Disordered breaths echoed throughout the tower without a top. Heavy footsteps followed. With every step her feet took, louder those two became. A huff and Lisa slid down the railing. Her tired arms on her lap, she looked up into the endless darkness.
The stairs spiraled into it, disappearing from her eyes. The bookshelves reached out to it, hiding within the endless tower top. The windows' light faded and failed to illuminate it.
Just why was she climbing such a desolate tower? To learn magic? Why? Because Era told her to? Because Magic is fascinating? Because....she can save Felicia with it?
Felicia... Just a random girl she encountered in distress. A coincidental meeting. A pure chance meeting. They hadn't even stayed together for a day yet...yet she promised to take her back from the royalty....from her supposedly family...from whatever took them apart.
The darkness up top began to drip. Like wet ink on a canvas, it dripped down and dyed the tower. Her mellow blue eyes stared into the ink. The soft glow on the blue radiated warmth as it reminisced. The glow filled the eyes and then drew on the ink. A black canvas painted on with a blue so faint, it resembled ice.
A morning sun through a glass ceiling was slowly painted on the canvas. Under the glass, she stood before the small girl. Her honey eyes looked into hers. Those lovely eyes were stained with tears. Her hand reached out and wiped the tears away. Her mouth moved.
"Next time....I'll make you my own."
Lisa spoke the words for the silent painting. Spoke the words she had left to guess for Felicia.
The painting finished. Under the sunshine, in the old library, she held Felicia's cheeks and smiled at her. In Felicia's, a spark shone as she looked at her. Manifested eternally on the black canvas, painted with a blue oh so soft.
Lisa gazed at it and could not take her eyes away. Even as the ink dripping from the painting soaked her clothes. Even as it filled the tower and submerged her. Her eyes pierced through the ink ocean she drowned in and only looked at the painting.
At that time, for the first time in her life, because of that girl, she decided on something for herself. Something she will grasp with her own. Something that is entirely her own...
"Lisa, one day....one day you will have to write your own story," her sister said. That familiar warm smile on her lips.
"Even if I can't be in it. Even if I can't take part in it. Even if I am not the one making you pick up the pen and write, I look forward to reading it~"
The hand of hers reached out and stroked her cheek. Her sister brought her lips closer and kissed her for just a second.
Lisa opened her eyes to a stone ceiling. Red and purple dyed it. She tried to push herself up, yet only moaned softly. Her body ached. Every bone, pore and muscle cried to her, spoke of the abuse they had received.
"It would be best for you to continue sleeping."
She turned her head. Hendrick's sat on the sofa and while stroking the white cat sipped at a cup in his hand. The sunset behind him outlining his silhouette. It had a faint majesty to it, Lisa thought.
She let her eyes follow the serene movements of her master. A purr reached her occasionally from the satisfied white cat. The hot chocolate's smell intoxicated her nose. Till gradually her soft blue eyes closed and wandered off.
This time the familiar white scenery opened up before her eyes. Along with a very familiar girl humming and dangling her legs off a cliff.
A cliff? Lisa looked down and only found endless white. In this white space only they and the dripping black ink brought change to it. With a shrug and her usual smile, she walked over and sat down beside the girl possessing her old body.
Before them, a drop fell after another down from the sky onto the white scenery. The ink splashed out as it landed, dyeing the monotone white.
"It's greater than before," Lisa's old voice said to her. She then tilted her head and leaned on Lisa's shoulder.
"How was school, Thea?" Lisa asked. Another drop of ink splashed on the white. Just as she had said, every drop was almost double in size than from before, when they both had been in here. From a marble to a small ball.
"Boring." Thea's curt answer made Lisa laugh. While Thea glared at her displeased, Lisa put an arm around her and began to stroke the light-brown hair, soothing the girl.
The white continued to be pushed back by the ink drops in the distance. Drop after drop the two observed it, Lisa's caressing hand never stopping. The two spend minutes to hours just like this. Only occasionally gossiping about Thea's new school life. At least until the alarm rang again.
"Time to wake up," Lisa said and looked down at Thea. She laid on her lap and had already put on an unwilling face. Her smile further grew as she pinched her old body's cheeks. A weird feeling at the back of her mind, all the while...
Thea could only give in to the merciless pinching. Yet, within seconds of standing up, her disgruntled expression disappeared. She bubbly smiled at Lisa and with a smirk kissed Lisa's cheeks. In the next moment, her presence had already been erased from this space.
Lisa could only smile wryly at where the girl had vanished. Indeed a problem child. She sighed and looked ahead, at the endless spill of ink. At the mana dyeing her soul. If she were to walk under it, what would happen?
Another sigh and she fell on her back, laying down on the fluffy white. The white formed around her and gave her the comfiest bed she had yet. As if floating on a cloud.
Her breathing evened. Her eyes turned dazed while the smile faded. Why was her soul white? Why was it empty aside from the mana?
...because she had no story of her own painted yet?
The stone ceiling greeted her again. The sunset colors had long vanished, replaced by a warm gold. She turned her head to see Hendrick's reading a book. Candles stood all around the wide-open room. The night was illuminated by their warm light.
A groan escaped her as she tried to move. Even raising her upper body brought her great discomfort. At least, she felt better than before and could sit up.
A tempting scent came suddenly up to her nose. She looked ahead and saw a hazy Hendricks turning a page on his book. The fog of a fresh mug of hot chocolate obscured him ever so slightly. Lisa mumbled a thank you and without further ado took the mug out of the air.
The taste lingered on her tongue. The warmth traveled through her body. Just the right temperature to take a few sips without burning the tongue. Just the right blend to not be too sweet and overwhelming.
In the candlelight, on the couch, before the night scenery of the city, Lisa sighed in content and savored the hot chocolate.
Eventually, however, the last drop was gulped down. The warmth had already rejuvenated her much, so Lisa stood up. A bit wobbly on sleepy legs, she almost fell while walking. As she sat down the mug on the table with familiar three candles, she felt a soft fur on her legs. The white cat was rubbing its head on her legs. She smiled and bent down to pet it.
While she did so, a soft clap sounded. Followed by a cane hitting the wooden floor. Moments later, a pair of black shoes stood before her. Hendricks with the closed book in hand looked down on her.
"Since you feel better, let's continue your lessons," he said in his usual wizened voice. He lightly pushed the cat away with his cane, to which Lisa could only chuckle.
"Understood, master~" Lisa responded. She stood up and turned towards the three candles standing on the table.
"The same as before; light up the candles without burning them down," Hendricks said while he stroked his cane. His eyes hovered on Lisa's ring as he continued, "However, this time do not just focus on wanting to light them. Instead, ask yourself; how would you create the flame?"
Lisa blinked a few times and processed what he said before she nodded. She stretched out her arms and laid her hands, palms up, on the table as before. The sore feeling in her bones out of her mind, she stood solely focused on the candles.
Her eyes closed and she listened. Listened to the beat in her chest. To the hypnotic rhythm. Beat after beat, as the sound of heart echoed through her body, pulsing blood through it. On and on, the steady beat grew stronger. Louder as it rang in her ears. And more painful as it pushed against the boundaries of her body.
"How do you want to create the flame?" The old voice sounded in her head.
How?
Her eyelids opened up. The mellow blue twinkled ever so slightly. The soft color in the eyes accenting the blonde her framing them. The mind of the owner dazed as she lifted a hand. From within her beating heart, a flood of ink flowed out. It pulsed through her body like blood.
"I would paint the flame," she whispered.
And so she did. Raised her left hand. As if a brush in her hand, she swung it above the candle. Left and right, up and down. The ink flowed out her fingertips. Energy came alight at the tips of those slender hands. Till the ink in her veins recessed as its task was done.
Lisa blinked. The ink flames on the three candles danced before her. She brought a hand close to the flame not emitting any light. Even as she pinched it, she didn't feel any heat. Instead, it felt like thick water, like the ink she normally used to paint. And it dripped just the same as fresh ink.
From the bottom of the ink flame, small droplets fell and dyed the yellow candle black. The same for the other two. One by one, from the dancing unsteady flame, the ink droplets fell. One by one, the flames shrank. One by one, till only the ink that dyed the candles and part of the table, was left.
Lisa let out a long sigh. Once again, her body ached, and just after she felt better from earlier. If she had to endure the tsunami of ink every time...
"Well done for now," Hendricks announced while he stroked his grey beard. "About the Mana Flood, you can do nothing but practice enough to limit your mana draw enough for your usage. You should have felt how most of the mana recessed back, right? You did not put a limit on it, which is why it came in quantity beyond your limit."
After his long explanation, Hendricks turned and walked back to the couch. His cane's sound echoing beside his next words, "For now go back and sleep. This time try to arrive at home peacefully."
"Goodnight then, master," Lisa answered with a wry smile. She then thought of something and said, "I will try to not run in a cute and lovely girl in distress again~"
A chuckle on her lips, she turned towards the stairs, the cat in tow. However, before she could step down the stairs, the old voice called out again.
"Tomorrow midday go to the Guild and inform them that you are being taught by me. It will be useful in the future. The feline can lead you. Now, go."
Before she could answer, she already stood at the tower's entrance. After forming her usual small smile, Lisa nodded at the lovely white cat and walked out of the tower.
Under the twinkling night and the white lamps, Lisa took a stroll across the boulevard. With slow steps, she walked to her station. Taking in the reflecting sea and people doing the same as her. A quiet melody escaped her lips every now and then, and she even bent down at one point to take the cat in her arms. The fresh cold air grazing her skin, refreshing her till she eventually reached the train station.
As she sat down on the train and stroked the cat on her lap, Lisa looked through the window. The moving scenery of the city layered like stairs still lively under the stars. A proper night date strolling through the boulevard with Felicia is something she will one day surely do. For now she already can't wait to see the lovely honey eyes again.
Her smile widened as she imagined every part of the girl she saw so far.
Welcome back. You might want to include a quick summary of the story so far at the top for those of us who haven't read this story in a long time.
Thanks~
ehh...ill try to think of a small one real quick~