Chapter 8:
You again?!
Neb takes a necklace just like ours out of his shirt.
“First, you have to introduce yourself to the onte" Neb says. "Hey, Iki!"
"Hey Neb!" says the stone. "I'm doing great, Iki."
"Do they talk?" Ellie asks, impressed.
"Of course they do. Ontes are magical beings," Neb says. "You have to treat them with respect!"
"I said please to mine," Ellie says.
"Well, there are some rules," Neb says. "First, you have to introduce yourself to your onte, they won't be on the stone all day long. But when you're casting the spell, we want to keep it as simple as possible."
"An example would be," Neb raises his palm in the air. "Iki. Flame."
A little orange flame appears on Neb's hand, flickering as the wagon rolls down the road.
"Now, introduce yourselves to your onte" Neb says as he unties our hands.
"Hey! My name is Sasaki. What's yours?" I ask.
"Hey, Sasaki. I'm Rurn," the words emanate from the stone as it shines a little. "How are you?"
"Doing great, Rurn," I say.
I turn back at Ellie to find her smiling at her stone. "It's nice to meet you, Pom"
"Great! Now try the spell I just did," Neb says.
"Rurn. Flame," but nothing happens. I can barely glimpse a tiny spark on my palm.
"It's not working," Ellie mutters, disappointed.
"This brings me to an important lesson about magic in this world," Neb says. "When someone is inexperienced in magic like you. Picturing a memory helps the onte understand you better. Come on. Try it."
I picture Homura yelling at me for missing a chance to score in the local lacrosse playoffs. His shot was so bad. How was I supposed to catch that? "Rurn. Flame."
My face is so close to my hand that I almost burn my eyebrows when a bright flame appears on my palm. This is awesome.
"Great job, Sasaki" Neb says. "Well done, Inoue."
I don't remember telling Neb our names. Maybe he heard them when we introduced him to the onte.
I look at Ellie's palm, she's holding a beautiful daisy.
"It's beautiful," I say.
"Thanks," she says without taking her eyes off the flower. She's blushing hard. I wonder what kind of memory she's thinking about.
We continue the journey by trying simple spells, like a water splash or making a rock levitate.
Neb takes the chance to show off his incredible ability to cast spells without words. “That’s because Iki and I have such a special bond,” he said. And continues to talk about how a natural magician he is.
The forest seems endless, but after a couple of hours and a bunch of fun stories from the guys, the trees start spacing out. The forest turns into farmlands cultivated with all kinds of unknown vegetables and crops.
I spot a village ahead. It sits on a hill next to an elongated lake.
"Welcome to Emtwon!" exclaims Taen.
Once we arrive at Emtwon, Zull and Taen, proceed to park the wagon next to what seems to be a canteen. The main street is lined by lovely houses made out of bricks and hay. If we had reincarnated here, I would have believed Ellie's theory that we’re in Europe.
"Hey, Mama!” says Neb getting down the wagon.
A middle-aged woman standing at the canteen’s entrance turns towards Neb. I guess she’s Mama.
“Ma’boys!” Mama says as she walks to the wagon.
“How are you, Mama?” Taen asks happily.
“Missing ma’boys!” Mama says with a bit of anger. “ You left for weeks, and I didn’t receive a single letter!”
“We’re sorry, Mama.” Neb apologizes. “Your boys have been very busy.”
“Oh, my hardworking boys!” Mama says as she gives the three of them a hug.
“You won’t believe what we found in the forest on our way back!” Zull says.
They proceed to tell Mama the whole story of how they found us and the reason why Ellie and I are here. Mama listens to the closely, asking some questions every now and then.
The people walking on the street greet the trio kindly as they pass by. They seem to be popular boys around here.
After a while, the trio and Mama start walking to the back of the wagon.
“Get down here, kids.” Neb urges us. We take our backpacks and get off the wagon.
“Allow me to introduce you to Mama,” Neb says. “ She knows a handful of things you might be interested in.”
“Hello, Ma’am. A pleasure to meet you,” I say, extending my hand.
“Oh! You can call me Mama!” she says as she shoves my hand to the side and gives me a warm hug. She does the same with Ellie.
“Nice to meet you Mama,” Ellie says.
“I’ve been told you’re on a mission to break the seal of Jernlegeme?” Mama asks. We nod. “Then I’m afraid that you’ll have to wait until tomorrow. The ruins where the seal rests only appear during twilight at the north shore of the lake of Em.”
Mama points in the direction of the lake, I barely take a glimpse of the other side of the shore. The sun is setting already. I guess we won’t make it on time.
“Holy macaroni!” I exclaim. Ellies sighs with frustration. W’ve missed a whole day.
“Things happen for a reason, kids.” Mama shrugs. “Now you’ll be able to spend the night at my Inn, and I’ll be glad to hear your opinion once you do.”
We go inside Mama’s Canteen & Inn. We walk past the bar where the trio stays to talk to some friends. Mama takes us to a room down the hallway.
“It’s a lovely room, isn’t it?” Mama asks as she shows us the room.
It’s a nice place indeed. Wooden floors, two single beds with colorful linens, and a window with a beautiful view of the orchard behind the house.
“It’s beautiful, Mama,” Ellie says. “Thank you so much.”
Mama smiles proudly. “I’ll leave you to settle in.” She walks to the door, and before she closes it, she comes back. “By the way, the party starts in thirty minutes. Don’t you dare to miss it.”
Mama disappears into the hallway. I lay in the bed next to the window. I’m exhausted. Ellie starts brushing her hair.
“What are you doing?!” I ask.
“Getting ready for the party,” she says as if it was obvious. “You’re coming too.”
“But I don't want to…” I begin to say when Ellie screams and jumps into my bed.
“A rat!” I get on my feet to see a tiny field mouse run scared to a corner of the room.
“It’s just a tiny mouse, Ellie,” I say as I take a bowl and a cookie from my backpack. “It’s more scared of you than you of it.”
I take the cookie and lure the mouse into the bowl with it. The mouse starts eating the cookie. It looks so cute.
“Ellie, look,” I say while raising the bowl. “Sometimes, a new perspective on things can change the way we see them.
Ellie uncovers her eyes and looks into the bowl. “It’s kinda cute, not gonna lie.”
Once the mouse finishes the cookie, I let it escape into the grass outside our room.
I get back into the room to find Ellie brushing her hair again.
“I’m not going, I hate parties,” I say.
“Didn’t you say that sometimes we need a new perspective?” Ellie mocks and drags me to the party.
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