The Warlock's Azalea (EDITING) ✔

Chapter 4.1 - Ashes

Chapter 4 – Ashes

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"I can still wake up on my own."

"Roger that, Aziz!"

Fingertips slid to grip on something leathery, and a whiff of something fresh, like greenery or floral mist, took over while the constant black view started to blur out to one with light.

After a pretty long time in darkness, what welcomed the newfound vision was a plain dark blue-grey with some navy flaring out from gradient clouds and varying auroras—a bunch of different colored shimmering dots strewn across added brightness. And a slight headache.

One hand reached out above, "What.. is that?"

"Hm?" Someone's here. "You mean the sky?"

Keir's eyes thwarted to her right and caught some dirty blonde locks with a few silver and green strands. Her palms pressed on the leather surface and pushed her upper body up.

The boy's big lime eyes stared back as if waiting for her to confirm if she was talking about the so-called sky.

Keir squinted, "You are?"

"Me? Hmm.." One of his fingers poked his cheek, and his small frame swayed a bit to one side. "You mean my specialty?"

"Specialty..?"

The kid grinned and placed his fists on his crossed legs. "I practice manipulation! Just like Aziz!" Aziel?

He also calls him Aziz... Is that his actual nickname everywhere? Would that mean everyone here in Staile would call him that? But he said he isn't fond of the nickname. Why let everyone call him that, then?

And why not let her, too?

Seconds passed with Keir staring at the child's proud expression, which eventually dissipated. He sighed.

"I say that, but I still can't manipulate anything without losing control...." He scratched the back of an ear hiding in dirty blonde, their pointy tip exposing. "Aziz told me it's not easy, but people say he easily mastered it even when he was way younger than I am...."

His gaze veered farther away from Keir. "..I'm sorry for hitting you earlier."

"You hit me?" He nodded.

"I-I was practicing my manipulation on my boomerang and... and hit you...."

So, that's why.

Keir leaned forward, and the kid looked up. "What's your name?"

"Evril," He revealed after a few blinks. "And you're Keir!"

Aziel must've told him. But, where is he? Why is she alone with this kid and sitting on a brown blanket on some turquoise grass?

"Where is he?" Everywhere she turned her head, a series of pumpkin-shaped structures in various colors were either hanging over towering wavy trunks or simply sitting on the same grass, meters away from where they sat.

"Aziz? He went to the League!" Without her? Shouldn't she be there as well? No matter. Maybe she can ask this kid about certain things she still doesn't understand.

"Evril." The kid hummed. "What did you mean by manipulation?"

His bright green eyes sparkled. "It's when you focus on lifting an object and, and, and moving it around as you want!" Telekinesis, then?

"You said Az can do that?" Keir tried to recall. Has Az done that before? He always casts magic circles, but is that the same thing?

Evril nodded, his hands clenched in front of him. "Yes, yes! He can lift things and do so much more! He also does a lot of spells with magic circles and symbols! It's so cool!" So, that's different from manipulation.