I never was someone with a lot of friends and I never cared, it was not something I needed. However, after all that happened, I started to want the comfort of someone. After spending all my time with Raidha and after so much time training with Mirthia I even started to feel that making friends could be easy and comforting. Anyway, the idea only lasted until I was brutally backstabbed… literally…
While I put my hand on my chest and remembered the pain of having a sharp object coming out from it, I started asking myself what really is a friend.
"Friend". What comes to mind when one hears this word? With who is correct to use? How much a friend last? I didn't have answers to those questions anymore. Any one of them disappeared at the same moment Mirthia stabbed me… and despite that, I wasn't able to feel any hatred towards her.
So, who could be called a friend? The guy you knew when you were a kid and played with you after school. The classmate which you spent hours talking to between classes. The dude who spend the Thursday night with you drinking in a random shady place… That's what is considered a friend? For me… no more…
Partner, colleague, acquaintance, those words are mote matching to the reality. The guy you knew as a kid and the classmate, probably both will disappear after changing school or growing up. The persons which you spent all your free time messing around may meet new people that you don't like and break all contact because any stupidity that could happen. Even the dude with which you go out to drink can stop going with you because of something as simple as liking a girl.
The concept of friend is ephemeral, too superficial. We use it without caring the least about the real meaning. Why? Well… society practically forces us to call anyone as that, also making us call friend someone who really isn't.
If you have a mere acquaintance near you and someone asks you who is he, the answer will probably be: "a friend". If you just say: "an acquaintance", unless is someone with who you hardly spend some time, he will become very upset about your answer. Due to this, we are always yelling all time friend, friend, friend...
That's why I decided to only call friend to someone who deserves it. Someone who acts like a friend when needed. Someone who won't disappear when is most needed. Someone who won't betray me. Someone as…
"For now, I suppose you can consider me…"
His last words echoed into my mind.
'A friend, uh? Ha, don't make me laugh.'
There is no way I could consider him a friend. I didn't want to have someone living inside me for the rest of my life, so even if he was the most trustworthy person in the universe, sooner or later I would end getting rid of him.
'Get rid of him…'
Somehow, an estrange melancholy awakened inside me, which I just threw away with a quiet sigh before turning to Raidha, who was walking next to me with her eyes still swollen.
"There something stage on my face?" Raidha asked after noticing my stare.
"No…"
Could I really consider her a friend? She saved me a few times… Probably, she was the only person I could really trust… and he also thought the same… However, someday we will take different paths and never see each other again… After all, even if she looked like a human, she was not.
"Then why are you staring at me?"
"Your beauty is so big that I can't force my eyes to stop looking at you."
"Ehhhhhhh?! Stop joking with me!"
Even so, I wasn't able to just consider her a mere acquaintance. I have no clue about what should I call her, and think about it made another kind of melancholy assault me.
'Without her…'
If she hadn't been with me, I was sure that I would have stopped advancing long ago. Even if I hadn't died, probably I would have given up long ago.
'It doesn't matter how… I will make sure that you will never need to help me again…'
***
The town was a mess. The battle was finished long ago and everywhere could be seen cat corpses. I was not sure if all of them were killed or if some managed to escape, but it was a slaughter. The village, if it could, would need a long time to recover from that blow. All from our fault, or better said, my fault.
We loot the corpses we came across. We collected some weapons and everything looking useful they had with them. It may be considered a bit unethical, but they didn't need them anymore. It was better we having them than those who would come after us to do the same… or worst.
Townspeople were still on guard and patrolling everywhere. Normal, dead people were not limited to cats. The truth is that more townspeople died than cats. The fury and sorrow of those people would not disappear in a long time.
"You, both, wait a moment!" A townsman stopped us. "You are not from the town, what do you want from here?"
"We…" I muttered.
In a couple of seconds, a group of men, armed from real swords to mere farming tools, surrounded us.
"We were just passing by… We will leave in a moment…"
After checking us, they finally relaxed a bit.
"Get out from here as soon as possible, we don't want more strangers. I can't assure that you won't meet problems even if you were only passing by."
"Why?" Raidha asked.
"Can't you tell? Before you, a stranger arrived and after him the Faerain. It was his fault that all of this happened. At this moment, nobody will look with good eyes anyone from outside. But now that you are here, if you see a man with gray fur and green eyes alert us quickly, I can promise that you will make all the town own you a favor. On the other hand, if you see him and don't say a word… You already know."
"Of.. of course… be assured that we will inform immediately…" I answered with a weird smile.
Of course, the whole town was in search and capture of the cause of the assault, me… Every few steps we were stopped and the scene repeated again. I wished luck to everyone looking for me… I really wished the best of luck finding that guy with gray fur and green eyes… they really needed it… On the other hand, nobody seemed to be looking Raidha… That's what happens if you don't have a tail…
***
We decided to come back with the old wolf. At first, it was a bit difficult to explain what happened, but he finally accepted it and surprisingly he let us stay in his home without mentioning anything about the assault or me.
We wanted to leave the town as soon as the sun goes up and aim for the next fissure. It seemed to be far away, so our next journey would be long. We didn't have any transport, so we needed some provisions this time. The old wolf kindly gave us some food and tools. He really looked grateful toward us… even when the only thing I had done was make some plants grow… but thinking about it, in this world where one hardly was able to see any metal tool, it probably was a big help. Without a doubt, his life wasn't easy, and knowing that it would be harder and harder made me feel really bad.
'But there is nothing we can do...'
I cleared my mind and focused on the equipment.
'Food stored, tools ready, pistol charged, ammunition ready and… Vurtalis…'
When I was about to put Vurtalis between all the other things, which returned to be no more than a big knife, I thought about it.
"Raidha, when we were attacked you were able to use your magic without problems, right? Can it be that you regained enough power to open a portal?"
"Ah! I didn't think about it."
'As clever as always…'
"Let me try!"
I threw the sword at her and she started channeling her power to the sword. It could be seen with the naked eye how her energy was poured into the sword, but finally, nothing happened.
"Why it doesn't work!" Raidha yelled with frustration.
No matter what she tried, nothing changed. She ended up stupidly moving the sword up and down again and again.
"Nothing will come out no matter how hard you shake it…"
"It seems that opening a portal need more power than I tough."
"Have you used all your mana?"
"That's not a problem, mana is fast replenished."
"So, if it's fast replenished… why didn't you try before? And also what about the part of me stealing your power…"
"You didn't steal my mana, you took my magic power!"
"Is not the same?"
"Not quite. It's not easy to explain. Let's see, the mana, in essence, is the same everywhere, but every person has a different capacity to use it. For you to understand, if the mana is the fuel, the magic power is the engine. You can have a lot of fuel, but without a powerful engine you will not run fast."
"Ok, I get it. It's not difficult to understand, but why do I feel that anyone says something different…"
"You only need to pay attention to me! There is no one with more knowledge than me in magic!"
"Well, well, but is not like is useful to me. After all, both, my magic power and mana are 0."
Raidha stared at me with her eyes half closed and a reproaching face.
"But you have a power far amazing than magic."
"Don't think so… Even how it looks, it's too limited. I can't create anything from nothing the same way magic does, if there is nothing around I can't use this power. Also, I can only control things that are solid in a basic state. I can't control fluids or gases and I also can't directly affect other people. The only that doesn't seem to follow these rules is the regeneration of my body, and it happens automatically, so I'm not sure if it really doesn't."
"Only this regeneration is enough to make a lot of people give away their magic… But aside, now I think about it, when I first opened the portal I didn't use magic power or dark power, it just happened."
"It just happened… In other words, the truth is that you don't have a clue about how to use this sword, right?"
"Is not that I don't know! Is just… Is like moving a hand, you just want to move it and it moves…"
"That's the same as admitting that you don't have a clue… but I understand what you mean. After all, I also controlled it as easy as moving a finger when that tiger appeared…"
I took the sword in front of me and imagined a portal, the same space being cut apart in front of me… but as expected, nothing happened.
"Hey, you, do you know anything?" I asked.
–Don't ask me, there is no way I know.
After hearing the answer I put away the sword, dejected.
"He also doesn't know anything."
"He, you say, uh?" Raidha muttered.
"Yes, he, what's the problem?"
"Nothing, I just thought that you seem to be too familiar with that thing" she muttered again.
Without a doubt, Raidha didn't like my companion the least.
"Whatever… Really there is nothing coming at your mind about how to open a portal?"
"No, when I used it the first time I just thought about going to another place and it worked alone."
"Alone… Now that you say, when I touched it, the portal also opened by itself… I didn't even think about going anywhere…"
The damn sword really was a mystery, and at the same time that Raidha and I were discussing how could we make it work like the last time, a certain person that also was present at that moment was looking for us incessantly. However, there is no way she could find us, right?