155 Writhing And Wriggling
Altair looked at her outstretched hand that the Mana Fog seemed to flow around. It was like it thought she couldn't see its obvious attempt to take advantage of the woman who offered her help. Or perhaps it knew and didn't care.
The Mana Fog wisped into what Altair thought was a finger and made a beckoning motion with itself. Altair felt a chill run through her body at the sight of it as she confirmed that it did have a will of its own with this act. This went completely against everything she knew about Mana. Didn't that mean that the very Mana within her now had a will of its own?
'What the hell is this? Why is Mana being so weird here?' Altair couldn't think of a way to defend herself against Mana Fog. After all, it was basically air as far as she knew. All of her Magic was physical based. Her threads wouldn't do anything and pass right through it. Her shadows would probably be just as useless. Needless to say, her own attacks would be as effective as a lip noodle against stone.
The Mana Fog crept towards her as it wove around Din, who was completely unaware of its movements. It weaved around the chair and flowed like water towards Altair.
Altair climbed onto the bed in response. She didn't know what would happen, if anything, if it touched her. But she didn't want to find out, despite having been completely enveloped in it earlier. It was just too creepy for her and she found it to be downright scary to trust something like that again.
Din saw how Altair was acted and moved to the bed instead of waiting for her. Whatever the girl was seeing, it was clear that it was in the way. Since that was the case, it would be easier if she just carried her to the other room. She did have to help clean up the mess that happened downstairs and, while she was sympathetic to Altair, she still had her responsibilities as the steward of this house.
Once she moved, the Mana Fog that had been upon her fell to the ground silently and slowly. It completely disrupted the tendrils that were moving towards Altair, causing them to shrink back as if they had lost their support.
Altair's brow twitched in response, but she quickly accepted Din's hand now that it was free of the awful thing. She was then pulled up and Din carried her in her arms without ceremony.
Din walked towards the door to the room and Altair's heart squeezed as they got closer. 'What if there's a mountain of it right outside this door?' Altair thought to herself as her fingers dug into Din's shoulders. 'How else could it get up here, if not by building itself up? There wasn't much room under the door for it to enter so that's why there wasn't much in here, right?' She mentally prepared herself to use her threads to escape to safety if she saw too much of the Fog on the other side of the door the moment it was opened. She wouldn't hesitate to use her Transference Magic to get away if that was the case. After all, there would be no place safe for her in the house if it was.
The Mana Fog on the ground was disturbed by Din's movements. It caused the Fog to flow away, break apart, and shrink back. The pieces that broke away from the main mass quickly faded into nothing as if they had never been there in the first place.
Altair braced herself as Din reached for the door knob and pulled the door open.
The other side of revealed a small river of Mana Fog on the ground that had wound its way around the mezzanine of the third floor after it crawled up the stairs. There was still a huge mass of Mana Fog that she could immediately see from over the railing before her. Dozens of tendrils seemed to lift themselves out of the Mana Fog and started to advance towards her by crawling over themselves.
Altair swallowed hard. She gripped Din's shoulder holder as if trying to tell her to hurry up without using any words to do so.
Din merely closed the door behind her at leisurely pace, completely unaffected by Altair's grasp. She then turned and walked in the direction of the stairs, kicking her way through the Mana Fog unknowingly.
The Mana Fog appeared to be completely unable to wrap around her while she was moving. This was something good to see and bad to see to Altair. It was good that it still acted like air but it was also bad because it reinforced her inability to actually defend against it.
Din walked past the stairs and around the corner of the mezzanine towards a door on the other side of the building. It was closer to the pond outside, in fact it was right over it, but there was no Mana Fog around it at all.
She reached the door and turned the knob on it, a hissing sound came from within the room. There was a short pause, which Altair remembered happening before, then the door swung open to reveal the inside.
It was the same room she had seen earlier, overflowing with different fandom merchandise that covered every inch of the room. It was just like she remembered it when she was shown it earlier: most of the walls had bookshelves that were overflowing with collector's paraphernalia, the walls that weren't blocked had posters, the ceiling had posters as well, there were many large scale figures standing around the room of Mecha, inhumanely hot guys, and some scantily clad women, the furniture seemed to have carvings of various shows on them, the pillows and carpet was decorated to look like some person Altair didn't recognize that she was sure couldn't have had those body proportions.
The entertainment room and living quarters of Marissa lay before her. Din entered without waiting and the door shut automatically behind them. It hissed like a snake and Din set Altair down on the nearest couch. She then stood up and said, "Dear Guest, this room is pressurized and has its own supply of breathable air. If you have seen fog or mist, there is no chance of it entering here so please be at ease." She then paused, seemingly for effect, then added, "I shall go and collect your breakfast now." She turned and walked towards the door after saying so.
Altair watched the door with a critical eye as the woman opened it, the same noise coming out of it again. When the door opened, a tendril of Mana Fog wriggled into the room instantly and started making its way to her. She gripped the armrest of the couch so hard that her fingers turned white, once again mentally preparing herself to escape.
When the door closed and hissing again, the tendril writhed briefly before it stopped moving and dissipated into nothing. It caused Altair to breathe a sigh of relief as she felt a weight lifted off herself. She sat back and looked up at the ceiling for a long moment. An eye-catching man with his chest exposed was winking suggestively at her.
She frowned and stood from the couch. She didn't get to explore this room much when she was shown it the first time. Since she would stay here while she needed to remain within this building, she decided it would be a good idea to see what all was in the room. After all, there was a single window and a door she hadn't gone through, even though she was pretty sure she knew exactly what was on the other side of that window.
The first thing Altair went towards was the out-of-place colored curtains that covered the window. They were hot pink and completely clashed with in the insides of the room. However, they also blocked all potential sight from the other side of themselves, leaving only light that came into the room through them.
Altair pulled the curtains aside and, as she expected while swallowing hard, her view was met with a dense wall of Mana Fog on the other side of the window. It covered the entire view, even though the sunlight came down and passed through it with no problems, although she couldn't see the sky or the sun and had no idea where they were through the Fog.
She couldn't tell if the Fog moved at all, but she felt that strong longing feeling coming from below her. She knew it was the Manamium, which was probably the source of all this evil Mana Fog that haunted the place. That feeling was dampened greatly by her newfound fear of the Mana Fog.
With a frown, she closed the curtain, completely shutting out the swirling mists beyond. Since they didn't seem able to get in through the window there was no point in bothering to think about it. She had other things to do in this unfamiliar room anyway. She then turned and walked towards the door to the connecting room.
After she closed the curtain, a head with no features formed out of the Mana Fog. It reared back and crashed into the window, separating and flowing off of it like water. It made no sound and didn't appear to do any damage.
