Chapter 12: CH 11 “Mmm mmm”

  Iris woke up and saw her face reflecting off the dual colour eyes of Kia which keenly monitored elf's every move. Her blue and golden eyes lost their old vibrant hues with black lines going under her eyes. Her unruly hair formed a raven black veil shrouding the lower half of her face. Her head lay on her folded hands. Kia avoided Iris's gaze with a worried expression, they both lay there neither of them moving as Iris tried to wrap her head around the situation.

Suddenly she grabs the younger-looking girl by her shoulders and yanks both of them up. She just stares at Kia, her trembling jaw silently working to produce mute words, feeling tears rolling down her cheek.

The silent moment is broken by Kia who frees herself from the elf's outstretched arms and throws herself at Iris burying her face in elf's chest. Her arms wrap tight around Iris's waist. Shocked and even more confused Iris freezes from the sudden assault on her chest. She glances down at the top of Kia's head, her long raven black hair forming a cordon around her face hiding whatever expression laid beneath which could hint at the reason for her action.

Iris took off her gaze from the crown of Kia's head to her surroundings finding the tent to be nowhere in sight only surrounded by an empty clearing with no sight of their camp except the small circle made from stones which once served as their campfire. A soft sound of leaves dancing on the light breeze filled the air. Iris scanned the perimeter and saw no oblivious sign of yesterday's havoc. Her eyes returned to Kia, who quickly hid her face filled with regret and shame back in Iris's chest tightening her grip even more. Iris began to gently stroke Kia's hair and took the opportunity to try to understand her current situation.

 

"Are you hurt anywhere?" The elf spoke after a while.

 

"Mnmo." A muffled response accompanied by a shake of the head was given.

 

"Are you sure?"

 

"Mymems." Another muffled reply with a small bob of the head.

 

"That's good... What happen yesterday?" 

 

"..." No response came from between Iris's breast.

 

"I will not be angry at you I just want to know what happened." 

 

"..." 

 

"Kia do you not believe me?" 

 

"I believe but..." A snow-white head popped up from between Iris's breast and timidly pulled her hair off her face, looking directly at Iris but quickly averted her gaze bitting her small lip.

 

Iris caringly rested her forehead on the side of Kia's head. "But?"

 

"B-but I d-don't know." She turned to face the elf with a face full of regret.

 

"Not even a bit? I-I don't want that to happen again." Elf's forehead meets Kia's.

 

"I just remember feeling tired and hearing voices." She tried to look away again but Iris's hands kept her eyes on Iris's.

 

"Voices?" Iris asked with concern.

 

"There were lots of them and they were saying things about domain and heard your..." The girl's eyes became watery. "Y-you will not abandon me?"

 

"No of course not. Parish such thoughts." Now Iris also hugged Kia and the two girls sat in each other embrace.

 

  The sun moved on the cloudless sky until it travelled to hang high above the small forest clearing. 

The two girls finally released each other from their grip and finally resumed their travel. The trees slowly swayed in the wind as the girls made their way to the old road which will lead them away from the Necropolis.

The forest slowly gave way to the endless highlands filled with tall blades of grass an unheard phenomenon back in Edor now filled the horizon.

 

"Mmm mmm mmm..." Iris hummed a tune that she remembered.

 

"What's that?" Kia tilted her head, stopping her neverending observation of her surroundings and placed her sight quizzically on Iris.

 

"Humming?"

 

Kia nodded her head. "Why are you doing it?"

 

"To pass time and for fun I guess. I always knew this tune but I don't quite remember from where."

 

"MmM mMm mmm..." 

 

"Little copycat~"

 

  

  The sun travelled lazily in the high havens now in a steady descent beyond the horizon. Iris estimated that they will have another 3 hours before it got dark, not like that was a big problem given their dark vision. She keenly observed their surrounding for any undead to train her class but there was very little of them in this apparent "continent of the dead". She wanted to ask Kia for a reason but remembering her situation she would not be of much help. 

  Actually, she realized that she did not know a lot about Kia only that she is a powerful necromancer and very old. Iris glanced at the black hair girl beside her who was happily humming the same tune for the past couple of hours and skipping along in her black sleeveless dress which never swayed from the wind. The dress is similar to summer dresses which Alicia would have but way more luxurious and magical.

 

"Hey, would you like to play a game? Kia?"

 

"YES!"

 

"Alright the game is called questions and we just answer each other questions. How does that sound?"

 

"Great but I go first!"

 

"Go for it."

You are reading story Necropolis at novel35.com

 

"How does your home look like!?" Kia looked at Iris with anticipation.

 

"Well, I did not... C-Cuna was pretty flat with a lot of orchards, crops or animals with one big river going through the middle and from that one river people built a lot of canals. So it can be very colourful depending on the season." Elf started to regret her decision.

 

Kia's mouth made an "O" shape with her eyes pleading Iris to continue.

 

"What is an orchard?"

 

"It's a place where fruits are harvested from trees."

 

"Why?"

 

"To eat."

 

"Can I eat?" Tilled her head and put her finger on her lower lip.

 

"We don't have food now but if we find you could try... eey I was to ask questions!~" 

 

"Hehe!" 

 

"Alright, my turn. How long were you underground?" 

 

"All my life?"

 

"And how old are you? Y-you can choose to skip that one."

 

"... It says I am 18 Cycles Old?"

 

"What?"

 

"It says I am 18 Cycles Old."

 

  Iris shakes her head in defeat to understand the mysterious girl from the ancient ruins. For now.

 

"How did you learn magic, Kia?"

 

"Hey, my turn."

 

"Can I eat?~" Kia looks away from Iris in a small pout but quickly her expression brightens again.

 

"I just could."

 

"Then how do you learn the specific spell?"

 

"I just think about the results and either leave it at that or I have to create a formulaic phrase that manifests my specific desire or to make it more powerful like this." Kia lifted her arm and from her finger tip a black and green ball shoot out dissipating into tiny particles after 200 meters of flight. 

 

"[Dark Arrow]" Kia casts the same spell but the black ball with dark green hues flies for so long that Iris loses sight of it.

 

"Or Like this... Mm, it does not work now?" Kia raises her voice and Iris could sense a huge amount of mana circulating around them but then the feeling fades as whatever spell Kia was about to cast, failed.

 

"Alright, that's it for magic please."

 

"Oh, alright." Kia slumps her shoulders until the attention of both girls is caught by an unusual creature digging couple hundred meters in front of them.

 

 

---

 

 

"...As only a couple of you have passed the test I have to repeat myself again on chants and their progression.

The first level of proficiency is... Green-Horn. This stage is experienced by all people who can cast magic even when they are not

mages. It's when all spells have to be chanted by their casters. An example of this can be a village hag casting [Spark] to light a fire.

The second level is... Principal Chanting. This and the rest of the levels can only be gained by people who are mages. At this stage, you should be able to use the spells from your specialisation without chanting. You all should reach this level at least.

The third level is the Pure Chanting. This Level is only achieved by the high-level mages. This level of skill allows you to multiply the spell power by chanting its name without you taking damage or dying.

The last category of level is Ancient Chanting which is poorly understood but allows the caster to cast spells extremely quickly. As all the rule casters of a certain level of proficiency can use all levels below them.

This will be on the next test so learn it. Now...

                                                                                                                                                              -Part of a lecture by a Joseph "Magu'i"