When Arella opened her eyes, she found herself on the sofa in the living room with a soft person lying close to her. Startled, she shifted a little, and Omar's sweet face came into her view. He was sleeping so soundly, without a care, with his small fingers wrapped around her hands!
Arella's core melted at such a sight! How adorable! Omar looked so well behaved while fast asleep. She could not bear to wake him up, so she tilted, creating a distance between both of them.
Thankfully, the sofa was wide enough to accommodate both of them. Soon she could move without hindering his sweet slumber. She slightly moved out of the sofa and then covered him with the blanket which he had kicked aside.
She walked into the kitchen to find the cook busily preparing the meal. When the cook noticed Arella, she quickly greeted her.
"Oh! Madam! I was just about to wake you up. It is almost time for lunch!" She politely claimed.
Lunch? Did she not have her breakfast a few minutes ago? How come it was time for lunch so soon? Instinctively she looked at the bright light outside. It was too bright indeed. But what happened? She only remembered having breakfast with the ancestors!
The ancestors! Where were they? She remembered that they wanted to bless her with their spiritual energy, and she had rejected them! What transpired after that? No matter how hard she thought, she could not remember anything at all.
Did they leave after her rejection? Confused, she looked at the cook. The cook was oblivious to the fact that they were visited by the Scott family's ancestors. The cook knew nothing. Arella tried to ask her in a roundabout way,
"Did someone come to visit us during the breakfast?"
"No Madam, as far as I remember, Omar came and had breakfast with Madam, and then both of you fell asleep on the sofa." The cook replied to Arella's inquiry in a servile manner.
Noticing that the cook maintained her front of knowing nothing, Arella abandoned the idea of asking her anything. Instead, she waited for Omar to get up first.
Unlike the cook, he might remember something, but to her dismay, his memory had stopped at the breakfast table, when he was first occupied by one of the ancestors.
Unexpectedly, even Omar could not recount anything. Arella secretly checked Omar's body, and fortunately, could not find any traces of negative impact due to the ancestor's 'visit'.
Just to be double sure, she called out for the gardener to check Omar's vitals. Everything was found to be normal.
No matter how callous the ancestors were, thankfully, they did not harm either her or Omar. Arella breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they were not bad people? Or ghosts, or whatever they were!
Maybe they did leave peacefully after listening to her rejection? Arella was not sure, but this was the most logical proceeding she could think of at the moment.
Moreover, she did not feel anything unusual, and Omar was fine too. So, she put the ancestor's visit to the back of her mind and focused on teasing Omar. After happily spending the entire afternoon and evening, Aaron came to pick Omar up.
Though reluctant, Arella knew that Omar should leave now otherwise, it would be late when he reached home. So, disheartened, she waved him goodbye.
When Aaron was leading Omar away, he observed a unique charm like amulet on Omar. Suspicious and curious, he touched it, only to find it especially warm.
"What is this?" Aaron asked inquisitively.
"This…I do not know… maybe it is a gift from the ancestors?" Omar had an uncertain tone. He had not noticed it before. Maybe this was his reward for letting the ancestors meet the pretty sister?
Aaron scrutinized the amulet further but found no trace of maliciousness. So he let it be. Lucinda could check it later, he thought, and off both of them went in the direction of their home sweet home.
Arella, on the other hand, was feeling lonely. She had sent a message to Adrian, but he had not replied to her yet. Maybe he was busy? Dejected, Arella ate her dinner and went back to sleep.
She failed to notice the unusual brightness of her eyes. Her eyes were akin to molten lava now, but the cracks on the ruby and the faint shadow of a flame like mark on her neck remained the same without any changes.
The next morning, she was back to her motivated self. With the help of Devon and Anne, she now knew the limitations of her senses. Now, she focused on pushing the limits. And to her surprise, she could easily achieve this feat without any problem today!
At first, she wasn't able to see anything past the barrier. But slowing and steadily, her eyes could distinguish silhouettes of multiple animals lingering nearby. Once her eyes caught their shadows, she would close her eyes and try to envision the shape of the animal by sensing its movements.
She once again closed her eyes and noticed that her sight could now reach beyond the transparent barrier! Her ears were better than her eyes. Her ears could listen to the faintest of the sounds. She could easily trace any swift movement within seconds, and her nose could smell the herbs growing within a radius of 10 miles!
Baffled, she continued to test out her senses and found that she had miraculously improved! She was elated at first, but soon, a thought gripped her tightly like a snake.
Was this 'the blessing' of the ancestors? She wanted to deny it, but she was not certain, but she keenly remembered that she had rejected them! Did they still bless her? But why?
She had to speak with Adrian regarding this! But sadly, Adrian was out of her reach. He had not replied since last night. He must be busy, and Arella did not want to disturb him.
Omar, Aaron, and Lucinda were also not reachable. Devon and Anne had gone out too. Arella did not know who else to contact!
Nicholas? But his place of residence was a mystery too! So, at last, Arella decided to focus on her upgrade. Train the powers, follow the senses, and connect with the beast.
Now, her senses had improved by leaps and bounds. Next was her powers.
She closed her eyes and tried to channel her healing power. She could feel the unlimited flow of spiritual energy. She guided her healing energy to the center of the palm. Once done, she noticed the blue flames burning brightly, ready to heal anything and everything.
Satisfied, she called back her powers and opened her eyes. This time, nobody was around to notice the blue in her eyes gleaming like sharp icicles.
Train the powers, check. Follow the senses, check. Now, all that was left was connecting with the beast. This was akin to a bottleneck for her. No matter how much she tried to reach out to her dormant beast, she could not feel any stir from it.
So, her next objective was to connect with her beast. Sometimes she wondered, what exactly could be her best form. She knew that her healing powers reflected the sight of a flame, so she knew that her beast form should have an affinity to fire.
But there were a lot of beasts that could use fire as their weapon. She was not naïve to have dreams of evolving as a fire dragon. Dragon was a noble beast. And mere clansmen with no aptitude like her could not have the fortune of becoming one.
She already considers herself blessed enough to have Adrian and his Dragon as her partners. Asking anything more would be greedy.
But her beast was perplexing. If she could improve her senses to this extent that meant her beast had impeccable senses. A beast with especially heightened senses, and fire affinity.
There were a lot of possibilities. There were big names such as dragons, chimera, and the like, but Arella was sure that she was not one of them. Instead, she was focusing more on beasts like a black kite, or a fire hawk. But how could such beasts become soul companions with a dragon? She knew not.
She was more inclined towards a fire hawk. Nicholas was the first one to have approached her, and he was a hawk. So, maybe, she was a hawk too?
Nicholas…where was he? He had claimed that Adrian could help her beast. Adrian's dragon was a natural leader of Beasts. It could lead any beast, even Arella's dormant beast too. But sadly, Adrian was nowhere in sight. Arella had to do it on her own.
She could not deny that she terribly missed him. Who could have believed that only a few days had passed since he went away? To Arella, it was more like a century had passed. To her, each day without Adrian was as long as a decade!
Wallowing in her sadness, she missed Adrian and focused on improving her aptitude. Though her senses had improved, her aptitude remained static. She was still a D rank tamer with a dormant beast. She could not feel any pull from her core. Her core was not prepared for an upgrade. Not yet.
Arella knew if she wanted to stand next to Adrian, she had a long way to go.