Fusion Practice - IV - [PT.8]

With only a couple of days left, I could tell Dragan was dealing with a lot of angst that was manifesting as anxieties, he would sometimes pace around the house, or he would go extra hard during morning practice. Kamika hadn't exactly set a time and date for our departure, but Dragan was trying extra hard all of a sudden. I would say he was over-exerting himself to a point where it was almost damaging to his health. His body had grown exponentially during the last week, but that didn't mean he had to take things to this extreme. After practice, he would usually want to continue by his own volition.

As he practiced even harder one night, I decided to to point it out to him, with a blanket over my head in my human form, and a hot cup of tea. I wondered outside.

In this cold weather, he was still only wearing shorts, however he was sweating like crazy.

"Oi, you can take it easy now," I started.

"Not - if - you - want - to - go - fight - monsters," he said in between heavy breathing.

"That's true, but we could take it easy, and maybe continue this pace for a year, not a week," I said trying to put some sense into his thick skull.

"Kamika - said - she - wanted - a - 24 - hour - fusion - by - end - of - week," he was doing sit-ups, even though he had already finished the daily morning routine, he was going extra hard today. He stopped and took a couple of breathers.

I walked over to him and crouched down in front of him.

"My body needs to be able to withstand the fusion, you saw what happened last time we fused, it felt like I was going to die," said Dragan.

"That's because of your difference in magical power," said Kamika, suddenly appearing seemingly out of thin air.

"Ah!" I shouted. "Where did you come from?" I said jumping from the shock, she was like a ninja.

Dragan suddenly looked demotivated.

A pause between us.

"Okay - and how can we fix that," I said.

"You can't," she said blatantly. "There is however another option, but it requires a magical stone."

"Magic stone? Like the philosophers stone?" I asked, harking back to that single anime I watched because a resident had recommended it to me.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE PHILOSOPHERS STONE!?" Suddenly Dragan shouted, Kamika got real close too, both of them looked at me like I was crazy for even mentioning that.

"Sorry - sorry, in my world it was mere fiction, a story made by alchemists to try and believe they could outsmart the laws of physics by transmuting elements," I said explaining as calmly as I could.

"I see," said Kamika. "Alchemy is real here," she said. "It's been proven several times that copper can turn to gold under the right circumstances, with some help from magic of course," she continued.

"And the philosopher Stone is real too," said Dragan. "Even I know about it," he exclaimed.

"So alchemists in this world made a stone that grants you permanent life," I said. They both looked at me like I was crazy again.

"No such thing!" said Kamika, Dragan couldn't help but smile like I was some naive little creature.

"The philosopher's stone amplifies your magic by a thousand times, but the only stone to have ever existed was broken into a million pieces before the first catastrophe struck the Nullifiers of Epoch," she said. That name instantly piqued my interest.

"Nullifiers of Epoch?" I dare to ask. Both of them grew silent.

"We're forbidden from speaking about that," said Dragan. Kamika had a serious face, she wasn't kidding around.

"What?!" I asked almost worried, you could say I was starting to sweat. "O-Okay, we don't have to speak about that," I said trying to move on to the rest of the conversation.

I put a pin on it for future research.

"So, changing topics, how many movements exactly are there for each spell?!" I asked continuing our conversation from earlier.

"Usually twelve, but some easier spells can have up to fifteen," said Kamika.

Then Dragan chimed in, "Remember, in the forest when I was setting up the campfire, I used the twelfth movement of Fuegin, actually I was rather afraid you already knew about movements and would judge me," he said with so much ease for vulnerability and a hearty laugh.

"You're all meat and no brain!" said Kamika punching him lightly in the right side of his ribs.

"Obaba!" Dragan shouted, elongating the vowels. Kamika got red all of a sudden.

"I told you not to call me that in front of others!" she shouted.

Dragan apologized.

"Anyway, I have stuff to do, so I'll leave you two lovebirds to continue ... whatever it is you were doing. I'm expecting you to bring your A game tomorrow," she looked at Dragan with needle-like eyes. A conversation with no words happened.

"I won't forget the spear Kami, promise!" he said knowing exactly what she meant with that face.

She looked at me and threw up her left eyebrow. Then she went back down the mountain, jumping on a stick and using it as a hover vehicle. I was amazed how she got easily got around.

"She's relentless," said Dragan as Kamika floated away.