Like a radio changing its frequency, the static emerged in Sherdan's head upon the arrival of the Goddess' voice.
Lucian, shot up from his seat in worry. As the other suddenly became motionless in his bed.
"Sherdan?" Lucian asked. His hands gripped his shoulders, and he lightly shook him.
Sherdan, who was already under Clepsydra's power, remained unresponsive. His eyes, that were once filled with vitality, became as blank as when one is hypnotised.
"Hey! Sherdan! Come on, you're scaring me "
Panicking, the guy couldn't help but shake him off roughly. He did that for several minutes, but when he still wouldn't snap out of his thoughts, Lucian stood up. He ran out of the door in a hurry, with only one goal in his mind.
To call for the nurse, who was not in the room earlier. If he was unfortunate, and he couldn't see the nurse, he made a second plan.
Just grab anybody for help!
When Lucian came back, with the female nurse who was panting loudly beside him, Sherdan was already self-conscious. Lucian couldn't help but sigh in relief, and his hands holding the phone pressed on the end button. He was just about to call for an ambulance!
"Hey! What is this!? He's alright, isn't he? " The grumpy middle-aged nurse asked, her brows furrowing in annoyance. She was having her time off, eating in the cafeteria while there was still no student coming to her post. But a random student urged her to go back to the infirmary to attend to something 'urgent'.
"What's so urgent about this grah!?" Her teeth grinded against each other at her last words, and she went towards her post, not without her movements shouting dissatisfaction. She sat down on her seat loudly, while still grumbling under her breath.
Lucian let her words enter from one ear to another, although he was cursing her service inside his head.
What kind of nurse acts like this? It's not even time for meals!
"Lucian" Sherdan called out. Lucian, who was busy criticizing the nurse, snapped out of his thoughts in an instant. The unusually serious tone of Sherdan made Lucian focus his attention on him.
He sat down on the chair beside Sherdan's bed once again. The vibe inside the room suddenly turned suffocating, making the nurse instinctively shut her mouth.
Sherdan remained sitting on the bed, although he did look mad, he gave off a restrained vibe. It was like he was barely hanging on to his patience.
Lucian couldn't help but frown, and he opened his mouth to ask a question.
"What happened?" He scanned Sherdan's body in his seat, looking around for any possible abnormalities. Aside from the sudden in mood, there seems to be nothing else unusual.
Sherdan had medicine for his panic attacks before, but it appears he doesn't have any right now. He offered to buy one earlier, but Sherdan refused.
Lucian is actually reluctant to leave his side. After all, panic attacks are not something they can take lightly.
What if he leaves? And something happened to the other?
It wouldn't be a problem if only the nurse was there, but she wasnt. So who would aide him? If he grab somebody for help, would he be assured they wouldn't panic and do something stupid? No.
The 'nearest' pharmacy was in the town. And in actuality, it wasnt near at all.
So in the end, he just sat there and silently accompanied Sherdan until the other calmed down. Luckily, it didn't became worst.
"Lucian!" For the second time, Sherdan called out to Lucian, who was momentarily lost in his thoughts.
The other flinched, and apologized. After pushing his thoughts to the back of his head, he internally reminded himself to remain focused on their conversation.
"A-ah, so? What the hell happened? " Remembering Sherdan's earlier 'blank state', Lucian couldn't help but worry again.
"I should really call the ambulance just in case."
Before Lucian could even pull out the phone he had tucked inside his pocket, Sherdan had already gripped his arms to stop him. He raised his chin to look at Sherdan, about to ask him why, but he only received a firm unaaproving gaze from the other, before his hands were freed from the sudden grip.
It took a few seconds, but Lucian eventually caught on to what the other was implying, so he pushed the phone back into his pocket.
"What's wrong?"
Sherdan continued to stay silent, but he didn't stop moving. He extended his hands, and pulled Lucian's hands.
The finger where the golden finger vanished came into view again, and Lucian, who had almost forgotten about the matter of the threads, remembered it once again.
"Is it related to the th---" Before Lucian could even finish his question, Sherdan quickly covered his mouth with his large hands.
"Shh" Sherdan whispered. He can't have Lucian alert Moirai now, can he? Or else, certain things will become difficult to handle.
"Hmmm," the vibration coming from Lucian's voice made Sherdan sigh. He let go of the other's mouth, who was still a little shocked by Sherdan's continuous prevention.
He shut his mouth, and decided to just let Sherdan do whatever it was that he wanted to do. He knew him, and he was not someone who would do something illogical.
Lucian frowned. There is also no reason for him to be this secretive either. Even if the nurse was there, and she heard their conversation, it's not as if she would believe them even if they talked about the Gods and the supernatural Golden Threads.
Lucian pursed his lips. His mind thinking of a possible reason, although he still made sure he had his attention on Sherdan's actions.
After making sure that Lucian wouldn't speak again, Sherdan carried on with Clepsydra's instructions.
Sherdan leaned down and raised his hands slightly, while instructing Lucian to do the same. After both their palms were finally leaning against each other. And their ring fingers facing, Sherdan chanted the words he heard from the Goddess.
"Blue and red flames that mirror the souls. Divulge thy imperium. "
"Telepathy"
The ring fingers, where the golden thread was located before, shined brightly. And the tattoos resembling a fire lily emerged.
On Lucian's ring finger, a red fire lily was engraved, while on Sherdan's, a blue fire lily.
After a while, the light, along with the tattoos, vanished again. And Sherdan pursed his lips after confirming his earlier conjecture.
[As I thought, it was a fire lily.]
He spoke inside his head. The message traveled through Lucian's head, as the power of telepathy through the Golden Thread was finally used.
The sudden voice that evaded his head made Lucian jump from his seat from fright. The sound of his chair grating against the floor made the nurse, who had been staring at their weird hand ritual since earlier, almost jump from her seat too.
While breathing loudly from the sudden jump scare, she reprimanded the two boys.
"Grah! Stop acting so weird!! These youths! " While madly stomping her black sandals against the floor, she went out of the infirmary.
Lucian, who remembered the Golden Threads, glanced at the nurse and then at Sherdan. With a nervous expression.
'Did she see it?' Lucian assessed the nurse's earlier expression, and thought there wasn't anything wrong with her. It doesn't seem like she saw it.
[Yes, she didn't] Before Lucian could even calm his heart, a voice spoke inside his head again. The familiar voice---of none other than Sherdan.
He glared at Sherdan, who was already lying down on his bed. Lucian wanted to shout, to relieve his frustration, but decided against it.
He calmed himself down by regulating his breathing. He pulled on the chair that had been moved a considerable distance, and sat back again.
[At least tell me beforehand!] After finally calming down, Lucian protested inside his head. It seems this telepathy is something related to Sherdan's earlier ritual.
Sherdan closed his eyes, but gave a reply.
[I'm sorry. But doing that might inform Moirai, and I wouldn't take the risk.]
Lucian could only sigh and remain silent. Although he was already organizing his thoughts inside his head.
'After Sherdan entered a 'blank state', he suddenly had a quick 180° turn in mood and became mad. Then he grabbed my hand and chanted words I could not understand... ' After forming a conjecture, Lucian asked Sherdan, so he could fill in the missing 'points' from lack of further information.
[The Goddess, you mean the one you mentioned before? The one who brought you into this timeline? And Moirai?] Lucian stared at Sherdan, whose eyes were still closed.
[Yes. The Goddess of Time and the Universe, Clepsydra. Moirai was the God who bound us with the Golden Threads.]
The Goddess, Clepsydra, according to Sherdan, was the Goddess responsible for Sherdan's' time travel ', whilst Moirai was the God responsible for the' Golden Threads'. Although Sherdan didn't hide this information before, when they talked during the sleepover, he didn't tell him about the God's names either.
But now, he had told him, so this probably means he trusted Lucian more than he did before.
[Can you tell me why you don't want Moirai to find out about this telepathy?] Lucian asked.
'And how come there is such a thing as telepathy? Isn't that something you'd only see in fantasy movies? '
[Clepsydra....showed me a future.]
Lucian couldn't help but be surprised.
[What do you mean?] Lucian wanted to know more, and couldn't help but probe for more details. As a former Secretary, having everything as detailed and as organized as possible, was a habit that developed in him over the years.
Although he felt the slight 'need' to take back his question, from the sudden rush of embarassment, he didn't do so.
Curiousity overpowers shame.
As long as Sherdan wouldn't take it as an offensive question, he wouldn't, of course, take it back.
Fortunately, it doesn't seem like Sherdan would deprive him of an answer.
[The future where I was able to save everyone despite the changes I made in the future. There were no consequences, as Moirai said. And even if I changed the original events, Clepsydra assured me that nothing unfavorable for me would happen.]
The vision Clepsydra showed him earlier had started to become blurry, but the outcome where he succeeded in saving his parents remained deeply etched inside his mind.
[Then what does that have to do with Moirai?] Lucian asked. He doesn't get the connection, although he understands that this Goddess was in favor of Sherdan, just showing him the future shouldn't lead to Sherdan hiding this matter from Moirai.
Sherdan remembered Clepsydra's warnings once again, and he remained silent.
He decided to keep it as a secret from Lucian.
Clepsydra showed him a way, and he resolved himself to follow that path. Although he was reluctant at first, that vision completely changed his mind.
There was no way he would decline such an ending.
And there was also no need to keep Lucian by his side.