"I actually did it!"
My mind raced once again, thinking of the endless possibilities I now had. Those who managed to fundamentally shake the rules of magic, and were recognized for this discovery, would be scouted by the Tear Knights, and then their future was as good as set in stone. They would be Hailed as a genius
Leira adjusted herself in her chair again, leaning slightly forward and facing me directly.
"So… I've been meaning to ask you something."
Leira's eyes seemed to flicker, a hint of something primal shone, an almost visible flame-like visage took form in her Iris. Then in an instant her pupil itself changed. A full ember was now burning in her eye.
I was…
Perplexed.
"Leira, do you have a-"
The words died on my tongue. Leira once again put her entire hand over my mouth, stopping my sentence dead in its tracks.
"What do you think of the sky… Laos?"
She paused before continuing.
"Isnt it weird? in every book, every lesson we've ever read--- they all talk about it in weird ways, like describing it as' The beautiful azure horizon' or describing clouds as ' white and fluffy pillows in the sky'.
"So then why is it brown? "
"Why aren't there clouds in the sky?."
I stared at her, unable to fully focus on Leira's words. There was frankly something much more important at hand. I was fixated on the caricature of a flame that had formed in her eye. It was unlike anything I had seen before, it shone ethereally, a low ember light washed over the right side of her face, the flame in her eye had begun to pulse. The ember light followed the rhythm of the now gyrating flame, accelerating and slowing down as it spun.
For a few more seconds I just stared, trying to compose myself. I could see Leira visibly, growing more impatient the longer I took to speak.
" I never really paid it much thought. They always told us those books were outdated anyway. As far as I know, its always been, and always will be Brown."
Leira stood up and sat beside me on the edge of my bed. She turned her head as though to not face me, hiding the once entrancing light from my view. She placed her hands behind her leaning on a slight incline before she continued.
" I forged a Contract Laos."
The room around us grew hot as she spoke.
" The Greater spirit of Fire approached me with an offer. In exchange for human wisdom, it would grant me the strength required to see past this bubble."
Leira had stood up now, facing me directly, a physical fire was now lit and had engulfed the entirety of her face, leaving her soul marked eye as the only discernable feature.
My skin crawled, Goosebumps enveloped me from head to toe. I watched as the ambient mana around her hurried to move away from the flame, It cowered and focalized at the bottom of my dimly lit room.
'it was like… like it was afraid?'
"Lei…"
"I… don't know what to say."
Leira simply waved her hand and the flame dissipated, her face remained untouched, though a wide grimace now encompassed it. the room returned to normal as well, for the most part at least. The ambient mana remained glued to the floor, completely unmoving, Still afraid of that flame that burned mere moments ago.
"My innate talent for Fire mana manipulation is now at its limit. I've gained immense strength compared to before. Of course this didn't come without its downsides. To put it bluntly, my life is on a timer now, i have about six months to comply with the clause of the contract, and if i dont…"
Leira seemed to choke out a smile before continuing.
"Lets not dwell on that, shall we. Its simple really. I just need to finish my half of the deal and in exchange ill live! and keep whatever abilities the spirit bestowed upon me as well."
Leira had turned now, heading towards her apartment door. Doing a slight wave gesture as she walked.
" Oh by the way. Whenever you're feeling well enough to stand, lock the door with the spare key for me. And also i wont do anything rash, so no need to come looking for me ill be back later"
And with that, Leira took her leave.
An undiscernable amount of questions filled my head. I wanted to scream and ask Leira what this was all about, at the same time I wanted to test the limits of my new spell. But my most undeniable sentiment right now…
How unbelievably hungry I was.
I mustered every moniker of strength left in my body to stand, and walked towards the Ice cabinet where Leira normally kept all of her stored food.
To my utter horror there wasn't even a morsel of food left in there. A few sharp ice stalactites tightly hugged the ceiling of the freezer, placed there as if taunting me."
' I guess ill just go buy something, worrying about her will come once i have a full stomach'
I looked down in confusion as I felt my range of motion being slightly hindered by something.
My entire torso was covered in bandages. Not to mention my arms as well.
It took me an astoundingly long time to realize but I was shirtless as well. My head spun around the room looking for my now displaced shirt, Leira's room was furnished quite well. A burgundy sofa laid in the middle of this one bedroom apartment, and next to it a bookshelf filled to the brim with all sorts of books, ranging from science textbooks to fairytales. Beneath them both was a rug than spanned the entire room itself, it had this interesting fluorescent pattern that was separated by pieces almost like the array of a kaleidoscope.
Finally a little piece of yellow paper that was stuck to the bedframe caught my attention.
It was a note--- that read:
'Ps. I left what was left of your torn vest at Christophoros', I have a couple spares in case this happened, check under the bed, green box with a smiley face on it! "
I crouched down and carefully pulled out the box. Dusting it off, I placed it onto Leira's bed then gently shimmied it till its cover came off.
A singular green T-shirt was neatly folded, and placed inside. I took out the shirt and took a long glance at it, my left eye twitched and a slight smirk quaked my face. The shirt had some text written on it:
" Momma's Good little boy" was written in bold black text
"I'm not putting this on. "