Mystery Rise: The first Line

While discussing, Jack was taking notes. After, he tried to redo the chants. However, the chants drained his energy quickly that he couldn’t keep all at the same time for long. “…Only a necromancer’s cut out for this…” he said, huffing. While waiting for the fish to cook, Seril saw him. “He’s really that desperate, huh…”

“I’ll join,” Kyshanne met with Carnelia. “I also want to meet her again,” Carnelia smiled after hearing it. “Thank you”. Kyshanne was confused. ‘Maybe this person here is actually Xadulo and is just trolling with us?’ she thought for she had never seen Carnelia smile. “Sorry. You must be shocked…” 'even her tone is softer...'

“For the while, Pablo told me I don’t have to hide what I feel. That way, maybe you guys can understand me better,” she explained. “I thank you,” she lent a hand to give a handshake.

 Pablo went to jack and asked what he’s doing. “I was trying to execute the chants. But in the end, I’m just a human. Nothing more.” Pablo looked at him with admiration. ‘For you to go this much just for Xadulo…’ he thought. ‘If only I had the same determination… maybe I could save both of them’.

“—The Farhood village, the Agíen village, the forest we came into… as well as the old major villages we went to in the human world,” Carnelia said. “It may not look like it, but Xadulo has a habit of leaving things no one would notice. In other words, useless things no one cares about, or important things she never told anyone about. Around those places, she might have left some of her belongings”, “We’re going because she said to trace her footing, right? Just to be clear.” Deneb asked. “Precisely.”

“The villages we went to the human world… the remarkable ones were Pine village: uncle Ban’s, the village Jackie came from, Fuen village: where I met those two, and Reimil, where we found Kyshanne,” Pablo counted. “Xadulo barely had anything when we met in Fuen, so is it safe to exclude it?” he asked Carnelia. “It is, I must say. Those days, we never obtained nor lost anything. Food is all we thought of”, “So six in total…” Seril joined the talk. “We should split,” Deneb suggested.

“Alright. Since the fog is still rising, Jack is forbidden to go the human world. …maybe go to the forest where we met Deneb,” Carnelia said, and Jack nodded. “Deneb, you go to Farhood village… who can go to Agíen?” Kyshanne raised her hand. “I’ll go”, “…alright. Then, that leaves Seril to Pine village since you know the place too much. Pablo, you go search in Jack’s. I’ll go to Reimil. Does everyone agree?” everyone nodded in response.

“Seril,” Carnelia took out a potion and gave it to him. “When you feel sick, take this potion. The fog might still effect. Once you fell asleep in it, you will never wake up again for your body will rot. This is supposed to be an antidote Xadulo made,” Seril took the potion and asked. “Why not let Jackie go then?”, “It’s supposed to work only to necromancers. A human body cannot take it,” Carnelia put on her hood. “I’m counting on you,” and then walked away.

Carnelia went to her cave and took a pair of scissors, then placed it in her bag. She froze for a bit, then moved again. That was when Pablo, who was leaning by the door with crossed arms, spoke. “You can’t go alone,” Carnelia turned to the voice. “Why so?”, “If the body were to be harmed, would Xadulo be pleased when she came back?”, “What is your point?” Pablo straightened his posture. “I’ll go with you. So let me protect you”, “So now, you view yourself almighty, and you view me as weak?”, “…I just don’t want to feel it. When you woke up, it hurt, right? How your body is warm.” They stood for a while. “Do as you please.”

Everyone started going to their ways. It might take months, or even years. Just traveling is a pain. everyone took the same route. But soon, they’ll part with Kyshanne when she reaches the Agíen village. Then they’ll take different path again after reaching Farhood hills. After they reach the first forest, Jack will be left. Close to the forest was Jack’s village, where Seril will be stay behind to look for it. Then, the two will trace the place they’ve been through to find the villages. Reaching the human world took them 4 months from starting point. For Carnelia and Pablo, another 6, or maybe more months tracing the old villages.

After the two parted with Seril, they followed the river. Five months after, they were camping beside the river. “Every part of this place is nostalgic. And yet, my memories of them are very vague,” Pablo said. He walked around to take a good look when he found a bottle with a paper inside half buried in the sand. He picked it and read it, only to find out it was the old memo he wrote. “Carnelia, come.”

“This is a note written by you?”, “Yeah. When we left uncle Ban, I was feeling really bad. I don’t remember, but I feel like Xadulo told me something about the early civilizations…” he continued reading. “‘She might have telepathy’…? Why’d I write that? I don’t remember something like thi…” then, he realized.

‘Maybe the reason why we were never parted from each other was because Xadulo had been gripping on us tightly. Like linking our emotions to better understanding…’ “I thought it was weird how everyone easily became her friend and trusted her, but maybe it’s because of it—” Carnelia muttered. “…Then, isn’t it as if everyone was chosen way before? Like it was all planned?” Pablo was confused.

“A-as… if we’ve been… under her control… way before long?!”