. Not even a slight movement.
"Just get out of bed already!" She impatiently removed the blanket from over him.
But she froze as soon as she him.
Gone was the little child and the young man, what remained was a grandpa so old that crinkles covered his entire body.
"Hey, what prank are you playing?" She asked him, her voice shaky and afraid.
But no answer came...
...no.
This is not real.
This is not real!
This can't be real!
She ran out of the room and kept running and running and running.
She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it.
She wanted to forget about it, so she kept running.
That was just my imagination. Yes, it was just my imagination.
He's alive, he's alive. He's just really sleepy.
"Yeah. He's just really sleepy. Everything will be fine." She smiled with tears about to come out.
.▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒.
She sat without doing anything, without thinking about anything. Completely blank.
That was the defense mechanism that her body has decided to use. The defense mechanism of completely removing all emotions and thoughts to make sure that she wouldn't feel despair.
And yet, the memories of shooting poison targets resurfaced in her mind.
She wanted to forget it, she didn't want to remember it, so she left her guard post, completely going against her purpose.
Now that I think about it, I want to eat.
She started walking to her usual spot, but-
"Ah."
She stopped in front of the door.
Her muscle memory was hard to get rid of, so she walked to his room without even thinking about it.
Negative emotions were about to attack her, but she ran away just in time.
I'll eat somewhere else today.
She decided to eat on Celaeno.
The floor was hard and cold, but it was nothing compared to despair.
Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.
Her brain kept talling her that, and she kept doing it.
She avoided him. She avoided what reminded her of him.
Hours. Days. Weeks. Mont-
Hm?
She felt a tingling sensation and the tower shook a bit.
Someone is attacking the Watchtower.
Just as she had done numerous times before, without thinking about it, she arrived at the balcony once again.
What she saw was the Witch Cult.
I don't see anyone strong.
Just 60 normal cultists throwing fireballs at the Watchtower, she didn't see anyone she would consider an elite.
Then let's wipe them out.
She raised her arm and locked on.
"Ok Google! Hell's Snipe!"
The cultist fell after the yellow light pierced him.
...
"Ah."
Her knees grew weak.
Mistake. Mistake. Mistake. Mistake. Mistake.
She made a mistake.
It's... yellow. Completely yellow.
She couldn't avoid it anymore.
Whenever the Witch Cult came, she would always do it with Lesath.
And the greenish-yellowish trail of light is what would wipe them out.
It's yellow.
The voice that yelled "Hell's Poison!" wasn't here either.
Tears start welling up in her eyes.
...
No... he can't be gone...
"Ok Google! Hell's snipe!" She cried.
But no voice and no sign of green could be seen.
But why... I said "Ok Google", the secret 'ready' command between us.
She desperately tried to remain standing on her legs, but her knees gave way.
Even though that was something that not even Master knew. Our secret command...
Why...
WHY DON'T YOU ANSWER?!
She started sobbing, started despairing. The loss of Lesath had finally caught up to her.
"Ok... Ok Google." She barely managed to voice that out. It wasn't even on the level of a whisper, it was even quieter.
But the answer that she wanted to hear, it wasn't there.
Please... asnwer. She cried inside her heart. She begged inside her heart.
She didn't want to lose her only friend.
Tremors were assaulting the Watchtower, trying to reduce it to rubble. Fireballs were grazing her skin, trying to burn her to a crisp.
But she couldn't pay attention to that. The loss of Lesath was too great.
On that day, The Star Keeper cried.
She cried her heart out, hoping for the impossible, wishing for the impossible.
She continued crying into the next day, and the next, and the next.
Days were passing by, but all she could do was cry.
CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. CRY. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry.
Cry...
Cry...
Cry...
.▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒.
./\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\.
.▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒.
.\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/.
.▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒░▒.
She sat at the balcony, enjoying the slight breeze, but also being on guard for any attackers. It was night, so making things out was slightly harder.
She threw a small junk of meat in the air, and after letting it travel for a bit, she sniped it with her magic.
She smiled in satisfaction at her perfect accuracy, but the smile quickly became slightly pained.
Even after 50 years, the feelings remain, huh.
She had grown up a bit since that time, but the painful memories still lingered within her.
She decided to eat for now.
...
She entered the room. His room.
Just being here made her slightly uneasy, but she couldn't help but eat here. She felt some kind of attachement to eating here.
"Itadakima~su."
After copying the gestures and words of her master, she started eating the meat.
It wasn't pleasant, but she has gotten used to it over the years.
He couldn't even after 50 years though. She lightly chuckled.
She didn't feel as bad about thinking about him compared to even 20 years ago.
"Hm, hm. I have definitely grown." She repeatedly nods with a proud face.
The loss still heavily affected her, but she felt it would be wrong for her to be constantly sad about it. Lesath hated it when she cried after all.
He must've been really angry at me when I cried for days on end. Shouldn't repeat that.
Even though she said that, seeing him angry once again was one of her dearest wishes...
She finished eating her meal and headed back to the balcony.
She looked at the golden sea of sand and then at the star-filled sky.
...You're there, right, Lesath?
After a long time of despair, about 20 years, she finally got enough guts to properly dispose of his body.
Previously to the disposal, his body was left in the Green Room to not rot too much, and also to make sure she wouldn't see it, but she knew she couldn't let it stay that way.
So she disposed of his body and his books with what felt like the most appropriate method.
Poison.
It felt right to do that.
The thing that he spent his entire life working towards being his grave felt right for her.
He had kept some poison in bottles in his room, so she used just that.
It was hard to tell what poison could destroy the books and which couldn't, but she managed to figure it out after some time.
"Lesath..."
She called out the name of the person that wasn't here anymore.
"Please... Keep looking at me from the stars."
She focused on a star that looked like the tip of a scorpion's tail.
"I'll try my best to not cry anymore."
...
"I'll definitely hug Master when he comes back."