"Southern lesser dragon… huh, sounds mildly interesting," Hubert's lips moved softly, his voice echoing, almost unheard of, in the dark cave. Midnight had come.
The presence of the headmaster he couldn't feel, and so was her playful but serious voice he couldn't hear. He was alone once again, but this time, for some reason, his muscles leaisured as he was closing his eyes, even after everything that had happened.
"Maybe… I should trust master,"
Then his eyes were shut, going to sleep.
The darkness was replaced by the light. The light of the morning sun from the far horizon. The sound of water that blanketed the ray drowned the sound of bells. The chirpings of birds and leaves were barely heard.
"Heup…"
Hubert sat cross legged on the edge of the ground, in front of the huge opening. His eyes closed as he took a deep breath of fresh and cold morning air repeatedly. His calloused hand on his knees, calmed and relaxed.
"Ha…" he exhaled his warm breath, forming steam off his mouth.
Step
Step
"Good morning, Hubert," Tianna greeted, her steps echoing, accompanied.
Hubert turned around, expecting the sight of his master. This was the first time he felt and heard Tianna's presence being so close to him. Yet he was greeted by disappointment of a blur of purple.
"What did I expect… anyway, good morning, master," Hubert greeted back as he stood up from his position.
"It is not the time yet,"
"Of course, when will the time ever come?" Hubert said sarcastically, a smile etched on his face.
"..." Tianna replied with her silence.
"Let's just get into today's lesson. What you promise, keep it," Hubert pointed as he walked to his usual desk.
"Of course, I came as prepared as you, today," Tianna responded, her voice cocky and smug.
"Huh, I'm not that prepared, though…?" Hubert said, slightly confused. He knew that he was not briefed on the materials for today's lesson.
"Exactly!" Tianna exclaimed.
"Ugh," Hubert groaned at her cheerful nature.
"Bah! I'm joking, just stand over there and I'll drop the books off in a seconds," Tianna aura appeared out of thin air, guiding Hubert to the middle of the cave.
Hubert looked around, the cave was empty beforehand and silent. Neither of the rows of bookshelves nor his desk that were used for storytelling were there anymore. And so was his mattress of cloth and fur and pillow of straws.
Even the torches that were suspended by their holds were nowhere to be seen.
"Today, at 25th of Junal, we'll begin our first practice regarding the controlling of your unique element, void," Tianna said, as if writing into a book, recording everything.
"Please, Hubert, drop down and enter your mana mind,"
Hubert nodded and did so. His bum now was on the cold, rocky floor as he closed his eyes and deafened his ears. He cut off all connections to the outside world and focused. Meditating, slowly, he was pulled into his mana mind.
He opened his eyes. He was in his mana mind.
"Hubert, can you hear me?" Tianna's voice reached in his ear, clear and concise, unlike the usual echo that was in the cave.
"Ye-yes," Hubert answered, a bit thrown off by her voice, the voice that came amidst all the void of sounds. Soft, cheerful and young, too young.
"What do you see there?" Tianna asked, a small sound of scrapings of quill were also heard by him.
"Darkness," Hubert answered as his eyes saw as far as it could and the darkness responded.
"What do you feel there?" Tianna asked again.
"I… feel odd, but familiar, as if it's a part of me now," Hubert answered as he crouched down and poked at the darkness, nothing.
"Familiar? Hmm… does the darkness, this time around seem weird or calling for you?" Tianna asked again, her tone was suspicious of something, something Hubert was unaware of.
"Calling? No, not really, more like… drawing me closer,"
The darkness was infinite and unending, a void that was an abyss. Though he knew out of instinct, he just knew that the void started from him and encroached outward. But now, he noticed the change, as if the edges of the same void that was from him were drawing and creeping in on him.
"Drawing?" then her presence disappeared.
"Hubert…" a voice, shaky, called from the edges.
Hubert turned around, his nape hair upstood. He was spooked and cautious of the voice, the same voice that called for him previously, the void was calling him.
"N-no… you're not me," he said to the voice. The voice was different, previously, the tone and melody were similar to how he spoke. He noticed the strange weirdness, the unfamiliar tone, and the symphony from the current voice.
"I'm… you, Hubert," the voice repeated.
"Hubert!" Tianna called. Her voice returned from absence.
"Tianna?! Is that you?" Hubert asked. He understood, the connection with Tianna was almost severed.
"Yes! Don't listen to the voice!" Tianna's shout echoed in his ears.
"Hubert!" the voice from the darkness called, but now, from a different direction.
Hubert turned around, searching for the voice.
"That is not you, Hubert! Return to the real world, now!" Tianna commanded.
"N-no…! This voice, thi-this voice is… familiar too," Hubert replied in his confusion.
All the feelings in him were mixed. Confusion, trust, familiarity, strangeness, weirdness, and unfamiliarity mingled with each other.
His brows frowned and curled repeatedly. His eyes were contracting and his pupils dilated over and over. His body slightly shook, not knowing who to trust.
For one, he knew he should have listened to Tianna. But the voice drew him to it.
"Familiar? No… no, this can't be, it was in you this whole time?" Tianna realized. Then her presence completely disappeared.
"What?" Hubert asked, growing ever more confused.
"Hubert…" the voice called again.
"What?!" Hubert turned toward the voice again, growing frustrated over the division of focus.
"Give me… your body and I'll… promise you, that Aadish, will die, in, your, hands," the voice allured.
Hubert's eyes widened. It was now clear.
"Yo-you…" Hubert stammered.
The sight was revealed to him.
An eye from the void, humongous and pressuring. A red pupil, surrounded by black, with a cross of gold in the middle of said pupil. The eye was there since the start and the eyes had stared.
And Hubert knew, he was but a mere prey in the eyes of the eye.
"Believe me, Hubert…" the voice said.
"De-de-demon…?" Hubert replied.
"No, I… am… you,"
"Hubert!" Tianna called once again.
"Tia-tianna…" Hubert replied shakily, the eye peering deep into him, as if expecting an agreement.
"Disconnect yourself from there!" Tianna shouted.
Whoosh!
"Ha… Ha… Ha…" his lungs grasped for air repeatedly.
He stared at his hand, sweaty, and the sensation of wetness in his cloth was sieging his skin. His nose picked up the moving air in the cave, and his eyes were emptied when the continuous sound of falling water stopped for a second, before returning.
"Hubert? Are you there?" Tianna called, her voice echoing against the cave's wall. Finally, he returned to the real world.
"Ye-yeah, wh-what was that?" Hubert asked, scared. Even until now, coldness and chillness struck his bones as he was reminded of the eye.
The eye.
"Daemon," Tianna answered.
"Daemon?! A-as in, demon, the vile creatures that the church told of? I thought they didn't exist!" Hubert exclaimed, surprised by the fact.
"They don't, at least not in this plane! That demon was of a lower ranking one, even then, it still sought a vessel of power for its descent," Tianna explained. The pieces were making sense.
"Th-then, am I what that creature desired for?" Hubert pointed his index finger at himself.
"Probably. You're a genius, a stupid genius. He felt you, Hubert, the same way I felt you, instinctively. The fact is that he knew of your power and the lack of prowess you showed," Tianna said. Her voice had a hint of restlessness, but also relief.
After all, Hubert had survived.
"So you're saying I need to grow my power?" Hubert asked for clarity, his tone almost challenging, but also introspective of his own self. He was weak, since the beginning, no matter how much he improved or how much he exercised, he was weak.
"Yes! That's what we're doing today. But I didn't expect a daemon this soon! And al-..." Tianna affirmed before stopping herself.
"Also? What?" Hubert questioned.
"N-nothing," Tianna assured.
"Alright…" he knew there was something hidden. But now he realized the imminent threat of demons. Focused, there was only one thing in his mind, one thing he should've nurtured.
If only he could
"Now, Hubert, I would really like to continue with our lesson, but you should go rest for a bit, we'll continue tomorrow," Tianna said, breaking his hope of growth.
"What? Bu-but, master! Are you not afraid of the demons? What if they come after me tomorrow?" Hubert asked, slightly worried about himself and also about his unquenched desire.
"Rest assured, Hubert, practicing after an encounter with them will do you no good. They won't, and even if they do, I'm here to stop them. See... you," Tianna bid hurriedly, almost too hurried.
"Wha-..." Hubert was left speechless, alone. There was no choice but to wait for tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a few hundred steps, in an empty, closed chamber.
Cough!
Rough and harsh was her cough. Spluttering of blood came from her mouth that she covered with her white, ungloved, hand.
"Ugh, those damned demons… it's been a while since I've encountered one," Tianna's voice echoed against the wall of the closed chamber.
She was still for a while, contemplating.
Before continuing with a question. A question that was directed at her disciple, Hubert. The same question that questioned even the being above.
"Hubert… what kind of fate did the Goddess set you on?"