Elysium

Level 7

Seven

AETHAN

“Oh, good, you’re back.” Maren stood up from the bench outside the shaman’s place. “Do you want to see how Seiko is doing?”

I was a little hesitant to go in because even after all Stam’s and Yana’s reassurance that it wasn’t my fault, I still did blame myself.

“U-uhmm… I’m sorry I disappeared. I needed—“

Maren grinned and shook her head. She even went and hit me at the side of the head, which kind of surprised me.

“I wasn’t asking why you disappeared or where you disappeared to. I was asking if you wanted to see Seiko. She’s been worried ever since she woke up.”

“She’s awake?”

“That’s why I was asking you to go see her.” She smiled when she looked at the girl standing beside me. “Hi,” she said almost naturally like they’ve known each other for a while.

“Hello, I’m Liana. But you could call me Yana,” my new friend introduced, shaking Maren’s outstretched hand.

“I’m Maren. Thanks for bringing him back.” She nodded her head in my direction. “Come on! We’re wasting time out here. It’s almost dark.”

So we all went inside. I saw Seiko chatting with the shaman and Astal. She held a cup of something steaming in her hands while nodding and laughing at the shaman’s tales.

“Uhmmm, how are you feeling?” I asked tentatively.

All the heads in the room turned to me. Seiko’s face beamed with a smile. She gently placed the steaming cup of whatever down and stood up to hug me. It was an unexpected gesture so I could only hug her back uncertainly.

“I heard that you were blaming yourself for my accident. Silly boy. It was a complete accident. If there’s anybody to be blamed, it’s me. I suddenly shifted toward the electrical blast.”

I could only remain silent as she ranted on about how I couldn’t have predicted where the blast would be headed after the electrical device malfunctioned and how I shouldn’t be stupid as to blame myself for something so trivial.

“I see you made a friend!” she remarked when she finally realized that Yana was also in the room.

“Hi, I’m Yana. I’m also a crafter.”

“Nice to meet you, Yana. I’m Seiko.”

“I was just telling Yana that we wouldn’t mind another addition to our group,” Maren said behind us.

“I would be honored!” Yana cried excitedly. “I’ve been lonely all this time.”

“Great, let’s get our guides to add you to the party.”

In a moment, the same band of glyphs was floating around Yana’s wrist.

“Congratulations on your reunion, kids. So could you leave now? It’s really crowded in here,” the shaman kindly requested.

We all shared a sheepish look then bade our farewell to the shaman and Astal. They didn’t even charge us any healing fee. How nice of ‘em.

Now that I’ve seen Seiko alive and well, and very much lively, a sort of peace settled on my being. None of us talked about it over dinner. By the morning, it was all gone and forgotten.

After breakfast the next day, we all gathered up our weapons to continue our quest. Drial held onto the spile since it was him who took it from the wolf. Maren was in charge of the map. Seiko gave us all speed buffs to get us to our destination much quicker.