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43. Waking
🕑 Added 2024-01-09 14:00:06 +0000 UTCOz opened his eyes and grunted, frustrated, staring at the dormitory’s ceiling. Why do I keep almost meeting people in these strange realms? Almost, almost, almost. It’s like I’m afraid of acknowledging them, or something.
No, for that matter, why was someone whispering to me in my personal core-realm? Unless it was Ossian. But even then! Ossian should be completely unable to contact me. Is it that person I saw in the sea of knowledge? But… He rubbed his forehead, frowning. I’m not really able to remember what they looked like or sounded like, but I feel like it was different.
Problems for later. He pushed up from the bed, going to sit up.
His arms trembled, then gave out. Oz fell back to the bed with a thump and gave the ceiling a startled look. Huh?
Galloping feet hurtled toward him. Chirping, Sid jumped up on his bed and stood on his chest, peering at his face with big sapphire eyes.
“Sid, don’t bother hi—” Linnea turned the corner and froze. “You’re awake?”
Oz sat up again, slower this time. “Appears so. How long was I out?”
“Three days, ish. Stay there. I’ll get you some water,” Linnea said.
Nodding, Oz leaned back against the pillows, taking a moment to catch his breath. The moment Linnea left the room, he drew his legs up, then slid them off the edge of the bed. Cold air chilled his legs and feet after so long under the comforters.
“My clothes…” He touched the clean pajamas he wore, pursing his lips. I’m just not going to ask about this. In fact, there’s probably a lot I don’t want to know about that happened over the last three days.
He shivered, slowly leaning forward, pressing his feet against the cold wood floor. Gradually, he put his weight on his legs. Up… up…
His legs trembled. Before they could collapse, Oz sat back down. Take it slow. Slow is the key.
Key… qi. Hmm. Oz touched a hand to his core. The same as in his dream, qi filled it to about the seventy percent mark. He drew on his qi, circulating it faster. His body warmed, strength flowing to his limbs. Again, he pushed himself to his feet. This time, his legs took his weight.
Dusting himself off, Oz nodded. He hurried over to his closet, dropping his pajamas as he went. Let’s get dressed and take stock of things. People were pretty upset over Linnea’s demon form. I can’t imagine nothing has happened there. Plus, I still need to brew antidotes and analyze the pill Professor Keane gave me.
Linnea burst back into the room. “I brought water—”
Oz squeaked in shock and grabbed his pajamas, pulling the bottoms up to cover himself. “Hey!”
Linnea rolled her eyes, kneeling to set the water on the floor. “Nothing I haven’t seen these last few days. Get dressed.” She backed out, shaking her head at him. The door clicked shut.
Oz put his face in his hands. I didn’t want to know. I didn’t!
A few moments later, he emerged, dressed and sipping the glass of water. He nodded at Linnea, who carried Sid in her arms. “How’s it going?”
“Not too bad. You weren’t that hard to take care of, so I had a lot of free time.”
Oz shook his head. “Not that. I mean the whole… demon reveal thing.”
“Oh.” Linnea pressed her lips together. She stared at the ground for a few moments, then shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve been busy.”
After she just said she had free time? What she really means is, ‘I didn’t want to know.’ Oz nodded. “Understood. No one beating down the door?”
“No. It’s almost been frighteningly silent,” Linnea replied.
Lifting his hand, Oz inspected the black veins. They crept past his wrist, threatening to crawl up his forearm. “Nothing from Professor Keane?”
“Nothing from anyone at all.”
Oz turned, brows furrowed. “Not even Aisling? Roan?”
She shook her head. Her lips thinned. She opened her mouth and took a breath, then closed it, only to open it again. “I think—I think they don’t want to be associated with a demon-sympathizer. In their eyes, you might as well openly admit you’re a dark mage, a user of black magic.”
Taken aback, Oz looked at her. “I can barely use magic. How on earth would I be a dark mage?”
“But you’re fraternizing with demons. That’s already a crime that can get you executed,” Linnea said, looking at her feet.
“Oh. Hey, can we get Lif with that?” Oz asked, giving her a thumbs up.
She shook her head, laughing darkly. “He was too careful. All he needs to say is that he didn’t notice my disguise, and he gets a free pass. He never left any indication that he knew I was a demon.”
“What if I had a recording of him saying he knew?” Oz asked.
Hope flickered in her eyes for a second, but quickly darkened. “Unlikely. He has friends everywhere. As long as he made up some excuse, they’d accept it. Besides, do you think they’d listen to a recording from a demon sympathizer?”
Oz put a hand on his chin. “Hmm. I wouldn’t completely count it out.” I can give the recording to someone else, and see if we can’t corner him. Sachairi doesn’t seem the type to retreat from a small threat like this; he’s probably waiting for things to cool down, or else someone has forced him to back off for a time. He has a far better reputation in the community than me, and doesn’t seem particularly fond of Lif one way or another. If I get a recording and pass it off to him, I’d be surprised if Lif didn’t end up pressured.
Of course, that assumes I get a recording. What Sid’s repeated for me so far hasn’t been the smoking gun I need for this situation. No… I need something more. Something irrefutable.
“Aren’t you frightened? You could be executed for—”
Oz shrugged. “I’ll be executed as soon as I step outside for the crime of existing—sorry, for being weak and owning things. What’s the difference?”
Linnea paused. After a moment, she shrugged. “Fair enough.”
Although… if that’s the case, why wasn’t Madame Saoirse pressured for having Fenrir? He’s a far more powerful demon than Linnea.
Turning upward, Oz gazed once more upon the infinity of books marching away into the ceiling. He snorted dryly. Okay, fair enough, she was powerful enough to steal all these books and hold onto them fearlessly, so something like having a demon in her basement probably wasn’t an issue for her.
Also, she hid him away under the false floor panel, and also, I mean, I’m assuming Fenrir was the basis of the barrier before I showed up. For all I know, Madame Saoirse had a different barrier that made more sense for someone as powerful as her, then casually kidnapped a demon and changed it to rely on Fenrir before handing it over to me. To Ossian. Who handed it to me.
He took a deep breath, then put a hand on his chin. Okay. Let’s see. I’ve got a lot to accomplish, so let’s lay it down. Analyze the pill. Brew an antidote. Figure out Linnea’s situation. Is there anything else?
Oz jolted. He stood bolt upright. “Ah! Wait, hold on. I only let people weaker than me into the library.”
“Yes…?” Linnea asked.
“That means the assassin—that is, Fflyn, hasn’t cultivated to the point of surviving on qi alone. He needs food, water!” Oz bit his lip. At least he has the pond, but does he have any food? I guess he could fish.
Linnea frowned. “I thought that was your intention.”
“No! No,” Oz said, startled. He squinted at Linnea.
“It was a bit vicious, but when it comes to executing assassins slowly to make sure they regret their mistakes, leaving them to starve to death isn’t a bad pick,” Linnea said, spreading her hands reasonably.
Oz stared at her. “What?”
“If you aren’t trying to starve him to death, you should probably do something about that.”
“Yeah. Yeah. I was planning on it, yes. But…” Oz bit his lip, thinking. After a moment, he shook his head. “Another few minutes isn’t going to hurt. Let’s analyze Professor Keane’s pill and brew some antidotes first.”
He glanced at his arm. The poison is progressing. If it gets too far, it’ll make it harder for me to cultivate. Given how much I’ve struggled already with pill cultivation, I don’t need a debuff. Plus, it’ll put me up to full strength before I go face off against Fflyn.
Linnea shrugged. “Sure.”
“But then! Then I’m going to go feed Fflyn,” Oz declared.
“Whatever you say,” Linnea said.
Comments
Vega
No thank you? How rude
