The sound of hurrying footsteps mingled with the splashes of water from the puddles that formed on the stone paved walkway broke the silence of the large estate grounds.
Lyn was running towards the house where Chitose and her mother were staying at the Holden family's compound. The rain had finally stopped pouring and the sun was up in the clear blue sky.
Tightly clutched around her chest was a pair of school uniforms. She was very excited to have Chitose try them on, since her old school uniform wont fit her anymore. She also brought a pair of bra and panties for Chi.
Striding the paved lawn towards the house with the package in her arms, Lyn almost fell over as she lost her balance due to the slick stones. Swiftly catching her balance, she opted instead to slowly walk for the rest of the way to avoid unwanted accidents.
As she stepped on the wooden porch, a sudden realization hit her; She had been sniffing the under garments she was carrying. Quickly, she pulled it away from her nose, blushing in embarrassment. She hoped no one had seen her. She then fixed herself, trying to look composed before knocking at the door.
*KNOCK*
*KNOCK*
The door was opened by Chi's mom Ayako. She was pleasantly surprised when she saw that her visitor was none other than the young mistress of the household.
"Good morning Miss Lyn, please come in." Greeted Ayako, who was always fond of her former ward. It was Ayako who introduced a young Lyn to MAGIC, so one could say that she was her first teacher, but only the very basic stuff.
Ayako is in her late thirties, although she still looked like a woman in her early twenties, she had long silver hair which her daughter Chitose had inherited, she is also very pretty, and now it's apparent that the resemblance between mother and daughter is striking, now that Chitose had lost her fats.
She lost her husband when she was still pregnant with Chitose, in an accident. Her husband got run over by a crazed horse of a local lord back in their old hometown.
"Good morning auntie Ayako!" Lyn respectfully greeted her former nanny.
"Is Chi up already?" Lyn asked, her eyes failed to hide her excitement of showing the stuff she brought for Chi. She was already picturing in her mind how fun it would be to dress Chi up in the cute underwear.
"Lyn, are you okay dear? You are drooling a little" Ayako said, looking incredulously at Lyn.
"Eh?" Responded Lyn when she finally snapped back to reality.
Embarrassed, she quickly wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, Lyn entered the house.
"Chi! Lyn is here dear!" Ayako called.
Running down from her room on the second floor, Chitose went over and grabbed Lyn's arm in a hurry and dragged her back to her room.
"Chi, wai… whoa… not so fast!" Lyn protested while being dragged in a hurry.
*Click*
Chitose locked the door of her room, then with a great big smile, faced a still confused Lyn.
Chi feverishly took Lyn's both hands into hers, then looking straight into her eyes.
"I can finally control MAGIC!"
......…
The two girls arrived at the estate garden. Earlier when Chitose told Lyn about how she can finally control MAGIC, they wasted no time in running towards the garden, where they can test her control without any issues and distractions.
The garden was not really a garden that is filled with flowers, but a mini forest of ginkgo trees that was arranged as a sphere with a circumference of four hundred and seventy four meters, enough area to cut loose some spells.
This was the place where a young Lyn started to practice control under the guidance of the good Mr. Allentown. It also served as her's and Chi's playground, where they both enjoyed hide and seek and any other games that children loved to play.
"Shall we begin?" Lyn asked her best friend, knowing full well that Chi had been itching to show off her new skills. Her only regret was that she wasn't able to dress Chi up with the clothes she had brought for her… especially those cute underwear.
Chitose nodded in approval, she then cleared her mind to bring forth her mana. She relaxed herself and calmed her breathing.
The now familiar warm feeling of joy started to rise and spread from the center of her body, slowly filling her entirety, her body glowing a soft white luminosity.
Lyn stares with awe at Chitose, even though she can feel the surge of power from her friend, it was a very strange kind of mana, it was very calming... yet terrible… puzzling her inquisitive mind.
She saw her friend start to glow, it was something that was not normal when you control mana. Yet she was mesmerized by it all.
"Oh, Chi… look how you have grown, you were so beautiful even then, when you were still chubby…" Lyn fondly recalled their childhood together as they played in this very garden.
She knew a long time ago that Chi is pretty... but now that her body had lost those unwanted fats, her beauty became very apparent. That fact that she was glowing; literally glowing, is just enhancing those beautiful features of her, the silver hair, the shape of her face, her body, her breasts, her hips… her lips...
Lyn felt her heart racing, even her breathing had started to accelerate.
"Wha… what's this I am feeling?" She thought to herself utterly confused. She once again looked at Chitose as she continued to concentrate, and all Lyn could think about was how beautiful Chi looked.
"She is my best friend, that's all it is… I have Claire now… But why does my heart hurt so much when I look at her?"
Lyn ached to touch her at this very moment, to touch her face, her lips, to feel Chi's warmth in her hands. She unknowingly started to reach out for Chitose, wanting to hold her in an embrace she wanted all for herself.
At that very moment gazing at Chitose glowing like a goddess, Lyn finally realized that it was Chitose that she loved all along.
*POP*
The sudden pop brought Lyn back to her senses, startled. She then saw that Chitose's glow had subsided and there appeared to be a small glowing fairy hovering around Chi's head.
"What's that thing?" Lyn asked, pointing at the hovering sprite.
"I am not a thing!" The sprite protested, her hands firmly on her tiny hips "I am Hunai, I am her familiar" the sprite proudly declared as she pointed her arm towards a smiling Chitose, amused at the exchange.
"A familiar?! But that would make you a primordial!" Lyn turned her gaze from the sprite to Chitose as if asking for an explanation.
"She seemed to be a gift from my ancestor who was locked in my mana... When I got hit by Meilou and Tusk's combined spell, the lock was broken… I think…" Chitose explained to Lyn in the simplest way possible.
"Anyway, enough about that… now watch this Lyn!" Chitose started to open her right palm upwards. Instantly, a few inches above her open palm, a swirling white light started to appear.
Lyn's eyes widened as she saw that at last, her best friend can control MAGIC, she then shifted her dark eyes to look at Chitose, who was also looking at her with those beautiful golden eyes, beaming with jubilation, obviously very proud of herself. This made Lyn's heart skip a beat.
Then all of a sudden, the swirling light started dancing erratically and with a force of a hundred firestorms, flared up into a magnificent pillar of pure energy, shooting up into the sky, more powerful than an erupting volcano at its full fury. Up it goes, a hundred feet, a thousand feet, visible to all to see within hundreds of kilometers from all directions. A spectacular pillar of light that wasn't seen in this age for a long time.
Shocked, but unexplainably calm, due to the strange feeling of tranquility that Chitose's mana is emitting, Lyn witnessed how the light enveloped Chitose whole, and how it slowly and steadily collapsed back into Chitose's palm forming a curved single bladed sword of which white light seemed to overflow like a rising smoke.
Suddenly Hunai, who had been quiet for a while, started to stare blankly at Chitose. She then spoke in a very strange and methodical manner, like she was reading a book.
Skill unlocked illumination level one-
Mana surge:
Removes restriction on the amount mana the body can hold.
Light Katana level one:
A weapon from the native land of the original mana bearer, extremely sharp and durable.
Bonus skill: Heat absorption, heat recoil.
Error! Angelic essence detected:
Enhanced physical strength-unlocked
Enhanced physical speed-unlocked
Mana expansion sonar skill-unlocked
Lyn and Chitose were staring befuddled at Hunai, having no idea what she was talking about in that very strange tone.
Chitose looked at the sword in her hand.
"Strange sword…" she said as she and Lyn observed the weapon with utter curiosity. The length of the curved blade was about twenty three inches, the single blade is located at the outer side of the curve, she can see a strange pattern running the length of the blade, it's like the waves of the sea.
The hand guard was circular unlike normal swords that had a cross guard. The grip is long, like a two handed sword, but it's too light to be considered as one, as a matter of fact, Chitose is quite comfortable holding it with one hand.
Lyn moved closer to have a better look, she placed her right hand on Chi's shoulder and her right hand on Chi's hand that's holding the sword.
"I have never seen a sword like this, not even in the old books we have in the library at school." Lyn said, looking straight at Chitose's eyes.
Chi looked back at Lyn's eye, for some reason, she couldn't look away, like she was locked in place. Lyn slowly moved her face closer to Chi's, slowly closing her eyes.
Chi can feel the heat of Lyn's breath as her face moved closer to hers, it was like an unknown force was pulling them together. Closer and closer, a feeling of excitement mixed with uncertainty until their lips were brushing with each other. Chitose blushed heavily as Lyn locked her lips on Chitose's.
It took her by surprise, but it was a sweet kiss, her very first. Chitose's mind was happy, confused, elated and scared at the same time. She can feel Lyn's tongue on hers, she decided to stop thinking and just live for the moment.
"Ehem!"
The two girls suddenly stopped kissing, both were startled and embarrassed. They both forgot that the sprite was right there watching them devour each other in passion.
"Look, I am not judging you guys or anything, since I am basically her mana, so I understand what she feels" Hunai said pointing at a red faced Chitose. "But now is not the time for romance! I can feel people heading this way."
The girls then saw Ayako and Lyn's parents running towards them with concerned looks on their faces.
Ayako arrived first and hugged both girls tightly. "We saw a pillar of light from this direction! Are you girls okay? Was that light from the both of you?" A very concerned Ayako was inquiring.
"It was nothing auntie Ayako… It was just a simple light spell. Nothing to worry about." Smiling, Lyn assuring Ayako, trying very hard not to show her guilt on kissing her aunt Ayako's daughter.
"Very good, let's all head back to the house then, the chef has prepared some special food." Lyn's dad who was listening to the conversation said when he saw that everything was fine after all.
"Ayako, you and Chitose, will join us too… hmm… Chitose, when did you get so thin?! Now I have to fatten you up again! Hahaha!" Lyn's dad laughing at his own joke started to walk back towards their house with Lyn's mom beside him.
"You go on ahead mom" Chi, told Ayako, who also agreed to leave first to help the Holdens to prepare the dinner.
When Ayako was finally gone, Chitose then took a deep breath and exhaled with an audible sigh. She turned to face Lyn.
"What was that earlier?" Chitose asked
"Earlier? You mean the sudden surge of mana?" Lyn asked innocently
"You know what I mean Lyn…" Chi pressed.
"It was what it was, and I know that you know it too... " Lyn said in a serious tone.
Chitose was silent, she didn't know how to respond to that. Everything happened so fast and way too much for a single day. She just stared at Lyn's face, arms crossed with a questioning look. She did not even bother to ask Hunai why her mom and Lyn's parents seemed to not notice her presence.
"Oh, they can't see me, I can make myself invisible to people if I want. Also as your mana, I know all of your thoughts, so don't worry too much about me." The sprite told Chi with a smug smile on her face.
"Don't dwell on it too much Chi…" Lyn said, grabbing Chitose's arms and pulling her towards the house.
.........
A lone figure also left, but went the other way, her fists clenched so tight that her knuckles turned white. She was nearby, on her way to the Holden estate to visit Lyn when suddenly a bright light shot up towards the heavens. Worried, she rushed towards the light's direction knowing that her friends' houses were nearby. She saw them from afar, so she stopped and hid from them. From behind the ginkgo trees, just out of their line of sight, Claire saw her girlfriend Lyn kissing her best friend Chitose.
...........
Further away from Triplance two travelers also saw the spectacular light shooting up to the sky, Silma pointed excitedly to the pillar of light as she calls Tara.
"Tara look! So beautiful! Do you know what that is?"
Tara saw the light, she knew that light by heart, she felt that light as it obliterated her body five hundred years ago. A cold shiver ran up her spine, making the angel shudder unconsciously.
"Mana Surge… so that's where you are…" Tara took a mental note of the general direction of the light.
"We shall meet each other soon, scion of Sinante…"
Tara then looked at the ring stuck at her finger "I need to find a way to take this off fast…" she said with a resounding sigh.
She then walked towards Silma who was still in awe of the pillar of light even though it's already gone.
"Let's get going girl!" She said in a cheerful manner as once again she playfully slapped the elf's cute butt.
"Kyaaaah!"
......…
Hundreds of miles away, where the pillar of light is no longer visible, Declan was washing his face on a river.
Feeling refreshed, he then started to collect his thoughts once more. His master gave him an important mission, and he needed to accomplish it at all cost. By his own estimate, he should have arrived in Triplance by now, but it seems he is nowhere near his destination.
"Shit… I think I am lost…"