Weight

Zale walked the sidewalk until he came to a park. On a random Tuesday, the place had only a few people sitting on benches around the center fountain. A few pigeon feeders and some homeless. Zale, as well, took up residence on a bench and enjoyed the warm sun on his skin while he thought. He called to mind what he'd read in the library about gathering magic essence.

"There's plenty of places to get it, but...How do I process it? I need…"

He mumbled to himself, trying to remember the exact tools and ingredients required. While he pondered, thoughts of Meru slowly crept into his mind. Her reaction to his announcement was not what he'd hoped for, though it was expected. Still, he felt like she was slipping away suddenly. As if the bench he was sitting on was pulled away, it felt like he was falling. His inability to find the proof he needed immediately only piled onto his fear. He pulled out his phone with a sigh and started browsing media.

Ten minutes passed.

Then half an hour.

After an hour, he'd made no progress on finding proof and only managed to eat through his phone's data. Head hung and hands thrust into his pockets, Zale shuffled to the street and caught a taxi to his apartment. The dingy cab took him all the way home for what he wished was a nominal fee. The apartment's elevator was a lifesaver, and once inside, he clicked the lights on, and a wave of nostalgia washed over him. Unlike the sterile hospital, the smell of his home was one of comfort.

Meru had tidied the place up in his absence. However, the stains on the carpet from spilled food, the couple's pictures tacked to the corkboard by the door, and some of Meru's clothes still strewn about were the same. Tears welled up in Zale's eyes. He shuffled to the plush couch and collapsed onto it. "I came so close to death. I nearly lost everything. My life, my family, friends...Meru. I...I…"

He choked on the words, hunched over with his hands pushed through his hair. The pain, fear, and relief were suffocating. "I don't want to lose her. I don't want all of this to go away," he sobbed, looking up through bleary eyes at his room and everything in it.

He looked to the stippled ceiling and took a deep breath. "I have to figure this out. I'm the only person who knows, the only one who can do it. I can't fall apart now."

Though the tears ran, the thought brought him back. He steeled his resolve and wiped his eyes while looking around the room at the memories. "Magic is all around. There's plenty of sources, but I can only use blessings. That doesn't let me manipulate magic…"

He got off the couch, eyes stung and red, and rifled through the documents and folders stacked haphazardly on the table next to the flat-screen TV. "There it is," he said, sniffling as he pulled up a green folder labeled 'Ezen Guild of Blessings'.