19 Moving forward

Two years have passed after Evlin's duel with the prince.

She had finally obtained the power that she needed to survive in this new mysterious world she was transported into.

After obtaining the roots of the channeling tree she gained the ability to use three types of magic energy.

Earth magic, the ability to gather earth around her and manipulate it as she desires, modeling magic, the ability to change the shape and appearance of any object as long as it possessed the same or less amount of mass, and healing magic, the ability to fix and repair any damage in the body of a living being, which also came with the bonus of when applied with extra doses, would also grant a boost on strength, speed and defense.

With these skills under her belt, Evlin started to take on quests on the guild using her new status as a expert-rank mage and ended up gaining quite a lot of popularity.

Many adventurers would often request her services as a bodyguard to go on dangerous missions.

Be it exploring deep caves, hunting demonic wolves, or finding lost hidden treasures, with her ability to heal any party-member, her power to change any object to any weapon she wanted, and her skill with ranged attacks thanks to the use of raw magic bullets with her crossbow, Evlin became known as a jack-of-all-trades. No matter what was it that your team needed, she could provide it.

On top of that, Evlin was extremely polite to everyone around her. Her kindness made many citizens start to consider her a national treasure of the city, and as she was now sixteen-years-old, she started to gain many admirers trying to propose to her left and right. She had basically turned into the city's idol.

Many people would sometimes try to follow her to find out where she lived but, thanks to her boosted speed, nobody could keep up with her fast enough to discover she was living in her newly remodeled vacation house located in a secret corner of the city that her and Dalla had moved into. 

Even the king never seemed to give her too much trouble. Sometimes she would see a wanted poster with her name on it hanging on a wall, but that never became an issue either. Aside from a few desperate bandits here and there, nobody in the city had any ill-intents towards Evlin or any desire to help the spoiled prince.

The one girl in the city who would join with any party and provide a huge help that could not be found anywhere else, there was no way the adventurers would sell her out to the castle.

She would however get rather confused sometimes when looking at a wanted poster with no picture with the name 'Santa Claus' on it. The prince probably assumed that was her master or something due to how she kept mocking him with that name.

The missions Evlin would often accept were rather dangerous, but nothing she couldn't overcome with a little teamwork and strong determination.

She came close to dying many times, such as the time she had to fight against an ogre with the size of a house,  that was somehow immune to all her attacks and ended up killing one of her party-members in the process. She managed to escape with the rest of her group but that experience proved rather traumatizing. That night when she came home she buried herself in Dalla's arms and cried herself to sleep.

Dalla and Evlin had basically switched roles by this point.

After some time had passed, Dalla was no longer able to use her legs and became stuck to the bed permanently. Evlin tried to use healing magic many times but the legs weren't damaged, they had just reached their limit. So now Evlin was acting as the provider for the house. Going on quests and bringing a lot of money to take care of Dalla while she rested all day.

One day, when Dalla was resting inside the house reading a book, Evlin came home completely drained.

She was now a little taller than before and as usual was covered in her wooden armor consisting of bracelets, greaves, necklace, and carrying her beloved crossbow.

Her hair was starting to grow again but she would always ask Dalla to cut it off because she felt it was more convenient this way, despite Dalla saying that hair should be treated with more respect. Evlin didn't seem to get it but still tried to honor her wish. 

"I'm home..." Evlin said as she entered the house.

"Welcome home! Are you ok...?" Dalla replied while closing the book she was reading. Like always, she was in her bed, resting her tired body.

"Just tired... We tried to go after the ogre again today, but the stupid thing just won't die... We didn't lose anyone this time, luckily... But I'm sure we will get him one of these days..."

Dalla placed her index on her chin and lightly tilted her head, "Why is it so important to defeat this one ogre...? Is the quest reward really that good?"

Evlin just shrugged in response, "I don't even remember what the reward was, this is about pride... That guy killed one of my friends!"

"I see... But I don't think pursuing revenge is very healthy you know..."

"Maybe... But it just feels like one of those life goals that you have to finish once you start it, you know...?"

"... You mean like finding your way home...?"

Evlin froze for a moment at the mention of her old home, "... Yeah... Like that..."

Dalla could see the turmoil in the girl's eyes, "... Still no luck with that...?"

"Nothing... I talked with everyone... I went on every quest on the wall... I searched for every spell in the book... I even tried to learn to speak the language of the fairies because they apparently have the power to travel between worlds!"

"How did that one go?"

"It was a misunderstanding... Turns out fairies have the power to go inside a person's dreams so they would share stories of the 'wonderful worlds' they visited at night... Also, they can be quite rude..."

Dalla took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "I see... Maybe..."

Evlin stared at her, "Maybe...?"

"Maybe... It's time to leave this city, and start looking for a solution somewhere else..."

The girl stared at the ceiling for a moment and considered that idea, but she didn't want to leave Dalla alone just yet, and she knew the old lady was in no condition to travel right now, "Nah it's ok... I wanna keep trying a bit longer before moving on... Say, what do you want for dinner? I got my hands on a new type of meat, I think you will like it!"

Dalla's expression remained serious, "Hey, Evlin..."

"...?"

"How long do you plan to keep taking care of me...?"

The girl pondered about how to answer that, "Wha...? What kind of question is that...? You're my family... Family supports each other!"

Dalla's hands began to squeeze her sheets, "How am I supporting you right now...?"

"... What...?"

"I get it now... The way you felt when you were unable to move... Being trapped in one place... Watching someone else come and go all the time... Having all these things you want to do but being unable to..."

"What... Where is that coming from... Are you angry that I'm not spending more time with you?"

Dalla tried to find in herself the strength to finally say the words she knew Evlin needed to hear, "I'm angry that you are spending too much time with me!"

"What...!?"

"Evlin... You can do anything! You are young, smart, strong, talented, skilled, reliable, everyone you talk to instantly starts to love you... And yet, two years have passed, and you are still here!"

"Uuhh... What are you saying...?"

A small tear appeared on the woman's face, "I'm saying that I'm holding you back... You need to find a way to return to your world and see your family again, but you will never do that being locked in here with me!"

"But... You need me! I can't leave you alone!"

"... Because I will die without you...? You really became full of yourself as the years went by huh?"

"D- Dalla... That's not..."

"I know, I know... It was a joke..."

The girl's eyes turned wide, "A joke...? You...? You can joke...???"

The lady began to smirk a little and placed her palm on her cheek, "Yeah... I think I spent too much time with you after all... I'm turning into a devilish woman as well!"

"Hey, who are you calling a devilish woman..."

Dalla wanted to keep teasing the child a bit longer, but she knew the time had come, "You need to leave, Evlin!"

"But you can't even walk! Who will take care of you??"

"I... Won't need anyone to take care of me soon..."

"What...?"

Dalla remained silent and just smiled at her.

Evlin stared at the lady waiting for a response, but she just remained quiet.

Dalla finally opened her eyes, and a small hint of sadness could be seen.

Evlin finally understood what was happening, "... Dalla... Are you... dying...?"

The lady once again remained silent and just wiped a small tear that had appeared.

Evlin felt like she was about to choke on her words, "But... I apply healing energy to you every day when we wake up and before going to sleep! There should be nothing wrong with you!!"

Dalla just slowly shook her head "There is nothing wrong with me... It's just that, just like my legs... I have reached my limit..."

Evlin began to tremble, "T- Then... The reason you are speaking to me right now without trouble..."

"It's because of your power... Once you leave... And stop showering me with healing energy, my body will stop working for good."

Evlin could hear her heart throbbing intensely, "So... If I leave... You will die...??"

Evlin was now releasing tears from her eyes while continuing the conversation but Dalla managed to remain calm and composed.

"You are asking me to let you die??"

The lady moved her hand to wipe Evlin's tears, "Evlin... I'm already dead... I felt it this morning when I woke up... Your power is just holding me a little bit... But soon it will no longer have any effect."

The girl began to tear up even more, her face started to turn red, "No... No, no, no!! I can't lose you!! You were the one good thing to happen to me after coming here!! I don't want you to go!!!"

"You have to Evlin... The same way I'm holding you back, you are holding me back... You never asked me out of respect, I know... But I have people waiting for me on the other side... I've lived a long life, and met many wonderful people, including a small girl with a lot of potential to grow much higher than I ever could! I was happy, and you made me even happier!"

Evlin was now holding Dalla trying to hide her crying face buried in her chest.

"I'm ready to go now, Evlin!"

"But what am I supposed to do?? I looked everywhere!! I couldn't find a single clue on how to return home!! If I lose you too... I will have nothing left!!"

"Come on Evlin... We both know that's not true... During the whole time I have seen you, there was nothing you set out to do that you couldn't accomplish."

"That's not true! I couldn't find my way home! I couldn't heal your legs! I couldn't even kill that stupid ogre!! There is a lot that I can't do!!"

"You said you wanted to become a mage when everyone, including me, said it was impossible! The prince said he would capture you and he still couldn't lay a finger on you until now. You wanted to earn enough money to not need to depend on anyone and now the whole town finds itself depending on you! If you put your mind into it, there is nothing you can't do! You are a shining star! Your place is in the sky, shining so everyone can enjoy how bright you are!"

"But... But..."

"When you see your mother again, give her a big hug for me ok? Tell her she is lucky to have such a sweet kid as her daughter!"

"Dalla... I... "

"I love you Evlin!! With all my heart!"

Evlin buried her face on Dalla's clothes once again, "I love you too Dalla!!"

The two shared a deep hug while Evlin drowned herself in her own tears and almost drove Dalla to become deaf with her loud cry.

A few seconds have passed, then seconds became minutes. Evlin wanted to just stay there hugging Dalla forever and never letting her go, but she knew that Dalla herself wouldn't want that.

The young girl finally found the strength to release the old lady from her arms and did the best she could to wipe her tears.

Dalla raised the girl's chin, "You will be ok!"

Evlin's face was still sobbing uncontrollably, "... I don't think I will ever be ok again..."

"You will! I know you will. It might hurt a little... But that just shows that what we had was real!"

"Of course it was real!!"

"I know. So you think you can do this now?"

"Just give me a minute..."

"Of course..."

"Just..."

"Yes...?"

"Can I get one last hug? Please...?"

"Of cours- Huuf!!"

Evlin pounced on the old lady like a bear and gave her the biggest hug she could.

"Evlin!! It hurts! It hurts!!" Dalla gasped while giving Evlin small taps on her back to free her.

"Sorry! Sorry!"

"It's ok! Make sure to take care of yourself ok?"

"I will!"

The two kept in silence for a little bit longer and Evlin finally managed to stand up and exit the cabin.

Dalla looked at her little girl that had grown up so much as she walked away towards her bright future, and as Evlin kept distancing herself from the house, Dalla could feel her power slowly draining away. Her eyes started to become heavy and slowly begun to close. Her body became heavy as well and suddenly was unable to move. Dalla began to peacefully sleep with a smile on her face as her life kept fading away.

Far away from there, Evlin lost the strength in her lower half and moved her body so that it was laying against a nearby tree while hugging her legs and burying her face on her knees. She finally stopped holding herself back and continued to cry, except this time, there was no one to hug her anymore.