Chapter 26
„Miso!“
„Nya, I think Gnocchi is better.“
“No way! Then how about chicken with curry and pineapple?”
“And where are we going to take the indigents from?” Callo interrupted the two humans’ discussion.
“Riiiiight… Let’s check what we have first!” Raven chuckled and took out their bags.
“Aww… I wanted to cook chicken with curry…” Allen sighed and joined her friend searching their bags for supplies.
“Why are you so… uhm…” Callo hesitated. He wasn’t sure how well Allen felt by now… It had been around two hours now since Narwa and Zeyir had reawakened the human summoner… “Why food?”
“First of all… I haven’t had anything to eat since over three weeks by now… And secondly, this is my way to thank Zeyir and Narwa. As soon as they are back awake, they will get a wonderful meal cooked by chef Allen!” He grinned brightly and took out a pan and pot to prepare the meal.
“Yeah, but you don’t know when they will be back awake…” Callo shook his head and sat down. “Do you want me to help?”
“NO!!” Both humans shouted in the very same second.
“Alright, alright… It was just a question…” A little confused, the elf started refining his rapiers. Yet… he didn’t get rid of the feeling as if something kept bothering Allen ever since he had been back to normal…
The smell of salmon and herbs filled the air as Allen and Raven prepared dinner. Callo couldn’t help but taste every once in a while what they were doing. It smelled just too good!
“Callo!” Raven beamed and tried to hide the pot from the elder. A yawn interrupted their little fight though.
“Man, I’m beaten…” Zeyir still lay on the ground while rubbing his belly with his claws.
“Silent, I want to sleep…” Narwa muttered from next to him, grabbing her staff dangerously.
“Narwa!” Raven chirped, hopping towards her friend as…
*SMACK*
“I SAID BE QUITE!” She yelled at Zeyir while smacking him with her staff.
“Hey! I didn’t do anything!” The poor demon yelled while rolling sideward to get away.
“Old habits die hard…” Callo chuckled while stealing the pot out of Raven’s hands.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I though you…” Narwa grew all red over her whole face.
“Yeah, let’s all hit the poor demon. It’s not as if he’s got any feelings!” Zeyir rolled his eyes while looking over at the human summoner standing on the campfire.
“…” Allen grinned so eagerly, his face started hurting. He stepped closer, hugging his demonic friend. “Man, I’m so glad to have you back in our team!”
“Aaaaalright, man. You can count on me!” The demon got up, smiling. “Besides, I have to thank you! If you wouldn’t have come all the way to Galdor, I would be stuck there!!”
“Anyway, we should wait with this heartwarming reunion until we are done eating, or Callo won’t leave any food left for us!” Raven grit her teeth, sending evil glares over to the not so caring elf.
“Hey, that’s my part.” Zeyir grinned and ran up to Callo, trying to get something out of the pot as well.
“So… you really want to go?” Allen looked from Narwa to Raven. His usual good mood faded into sadness as they had to say goodbye to their new friends.
“Yes, I must return to Asgard and ask my friend there what to do next. She sent me to bring the amulet to you, and I completed this task.” Narwa smiled while folding her hands in front of her chest. “Besides, you already have someone in your team that doesn’t belong to this world… Two of us are just too much.”
“I know you and Zeyir don’t really come along but…” Callo tried to think of a reason to let them stay but it didn’t really seem to come to his mind.
“Yeah, if you walk at the end of the group and I walk ahead, we won’t get any trouble with each other.” The demon-prince grinned, yet he had to admit he was relieved Narwa was about to leave… Somehow he always felt so weird in her presence…
“Haha, I doubt this will work. But maybe I will return to this world soon. I need advice and… some answers… I will return and help you out as soon as I got them.” The goddess looked at Allen’s amulet. It had changed ever since he had reawakened… two little arrows had appeared between the golden center and the crescent-moon…
“Yeah, and I will go back to my house in Wehrheim. After all, that is where Narwa appeared when coming down from Asgard… so if she returns to Midgard, I will join her again. I’m sure we will meet again!” She smiled softly and gave Callo and Zeyir her hand in good-bye. Allen looked a little confused as she didn’t gave him her hand and instead ignored him…
“So, shall we go?” Narwa smiled.
“Just out of curiosity…” Zeyir interrupted. “We are lost in this forest. How are you supposed to find your way back?”
“I own a seal that will bring me right back to my temple in Asgard. I will drop Raven on the Otherworld-Gate that brought me to Midgard there.”
“I… see…” Zeyir looked a little confused but he couldn’t care less…
“Alright, Raven. Shall we?” Narwa smiled and stepped back, taking out a white scroll with runes written on it from her bag. She opened it. The words and lines seemed to float from the scroll to the ground, forming a magic circle on the ground.
“One more second.” Raven chuckled and gave Allen a kiss on his cheek, before stepping into the magic circle and disappearing in a flash of light.
“…” Allen blinked confused, not sure what had just happened, as someone smacked him from the side.
“Man, you are such a womanizer!” Zeyir couldn’t suppress his laughter as he kept punching his friend playfully on the shoulder.
“Wh… why did she…” Allen seemed to be totally off with his mind while placing his hand on his cheek.
“You gotta never wash that cheek until you meet her again!” The demon held his belly by now. Callo only rolled his eyes and smacked Zeyir in his usual manner.
Two days had passed ever since Allen, Callo and Zeyir had separated from the girls. They were still stuck in the giant forest but every once in a while, Callo could have sworn he had seen footprints on the soft ground…
“Hey, look over there!” Shade chirped from above her master as she flew towards an opening between the thick trees. A river ran through the woods, the clear water sparkled in the midday-sun like thousands of little crystals.
“Wow, if we wouldn’t have made a break half an hour ago, this would be a perfect spot.” Allen grinned and filled his water-bottle with the fresh liquid. The others restocked their supplies as well. Steel and Shade played hide and seek while the three companions, even with Callo protesting first, enjoyed their second break this day.
“You gotta explain me something there, Callo…” Zeyir looked at his piece of bread he was currently eating while he sat there leaning on a tree.
“Hm?” Callo lay on the ground, enjoying the soft sun. He somewhat missed the burning heat of Yora though…
“How comes you manage to carry all your stuff in such a small bag?” The demon pointed at the small bag hanging around a stone.
“I don’t…” Callo yawned while stretching himself a little. “Shade and Steel carry my stuff for me…”
“Hm?” Allen looked confused at the tan man to his right. “And… how do they do that? They are in the spirit-dimension all the time!”
“Sbiwiddimenmion?”
“Zeyir, swallow before you talk!” Callo grid his teeth while he brushed some of Zeyir’s bread off his chest.
“The spirit-dimension is something like a parallel dimension to our world. Mana is the link between these dimensions.” Allen tried to remember what he had learned back in his home-village about the spirits…
“The spirit-dimension is where you summon your might from. It is where all Mana is stocked. When I summon for example a chain with the help of Steel, it is formed from the materia in the spirit-dimension.” Callo sat up and stared at his spirits playing in the air. “Besides, this is how you carry your sword most of the time. You send it into the spirit-dimension and re-summon it when it is needed. In some case you are a summoner as well.” He grinned and looked at Zeyir.
“Sooooo… does that mean we carried our bags the whole time while you just summoned yours off!?” The demon prince formed an evil grimace as he stared back at his companion.
“He’s got a point there.” Allen laughed and patted Callo. “How about you send our bags off too?”
“…” Callo blinked nervously. To be honest he had never ever thought about asking his friends to summon off their bags… “Well… sure thing…”
“Tse, I can’t believe it!” Zeyir grinned. “Hey, Allen, why don’t you summon Luna and ask her to take our stuff?”
“I.. i…” Allen seemed to grow nervous all of a sudden and lowered his head.
“Did I say something wrong?” Zeyir hopped up, walking towards his friend, ready to apology for whatever he had just done wrong.
“Are you alright?” Callo turned to the summoner, offering him something to drink just in case…
“No, I’m fine. Everything is alright!” Allen smiled and hopped up. “We shouldn’t ask the Great Spirits to carry our bags… this seems… so wrong to me.” He chuckled and patted the demon playfully.
“Riiiight…” Zeyir eyed him curiously but decided to drop the subject.
“Shouldn’t we travel on now?” Allen grinned and hoped for Shade and Steel to show them how to make their bags disappear. The little spirits just flew to the ground, waiting for an order of their master. Callo nodded agreeing, so the two little summons grabbed Allen’s and Zeyir’s bags and disappeared in their usual manner. “I somehow had hoped for something more spectacular…”
“We don’t have to carry our bags anymore! Isn’t that spectacular enough?” Zeyir laughed and looked over at Callo.
“Alright. Which way?” The desert-elf crossed his arms in front of his chest. He had just enjoyed the sun… but Allen was right, it was time to travel on.
“How about we follow the river?” Zeyir chirped cheerfully. “Most towns are built close to water as it has the best conditions concerning the supplies with both, water and fish.”
“Wow, someone paid attention to what his father said…” Allen chuckled and looked over at Callo.
“Hm… As long as we are following the water-flow I guess we can’t get lost in the forest anymore. Besides, this way we can restock our water-supplies whenever we want…” The elf looked towards Zeyir a little confused at his evil face-expression. “What is it?”
“Is it really that difficult for you?! Just repeat me: ‘Yes Zeyir, you are right, this is a good idea.’” Both, Zeyir and Allen bursted out laughing at Callo’s goofy face as he blinked confused.
“Let’s just go, alright?” The elf muttered and walked ahead.
After a few minutes of walking, Allen slowly fell behind.
“Hey Callo…” Zeyir whispered towards the elder. “Don’t you have the feeling as if something is wrong with Allen ever since he is back awake?”
“Yes, but he won’t tell me… I already asked him what’s wrong…” He muttered under his breath to make sure, the summoner couldn’t eardrop them. “He keeps denying…”
“Hm… maybe I should try it…”
“Do you honestly think he will tell you?”
“After all I know him a little longer than you. Besides you are a really strong warrior and you are a summoner as well… Maybe that is why he doesn’t want to tell you what’s wrong…” Zeyir sighed. Callo and Allen were friends by now- without any doubt- but just as their kind of friendship was different from the friendship Zeyir and Callo shared, Allen and Zeyir’s friendship was different as well…
“Hmm…” Callo closed his eyes. “I guess it is worth a try…”
Zeyir slowed down a little, falling behind now as well.
“Hey Allen.” The demon grinned eagerly. “What is that long face?”
“Hm? What long face?” The human grinned and smacked the demon playfully. “I’m just a little fatigue!”
“Yeah, sure…” Zeyir lolled out his tongue and tried his best to be the usual saw on his companions’ nerves.
“What is this tone, huh? I said I’m alright!” Allen giggled and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“And I just said: Yeah, sure…” The grin on Zeyir’s face grew wider and wider. It almost seemed to challenge Allen!
“What is your problem?!” Allen couldn’t believe he actually fell on the trick… Man, this demon was good…
“My best friend doesn’t tell me what’s wrong with him. That’s my problem.”
“…” Allen lowered his head. It was no use trying to hide it from his friends… Callo had noticed it already, and Zeyir wasn’t going to give up until he knew what was wrong. “Callo?” Allen rose his voice, so the elf ahead was able to hear him. The golden hair waved around as he turned and stepped towards his two companions.
“What is wrong?” Callo shot a glare at Zeyir, unable to believe that he had actually managed to get Allen to talk with them.
“I think you both know that… something is not right… correct?” Allen sighed. He received a nod from both of his companions. “Well…” The summoner lowered his head a little more…
“Now tell us already! You really aren’t the kind of person that is good in drama and su—Ouch!” Zeyir received a firm smack from Callo that told him to just shut up.
“Anyway, ever since I woke up again I have the feeling… something within me changed.” Allen sighed. Zeyir was right. It was no use trying to hide or avoid it any longer. “I somehow have the feeling as if something within me is changing. I don’t feel… like… being human anymore! I know it sounds weird but…” He moved his hand through his wild brown hair. He didn’t really know how to put it best… “If you think I’m strange then… I can understand that…”
“Allen, your body suffered under the surplus of Mana and—“
“Look, Allen!” Zeyir interrupted Callo with a cheerful voice. “It doesn’t matter if you are human, demon, elf, troll, orc or even god… Even if you changed into a duck, you still would be the same person and our friend, right? We are sticking together until the very end!”
Allen and Callo both stared at the demon. In his very unique, weird and immature way, Zeyir had hit the subject right to the point. It didn’t matter if something within Allen changed due to the pacts, he still remained the very same loveable, cheerful and lively summoner they had decided to help in his task.
“Thanks, guys…” He grinned cheerfully while patting his friends.
“That’s what we are here for!” Zeyir smiled and walked ahead into the cool evening followed by his best friends.
