195 The Making of an Antidote (1/2)
”Let's go.” Said Jerigh in a low voice, before walking towards the entrance of the mess hall.
When looking at Jerigh's back, which quietly got further and further away with time, Cynna felt some form of unwillingness build up in her mind. She was a prodigious warrior, and she couldn't stand the idea of losing to someone whom she couldn't even put a name on.
”You are just going to leave without even telling me who you are? Nor give me the chance to look for you, and pay you back for this humiliation?!” She asked with an audible anger which grew for each of Jerigh's steps.
Now at the door, Jerigh finally stopped and turned to look back at the furious girl. He then said with a deep and calm tone, ”You think too much..” then left without uttering another word.
Alesia followed Jerigh out of the hall in silence, while Serf, which was still closer to where Cynna was, said with a faint smile ”His name is Jerigh.. You can usually find him at the Golden Karma company.” He then quickly walked out of the hall as well, and joined Jerigh and Alesia in the corridor.
Cynna stood up from the part of the floor she was sitting on, and walked out of the mess hall as well. She then looked at the corridors to the left, and to the right.. But the trio had already disappeared.
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”It doesn't surprise me. A water treasure requires water and something inside which water's comprehension can be forced.. Where else if not an inhabited underwater world.. The question is, why are you out here and not down there?” Asked Daniel to the Ancient red carp.
He was quietly sitting on the edge of the rocky platform, while dipping his bare feet into the water and chatting happily with the large aquatic beast.
”My kind used to guard the entrance of the underground aquatic world.. We used to live in the sea that now you call desert, and were even allowed to visit during our youth.” Responded the red carp with a hint of melancholy ”Now it's only me left.”
”Because of the winds?” Asked Daniel with pure curiosity. He had heard the mention of the strong winds when he had been called out of the pocket dimension by Roley, and now the pieces were starting to get together.
The red carp remained quiet in apparent hesitation, then said ”Not the winds.. The beasts that brought it.. But now I know what it actually is..”
”You mean a perfect wind treasure? Unlikely. There isn't a treasure that can chip away at a sea's water in the world. Unless..” Responded Daniel casually. Even if he had just learned about the winds, he was now more of an expert in natural mana than most, as he possessed a perfect comprehension of numerous essences.
What else could create an area in which the winds could potentially rip a common human to pieces if not a perfect sphere? But what were the chances that an airborne race of beasts could own one?
These questions came and went inside Daniel's mind in a matter of moments.
For all Daniel knew, perfect spheres had an extremely long duration of at least a few thousand years. Who knows how many times a similar treasure could have changed hands in such a long time.
”Unless what?” Asked the red carp with clear interest. It had spent so much time under constant threat, that the single mention of a 'likely reason' for his suffering, had lit his interest like nothing else had ever done before.
”Unless.. The beasts arrived after the sphere.”
Roley, Heimart and Der, which were quietly sitting by themselves and listening to the conversation between Daniel and the Ancient red carp, now turned to look at Daniel with deep interest. ”What do you mean, Dan?” Asked Heimart.
”That maybe, and I'm not saying that this is true, there could be a perfect wind sphere somewhere in the desert which attracted the airborne beasts, and that caused the sea to turn into a desert.” Responded Daniel with uncertainty.
Just as Daniel finished speaking, a portal formed in the empty area right next to Der.
On the other side of this portal, one could see the plaza in front of the castle within the pocket dimension, and right in front of it, were Serf, Jerigh, and Alesia which quickly stepped through and arrived on the platform within the underwater cave.
Daniel waved his hand faintly, as a smile caused by Alesia's appearance appeared on his face.
”Dan, where are we?” Said Serf through a confused expression. He was looking around, trying to find out where Daniel's friends had taken him.
”What do you mean where are we? We are at the laboratory! I'll make the antidote right now!” Said Daniel before standing up from the border of the rocky platform, and walking towards him while leaving a clear trail of wet footprints.
”Now? You don't even have any instr-” Muttered Serf to himself before being interrupted by Daniel's words.
”Do you still have the letter that your sister used to poison me?” Asked Daniel plainly.
Serf struggled to hide any form of reaction to Daniel's words, but in the end, he gave up and said ”How did you know it was her?..” His tone was dispirited, and apologetic. He didn't feel worried that Daniel could find out about this.. Instead, he was sorry about omitting the culprit of the act that had almost killed his friend.
”Are you joking? Who in their right mind wouldn't realize that your sister is a psychopath after meeting her? Hehe.. Don't worry about it, I'm not angry about the fact that you haven't told me it was her doing. She is your sister after all.” Responded Daniel casually.
What he said was true. Daniel was not angry with Serf, after all, he also had a sister, and even if the nature of the relationship between the two pairs was extremely different, and despite all of the things he had seen, he couldn't come to think that a brother would willingly let his sister die.
Of course, this way of thinking was caused solely by Daniel's ignorance. Had he known of the real relationship between the two siblings, he would have killed Alana the instant he had seen her for attempting to poison Alesia.
One could say that the only reason why Alana was still alive, was because her action had not only failed, but had ultimately given him a chance to be noticed by the poisonous rose.