Essence decontrol

It had been a hard day for Nathan, and the following days would definitely be even worse.

It was thanks to Enarys that he had recovered so quickly from most of his injuries, but he still needed to rest for a couple of days to fully recover... although he doubted if he would have that time.

While he was thinking about this, his cell phone, which was on the bedside table next to his bed, began to vibrate. Nathan frowned and lifted his torso to reach for it to check what was going on.

It was assumed that the signal in the city was still down, which had caused chaos due to the lack of communication in all areas. It was also for that reason that Nathan had not had any contact with Khan, including Syril.

Then he noticed that his cell phone was vibrating from the inordinate amount of messages that kept coming in.

'Ah, the signal returned'

Not five seconds passed, and a call came in. When he saw the sender, he sighed and answered.

"What do you want Enarys? We just met" Nathan asked wearily.

Enarys let out a slight chuckle and then spoke.

"I just wanted to see if you had arrived safely at your hotel"

Nathan sighed.

"...Goodnight"

Ignoring Enarys' complaint, Nathan hung up and tossed the cell phone to the side of his bed before lying back down.

Then a couple of seconds later his cell phone vibrated again and Nathan answered the call with annoyance.

"Don't call anymore!"

Enarys said nothing and Nathan frowned slightly, then as he was about to hang up he heard a voice other than Enarys' through the speaker.

"Really? I was worried about you since we couldn't contact you for almost a week, but apparently it's not necessary"

Nathan paled slightly as he heard Syril's voice, then pulled his cell phone away from his ear and realized that it was indeed not Enarys who had called him, but Syril.

"Ah, no... I wasn't saying that to you, Syril... I'm sorry, how has life been going for you?"

Syril was silent for a couple of seconds before speaking again.

"Anyway, I'll send you a location, we'll meet tomorrow. Don't miss it"

Noticing Syril's annoyed tone, Nathan tried to apologize again, then when he tried to say something, the call ended.

Nathan stared at the cell phone in his hand and sighed before opening the coordinates Syril had sent him.

'...'

Putting his cell phone on silent so as not to be disturbed in the night, Nathan put it down on the nightstand and lay down again, then stared at the ceiling and closed his eyes.

'...Amelia' Nathan called out to Amelia, who answered softly.

'Yes?'

'What did you do in the warehouse?'

Nathan remembered that explosion of light that had blinded the calamities momentarily, time he used to escape from them. It had been thanks to it that he had been able to survive, but Nathan didn't know what exactly he had done.

'...My body is made of light, so I simply materialized using a little more essence than usual'

Nathan opened his eyes and raised his arm to look at the silver bracelet.

'Just that?'

Amelia nodded.

'Yes... though I wasn't sure if it would work or not...'

Nathan was silent, noticing the same tone in Amelia's voice as the one he sensed in the stores.

'What's wrong?'

Amelia didn't answer, so Nathan asked her again.

'I know you're thinking about something. It's not fair that you can read my thoughts, but I can't read yours'

Amelia was silent again, and this time Nathan gave her time to answer.

'I... I feel useless'

Nathan didn't know what to answer, then Amelia continued talking.

'Since that day you picked me up at the castle, I've only been feeding on your essence. I know I gave you information... but nothing relevant, nothing you wouldn't have discovered on your own'

Nathan sighed.

'But you saved me just now, didn't you?'

'It's not the same thing! That was just luck, I didn't even know if it would actually work!'

Amelia had no body, so technically she couldn't cry, but Nathan could understand her emotions just by the tone of her voice.

'I-I... I want to repay you for everything you've done for me. Ever since we met, you always doubted my identity, whether I was a hidden calamity or something. But in the end without any evidence you helped me... even to this day you still maintain those doubts'

Nathan couldn't refute, just because he knew Amelia could hear his thoughts.

'I'm not blaming you, anyone would think the same thing. You have enough reasons to distrust me... and yet you don't do it anymore'

Amelia paused for a second as if she needed to take a breath to keep talking... even though she didn't need to.

'I'm a burden... like a parasite that keeps feeding. B-but I want to pay you back for everything you've done for me...you literally saved my life, you took me out of that eternal hell...but I... I don't know what to do'

Nathan didn't know what to answer, he didn't knew Amelia was feeling some kind of inner conflict, but he never expected her to be holding back so much.

Other than that, Nathan didn't have much experience comforting people, so he didn't know what to answer, then he lowered his arm and closed his eyes again while giving some of what little essence he had left to Amelia.

'Feeling better?'

Amelia was silent, but Nathan noticed how she reluctantly accepted his essence. Then a few seconds later he heard a faint chuckle in his head.

'...Idiot'

Nathan smiled.

'Don't worry, you'll get a chance to give me back the fav---'

Nathan abruptly opened his eyes and jumped up, then looked down at his hands and frowned.

"What?"

Amelia was surprised to see him react like that.

'W-what's going on?!'

Suddenly Nathan felt the essence inside his body begin to move uncontrollably, and no matter how hard he tried to control it, he could not.

Amelia, who was receiving his essence, also felt the change in Nathan's essence, but without knowing what was happening, they both started to panic.

Nathan grunted with annoyance feeling how the essence abruptly entered his muscles, merging with his body, and without being able to control it, he fell to the bed with all his limbs numb.

'Nathan!' Amelia screamed worriedly without understanding what was happening to him.

Feeling his whole body burning, Nathan began to convulse slightly without being able to control his limbs, then unable to stand the discomfort he felt, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.