Lost in Ibalon (How I Disappeared): Rise Of The Enchantress Book 1

The Fire

"In her years in our world, she has weakened. The fact that she holds your old ones and you to an oath gives me assurance that she will not to do anything to them from the time being. Not as long as you have delivered what she wanted you to." I was relieved in his thoughts, not because of the assurance about my old ones, but the tension seemed to disappear about what happened last night. He was quite back to his self now, and I felt sorry for blaming him for all this.

"I was reading the properties of Pagtuga's fire, and it all yields as an ingredient for a certain ritual."

"What ritual?"

"Revival." He said.

"Who will she be reviving?"

4

Old Carias taught me the old Ibalonian scripts. All of the books he has use that script so they are safe. He said that they had formed a small sect that protects that knowledge and from time to time seeks advice from each other.

I help him with the chores but he said I should not bother. His house was but small and cozy but it was tidy and he was neat. And the torches, I was so curious that I asked it out randomly. He said it was to protect the house. It was the reason why there are no insects inside. The hearth was somehow an enigma to me. That too was always burning fed with a log. I've never chanced him cooking in there. Every eating time, the food was always being served, but I never once saw him prepared it. Often times, I'm in a chore and he was just calling me when it's time to eat. He said he'd like to keep it that way, he is old and he's having difficulty igniting a flame.

It has been three days, and Old Carias is seldom in the house. He's been aiding sick people sometimes thrice in a day. He's gone to visit the sect for guidance. That made me feel glad but I was tasked to keep the house, and browse the books if I want to. Slowly I can manage to identify the letters. He has a chart too where I can look for reference to the scripts. And if there are people came looking for him. Said to ask for their name and he'll just go visit them when he returned. For some reason, it feels like I'm not alone in the house. It's not like the patron saints' sculpture in a small table the door are moving. It's like there's someone who was watching my every move. Sometimes, I can glimpse a figure looking at me by the corners. But there was nothing around, I hope. What am I thinking something inside the house of a healer?

Rain fell so hard that afternoon. It feels like drilling everything around. Thanks to the torches the room was well lit. But it was dark outside, and cold. I closed the windows and slept by the bench near the kitchen. Old Carias came home calling in the middle of the rain. I thought at first it was a dream but it became louder and louder. He was soaked and wet. I apologized but he said don't sweat it, pun intended I guess. He was already soaked in the way. We had dinner of root crops stew but we did not talk. The rain swallows our every word. It would be a pain to try. He promised to tell me everything that he learned. And then we went to sleep.

I came to my senses when something tickled my ears. I brushed it, but it tickled my arms, my toes. My throat was dry that it made me cough. Irritated, I woke up brushing my whole body to stow away something that lingers all around me. The house was in darkness. Did Old Carias put the torches out? No . . . wait, no. I sat in the bed, sensing around. There was this familiar smell in the air, it kind of sticking in my throat. It was bugs! The room was full of it, for as I stepped in the floor, they were splat beneath my feet. I was about to call out Old Carias when a bursting sound came around. Then something broke the wall to my right. A bluish white flame darted pass me missing my back with just a palm. If not for the bugs clustering upon it, I would have been burned. That fire made its way to the kitchen's direction. Then I saw two other lights making its way there. The darkness aided me with the searing of the bugs in their way.