The truth behind the mummy

“*Munch* So yeah, that’s how I ended up knocked out for a while.”

Penma finished telling us her story as she started devouring whatever meat Gregory could roast up. She looked like one of those shonen muscle heads, all things considered Zeke and her would get along just fine. Whitney sat there unable to say anything, she probably still felt guilty after all. She blamed herself for what happened to Penma, and came to find out this was partly her fault. I hope this doesn’t end up affecting their friend-

“Hey Whitney, why’re you silent? Are you hungry are somethin’?”

“Penma, because of me you were-”

“Whitty relax, I ended up getting jumped because of my own stupidity. This had nothing to do with you.”

Whitney turned towards Penma, with tears welling up in her eyes.

“Penma, you don’t need to lie to me. If you hate me now, then say it.”

“You want me to be honest, Whitty I’ve never respected you more than I have right now.”

Whitney and I were shocked, she respects her for being reckless? Penma pulled in closer to Whitney and placed her hand on her head. Then she pulled her in and placed her forehead on hers.

“When I first met you after your mom died, you were like a scared pup. I’ll never forget how badly I begged Ma and Pa to take you in, and how happy I was when they said yes.”

Penma opened her eyes as their foreheads touched, Whitney’s tears silently streamed down her cheeks.

“You slowly started opening up, but even I could tell you were closed off. Up until your stunt it felt like you were playing a role, and then you finally snapped and did this. It feels like my little sister finally grew up, how can I be upset about that.”

“...So you’re not mad.”

“Of course not, causing trouble is fun. Just make sure to bring me along next time. Okay?”

Whitney started breaking down again and she dove into Penma’s chest. I’m glad those two were able to sort through their feelings, after that was done Penma looked towards me.

“I’ve never seen your face around these parts, I’m surprised a gal like you would take us as company.”

“It wasn’t in my plans, falling off a cliff hurt like hell.”

Penma and I stared at each other, Whitney looked startled for a moment. She probably assumed we were gonna fight, instead-

“Great to have you aboard!”

“Likewise!”

There we stood, giving each other a firm handshake. Whitney almost fell over seeing how nonchalant we were.

“Wait, I thought you two were about to fight each other?"

“Whitty, I assumed better from you! I’m not some rabid dog or something.”

“Yeah, and I’ll have you know I’m an adorable little lady.”

We both looked at Whitney with dumb smirks plastered to our faces, she twitched almost as if to say she didn’t believe us. We decided to finish up our supper, and after our meal we decided to address the elephant in the room.

“If I had to take a guess, Kiara probably suffered the worst compared to me.”

“I was meaning to ask, just what happened to her?”

While I talked to Penma, Whitney walked over and uncovered Kiara’s body. I remembered what I said about Penma and her looking malnourished. Penma looks fine now that she’s filled her stomach, but Kiara looks completely haggard. What’s really terrifying is her face, it makes her look like a hag. Me and Penma shuddered upon seeing her, but Whitney instead gave her a somber look.

“Kiara, how did this happen?”

So they haven’t figured out her ailments yet? I decided to look toward Penma for answers.

“Hey, I was able to break away before they could take me. What exactly happened to you guys?”

“Oh yeah, I woke up in some strange room. They put these weird bracelets on me, I was mostly fine, but my arms felt numb and real sore.”

Her arms felt sore, wait didn’t Lena heal her arms?

“Say, I heard Lena massaged your arms. Did she do it often?”

“Actually yeah, I would say she did it to me three or four times.”

I began thinking, I should probably explain what I know. Whitney walked over to join our conversation.

“Do you know anything about this Opera?”

“Yeah, I think this has to do with Lena’s magic abilities.”

The two of them looked shocked, and I started explaining what I knew.

“So that glow was from Lena using magic, Kiara must’ve known.”

“So Lena healed my arms with a spell, or maybe it was one of those blessings.”

“No, Lena was using a spell, I’m sure of it. As for how this happened, I think it has to do with what you told us.”

I took my right hand and gripped my left wrist to demonstrate my theory.

“I think those bracelets were draining mana from you. The numbness you felt was the mana being pulled from your arms.”

“That makes sen- Wait, how could I have mana when I’m not a magic user.”

“We all have mana, it’s basically our lifeforce. Those with an excess amount of it can use magic, and in your case I think they were draining Lena’s mana from you. Which explains why your body is mostly unaffected.”

Penma looked at her arms, they were practically normal. Since Lena didn’t use too much power on her she was fine, but Kiara was a different story. Whitney looked towards Kiara, her eyes held a slight contempt.

“Kiara, she definitely knew Lena had magic. Then she sweet talked her into using her powers to help her maintain her beauty. Not just her face, but her entire body.”

Penma and I shuddered for a moment, that explains why she looks like a dried sponge. Since her body received constant mana coverage from Lena, her whole body was targeted. Her face being the main target, looking at it like that I can’t feel bad for her anymore. She got greedy and suffered the consequences for it.