Chapter Twenty[XX]: Shifting of Residence (II)

Xenos Waters closes the door behind him, locking it. He releases a relieved sigh, happy to see the illusion works really well and happy to be out of that tense situation. Those he isn't sure, things could have gone really south if they had stayed for longer. He looks up at Felix, who has a vaguely annoyed expression on his face. "What a douchebag, I really want to punch him in the face."

He rolls his eyes, not disagreeing with Felix's statement. "He can control his mana, Felix. We need to get better at our magic before we can even attempt to punch him."

Felix scowls. "Man, that just makes me want to punch him more."

Xenos pats Felix on the shoulder, taking off the black boots he got from Mr. Balanius and pushing them to the side. He glances around the cabin, pleased to see that it looks nice and cozy. There's a small living room with a couch, an odd white crystal stuffed into a hole in the wall right in front of it. Actually, there's a few crystals around the place.

In the compact kitchen next to the living room is a stove, which has four small, red crystals on the top where the gas would come out. There's also a microwave that also has two red crystals in it, one on the top and one on the bottom, except they were more like cylinders than circles. Just to check, Xenos opens the fridge to see that right on the roof there's three ice blue crystals that are emitting a gentle chill.

Can these be the mana crystals that Mr. Balanius talked about? It would make sense, since there's probably a lot of mana crystals out there for use. What an interesting but seemingly efficient way to use them. Closing the fridge, Xenos walks up the stairs that are to the left of the door, a small bedroom with two twin-sized beds and a wardrobe tucked in the corner greet him.

It's a bit cramped since the ceiling is slightly slanted up to the right, but there's enough space to stand up straight in the middle of the room. Right next to the wardrobe is a door that leads to a small bathroom with a shower, sink, and toilet. Instead of normal faucets there are tiny beads of dark blue crystals shoved into the spout, just like the sink in the kitchen, and although he can't see anything different with the toilet, he's sure there's at least one crystal somewhere in it.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Xenos snorts as he sees Felix sprawled out on one of the beds like a starfish, Faeryn laying down next to him with half of her body on his back and Igneel neatly buried in Felix's hair. In all honesty, it looks quite cramped and uncomfortable. Well, he really should have expected this, considering Felix also took the medication since there's a lack of bruises on his face.

Xenos places Inari on the bed and walks over to the window between their beds, closing the blinds to block out the minimal amounts of daylight still left in the sky. He looks at the blanket, happy to see that there's a silver sheen on them and he won't be shredding them while he sleeps. Xenos takes off his armour and places it on the nightstand beside his bed with a yawm. Deciding to follow Felix's example, Xenos just lies down on top of the bedsheets, Inari crawling into his arms.

With a smile, Xenos closes his eyes.

<>

Xenos Waters wakes up early in the morning to a searing pain around the edges of his scales, the pain making his eyes water as he groans quietly, trying not to wake up Felix. After the pain stops, Xenos relaxes his muscles and opens his eyes to see Inari looking at him sadly, her nose about an inch from his.

He smiles tiredly, stroking her head gently with one hand and reaching up to feel his horn with the other. It's about eight or so centimeters now and pointy, slightly curved backwards just like the horn of the dhabeho he saw in his dream ( if that's what it was, Xenos isn't sure ), though the dhabeho's horn was at least twenty centimeters long and a bit thicker.

Touching his face, Xenos can feel that the scales are encroaching on his right eye, along with his mouth and chin. It seems like his eye may change during the next episode or maybe, if he's lucky, the one after that. However, seeing how things have been going very much downhill for a while now, it's most likely going to be the former.

Holding in a grimace, Xenos sits up and glances at the bathroom, suddenly feeling a very strong urge to have a shower. Actually, he hasn't been able to wash up properly ever since he came here, so he's feeling quite dirty. His clothes seem to have some other minor enchantments on them other than being rip-proof, since even though he's worn them for about four days they've remained surprisingly clean, a truly minimal amount of dirt on them.

Getting out of bed, Xenos pats Inari on the head one more time before making his way into the bathroom, closing the door and locking it so no one intrudes on him. He looks around and sees that there are two towels hanging on a rack attached to the door, one with a sheen and one without. There are some small shampoo bottles placed neatly in a little rack inside of the shower, along with some body wash.

He strips down and hops in, contemplating on how he can turn on the shower. Well, Mr. Balanius called them "mana crystals", so maybe they need mana to activate? Theoretically, it makes sense. However, Xenos doesn't know how to even try to do it. He stares at the blue beads for a bit more before shrugging and putting his hands up against the showerhead.

And. . . it works.

The next thing he knows, he feels a little bit of mana being pulled out of him and water is shooting out of the beads, showing no end in sight. Shocked but pleased that he can finally take a shower, Xenos decides to go with the flow. Adjusting the temperature as well as the water pressure ( it has its own lever next to the temperature ) until it suits him, Xenos sighs happily as he gets rid of all the dirt and dust on his hair and body.

While he does this, Xenos thinks back on the dream he had last night. Those crystals that he, the dhabeho, was handing over to the other dhabeho were probably mana crystals as well, perhaps in their original form. But what can a dhabeho do with a bunch of mana crystals? Well, he doesn't even know what other things they can be used for other than water and fire, so he needs to ask Mr. Balanius about it if he even wants a shot at figuring this out.

Though. . . he doesn't want to tell Mr. Balanius about his dream. Somehow, Xenos doesn't think it'll be good if anyone knows about it, including Felix. He isn't supposed to know about, much less see, Inanis Nebula Chasm according to Mr. Balanius. In addition, that man in his dream was, to say the least, terrifying. And if that man is real, then he doesn't even want to imagine what would happen if Xenos told anyone.

Shuddering a little, Xenos washes the last of the conditioner out of his hair, the claws making it a bit difficult to clean it properly. Nevertheless, he does it. Now, the only thing left is to turn the shower off. Narrowing his eyes, Xenos puts his hand up to the crystals again. This time, he can feel a slight warmth enter his hand and travel to his core as the water stops coming out.

It's an interesting feeling, not unlike drinking something nice and warm in the winter, but much more pleasant and relaxing. Putting the nice sensation in the back of his mind, Xenos walks out of the shower and grabs the towel with the sheen, drying himself off to the best of his abilities. He's about to put his clothes back on when he pauses, relaxing that while he's totally clean, they're not.

Since there's nothing like a washer in here, Xenos wraps the towel around his waist and picks up his clothes, tossing them in the sink to wash them by hand. He's quite good at it, if he does say so himself. The children at Novus would always get dirty one way or another. The thought makes Xenos frown and he pauses in his movements, the reality of what's happening to him finally being registered. He sits down on the ground and holds his hands over his mouth, nauseous.

Xenos cries softly for quite some time.