Chapter 226: Meditation (1/2)
Ilea straightened and smiled weakly, “I’ll see him then.”
The girl shook her head, her eyes closed during the motion while she clenched her fists. “He’s refused to see anyone.”
Ilea just grinned, running a hand through her black hair before she vanished. “He knows me better than that.” She said into the dark room, quite aware of the pungent smell. He was lying in a tumble of blankets in the corner of the room.
“Trian. How are you doing pal?” She walked over and stood above the man, his uneven breathing enough indication to his very aware state. “Grief and depression. Looks like you need to see some sunlight and let magic flow through you.”
Not even a grunt. Ilea knew the man and if anything managed to get through to him then it was her annoying little self. “I’ll bring him back in an hour!” The shout was directed both at the lightning vampyr and his sister, watching with sharp eyes from behind the door frame.
“Ilea fuck off…,” The man murmured but he didn’t exactly have a choice, Ilea simply grabbing him and slinging the full sized human across her shoulders like a kid unwilling to go out and play.
She looked at the head bobbing next to her shoulder before looking ahead. “I won’t. You’ve been vegetating long enough.” He didn’t react to the flow of her healing magic going through his mana stream.
The two of them went straight down into the Haven. Not real sunlight but it was close enough.
“I won’t fight you Ilea.” He stared at the ground between them, his eyes bloodshot, his beard scruffy and unkempt. Ilea sat down opposite him and summoned ash, moving it around in the air with her mind before she formed his likeness in it. Not exactly an easy task but trusting her skills, she’d get close enough with a little more time.
“I’m not asking you to fight me.” The offhanded comment was added with a smile when a little more ash was created to add the beard to the Trian that stared back at him. “I said you need some sun. Feel like sitting down? Meditating for a while maybe?” The questions remained in the air as he looked at her and then turned to the glowing orb in the fake sky.
No further word left her as she simply observed, moving his ashen head further up as she straightened his beard, added a body and straightened his posture from the limp and sloping one he showed to the Trian that had been annoyed with the incapable team he had been assigned to. She added armor and even some gray lightning flowing around his statue when he turned and looked at himself.
“You think highly of me.” The man said and sat down, his eyes closing as he relaxed. Ilea smiled and looked at him.
Closing her eyes to match him, Ilea started meditating, feeling the mana flow through her body as she thought about her team, “I know who you are.” She said and smiled softly, time accelerating as she vaguely noted the changes of the earth, air and sun around them, her sphere watching the movements of the insects below and around her as she relaxed and focused on her breathing, the ashen Trian long gone with the wind.
“An hour has passed.” The noise made her blink her eyes, the man standing with his back towards her.
She stretched and jumped up, feeling relaxed and prepared for whatever was to come, “So it has.”
“Do you need me to carry you back?” Ilea joked as she walked to his side, the man glancing at her.
He started walking towards the nearby elevator as she fell in next to him, bringing the man back to the hiding place of the remaining Alymies near Dagon’s library. The two stepped into his dark room, the man sniffing the air before he went back to bed.
Ilea watched his back and turned to the sister who was waiting outside. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”
When she came back the next day, the man was sitting on his bed in the dark, half the blankets missing and the smell considerably less poignant than before. He silently got up and followed her out and into the Haven where they went to the same spot again and meditated. Ilea didn’t speak a word and neither did Trian, both of them falling into a trance before an hour again had passed.
“Don’t shave it all off, it looks good on you.” Ilea said before she left again.
Ilea stayed at her home that night, relaxing in her bed as she looked at the stars before she grabbed one of the many books she had from back in Salia and started reading. It was relaxing, coming back to it and enjoying the sound of the ocean below. Hardly an hour had passed in the last weeks where she wasn’t training, where magic wasn’t cutting into her time and time again.
Putting her book down after a while, she breathed in deeply and let the air out through her mouth. Her clothes stored in her necklace, she appeared on the balcony outside and looked over the endless ocean. She shivered as she thought about what might be hiding in the deep but it was not a shiver of fear. Sitting down, Ilea activated her meditation as she took in the light from the stars, the crashing of the waves and the wind gently brushing over her skin.
She woke from her state when the suns broke through the skies to pierce the water, rays of light shining on the lone figure sitting in her solitude. Blinking into the living room, she summoned some pants and a shirt onto the table, deciding to dress manually for once. Getting a piece of meat from her magical freezer downstairs, she frowned. Checking the enchantments, she pushed mana into them and relaxed when the sides of the box cooled down again.
I shouldn’t leave it here. She thought and put all the remaining food into her necklace where it would stay in the same state far longer than the enchantments would hold without a charge or a magical crystal that was entirely too expensive to add. At least if she had her necklace anyway.
There was enough meat, various vegetables, spices noodles and rice to make a couple hundred meals at least. Perhaps not for someone like Ilea whose hunger had evolved into a past time compared to the need it was previously. If there’s a third class at some point maybe I should become a cook. She mused, summoning a piece of meat and heating up the blood in her hand to boiling temperatures. Adding some ash to it, she completely entwined the piece and watched through her Sphere how the inside of it changed. It was not living anymore but had some mana remaining, making it harder to pierce with her Sphere. It was enough to see the progression of its cooking.
Or maybe a baker. She thought and cooled down the ash and her blood, looking at the steaming piece of medium rare feathered drake. Ilea had no idea if medium rare was unhealthy with this kind of meat but she had worse poison flowing through her body. Adding some salt alone, she ate the piece while the juices flowed down her hand. Blinking up and outside her house, she decided the taste wasn’t exactly up to par with Keyla’s cooking.
She whistled an ominous tune while walking into the nearby cave, growling soon heard from the dark space before her. They grow up so fast. She thought and threw the meat while her ash enveloped her arm, cleaning it off any remains. The cat hissed as Ilea turned to leave. “Don’t trash my house while I’m gone.”
Wings of ash materialized behind her, each feather like protrusion forming out of thin air before she flapped them once, the magic lifting her from the cool rock while she looked over her otherworldly house. Maybe I should’ve gone a little less swanky.
Flying up, Ilea breathed in the fresh snowy air, the old trees clinging to the stone and rocky earth with deep running roots as the human flew above them, twirling in the air. Ilea smiled as the wind brushed against her skin, a fresh set of Shadow leather armor replacing her clothes that flattered in the wind, already close to tearing at the speed.
Activating all her buffs, the wind pressure of her passing freed the close by trees off the snow adorning the tops of their branches. Ilea left behind a trail before she ascended steeply, following the side of a mountain that stretched into the clouds above. The air cooled as she was swallowed by white, her sphere continuing to report on the close surface that rushed past her before she came up to meet the two faraway suns shining down on her and the high mountain reaching for their light.
Continuing her ascent as if an arrow shot towards the sky, Ilea soon landed on the peak. The natural barrier separating the Isanna desert from the empire of Lys and the human plains spread before her, mountains reaching higher still than the peak she was standing on. She could see a shadow quickly moving over the white snow but was unable to spot its origins, instead the woman jumped down and spread her wings, laughing as she sped up and rushed through the valleys, stray wolves, trolls and unknown species howled or fled at her approach.
An hour of detours and petting unwilling animals later, Ilea flew into the valley where the city of Ravenhall resided, the mountain lake spreading before her as she approached, its brilliance reflecting the suns before she promptly pierced the icy surface, breaking through the meter thick ice without much resistance before she swam through the water, barely slowed down by the element, her skin ignoring the freezing cold around her as her sphere warned her of any possible approaching threat in the dark.
Breaking out of the ice a couple minutes later, Ilea twirled and shook off the snow and frozen pieces still sticking to her armor before she blinked to the shore, rinsing her wet hair as she formed ash around it, heating the element enough to quickly dry it.