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“So, this used to be my lab,” Stelle looked at him suspiciously, she did not believe he had one. Judging by how he acted, there was no way he had permission from the sages to have a personal lab. “I know what you're thinking, partner. No, this is not a personal lab, but rather a lab Professor Anaxa usually assigned to me, Hyacine, and Castorice,” he explained.
The door was still intact, much more like it was in its prime, which was a shock considering how old it looked. ‘Must’ve been alchemy doing,’ Stelle thought as she focused back to whatever Phainon was yapping about. She had no idea how it came to this, he promised her to show a relic that might contain the truth of Amphoreus not doing a nostalgia tour to Grove of Epiphany. ‘Whatever happened on the way,’ she shook her head internally.
“Oh! Oh! You won’t believe this, but Profesor Anaxa put up my findings on the wall of this lab and it was said to be still up there even now. Personally, I believe it’s because the finding is remarkable,” Phainon grinned. Stelle and Dan Heng could only exchange looks before shrugging their shoulders. ‘I guess I should just put up with whatever this puppy has,’ the gray haired thought again.
“You wouldn’t believe what I found back then, even Prof–,” his words were cut off by the ominous thick black smoke coming that engulfed not only him but also Stelle and Dan Heng as soon as he opened the door. Coughs were heard following the smoke starting to dissipate, but one was unlike the other, one was unlike how it was.
Stelle swatted her hands to make the smoke vanish, it was futile, but it was worth a shot. “Dan Heng? Phainon? Are you there? Darn, this smoke was hella thick. What were they concocting in there?” Her voice sounded annoyed but Dan Heng’s response calmed her a bit.
“I’m here and I’m fine,” he said. “Where’s Phainon?”
“I’m he–” an unfamiliar voice greeted them. Although for a short while, they knew they were not hallucinating. The two Nameless once again exchanged looks, unable to believe what they just heard, so Stelle decided to make sure…
“Phainon?”
There was a grumble, a high-pitched grumble before an answer, “Yeah?” It was unmistakably Phainon-esque, by the choice of word, the style, the tone, and how he sounded like a wet puppy, there was no mistake that it was Phainon, but what happened to his voice?
“Was he inhaling helium or something? Was that smoke helium?” There went the stupid questions Stelle always asked. Innocent or simply… naive, it made no difference.
Dan Heng let out a sigh, poor March for having to stick with Stelle for the whole Penacony trip. He accompanied her for barely two weeks, and his brain was on the verge of melting. “Stelle, if that was helium, why hasn’t our voice changed?” If his face did not show, he deeply hoped his voice would represent the frustration he was feeling.
“You tell me. It could be a region-locked helium, only affecting people of Amphoreus,” that was another style of Stelle, speaking with words full of references. If Dan Heng did not read books or if he did not tune to whatever Stelle and March’s conversation was, he would have no idea what would ‘region-locked’ referring to.
“Friends, no need to panic, I’m… fine,” the way he trailed off in the end sure did convince the other two otherwise.
Stelle once again swatted her hand, more powerful this time, and the smoke faintly vanished in front of her, ever so slightly revealing what disaster befell Phainon. She knew she should not laugh, but… “Pff-hahahaha,” it was too funny not to.
“I don’t like how you approach this… situation, Stelle,” Phainon said with a slight pout. Hearing that jarring voice again, curiosity got the best of Dan Heng and he also swatted his hand, revealing the predicament Phainon had to suffer.
There he saw Phainon flying, but not the usual graceful flying someone like Phainon would have if he could say. He was not even in his original size, he had shrunk down a measurable amount of size and now only about as tall as Mem. As if sensing her challenger, Mem materialized herself beside the wiping-her-tears-due-to-laughing-so-hard Stelle.
“Memem mi mem? Stelle, memi mem?” It was hard to understand, almost incomprehensible, but going by her tone, Dan Heng believed she was asking who Phainon is and what happened to him. The two had met before, but not when Phainon was around Mem’s size.
“This is Phainon, and we still don’t know how this happened to him,” Stelle answered in between her tears. Phainon looked at her with such an unamused look, was this what Mydei felt whenever he teased him? This was not fun at all.
“But it seems like you have a competitor, Mem,” she added as he folded her hands in front of her chest, which made Phainon’s brows furrowed. What could she possibly mean by that? It was not like– oh… OH.
With a smug, Phainon placed both of his hands on his hip and said, “Yeah, I’m the better companion. I can fight, I am– was taller, thus making me best suited to be by her side.” And oh, how much Stelle was loving this drama. She was always in for the drama.
Unwilling to back down, Mem retaliated. “Memi memem mem? Mi mi mem mimimemem! (What do you mean? I’ve been by her side since she stepped foot in Amphoreus!)”
But seemingly Phainon, in such a pocket size, now could understand what Mem was talking, Dan Heng guessed this was the perks of being a travelling companion. “I accompanied her not long after you, and have been taking her and going on missions around Amphoreus since,” that was correct. Phainon indeed had not left her side ever since he met her, he was practically glued to Stelle ever since he landed his eyes on her.
It was like a fever dream, but Dan Heng was almost sure he saw Mem’s face reddened. “Mimi memmem mem mimi memimem (But I helped her out of many troubles, and I’m also part of her power, she can call me whenever wherever she was),” that argument successfully made Phainon shut his mouth.
“Alright you win,” he relented with that high-pitched voice of his. “But for now,” he quickly added, but Mem was satisfied with this enough that she simply put an annoying smirk before going poof, back into her space she went.
“Soo… Phainon,” Stelle called, which made the owner of the name hummed in response. “Do you… like, have any idea why you turned small?” Phainon hummed again, this time he also put his finger to his chin, thinking.
“Mmm… my best guess would be an alchemy test gone wrong,” and just as he revealed his theory, two bewildered scholars came out of the room. It was apparent they were the culprit behind Phainon’s predicament. Their clothings was none that can be said as pristine, there were burns and stains everywhere even on their faces, the coughing also adds to the list.
“You– how could you mess up such a simple formulation? It was just a plant growth enhancement potion, even kids can do it,” said one of the two, but the other could not accept such an insult that he decided to argue back. A wrong choice, why would you pick up a fight with a girl? That spells the end of you.
“Oh yeah? Then if it was so simple, why wouldn’t you do it? Why should it be me?”
“Oh yeah~ you’re right. Why shouldn’t I be the one making the potion? I know the ingredients and portioning better. Ah, stupid me, well I guess it’s BECAUSE THIS WAS FOR YOUR GRADING, not mine,” she snarked that made all of the three tourists flinch.
“I could ditch you when I saw you pour too much water inside the potion, but oh no, I loved you so much that I’m willing to stay and try to correct your potion. If I knew this was how you would thank me, I would smear Professor Anaxa’s plant’s soil into your face,” Phainon grimaced hearing her, Professor Anaxa’s plant’s soil means a combination of dirt, fertilizer, and dromas’s feces, and you would not want to know how it smells.
As she stomped out of her way, she met the flying and small Phainon and immediately bowed herself, highly aware that this was because of her and her boyfriend’s potion test gone wrong. “Oh– I’m sorry, senior Phainon. I’m sorry, I’m deeply sorry for this,” Phainon was beyond bewildered hearing her apology. He expected it, but not this… revered?
“Ah… it was fine, Nympha,” he waved his hands in front of his face. “But do you know when the effect is going to wear off?” The slight glitter in his eyes could mean he had become a magical boy or was on the verge of crying, the girl could only assume it was the latter, they were cruel to their senior afterall.
Nympha let out a hum before saying, “Mmm… about a few hours to two days. The potion is nothing insane like the soul splitting potion Nousporists have,” she explained diligently. Phainon nodded his head understandingly, thankful to have a junior who was capable of owning up her mistake, though the other culprit could not be said the same.
“Alright, that’s all I need. Thank you,” but before the scholar could leave the scene, Stelle blurted out…
“Really? You didn’t ask for an antidote?” And the ever-so-understanding Phainon only shaped his mouth into an ‘O’, this question went above his head it seemed. “I assume this was an old formulation, so there could be a similar situation in the past, thus there could also be an antidote for this.”
Unfortunately to them, more for Phainon, the scholar shook her head. “Sadly, there is none,” and Phainon’s shoulders went slumped. Stelle was fully aware she should not be scrutinizing each and every of his actions, but the way he was depressed was kind of funny to her. Let us count it as a form of relaxation from this hellish situation they had been bombarded with for the last couple of weeks. “It was an old formulation, yes, but the only thing we could find that was best matching this situation, which was pouring water too much into the potion, was how long the side effect will take and it is a few hours to two days.”
“Well, sad for you, good for me, then, Phainon,” Stelle said with a smile beaming on her face, she was in for bullying Phainon. “Okay, now you and your boyfriend can go, I guess.”
After bowing to Phainon as well as Stelle and Dan Heng, the two scholars left the scene, leaving the three thinking how to break the news to the other Chrysos Heirs.
“There’s no way I’d say I found you in a trash can, right?”
“Absolutely, no way!” He refuted with that cutesy high-pitched voice of his. “Lady Aglaea has keen eyes for her craft, she could tell that I, the small Phainon, wearing clothing weaved by her hands was not some kind of thing that was fetched from a weird place.”
“You’re insulting the magnificent trash can. Unbelievable,” which resulted in her getting a weird look and a disappointed look from her fellow Trailblazer. Phainon had always tried to control his facial expression, and he believed he did well, but perhaps believing so did not mean you were, in fact, expert in doing so because as of now his expression was distorted to one that expressed both confusion and disgust. ‘Rude,’ was something Stelle would respond him with if she could read Phainon’s mind.
“Stelle, you’re getting sidetracked,” Dan Heng sighed. “Anyways, if Lady Aglaea could tell that you’re Phainon based off of your clothes, wouldn’t that be a good thing? Breaking the news might go easier with how Lady Aglaea’s threads work,” the flying small companion hummed at his reasoning. It made sense, but also embarrassing at the same time. He almost could picture exactly how Lady Tribbie would react seeing him actually shrinking down to Mem’s size.
“Ahh… this is stressful.”
“But imagine if Mydei is somehow in Okhema, though,” a chuckle escaped her lips, oblivious over the fact how it sent Phainon curling inwards. Suddenly thinking about how the others Chrysos Heirs would react was less stressful than seeing Mydei stifling his laugh seeing Phainon in this embarrassing predicament.
Stelle, who took pity over his nervousness, said, “Don’t stress it out. I believe Mydei would only nod and pat your head at best, chuckle at worst,” alas, that did not help the poor guy even a little bit.
“Even him batting an eye to me is the worst,” the Chrysos Heir said while kicking his feet. ‘Oh, he’s never gonna hear the end of this if I let Mydei know,’ which was something that would set in motion once she arrived at Okhema. Stelle shrugged her shoulders, she thought then why bother thinking of something that has yet to happen if in the end you could not find the answer to and ended up only stressing yourself out. What a tiring kind of thinking that was.
“Then, let’s just *cosmic profanities* it, we ball,” and immediately took off from where she was. Phainon was wide-eyed hearing the beeping sound whereas Dan Heng could only shake his head. Dan Heng apologized and reminded Phainon not to take her too seriously because she never did to anything either.
“Well, other than digging into trash cans and saving worlds that is,” he added with a slight smile.
“La–” Dan Heng’s words were cut off by a gentle hum Aglaea let out. Even such small actions could tell everything to them.
“Seems like you got stories to tell me,” and she did know everything. Aglaea, with her pretty gold eyes met the gaze of Stelle and eventually the small human behind her. A small smile formed on her face, one that was not worn to mask something, but a genuine smile.
“L-Lady Aglaea,” Phainon chirped, his head peeking from behind Stelle’s shoulder.
“Yes, little Phainon,” oh, now, she was just teasing.
The Deliverer of Amphoreus helplessly whined, earning soft chuckles from Aglaea and Stelle. They did not know how much their laughs meant to him, it was embarrassing and he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. “Lady Aglaea… Uhmm… Did you know how do I get out of this situation? Like, being small doesn’t feel nice and we have the Strife Coreflame to take in three days.”
“What’s wrong with being small? Wouldn’t that mean you could swiftly strike Nikador from whichever point they’re weak at?” Well, that’s partially true, but that also means he would do little to nothing to help his friends and he did not want that. He had to participate, it was the coreflame he had been after that was about to be taken, after all.
“Well, yeah, but…” Phainon’s blue eyes trailed off while thinking of what excuse he should give to Aglaea, but that was also when he spotted Hyacine walking closer. She carried joy and calmness with her, he did not have any problem with that, in fact he felt happy whenever Hyacine was around, what he had a problem with was the white pegasus-like creature flying beside her. Well, he was not going to say that he was feeling he was facing a contender of the sort, he was simply, ‘Oh, no,’ scared.
Phainon immediately floated towards the lift without saying anything, rendering Aglaea, Dan Heng, and Stelle confused. Although her brain was barely registering what happened, her feet moved faster than and in no time she was right beside Phainon again.
“Where you going, buddy?” She asked as her legs moved as fast as Phainon’s flying speed.
“Running away,” Phainon replied immediately.
“From?”
“Little Ica,” he answered as quickly as Stelle’s legs.
The Nameless let out a soft hum, “The name sounds cute tho, but who is Little Ica?”
“Hyacine’s pet? I don’t know, but that creature is one that would absolutely gobble everything if it fits its mouth,” albeit saying it rather lightly, his words sent shivers down Stelle’s spine. She had a hard time believing what he said, but even then, it was scary. “Can you please press the button? If I do, I’d get left behind,” he pleaded.
Stelle wanted to say that it was funny seeing Phainon panicking in such a small body, perhaps if he ever got stressed out instead of feeling bad, she would feel something akin to cuteness aggression. “Aight,” and pressed the button.
“Where are we going? Surely we can’t go to the Marmoreal Market. You’re gonna get brain damage from all the coo and scream the citizens make,” Stelle stated as the lift went down. That… well, that escaped Phainon’s mind. He, initially, wanted to go to the Marmoreal Market to eat his belated gift to himself, the Honey Pancake, but, alas, it still could not be fulfilled although three months had passed.
His shoulders slumped, he did not know where to go now as the people of Okhema surely knew their Deliverer well. Making a public appearance would only spell doom to him. “Well, do you have any suggestions?” He asked, voice uncharacteristically weak and defeated.
Stelle’s golden irises took a glance on him, thinking hard on what kind of prank– torture, she could put him in. But before she could devise an evil plan, Phainon’s teleslate rang. It said…
“Head to the Grove, Hyacine told me that there should be a report in the Library of Philia regarding the predicament befalling you. Should you find it, bring them here, and let Hyacine read it for us,” that was Aglaea’s message, sending both Phainon and Stelle on their little journey to the Grove. This was such a hindrance, they should have been training for their fight against Nikador not looking for a way to free Phainon of his misery.
With a slumped body, Phainon floated ahead of Stelle. Ever so often, the little floating guy mumbled, it was not clear what he was saying, but Stelle knew that he was cursing whichever Titan wrote this test for him. He wanted to blame the scholars so badly, but knew that it was normal for a newbie to put in the wrong potion. “Argh!” His high-pitched voice made Stelle’s body jump in shock.
She clicked her tongue, successfully obtaining Phainon’s focus. “Calm down, lil’ guy. We’re gonna put an end to your misery no matter how,” she laxly said, her hands in her jacket pocket. “Cursing the Titan of Fate would be proven futile, most of their Coreflame has been snatched anyway. All we can do is to try our best finding what’s left by humans, and find the way out ourselves.”
Stelle was right, Phainon admitted it, but her words did so little to calm his mind. “Tsk,” this time he was the one who clicked his tongue. “Easy to say,” he curted and flew at a faster rate than he was. His companion’s golden eyes stared at him blankly, unable to believe what he just said to her. Was not her word carried weight that can appease his mind? She shrugged, easily believing that her words might not be enough to calm his restless mind.
‘Well, I’m not March or Hyacine who can easily put minds to ease,’ she thought as she picked up her pace. Although she had just been in the Grove for only two times, she was able to remember most of the path thanks to Phainon letting her know important points in the Grove as well as shortcuts.
Not long after, she saw Phainon’s blue cape in the distance. The cape flew with the nonexistent wind present in the library, but Stelle’s eyes were more than functioning to see Phainon was frozen in his place. She caught how tight Phainon’s grip was on his… wand? “This guy has a wand now?” And it was more than enough to tell a story to her. Her eyes darted and she was right, there was a swarm of enemies around Phainon. He was lucky they had not spotted him.
“Paimon! Wait– wrong game. Phai– !!!” Stelle leaped backwards when she saw Phainon’s face suddenly right in front of hers, but the flying companion had no intention in scaring or nagging her. What he had in mind was to escape this labyrinth as soon as possible. Alas, it was too late, Stelle’s booming voice alerted the enemies.
“Ah! Look at what you’ve done, partneerr,” he whined as he kicked his feet to the air.
“Okay, it’s my fault now?”
“Well, who’s the one who yelled and oh, I don’t know? Alerted the enemies?” Phainon said with that annoying tone of his.
“Tsk. Alright, bro. Let me do the job,” Stelle said as she forced herself to lock in. She was not in the mood to fight, yet Amphoreus seemingly would not be complete without something named strife. The Nameless called forth her reliable baseball bat before saying, “Phainon, this one’s for you,” and swatted it across an enemy. With such determination in her eyes, it obviously flutter Phainon’s heart, but what was supposed to be painful and more than enough to knock the enemy unconscious attack, it was sadly…
“Aight, my bad. That missed,” it missed. Even worse, aside it can go lurking, it was one that could command the others. With a hurried step Stelle hid behind the small figure of Phainon.
With a gasp, Phainon protested, “AH! STELLE WHY ARE YOU HIDING BEHIND ME?”
“You’re a male, Phainon, you’re stronger than me by a notch,” Stelle responded as she made her body as small as she could in order to make herself invisible from the eyes of the enemies, which of course, did not work. “Oh~ I’m just a fragile woman. Look, I can't even hit the enemies right. I am but a damsel in distress, needing help from a strong and brave prince,” she added dramatically, making Phainon roll his sky blue eyes. He would love to tease her further if it was not for the lunging enemy caught by his peripheral sight.
Phainon shrieked as he stretched his wand, accidentally activating a spell that sent rocks falling above the enemies. The two were as shocked as the enemy now beneath a pile of rocks, but there was a more important matter and that is…
“Run!” Stelle yelled as she grabbed little Phainon’s wrist. The two ran away from the enemies as fast as their legs could get, but Phainon, being the smaller one between them, was starting to hinder their escape due to how much speed he needed to cover. Albeit capable of floating, Phainon was now found panting.
“Why are you so exhausted? Aren’t you flying?” Stelle asked as they took a little rest. They were currently outside of the building, and still had a lot of walking to cover to reach a safe place.
With his small hands resting on his knees, Phainon nodded. “Not exactly flying, it’s floating, but to answer–”
“Sorry, time for explanation is up buddy. We got company,” the gray haired cut as she pointed towards an approaching enemy with her chin. Phainon clicked his tongue as he turned around, and there was indeed a flock of enemies nearing.
“In this state, can you even ‘run’? Or should I cradle you instead?” The idea… it rendered Phainon speechless, but he shook his head.
“I could float just fine, but I think we still need to fight them,” Phainon said as he pulled his wand out again. The two fought the ever approaching enemies, all the while they took small steps backwards in order to flee the scene. But finding the right timing was too hard due to enemies coming from all sides. Phainon cursed under his breath, if only he were in his normal size, he could swing his sword to part the waves of enemies and reach Okhema unscathed.
Alas, it was just a dream now. He was stuck in this small body and this pinch of situation. What else could he do besides doing his best to overcome such trouble?
“Uhmm… Phainon?” Stelle called in the middle of their fights, her hand tapped his shoulders.
“What? I’m busy,” he answered, his hands busy activating countless spells sending either rocks, lightning, or swords to the enemies.
“Okay, damn, sorry, I guess. But I got bad news and that is the fact that we have nowhere to run,” Stelle said as she pointed to what was left behind them with her thumb.
Phainon took a glance towards the direction Stelle was pointing, and a click of a tongue was all he could muster as a reply. Nothing ever went smoothly in his life, whichever Titan threaded his fate, they hated him. “Okay, Stelle, get closer to me. We’re gonna have to part these enemies,” he said as he floated in front of Stelle. He was unsure he could cover Stelle, he was not Dan Heng who knew how to protect his friends without him himself getting a scratch, and even so, he was not in his original size, which made everything thrice harder to execute a plan.
“No?” The Nameless replied, hesitant with even her word.
Phainon furrowed his eyebrows “What do you mean ‘no’?” He was about to have a debate with the most stubborn person in the cosmos before he remembered he had a more important task at hand. “Argh, don’t answer. Just trust me– Sunbeam!” Phainon once again used his wand, activating a spell of blinding lights to the enemy.
Phainon heard Stelle muttering how he was terrible at naming his skills and it should be called, at least, ‘Let There be Light’ or something, but Phainon really had no time to pay any mind to any remarks Stelle was spouting. ‘At least they’re dazed now,’ he thought, and as he was about to go forward, parting the ocean of enemies to get to a safe place, Stelle yanked his small body to the edge and forced him to carry her. With a yelp Phainon had to wrap both of his small hands around Stelle’s wrist.
“Why are you struggling? You can fly, right?” His companion innocently asked. If Phainon did not have better facial control, he knew he would be rolling his eyes now.
“Ugggghhh.. no,” there was finality, or stress, in his words that made Stelle unsure whether to express her thought or not.
“Well, what have you been doing then?”
“Flloooaat,” he answered with great struggle. He tried to correct his grip on Stelle’s wrist, but they were sweating, her wrist was slippery and his hands were clammy, and did not even get him started with their weight difference. “ARRGHH… STELLE YOU’RE HEAVY,” he protested.
“Rude. You don’t talk about weight to a womaaAAANNN!” The two took a freefall, or not, because none of the two wanted to fall. Phainon’s hands and feet flailed following the wind as he tried his best to regain his ability to float, but…
‘If there’s no ground, I won’t be able to–’ he cursed under his breath. ‘Argh! Whatever,’ and flew closer to Stelle. What matters the most now was Stelle.
It was hard fighting the flow of the wind. He counted he almost flew back seven times and another three times was when he did fly back. His eyes were getting dry, his breath was getting shorter. He made it his resolve, ‘I’m gonna make them repay for what they were doing!’ and although he was not sure how he would save Stelle, his small hands were stretched to its maximum length.
Stelle tried her best to get herself closer to Phainon. Countless ways she did, like trying to take Phainon’s hand, folding her body so her hands would reach even higher, but it seemed her weight did not allow her to. The gravity in Amphoreus was proven to function normally in contrast to Penacony. ‘Well, guess I’m going to meet Castorice and Acheron again,’ she resigned playfully.
Her golden eyes were quite familiar with the layout of the Grove of Epiphany, and her surroundings suggested that she would soon reach the ground. ‘At least the last thing I saw was Phainon trying his absolute best to save me though. Wait, if I died here wouldn’t Phainon just be able to recreate me?’ She internally shrugged her shoulders. ‘That’s nice if that could happen. If he can’t because I’m an outlander,…’ she recounted her companions’ faces, what would be their expression receiving the news? What would Dan Heng felt knowing she died twice in Amphoreus. How unlucky she was.
`Thud!
The landing was harsh but she was sure they were safe, albeit something was wrong with how the ground felt. It was softer, warmer, and… beating? ‘Wha–!’ She exclaimed internally. That was scary, was the ground moving? Why was it moving steadily yet intensely? Why was it even beating in the first place? Was it the heart at the Grove that made the ground shake?
‘Guessing won’t solve anything, Stelle,’ and so she lifted her head abruptly and saw Phainon hugging her like his life depended on it. His eyes stayed shut as if bracing for the impact that had been long passed. The beating and moving ground was none like she thought, it was just Phainon’s chest, and she sure hoped he was okay. She did not know when Phainon caught her, even so it was still a length from the time she shut her eyes to the time she felt the ground moving.
‘He’s a funny guy, alright,’ she thought as she stared at his scrunched nose, contorted face, and the crease on his eyebrows and eyes. ‘What is this guy exactly waiting for?’ As a soft laugh escaped her lips. Stelle brought her hand to his cheek after feeling done of bullying him, waking him from his terrified state albeit abruptly.
His breath hitched as his blue irises came into view. “You good, buddy?” Stelle’s calm voice successfully made him whip his head towards the source. There he met the Nameless’s golden eyes, and he felt so much burden lifted up from his shoulders.
A sigh before he expressed, “I thought I’m going to lose you again,” he made sure to emphasize the last word. Phainon rested his head on the pavement, catching his breath, relieved they were safe. No bad news he had to break to Aglaea, Tribbie, and even Dan Heng; he felt the most relieved to not give the terrifying news to Dan Heng because what would he feel if Stelle died for the second time. Might as well ban the Astral Express from going to Amphoreus.
Stelle shifted from her position to sit beside the still lying Phainon, “Come on. We need to head back.” Although her back was still sore from the fall, they still could not let Aglaea worry over them. She did not exactly have a mother, she did not even know if she had one, but imagining Miss Himeko, her mother figure, being angry was scary. She assumed the same goes to Aglaea, she was like Phainon’s mother, of course she would try her best to steer clear of her wrath.
But even when Stelle had stood on her feet, Phainon stayed still in his comfortable position. Stelle’s eyebrows furrowed, the question ‘what is this guy doing?’ was apparent on her face. Phainon knew her silent question and blurted out, “I think my back got detached,” a joke that made Stelle run her palm across her face.
“Why don’t you just take it a notch higher? Your back evaporated,” She flatly said before yanking his hand, making the other forcefully sit himself down, of course with a yell of agony because he actually felt like his back had just gone from existence.
“This is really painful, Stelle,” he weakly said while he leaned on his knee with his other hand holding his back, he looked like he aged more than 1,000 years.
“Okay, I’ll carry you,” Stelle offered, which Phainon refused in a heartbeat. There was no way he allowed himself to be carried by a girl, a strong one, yes, but still did not erase the fact that Stelle is a female. Well, other than that point, the one offering the service herself was unsure how she would carry Phainon. It would be embarrassing if Phainon accepted her offer, but then she said she was joking. She had dignity and she would like to preserve it for longer, okay?
“Just let me lean on you, I think it will be better for us,” Phainon suggested, to which Stelle agreed. It was a long way back and not long after, Stelle found her back on the verge of breaking like Phainon’s. An idea popped in her head to call themselves ‘Backburned’ instead of the popular backburner because what could she say? Their backs were burned to ash.
“You know, Phainon,” the other responded with a soft hum. “We should call ourselves ‘The Backburned’. Remember ‘Backburned’ not ‘Backburner’ like it was supposed to be because we aren’t people who were being put aside in someone’s relationship, but because our backs are no longer with us, shattered like Lego pieces. Prayer circle,” the Nameless said while clasping her hands. Sometimes Phainon felt like he was talking to an enigma whenever Stelle opened her mouth. Her words were far more confusing and shrouded in mystery than the prophecy brought to the Chrysos Heirs, and riddled far more intricately than however Cyrene explained her divination.
“Agreed. But what is Le– leg…o? And a prayer circle?” But before Stelle could even open her mouth to explain to the poor puppy who had no idea about the ‘sick’ expressions existed in the outside world, Phainon asked a new thing, “Wait, your back hurts?” As he straightened himself, what a gentleman.
“Yeah, kinda. But I’m fine with you leaning on me,” she started. “I mean, we both need support, aren’t we?” She shrugged it like it was nothing, but Phainon could not even bring his heart to hurt a bug, let alone keep giving her the same misery as he did.
“No. That won’t do,” he said, which made Stelle’s gaze turn upwards, where his eyes were. “It would be better if you were the one who’s leaning on me, or we’re not leaning into each other. Let’s not make our backs suffer even more than they already were,” he reasoned, coaxing a hum from the Nameless. It seemed that, instead of understanding Phainon’s reasons, she had something in her mind, making her lose her focus, but Phainon would not point it out and let her have her moment.
Both of them fell silent, letting the rustling sound of the wind hitting the leaves at the Grove accompany their walks. That was until…
“Mmm… Phainon are you down?” The sudden call made the owner of the name turn his head, his eyes full of confusion and a tad bit of interest. He whispered, ‘What?’ In that bewildered state of his. Like he said, he felt like he was talking to an enigma.
But instead of elaborating what she meant, Stelle, purposefully, repeated her question. “Are you down?” Although now he could see the eagerness in her golden eyes, none of them gave Phainon an idea of what she was trying to convey. Phainon almost found himself massaging his nose bridge due to the wild behavior Stelle had. Most of the time, he could match her energy but even he had to admit Stelle’s character was, no pun intended, out of this world.
A beat of silence before Phainon gave an answer to the question the anomaly of Amphoreus asked. “N-no?” he hesitantly said.
“Ah, you’re not fun. What? Are you scared?” That, however, scratched his head the wrong way.
“Okay! Yes!” He exclaimed exactly 0.2 seconds later. With the way Stelle reacted to the change of his answer, he could tell he might regret it, but that was the problem for his future self. He was sure his future self would be proud with how exquisitely he protected his dignity. “But tell me what are you planning to do,” his blue eyes met the glowing eyes of Stelle.
With a smug smirk on her face, with emphasis into each of her words she said, “Heh. I’m glad you asked, buddy,” she said confidently while patting his back. Okay, hopefully, nothing went terribly wrong for agreeing to the childish yet ominous request of Stelle. “We need to walk back to back,” she answered, which made Phainon’s eyebrows knitted.
“Back to back?”
“Yeah!” Stelle exclaimed, making Phainon’s body jolted slightly. He, with great reverence, prayed to Kephale, hoping it was not seen by Stelle, else he would never hear the end of it. “The two of us had our backs gone to dust, so I think we should do something like a joint walk to be one, functional body, and so this pretty head of mine came up with an idea that is walking back to back.”
‘Wait, wait. What? Joint walk? One functional body?’ Even Phainon’s brain was fried by simply listening to weird and menacing ideas of Stelle. Unfortunately to him, his confusion was apparent on his face that it invited Stelle to explain her plan further.
“Back,” she tapped her back. Albeit feeling thankful Stelle seemed to not notice he was shocked by her sudden yell, what came after was definitely not better than that. “To back!” Stelle’s hand went to smack Phainon’s back. The snow-haired man screamed in pain, she hit him right where it hurts. He seriously thought he needed to get his ability to hide his emotion fixed because all it did was bring more suffering to him.
Oblivious, honestly or deliberately, of the pain she inflicted, Stelle continued explaining her plan with great determination, “We need to start walking back to back instead of shoulder to shoulder when we take the lift to the Heirs’ bath.”
With tears welling up in his eyes, Phainon retorted, smug as ever. “What? Why not from when we stepped into Okhema? Are you scared of the stares?” And that hurted the dignity Stelle tried so hard to protect. Who was he to challenge her?
She was about to suggest to start the challenge from the Grove to save her face, but even she knew not to push her luck too far. Her back was as sore as when she crash-landed into the concrete in Penacony. “Okay! It’s a deal, then,” Her hand opened in front of Phainon, inviting him to shake it to seal the deal, which, of course, he was as crazy as Stelle after all, he accepted wholeheartedly.
“Deal!” With such vigor he had never found anywhere else except when fighting with Mydei.
And so they finally reached Okhema, and such was the starting point of their challenge. Without words but blazing will in their eyes, the two leaned on each other's back. Their walks were timid and unsure at first, even a few notable times they stumbled, but slowly they gained momentum, walking without exactly looking forward is hard after all.
The two chatted and laughed while doing their march to the Heirs’ bath, ignoring the weird glances citizens of Okhema threw upon them. They were the best at ignoring others’ stares, they did not exactly know any of them, that was until…
“What are you two doing?” A low husky voice that sounded too familiar to their ears greeted them. There was no malice in his words, just pure confusion.
Reflexively, Phainon whipped his head towards Mydei, the one who questioned their parade. Stelle did too, but quicker than lightning, she turned her head back, and yelled, “Ah-ah! Phainon! You will be facing a penalty just like our deal,” which successfully made Phainon turn his face back forward.
“Sorry, Mydei, I can’t really face you right now, but we are currently in the middle of a–”
“Test!” Stelle cut him. “A test to further improve our strength in fighting!”
Phainon paused, seemingly hesitant what to say before finally saying, “And to strengthen our bond!” With matching vigor. Mydei, who had no relation with whatever test they were doing, felt the intense second embarrassment just by standing near them. “We have to protect each other’s backs after all,” Phainon added with a lower and calmer voice.
Mydei gave his explanation a half hearted yet understanding hum. Although feeling doubtful with whatever coming out of Phainon’s mouth, he would have to just let it slip for now. “Well, then, how do you two see the way?” A clever question that the two had prepared the answer to.
“Peripheral sight, of course,” the snow haired man answered with over the top confidence.
“This way, you have no blindspot. The front, where you’re standing, Mydei, the side, and even the back!” Stelle added, hers and Phainon’s hand pointed towards each direction that Mydei had to point out that they were doing it messily, no coordination at all. The poor little prince felt like he kept losing brain cells anytime he heard them talk.
“Well, I hope you’re satisfied with our answer, Lord Mydeimos. But sadly our meeting has to end early, we have a destination to reach as soon as possible,” Mydei could tell by the expression, that Phainon did not expect a… what? More rules to this torturous test– challenge? But Mydei decided to be nice to Stelle and let the girl torture him to her heart content, that was what he deserved anyway.
“Sure, you may go now, Stelle, Phainon. Best of luck to you two,” he said with such confidence and pride that it made Phainon jealous with how much aura, Stelle’s word, he emitted.
“Then, we’ll be on our way, Mydei,” Phainon said before asking, “So, which way, partner? My forward or your forward?” To Stelle. The girl gave him a slight hum, she needed to think of the shortest and thus most efficient way to reach Heirs’ bath– spoiler? She thought nothing.
“My forward,” and Phainon gave her an ‘okay’. The two began to walk again, if only there was no hindrance such as miscommunication and miscoordination in the team. Stelle moved forward, and Phainon did too. The two went to each other’s forward that it forced Mydei to stifle his laugh looking at it. Never had he ever in his life seen a team with such terrible teamwork.
“A– wai– AH!” Countless expressions flew from Stelle’s mouth as she tried her best to attach her back to Phainon’s again, which the latter did the same. There was a penalty set if one of them forcefully detached their back from each other, and no, Stelle did not want to do that. “Aah! Phainon, what are you doing? We go to MY forward!”
“Well, I thought it was MY as in mine. My-mine, Your-yours,” he defended himself, which honestly sounded ridiculous. Mydei refused to leave because he needed some entertainment. He had faced strife and trial in his life, the stupid things Phainon and Stelle did made him forget what he was destined to be; a feeling he accepted with open arms.
Too tired to put up an argument, Stelle corrected herself “Okay. Stelle’s forward,” and so, the two moved, thankfully, with better teamwork this time.
Mydei’s sun-like irises followed the two as they passed him before finally saying, “I know you’re embarrassed, Deliverer,” dead into Phainon’s eyes as he stood right beside him. A smirk adorned his face as his eyes caught Phainon reflexively tried to stop him from saying anything further by waving his hands; he could not let his partner see the redness in his cheeks, now.
“Ahaha… Partner, don’t listen to him. He’s hallucinating. A normal occurrence for someone who had been in war since the beginning of their life, no?” Phainon said as he put his finger on his lips, gesturing to his fellow Chrysos Heir to say nothing more. Mydei was supposed to feel offended by the insult Phainon just threw, but decided to only roll his eyes, in the mood of being forgiving because he was happy that…
“At least, he met his soulmate,” he said with a small smile on his lips before continuing his walk around Okhema. Though Phainon had been seemingly fine with his surroundings, Mydei knew deep down Phainon wanted to let his playfulness out more than he had been. There was no one in the Chrysos Heirs who was at the same level of ‘silly’ as him, so meeting Stelle, a guest from afar, who was on par in energy with him must have been such a breath of fresh air to Phainon.
The bath had never found such ruckus in its 1,000 years of life before it met the deadly duo of Amphoreus, Phainon and Stelle. Ever since the two stepped inside the veil of water, the serenity the bath always offered turned upside down. Some people stared at them while others pushed themselves deeper into the bath to suppress the scream coming out from both troublemakers.
“Ah! You almost pushed me into the water,” Stelle screamed as she pushed herself farther from the edge of the bath. Phainon responded with such a villainous laugh, to her ears, at least, and it rubbed Stelle the wrong way that immediately, in that very brief moment of weakness of his, pushed him back and…
“AH! You–! You wanted to take revenge on me, didn't you?” The two’s bickering reached even the Heirs' bath. Tribbie peeked downwards, at the condition on the first floor of the bath to see exactly the source of the change in atmosphere in the bath, and she could say she did expect it to be Phainon and Stelle. She let out a giggle before she turned her body to face Aglaea.
“Agy, did you hear that?” The sound of two soul mates bickering? Yes, her ears were most keen in moments like this. Aglaea was almost sure she did not need Mnestia’s divinity nor the threads that came with the divinity itself to know what was happening between the two.
A small smile formed on her beautiful face, “Yes, I hear them clearly, teacher,” and from the threads intertwined to their and her fingers, she could feel the two were on the lift, heading towards the Heirs’ bath.
Their distant chatter grew more and more clear, and by the time they arrived, Aglaea felt like she was hit by the very first ray of sun dawning Okhema. ‘Such warm and radiant sunlight,’ she thought dreamily. Perhaps it was through Mnestia’s divinity, but albeit being blind, she could clearly see them. Their glow was the thing that helped Aglaea know where they stood, what kind of position they were in, and most importantly, what they were feeling.
“Okay, we’ve arrived. We can’t keep doing this in front of Lady Aglaea and Lady Tribbie, can we, partner?” He said with a groggy chuckle. It was too embarrassing, but, of course, Phainon purposefully left that part out. Stelle gave him a hum, an annoyingly long one, sending dread to him, yet he was also unable to let himself free, there was a penalty hanging above his head.
She kept thinking to herself, or not, and that stayed that way for another three seconds before she finally agreed to Phainon’s idea, making him let out a heavy sigh reflexively. “Alright. In 3, 2,... 1,” and they should have detached themselves from each other, but these two shared one brain cell.
“AH! I KNOW YOU’LL DO THIS,” the two screamed in the middle of their laughter. 99.9% trust surely did not mean you could ignore the remaining 0.01%.
“I know your mind, Phainon, I really do,” Stelle said as she shook her head pitifully as if she did not do the same.
“Well, I know yours too, Stelle,” interacting with her for prolonged time surely made your brain work the same as hers. She was simply that contagious. “Okay, we really should give Lady Aglaea our report,” Phainon added as his eyes met those of Tribbie’s. There was no malice in them to say whatsoever, but the way she laughed just put Phainon unease.
“Mmkay,” and as simple as that Stelle freed him from the weird position he was forced to be in. Being competitive was not always good, he noted, it was proven when his opponent was Stelle.
Aglaea kept her smile on her face as she waited for the report Phainon and Stelle had. The Deliverer felt terrible for having to let her and, ultimately, everyone down with his incompetence.
“My apology–” he started.
“Our,” Stelle corrected, voice barely above whisper. “Why aren’t you including me in this group work, Phainon?”
He sighed. “Yes. We would like to apologize, we… we couldn’t find the scroll,” his voice trailed off to merely whisper.
“It was different from the last time we went to the Grove,” Stelle took charge in explaining the situation. There was a tinge of sadness in her voice despite not being a local. “The black tide seemed to have plagued the Grove. It was a challenge to even reach the library, let alone the ‘plant growth’ section.”
Phainon clenched his fists, the fight with Nikador was only three days away, why should everything go his way in such an orderly manner? “It was already swarmed by enemies. It would be dangerous if we pressed on.”
The goldweaver hummed in acknowledgement, shocked but definitely the circumstance was not out of her equation. The black tide grew more and more rampant these days. “So, it seemed that the Grove was no longer safe,” Aglaea sighed. “Teacher, I apologize to keep troubling you, but–,”
“Don’t worry, Agy. We’ll be on our way!” Tribbie said with her characteristically joy of reassurance.
Aglaea flashed a smile before returning her gaze to Phainon and Stelle. “Then, you two are allowed to leave. Please, continue to prepare your fight with Nikador, we only have two days left,” Aglaea commanded, which Stelle followed. As she moved, she noticed there was no sign of black boots following her, making her take a glance back to where Phainon was standing. He stood in his place, eyes boring into Aglaea’s, sharp and deadly that it could kill. Stelle squinted her eyes, unable to understand why Phainon was doing what he was doing. Was not he the one who kept protesting to the empty air about how he should have been training instead of floating and flying about in, what he called, useless body?
It was apparent that she did not realize something was off with Aglaea’s words until she heard Phainon seethed. “Sorry, Lady Aglaea. What do you mean ‘continue our training’? This body of mine was too weak, too small to even trek to the Castrum Kremnos without panting. Even if I succeeded–,” Phainon let out a miserable chuckle in his pause. “Even if I succeeded, Nikador would laugh should they still retain an ounce of their sanity.”
Then silence followed, it was far from suffocating, but not a comfortable one either. Stelle was not sure what to do in moments like this, but before she could say anything, Aglaea’s soothing voice broke the silence.
She started it off with a small sigh, as if facing a kid throwing tantrums. “Well, Phainon, if you think 190 cm was too small of a body, perhaps you could try swimming to get taller,” there was a smile in her voice, a sign that she found this situation rather entertaining. “Or you could try to add more sets to your lift to build more muscle. Perhaps you might invite Stelle to sit on top of you while you do push ups,” she suggested, and none of the two could guess whether she was joking or not.
Phainon, and somehow Stelle too, was confused with her riddle, and could only knit his eyebrows further as a childish giggle was heard. “It seemed that none of you realized this. Snowy, you should look at yourself first before protesting. Agy knows everything, even down to your current height, you know?” Still in a state of bewilderment, both Stelle and Phainon looked at his body in such a slow motion as if they were in a horror movie and expectedly…
“HUH????!!!”