Inception of the Sprite's Vehemence [Part 1]

Happily and most importantly safely we returned to the mansion. We all quickly went into the mansion to relax our tired bodies. Írui changed my bandages before I went to my room. Even though I slept hours already, I was still incredibly tired. Probably from the amount of blood I lost. I hit my bed hard, releasing a very long winded sigh. I’ve probably said this several times already, but… I thought I’d never be so happy to be in my bed.

I quickly threw my clothes off to curl up in a ball, underneath my fluffy bed sheets. I also hurt my arm a little when I did. So I had to position it in my bed a certain way so that it didn’t hurt while I slept. Once I did, I fell right off to dreamland in an instant.

Somewhat oddly, I didn’t have any dreams. Not nightmares either, but they did make me have the sensation of slight discomfort. Luckily, nothing bad enough to wake me. Still, I had the feeling that there was something happening.

I opened my eyes to another pair of eyes, that was only centimeters from my face.

“HuH?!” I was startled and whipped my head forward.

“Ahhh...”

“Ouchy...”

Rubbing my forehead and looked around. The face I saw was Quen’s, she also fell back into a chair by my bed.

“Oh, Quen, I’m sorry, are you okay?” I asked in concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine—ahhh....” Quen replied but moved her hands away from her nose to reveal that I gave her a bloody nose from my hard head. She freaked out a little.

“Ahh! What do I do?! It won’t stop!” Quen panicked as some blood flowed from her nose.

I got out of my bed to grab a towel. I promptly wiped the blood from her nose. I then told her to lean forward and had her pinched her nose.

“Okay, just hold that for a few minutes.” I told her, she replied with a nod.

“So, why did you stop by?” I asked as I walked to my dresser.

“It was getting close to dinner time and you’ve been sleeping since we got back.” Since she had her nose pinched, she replied with a nasally tone.

“Sorry, I guess I was pretty exhausted.” I remarked with slight surprise.

Wow… I’ve been sleeping for several hours. That’s what just happens when one has a serious injury.

“Um, Quen, can you help me...” I had a sling on because of my injury. It was hard to move my arm so I was struggling a little to get my clothes on.

Quen got up to assist me with one hand still pinching her nose.

“Thanks.” I smiled.

“No problem.” She smiled as well.

She’s so cute. The whole time I was changing, she wanted to give me my privacy by not looking at me. But I caught her catching a few quick glimpses of me. It made me smile a little. I’m also pretty sure that she was thinking about kissing me or something when I was sleeping. Hah, I must be Snow-white. Or she could have been trying to take my temperature using her lips. That might have been why she was so close to my face.

“How is everyone doing?” I asked.

“They’re fine. We’re resting too.” Quen answered.

“Yeah, I don’t blame ya. That was a crazy night.”

“Definitely, I had no idea what happened… Everything was suddenly fuzzy, and when I felt normal. I was in Nel’s arms and I could hear your voice… It sounded caring.” Quen expressed, nose still pinched.

Sure, caring. Good thing you didn’t hear all of it. Hopefully the others won’t think ill of me. They saw a side of me that I’m not very proud of. Oh, well. At least Quen seems to like me still. We then went into the hallway to go get ready for dinner.

“Vahaemarr told us later that the black smoke was poisonous and it mostly affected people that can Manipulate Mana and do it often. So, then Vapula had to make a potion to get out the poison.” Quen mention.

“Wow, that group was ready to take us out. I’m glad we’re all safe.” I mentioned with a sigh.

“Yeah, and everyone told me that you saved us!” Quen said with glee.

“Yeah, um, something like that.” I said with apprehension with my hand clutching my sling.

We entered the dining hall. Everyone has already started eating. The biggest surprise was that Vapula was also at the dining table with us. We all know what that means. He’ll probably want to talk about something.

“Hey, there is sleeping beauty.” Elros announced with a grin.

“Hi, everyone. Thanks again for taking care of me on the way back.” I expressed.

“Of course, Ryosuke! You are one of us, so we’ll do anything for each other.” Írui said with delight, and pride of her team.

“I’m just glad that we made it back.” Aeryvon added. Myself and the others looked at him with slight surprise and confusion. We then went back to eating.

“Well, it's a good thing that they didn’t hit your good arm, huh?” Elros noticed that I was using the eating utensils with my left hand.

“Well, I can actually use both hands, as if they were my dominant one. All smart people can do that.” I responded.

“Wha?! What are you saying?” Elros remarked in frustration.

The others laughed at the comedic exchange we had. And yes, I am ambidextrous; like I said all smart people are capable of this. Anyhow, it's good to know that the madness we experienced last night hasn't affected them too much. I almost expected that they wouldn’t have. Like I thought I had before, the people here are quite accustomed to the horrors of this world. Meaning, what they saw, may have been something that they might have even witnessed in their lives.

“Yes, Vahaemarr was summarizing the events that took place last night. I am greatly relieved that you returned relatively unharmed. I will admit that this was an oversight of mine. I will make sure that will never happen again.” Vapula spoke up.

We didn’t really know how to respond. Vapula expressed that he was grateful that we returned.

“On that note, you likely have noticed the structure outside. That is a gateway powered by Mana that Infernalior and the like are capable of utilizing. From now on, this will be our main means of travel.” Vapula explained.

“Wait, wait, wait. How is that even possible?” Elros asked in confusion.

“Like I said, it is powered by Mana. It has the ability to transport us anywhere that there is another one like it. Mainly Infernalior are in possession of one.” Vapula repeated.

Transportation…? This is giving me a lot of questions. My biggest question is I wonder if one of these same structures had anything to do with the well that I fell into? Was it the same power? I can’t help but agree with Elros: How is any of that even possible? I need to get a lot of my questions ready for my next conversation with Vapula. The last few days have given me so much to consider.

“Furthermore, we will be quite busy in the coming weeks.” Vapula added.

We simultaneously groaned in lament… Great, more stuff to do. I would like some time to actually think about some of the things that have happened to us. This is just part of Vapula’s plan and he probably has hundreds of steps that need to be executed. Not only that, he plans to get through with each step as quickly as possible.

“Oh, calm down. There’ll be a resting period before we begin any of these enterprises.” Vapula barked at our whimpering.

“Now, I expect you all to be ready when that time comes. Again, I’m relieved that you have made it back safe to the mansion. I will be undertaking some revisions of my stratagem for the remainder of the evening.” He stood up with his declaration, soon exiting the room.

We watched him walk out of the dining hall. Vahaemarr began to clean up the plates.

“Ahh! Just one thing after the other!” Elros whined, leaning back in his chair.

“Even so, this is good right? I mean, ever since we started his plan we’ve already moved up in the ranks.” Írui explained.

“I just want to know why can’t he just tell us when we're going to be on top!” Elros remarked.

“Well, I agree with Írui, we should just trust in Vapula’s plan.” Quen agreed.

“Are you saying you know something? You have been here the longest.” Elros interrogated.

“No, I don't, I just… Don’t have any reason to not trust him… And Vahaemarr has been here way longer than me!” Quen fidgeted with her fingers, then quickly pointed at Vahaemarr.

“Yeah, Vahaemarr. What do you know?!” Elros questioned.

“I am not permitted to disclose any information that I may have regarding Prince Orobas’ plans or strategies. Unless prompted.” Vahaemarr expresses as he gathers silverware.

“Whatevs… What about you, Aeryvon, Ryosuke?” Elros asked.

“I have to agree. Vapula is clearly smart; he definitely knows what he is doing. I think it will be best to wait before we begin to question his leadership.” Aeryvon also agreed.

“Uhg, Ryosuke?” Elros grumbled.

“Well, his methodology is slightly questionable, but we just can’t dismiss him because of the lack of information… And don’t get me wrong, you’ve made some good points.” I ultimately agreed as well. “What about you Nel?” I then asked Nel who was reading another book about cooking.

“Ah, what?! Oh, I-I, um, wasn’t paying attention.” She then hid behind her book.

“Whatever, it's fine! I just wanted to get everyone’s opinions. So, I’ll go along with what everyone else at this table is saying.” Elros expressed before leaving.

With little else to discuss, we soon did the same.