As Toma reached for the cat, it flinched backed away. On
seeing such a strange reaction, Toma himself backed away.
Once again, he reached out for the cat, but the reaction of
the fluffy ball remained the same.
"Hey, little kitty. Don't be afraid. I mean you no harm. Just
let me investigate the booth. That's all I want. Meow!"
Toma, in a desperate attempt to reach the cat, talked to her.
To Toma's surprise, the cat looked at him with its brown
eyes, looked sharply at Toma, and said, "I only talk to those
who need me, not to some random guy who walked up to me
and said he wanted to play. I have more work to do. Go
away! Meow!"
Saying so, the cat started to lick its feet and angrily bristled
at it. Toma turned to Eldiea and asked, "Am I so useless that
even the creatures in this world look at me with inferior
eyes?"
"That kitty only talks to those who happen to have some
work with it; otherwise, it has its own ego. Well, not gonna lie, you are a bit useless and also really inferior to them. You
need to work harder and be stronger."
"At this point, I think you just love to rage-bait me, and so
does this world."
Listening to Toma's reply, Eldiea burst out laughing. Even
the cat inside the tree could not hold back its laugh.
That's when Toma felt that someone was watching him. He
looked everywhere, but he couldn't see a soul; but only those
two were talking. The weather was clear, and birds were
chirping in the blue sky.
And suddenly, a man, who was taller than an average
person, appeared in front of them. That man was as fair-
skinned as a dove, and his red cloak was billowing in the
wind. Fixing his green hair, the fellow looked at Eldiea with
a slight bow.
Eldiea's gaze met his, and she bowed a little. Toma looked at
the fellow and questioned whether he was dreaming or not.
Such a handsome guy should not exist. He looks perfect in
every way possible. How can he even exist? Well,
whatever! There's no way he's the old guy whose voice I
heard in the cat's funnel.
After a brief pause, the guy looked from Eldiea to Toma,
pointing at the latter. "Is he the guy you were talking about
earlier?" he asked.
"Yes, Mr. Treak. He's the one facing the ordeal. On testing,
he turned out to be an elementa user and on top of that, the
element he can manipulate is plasma."
"So, why did you call me here? I'm a swordsman, not an
elementa user. How can I even teach him?"
"I think that he would destroy himself if he used plasma
alone. He needs something to stabilise his power. At least,
until he learns how to use his power. That's why I need you
to take on his ordeal."
"Well, you know, normally not everyone can use elementa as
well as weaponry at the same time. But if you insist, there's
no harm in doing it."
During all this conversation, Toma was listening closely to
Mr. Treak's voice, but it wasn't the same voice he heard on
the funnel. He was confused if he could change his voice.
Just as he was going to confirm his suspicion, Mr. Treak
reached him.
"Open your hands." Mr. Treak requested him.
Toma opened his hands, and the guy placed a feather on
them. The feather started to levitate in the air. Meanwhile,
Toma, who had no clue what was going on, stared as the
feather flew even higher.
"Now, close your eyes and try to call the feather back to
you."
At this point, Toma was excited as well as dazed by the
world around him. He slowly closed his eyes and, in his
mind, started to call the white feather towards him.
Feather, come to me! Please come to me; otherwise, they
will think I'm an idiot. O mighty feather! Saviour of Toma
Itsuki, come to me, please. I beg you.
He kept on chanting this mantra until he heard a low voice
near his ears. "Stop; you don't need to do anything further.
Open your eyes."
On opening his eyes, he saw that the feather was stuck on
his bracelet as if someone had glued it on his hand. His
other hand reached for the feather, and he slowly removed it
from the bracelet.
Mr. Treak suddenly started to wave his hand in a circular
motion, and a portal-like something opened up. It wasn't a
portal; it was a screen. On the screen, Toma could see his
face, a number, the feather in his hand, his bracelet, and a
lot more information that was beyond his understanding.
Mr. Treak handed Toma the blunt sword Eldiea had been
carrying till now. "Wave the sword in the air as if you were
cutting something."
Toma slowly lifted the sword. The sword was blunt, yet it
seemed it had not lost its shine since its last owner left it. He
noticed a badger symbol on the back of the sword. It was
quite unusual for a sword to still have the symbol even when
it became blunt.
He gently waved the sword as if he were trying to cut the air.
A red spark burst from the sword, and suddenly the weather
turned cloudy, and a gentle breeze started to blow.
And soon it started raining. It was like the sword itself could
control the weather. Large drops of water started pouring on
Toma's body. The rain didn't just fall; it arrived as a
thousand cool, rhythmic fingertips, tracing a slow and
breathless choreography across their skin.
Looking at the sword again, it still seemed powerful, even
though it had lost its master.
Toma was so lost in the sword's beauty that he forgot to look
at the damage it had caused. When he raised his eyes to look
at the mess he had done, he saw that not one but multiple trees in a line were cut off. It looked like a beam shot
through the trees.
Eldiea quickly took the sword away from Toma.
"You are not meant for it. Give it back to me."
Toma was amazed by the power of a blunt sword.
If a masterless sword could inflict this much destruction, I
wonder how powerful those people would have been who
own such weapons.
He looked back to see Eldiea panicking as if something very
wrong happened. He reached Eldiea and realised that she
had not noticed him. Looking at her face, one could tell that
she was overthinking about something.
Toma waved his hand in front of her to bring her back to her
senses. Eldiea looked at Toma and gave him a slight smile.
The smile was a fake one, he realised.
"What are you so worried about, El?"
"Nothing. Mr. Treak just told me you are not cut out for a
swordsman. Nothing in particular, to make you–"
"Shut up, El. You are sweating. Tell me the truth."
"That's the main problem. YOU ARE NOT CUT OUT TO BE A SWORDSMAN. You know what it means? It means that
you can only use plasma."
"So, what is to be afraid of? It's good, isn't it?"
"No, it's not. Not in your case. You are dumb enough to
destroy a place up using your stupid power that you can't
even control."
"Don't worry. I'll try my best to master it."
"It's not like we both have a choice or something. That's the
only thing we can do."
Mr. Treak approached them.
"Here, take this." Said Mr. Treak, handing over a pearl to
Toma.
He continued. "I know you aren't capable of being a
swordsman, but I can help you a little. Keep this pearl with
you whenever you train. It will help you stabilise your
power."
Toma thanked him, and Mr. Treak again disappeared. But
this time, Toma saw a shadow as soon as he vanished. The
shadow was small; it rushed away from the grounds as if a
mouse were being chased by a cat.
"You look confused. And I know why." Eldiea looked at
Toma's face.
"He's a shadow manipulator. He can walk using shadows,
can control them, and can also make creatures out of a
shadow. Cool, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I love it. I wish I could use that."
"You have even bigger problems to handle now, I guess.
Follow me."
Toma, still amazed by the power of Mr. Treak, started to
follow her.
"I am curious." Toma tried to start a conversation.
"Well, you always are."
"You are supposed to ask me, 'About what?' or something
like that."
"Oh. Seriously? Then yeah, Mr. Dumbhead. About what?"
"How was it that Mr. Treak's voice over the funnel sounded
so much like an old man's? But in reality, his voice was like a
nightingale."
"Nightingale?"
Eldiea laughed so hard that she had to stop walking.
"Well, yeah. Your joke was good. It was–"
Eldiea, still trying to hold back her laugh, looked at Toma's
innocent face as if he were not even trying to make her
laugh. Looking at his guiltless face, she again laughed so
hard that tears streamed down her cheeks. Holding back
her laugh, she coughed, trying to be sincere.
"It was because the user has the option to change their voice
tone using the cat funnel. It serves different purposes; for
instance, a spy who wants to hide their identity can use it to
confuse the enemy. He doesn't naturally sound like that."
"And I thought he was an old man. Whatever, what did you
see on the screen that I guess had something written about
me on it?"
"Oh, nothing. Now, seriously follow me."
Toma's steps matched with hers. The grounds were going
farther away from them the more they walked towards a
small door that stood alone in the scorching heat of the sun.
The door had a faint greenish fluid coming out of it. It was
old and rusty on its handle; its wood was decayed. It looked like it had not been touched in years. Even after its paint was
gone, one could notice a hint of blue on the edges.
Toma noticed a strange thing about it; even though it was
old and rusty, it was squeaky clean on the lower half. It
seemed as if a dwarf cleaned it everyday.
The more they walked towards the door, the more hazardous
and mysterious it seemed. And Toma was attracted to
mysterious objects like a magnet. He loved mystery. That's
why he always found himself in danger.
It was still raining.
The air grew thicker and thicker as they drew closer to the
door.
Just as Toma looked to his side, Eldiea was not there. He
looked around desperately.
And suddenly he woke up.