An Unexpected Acquaintance

 “Well done hot shot.”

“Whatever, let’s go. We are going right away once we get out of here. I can’t afford to waste anymore time.”

“Whatever you say, partner.”

The two of them traveled their way back to Claudia’s guild before activating the chaplet. Astro set the ground rules once again. “Claudia. You want to help, yes? Then stay out of my way. Neither of us can beat Kastor, so I’m going to try to find Dante using Shadow Manipulation. If we can’t find him, then we go to Kastor as the last resort, got it?”

“I understand. It’ll be fine. The Land of the Stiff is not for me anyways. I’ll sit back and watch until Mr. Desperate here finds what he needs. I’m just here for the ride.”

Astro held the chaplet in the air and called out, “Deceased Paradise!” The two teleported to an area unknown to them. However, everything here was unknown to both of them.

“The hell is this? It’s all bones and sand, nothing else. No wonder nobody comes here.” Astro knelt down to the ground and felt the ground as Claudia talked. “I don’t like this scenery. It’s too…dead. I need my sunglasses.” She snapped her fingers as sunglasses appeared on her face. Astro sighed while he tried to focus.

“This is why witches get a bad rep. You all use magic for stupid reasons. You can only become a witch if you’re born into it right? It’s extremely rare, correct? Yet, most of you don’t sharpen your skills at all. You could probably outclass the top 10 Great Swordsmen if you actually tried.”

Claudia: “Huh? Who cares about that? I’m not weak and that’s all that matters. I don’t have to be a big macho man like you to live my life how I want to. I can do things that most people can’t. In fact, I have to hide my powers or else people would come after me.”

Astro: “Fine. Fine. Whatever. Let me focus…”

He continued to speak. “Nothing. He’s not here. We’re gonna have to pick a direction and travel at least 2 miles every time to map out a new area. My technique allows me to track the entirety of any place, so at least we can get a grasp of what else is here. However, the 2 mile limit isn’t going to help that much after I’ve seen how big this place is.”

“What else is here? It’s all sand and bones!”

“Shut up and use your magic for something useful please. A flying broom or something? Isn’t that what witches use?”

“You’re reading too many fairytale stories, tough guy. Brooms are ugly. Why would I want to manifest that? I’ll make something prettier for us both.”

Claudia formed hand symbols in front of her. 2 L’s with her index finger and thumb leading into 4 fingers pointing down to the ground and then back up. She then touched her pinky fingers together before intertwining them along with all her other fingers and chanted, “Nectum Fairio.” Wings grew on the back of both of them like large fairies.

“See. This is a better way to travel. No other witch can do this. You better believe me or I’ll stop making things for you.”

“Great, so I get black wings and feathers and you get sparkly silver wings.”

“Hmph, so now your complaining about the color of the wings? Did you want some sparkly wings? Because I can change that.”

“Let’s go already. I'm in too much of a hurry to argue with you.”

“Hmph. Serves you right.”

They both shot up into the sky easier than Astro expected. He could control the wings without a problem. Claudia spoke as they traveled at a rapid speed. “This consumes a lot of my mana, so don’t go super fast or else we won’t make it very far. This should be fast enough to cover at least 100 miles in 3 minutes.”

“Conserve it. We don’t know how big this place is. I didn’t have enough time to get to the Infinite Library. I would’ve had to go the complete opposite direction. Would’ve taken me at least a week to get there and I didn’t have that kind of time, nor did I want to risk my life there for this. I’m sure you’ve been there. Got any knowledge on this place?”

“Of course. I’m a witch. I’ve been to the Infinite Library. How do you think I got some of these cool abilities?”

“You could’ve asked for anything, and you picked stupid wings?”

“Not just wings! I choose a simple life. If you don’t like it, then you can leave.”

“You asked to come with, idiot.”

“Oh, I suppose that is true.”

Claudia thought really hard about what she had studied. “I can’t recall what I actually asked there. It’s been about 60 years, but I got a few things out of it. Usually, you only get one, but I remember rewording it somehow and getting a little more.”

“That’s right. You’re an elf too. How old are you? 200?”

“Huh? You think I’m that old? How dare you. I’m 125 so have you know. I’m still a baby in the Elf Kingdom. That place grosses me out though, so I left and started the guild. Everyone is so giddy there it freaks me out. Mana just flows out of every crevice. It’s insane. Plus, they tried to already throw me out at birth for being a witch. I’m the first elf witch they have had in 900 years. Apparently the last one did something bad blah, blah, blah. Who cares? I don’t remember.”

“Your attention span is horrible…Wait…Stop for a second.”

Astro closed his eyes. “Clairvoyance.” He opened them as his pupils lit up in a golden yellow color. The spanned miles they had covered flashed into Astro’s eyes. He could see highlighted figures on the ground, but smaller than humans. ‘No this isn’t right. There is life here though. I thought it was all deserted. Must be monsters.’

Claudia asked, “See anything?”

“Hold on.” He checked the images flooding in his head again. He paused on one. “There’s a house, but it’s…”

“It’s what?”

“It’s…normal looking. Nothing like the surface of the land for the past 65 miles. It’s just a brick house with a door and windows. Some vines run down the side, but that’s it. What do we think?”

“You didn’t see it on the way here?”

“That’s what’s suspicious about it. My technique should’ve picked it up, but it didn’t. Now I can sense it though.”

“It’s up to you, Astro. I’m just here to tag along. You're the one trying to find someone. This sun is bright though. Make a decision and quickly please. My beautiful skin is going to get too tan.”

“Tch! I don’t know. We still have 35 miles we could go. Hmm…Let’s check it. 5 minutes or less. That’s it. Replenish your mana as much as possible so we can get further when we come back up. Remember, stay in front of me or you’re going home.”

“Yes, yes.”

Astro and Claudia flew down to the entrance of the house 15 miles backwards.

“I don’t know, Astro. This doesn’t seem right. I couldn’t sense it from up there, but…the aura coming from this house is intense. More intense than a lot of the people I’ve dealt with at the guild or the Underground. More intense than any of the witches I’ve encountered.”

“I know. I can feel it too. Although, I’ve felt worse. I’ve also seen worse. You just haven’t experienced as much. I can handle whatever is in there. It’ll be fine. Just keep your eyes open.”

They approached the front door and slowly opened the handle. On the inside, a perfectly normal household. Clean as could be. Claudia was shocked, but Astro still was cautious as she rubbed her hands all over the nice furniture and glass figurines, amused at the sight of it all.

“This is cleaner than my house. And I use magic and Levitation Chaplets to clean it.”

Something started to come down the stairs. Bones rattled. Astro pulled his scythe and Claudia quickly created magic incantations on her hand creating purple lightning. Both ready to strike at the enemy that approached. He came into distance. A frail skeleton wearing a priest’s robe and hat walking with a cane appeared. He had longer gray hair and a gray beard. He began to speak in a very old voice.

???: “It’s okay. Welcome youngsters. Welcome. If you would be so kind as to take your shoes off please. I have some cookies in the oven. I’ll go grab them.”

Astro and Claudia looked at each other unsure of what to do. He whispered, “Is this guy nuts? Cookies? What the hell is he doing out here and how is he still alive?”

“His mana is insane. That’s probably what’s keeping him alive. He doesn’t look strong enough to fight a cat. Let’s just listen to him and ask him questions. Maybe he knows where the boy you’re looking for is.”

The old skeleton returned with a plate of cookies. He sat down on his couch. “I don’t bite. You may sit as well. These are fresh and very hot. Do be careful.”

They walked over and sat down on the couch. Claudia peered at the walking cane once more out of curiosity. The top was a black glass globe with blue fire swirling inside.

‘Where have I seen that…?’ she questioned in her mind.

The skeleton continued talking. “I’m sorry. I haven’t introduced myself. I-I must be getting older. My name is…Huh? I wonder, what is my name?”

Astro looked at Claudia again. “We need to leave. He can’t help us.” The skeleton spoke again. “Ah. I know. I remember now. Chenko. My name is Chenko Rain. You may call me whatever pleases you though. I don’t get many visitors. I’m sure you know this though. This land…It’s hard to navigate through.”

Claudia spoke. “Umm…Sir Chenko, correct?”

“No need for formality. Chenko is fine.”

“Okay, Chenko. I’m traveling with this man for knowledge. I would love to hear your story. May I ask?” Astro became frustrated and spoke up. “That’s okay. We don’t intend to stay long. My friend here has lost her memory a little and asks things that she shouldn’t. Let’s go.”

Chenko responded. “It’s okay. Sit, please. There are no rude questions. I don’t get to tell my story very often.” He looked at Claudia. “I would be happy to tell you. However…It’s been quite a long time so…I might not remember all of the details, but I will explain the best I can. Please, though, eat some cookies. They are made with ingredients from The Garden. They will boost your mana permanently. I can sense your running low miss.”

Claudia picked up a cookie and took a bite. Her mana lines lit up her face in a bright purple. Mana also shrouded around her body intensely in multiple green layers that went vertically and horizontally. “Wh-What? Wait, wait, wait. I’m a witch. I’ve never been able to produce mana lines from my elf lineage. I didn’t think…I didn’t think that was possible.”

Astro jumped in. “Now that I think about it, you’ve produced mana without mana lines. What does that mean? That isn’t what normal witches can do.”

Claudia explained.

“Witches are a separate entity in this world. We don’t have to produce mana lines to bring forth power. We use Cryen, which is basically like mana that is stored inside us automatically. We don’t need weapons either to boost our Cryen and power. However, we have limits much like anyone else. We are born with knowledge of incantations that give us different powers unlike swords like you though associated with Chaplets. You are limited in your powers, which is why you craft swords and use chaplets to gain more strength and connect with your swords. Swordsmen also use covenants sometimes to boost their connections, although I assume you already know that. Not like we can’t form covenants and use other chaplets, but there really isn’t a need to because they don’t aid us as much as they do for normal people. We have a direct connection to them up to 3 abilities. I have always used Cryen and a little bit of mana only. However…This cookie opened up my mana lines from my elf side. Th-This is…”

Chenko cut her off. “Indeed. That is the effect of The Garden. It’s not known to many because not many adventurers can make it there. I hope one day I can cook for even more people.” Claudia was stunned at the events that unfolded. “Thank you, old man. Please. Tell me your story. I’d like to know more.”

“Oh, yes, yes. I almost forgot. My story…Well. I guess it sort of goes something like this…”