19 Moving foward (1/2)
Two years have passed after Evlin's duel with the prince. She had finally obtained the power that she needed to survive in this new mysterious world she was transported into. After obtaining the roots of the channeling tree she gained the ability to use three types of magic energy, earth magic, the ability to create earth out of thin air, modeling magic, the ability to change the shape and appearance of any object as long as it possessed the same or less amount of mass, and healing magic, the ability to fix and repair any damage in the body of a living being, which also came with the bonus of when applied with extra doses could also grant a boost on strength, speed and defense.
With these skills under her belt, Evlin started to take on quests on the guild using her new status as a expert-rank mage and ended up gaining quite a lot of popularity. Many adventures would often request her services as a bodyguard to go on dangerous missions. Exploring deep caves, hunting demonic wolves, finding lost hidden treasures, with her ability to heal any party-member, her power to change any object to any weapon she wanted and her skill with ranged attacks thanks to the combination of rock-bullets and crossbow, Evlin became known as a jack-of-all-trades. No matter what was it that your team needed, she could provide it.
On top of that, Evlin was extremely polite to everyone around her. Her kindness made many citizens start to consider her a national treasure of the city, and as she was now sixteen-years old, she started to gain many admirers trying to propose to her left and right. She had basically turned into the city's idol.
Many people would sometimes try to follow her to find out where she lived but thanks to her boosted speed nobody could keep up with her fast enough to discover she was living with Dalla on her new remodeled vacation house. Even the king never seemed to give her much trouble. Sometimes she would see a wanted poster with her name on it hanging on a wall but that never became an issue either. Aside from a few desperate bandits here and there, nobody in the city had any ill-intents towards Evlin or any desire to help the spoiled prince. The one girl in the city who would join with any party and provide a huge help that could not be found anywhere else, there was no way the adventures would sell her out to the castle. She would however get rather confused sometimes when looking at a wanted poster with no picture with the name 'Santa Claus' on it. The prince probably assumed that was her master or something due to how she kept mocking him with that name.
The missions Evlin would often accept were rather dangerous but nothing she couldn't overcome with a little teamwork and strong determination. She came close to dying many times such as the time she had to fight against an ogre the size of a house that was somehow immune to all her attacks and ended up killing one of her part-members in the process. She managed to escape with the rest of her group but that experience proved rather traumatizing. That night when she came home she buried herself on Dalla's arms and cried herself to sleep.
Dalla and Evlin had basically switched roles by this point. After some time has passed Dalla was no longer able to use her legs and became stuck to the bed permanently. Evlin tried to use healing magic many times but the legs weren't damaged, they had just reached their limit. So now Evlin was acting as the provider for the house. Going on quests and bringing a lot of money to take care of Dalla while she rested all day.
One day when Dalla was resting on the house reading a book Evlin came home completely drained. She was now a little taller than before and as usual was covered in her wooden armor consisting of bracelets, greaves, necklace and carrying her beloved crossbow. Her hair was starting to grow again but she would always ask Dalla to cut it off because she felt it was more convenient this way despite Dalla saying that hair should be treated with more respect. Evlin didn't seem to get it but to honor her wish she let her hair grow a little and decided to hold it back taking a piece of her crossbow and turning it into a headband so her eyes would have clear vision.
”I'm home...”
”Welcome home! Are you ok...?”
”Just tired... We tried to go after the ogre again today but the stupid thing just won't die... We didn't lose anyone this time, luckily... But I'm sure we will get him one of these days...”
”Why is it so important to defeat this one ogre...? Is the quest reward really that good?”
”I don't even remember what the reward was, this is about pride... That guy killed one of my friends!”
”I see... But i don't think pursuing revenge is very healthy you know...”
”Maybe... But it just feels like one of those life goals that you have to finish once you start it, you know...?”
”... You mean like finding you way home...?”
”... Yeah... Like that...”
”... Still no luck with that...?”
”Nothing... I talked with everyone... I went on every quest on the wall... I searched for every spell on the book... I even tried to learn to speak the language of the fairies because they apparently have the power to travel between worlds!”
”How did that one go?”
”It was a misunderstanding... Turns out fairies have the power to go inside a person's dreams so they would share stories of the 'wonderful worlds' they visited at night... Also they can be quite rude...”
”I see... Maybe...”
”...?”
”Maybe... It's time to leave this city and start looking for a solution somewhere else...”
”Nah it's ok... I wanna keep trying a bit longer before moving on... Say, what do you want for dinner? I got my hands on a new type of meat, i think you will like it!”
”Hey Evlin...”
”...?”
”How long do you plan to keep taking care of me...?”
”... What kind of question is that...? You're my family... Family supports each other!”
”... How am i supporting you right now...?”
”... What...?”
”I get it now... The way you felt when you where unable to move... Being trapped in one place... Watching someone else come and go all the time... Having all these things you want to do but being unable to...”
”What... Where is that coming from... Are you angry that I'm not spending more time with you?”
”I'm angry that you are spending too much time with me!”
”...!?”
”Evlin... You can do anything... You are young, smart, strong, talented, skilled, reliable, everyone you talk to instantly starts to love you... And yet, two years have passed and you are still here!”
”Huh... What are you saying...?”
”I'm saying that I'm holding you back... You need to find a way to return to your world and see your family again, but you will never do that being locked in here with me!”
”But... You need me! I can't leave you alone!”
”... Because i will die without you...? You really became full of yourself as the years went by huh?”
”Dalla... That's not...”
”I know, i know... It was a joke...”
”A joke... You...? You can joke...???”
”Yeah... I think i spent too much time with you after all... I'm turning into a devilish woman as well!”
”Hey, who are you calling a devilish woman...”
”You need to leave Evlin!”
”But you can't even walk! Who will take care of you??”
”I... Won't need anyone to take care of me soon...”