The gloom: Attachment to humans

Soon, they found a village to stay. They lasted there longer than expected, for about less than 2 years. Not because of the population, but they were adopted by an old couple with no children. They were fed well there, which took them long enough to leave. They found out more about each other by time. The reason Xadulo called Seril a power bank from the start was because he was a weak elemental child, specifically an electric child. It was why he can be a source of power. Element children were praised for being strong in power. But Seril’s power was just as strong as an average. Some of his old friends can even defeat him in a battle. That was why everyone was disregarding him from the group. He was thankful to Xadulo for keeping him, and that was the first time he let others use him.

“Uncle Ban? I think you should be fleeing with the others,” said Kyshanne to the old man who took them in. the village was evacuating their people, starting with children and senior citizens. “Oh-ho. That’s a good question. Ahh… it’s been two years, hasn’t it? You four have grown. Will you evacuate as well?” he asked. Pablo replied, “We can’t. soon, we’ll start our exploration once again. You can’t keep on supporting us forever. Plus, it would be better of it’s you who should be supported by others. But those people are not us,” yet he knew already what Ban’s answer was. “Ahh… what a shame Zemmy’s gone,” recently, his wife died of old age, which all six of them witnessed. “Then, I guess it would be meaningless to continue living, specially with those people,” Ban said. “It wouldn’t be bad being left behind here to die. I might be attacked by the necromancers, but that’s fine. As long as it’s here, the same village Zemmy and I met long, long ago…” everyone had a gloomy face. ‘As if we’d target you,’ Seril thought. “Alright then, uncle Ban,” Xadulo concernedly smile. “Take care”, “Haha, leaving already?”, “Yup! Don’t let the necromancers get you!” she said sadly. She breathed, and instructed everyone to pack and get ready for their next expedition. “See ya around,” Seril said. “Bye,” Carnelia said. “Make sure you find aunt Zemmy!” then Kyshanne. “We’ll be going now,” lastly Pablo. As the distance between old sitting Ban and the group grew, they each turned and said their goodbyes. It was unexpectedly hard for them. They were never close to a human or two before.

It’s been hours, but none of them have spoken a word. They kept walking around the mountains and valleys. The view was able to lift the three, at least. “Nature can be really relaxing, huh,” Pablo whispered without his notice. No one seemed to notice it either. But they all noticed when their lead, who’s expression was unseen all this time, turned her head with a smirk. They all stopped upon seeing it. “What’s up?” Pablo asked Xadulo. “Finally able to lighten your moods?”

They stopped by a river with a beautiful valley view. Plus, the sunset was golden. Pablo had his feet soaked in the cold water as he watched the sun set. Head empty, chillaxed, just watching. The world turned silent as if Pablo was deaf. He wasn’t hearing what his friends were saying, who were making the camp by the river. He didn’t realize it at first, but Xadulo was squatting beside him, observing his expression. “Wh… how long have you been there?” he asked, as his face was still shocked, but his body was relaxed. Not like how he always used to get startled. “Did you know? The earliest human civilizations built their cities near the river,” Pablo didn’t know how to react. “Altogether, they built homes close to each other. Why do you think that is?” was what Xadulo asked, but it felt to Pablo like it was a totally different question. In the end, Pablo was left speechless. She stood and asked everyone to prepare for dinner. After a while, the sun has set, and Pablo finally realized what was bothering him so mush.

That night, the moon was so bright. It was dangerous because monsters will be appearing in the night, more often during the full moon. Yet Pablo was still awake, staring at the reflection of the moon in the water. He was beside Seril, who also couldn’t sleep. “Xadulo might be a philosopher,” Pablo said. “Do you even know what a philosopher is?” Seril replied sarcastically. Pablo silently laughed at it. “…why do you say so?” Seril asked. “She asked me a question, but I somehow found an answer that was not the answer to that question”, “Guess she did you too, huh”, “She asked you, too?”, “Yup. And thanks to that, I realized a painful truth…” they went silent for a second realizing they had the same answer. “We were attached to humans,” they said.

‘—It felt like she knew it from the start. But if that was the case, then race had got nothing to do with whoever she gets interest into. Just realized that we were racist, too. It was true she can read people. That was why it was so hard to read her. Thinking back, she once mentioned she can send what she was thinking to other people, like telepathy. It might be the hardest for her on our farewell, but our selfish emotions blocked our view from seeing that—” Pablo wrote it on a piece of paper and sealed in on a bottle with an incantation only him can break. After that, he was finally able to sleep peacefully.