154 Creeping And Crawling
Altair spent the next several hours upstairs in the room that was prepared for her. Her hearing was slowly recovering and her legs weren't like lead anymore. She could move around just fine now, but she didn't want to go downstairs. She didn't even want to look at the dense Mana that was just a floor below her. She even found the lingering wisps in her room on the third floor to be eerie.
She had long since stopped burning any of her Mana for Magic once she had recovered from the blast. She had already been questioned by Din about the cause of the, what they called, Soundburst, which Altair just replied that she had no idea. This place, that seemed to be the ultimate training ground for Magical practice, had come an unsettling building that Altair didn't want to continue to be in.
She swatted at a wisp of Mana that approached her and climbed deeper onto the bed while sending an untrustworthy gaze at it. The Mana scattered away from her touch and, for a moment, she thought she had fended it off. However, in the next moment, the Mana curled towards her again and it caused her to frown in displeasure.
Despite knowing that the Mana Fog would probably do nothing to her, she still couldn't bring herself to want to be near it. She was actually wishing they would build a fourth floor for her to hide in until she was moving to some other home. She didn't want to be here anymore, even though there was a huge pool of Manamium that tugged at her consciousness and beckoned her to come closer to it.
She felt there was no chance she would walk through that Mana Fog ever again. It was just too risky to her. She couldn't dismiss the idea that it was sentient. That idea had wormed its way deep into her mind. She found the Mana in the air to be traitorous and dangerous.
And she couldn't do anything to keep it away from her.
It was like it was trying to torment her by continuing to curl and crawl its way towards her from the ground. It even climbed up the bed, as it was doing now, to approach her while she sat in the center of the bed. She could tell that it was pulling directly towards her instead of just moving around naturally.
After all, it was a single string of Mana Fog that crawled up the bed while half the room was devoid of it.
It caused Altair to bite her lip and back away even further while kicking the blanket at it, knowing full well that it wouldn't do anything.
When she woke up that morning, there was no Mana Fog on the third floor. Now, somehow, it had crept its way into her room. She didn't believe for a second that it was natural and, with the way it continued to crawl towards her, only furthered her assumption that it was alive and had a will of its own.
The door to her room was pushed open and Din led a man dressed in dark blue clothing with a strange badge on his shirt in. He looked exhausted and his shoulders seemed to be permanently slumped as if he carried the weight of the world around with him. His unkempt hair was a mess and he had multiple day-old beard hair growing from his chin.
He gave Altair a blank look before he asked, "Is she the witness?" His voice was gruff and sounded tired.
Din nodded, "She was the only one outside when it happened. She was even thrown through the house. You saw the holes."
The man nodded his head a few times. He then walked through the room and sat heavily at a chair next to a small table. He took a deep breath before he sighed loudly and turned to Altair. He then said, "Come, tell me what you saw." He motioned to the chair before him and Altair's frown deepened.
She eyed the ground like a wary animal and saw patches of the ground that were untouched by the Mana Fog. She then looked at the wisp that was attempting to approach her again. He bit her lip harshly before she pushed herself off the bed, landing in one bare spot before she leapt to the next and the one after that.
Thankfully, she managed to reach the chair without touching any of the Mana Fog.
The man's brow rose slightly at the sight of Altair jumping to random spots. Din was amused by this act as it seemed to tell her that she was playing that the ground was lava or something.
The man sighed heavily again when Altair lifted herself to the chair before him. He pulled up his communicator and asked, "Alright kid, why don't you tell me everything you saw."
Altair watched the Mana Fog around her with a careful gaze as she replied, "I didn't see anything." She knew they wouldn't believe her no matter if she stated the truth. She also knew that it would cause more trouble to talk about it. She would already be here for a while and it was stressful enough to be around the Mana Fog, so why add to her problems?
The man frowned slightly before he asked, "Alright, so you didn't see the source of the Soundburst. What about the sound? Did you hear the direction it came from?"
Altair shook her head as she swatted at some of the Mana Fog that approached her. Her face had a look of complete disdain as she tried to glare it away futilely.
The man's brow rose slightly at this display. He concentrated on the spot Altair swatted and focused his Spiritual Energy. His Inborn Ability was All Sight, it allowed him to see through shadows, illusions, memories, AR, VR, optical shields, full stealth primers, and, sometimes, walls. However, he didn't find anything different even when he did so. Thus, he sighed loudly and looked at Din then asked, "This is really the witness?"
Din nodded her head and then she turned her attention to Altair and softly said, "You don't need to hide anything from this man. He's here to find out what happened to make sure it won't happen again."
'Right, let me just waste my time trying to convince him of something he won't believe.'
The man calmly asked, "Why don't you just tell me everything you remember after Din left you outside alone." He then prepared to start recording information with his communicator again.
Altair swatted the Mana Fog away once again as it crept towards her. She then turned a no-nonsense gaze to the man and said, "I put my feet into the pond. Then, there was a strange pulling sensation that I felt coming from in front of me. Immediately after, somet-" She stopped mid-sentence as she saw a thick tendril of the Mana Fog from the corner of her eyes that almost touched her.
She immediately shot out of her chair and ran away from it while her heart leapt to her throat. The chair clattered to the ground as she kicked off of it. She had moved halfway across the room, away from the table, and glared with open hostility and fear towards the arm-thick tendril that harmlessly dispersed upon touching the chair and recoiled back to the mass of Mana Fog in the room.
The man gave her a baffled look before he focused on her eyes. He could see the anger and terror within them. What he initially thought was a strange game that she was playing fled his mind as he cast a cautious look at where she was. He focused his Spiritual Energy again and activated his Inborn Ability. However, he still saw nothing.
Din was also confused. She asked in a voice filled with concern, "Dear Guest, is something wrong?"
Before Altair could answer, the man's voice interrupted them as he said, "Don't ask stupid questions. Of course something is wrong." He then gave Altair a serious look and asked, "What do you see that we don't see, girl?"
Altair's eyes glanced at him before they instantly shot back to the Mana Fog. It only took it maybe three seconds for it to form that huge tendril and try to touch her with it. She didn't want to give it even a fraction of that time to try something else. She had no idea what it wanted and, while she was being moved through the floors downstairs in the immediate aftermath of it attacking her, she didn't feel anything strange then.
But it was clear to her that it was up to something. That something, after it showed its aggression towards her, was obviously not good.
Since the man seemed to guess she could see something and appeared to believe her, Altair hesitantly stated, "It's some kind of fog." She saw the Mana Fog approaching as she said that and moved away from it, which pushed her further away from the table.
The man looked around the room and saw no evidence of it. He sighed lightly before he turned his head to Din and asked, "Do you have a pressurized room? Perhaps she'd feel more safe in such an environment."
Din nodded, "Yes, but the room is kind of…" She didn't know what the man would think in that paraphernalia filled room. It did belong to a princess, but still it was a bit excessive and she didn't want rumors to fly around.
The man raised a dismissive hand towards her obvious worries. He then stated, "I don't think I'll need to question her further. It's just for her peace of mind." He stood from his chair and added, "For the sake of my curiosity and just in case, I'll bring some advanced scanning equipment to check the surroundings for any odd readings." He then turned towards the door and said, "I don't think we'll find much but it's better to be safe than anything else in a case like this."
Din bowed respectfully towards the man as he walked out of the room. She then turned to Altair and said, "Come, I'll take you somewhere that no fog can reach you."
