"Massimo Zanini, you are a mage, just like Cosima and me."
Eloisa made a gesture with her hand similar to passing a page with a book, the cube surrounding Massimo dissapeared.
"Manasi is the actual name."
Added Cosima, Eloisa gave her an annoyed glance causing Cosima to look down to the floor.
"Magic is real."
Massimo said slowly, as if the words were fighting to not be pronounced. His eyes opened to the fullest.
"Then... Did that man turned me into a mage?"
He asked preoccupied, remembering all that happened today.
"That man? Domenico Abato!?"
Asked Cosima walking over to Massimo fastly, what could have Domenico done? Another summoning?
"He told me to give you this and he also kidnapped me and made something to me and after a guy came from nowhere talking about eternal life and after that some guy said something about a conflict when all the summonings are done."
Massimo reached his pocket at made a painful expression, apparently he had accidentally bent his knee a little while he reached, he still gave the letter to Cosima, she didn't seem to have noticed his brief pain. Eloisa hasn't reacted neither.
"Let's sit on the table, discussing this type of things while comfortable it's the best option, Cosima, go search us food."
Cosima reluctantly agreed to the orders Eloisa gave, she was annoyed not because the task was mundane nor because her master was taking her for a servant but because she didn't want to gave other people the impression she was a servant, specially not his roommate.
"We haven't presented yet Massimo, my name is Eloisa Cobossi from the Cobossi house, I am a noble born in 1795 and a hero of the Napoleonic wars, a powerful fire manasi and I would like to be treated with the highest respect."
Massimo didn't knew what to say and did an award bow.
"M-my name is Massimo Zanini and I am a student in architecture and a swimmer born in 2005."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"N-nice to meet you lady Cobossi!"
"Ah!"
Eloisa smiled and clapped, very amused and happy.
"Cosima! You see!? This guy recognizes the superiority of my noble blood! You have gained yourself a place in my new government! What do you think about being a judge! Or a governor! Or maybe even form a minor noble house! Massimo Zanini head of the Zanini House! What do you think! Do you have a noble ancestor in your family tree?"
"I don't think so..."
"Hmm that could be difficult, ahh but there is always a solution! You just have to marry Cosima and-"
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!!!"
Cosima suddenly ran from the kitchen faster than a bullet, her face red and her hair all over the place. Massimo couldn't stop thinking about how she looked like a candle. A cute candle.
"W-we j-just me-me-met to-oday!"
Eloisa pointed at her cheeks and teased her further.
"See Massimo? The thought of being with you it's so thrilling for her that she can't but to stutter, and you two didn't even had a real conversation yet! Maybe you are a love mage?"
"Those exist too?"
Asked Massimo with a curious face, after all, he didn't have a clear understanding of what magic actually was.
"Love potions are real but I don't think that there are actual love mages, now maybe a succubus can count like one if you think about it... Maybe you are half incubus, that's why Cosima finds you irresistible!"
"STOP SAYING WEIRD THINGS!!!"
Cosima was covering her face with her hands, absolutely embarrassed, Massimo felt like he had to intervene and put a stop to Eloisa. At the same time, he was thankful that she didn't notice his face, which was red too.
"Lady Cobossi, were you summoned too to this time?"
"Yes, they used Cosima as an anchor for that."
"Oh, they used me too, they summoned somebody called Masarabi Ihmanar."
"Masarabi Ihmanar.... Masarabi Ihmanar..."
Eloisa said the name multiple times as if by repeating it she would accelerate the sinapsis of the neurons searching across the library that was her memory.
"Never heard of him, probably was put into the ritual after me, he sounds like he is from another region. Who do you think is strongest, him or me?"
"Him."
Eloisa made a exaggerated sad face.
"Was the cube of fire not impressing enough? I went out of my way to made it like that!"
"No! It's just that he looked like he could kill me at any moment if he wanted to!"
"And you think I don't?"
"NO! THAT'S NOT WHAT I WANTED TO SAY!"
Eloisa had the cruelest smile on her face, similar to the villain of a children's movie.
"So she enjoys to tease people in different ways."
Said Cosima to herself, grinning a bit.
After the delivery brought food again, they ate half and started talking about more serious things.
At some point, Cosima and Eloisa started speaking about magic and accidentally left Massimo out of the conversation, then Cosima went to the bathroom and returned just to realize Massimo had fallen asleep with the head on the table, Cosima tried to awake him but was stopped by Eloisa.
"He had a long day, let him sleep, we should go to sleep soon too, but before, read the letter and speak it's content to me."
"You speak weird from time to time, you know, I don't think the Italian from two hundred years ago had expressions like that."
"The strongest manasi of this house speaks how she wants to speak, now read!"
Cosima started reading the content of the letter.
"Hello little lantana, by the time you are reading this letter, only one summoning is left to do, once it's done, the next step of ritual will began, fourteen couples of manasi have been formed and will kill each other until just one couple, or part of the couple remains. The one who survives will be rewarded with eternal life. You said that you wanted to help me end the investigation of your father because it was a noble cause, do it then, enjoy yourself, your desire will be fulfilled, make your father proud.
None of them said anything, both were assimilating the letter, the ritual was a sick game for survival that neither asked to be a part of.
"Cosima... Do you understand what this means right?"
Said Eloisa in almost a whisper.
"We have to kill twenty two persons."
"And Massimo is one of them."
Silence covered them like a veil.
"I-I won't let you do that!"
"Oh? And how are you going to stop me?"
Eloisa raised her hand, pointing at the sleeping Massimo.
"I just have to said the words and he will burn until his bones are ashes. How are you going to stop me?"
Cosima pointed her with the index.
"The scintilla?"
"Yes."
"It won't do anything to me."
"Yes."
"So then, why?"
"It's wrong to kill someone that doesn't mean any danger to you."
"You just met him today."
"It's still wrong."
"What if it was another person."
"It's still wrong."
"So you will stand for what you believe it's the correct thing?"
"Yes I will."
Eloisa made a sad smile and put her hands down.
"I knew someone like you back then, I wonder what was of him."
"..."
Cosima also stopped pointing her with the index.
"For me, the last time I saw him was yesterday, for he, it was two centuries... You know, the problem of thinking like that it's that not everyone has moral and honor."
"That's no reason to not have them."
"Yes, but understand that you will end up killing someone, not Massimo, but someone and in very few days. Will you be ready?"
"I... Will be"
"Don't lie, no one is never ready for that. It's something that happens."
"I won't let you down Eloisa but I won't lose my morals either. I refuse to take the easy way."
"I like that, you can move now Massimo."
Massimo raised his head, his face made a complicated expression.
"I'm sorry Cosima."
"Don't be sorry Massimo, now you know her true nature, it appears she is as bright as a candle!"
Cosima was as pale as snow, she had never been this surprised in her life and she was tricked into saying all of that embarrassing things. But she wouldn't go back in her word.
"Let's make a promise here, the three of us."
Cosima said taking initiative.
"The three of us, are going to stop this ritual and survive."
"I promise."
Followed Massimo.
"I promise."
Ended Eloisa.
After that, Eloisa ordered them to sleep, and kept talking in the morning.
The next day, Massimo was the first to wake up, it was six in the morning when he saw the time in his phone.
It didn't matter how many or how few hours he slept, he always wakes up at that hour.
Walking as quietly as possible, he went for food in the fridge, but it was completely empty. Most days he would just go out and eat fast food before going to the pool all morning, then going to work and to the pool again before coming back to sleep, because that's how he liked to spend the time when he wasn't studying.
For Massimo swimming was relaxing, the only activity where he didn't need to make an effort to get himself to do it, if it was for him, his whole life could have been used for just swimming. The touch of the water was like millions of hands hugging him, guiding him and taking care of him, but at the same time, when he swam, he felt like he was the only person in the world.
But now his day was different, he was not a person anymore, but a manasi and one in danger. His whole life changed and now he had responsibilities.
He was also conscious about the fact that the two women that lived with him had just spared him and were his only chance of survival, so the least he could do was to make them feel comfortable.
So he decided to make them a surprise. But how? He was just a guy living with a millionaire and a noble, what in the world could he give them? But after the conversation of last night, Massimo Zanini had easily comprehended both of them and realized he could actually do lots of things and right now, he was going to.
"Hehehehehe"
He started laughing alone to himself, celebrating his genius mind, but if someone had seen him, he would have thought Massimo was crazy at least.
He left a note over the table that said "I went to the store" in case any of them wakes up while he it's outside.
Last night he realized that while he didn't knew anything about magic, he did knew the city, in the other hand, Eloisa had no idea how the modern world worked but was a magical genius and finally Cosima was a bit of both.
The pain on his knees had receded and in fifteen minutes he arrived to his destination, the supermarket.
Walking to the aisles, he grabbed all types of ingredients, smiling to himself, fully knowing that by the type of person Cosima was and the time Eloisa had lived, they never had something like this. They wouldn't know what marvelous food they would be eating.
He grabbed everything that the supermarket was selling. A myriad of flavours, an army of vegetables and squadron of meat.
The cashier looked him like he was insane, and he probably was right, because Massimo had just bought food for two months.
But Massimo didn't plan for something. How was he going to take all the bags to the residence? He had at least sixty and the residence was at fifteen minutes walking.
He didn't want to make two trips, so he decided he was going to make it in one. So he did that. Sliding some bags down his arms, a pair of the lighter ones in his neck, the bags with salt, fluor, and similar packed things in his legs, he grabbed at least ten in each of his hands and in a master display of equilibrium, he put the rest of the bags over the ones he already had. Now the problem was that he couldn't see through the bags.
Problem? This was not a problem for Massimo, the self called father of the Second Renaissance, if he couldn't see then he would walk through his memories.
There is a concept called "Memory Palace" that consists on imagining a geographical space with things you want to remember inside, like imagining a street with stores, but replacing the stores with names and then walking inside of your mind through the street to see the names to remember one of them when you needed it.
Massimo had learned this concept one time he was playing cards with his friends and used it to cheat by remembering the location of each card in the deck. But for him, this was a child's game.
Now, Massimo wanted to take this technique to the next level, he created a Memory Palace of an imaginary Florencia in his head and made it the same size as the real one, locating himself in his mind, he began to move in the real world while seeing on his mind, truly an act that would have made Cosima think he was a mage.
Now, he was still incredibly slow, so it took fourth minutes to reach the residence.
Suddenly he heard the indistinguishable sound of a camera and a laugh. He instinctively knew who was the culprit.
"What are you going to do with that photo Adriana?"
"I'm sending it to your parents."
"...Aren't you going to help me?"
"Nah."
Massimo kept walking until he got home. His roommate's were still asleep.
After that herculean effort, Massimo discovered that there simply was no way of putting all that food inside of the fridge, and this didn't have a solution, so he put the things like milk, cheese and fish inside and the rest over the kitchen table. This reminded him of those math problems he solved when he was a child that went something like "Mr. Jones has a hundred watermelons, how many will he had in a week if he ates four everyday?"
Grabbing the sharpest knife, Massimo cut the carrots, tomatos and onions to make a sauce, adorned with salt and pepper.
Then he started chopping another set of ingredients, including asparagus, garlic, chicken and celery. With this, he was going to make a soup.
Now it came the time of the Magnus opus.
One hour later, Cosima and Eloisa awoke to an smell that could only be described as divine. The anticipation grew in them as a fire impossible to extinguish. Almost running from their rooms to the table, they found Massimo serving coffee on some cups.
"Wa-wa-wa-what is this Massimo!? This... Buffet!? Where did it came from!?
"I did it, for both of you."
The table was worthy of a king. Numerous plates of gnocchi, soup, pesto alla genovesse, rasagna, rissotto and lastly fiorentina.
Eloisa started stuttering, saliva drooling from her mouth, she looked like a lion about to jump over a zebra, there was not rational thought in her eyes, just desire to devour.
The three of them sit down to eat the breakfast, Cosima took a bite from the Prosciutto and her eyes literally shined.
"Massimo this is magical!"
He answered with a smile, knowing that he had just conquered their hearts, through their stomachs.