A Different World Outlook

{Do you have a name?} asked Arya.

{I-I don't know. Do you have a name?} asked the voice.

{Arya, though I'm certain you knew that much.}

{Y-Yes I d-did,} the voice replied.

{So you just like asking questions then? That's okay, I quite admire people who question things,} continued Arya.

Meanwhile, Lillian began setting out the table, leaving Arya to look around from the floor.

{Let's call you... Tesla. He was a curious scientist as well.}

{Scientist? What's that?} asked the voice.

{Nevermind, do you like the name?}

{Esla, I like Esla,} it said, its voice changing to a more feminine sound.

{I guess having a guy in my head would've been weirder than this,} Arya decided as his mother put her on her lap to feed him.

The table was quiet, a sort of awkward ambiance filled the air, magnifying even the slightest move of a chair.

"What happened to Arya?" asked Gray finally, breaking the silence.

Lillian took a deep breath, as a mother she couldn't hide what happened to Arya from the rest of his siblings.

So she began telling the story from how she understood it, leaving out the part about the Nihil curse.

Streya and Gray were shocked beyond words, especially at the part where Arya had used magic.

"You said that Arya tried using magic, is that even possible?" Streya asked, looking at Arya this time.

"Yes," he replied, his golden eyes staring back at Streya.

"And his eyes, is it temporary?" asked Gray, a bit discomforted by the eye's weird appearance.

"I don't know," replied Lillian.

"And the hair? What sort of color is that?" asked Streya, looking at the sparse patches of silver baby hair on his head.

"I don't know either."

"Can he still cast magic?" this time it was Armin asking, not once did he lift his eyes from his bowl. His voice was so low it was almost a whisper.

"I don't know," replied Lillian once more.

In fact, she hoped that he could never use magic again. She didn't want to go through that ordeal again, she wished that magic would just leave Arya alone.

***

Another month went by and during this time, he and Esla had developed a sort of friendship with each other.

He would talk to her like an older sibling would with their younger sibling, teaching her all the things he knew. Sometimes he would use anecdotes from his old world, making her question where this information came from.

Although she had lost her memory, it seems she was still able to differentiate between what should be real, and what shouldn't.

Arya had tried several times to cast magic during this period, but every attempt ended in failure. The circles wouldn't even activate, the ball at his core had disappeared, and with it his ability to cast magic.

Lillian began to worry about Arya more and more. Due to his conversations with Esla, he became quieter on the outside. Which was quite scary for a young child to be doing, usually they would be asking all sorts of questions, but Arya only seemed to have exploration in mind.

It was month-end, and Lillian had to take Arya for his monthly check-up with Cassandra. She decided she would ask her if something was mentally wrong with her boy as well.

"Lillian, you're early," said Cassandra coldly as she opened the door to her cottage.

It was still early morning, and a thin blanket of mist floated above the district.

"Sorry, I just wanted to get it over with."

"Come in then," said Cassandra, walking into the cottage first.

Her cottage was quite different from Argen's. Although the shapes were the same, the insides were worlds apart.

Her place was clean, with a shelf filled with books on one side, and a row of chairs on the other side for her patients.

One could see her bed poking out the corner of another room, it looked quite spacious despite its obvious size.

"All seems to be well," murmured Cassandra as she inspected Arya's body.

"Do you think that perhaps, something happened to his... to his brain?" whispered Lillian into Cassandra's ear.

"That sort of stuff is tricky, even for me. Even trying to check will be risky," she whispered back, looking at Arya with a bit of worry.

"What's the pentagram that appears when you inspect my body?" asked Arya, unable to contain the curiosity any longer.

Although he couldn't cast magic the normal way, he hadn't given up on his dream. He thought that perhaps these things that he could suddenly see might be the answer he was looking for.

"Pentagram?" asked Cassandra, clearly confused.

"When you touched my chest, a green pentagram appeared," Arya insisted.

"You can see the activation sequence of my spell?" asked Cassandra in shock.

{There's no way. I designed this spell so that you couldn't see its sequence in order to prevent theft,} thought Cassandra as she looked at Arya in shock.

"Activation sequence?" pondered Arya.

"Can you see this one?" asked Cassandra pointing to the ceiling, before a massive red hexagram appeared.

"A red hexagram," murmured Arya.

'That's impossible. Only someone who knows the template should be able to see these constructs.'

"Lillian, bring the boy later today. I have to discuss a few things with Argen."

"I-Is something wrong with my boy?" asked Lillian, her worry flaring up again.

"No, nothing's wrong. There just might've been some unforeseen side effects due to the treatment."