After some hours, he couldn't get himself to sleep again, so he just decided to lie in bed, looking at the wooden ceiling above him, while waiting for the sky to show some signs of the next day.
When he was already starting to wonder how long were the nights in that world, he heard a soft knocking from the door, and someone stepping into the room. Leo looked at the door and saw Ly wearing a blue nightdress.
- Good morning Leo... – she said, with a sticky voice from just having woken up - It's still dark, but it's already time to go. Did you sleep well?
- Not really... I was used to my bed in the other world, but the night was long enough for me to get a good rest, so I should be fine.
- You will get used to it. There's still a few hours left until dawn. We should go now, it's not far, and I’m sure you will like it, so let’s get dressed.
Leo didn't have anything to do in bed, he was bored from being idle, and the idea of staying alone in a foreign house didn't feel right, so the only real option he has was to follow her. When he finished dressing up, he went to the bathroom, cleaned his face and hands, and then started to walk downstairs.
When Ly heard him, she went out of her room, holding something in her back.
- Hey, are you done already? Can you help tie this? It's hard without help.
- S... Sure.
Leo walked to where Ly was, while she was turning around to show part of her back not yet hidden by the dress.
- Not too hard, I like to breath.
Ly said that in such a serious way that Leo couldn't hide a laugh. He then got the ends of the string, and started to tie the dress. A lot of thoughts popped in Leo's head in that time, while he was trying not to mess up with the knot.
- Is it okay like this?
- Yeah, that's fine. Let's go down... to the living room.
Ly walked downstairs and Leo followed her. Ly then opened a closet and took a pair of bags. She put some food into the bags, and gave one to Leo.
- Let's go.
Leo thought Ly seemed happier that morning, and assumed it was because the teleportation left her tired the day before.
They went out of the house, and Ly called Kirh. When the rhuun appeared running from behind the house, she rubbed its chin and all three started to walk. While walking, Ly started talking to Leo, she told him about all the different flowers, trees and animals they saw along the road. Time was passing fast for Leo, as he was enjoying that walk so much. He was surprised when Ly told him they had reached the place.
They were near a cliff, raised many meters above them. Ly told Kirh to wait for them near there, and guided Leo to a cave in an opening in the cliff. It was narrow so they would have to crawl inside.
- I'll go before you. Don't look too much, ok?
- Sure... – “it will be too dark in there anyway”, he thought.
As the narrow part of the cave finished, Leo noticed it wasn't as dark as he expected. A million of small lights lit the cave with uncountable colors, like stars in the sky in the night at the reach of their hands.
Leo was looking around, with his mouth open as if all the words had vanished from his mind at once.
- This is mana. Crystallized spirit energy. Pretty, isn't it?
- Yeah...
- It's scary though, there's so much energy concentrated in this place, if anyone was to try to use magic in here, the whole place would probably explode, and even if it didn't, the user would die, because his spirit would get ripped into pieces from the massive energy.
Leo was still admiring the beauty of that place, while Ly was looking around like searching for something.
- I work at the city selling mana crystals. Some people don’t have the ability to open their eye, so the only way they can do any kind of magic is using special items powered by mana stones.
- Oh...
- I go to the city once every week to sell them, so when I need to have enough crystals when I go tomorrow. I have some at home already, but there’s too few red mana. See if you can find any... if not, pink or orange will have to do, but I won’t get much money from those, because the purer they are, the more money people pays.
Leo started to look closely at the colors of the mana, trying to distinguish the pink, orange and brown mana from red mana which was near other colors.
- I think there's a few up there... - said Leo after a bit of looking.
- Remember I can't use magic in here, and we don't have tools to climb so we can't reach those.
Leo looked around, and saw one at a more reachable height.
- How about this one...? I can’t see any other and... I could help you reach it.
Liien looked at the crystal then at Leo, and sighed.
- Red mana is getting rarer every day... it’s normal because people mostly need mana as a source of energy, but it’s sad. I guess that one will have to do. Okay, help me up there.
Liien walked to where the crystal was, and waited for him. Leo followed her and moved his hands hear her waist, so he could raise her.
The moment they touched, all the crystals in the cave started to shine, like a blast wave, all almost at once, and an intense pain filled their bodies, while their auras became visible to the spirit eye, struggling to keep up with the energy which started to flow through them.
- No! - Screamed Ly - Not now... not here... I can't... I can't stop it... help...
Liien fainted while saying that, but her aura didn't fade, it was glowing stronger every moment and Leo was too scared to do anything.
- What's this? What's happening to us? Please... someone help... us... please…
He couldn't talk anymore, and he felt how the energy was cutting through his spirit, hurting him, killing him. He didn’t know how to use magic, so he couldn't do anything to protect himself, or Ly, if she was still alive. The pain was too intense, so his body, in an attempt to stop it, decided to shut itself down. Right before his consciousness faded away, Leo could see a bright light surrounded them, and then everything went black.