- Take it easy, boy! As hurt as you are, you can’t even think of moving yet. - said a voice near him - I'm Liien's father, Andur. Ly told me he would bring you here, but she still didn’t know your name when I left.
- Le... – he tried to say before his headache stopped him – Leonard... but call me Leo.
- Okay then Leo, how do you feel?
- My head... it hurts.
- That's normal. If I hadn't been searching for you when that happened, the energy would have killed you both. Can you tell me what happened in there?
- I... don't remember too well.... We were searching for red mana.
- I know that much. I asked her to get some before she left to your world.
- I... there was none we could reach ourselves. I saw a red crystal a bit above us, so I said I could raise her... so she could reach it. She accepted, but the next thing I remember is the pain... and she was screming. She said... she said she couldn't control it... I could see her aura.
- So your magic activated? Like that? Without any reason?
- I don't remember well, but I think nothing else happened. Just the crystals started to shine lighter, and the pain... so painful...
- What you say is weird... but there's no lie in your eyes. I don't know what it could be. There was no reason for her to open the eye in there...
- How... is she?
- She's worse than you. It seems your body can take more energy than hers, maybe because you are new to this world, but her spirit was damaged, and she will need more time to heal.
- If her mother was still alive... she was a silver spirit, you know? She could have known the problem.
- Her mother... is dead? I didn't know. She didn't tell me.
- Ly never tells anyone.
- It happened when she was only 5 years old. She had a hard time to accept Alana's death... sometimes I think she still hasn't recovered, she still tries to hide that part or her life like if it never happened.
- I wish... I could do something to help her.
- Wouldn't anyone want it? But medical magic requires so much precision... only silver spirits can use it without spending their lives studying.
Leo was still sleepy, and his headache didn't help him remain awake, so he started to fall asleep against his own will.
- You are still tired... Rest, the spirit needs time to recover from its damage. I will go to the nearest town to get some doctor.
After that, Leo stopped trying to remain awake, and slept for a while.
He had some nightmares, all with the same dream: Leo would see Ly, and go talk to her, but when she saw him Ly would run away from him, calling him a monster, he then would try to follow her, and when he tried to grab her, she would start crying and screaming, and melt away.
After one of the nightmares, Leo managed to wake up and consciously take over his body again. He was sweating all over, like after a strong fever, and he assumed that was what had happened to him. He was alone and didn't know how much time had passed, but he was too worried about Ly, so he tried to get up.
When he forced his body to mode, he felt like if a million needles were piercing through all the muscles in his body. When he put his feet on the floor, he almost fell, but he was able to hold into the header of the bed. Seeing how he was unable to move, he sat in the border of the bed, with his legs hanging out.
After some minutes, he tried again, and this time, he could at least hold his own weight without falling, but when he tried to move one of the legs to step forward, he lost balance and had to sit back into the bed. He decided to rest some more, and try again later.
After a few more attempts, he managed to do enough steps to reach the bathroom… he needed to use it. When he was done, he wondered it Ly was in her room, but decided he should not disturb her. He went to his bed, and laid on it, without anything to do, but thinking about that morning in the cave.
Leo was remembering everything he did that morning, when he suddenly noticed he had the spirit eye open. He looked at his arms, and noticed how he couldn’t see his own spirit. He decided he had to learn how to control the eye, but he didn’t know how to start, so he thought concentration would help.
He closed his eyes, and noticed how he could still see some faint lights around, even when it was so dark in the room, and his eyes were closed. He moved the head around and noticed the lights he was seeing were outside of his eyes, and that way he deduced he was actually seeing them through the spirit eye. That gave him an idea: maybe if he tried to close the eye, if he tried to stop seeing those things, he could actually close it.
He tried the idea, and closed his eyes. After a few minutes with the eyes closed, trying to tell the eye to close through every part of his mind, he noticed he wasn’t seeing things anymore. He wasn’t sure if the eye closed because of his orders, or it just closed out of boredom, but he was happy to at least have it closed.
He decided he could just practice again, so he tried to recall the moment when the spirit eye opened. He was thinking about the cave, about how they crawled inside. He remembered how pretty the mana crystals were, and how much did they have to search to find a red one. He saw Ly walking to where the one he found was, he saw himself walking near her and getting his hands near her. At the moment his memories were about to touch her, a strange feeling appeared somewhere in his head. He had found it… a trigger… a way to open the eye… and even more. Suddenly, he found his own spirit outside of his body… he saw himself in the bed, with his eyes closed. He realized he was seeing that with the spirit eye, and looked to where his bode should have been, to see a bright white spirit instead. He felt light… he felt he could do anything. He wanted to see, to move, and his spirit did move. He moved to the place he wished to go the most… to Ly’s room.
He saw her… in her bed… sleeping. He saw her blue spirit, faint, almost imperceptible. He wanted to see it from closer, he wished it, and he moved to where she was… and then he noticed something. She wasn’t whole. Small parts of her spirit were missing, like scars left in the ashes of burned object. He wanted her to be fine, he wanted to heal her… he wished he could heal her… and her spirit started to glow in silver tones. He didn’t know what to do, but he did know he had to trust his spirit. It felt as if he had already done it before… so he wished… and his wished became reality…
The energy around him started to swirl, gathering around his arms, just to become blue and move again through his hands into Ly’s body, and blend with her spirit. That process continued for a while, until she was whole again. Then he felt relieved.
Without worrying about Ly anymore, Leo’s spirit moved back to his own body. As he blended his his body, Leo started to feel everything… every single cell in his body was telling him it was there… he felt the pain to be alive, to be back into a living body. He opened his eyes widely, and with a deep breath, he forced air into his lungs, like a child who has been just born.
After he was back to his own self, he saw Ly’s father, Andur, looking at him with a strange expression on his eyes.
- I… did it… I fixed her – Leo said - .
- How? – Replied Andur - No one taught you medical magic yet… right?
- I don’t know how… I just did…
- He is right, Andur - said a voice, coming from outside the room - . Her spirit is fine now.
- That’s… good - Leo’s words became silent as he was falling asleep again - .
- I don’t understand… - said Andur while glancing from Leo to the other person - this boy isn’t a silver spirit… I would have felt it. How could he heal her like that?
- I don’t know... When he moved back to his body, I think I saw a white glow, but that would make no sense, I must have confused it... I have never seen or heard of the existence of white- colored of the spirit.
- This is, indeed, really weird. When I took them out of that cave, everything was too bright, but he seemed to have a blue glow… we will have to investigate more… could you check the medical logs from the library someday? I don’t want to disturb you if you are too busy, but I’m not an expert in that field, and you have more chances to find something than me.
- I will try… It’s in times like this when I miss my sister more. Alana was so good at healing… it’s sad she had to get that disease in the best moment of her life.
- Yeah. But let’s leave that in the past, and focus on the part of history that could make things clear now. I will stay here for a while until they both recover, and then we will meet again.
- Okay. If I find something important before then, I know how to contact you.
- Go now, Raul, I’m sure there’s other people that needs your assistance.
- Now that you mention it… I had a few visits scheduled, and the first one should have already started. See you…
With that, Raul activated his spirit eye and disappeared from the room.
Andur also left, and closed the door behind him, leaving Leo sleeping peacefully.
...
When Liien woke up, she found herself in her room. She didn't remember why, but she felt it was strange, and the pain in her spirit told her something happened. She searched the memories, and found them, in pieces.
Leo… the cave… mana… his hands touching her… pain. She had somehow lost control of her spirit. The energy from the cave forced her spirit to become more active to try to handle it, and that activity attracted even more energy, leaving her in a vicious loop… a loop that should have killed her. She was still alive, so someone had to save her... or both of them.
Ly tried to get up, but her body was still too weak. She felt like if a thousand needles were piercing through her body, and she gave up on that idea.
She heard someone opening the door. Looked, and saw her father, Andur.
- Hey Ly. I heard something... How do you feel?
- Fine... but I can't move... everything hurts.
- That's normal; your spirit had to take a lot in that cave.
- The cave... did you save us?
- I did take both of you out of there. But I can't say I saved you with that.
- What?
- Your spirit was damaged. It couldn't heal on its own. I went to the town to get a doctor, but when we came back, you were already healed. Leo healed you while I was out.
- Leo... how? He didn't even know how to open his eye...
- He has some strange spirit... that boy. It's white, it seems.
- White? I didn't know there were white spirits...
- I didn't know either. But I checked it twice and there's no mistake.
Ly suddenly had a smile in her face.
- What's that smile for?
- I knew it, father… I knew he was special. Since the first time I saw him in his own world in one of my travels. I knew it wasn't just me.
- And you were right – he smiled - . I just hope he is good as a person too. Excessive power can make an angel, but also a demon. Never forget the legend of Ethrainel, Ly. Don’t forget that even the kindest person, when lacking a strong will, can get overwhelmed by power and become a monster.
- You already know how much I like that story; I doubt I could ever forget it. By the way... how is he?
- Leo? He's sleeping. He still doesn’t know much, so he used most of the energy he had recovered, while healing you.
- How much time have we been sleeping?
- Today it has been three days since the incident in the cave. Leo healed you the day after that, so he has been sleeping for almost two days already.
- It's strange... three days, and I still feel so tired...
- Then you should rest more. I have to go do some things outside, but I won't be far.
Andur left the room, and Ly, alone and tired, closed her eyes and let the sleep do its work.
...
Leo woke up in a sunny morning. He felt really well- rested so he got up from the bed, changed into his new clothes, and went out of the room.
He found Ly's room empty, so he hoped she was fine already. He went downstairs, and out of the house, and there he saw Andur reading a book in a bench, near the house.
Andur saw Leo and looked at him.
- Hey Leo, Are you fine already?
- Yes, sir, I'm fine. Thanks for asking.
- Come on, boy, you don't need to be so formal with me! You did heal my daughter after all.
- Did I? I almost don't remember anything… after I woke up and you told me you had saved us... everything else feels like a dream...
- Don't worry about that... it was your first time outside your body. But you should be content you didn't leave it for too long... without proper preparation, you body would have died in some minutes more, and without the body, your soul, the link that holds your spirit together would have broke. You know what does that mean?
- No?
- Your spirit would have dispersed into the world, or in other words, you would have died.
- Good thing it didn't happen then... I guess. I will make sure not to use it again, at least until I learn more.
- I hope so...
Leo looked around, like searching something.
- Ly...?
- She should not be far… she went to the river. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you awake and healthy.
- Thanks! See you later.
Leo then started to run towards the river. When he was getting near it, he saw Ly concentrated with something in the ground.
- Ly! Good morning!
Leo stopped running, out of breath, near where Ly was, when Ly, unexpectedly, jumped towards him with a smile in her face and open arms.
- Leo!
The hug was so unexpected that Leo couldn't hold up and fell back, with Ly over him. After a few seconds that way, both Leo and Ly blushed at the same time, Ly rolled to a side, and they ended both looking at the sky, one near the other... and they started to laugh.
- It's nice to see you well, Ly.
- Thanks. You too, Leo.
- Thanks.