Troops from the capital of Fukviyu came knocking on the Fivindus estate, inquiring about the recruitment of several members, one being Lilith. Etros rejected the legality of the order and said that unless it came directly through the royal commission, he wouldn't personally allow his family to be recruited into wars.
The soldiers vehemently tried to convince the head of the Fivindus family to let them recruit at least one. Etros rejected them again and told them to get a royal stamp that stated the emergency that required the Fivindus family.
The wind blew softly and the sun was warm and bright as Etros watched the soldiers leave the property with a stern expression that turned somber.
Lilith and I were sitting in the dimly lit library. She took out a bunch of lox crystals and started to teach me about lox absorption, it was a specialty of Nihility, the ability to drain loxes and infuse them into something else. She instructed me to try sucking the loxes out of my body and putting them into the crystals.
After a few demonstrations from Lilith, I managed to make one of my lox crystals black. I set it down next to her dark purple lox stone and asked how lox crystals were even used.
Lights flickered from the flames of the candles as she looked up from her book and gave me a confused smile.
"Didn't the royal academy teach you the principles of lox control?" she asked, confused.
"They did, but they didn't really cover everything. They just said that lox stones are used to store loxes for later use."
Lilith closed her book and picked up both of our lox stones on the table.
"They can be used in more ways."
Her mouth opened wide and she placed her purple stone onto her tongue and swallowed it.
"First use is lox replenishment. If you consume lox stones, you will recover your reserves."
She danced her finger across my body. Her delicate finger ran from my hand all the way up to my chin.
"Second use is unleashing a special technique that requires heavy amounts of energy. Using a lox stone temporarily makes you unable to run out of loxes."
She then ran her fingers through my hair and started to gently scratch my scalp.
"Third use being lox transfer, for example."
She put the black lox stone on her tongue and swallowed it, and suddenly from her fingertips a tiny amount of black sludge started to form.
"You temporarily allow others to wield the same Aeonic affiliation as you. Though there are certain Aeonic affiliations that aren't compatible with each other and will instead lead to your body being brutally torn into two due to the Aeons repelling each other."
Lilith started to play with the black goo on the tip of her finger before sitting back down and giving me a few lox stones to test out the different uses. She filled 2 of them with her loxes and told me to have fun and went back to reading.
Now that I thought about it, I hadn't seen the white rabbit anywhere. Was it because of Lilith's presence that she didn't want to show up? I went ahead and tested the different uses for lox stones and thus an afternoon went by. Just before nighttime, when Lilith was supposed to head back to her room, I asked her about the troops that came today to the Fivindus estate asking for help. Her soft expression turned bitter and annoyed the moment I mentioned those people from Fukviyu.
"From what I have heard, there is an ongoing revolution in a neighboring kingdom. Apparently, the royal family supported a coup to overthrow the democratic republic of Wien and made it into an absolute monarchy led by extremists. And they want to drag the noble families into this conflict to help them suppress the Wienian rebels."
"Sounds a bit complicated."
"I wonder what makes them go to such lengths, the emotions or thoughts that go through their heads whilst fighting each other in a war instigated by the royal family," Lilith retorted.
Lilith got onto both her feet and playfully poked me in the face.
"But anyways, goodnight, my little disciple."
A few minutes after Lilith had left me to my own devices in the library, I heard rustling from underneath a heap of books. Two fluffy white ears popped out and the head of a rabbit peeked out from the pile and scanned the room.
"She isn't here anymore, you don't need to worry," I said in a low tone while bending my finger, signaling the rabbit to come closer.
The little rabbit looked at the empty lox stones on the table and then peered up at me. It then put its body over the stone, and after it moved away, the stone was now yellow.
Is that the Aeonic affiliation of Dexterity? I picked up the yellow stone and looked at the rabbit.
"You giving this to me?"
It leapt off of the table and disappeared amongst the books.
"Thanks a lot, miss rabbit," I thanked gratefully.
That night, when the clouds dimmed the moon, I went to Aylin's room and knocked. I entered and saw her reading newspapers.
The news of the war that was happening in Wien had reached Nautilus. The economy had taken a drastic hit from the war as well, as trade routes that used to run smoothly through Wien had been closed. Iron and coal imports had been halted to the outside world. Wien was a key region where most of the kingdom's resources came from. It was no wonder the royal family wanted to take it over so badly. But now, due to the war, everything had gone up in price.
Not to mention that the state had been conscripting more men, which in an already struggling economy made factories empty, forcing the female population to pick up production. Aylin finished going through the article before asking me why the world was always in some sort of crisis.
"That's why the Aeon of Desire exists, because problems exist that one individual cannot fathom to overcome."
"I can't grant everybody their wishes," Aylin said despondently.
"Isn't that the purpose of wishes? If everyone got what they wanted, then there would be no need to wish for something ever again, wouldn't that just take away what it means to be human?"
"Still, I feel like the world would be so much better if everyone got what they wanted without hurting each other."
"The world is indeed unfair," I said, sitting down next to Aylin and handing her an empty lox stone.
"Mind granting me a small wish?" I smiled.
Picking up the lox stone, she told me sarcastically that it better not be a selfish wish.
The stone slowly but surely radiated a bright pink hue, the same color as her hair. She blew gently cold air over the stone and handed it to me.
I put the stone into my mouth, to Aylin's shock, as she tried to pry it out after I swallowed it, thinking I would choke.
"Relax, it dissolves after you swallow it."
Aylin sat down onto her bed with her hair covering her face after panicking, with both of her hands on her lap.
"I learned that if you swallow a lox stone charged with loxes, you can temporarily use the Aeonic affiliation that the stone was filled with. I wanted to test it out with the Aeon of Desire," I leaned in towards Aylin and brushed away the silky smooth hair obstructing the view of her face.
Her eyes were calm and her expression was neutral as she gazed back at me.
"My wish is for you to have a good night tonight." I pulled her hair and placed it behind her ear and saw her stoic expression slowly soften into a blush.
"I can't even be mad at you for more than one minute, what's wrong with you. Stupid… stupid… stupid…"
"Hey, hey, what's with the sudden insults."
"I thought you were doing something stupid to hurt yourself…."
Aylin then leapt onto me and asked me to let her taste my lox stone. She dug through my pockets and found a black lox stone.
Pillows and blankets fell onto the floor as the two of us started to wrestle for my lox stone. She was like a child with her sights on my candy.
She was on top of me trying to get her hands into my pockets. Her eyes were focused and determined to taste my Aeonic affiliation.
I don't even know why I was resisting her. It just felt like the natural thing to do when someone was trying to take something from you. And plus, I kinda enjoyed seeing her trying to snatch something she wanted and letting her struggle for it. The flustered expression on her face as she was just about to grab it.
I had to start counterattacking, I grabbed her wrist and turned her over and was now the one on top of her. I began tickling her until she resisted no more. She lay there like a sack of potatoes, panting like a dying animal from being tickled to death.
I started to dig in my pocket and took out the black lox stone and put it on her forehead.
She grabbed it and, after calming down, placed it into her mouth.
"Don't blame me for what happens after you swallow it though," I said, getting some distance from her.
"Why are you backing away as if I'm gonna turn into a magical beast and eat you."
"No reason at all…"
She hit my shoulder before swallowing the stone.