Pagasa was sitting next to Mari in her bedroom. She kept asking questions about the goblin kingdoms, his immortality, and other trivial matters. The warm orange light bounced off Mari's gentle, soft skin. Her beautiful glow could distract any man, but Pagasa had too much in his mind for earthly pleasures.
At the corner of the room was Cyrus, huddled at the edge of her. She hid her eyes from Pagasa. He finds her strange demeanor concerning but does not have much experience comforting those suffering from traumatic experiences. He himself has much on his mind to even help.
The conversation with Mari eased his mental worries. Her voice calmed him, and her questions offered him a short respite from the harsh reality that was happening miles away from them. And this short break ended when Mari suddenly collapsed.
She stood up from her bed to offer Pagasa some tea to drink when her legs went limp, and she fell to the hardwood floor. Pagasa tried to help her, but Cyrus pushed him away. She started crying hysterically just when Mari lost consciousness. Flute was outside the room and ran inside when she heard the noise. She called caretakers in, and they carried Mari to her bed.
Cyrus stood between Mari and Pagasa. She covered her eyes while looking at him as if the harsh sunlight was attacking her eyes. "Get out!" She yelled. "You hurt her!"
Flute immediately pushed Pagasa out of the room, "Go, we'll take care of her." Mari's condition was getting worse as time ticks by. Her body was losing weight rapidly, and her the light of her body was disappearing. Cyrus got on her knees and clung to her hands in desperation.
He didn't mind Cyrus' verbal attacks because he was more concerned about the strange mana leaking out of Mari's body. While she was pushing him, he looked down at the floor. The thread that connected the mother and child was no longer as thin a hair string, but it was now thick as a rope. And this rope moved like a snake, slithering out from Mari's body. Pagasa turned to look at Mari one last time before Flute closed the door on him. He saw her eyes sinking and sweat pouring out from her skin. There was no time to waste.
He sprinted out of the barn and pulled his magical container. "Pan, get me the teleporter." He told the box.
The box played a jingle then its top burst open with a tentacle carrying a gemstone hugged a beautifully crafted metal ring. Pagasa closed the box and started to pour his mana into the gem. While he was turning on the device, he was interrupted by Dawn and Mabel. They were taking a stroll with their children. "What are you up to, Pagasa?" Dawn asked.
Pagasa stared at the amazonian woman in front of her. Dawn was not as tall as her, but he could see Gisele, the orc disciple he studied with under the Red Wizard, taking Dawn under her wings. Such power and strength both in mind and body. If only she didn't have a daughter to care for, he would have trained her every day along with the boys. But an idea popped into his mind. "Snow," Pagasa pointed at the little girl, "That's her name, right?"
"Yeah."
"A year old, and she can now walk."
"I know, right!" Dawn smiled, "It's amazing, but of course, she needs to catch up with Apple if they are to be married."
Mabel slapped Dawn's shoulder, "Dawn, Apple too young!"
"Ahahaha!" Dawn laughed, "But why are you asking about my daughter's age now."
"I was just curious." Pagasa threw the gemstone to Dawn, "That's a nucleus." Dawn nearly dropped the stone after juggling it between her hands.
"It's freezing!" She shouted.
"I just turned it on. Mabel, do you mind taking Snow."
"Taking Snow! What are you up to?"
"We're teleporting."
"Teleporting?"
"To the battlefield."
Before Dawn could protest, an intense blue light exploded out from the nucleus and when the light dissipated, Dawn found herself in a new place. Pagasa was crouched next to her, examing something invisible. "Where are we?"
Pagasa grabbed the mana rope that connected the mother and child and followed the flow of mana to its destination. Dawn chased after him, berating him for the lack of explanations. Eventually, they reached a large crater. "Woah, you think a mountain fell from the sky or something?" Dawn wondered.
Pagasa climbed down the crater and continued to follow the mana. But it didn't take long for Pagasa to noticed the large ball of yarn in the center of the crater. The yarn was made of mana, and it was converging into Sun, who was lying on the ground. Pagasa's eyes widened at the sight of his body. He lost the majority of his body weight, and so nothing was left but his skin and bone. And yet, his body was still clinging to life.
Dawn caught up with Pagasa and shrieked when she saw Sun's body. She kneeled next to him, "What happened to him?"
"This will be your first lesson," Pagasa told her. "I need you to focus on your eyes, transfer your mana into your iris. And see with your eyes."
Dawn did as she was told. She learned the basics from Mari and Pagasa, but it was her first time fusing mana into her eyes. It took her time to activate her eyes but eventually, her eyes glowed bright blue, and the world around turned dark grey. But a source of light lit her new world, and it was mana around them.
After a few seconds of adjusting to her new surroundings, she looked around her and saw the large ball of yarn that was attached to Sun. Pagasa walked around the ball. "Dawn, come here."
"What do you need me for?"
Pagasa handed her the rope, "Tie this for me. We can't have any more mana flowing through here."
"Why?"
"Because that mana belonged to Mari's kas." Pagasa dipped his hand into the yarn ball, "Did you stop the flow yet?" Dawn nodded, "Good." Pagasa used his mana to unravel the mess before him. When the pipeline was free, the mana flooded inside Sun's body.
Sun miraculously recovered from his ailments and woke up. He jumped to his feet and looked at his surroundings. He was surprised to see his mentor and Dawn. "What happened? Did we lose?" He spat out along with blood.
"Sun, are you ok?" Dawn was about to walk to him.
"Don't let go of that!" Pagasa ordered.
His tone startled the two goblins. "Woah, is everything down the toilet for you to get so angry." Sun joked.
"Your mother's condition is no joke."
"What?" Sun grabbed Pagasa's collar, "What happened to her?" This time, he was the one that was angry. But his anger was not enough to strengthen his body against his mentor. Pagasa easily subdued him to the ground. "What the hell happened to her?"
"She collapsed and fell to a coma. And that's because of you."
"Me?"
Pagasa taught him the same technique as Dawn. Once Sun got the hang of the spell, he asked them about the giant hose Dawn was blocking with her body. "That is connected to you and your mother," Pagasa answered. "And it's the only reason you're alive."
"I don't get it. King absorbed all of the mana inside my body. I was essentially dead."
"But you're not because you are doing the same thing to your mother."
"What?"
"The string that connects you to your mother acts as an emergency feeding tube. When you ran out of mana, your body absorbs the mana from your mother. And with how reckless you were in this battle, your body and kas were desperate for mana. And who else to take but the spare battery that is your mom."
"My mom is not a battery! And is it too late." Tears started to flow down his cheeks, "Maybe I should go back home. Retreat until she fully recovered."
"And? That doesn't fix the problem. Andrew will still suck out the mana out of you. Then your body will steal Mari's mana to compensate."
"Then cut it!"
"What?"
"Cut the string! I don't need it."
"Are you insane? If I do, you'll have no safety net to..."
"So what? I don't need a safety net if it means my mom will die because of me." Sun pushed himself off the ground despite Pagasa sitting on top of him. "I have no intentions of putting my mom in a position that will hurt her again! I trained under you to get stronger, so I don't need that stupid tube. I'll beat King with my own strength! And if he wanted to steal it so bad, then he'll have to kill me first."
"Wasn't the point of that was to kill you, to begin with?" Dawn asked.
"Well, yeah, you're right." Sun gave up and crashed to the earth under Pagasa's heavy butt.
"But I'm serious. Let's just cut it."
Pagasa got off Sun and sliced the thread with his finger. The mana that Dawn blocked from entering Sun's body turned back and headed south to return to their original owner. Cutting the string caused immense pain for both parties. Mari was jolted awake from the cutting.
Sun's body suffered a brief seizure, but his body and kas quickly recovered from the shock. "I probably should have warned you about the pain. But you're no longer attached to your mother, which means you're on your own. The times when you were supposed to die only to recover miraculously will no longer be the case. Are you ready? Ready to kill their wannabe king?"
Sun laid on his back and stared at the clouds trying to catch his breath. Dawn sat next to him and patted his shoulders. "Looks like you are in tip-top shape to kill that bastard!"
"Yeah, about that." Sun got up, "I don't think it a good idea to kill him."
"Why?" Pagasa asked, but he realized soon enough the reason why he couldn't. "He's the Golden Condottiero that elf mentioned."
"Yeah, which means killing him is a no go. But if I think about it, just beating him will be bad for us. You think the continent will just ignore us, a band of goblins, after killing a figure with so much pull on the world."
"Don't worry about it. I'll deal with the repercussions. Just go and deal with my problem student for me." Pagasa smiled. "Dawn, get Sun to the city."
"And you?"
"I'll go have a talk with an old friend."