CHAPTER 99: HUMAN AND HEARTSTONES

"What... why... how...?" Arthur can’t form anything else.

Aldriana nods, pity in her eyes. "I had the same reaction. But after checking more carefully, I believe this is a human who is... fused. I don’t know what else to call it. This person is completely fused with the heartstones."

She turns back to the eye. "Were you somewhere in Mt Helen?"

Blink. Yes.

"He was one of the missing people," she tells Arthur.

"Are you... are you breathing?" Arthur asks awkwardly.

Blink. Yes.

He has no clue what else to ask. He is completely baffled.

"Arthur, do you think Julian can do something about this?" Aldriana asks.

"I honestly don’t know. My mind is blank right now," Arthur admits.

"I’ll check if his injury is healed enough. You stay with him," Aldriana says, then returns to the cave.

Arthur looks back at the eye. Every part of him feels uncomfortable. "Are you in pain?"

Blink. Blink. No.

He exhales in relief. "Good. At least you’re not in pain."

Blink. Yes.

"Did someone do this to you?"

Blink. Yes.

Arthur freezes. "Someone in the dungeon actually did this to you?"

Blink. Yes.

"Are there more like you?"

Blink. Yes.

Arthur grits his teeth. "This is unforgivable. Who did this to you... no, you can’t answer that. Another hum... no. Impossible. How can another human do this. But..." he sighs. "Humans can be the cruelest beings."

He steels himself and asks quietly, "Did a human do this to you?"

Blink. Blink. No.

"Wait—what? It wasn’t a human?"

Blink. Yes.

Arthur falls silent.

Aldriana returns, with Julian stumbling sleepily behind her.

Arthur looks immediately at his brother. "How’s your injury?"

Aldriana answers, "It’s healing well. Not fully healed yet, but almost. A couple more hours."

Julian snaps awake the second he sees the eye. "What—what the hell is that?!"

"We’re hoping you can tell us," Aldriana says.

"I need my phone."

He scrambles to his pack, grabs it, and rushes back.

He scans the fused mass. His frown deepens... and deepens.

Finally he looks up.

"You’re right. This is a fusion between a human and multiple heartstones. I can’t determine the ratio because the heartstone energy is interfering, but the fusion isn’t perfect."

Arthur’s skin crawls. "What do you mean?"

Julian hesitates. "I don’t like guessing without enough information. But if I have to... it looks like someone experimented with fusing a human and heartstones."

Arthur snaps, "Jules! I don’t need you to tell me that! We can SEE that!"

Julian blinks, startled.

"...Right."

Arthur forces himself to calm down. "Can you do anything to fix it?"

Julian looks at the eye, full of hope and fear.

He sighs. "I’m sorry. I won’t lie. Right now, I don’t know how to reverse this. But I’ll try. First I need to figure out how you were fused. Then I can try to undo it."

He softens his voice. "Do you remember what happened?"

The eye squeezes shut and reopens, wide, panicked.

Aldriana steps in. "Move."

She pushes Julian aside, lifts both hands, and murmurs:

"Luxtra, veniar. Kelsu seren. Sanar."

Arthur watches her carefully. She never chants unless she must. What kind of spell is this? Why does she need words now?

The effect is immediate.

The frantic eye slows. The panic melts. The terror fades.

Aldriana opens her eyes.

"It’s okay. You must be exhausted. Rest. I’ll help you figure this out."

The eye tears up again... and blinks firmly.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Aldriana turns and walks back inside.

The fused human follows, still floating.

Arthur stands there looking helpless. But he suddenly realized something and he’s stunned.

She was levitating him the entire time... and casting another spell simultaneously?

Now that he understands the basics of sensing mana, he realizes how difficult that must be.

During meditation earlier, at first he felt nothing... then when he was about to fall asleep, when his mind went blank, he felt... a breeze... then the world opening.

He let everything go, and suddenly he could feel mana everywhere, warm, enveloping, like a blanket.

And deeper still... something was waiting.

That was when he heard Aldriana’s voice.

Arthur is suddenly eager to meditate again. He feels powerless after hearing the fused human’s story. And when he meditated earlier, he felt something else besides breeze, warmth, and mana.

He felt power. He could literally taste power.

He needs that power if he wants to help the poor human. He wants that power.

Arthur is about to walk back to his meditation spot when Julian grabs his wrist.

"Art, you okay?"

Arthur nods. "I’m sorry I snapped earlier. I felt helpless, Jules. I want to help."

"I do too, but all I can do now is examine him further. And I can’t do it with my phone. I need my lab. But will he go willingly?"

Arthur puts a hand on Julian’s shoulder. "We’ll talk to him after he’s rested. Right now, I’m going back to my meditation."

He leaves.

"Meditation?! Since when does my brother, the very busy CEO, meditate?!"

On another corner of the large cave, Aldriana "parks" the fused man, smiles at him, and gently reassures him that he’s safe and he’s free to rest.

Then she leaves, but not before casting another shield around him.

She returns to the cave entrance and reseals it.

Then she goes to her sleeping spot and decides she will sleep. Nothing is stopping her this time. Not even herself.

She takes off her baseball cap, snuggles into the blanket, and sighs in content.

Before she closes her eyes, she checks her mask is still intact. Then she finally lets herself sleep.

Julian looks around. Everyone is either asleep or meditating. He scratches his head.

His mind keeps circling back to the fused man. He has too many questions.

Why fuse a human and heartstone? For what purpose?

Who did it? How did they do it?

Can the process be reversed?

Can he reverse it?

Does he even have the machine to examine this properly?

He shakes his head. Forget it. I don’t have any answers now. And my ribs still hurt. I need to rest. We’ll see what happens in a few hours.

He returns to his mattress, and goes back to sleep.

His watch shows 4 AM.