Strained Partnership

Theodore sat in his room, sipping on the mug of Aetherglow tea as he waited for Albatross's return. With Peter on his lap, he took this quiet moment to ponder on his plans moving forward.

The truth was, though he had been outwardly calm and confident, he was extremely uneasy about the future. He could not see where this road will lead him. At best, he could only see a few steps ahead.

"One step at a time..." he muttered in the quietest voice. He had to keep reminding himself of this constantly, fearing that he might lose control to panic again.

Snapping him out of his ponderings were the hurried footsteps tottering towards his room. Sensing the frantic mind of the source of these steps, Theodore placed the mug back down onto his desk, preparing for an ordeal. At the same time, sensing a storm incoming, Peter leaped off Theodore's lap and ducked underneath the bed at a moment's notice.

Storming in the opened door with a violent gait, Albatross glared at Theodore with intense hatred in her eyes as she closed the door behind her with barely restrained anger.

"What in the deepest depths of the Abyss did you feed me!?" she screeched, not quite yelling as she was conscious of the presence of Elder Kalman within the building.

Albatross's expression was pale, her skin crawling as she recalled what she had seen. It was only by chance, but when she took a glance at her excrement after having a case of the runs induced by the medicine, she beheld a sight that sent chills down her spine. Writhing within her feces were white worms, malformed with multiple 'heads' growing from a fat center.

"So, remember the pill I had you take yesterday," Theodore began to explain, his arms and legs crossed in a defensive posture. "Those were filled with the eggs of something called a hydra helminth. It's a mutant parasite that feeds on the host's Aether to grow. It can be deadly if not dealt with since a lack of Aether can severely affect bodily functions, but for the short term, it can help with an overabundance of Aether within the body."

"You..." Albatross growled at him. Just the thought of those multi-headed worms wriggling within her body made her sick to the stomach and her face pale.

"Well, it's easier to take them if you didn't know right?"

"Screw you! Try something like this again and we're done! You hear me!?"

Faced with Albatross's rage, Theodore could only sigh. It wasn't at her behavior, but more so of his own miscalculations. He was wary that Albatross might have been hesitant to take the pill if he told her what it truly was and decided to hide the truth from her to avoid that trouble. It could be said that the lack of trust was natural in this relationship, but in hindsight, perhaps he should have trusted in her judgment. Willing or not, she would have had to take the pill to avoid crystallization within her body. In hindsight, perhaps Albatross would have understood that.

"I apologize," said Theodore. "It won't happen again."

At Theodore's surprisingly meek response, Albatross's anger began to fall away and she regained her calm.

"I'll hold you to those words," she warned before dropping the issue.

"Well then, in order to prevent similar circumstances from happening again, I say it's best you practice using your Aether-senses," said Theodore, quick to switch gears, as he poured tea into another mug that was prepared beforehand. "The use of Aether-sense is fundamental to mages, otherwise it'll be akin to groping in the dark when it comes to using magic."

"It's not as if I wanted to become a mage," Albatross retorted. "I was just trying to increase my magic resistance to deal with the curse the mages put on me. That's why I was drinking your stupid tea in the first place."

"Is that how it is? Can you tell me more about the curse?"

"Well, that's..." Albatross opened and closed her mouth. She wanted to hear what Theodore, the boy who claimed to be the Demon Lord reincarnate, thought about the curse. However, by revealing the curse's details to him, she feared that it would trigger said curse, turning her to 'stone'. "I am afraid I can't say much, only that it'll turn me to 'stone' if I do the things the mages don't want me doing. Make no mistake, however, the curse can be disabled for an interrogation, meaning that your secret won't be safe if you tried to screw me over, got it?"

Though the details given were sparse, from that last line, Theodore realized that one of the triggers for the curse might be the spilling of another mage's secrets. It made sense, considering how zealously the mages guard their secrets. Unfortunately, this also meant that Theodore won't be able to gain any worthwhile information from her other than the most common knowledge.

(I suppose this is why she said that she'll only share unfounded 'gossips' with me before. Perhaps if I can get rid of it somehow...)

"Well, isn't that troublesome," said Theodore, "though it certainly sounds like the mages I'm familiar with. I suppose I'll have to figure my way around it then."

"Wait, you're going to help me with the curse!? What are you plotting this time?"

Albatross was surprised. She had not once mentioned having Theodore cooperate with getting rid of the curse. She figured that so long as she was able to raise her magic resistance, she'd be fine. All she needed from him was the supply of Aetherglow herbs he had access to.

"I said that we'd work together to escape, didn't I? Since the curse prevents you from leaving, we are eventually going to get around to that. First things first, though. Whether you want to be a mage or not, you should learn some magic. Having a trick or two up your sleeve is better than none, right?"

"I suppose."

"Then let's start by having you channel Aether into this tea. You can do at least that much, right?"

Albatross was hesitant for a moment as she stared at the mug in silence. With a frown, she hovered a finger over the tea as a thin layer of steam rising from the hot liquid coiled around her finger.

"You're going to want to stay back a little," said Albatross, her solemn demeanor made Theodore raise his guard.

"How far back are we talking about?" asked Theodore, extending his threads of Aether around his room and began pulling the curtains close.

"All the way to the wall maybe?"

The words made Theodore gulp down a mouthful of spit. He began to be filled with anticipation in regards to what he would behold. Backing away to the wall, he had his Aethereal threads cover the walls of the room, weaving patterns of waves as he suspected that this would probably not be quiet.

Seeing that the preparations were ready, Albatross began to focus her mind towards the tip of her finger hovering over the tea.

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End of Chapter 50

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