The door opened, and someone came to greet us.
"Hey! It's Lupel!"
"Hey, Elioth how do you do?" Lupel replied while patting the man's shoulders.
"Good good, so what brings the whole family here?"
"ah! about that"
He patted my back and brought me out front.
"This guy, my son wants to meet your daughter. His concern being wanting to know the girl." He then looked and winked at me.
"Really now?" he replied. He looked at me from head to toe.. his eyes were colored coal. Obviously, the mysterious, beautiful girl didn't get his traits from the father.
"Come in, and I'll get you guys a nice ;the pretty boy can go greet Zia upstairs."
I whispered silently. "Zia... Cruz? Wait... Isn't that."
I see my parents getting comfortable on the table seated while drinking their tea as I go upstairs. As soon as I was upstairs, I saw a sign with Zia's name. I knocked on the door, and no one was answering.
"Huh.. the uncle said she'll be up here.. I'll go ask again."
I was about to go downstairs when I heard the door creak; I turned around and saw the door slightly open. I was hesitant to go in, so I observed it for a bit.
"Come in."
It was Zia's calm and serene voice. Before I went in, I put on a poker face; the room was filled with her aroma.
"H-Hi.."
The door shuts. I was all surprised, but my face remained unchanged.
"What are you doing here?"
I felt a chill down my spine; there was no turning back. I sat down, and she was startled.
"ehem.. the book Magic Origins are you the author?" I asked.
"..." "yes." She replied.
"I came here today with my parents to ask you about it.. I didn't have any intentions of coming here with my parents but never mind. I waited at the library and you didn't show up for days and my father got a clue on me that I was seeing someone so I told you about him. Fortunately, my father knows your family and here we are."
I soon realized that I said too much like a kid making excuses to cover his embarrassment. I looked at her and saw her hiding her laugh. It was a fantastic sight as her face remained unchanged, but her cheeks were full of air. I don't know if she realized, but it was adorable.
"so you're interested in magic as well?" she asked me while standing up."
"Yeah, I've read a ton of books but to no luck, all of them just states on why is it a mere theory."
"And what makes you think that my book has what you are looking for?" she says as walking towards me.
"It was burnt so I thought it was clic-" "something mysterious." I replied
She stopped walking towards me. "Hm? what was that?"
"Nothing."
She puts her hand on her chin, assuming a thinking pose. "Hmmm, that... a dumb reason but.. I like it." She put her hand behind her and leaned at me. "So you want to know what I wrote there?"
"Yes," I replied and waited for her response, fully excited while avoiding eye contact with her.
She bent back up and said. "I forgot."
I was left dazed and dumbfounded by her great memory.
She then added, "But if you want to know what I remember.. tell me what conclusion have you built upon reading all those books about magic theory."
"Well.. based on everything I read up to now I can at least say that magic shouldn't be-" "hm? what's that?"
She checked what I was looking at.
"Oh.. that's just a pair of antlers.. it was the first deer I saw and my father shot it and I was mad at him for shooting at it so I made him keep the antlers as a memento for me." she says whilst walking towards the antlers.
"Yeah I can see that they're deer antlers but why are they glowing?" I asked.
I was still staring at the deer antlers, but the glow slowly disappeared; my eyes started to hurt, but the room was filled with silence... my eyes were relieved from the pain, and I looked at Zia. She was staring at me with disbelief on her face; she walked towards me, leaned at me, placed her hands on my shoulders, and asked.
"You can see them glow?"
"Yeah? what about it?" I was really trying to avoid eye contact, but her face was so close that I couldn't move my face away.
"Follow me." and she proceeded to walk out the room; I then followed her.
We went downstairs.
"Dad, me and uhh what's your name?"
Lilia answered for me. "Oh my Oh my. Zeal, that's his name. Hiii pretty lady. I'm his mother."
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am. Can I borrow Zeal for a moment to go out?" she replied.
"Sure, sure, he's all yours hoho." Lilia replies.
"Thanks, auntie. Dad! can we?"
"Yeah, sweetie. go ahead." her dad replies.
Zia and I went out.
"Boy, that's a tall boy you have. Zia is already 9 years old but the difference is just a few inches."
"Yours isn't pretty bad either She's lovely I'm sure they will get along well." Father replies.
Outside
"Hey are you taking me? Hey.. heyy."
She didn't talk to me at all. While we were walking, I wasn't feeling anything, not any bit nervous, tired, or scared. Instead, I felt light. Every inch of my body just feels so comfortable and relaxed. Her march stopped and said.
"We're here."
It was like a dream; it felt like I was floating. Everything was glowing, and the air smelled good. I momentarily remembered my old world. I started to tear up upon remembering my family there.
"This is mana." She said.
"Ma...na?" I asked.
"Yes.. the root of magic, it isn't nature like spells but something magical."
She looked more beautiful, basking on all the plants and trees that glowed.
"I thought I was the one who can see this.. my own dad says I'm just seeing things but thank you.. because of you, I don't feel so alone anymore." She smiled; it was the first time I had seen her smile. I stayed silent and listened more to her story. We shared each other's stories on when was the first time I saw the glows.
"I first saw mine on the deer antlers you saw before at my room." she said.
"Mine to- ... no, actually does your pot glow?" I hesitantly asked.
"Pot? Cooking pot?"
"Yes."
"No, it doesn't." She assumed a thinking pose and continued to say. "does yours glow?"
I answered, "Yeah a green light."
she said. "I've only seen the light glow on plants and living beings but not human-made things."
"This is something worth investigating." I replied.
She nodded, and we both headed back to her house. We planned on meeting every time at the place she showed me to talk about clues we found about this. I went home afterward with my parents, at the house I asked Lupel.
"Father, what material is our cooking pot made of?"
"What made you ask this? are you gonna cook for your lady now?" he laughs.
"Father, don't tease me. I'm asking seriously here."
"Haha come on.. chances like these only come so rarely. You refuse to talk with anybody your age so your father was only excited haha." "well if you really are serious, it's made out of ore covered salamander."
"Thank you father.. I'll go wash up for dinner."
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At Cruz's household.
"Zia! it's time for dinner!! come down sweetheart." "Zia??!"
Laughs are heard from Zia's room. Zia's father walked up to her room and witnesses.