'I was wrong...it totally hurt to take a look!' having managed to pry my eyes off the character, I laid sprawled against the cold wooden floor with my chest heaving and panting heavily.
I was in panick, with bloodshot eyes, even my vision was died red. The wretched pain in my head still painfully lingered like a torturous migraine, although to a lesser degree since i tore my eyes away from the page.
It took a while...minutes... before I could get a hold of myself and control my breathing. I managed to bring to moderation my raicing heart and felt the dizzying pain slowly subside but it never left.
It merely became a pulsing headache as I sat up on the floor and held my head drowsily.
Letting a hoarse curse, I couldn't decide if I was lucky or not that no one had heard my voice. Layla was currently out and Cliff was supposed to be down in his forge at the backyard. My cry must have been muddled out by the incessant sound of pounding iron or steel.
Suppressing the headache I tried to get up, but ended up seeking support to barely stand from my bed.
My eyes still burned and pounded painfully with my vision still unsteady and woozy. It was crazy, this was the second most pain I had ever felt throughout both my lives.
'What the heck was that paper?' I struggled to even ponder the thought, and with my last vestiges of awareness, I gestured with my wrist and conjured up enough wind to gather together the scattered pieces of paper and return to hide them back under my bed before passing out from exhaustion.
*
*
*
*
I woke up feeling refreshed and tucked in comfortably in bed.
"Yeah...this is the life." I felt pleasantly comfortable and listened to the morning chirping of beds and sweet smell of breakfast from—
——Wait.
"... Breakfast?"
Then it all came back to me as I jerked up straight on my bed, remembering the horrible pain from before. I jumped out of bed, tightly holding my head worriedly then glanced sharply at the mirror.
I looked the same as I always did, except this time I was tucked into my pajama and my eyes weren't bloodshot red. There also wasn't an heavy weight in my head and I felt better than I remembered.
At the same time, I rushed for my window and pushed the blinds open, letting the tall sun rays warmly swim through into my room.
"Goddammit, I passed out for a whole day!"
***
" Reo, what happened to you? We were so worried when you didn't show up." I listened to the worried complaints of Don and the others while I embarrassingly cast my eyes downward as I responded.
"Ye-yes. Sorry, I couldn't make it guys, it seems like I overworked myself and passed out."
"You were burning up when I found you. Are you sure you've recovered enough? You don't have to push yourself to be with us today, dear. " Layla added from across, showing her concern.
When I passed out the other day, Layla had been the one to find me after hearing from Don and the others i hadn't met up with them at the appointed time and place.
Apparently I was burning up and refused to wake up for the entire day, so the others took it that I fell sick.
"No, it's fine. I'm fine. I feel a lot better than usual actually." I wasn't lying. It was minuscle but there was something nearly unnoticeably different. But I wasn't sure what it was.
Currently, I was having home lessons in the sitting room with the others. Layla insisted I stay in bed longer, but I resisted. She couldn't do nothing much when she repeatedly used magic to confirm my vitality and status was at their peak, so she reluctantly let me join in on today's activity.
"This is crazy. I never thought I'd see Reo get sick." Don mouthed in genuine curiousity.
" You...what exactly do you see me as? "I smiled wryly as I posed the question.
"Awesome. Some really incredible person that's apparently over getting sick, and quite possibly, beyond old age even. " Trise interjected casually as she turned the page on a book. Her tone was flat enough to sound sarcastic, but we all knew it wasn't.
Exaggerated, yes, but not sarcastic.
Don only glared silently at the auburn-haired girl who remained indifferent, or rather her attention more intently focused on what she was reading.
"I guess we can't fall behind too, huh." Kyle exchanged a glance with Leon and both sighed.
"Reo worked so hard he fell sick...that guy is going to surpass us If we take it easy." Leon admitted as his azure eyes flared with burning determination.
"Idiots." Trise casually interjected a simple indifferent remark and made Kyle flare at her.
"Who are you calling an idiot you, stupid gorilla? And what's with this knew passive air around you... you're not actually getting smarter and reserved over a single book, are you?"
A vein popped and appeared over Trise's head then she shot a consuming glare at the young boy.
"Huuuh?!"
Kyle gave an embarrassing yelp and backed off.
The confrontation ended when Layla interfered.
"Alright, you kids. That's enough."
I was aware of all this, but it all appeared as a backdrop to my consciousness. I was aware of all that happened around me, but my thoughts laid among yesterdays event.
I had to get back to that rune.
***
After home school, we received an unexpected break from Mr. Ridge, all due in consideration to my condition.
I felt embarrassed and shameful that I had caused others so much worry, but they didn't seem to be bothered about that.
In any case, I capitalized in the opportunity and secluded myself inside my room, and after a heavy contemplation and caution, I brought out the old book.
Now it was even more haggard than the first time I received it from the strange old beggar. The pages were scattered and tattered, barely held together by the crumpled old cover; their edges were folded roughly and stuck out unpleasantly from the sides.
Plus, the book also seemed to have gotten slightly bigger. That was as a result of my personal notes which I had layered underneath the covers amongst the old page.
I found the folded pieces of paper and went through the content, carefully avoiding the one with the strange diagram, and instantly my mind went blank.
The paper described a spell, an actual spell, something called the [Mental Sphere].
This was strange because, as ever since I had been studying the old book, it's content had been limited to ultimately the general understanding and knowledge of magic in this world. There weren't many spells described, aside from the [Magic Bullet]. I had already mostly come to terms with this and was even in the process of considering tailoring my own spells from a hybrid combination of Conjuring and Spells.
Pushing aside those thoughts, I redirected my focus to the piece of paper in my hand that appeared to be some kind of letter written in a much older language that what I recognized.
It was similar, but ultimately still different.
Contemplating a few seconds, I tracedy gaze over the content and began reading the letter.
"<...if you are reading this, then it must mean my time is up and i am of no more. I do not know who you are, or what period you have discovered my letter...but to you I will grant the culmination of all of my lifetime's secrets, efforts and results, all tailored and weaved in a single spell...>" As I read the letter, I strangely found my heart racing faster. It felt like I was about to stumble on some incredible treasure or something.
"< My name is——>" half a paragraph was roughly torn off from the page, and suppressing my dissatisfaction, I quickly moved on the to the next intact paragraph.
"<... countless failed experiments finally lead to a tangible result, but alas, as i am I have reached the final years of my life, and my body no longer responds to my will. Even as I write to you, I consume the last vestiges of my life-force to pass on my Inheritance and Will, to whom it may concern.
I discovered a strange [Power], and for the sake of convenience, I dub them [Laws]. And [Mana] is just one many amongst an infinite number of [Laws] surrounding our very world and [Universe] as we know it. Oh, a [Universe] is the collection of a group of Worlds...I believe there are other different worlds out there. But that is not what we are here to understand...>"
I had to pause.
I mean, I had to.
I already knew there were other worlds, having been reincarnated from one after all. But it was all so strange that the concept of Worlds or universes existed even in this place. But judging from the writers words, these were mere speculation on his part. I was curious to find out more concerning the subject, but I had to get on with the letter.
"< [Laws] are the principalities of our World; they are what the fabric of our reality are woven from, each thread by thread. And it is to my dismay that Magic is just one of such many principalities that mankind have barely discovered. Even at this point, other than myself, there is yet to be another human who can wield magic, but perhaps this may change in the future...>"
A letter from before the era of magic! Feeling my head heat up, I urgently continued.
"
My inheritance is the embodiment and culmination of all of my research and discoveries take form in what I call a [Spell]. My reasoning was simple: if [Magic] was a [Law], wouldn't it be possible to interact with other such [Laws] like itself with it? And finally after many decades, the [Mental Sphere] spell can allow us to do just that."