Chapter 21

I swore it had only been a moment, but when I opened my eyes again everything had changed. Mike was on the floor with Chewy standing over him, his paw on his chest pressing down. I had no idea how the huge dog had even gotten into the kitchen, and I certainly hadn't heard anything while I was glancing into my mana core. Which made me realize how foolish I had been. It seemed I didn't hear much when I was focused on my mana core. I would have to remember not to access it in a fight, even if it was to increase one of my abilities.

I let out a loud breath then moved toward Mike.

"Master." Delilah called.

I looked back at her but she just sighed and shook her head.

I got the feeling she wanted to discourage me from my continued attempts to heal Mike, but I couldn't. Not until I had run out of ideas.

"So now what?" Micheal asked.

"I will drain the mana from him again then try to look into his mana core. The infection is in his mana heart so if I can see it then maybe I can clean it somehow." I replied.

"And how will you see into his mana core?" Delilah asked me like she was trying to point something out to a child.

"I just picked up magic sight for that." I replied looking back at her. She looked very surprised by my response.

"Who are you talking to?" Micheal asked.

"He has some flies buzzing around him." Chewy commented.

"I am not a fly!" Enya yelled at Chewy, turning visible to the others.

I personally couldn't see any change in her appearance, but the way the others reacted made it clear that they could see her now.

"Enya!" Delilah said sternly.

Enya flinched then looked back at me guiltily.

I just shrugged. "Makes it easier for me if they don't think I am just talking to myself." I told the pair.

Delilah seemed to consider that then nodded. "Very well. I will remain visible until such a time as you tell me not too." she said.

I nodded then moved closer to Mike and repeated the process I had done earlier.

"So will it work this time?" Rosa asked.

"Doubtful." Delilah answered, "I have never seen or even heard of a situation where one who has already begun transformation has been cured."

"Then what is Daryl doing?" Micheal asked.

"Trying anyways." I spoke up as the two types of mana flowed through me. As I had before I pushed the life mana back into Mike and only removed the fiery lava like mana.

"I believe that Master doesn't believe it is impossible to heal him. Probably thinks the way to do it just hasn't been discovered yet." Delilah informed the others.

"Is that possible?" Rosa asked worriedly.

Delilah didn't respond for a few moments. "I guess anything is possible. An ability to clear the infection could exist, but it might be rare." Delilah admitted.

No one said anything else as I continued working. Once Mike had shifted back to his human appearance Chewy removed his paw from the man's chest. When only life mana flowed through him I returned it and stopped drawing mana from him. Then I closed my eyes again and accessed the mana sight ability I had gained. There was a flood of information like all the other abilities, and apparently this ability had a lot of potential, but I just focused on the part I needed at the moment.

With the knowledge in hand I opened my eyes again then activated the mana sight. Mana flowed from my core and into my eyes. Once the mana had activated the mana sight my vision changed. I could still make out all the normal shapes and colors, now though all of it was covered by a thin mist that I recognized as mana. However when I looked at Mike I could see that the mana around him wasn't the white I was used to seeing, but red. I shifted my sight over him until I saw a red mana core within him. It was located just above his belly button. I was a bit surprised, I personally thought it would be closer to the heart.

I focused on the red mana core then let my mind enter in just like I did with my own. Just like with my own I was able to peer into Mike's mana core. Unlike my own core Mike's had a mist of red mana floating inside it. Unlike my own mana core, Mike's didn't have any abilities floating around, but what drew my attention the most was his mana heart. Like his mana core, his mana heart was red, but it wasn't a smooth orb like my own. Instead it was a writhing mass of energy in the center of his core. I stared at it for a few moments trying to understand what I was seeing and come up with an idea of how to heal Mike.

I decided to see what happened when I added mana. I knew what Delilah said would happen, but I wanted to see it myself. So I watched carefully as I pushed some of my mana into Mike.

As I watched a white mist began to flow into Mike's mana core then was promptly drawn toward the writhing red mass that was Mike's mana heart. Once it reached the mana heart the white mist was absorbed into the mana heart. A moment later a thin red mist flowed back out of the mana heart, but only half of the mana I had fed into Mike flowed back out as red mist. The other half seemed to have been absorbed by the mana heart.

Unable to determine anything from that display I peered at the mana heart hoping to see further inside it. Just like when I peered into my own mana core my mind slipped into the mana heart.

Inside the mana heart I found three wisps floating around within an ever shifting room. Besides the wisps there were two other objects floating around within the mana heart. The first was a brightly glowing gold humanoid shape. There was nothing definitive about the object, just that it had a human outline, and glowed gold. Unlike looking into my own core I didn't get any kind of information download from looking at it. The other item that I found floating within the mana heart was what I assumed was the source of the infection. It looked exactly like what the mana heart looked like, a writhing red mass. I couldn't be sure, but I was fairly certain.

Deciding to find out I pushed a bit more mana into Mike then waited. It took a few moments but eventually the white mist that was the mana I pushed into Mike made its way through the mana core to his mana heart then inside. As soon as the white mist began to appear in the mana heart the writhing mass of red pounced on it like a starving animal. Instinctively I thought of striking out at the mass as it pounced towards the mana mist. I had no idea how I did it but the mana responded to my thoughts gathering into a blade form that was more substantial than its former mist form. The writhing mass of red impaled itself on the mana blade cutting a large portion off as it writhed and wiggled on the blade. The part that was cut away dissipated into red mist which was quickly absorbed by the glowing golden human.

Whatever the writhing red mass was, it wasn't intelligent. Despite the fact that the mana blade was cutting it apart didn't seem to affect it as it tried to consume the mana blade. Eventually it won out and consumed the mana blade, but only after about half of the mass had been cut off piece by piece. The consumed mana blade was used by the writhing mass to regain some of its lost mass.

Seeing that I grinned to myself then pushed more mana into Mike. When the white mist entered his mana heart I controlled it to form two mana blades, one large, the second half the size of the first. As I had hoped the writhing mass pounced towards the larger mana blade impaling itself on the blade again. Again the writhing mass attempted to absorb the mana blade without any consideration for the damage it was doing to itself. I used the second blade to speed up the process of cutting the writhing mass into little pieces. Once the writhing mass was smaller than the large blade it dissipated into red mist and was absorbed by the gold glowing human shape.

Satisfied I pulled my mind back from the mana heart and was happy to see that the mana heart now appeared like a red orb, similar to my own just different in color. To be safe I forcefully pulled all the excess red mist out of Mike. Once the mist was gone I pushed a bit more mana back into him. I watched as the white mist appeared again then flowed towards his mana heart. I followed it inside his mana heart where it was absorbed by the gold human figure. Once the last of the white mist was absorbed a wisp flew out of the golden human figure.

Satisfied that the issue had been dealt with I withdrew my sight from Mike then sat back and let out a relieved sigh.

I looked over at Delilah who was staring at me in complete shock. "Master do you have any idea what you have done?" she asked me.

"Saved Mike from becoming one of those twisted?" I asked.

"Yes Master, you did save Mike." she agreed, but for some reason I thought there was more she wanted to say, something she held back because there were others present.

A quick glance at Enya and her wide eyed appearance confirmed it.