Chapter 12

ARTHUR LEYWIN POV:

My eyes lingered on Caera's figure, standing in front of the bookshelf, different from usual. Her long legs, slender and perfectly toned; moved gracefully to the sides, as she shifted her position; while her curvy hips swayed sensually at every movement. Her index finger gently tapped against her thin pink lips, thoughtfully, as her scarlet eyes swept across the shelves searching for books. She tucked back few stands of her soft navy blue hair, now and then, to keep it out of her face.

She looked different...

Has she always been this attractive? I asked myself absentmindedly; noticing little details about Caera, probably for the first time.

'I know, right? Caera is really hot. Look at those boo—'

'Regis! Get out of my mind!' I yelled inwardly, at the sudden interruption of my thoughts.

'You want me to come out?... Like, now?' Regis questioned.

I sighed in frustration, and ignored my companion.

Regis continued, following my silence. 'What's gotten you all grumpy, this time? Don't tell you're still thinking about that hug!? You're just over thinking it, if you ask me.' He said mockingly.

'What? I am not!', I replied; a little flustered by his question.

My mind twirled back to the scene that had made my night, sleepless, despite the exhaustion due to the extended training I went through yesterday.

Caera— had pulled me into a hug, in front of the academy's main gate. Although I was caught off guard by her sudden actions, I didn't break her embrace. Or, rather, I couldn't.

She looked happy, yet my shirt had lined with her tears. I didn't understand what had happened.

Caera hadn't talked or, let alone look me in the eyes ever since.

My mind filled with different possibilities for her actions; yet nothing seemed plausible. I thought back to the hug; which is actually the first time— either of us had ever done that.

It wasn't anything like when we had fought together; nor when we have to get close during my 'God Step'; no, it was different. She was different. So was I? I wasn't sure about that...

Even though we have— gotten closer, over the past months; more than I would ever expect with some other woman, I was at a loss for words at this current predicament.

In the morning, I had told her that I wanted to go to the academy library. She had volunteered to come along. The whole journey to the library was awkward, to say the least.

I kept myself from thinking back to yesterday's night; and talked to Regis, to keep myself distracted.

After getting to the library I spoke to Caera in a plain tone; not wanting to let any emotions slip away. "I — um— we, need to search for books related to these runes" —I showed her sketches of runic symbols— "That might contain information about the relic we received from Drakos."

Caera tried hard to look at my eyes but failed. She gave a silent nod before walking away into the library.

I let out a deep sigh. "Is this how it's gonna be? Awkward all the time?!" I asked myself.

'Alright so you're thinking that Caera had some motive behind her actions?' Regis asked, reading my thoughts.

'No. I don't know... But she sure is acting weirdly. Look at her.' I thought back.

'And, if it's not so obvious to you, then, how about her cry, her tears and the silent sobbing. How would you explain that?' I added.

***

Caera was browsing through the book shelves. Her eyes darted towards me from time to time; which, she thought I wouldn't notice. Her face looked still etched with either nervousness or embarrassment, I couldn't tell.

'Very well. Maybe you're onto something here. But sitting here won't give you any answers. Why don't you go and talk to her? Maybe she will open up to what's bothering her. For all we know she could've been cold, so she hugged you. So don't overthink it.' Regis argued.

Ignoring his naive remarks, I asked back. '... and what should I ask her, exactly?'

'I don't know. But don't just sit here like a dumbass. You don't even have a book in your hands. You really look like an idiot. Looking like one of those old creeps who goes to children's library and looks at co—'

'Fine. I get it. Now shut up.' I cut him off, before standing up from the table.

Regis did the mental equivalent of rolling his eyes, but kept his silence at the matter.

Taking one last glance at Caera, who was still browsing from a book shelf near the table I was sitting on; I walked to the opposite side.

I am not ready for any confrontation, I thought.

Letting my mind focus on the task at hand, I searched for the books that had any resemblance to the runic symbols that were etched on the relic.

The cylindrical shaped relic was made out of some heavy metal-like object, that had a dim glow to its pitch-black surface, everytime light got reflected from it. There were three distinct symbols etched on its curved surface, that together formed a single runic symbol, that oddly looked like a 'lock'.

I had tried to imbue aether into the relic several times; but to no avail.

The lock wouldn't open.

Thinking that the relic might react to mana, I had asked Caera to do the same, but the relic looked lifeless even after several probing.

It was frustrating, to say the least.

The academy's library didn't seem to contain much books on rune symbols; and I was certain that I wouldn't find anything related to aether.

Walking around, I glanced over several books that were closely related to the ancient mages and their magic prowess. Though none had any vital information.

When I turned to a particular corner of the library, Regis interrupted our long silence. 'Oh ho! Who do we have here!?'

There were two familiar figures standing in the corridor between the shelves.

The boy with glasses stood next to the brown haired girl. She was holding multiple books on her arms as the boy kept adding more books on top. At the end the number of books reached the girl's face and blocked her vision.

Seth, turned towards me when he noticed my presence. He flinched in surprise, his eyes went wide as if he had seen a ghost. His face looked flustered and he tried to avoid any eye contact.

"Professor Grey!" The girl, Mayla, shouted from behind the books she was carrying. She had a big smile, as she quickly laid the books to the table nearby.

Seeing her friend had turned into a statue, she grabbed Seth's wrist and shook him out of his thoughts. It took a few seconds for him to break out of his shock, as he finally greeted me in his meek voice. "Hello, Professor Grey...".

I simply waved my hand dismissing them.

Not wanting to be a bother, I tried to turn around to walk to the other side of the shelf.

But before I could turn away Seth shouted from the back, stopping me. "Professor Grey. Do you need any help? Are you searching for any particular book?" He asked while adjusting his glasses.

Turning around, I met the boy's gaze. "No. I'm just browsing around. No need for any help. You continue with your—" I paused, as Mayla ran towards me.

"Professor Grey! It's nice to see you outside the class. Did you come here to read alone?", she asked with a warm smile.

"Yeah. I was just bored in my suite. So I thought reading some books would be good.", I replied while scratching my hair.

"Do y—"

"No. I'll see you both later. Please continue." I cut her off before turning and walking away.

'Looks like they're close. I mean who would've thought that the kid who got his ass kicked in same library corridor would be having fun with a girl his age, huh? What a world!' Regis laughed.

Ignoring my companion's inappropriate remark on the kids, I continued my search.

It took me about half hour to find some a decent book that could help me with the relic I had.

Feeling that it was enough for now, I walked back to the table where I was previously sitting. Caera was already there. She was reading a book in her hand. And few more were placed in front of her.

The entire hall was empty except for us. I walked to the chair opposite to Caera and was about to sit down, when she noticed my arrival and looked at me.

Our eyes met and she looked at me with a thoughtful gaze, as if her mind was filled to the brim with her own thoughts.

"D-Did you find anything useful?" She finally spoke.

Her tone was nervous.

"Yeah, I guess...", I replied, lifting the book in my hand. "I'm not sure how helpful it'd be though." I added, while scratching my hair.

"Oh? Show it to me?" She said; as her gaze shifted to the empty seat to her left for a second, before she looked back at me.

My eyes followed hers and it took me a few seconds to react...

Nodding wordlessly, I walked around the table and sat on the chair next to Caera's.

Caeras eyes followed my entire action.

"Come closer. How will I see the contents from this distance?" She asked narrowing her eyes.

Stifling a nervous laugh, I pulled my chair closer to Caera's. Our shoulders touched as I sat down, which made her slightly shift her eyes towards our shoulders.

She had a slight tint of red in her cheeks but... I ignored it.

'You're an embarrassment to all men, you know that?' Regis asked.

Ignoring his rude remark, I opened the book I had taken.

The book contained few records of runes, that were found and categorised as 'rare' or 'extinct', due to their inability to be used by the modern mages. The author of the book, who was a veteran ascender of some named blood, had talked about how he had found these few odd-symbols that were left by the ancient mages inside the relictombs, which were different from the normal runes that were found and used by the mages of Alacrya.

He explains that these odd-symbols were different due to their working nature, as he points out how these runes contain a different type of spell cast method, that doesn't use mana as its base. Hence, several of these runic symbols were marked as useless and left back at the relictombs or either got chipped-off as 'rune stones' and auctioned off to people of wealth.

The author had found and categorised these symbols under a single book, hoping it would be one day be solved and be used by the mages of the new society.

'They could be attuned to aether, if not mana.' Regis pondered.

'It could be. Although, there's no information about aether or, whether these symbols are connected to the aether arts performed by the Djinns.' I added to his thoughts.

Our mental conversation came to an halt, when I felt a movement to my right.

I had forgotten that Caera was looking at the book too. Cursing myself, I turned to look at her.

She was looking at the pages intently, to be more precise, seeing if the symbols from the book match any of the ones that we needed for unlocking the relic.

But it was a failure as none of the runes matched.

I let out a sigh of frustration, before turning back to Caera. "Did you find anything useful?"

She looked at me, properly, for the first time since— yesterday night. Her face much relaxed and she even had a soft smile.

She looked different, in some way, I thought, again.

I followed her actions as she took out a book and placed it in front of me. It was a book similar to the one I had found. But, the book had more theoretical information about 'rune magic' and its alleged 'origin'.

The author talked about the 'creation of magic' by the High Sovereign and how it is "bestowed" upon his subjects as a sign of his generosity.

I felt an urge to laugh out loud at those allegations.

The book further explained about how these "origin runes", as the author put it, can be used as a base to create different types of new branches of magic. Using this method, one can reverse-engineer the process to "break-down" any type of complex or unknown 'runes', to find their potential 'use' or 'purpose'.

Although this book seemed useful and promising, just where the hell will I find these so-called "origin runes" to study, I thought.

'Maybe we can ask Agrona? He's not that far away from here.' Regis said half-jokingly.

I stifled a silent laugh at his words, half-amused.

Our conversation was once again halted by Caera's voice as she shook my arm. "Grey, what are you doing?"

"Uh, nothing. None of these books seems useful", I replied.

Caera looked at me with a questioning look, as her eyes narrowed at my words. "Oh? Then why were you laughing like an idiot?"

My mouth opened to answer, but I didn't know what to tell her... "It's— Regis."

She shook her head in dismissal, but her hands remained on top of mine.

I wanted to ask her about her recent actions, but I bit my tongue and kept my mouth shut. She seemed to be normal now, and I didn't want her to act weirdly like before.

Her hands moved around, as they brushed against mine, while she leaned her head towards mine; her eyes studying the pages of the book that was in front of me.

Caera's hair kept falling on her face, which she tucked behind her ear everytime it did.

Regis laughed inwardly at the situation I was in. His amusement passed through our mental link.

My body jerked in surprise when she placed her arm on my thighs. Lowering my face, I saw Caera leaning down, under the desk.

"W-What are you doing?!", I asked in a high-pitch voice, while trying to get away from the chair that I was sitting on.

Caera got up from the crouching position she was previously in. And that's when I noticed that she was holding one of the books that had fallen off the table.

My face burned in embarrassment as I stood there uncomfortably for a second.

"Oh come on, Grey. I didn't think you'd be such a pervert. What were you thinking?" She said with a smirk, as her eyes lingered, down on me.

"You can't blame me for that." I said as I tried not to choke on my own words.

She laughed softly. "Come on now. Let's sit. We have a few more books to search." Seeing that I was hesitant, she pulled me back to my seat, and sat back on hers.

I felt her eyes on me for a few seconds before I took a glance at her side.

She still had a smile on her face, as she looked into me.

It suited her, I thought. My mind going back to seeing her cry and being nervous all day. I shook my head at that.

Few minutes passed in silence as we both browsed a few more books, which all turned out to be useless for our need.

"This is getting tiring." I heard Caera say, as she grabbed my arm, making me turn back to her.

She leaned her head against my arm.

I felt speechless at her action.

But, I wanted to ask her about previous night, which was still lingering on mind constantly. My brow quirked up in question. "You seem pretty bold right now. But, are you going to act weirdly once you come back to your senses?"

Her hands clutched my arms tightly following my question, as her body stiffened. She lowered her face even deeper against my arms, before her figure started to shift up and down in succession, as she took deep breaths.

She lifted herself up and away; but her hands still grabbing my arms. Her eyes met mine and held it. Her thin lips quivered, as she struggled to move them, to say something.

But, soon her gaze fell, as she moved away. Her hands lifted off my arms, her body shifting back to her seat, properly.

I felt like an idiot for saying that. Biting back a curse, I tried to clear the air, which was getting awkward, again. Something that is happening a lot lately, I thought.

"I was only kidding. Plus, we're in a publ—"

"I—I need to tell you something, Grey.", Caera said, interrupting my words.

My curiosity spiked, as my heart started thrumming faster. I did not like where this was going, I thought. While my mind went back to my past.

Shaking away my thoughts and putting some trust on my companion, I asked her, in a levelled tone. "Oh? And what would that be?"

She turned her head back, to face me again. Her eyes held a sad gaze, a complete contrast to her smiling face, only moments ago.

'Oh you suck, Art.' Regis said out of the blue, interrupting our moment.

My heart sank. And I cursed myself due to my ignorance.

"I—", her voice froze when sounds of faint footsteps became audible near our table.

I felt a tinge of annoyance grow inside me at the sudden interruption.

Snapping my head up, I saw Seth and Mayla walking towards us. Mayla's eyes widened at our presence. I didn't know if it was because of me, or seeing me with Caera. I wouldn't know, I thought. While Seth looked nervous; his eyes trying not to look at either of us.

They both walked to the table and stood there looking at me and Caera expectantly.

Caera took a few glances at me from the corner of her eyes but kept her silence. Her face back to her usual stoic self. Yet, I could see the sadness bothering her.

I turned back to the duo standing in front of us.

Sighing, I said in a cold tone "Well... Seats are empty. Why not sit down then?"

Mayla face brightened, despite my cold tone; and she giggled before pulling the chair back to sit. While Seth stood there fidgeting with the book he had in his hands.

Mayla turned to look at Seth after she sat down. She whispered to Seth to do the same but, the latter just stood there sweating, and clutching his hands tight. Seeing that her classmate isn't moving, Mayla stood up and bent toward Seth and tugged at his arms towards the chair next to her.

I saw Caera's lips quirking up to form a smile. I felt flabbergasted at her sudden change of emotions; but took it as a good sign.

Shaking my head, I lowered my head to look back at the book in my hand.

Although the book seemed useful and had some information; my mind was elsewhere. I couldn't help but think about the earlier incident. I wanted to know what was bothering her. But felt too afraid to know what it is.

I hesitated.

'Oh are we having a double date?' Regis asked, pulling me out of my thoughts; inwardly pointing at Mayla and Seth who were sitting opposite Caera and I.

'Shut up, Regis. They're kids.' I snapped.

'You do know you're only like— 2 years older than them right?', he retorted.

'Am I though?' I asked in annoyance.

'Yes. You are! In this world! The only world that matters anymore!' Regis glowered back inwardly.

'I don't thi—'

'No. Shut up. Don't give me that bullshit about having lived two lives and how it's hard to see past your old self. Cut that crap. It's kinda getting old.' Regis spat out, yet his words washed over me like a cold shower on a mid-summer day.

My annoyance grew with every beat. 'You shut up. Don't talk like you can understand my situation. You'd know if you're in my shoes. But you aren't!'

Silence lingered.

Regis broke the short silence with his resolute voice. 'You're right, Arthur. I'm not. I'm in a worse situation. I have memories and sense of human beings and alike. All of that mixed crap inside a body of a— what am I?... A beast? A shadow? Definitely not a human nor an Asura! I don't even know what the heck I am! And it drives me crazy everytime I think about it!

I know I like women. Human women. Two legs and stuff... And, unlike you, I want to actually live with one. And more. But how could I even do that? I can't even leave far from your presence... Only the God knows what will happen; but it won't be pretty.

I don't have a human body like you. I look like a wolf. But, I have feelings and mindset of a human— mindset of you. I'm you! But I'm not you! Can you understand? Don't think, because you can't possibly understand...

Atleast you have a choice between two women. For God's sake, what do I have?

Nothing.

I live under your control, and I can't do anything on my own. And again, I am not even a damn human but I get attracted to humans.

Argh!'

Moments of silence continued after Regis's monologue, while his every word echoed inside my head continuously.

Few more seconds passed in thoughtful silence.

'Well... maybe you're like a werewolf? Try turning into a human. Maybe?' I tried to console my companion. 'I'm sorry Regis. I may have been insensitive there.'

He let out a mental sigh.

And spoke. 'It's nothing. I wanted to make a point that's all it is... All I'm saying is I understand your mind and, that's why I know that you're not the best at confronting feelings. Nor the best at expressing, or dealing with it!

I may be immature and uncharacteristic, but I can be reliable. So, stop locking your emotions. Talk to me. Whatever it is bothering you. Maybe you'll find your answers.'

I clutched my hands as tension rose up from my insides. His words started to bring back the pent up memories, followed by the constricted emotions, that threatened to rise and topple over to consume my being.

It all lasted for a second and then two, before a familiar touch brought me back to sanity.

Caera's hand was stroking my cheeks, as she leaned closer to me. Her hair caressed my face; it's intoxicating scent filled my nostrils, instantly calming me down, yet unknowingly.

Her soft voice scattered away the remaining rage, making me enter a trance. "Grey, are you okay? What's wrong?"

Before I could realise and understand, my hand was clutching her's tightly.

__

To be continued...

—

(A/N: So, I'll be taking a week break. I'll be travelling for a couple of days; And more work if I have to be quarantined at the airport or something.

I'll update next Saturday, as usual. If I miss it, then Sunday for sure.

Good day!)