124 Grudge (1/2)
Ellie was the first one to wake up.
She looked at her left and saw her aunt's sleeping face, completely knocked out as if she hadn't had a good night of sleep in ages.
Ellie wanted her aunt to hurry up and wake up so that she could keep her promise from yesterday, the one where she agreed to teach her magic.
”Aunt Evie?” said the girl as she kept poking the sleeping woman with her finger.
”Mmmm... Mom... Five more minutes...” Said Evlin still half-sleeping.
Ellie turned around and realized that her aunt's housemaid, Detra, was also still sleeping. She grabbed her phone to look at the time and realized that it was already eight in the morning. Ellie was shocked to have woken up before ten without the usual help of her parents, but it turns out she was so excited about beginning her lessons that her body forced her to wake up early from pure excitement.
She expected the adults to be up already but it looked like they were even more tired than her.
She took this chance to check her body again and confirm if the exhaustion from yesterday was truly gone. Ellie was used to the feeling of being tired from playing too much, but reaching the point where she couldn't even lift a finger was something completely new for her.
She began to move her arms and legs up and down in order to make sure all her strength was back.
”Mmmm... Pepperoni...” Said Evlin while turning around in the bed.
Ellie realized that her aunt might not wake up for a little while and tried to start her lessons by herself. She sat on the bed with her legs crossed and raised her hands so that it would almost touch each other as if she was holding an invisible ball.
”Come on... Come on...” She kept repeating to herself, trying to make a diamond appear again.
Ellie kept repeating in her mind the words her aunt would say whenever she would describe the feeling of using magic. Creativity, imagination, concentration, affinity. She tried to think of anything that could help her repeat the act from the battle against the crystal man-spider.
”How did I do that...?” She said as she kept staring at her invisible ball, hoping that a diamond would appear.
”You're doing it wrong...” Said a voice coming from someone who was on the bed next to Evlin's.
”Ah! Good morning Detra!” Said Ellie while hiding her hands behind her back as if she had stolen a bar of chocolate and didn't want to share it with anyone.
”Morning little miss... I see that you're trying to copy your aunt's magic...”Said Detra while stretching herself trying to wake up completely.
”A little bit... I think I know what I have to do... Just not sure how to do it...”
”Really? And what exactly do you have to do?”
”Well... Make the magic appear... Right?”
”...That's all?”
”I... I'm not really sure, to be honest... Kinda wish my aunt would hurry and wake up...”
”She had a long day... It might take a while until she opens her eyes.”
”Ugh... Really...?” Said Ellie in a disappointed tone.
”I was surprised to hear you managed to use magic, to be honest... You don't have a staff or anything, do you?”
”Not really... I don't think I ever touched a staff my whole life...”
”Of course you did.” Said Detra while raising an eyebrow as if she had said something obvious.
”Eh...? I did?”
”Your aunt's dumb crossbow... You have been walking around with that thing close to you everywhere you go for the last five years haven't you?”
”Oh!! That's right! The crossbow was a staff!”
”...” Detra looked at the girl with tired eyes as if she was starting to doubt her intelligence.
”But the crossbow was burned in the restaurant because of Mia... I haven't touched anything like that ever since...”
”The crossbow was burned...? There were no pieces of it left?”
”None... They all turned into ashes and smoke thanks to the fire... I think some of it even entered my mouth... It tasted terrible...”
”I see... That's really ironic...” Said Detra while holding her own face and leaning forward.
”Eh...?”
”Sorry, it's just... The one time I needed that stupid thing, and now it's gone... ”
”You needed it?”
”Of course! We all do! If your aunt can't become a full mage again, she will never defeat Mia, and the six demon leaders that I imprisoned here will end up waking up.”
”Wait, I think you just said something really important... What do you mean six leaders that you imprisoned???”
”Huh!? Oh, right... You weren't awake during the story...” Said Detra as she sighed a bit.
Ellie just looked at her confused trying to wonder if she had missed something.
”You see, my child, the truth is...” Said Detra while rising from her bed and pointing her arm to herself. ”I am in fact a goddess!”
”...” Ellie just looked at the woman in front of her. A middle-aged woman with long blond hair that looked like a mess from waking up, wearing pink pajamas and with a pair of dead eyes on her face as if she was tired from the mere act of being alive. ”Riiiight...”.
”... You don't believe me, do you?” Said Detra, noticing the girl's skepticism.
”Oh, no, no, I totally believe that you are a goddess, yeah, right, totally...”
”Well... I used to be at least... That is, until your dumb aunt decided to bring me to this world...”