"...."
"...Huh?"
As Janeen's lifeless body and Corvin return from the empty white place, everyone back near the stone oil deposit returned to their usual selves.
"Huh? Where is Corvin?"
"What happened?"
"He is there!"
Noah quickly ran towards his friend laying on the ground, unconscious. Corvin's body was covered in bleeding wounds and bruises. His face was contorted in pain and his body was tense.
"What happened to him?! He is almost dying! Amy! Quick, help him!"
"I am coming!"
Amy quickly picked her bag up and ran towards Corvin. With shaking hands, she started applying medicine to his wounds and patching them up.
"Do you guys know what happened?", asked Nehdean.
"I don't know, Your Majesty. You also saw it. He-He suddenly got this wounded out of nowhere...", said Noah with a shaky voice.
One of the knights came next to Nehdean and spoke.
"Your Majesty. My sword has blood on it. There is also a dead girl there.", said the knight while pointing towards Janeen's body. The other knight was walking back from checking the corpse. The knight showed the spear to Nehdean.
"As you can see, Your Majesty, that girl probably tried to attack us and he somehow protected us."
"I see... So that's what happened..."
"Y-Your Majesty... How did we not see anything?"
"Noah, you know what a whisperer is, right? I think that girl was one. She made my guards attack your friend while also keeping us inactive."
Nehdean turned towards his butler and pointed at Corvin. Yatiq nodded and walked towards the carriage and picked up a bag and walked towards Corvin while Nehdean continued.
"Honestly, it is quite surprising how he managed to not be affected by her magic when it was strong enough to be effective on me. Even though I worked so hard to train against those..."
Yatiq started to help Amy and Clair apply medicine and bandages on Corvin's wounds. Nehdean watched the boy on the ground lay on the bloody sand while they moved frantically to save his life.
"At this age as well... Such talent... I think I took the correct bet."
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"Oh, never mind. I was just thinking loudly. Looks like they are done as well. Let's get back to Shabagh and get Corvin proper treatment.", said Nehdean with a smile.
Noah nodded and walked towards his friends.
*****
"Mmmhhmm...."
"Oh, he is waking up. I better call the others."
As Clair got out of the room to call her friends, Corvin's foggy mind started to wake up.
Step Step Step Step
Hasty steps came towards the room and Amy barged in.
"Corvin! Are you okay?!"
She ran up next to him and asked.
"Oh."
"Is he okay?", asked Noah, who just got into the room.
"Oh, I think so. He is just still not properly awake yet."
Corvin turns his head towards her voice and slightly opens his eyes while getting up. From his cloudy vision, he catches the glimpse of her blonde hair and suddenly grabs her by the arm, pulling her into the bed.
"Oh... We better get out...", said Noah and got out of the room with Clair.
Amy freezes from the sudden skinship and stares at Corvin.
"Eh?"
Tears were rolling down Corvin's eyes. Soon, the river of tears gets faster and faster, and Corvin starts sobbing.
"Wh-What happened? Corvin?"
With still closed eyes and a foggy mind, Corvin hugs Amy and mutters.
"I was so lonely... So lonely..."
'Is he talking about fighting on his own?'
"I missed you...Lily..."
"Huh?!"
Hearing someone else's name, Amy get's away from Corvin and drops his head back on to the bed.
"Whuh?"
Suddenly, Corvin's arms open wide and after a long stretch, he opens his eyes.
"...Where am I?"
He lifts his body and looks at Amy.
"Oh, Amy? Where are we?"
"Th-the infirmary at the palace."
"Oh. So I didn't die, right?"
"N-No..."
Corvin lays back down on the bed and heaves a sigh.
"Siiigh~ I really thought I was going to die back then... Somehow, I managed to live. This time, I didn't even need to..."
"You didn't even what?"
"Oh, uhmm... Never mind tha-"
"Corvin."
"Yes, Amy?"
Amy lowered her head and asked in a quiet voice.
"Who is Lily?"
"Hm? What did you say?"
"Who is Lily?", asked Amy again, with a louder voice.
"What are you talking about?"
"You were speaking before waking up. You told this Lily person how much you missed her. Who is she?"
"...Th-That's umm..."
"Is she your... girlfriend?"
"What? No. You know I don't have one. I don't even hang out much with others besides you three."
"Then who is that?"
"...I have nothing to say. I-I don't know."
"..."
"Don't look at me like that. I don't know anyone like that. You can ask Noah if you want."
"Why is he hiding it? Does he still not trust me?"
"Like I said, I am not hiding anything. You know I trust you, Amy."
"Huh?"
"Hm?"
"H-How did you..."
"What?"
"Did you read my mind?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's like you just read my mind..."
'Is my face that easy to read?'
"...What?.."
Corvin listened to Amy's voice as he stared at her face. Even though her mouth didn't move, he could hear her talk.
'No... The voice comes from her but... also inside my head?'
Somehow, Corvin could feel Amy's mind. He focused on the feeling and stared at Amy. He could feel himself reaching towards her with his mind and slowly touched her mind.
"Huh? Where am I?"
He found himself in front of a big structure. It looked like a tree, a giant blue tree that had leaves out of glass.
He walked towards one of the branches near him. As he got closer, he could see the leaves better. The leaves had pictures on them, and when he got touched one, the image started to move and make noise.
The image was that of a fish, being held by two small hands, seen through the eyes of the person holding it. In the background, there was a forest covered in snow and a frozen lake. The person holding the fish moved towards a burly man wearing thick fur who was sleeping and snoring. Corvin heard a very young but familiar voice.
"Dad! Dad! Look! I caught a fish as well!"
"Hrrmmmguh! Wha-? Oh, Amy, what's that? You caught a fish?"
"Yes! Look!"
A big hand came from above and patted her head.
"Good girl. Let's go back to the palace and show it to your mom as well?"
"Yes!"
The image stopped moving.
"...This is Amy and that's her father? So... this, these are all her memories?"
Looking at all the leaves, he could sense what they were about. It was too much information. Corvin moved away from the tree hastily. His head started to hurt.
"Oh... I-I can read someone's mind and memories!? I don't want that. How do I get out?"
Just then, he found himself back at the hospital room, Amy in front of him.
"Corvin? Are you okay? Does it still hurt?"
"Um.. Y-Yes. C-Can you leave me alone for a bit, Amy?"
"...Okay."
While Amy was getting out of the room, Corvin decided to test a hunch he had. He reached towards Amy with his mind once again, but this time, instead of entering her mind, he tried to control it.
Amy jumped in front of the door for no reason. Corvin waited for a reaction but she just got out of the room like normal.
"She didn't notice it...."
Corvin looked at his hands.
"I-I can just do that? Whatever I want with people?"
Drip
As Corvin cleaned the blood dripping from his nose, he thought about this mysterious power he got out of nowhere. It was a scary power, being able to control people and their memories. Frankly, he didn't like it. He felt like using it could ruin him, turn him into someone else. Someone like that girl who came after his life for no reason. Someone that saw humans as puppets. So, he promised himself to only use this power as a last resort.
"I...I really shouldn't use it... It also makes my head ache...", he muttered as he cleaned the blood from his nose once again.