Chapter 311: Unnatural
Liam feels as if his world is crashing down.
"What?!"
Theo stares at him without blinking.
"I said..."
Liam shakes his head, cutting Theo off. "I’m sorry. I heard what you said. But..."
He stops. He takes a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down.
The storm is still raging outside. It reflects exactly what Liam is thinking right now. Then he comes to a realization.
If I’m feeling like this, what about Thea? How does this make her feel? No wonder she was like that.
Liam instantly relaxes.
"Thea," he says gently. "I am so sorry. I can’t imagine how you feel."
He adjusts his sitting posture, slowly leaning closer to Theo.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
A loud thunderclap echoes outside.
Theo shakes his head. "I don’t know, Liam. I don’t know how or why it happened. I..."
He stops, taking a deep breath.
"It... I..." He stops again. He doesn’t know what to say.
"Okay, okay," Liam says, half calming Theo, half calming himself.
"Let’s not panic. Let’s... let’s let this sink in slowly."
Liam looks at Theo, who suddenly smiles faintly.
"What?" Liam asks.
Theo chuckles softly. "I’m the one who can’t do magic. Why are you the one panicking?"
Liam looks at Theo like he’s speaking an alien language.
"What do you mean? Losing magic, when you’re that powerful, means something is terribly wrong. Of course I panic. You’re not?" he asks.
Theo sighs. "Of course I am. But even in panic, I still don’t have all the answers. So what’s the point of panicking?"
He looks at Liam and scoffs bitterly. "Which, of course, is easier said than done. I admit, when I first realized it, I panicked."
He tilts his head slightly. "Now, seeing you panic, I suddenly feel like it’s not that bad."
Liam scoffs. "Are you teasing me right now, Thea?"
But he’s relieved to see Theo regaining his usual composure.
Theo looks at both of his palms. "I feel disconnected. That’s why I panicked the way I did. I never realized how much I’ve come to depend on it."
He scans the room slowly. "I’ve come to realize that I use mana like it’s my own limb. Even when I don’t intend to cast a spell."
Liam frowns. "What do you mean? I don’t understand."
Theo turns to look at him.
"Mana is in the air, even when it’s scarce. It is very thin, but it’s there. It exists," he begins, sounding more and more like his old self.
"I’ve grown so used to imbuing mana into all of my senses. Into my eyes, my ears, my skin. I can see, hear, and feel everything around me better because of that."
"And now... I feel like I’ve gone blind and deaf. Everything is muted, dull. At the same time, it’s loud and chaotic."
He looks at Liam. "I need to recalibrate my senses until I can access my magic again. Otherwise, I’ll jump at everything, and at the same time, I’ll still be blind and deaf."
Seeing Liam’s expression, Theo laughs.
The first genuine laugh since he woke up.
"I’m not making sense, am I? I know. I’m contradicting myself."
"No." Liam shakes his head. "I wasn’t looking at you like that because you didn’t make sense. It’s the opposite. I never realized you could use mana like that. Imbue it into your senses."
"Oh, yeah. You can do that," Theo states it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
"Is that why you always seem to notice everything first? That you can see better?" Liam asks.
"Probably. And it’s considered practicing magic, even while going about everyday life," Theo explains further.
"That makes so much sense. No wonder you’re as powerful as you were." Liam lets out a quiet breath, the pieces finally falling into place.
"I always wondered how it was possible that you, who learned magic much later than we did, ended up so much stronger than the rest of us... while we never really saw you practice. Or even talk much with Teacher Theo."
He shakes his head slightly, almost amused at himself. "Turns out, you were practicing the entire time."
Theo smiles.
"Now, you can try it too. It’s good for advancing your magic," Theo says.
Liam nods in agreement.
"Are you hungry? Or do you want to go back and rest?" Liam asks, closing the topic.
"I’m starving. Let’s go out and eat." Theo grins.
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Sonia opens her hotel room and steps inside.
Exhaling loudly.
"I can finally rest!" She lets her luggage drop in front of the door as she plops face-down onto the bed.
"Oh, so comfortable. Why can’t my bed at home be like this?" She closes her eyes, enjoying the cool, clean comfort.
Lightning flashes outside, brightening the dark room for a second before it goes dark again.
Sonia opens her eyes. Her bright blue eyes glow faintly. She focuses on the weather outside, where the storm is still raging violently.
She slowly props herself up on her elbows, her feet dangling over the edge of the bed.
"This storm is definitely not normal."
She gets off the bed and approaches the window, thinking.
The next second, she opens the balcony door.
A harsh, cold wind greets her instantly. It roars loudly, as if trying to tear the hotel down.
She can barely see the ground, even in daylight.
Everything is greyish white because of the rain.
Sonia can see the water droplets moving sideways, carried by the wind.
The balcony floor is completely wet and slippery.
But Sonia is dry.
The rain can’t touch her. The wind can’t touch her.
She can feel them, but they don’t affect her.
She raises one hand, feeling the rain and wind.
She mumbles something, and a tiny tornado appears in her palm.
She sends it out into the pouring rain.
She watches as the tornado struggles for a few seconds, then dissipates.
It can’t withstand the storm.
Sonia sighs. "This storm is definitely not normal. Even every droplet of rain has a faint trace of mana in it. Someone called upon a storm and forgot to cancel it."
She laughs. "Hearing it out loud, it sounds ridiculous. It sounded better in my head."
She turns serious again. "Who is the magus? How can someone summon a storm this strong and forget to cancel it? I thought magi no longer exist."
She sighs and lowers her hand.
"The elders are wrong. Altheon still has magi. This incredibly strong storm proves it."
She goes back into her room and locks the balcony door.
Her world goes quiet.
She moves her fingers, and the lights turn on.
She moves them again, and the heavy curtains close by themselves.
She looks toward the bathroom, and the shower starts on its own.
"I’m going to take a shower and sleep."
She begins to undress, letting her clothes fall to the floor.
She steps into the hot shower.
"Ah, this is heaven. If only I could install this at home," Sonia says.
Fifteen minutes later, she steps out of the shower and wraps her hair and body with a towel.
As she walks toward the bedroom, both towels drop to the floor, and her body and hair are instantly dry.
There are no traces of her clothes on the floor. They are neatly hanging in the closet. Her luggage is placed properly in the luggage rack, as if a maid had cleaned the room while she was showering.
She climbs into the bed, naked.
She lets out a soft moan at the feel of the bed and covers.
"Ah, can’t I take this home?"
She settles in and falls asleep.
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Maeve looks at the clock on the wall.
10:39 a.m.
She sighs again.
"You’re sighing again, Maeve. What’s wrong this time?" Claudia asks. There’s a hint of annoyance in her voice.
She’s sitting lazily on the big sofa in the living room. One hand holds the TV remote. The TV is on, but she isn’t really watching anything.
She keeps flicking through the channels, trying to find something to watch, but hasn’t found anything that catches her attention.
"Ugh! Every channel is talking about the storm! How much more is there to say that they haven’t already said?! Don’t they have anything better to do?!" she rants.
Maeve doesn’t respond. She doesn’t need to. She doesn’t want to.
She understands Claudia’s frustration. She feels the same way.
She’s been flipping through magazines, trying to find something to read. Nothing.
She opens her resya. Still nothing. No new messages. No new emails. Nothing.
She sighs again and gets up.
"Stop sighing, Maeve. You’re driving me crazy," Claudia says, her fingers still flicking through channels.
"And you stop changing the channels. It’s driving me crazy!"
"Oh, leave me alone. Go cook something," Claudia dismisses her rudely.
"Excuse me? What did you just say?" Maeve’s anger flares. Something very rare. Maeve doesn’t get angry. Period.
But lately, she’s been easily irritated.
Correction, everyone has been easily irritated and annoyed.